The Muse 

The most creative minds always tend to have a muse, an inspiration, a place person or organism that captures their mind and inspires them in the most beautiful ways to express their talent in the most awe inspiring performance, sculptor, painting, creation and or innovation.

Sometimes people have a similar effect too, and it happens so effortlessly that we don’t even realize it. My team mate on a project used to tell me that all the time, with the most carefree and random sketches of mine, that guy would come up with brilliant ideas for design improvement, it was phenomenal. He would always credit my silly theories on usage and handling coupled with impossible scenarios for coming up with possibly the most remarkable ergonomics designs.

I experienced this only recently when I decided to call the new found stranger I had exchanged numbers with on hinge.
Back to my human version of a battery cage sized apartment after a long day of work, I could finally take a breather. Material science was definitely taking its toll on me. Everything I looked at, made me wonder what the core material was and what properties dictated the selection of the same in the design. I had newly started working in this sector and was fairly overwhelmed by the amount of catching up I needed to do in order to work at my best. 

After dinner I decided to go for a stroll in the empty play field which was empty since playing hours were over for the day. I decided to ring up this cute stranger I found over the internet. His pictures were cute by my standards, and he was a punjabi by surname, so that was a plus. I heard his voice, it was probably better than I had expected and we hit it off immediately. I couldn't recall how long we talked but it must have been hours before we went to sleep.
Somehow, even with lesser sleep, I woke up feeling more energized than usual and he reported the same. It was what one may call an instant connection. We talked about work, design and challenges in our respective fields and somehow it never felt boring even for a second.
While my colleagues started giving me the side eyes, in a teasing manner it always felt platonic. Like when you are a kid talking enthusiastically about your marble collection and someone shows up with a bunch of different colored shells and you both understand it is more than marbles and shell, it is passion and commitment.

We grew close to each other virtually, talking about our day, helping give each other a different perspective from another lens and often solving complex problems too. One time he could not think of a better way to decrease the overall weight of one of his designs and I somehow remembered this random episode about the world war on history TV where they talked about changes in the aircraft designs based on studying the fighter planes that managed to return to base even after massive damage. The parts which ensured return even after damage were strengthened while the rest of the structure was not. 

“So you are suggesting I calibrate the model based on what is essential and cut out the rest”
He asked.
“Well, maybe, I mean if it helped win wars, you are just going in to impress the client. Shouldn't be that difficult”, I made a pout as I talked, running that episode in my head while I did so as to figure out what the theory was called or how exactly it was designed but drew a blank even google couldn't fill.

Nonetheless, this fellow came up with a remarkable strategy for his product design on the spot based on this rambling of mine and thanked me a ton after pitching his theory. And just like that we both smiled and went on with our lives.

Not every strong connection needs to be romantic, some can be mutual understanding of individual dreams and a platonic relationship to help support each other's dreams. 

It was only months later that my mind went back to this conversation and I did a reverse search that I could finally find the word, ”The Survivorship Bias”.

Interesting stuff to learn about I must say, as for the smart fellow, he's out there somewhere, changing lives, one prosthetic at a time.

As for me, I'm here, there and everywhere else. A random thought, a sip of coffee and a light sneak peak into a world of imagination. A muse is what I am, and exactly what I wish to be, an awe inspiring speck of brilliance which stirs the conundrum of abstract thought to scale imperceivable heights. A muse is what I am.