Yep, like the size 5 girl who constantly obsesses over her % of body fat.
You know, I never thought about it that way. I guess we all have our compulsive little twitches, don't we?
I think making good art requires self-absorption. You have to be able to lock yourself in that practice room. People come to me now and wonder at how the things I do look so effortless. But they didn't know me when I'd come home from school, lock myself in my room, and practice until dinner time. They didn't know me when the building stewards got tired of issuing me the same practice room key every day for hours and just let me keep it. That kind of dogged dedication requires spending a lot of time by oneself, listening to oneself, obsessing about oneself. And while it's best if we can realise there are other people in the world besides ourselves, like any other transition it requires some distance, some maturity, and the ability to move between two states of being as seamlessly as possible. It's a balancing act. Some people do it better than others. Natural performers want other people to pay attention to them, and most of them, unless they're quite famous, are willing to accept attention as partial payment for their work, if you get my drift. ;)
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branchandroot
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Date: 2008-10-15 08:23 am (UTC)You know, I never thought about it that way. I guess we all have our compulsive little twitches, don't we?
I think making good art requires self-absorption. You have to be able to lock yourself in that practice room. People come to me now and wonder at how the things I do look so effortless. But they didn't know me when I'd come home from school, lock myself in my room, and practice until dinner time. They didn't know me when the building stewards got tired of issuing me the same practice room key every day for hours and just let me keep it. That kind of dogged dedication requires spending a lot of time by oneself, listening to oneself, obsessing about oneself. And while it's best if we can realise there are other people in the world besides ourselves, like any other transition it requires some distance, some maturity, and the ability to move between two states of being as seamlessly as possible. It's a balancing act. Some people do it better than others. Natural performers want other people to pay attention to them, and most of them, unless they're quite famous, are willing to accept attention as partial payment for their work, if you get my drift. ;)