A little about me.

(The back cover of Rush's 1984 album, Grace Under Pressure)

This is my life.  Grace Under Pressure.  "To live between a rock and a hard place" ("Between the Wheels", Rush) would be an understatement of how my past has been.  Someone always seems to be grabbing my throat while another is standing on my feet.  We all experience moments in which we are "frozen in that fatal climb [as] the wheels of time just pass you by."The image of the egg in an iron grip is a strong one–we have Hugh Syme, Rush's album artist since 1975, to thank for that.  It evokes such a strong emotion in me, as does the music in the album, that I am inspired to stay calm–to look toward the deadly horizon unflinchingly.  It is tough enough to gather the strength to survive, but to do so gracefully, now that is a feat.

This album wasn't my favorite Rush album to begin with–I believe I originally favored Moving Pictures.  I grew into loving GUP.  As with most things in life, I wasn't able to fully appreciate the themes in the album until I experienced them for myself.  That's why I love this album: it is everyone's album.  It is your album.  It is my album.

I love Rush.  I love Grace Under Pressure.  I love defeating the temptation to despair.  Most importantly, I love.  And on that note, this is the most beautiful thing I've ever read in my life:

"True, we love life, not because we are used to living, but because we are used to loving. There is always some madness in love, but there is also always some reason in madness."
–Friedrich Nietzsche, "Thus Spoke Zarathustra"