Advice...

A good friend of mine once told me that

"Advice is something we ask for when we already know the answer to something, but wish we didn't."

I think sometimes knowing the answer to something, and actually listening to yourself are totally different. That's why there are some people you ask for advice from more than once. They are the people who can make you quiet enough to listen to yourself. They help you tune out the clamors of the outside world and listen to the inner beat that makes you you.

That's why its so hard to find good friends, they can't just think you're funny or smart or confident and well dressed. They have to be able to hear 'you' over themselves... or perhaps in addition to themselves, and know when your beat is off.

A really good friend can tell when you've got the bass of one song and the drum solo of another song even over text messaging, as though they are standing there with you, with their fingers in their ears while you to try sing the chorus. And somehow through all the ruckus you can hear them as clearly as if they are wired right into your impromptu recording studio, calmly saying "Hold on a minute, just breath... now tell me what's wrong."

And instead of thinking about the notes that are coming up, or what you wanted it to sound like, or even worrying about the wording you pour it all out... sometimes in bits and pieces, all out of order like a bad movie. But by the time you're done, they've become the time keeper... the organizer of the chaos, and they've sorted it all out as though it was never broken up in the first place and lay it out... all the notes in the right order, the majors and minors where they should be, and maybe they don't know anything about the song you were singing, but they've just put the chorus in the right place, and brought the bass guitar and the drum solo into the same tempo... and somehow it all matches your beat.