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I don't know what it is about my piano I feel so attracted to, but it just seems more than me playing when I get behind a piano. No no, it feels more like a meaningful conversation, one of response, one of emotion, one of freedom and flow. There is never a set plan when I get behind the keys, it's just whatever my mind comes to and whatever my mind comes up with. It's always a very in the moment experience, and I think that's a beautiful thing - I always have a lighter mood when I step away from the piano, as if having left off on a good note in a refreshing, absolutely benevolent conversation.

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Another depiction of my favorite weather - snow. Oddly enough, unlike others, it isn't because it gets me out of school, and quite frankly, I wish it wouldn't do it so often. No, I connect to snow so much because it is simply beautiful. Snow is mightier than it looks, despite its beauty being fragile in itself. Snow can really hold its own: it weighs down trees, immobilizes heavyweight or even lightweight vehicles, buries and soaks a part of the earth - even houses were built of this stuff! The beautiful power of this wonderful form of precipitation charges my creative side, and it is the precise reason I have my keyboard next to my bedroom window.

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This is basically the big statement of the song at the right, A Change of Seasons, and the theme of most of this presentation. Time is not infinite, life is not an Olive Garden bread stick special. The poem speaks to me and pushes me to perform at every given opportunity - I won't be able to do what I love forever, so I may as well start making a life of it as soon as I can.

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Element of Nature

The element I most connect with is a type of weather; frigid, white, and sparkling unless trampled on. Yes, snow connects to me the most out of anything I can rightly recollect as an element of nature. This is for more than one reason, some more in-depth than others. The first is how calm and beautiful it looks on the day of snowfall, before it is inevitably imprinted by the shoes of man. It shows how delicately beautiful and quiet a blanket of snow can be, and I feel this is similar to my mind. Bear with me - this is a stretch but it's the truth. Conversation is often awkward and difficult for me, and like so, it is more constructive to have someone to talk with who happens to have a closeness with me - just like the ground supports the snow, I feel more supported with someone who can catch the flakes as they fall, sort of comfort when problems arise. Likewise, I can equate footprints and other man-made imperfections to others abruptly telling me to calm down or lighten up. Sure, it helps in some areas, but the worry is only moved, and most times, I do - it helps ease the minds and paths of others, much like the removal of snow from a road. A stack too high, however, often succumbs to gravity, depending on the ground again.

Another relation is its temporary nature. Seize the day, because the snow won't be around forever. It only comes in one season, and even then, it's iffy around here. So if you wanna do anything with snow - with life - nothing lasts forever, so get out there and start flinging snowballs at each other! ...Er, that probably doesn't translate well metaphorically, in retrospect. Live it up!

To make it less deep and bring you back out of the imagery, snow kinda gets a little icky after a day of being traveled in, and as someone who showers once every two days, I can relate to that.

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Robert Herrick

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying; And this same flower that smiles today Tomorrow will be dying. The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun, The higher he’s a-getting, The sooner will his race be run, And nearer he’s to setting. That age is best which is the first, When youth and blood are warmer; But being spent, the worse, and worst Times still succeed the former. Then be not coy, but use your time, And while ye may, go marry; For having lost but once your prime, You may forever tarry.

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The cathartic end to our protagonist's life. The memories of his life, good and bad, have an impact on him, and every day I dwell on the memories at least for five minutes. This ending is as big an ending as can be asked for in a song. It connects with me because there is a lot of life in the words - yes, there is life in the words about the inevitability of death. It reminds me not to fear death, but to love life. This song's final breath is a bang, but make no mistake about it - this song ends as T.S. Elliot put it. Not with a bang... but a whimper.

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With a sudden, chilling and subtle callback to a minor bass riff in The Crimson Sunset, this is a brilliant instrumental. It builds on the bass riff until meeting a cathartic, calm release of suspense, as if taking a memorial trip in the mind. This section allows me to open up emotionally and creatively without being too output. Just merely listening to this section is a time for meditation. It is just that good to my ears and mind.

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Always, after having these horridly distressing thoughts, I can't help but rise to the occasion and do something that I know means a lot to me. Small or large, even putting forth effort in some obviously necessary areas, helps me be assured that one day on my death bed, I'll regret that much less. There is nothing more painful in my opinion than not having done something you wanted to do. My true weakness is shyness and timidity, so I repeatedly attempt to conquer this by performing, either in a work ethic standpoint or in a performing arts perspective. "Seasons change and so can I" - this is yet another powerful line that demonstrates that anyone can learn to make the most of their life, and every time I see fit to give up, I energize myself with the opposite mindset and start attempting to make an influence on people and things around me, through kindness, and through performance.

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This section is rather elusive to catch the meaning of - but fear not, it isn't too hard when lines are read between. This is the turning point of our story. The instrumental preceding ends with the chord progression of this section, and grows softer in the transition, signifying a calm recollection when combined with the lyrics accompanying it. This section beautifully details the inevitable regretful and sometimes even ignominious nature of having not put forth the effort. Our 'protagonist,' if you will, feels like giving up because he'd already missed too much, or so it seems to him, and it really does feel like that. I connect to this wholeheartedly; I feel an inkling of this at least weekly, if not daily. I miss so much in my life, it's hard to keep up, but I try to keep a light head about it. Still, sometimes it seems moot, but I don't lose hope that easily.

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This instrumental starts at a short, yet dark, briskly walking pace in an odd time signature to boot, as if the thought of those last lines seem to linger. Then, we're taken into a swing-style section that's even shorter. It goes back and forth from a dark tone, to a lighter tone, and somewhere at the end, there are these hectic fills that make me feel like I should be galvanized to live in the moment - as if life, as fast as these sections, passes within mere moments, and to compensate, the only thing we can do is live for today.

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This is the brilliant aforementioned example. There is a tragedy in these words and it is plainly stated, but just leaving it at that would be no fun and it'd mess with my format-oriented O.C.D. The way this is presented is shockingly accurate in the instrumentation, as it feels rushed, as if feeling a sudden lack of time. The rush charges the suspense, and the sudden silence on the word "Good-bye" gives an entirely new meaning to the song itself. Nothing is more regrettable in the end than not taking more time for the loved ones you know won't be around forever.

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And here sits the first lesson that this masterpiece has to enforce. Yes, it is rather cliche of a bit of advice, but it is very, very true. I even have personal experiences of this being applicable, and if that's not enough, this song gives a brilliant yet tragic example. We must do what we can, while we can, and the most important thing in our lives to a point is the moment. This is especially true when you consider the fact that once innocence fades, and the inevitable growth takes place, we tend to regret more things that we have not done rather than the things that we have done. The most powerful, undeniably strong and crushingly inspirational words in this entire half of the song, maybe the entire thing, are in this scene: "We can learn / From the past / But those days / Are gone // We can hope / For the future / But there might not be one."

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Though this first scene of the song is instrumental, I think the sheer abruptness and eventual extraordinarily grandiose nature of the song seems to sync perfectly with how life works, at least in my case. There are calm, still situations that sometimes immediately evolve into something enigmatically large, good or bad. I especially love the swift ease of tension in this section's ending; It's truly a beautiful way to segue into the next, less intense section.

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Already, the song strikes something in my heart that I still can't place with words. There is not a single thought in my mind today that is precisely as simple as it was before everything in my life just... happened. With innocence faded, nothing is as black and white as it used to be. There is so much meaning in the chorus sections of this second scene, this "Innocence" bit. The first, followed by a beautifully dark contrast of instrumentationL: "Innocence caressing me / I never felt so young before // There was so much life in me / Still I longed to search for more." I don't think there is a single sane, even semi-functioning person that doesn't remember feeling like this when they were young. Dreams were to be chased, youth was/is the time of our lives. The second, "Ignorance surrounding me / I've never been so filled with fear // All my life's been drained from me / The end is drawing near..." Even with a belief that there is something out there after the end, we still fear it. And once we're at the end of innocence, we're no longer blind to the fact that everyone ends someday - and as youth passes, youth passes still. Our minds aren't so innocent, our hearts aren't so easily content, and our souls try so hard to hold on to the day; for as we leave behind our youth, the days seem more and more eager to leave us behind too.

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[Music by Dream Theater]
[Lyrics by Mike Portnoy]

[I. The Crimson Sunrise]

[Instrumental]

[II. Innocence]

I remember a time
My frail, virgin mind
Watched the crimson sunrise
Imagined what it might find
Life was filled with wonder
I felt the warm wind blow
I must explore the boundaries
Transcend the depth of winter's snow

Innocence caressing me
I never felt so young before
There was so much life in me
Still I longed to search for more

But those days are gone now
Changed like a leaf on a tree
Blown away forever
Into the cool autumn breeze
The snow has now fallen
And my sun's not so bright
I struggle to hold on
With the last of my might

In my den of inequity
Viciousness and subtlety
Struggle to ease the pain
Struggle to find the same

Ignorance surrounding me
I've never been so filled with fear
All my life's been drained from me
The end is drawing near...

[III. Carpe Diem]

"Carpe diem
Seize the day"

I'll always remember
The chill of November
The news of the fall
The sounds in the hall
The clock on the wall
Ticking away
"Seize the Day"
I heard him say
Life will not always be this way
Look around
Hear the sounds
Cherish your life
While you're still around

("Gather ye rosebuds while ye may)
(Old Time is still a-flying;)
(And this same flower that smiles today)
(Tomorrow will be dying")

We can learn
From the past
But those days
Are gone
We can hope
For the future
But there might not be one

The words stuck in my mind
Alive from what I've learned
I have to seize the day
To home I returned

Preparing for her flight
I held with all my might
Fearing my deepest fright
She walked into the night
She turned for one last look
She looked me in the eye
I said, "I Love You...
Good-bye"

("It's the most awful thing you'll ever hear")
("If you're lying to me...")
("Oh, you dearly love her")
("...just have to leave...)
(All our lives")
("Seize the day!")
("Something happened")
("Gather ye rosebuds while ye may")
("She was killed")

[IV. The Darkest Of Winters]

[Instrumental]

[V. Another World]

So far or so it seems
All is lost
With nothing fulfilled
Off the pages and the
T.V. screen
Another world
Where nothing's true

Tripping through
The life fantastic
Lose a step
And never get up
Left alone
With a cold blank stare
I feel like giving up

I was blinded by a paradise
Utopia high in the sky
A dream that only drowned me
Deep in sorrow, wondering why

Oh come let us adore him
Abuse and then ignore him
No matter what
Don't let him be
Let's feed upon his misery
Then string him up for all the world to see

I'm sick of all
Your hypocrites
Holding me at bay
And I don't need
Your sympathy
To get me through the day

Seasons change and so can I
Hold on Boy
No time to cry
Untie these strings
I'm climbing down
I won't let them push me away

Oh come let us adore him
Abuse and then ignore him
No matter what
Don't let him be
Let's feed upon
His misery
Now it's time for them
To deal with me

[VI. The Inevitable Summer]

[Instrumental]

[VII. The Crimson Sunset]

I'm much wiser now
A lifetime of memories
Run through my head
They taught me how
For better or worse
Alive or dead
I realize
There's no turning back
Life goes on
The offbeaten track

I sit down with my son
Set to see the Crimson Sunset
(Gather ye rosebuds while ye may)
Many years have come and gone
I've lived my life, but now must move on
(Gather ye rosebuds while ye may)
He's my only one
Now that my time has come
Now that my life is done
We look into the sun
"Seize the day
And don't you cry
Now it's time
To say good-bye
Even though
I'll be gone
I will live on
Live on"