e*star LA

When I leave work (or my seat), everyday, I go downstairs from my cubicle’s mezzanine and through at least one row full of cubicles in which my coworkers are seated. One of the cubicles belongs to a coworker named “Pat,” who yesterday asked me on my way out what day I was free next week and which would be a good day to “get together to jam.”

I told him that Tuesday was not a good day, nor Thursday and I’ve often left for the mountain for the entire weekend on Friday. I concluded it would most likely be Wednesday and to be sure to let “Goods” know.

Goods is also our coworker, who used to play drums in a band who’s styled after acts like The Mother Hips. Folksy, if you will. We have a revolving joke about Pat and how long he’s been asking us this question, how long he’s planned to get us together.

I’m classically trained. The music we’d play is music Pat had written. I suspect from the description he gave about 3 years ago that the score is of a jazzy genre.

I like to think that foremost, music is a universal language. It brings people together until that point you’ve achieved either too much or little success and you move on. Ensemble work is the privilege of “feeling” other people you fit in a groove with, and each member has something different to contribute.

So yes, if not just because the mere idea of improvisation either challenges or freaks me out as a classical musician, the mix of each of our diverse backgrounds would make an interesting ensemble. It might work.

I really need to rehair my bow.

The sad or relieving thing is, we will never jam. We’ll never push that envelope of uncertainty or test our compatibility and Pat’s inquiry will just be the bi-weekly formality for the next 3 years or until one of us gets another day job. I think the idiosyncrasy about it is, he seems genuinely interested each time he asks – but when that day nears there is no effort to cement plans. And the question is consistently asked every other if not every week.

Where is the follow-through?

Aside from the fact that lack of follow-through on prioritized matters begins to become a character issue, what’s fascinating to me is that there is an unlimited amount of potential here. There’s just no telling. We could be awesome or awful; or, we could be really awesome. There are no limits!

And sometimes that’s just where you want to leave it. No expectations. No commitment. No risks. No responsibility and nothing to judge an act or mere attempt as failure (and isn’t expectation all the difference?). If he really persists about actually getting together after 3 years and we happen to agree on a day, then so be it. I suspect it would just be a great time of hanging out.