Wizard? We Don't Need No Stinking Wizard!

http://reflectionsfromthebellcurve.blogspot.com/2011/05/im-off-to-see-wizard.html

What skill were you working at improving six years ago? How much growth have you seen?

When I published the blog post above six years ago today, my current musical goal to fully memorize three hundred jazz standards wasn't even on my radar. And though I'm still sixty nine songs from the finish line, time spent with my guitar since establishing that goal late in 2011 has had a discernible impact on the improvising skills I spoke of earlier that same year. How's that for an elegant example of the law of unintended consequences? 

I'm far from where I want to be as a musical improviser. But over these six years I've become more mindful of the way certain people inspire me to be more improvisational in a non-musical way; I've begun referring to them as my muses. When a recent social date with two of these folks had to be re-scheduled, I realized my disappointment was tied to my need for the buzz they routinely deliver to my creative engine. Who gets your creative mojo humming? Are you more spontaneous when you're with certain folks?

Who needs a Wizard when they're fortunate enough to have muses?