Experience: Not Always the Best Teacher
I was doing this woman’s piano when my hypoglycemia kicked in. I had overslept and rushed to the tuning job without breakfast.
The lady had a keen eye and asked, “Can I give you something to eat? Would you like a banana?”
“Only if you put cereal under it,” I answered— you know how outspoken I am.
She grabbed this box of cereal that was some sort of granola mixture, and quickly threw it into a bowl, poured milk in it, all the while telling me how healthy it is.
“This will pick you up right away, ” she said, as she sliced a banana over it. In a matter of seconds it was ready.
I was so fatigued from low blood sugar that I sat wearily at the table, took off my glasses and rubbed my eyes. I didn’t put my glasses back on, but began eating this nutritious pick-me-up that the lady so kindly prepared for me.
“What are these little black things in the cereal?” I asked.
“Oh, those are just little nutritious things that are a part of the healthy mixture.”
I put my glasses back on and was examining the cereal. She saw me staring into the bowl and asked, “What’s the matter?”
I hesitated. “Well . . . one of these little black nutritious things is swimming over to the banana.”
She stuck her face down close to the bowl, then recoiled and screamed, “Oh my god!” After twenty loud apologies, she asked, “Can I get you something else?”
My appetite now dampened, I answered, “No, thanks, I’ll be alright,” and I finished the piano with shock now added to my fatigue.
I should have known better than to do anything without my glasses on. Didn’t I learn anything from past experience? Once, I was playing bass in a small dark club and the drummer said, “Take your glasses off, you look like an executive secretary.”
So I took my horn-rimmed glasses off and was completely absorbed in the music. When the tune was over, I opened my eyes, and to my utter disbelief, I saw a gorilla coming toward me. (I saw the movie “King Kong,” ya know.) With trembling fingers, I quickly put my glasses on. It turned out to be a huge heavy-set woman in a raccoon coat.
Moral of the story? I really don’t know, except maybe . . . some people don’t learn from experience, so are doomed to go through it again.