Over a particularly tasty pint of pale ale, I recently discussed my musical ineptitude with my girlfriend. I was attempting to convince her that I am 음치 (a person who sucks at music), although she tried to assure me that I'm not completely ass at singing. Good luck with that, sweetheart. My point was that music is a very powerful form of communication that is essentially denied to me, largely because I made a decision when I was 11 years old to not do whatever my older brother had done before me. (In this case to get into music, although the same line of thinking delayed my entry into organized sport by one year when I was in elementary school.) For someone who was unable to explore her music as fully as she wished, Ji Young is (in my ears) a quite accomplished pianist--although she would downplay her talents--and I recently discovered that she's quite a singer as well. Having denied myself music, I explained that this was something in her which I envy: the ability to express herself in music.
I went on to comment that the lack of access to this form of communication, combined with my love of reading, fostered in me a great appreciation for the written word and those who could craft it well. Regrettably, I continued, writing was something I had not done much of in the last few years. Her response was simple and point-blank: What's stopping you?
Called out.
