(help)

"Man is a knot into which relationships are tied." -Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Flight to Arras, 1942

start with a quote, james. if you start with a quote you'll establish rapport with your readers. they will perceive you as learned or at the least, well read. then from there you can take to your own writing prowess and convey what you're trying to say.

which is this:

i need you. if i know you, i need you. whoever you are, you have your own qualities and traits that make for part of the solution to the problem of me. there is something about all of us that doesn't equal up. we're all incomplete and can't hope to make any sense on our own. nor can we solve us. as parts of the problem get worked out through our daily lives, we start to see patterns emerge. patterns that speak to what is exactly wrong with us. so over time i think we can be more instrumental in helping to complete the equation. but ultimately, we still need our Professor's help to teach us how to finish it. to finish us. so thus far, i've noticed a pattern of failure when i stand alone. therefore, i won't. if i spent a month with no one but my thoughts, my God and my pen, the end of the journal would start to resemble the scratchings of desperate, somewhat insane, man. i'm convinced of this. so. i need you. and you need me.

someone once asked me when i play shows, if i preferred playing with a band or playing solo. my response was something like: "i like being able to mess up when i'm playing alone, because it's a little easier to make it seem like i didn't, and convince the crowd that's what i meant to do. but i do like the feeling of power that can only emanate from a stage full of musicians playing different parts of the same song." so in my indecisive answer i found a truth thats applicable here. on my own, i can mess up and make it seem like i'm not messing up. and i've gotten pretty good at convincing you that i don't mess up. but i still know that i did. it's easier than trying to make an ensemble of people make a beautiful song. that takes more practice and compromise and synchronized passion. it's not easy living with others. you have to expose what you love to hide. there's a song that's written and when you're practicing with your closest friends and family, and you mess up, you have to stop and find some way of not doing it again. you don't just get to change the song on the fly and convince everyone that that was how it always was.

our song is written. but our problem still exists. i don't want to find ways of changing what is already a perfect song to deny my inability to play it well. that problem must be solved. and it must be solved with you.

and you.

and you...