people forever amaze me,

the human mind is simply amazing. people are such complicated beings and they never cease to astonish me. a few things that really amaze me:

the human ability to: create - artwork to please the eye, games to challenge the mind/body, literary pieces for simple delight in reading or information, technological inventions to further improve the quality of living..it is all so amazing to me. moreso is the creation of instruments, ranging from dulcimers to marimbas to spoons, to create music. music in itself is immensely intriguing. it has such a profound impact on people and so many fail to notice it. music can move people to tears due to either the beauty of its composition(that happens to me a lot) or perhaps because certain pieces are associated in one's mind with different events/people in their lives. when people go to shows, the music seems to speak to the least-used portion of the brain, the one that controls primal instinct, and that's about the time that people start throwin' down(guilty again). some people listen to jazz or r&b and make love. others listen to punk or classical and dissect. many people use music as an outlet to channel emotion. music is everywhere and we don't even realize that it is. it is in movie trailers, commercials, stores and malls over loudspeakers; as soon as most people get into a car, they turn their radios on; people walk around with earphones in and ipods on, dissolving the sound of the world around them and placing themselves into a world of music. we buy millions of dollars worth of music/music storage devices so that we can transport our music with us everywhere, neatly and effectively contained in a tiny box. personally, i get very excited about music and no other form of art really speaks to me as wholly as music does. why do we create music? what evolutionary advantage could it hold? is it perhaps an outward expression of emotion contained in a series of notes, chords, harmonies? if so, how could one explain music from the classical era, which was very emotionally-constricted and focused heavily on the technicality and composition of the music? beethoven's music progressively became more and more an outward expression of emotion as he lost his hearing; he began composing during the classical era in the classical style and eventually founded an era that's focus was on human emotionalism and complexity: romanticism. different instruments evoke different emotions; for example, an oboe tends to sound rather eerie whereas a flute tends to sound very airy and light - but i suppose it depends on how, precisely, you are using the instrument (ie minor keys vs. major keys) i could go on forever about music, but i digress a good bit.

the human ability to: investigate situations, analyze them, and draw logical conclusions. it also absolutely intrigues me that people are able to dissect their own minds, as well as the minds of others; it is so strange and beautiful to think of a mind dissecting itself.

the human ability to: understand the physiology of their own bodies, as well as the universe around them and their explorations of things like the digestive tract of an animal to nuclear fission to astronomy.

no matter the intelligence quotient of a human being, his/her mind is still incredibly complex. it is egotistical of me to become frustrated with people if they do not understand something as quickly or fully as i might; all human minds and intellectual capabilities far exceed those of other animals on earth, as far as we currently know, and it is not something to be taken for granted. even someone who is considered "dumb" is still brilliant.