My father, not one for quoting Chinese proverbs, used tell me that there was a Chinese proverb about how time spent fishing didn't count against your time on earth. Not sure if there really is such a Chinese proverb, but if there isn't, there should be. We'd sometimes (not enough times) used to go to the old fishing hole on a lazy summer afternoon and plunk our lures in the water. We'd watch as the sun slowly faded into the west - it marked the passage of time, but at the same time, it was like time stood still. My father was a "catch and release" man. He'd file down the hooks so if he caught a fish it would easily be "uncaught" and put back in the pond. He really didn't want to hurt the fish. Just maybe distract them for little while...
I do think there are some activities we do that are "out of time." One of my meditation teachers would say that in meditation you get to a place where space and time do not exist. Sometimes, when you are "in the moment" time stretches or bends, and you can sink in, and well you lose time, lose yourself, and maybe that's when it doesn't count, because well, it really counts, if you know what I mean.
Anyway, I kind of feel like when I play guitar, I can also get to this "no time and a space" place, and lately, I've been playing a lot. The guitar pictured here is my Fender Telecaster Thinline, kind of an "uncool" piece. It's a "cheap" Mexican made guitar, not a collectible, but it plays beautifully, and when I first picked it up, it just felt right. One of the pickups crapped out on me awhile back, and I totally gutted the guitar, I bought new pickups and wires, got out the diagrams and soldering iron, and well now it's kind of a rare instrument. It's got personality. There's a part of me in this thing now. Kind of like my boots (see previous post). So sometimes with this guitar in hand, time seems to stand still...do the Chinese have anything to say about time spent playing guitar?