I was just thinking of a fundamental assumption most of us seem to make. Whether or not we think our lives are normal, it seems that many of us think that certain aspects of our lives are the same as everyone else's. For example, I own a Chopin Liszt. I know that many of you will already think that's clever. It's a shopping list. Get it? At the top, instead of "Shopping List", it reads "Chopin Liszt." Chopin (Show-pan), the composer and Liszt, the composer. Ever since I first read that in a store (or the Chopin Board or the Chekov List), I thought it was funny. I've always got that joke because I grew up the son of a piano teacher in a house where classical music is just the way it is. Only recently have I adjusted to the fact that some houses don't have pianos in them.

Today, all my dreams about the humourous effect of the Chopin Liszt were crushed. My roommate had a friend over. He looked at it and said, "Chow-pin Lisszzt??" I had to explain the names, and then the joke. Finally, he got it. Later on, I had a musician friend of my own over. She took one look at the Chopin Liszt and laughed, saying, "Is this Matt's? I like it." But the fact that only classical musicians or people from households like mine made me, as I was making my tea tonight, realise how much we base our lives on fundamental assumptions of normality.

Other fundamental assumptions in my life: that everyone likes novels. Everyone has lots of books. Everyone likes books of some sort. Everyone has the capabilities or recognising the value of classical music. Everyone likes Slurpees. Everyone realises the worth of art, CLASSICAL STUDIES, History, Languages. Words are immensely cool. That logic plays a role in personal belief. I think there are more. Some of these were removed sooner than others.