On Christmas Day, in a very quiet BART station, the saxophone player played scales up and down, over and over, as if to get those notes back from Christmas songs, so they could be used for any music.

On New Year's Eve, the rain and wind are dancing hard to give all of us a bracing shower, so we can start clean, new, invigorated, and humble.

Humble because if walking down the street in a straight line is a challenge I can't quite meet, I may know less than I think I know about everything. Hello. I'm ready to learn to be ready for the actual music reality now offers, the previous music being kindly and firmly whisked out of my head.