Mellow Zebra and Escape From The Zoo

I begin here. At my desk in central Brighton flat. Apart from all the other reasons, we moved here to be in the center, less hassle and walking when getting around busking. Just down the road, five minutes away are famous Pavilion Gardens - my favorite place to busk. I believe busking in the garden makes me look more authentic as an animal. Nevertheless it compliments my image and blends well with the music I play. 

I call myself Mellow Zebra. The other option was Piano Zebra, because I play the piano, but that seemed too straight and obvious. "Mellow" sounds better and underlines the mood rather than the instrument. I think that's important, I love playing beautiful, mellow piano peaces, but also I love a bit of fun. As a zebra I don't take myself too serious - element of fun in my playing is often much appreciated. 

People often ask me - why? Why Zebra? And after I tell them the answer they often realize how obvious it is. I can give you a little hint if you want - it's about colors... But otherwise - you have to guess yourself. Perhaps you already know...

ESCAPE FROM THE ZOO

This is where I begin my story about escape from the zoo. You see, Zoo is a very nice place, you have your own cage, your own stall. You have few Zebras of your own kind living next to you and you are all being looked after by the Zoo keepers. You comply with their rules and life doesn't seem too much of a hassle at all... But then deep in your heart you know that you belong somewhere else, somewhere out there is a huge land with Zebras living free in the wild. You dream about that place and sometimes you talk about it with your fellow Zebras, but often they are scared to leave Zoo and they say "they like it here". And then you try to forget that dream and begin to focus on the life at Zoo. But whatever you do - you find it boring. There is no excitement and every day is the same. Sometimes Zoo keepers change the cage, but after few days it all comes back to normal and that voice inside your Zebra head keeps coming back reminding you about the land where all the animals are living together - free...

Busking for me is a little escape from the Zoo. When I busk I am being myself and feeling completely present. It's a very rewarding feeling. I love what I do and when you do what you love, it's simply amazing. What else do you need?

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I sometimes wonder how would the job description look for what I do? Say you are looking at the newspaper and you see this post:

"Street Musician Wanted!

No previous experience or qualifications required. Need to have intermediate piano skills and passion for playing. Zebra uniform, instrument and necessary gear provided. Work on your own. Flexible hours of work. Travel around the world. Immediate start."

At this point many people would probably think how much would this job pay? A very important point missing is salary. Apart from knowing it depends on flexible circumstances, say we could actually travel to the future and see exact annual salary and then come back to the present and complete this job description with a certain number. Wouldn't this job advert look so much more attractive once you know the number, once you actually see it can cover all your costs? The point is we don't know the number yet and there is no one else out there to tell you what the number is going to be, but if you'd know it would be good enough and you were playing the piano - would you take the job? 

The way I think about it - I took this job. Even though there was never a job post like that and I made it all up in my head. When I think about it this way, it all doesn't sound too crazy after all and somehow goes along "the society norms". Perhaps it's a good way to explain the logic inside the silly Zebra head to a regular human being working "normal" 9-5 job.