Remember this?

My "midyear resolutions"?  It's only fitting to have a look at these again on New Year's Eve...let's see how I did.

- survive getting four wisdom teeth removed
- finish writing my 365 sonnets by the end of the year
- floss everyday
- not fail my first year of university
- add three new pieces to my repertoire list (including one complete concerto)
- get my G2 drivers license
- volunteer
- learn some life skills


- So yes, I survived getting my wisdom teeth removed.
- But no...I didn't exactly finish my 365 sonnets yet...though 351 is pretty darn close! (haven't posted the most recent one yet)
- I have definitely learned to floss everyday...and I'm very proud to say that it's become part of my bedtime routine now...stupid thing to say...but it's nevertheless a good change. :)
- I definitely anti-failed my first year (semester?) of university...I had an average of 93!  Which isn't stellar, but definitely better than the 39 I was expecting!
- I have definitely added stuff to my repertoire list since last time.  Mozart and Beethoven sonatas, Schubert impromptus, a bunch of new Chopin nocturnes...and actually, the Mozart Fantasie in c minor is just from this week...look it's all updated!  But no complete concerto yet. :(
- I got my G2!!  It was...an interesting exam...to say the least...
- I volunteered.  And it was fun!  Lots of special moments.
- I made cookies.  Cookies = ...life skills?  Maybe that's stretching it.  But I have time to learn.  And I did learn a lot about life.

It was a good half year!  2011, here we come...

Pet Peeves

I'm feeling peevish. So here's a list of 50 of my current pet peeves, perfect for brightening your holiday season. :) Happy early new year!

1. People not saying thank you or you're welcome.
2. People not spelling your wlecome properly.  And other contractions.
3. People who pollute.
4. People who eat too much.
5. People who drink too much.
6. People who smoke.
7. People who drive too fast.
8. People who eat, drink, smoke, and drive too fast.
9. People who also do their nails and drive too fast (I've seen it happen).
10. People who read books and drive too fast (also based on a real incident).
11. People who don't read.
12. People.  These days they just get on my nerves.
13. Impoliteness and bad grammar.
14. People who think they're smarter than you.  When they're not.
15. People who take advantage of you.
16. Those really annoying white creases that form on the spines of paperback novels.
17. People who lie.
18. People who cheat off and on you.
19. Language barriers.
20. Winter.  It just gets so monotonous and bland after a while.  Gaaaaaah.
21. Mushiness.
22. Stupid people.
23. Stubborn, one-track minded people who only know how to follow rules and procedures.
24. Pessimistic people who only think about themselves and always others to feel sorry for them.
25. Popera singers.  Do something meaningful with your life, Paul Potts.  Stop making my ears bleed with your horrendous Italian.
26. Undeservedly famous but untalented people.
27. Ignorance.
28. World hunger and war.
29. Blindly religious people.  I admire people who are religious a lot, but seriously...there are a few overly religious people that really need to get their heads checked.
30. Haters.  Of any kind.  Does that include me after including #12?  Probably.
31. Simple-minded people.
32. Ordinary people.
33. Boring people.
34. Rude people.
35. Deceptive people.
36. Waiting.
37. Eating too much junk food and feeling terrible.
38. Living in a tiny, lifeless Canadian hamlet in the dead of winter with little to do and no one to talk to (OK...that one was a little pessimistic).
39. People who are the SAME alllll the time...especially people who are always happy...something's wrong with them...
40. People who are easily irritated.  I'm starting to sound like a hypocrite.
41. Racism.  Especially ignorant racism.
42. Stereotypes.  And people who just assume things about you based on who they think you are.
43. Gossip magazines and television programs.  Waste of time and money.
44. People who don't appreciate me.
45. Lazy people.
46. People who cant spel or jus don wont two.
47. People who don't respond to e-mails.
48. Dogs.  I just don't like them.
49. Not being able to do something I want to do (i.e. play crazy Liszt pieces or be able to play the bagpipes or go travelling everyday).
50. Pet peeves.  Why can't I just be content with my life as it stands?

I really think my school-free break is slowly killing me...without school, I'm so lost...I like having schedules and things to do and people to see and places to go...I need a life!

I'm an artist

Thought I'd share my beautiful creation...made with my iTouch. :)  It sort of reminds me of how I feel at the moment, sort of being sucked into a dark hole...life can be so lonely without school.  I'm such a big nerd!  Although I have to say, I've made excellent progress on my piano projects...getting stuff done always makes me feel good.  Plus, Chopin is food for the soul...even if he does get cheesy sometimes! :P

What can I say?  It's almost New Year's and I'm feeling lousy.  Must be the weather. :(

Christmas Cookies!

I love living at home!  Last night my mom helped my brother and I make Christmas cookies.  They were SOOO good...soft and yummy, but overnight they turned really, really hard. :(  Oh well.  At least they still look good (pictures below)!

We used cool ingredients such as vanilla pudding mix, chopped walnuts, butterscotch & chocolate chips, and oatmeal.  Mom bought some new cookie cutters...but the festive ones were all sold out.  There was a heart-shaped one at least, but no one wanted the other ones since they didn't really look like anything...it took us a LONG while to realize that the other two shapes were a baby shirt and stroller.

Half-eaten holiday treats for Santa?  The one on the right is a baby stroller.  See it?

 Half-baked batch #1...

...and fully baked batch #2!

Happy holidays, folks!  Hope Santa's good to you this year...

Piano Projects

One of the many things that twelve years of learning the piano has taught me is discipline.  Now that I'm free from exams, I can't help but feel a bit lost, but funny enough, having a regular piano schedule has kept me sane these past few university-free days.  Being the ambitious person I am, this post is to sort out all the many things I've planned to learn and practice over the next few weeks.  Looks like I've got my work cut out for me!  AHHHH

To start learning:

• Chopin: complete nocturnes (left to learn: No's. 3, 4, 8, 9, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18)
• Chopin: Ballade No.1 in g minor
• Chopin: Andante spianato and Grande polonaise brillante
• Liszt: Transcriptions of Schubert's lieder "Ave Maria", "Der Erlkönig", and "Auf dem wasser zu singen"
• Schubert: Sonata in a minor, D.845 (movements 2, 3, and 4)
• Beethoven: Moonlight Sonata, third movement
• Beethoven: Variations on "Rule Britannica" and "God Save the Queen"
• Mozart: Piano Concerto No.17 in G major (movements 2 and 3)
• Bach: Toccata and Fugue in c minor
• Bach: Toccata and Fugue in e minor
• Bach: French Ouverture in b minor
• Haydn: Sonata in E-flat major (the other one)
• Scarlatti: as many sonatas as possible
• Debussy: Estampes (La soirée dans Grenade, Jardins sous la pluie)

To finish learning:

• Chopin: Polonaise-fantasie in A-flat (esp. quadruple trills and tricky third scales)
• Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No.6 in D-flat
• Busoni: Transcription of the Chaccone from Bach's Partita for Solo Violin
• Schubert: Impromptu No.2 in E-flat major, D.899
• Mozart: Fantasie in c minor
• Mozart: Piano Concerto No.17 in G major (movement 1)

To practice:

• Chopin: Nocturnes (No. 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 13, 15, 19, 20, 21)
• Chopin: Minute Waltz and Grande valse brillante in a minor
• Liszt: Transcription of Schubert's lied "Gretchen am spinnrade"
• Beethoven: Pathétique Sonata
• Mozart: "Alla turca" Sonata in A major, Sonata No. 12 in F major
• Mozart: 12 Variations on "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"
• Bach: Well-Tempered Clavier, Books 1 and 2 (various Preludes and Fugues)
• Bach: Italian Concerto (esp. Presto movement)
• Bach: French Suite No.2 in c minor (esp. Courante, Air, and Gigue)
• Bach: Partita No. 1 in B-flat major (esp. Allemande and Courante)
• Bach: Capriccio sopra la lontananza del suo fratello dilettissimo (esp. the two fugues!)
• Schubert: all impromptus
• Schubert: Sonata in a minor, D.845 (movement 1)

Blast from the past!

A childhood friend messaged me on Facebook out of the blue.  After 12 years, she's still living in Texas!  Man, it's so cold up here in Canada...it makes me want to fly back and visit the Lone Star State!

It's really crazy what changes and what doesn't change after all this time.  She still looks almost the EXACT same...and yet it's been a loooong time...we probably have nothing in common now.  I just got her message last night and added her as a friend...and this morning, when she accepted it, we both mutually creeped each other's profiles.

She also sent me a friend suggestion, which was another friend of ours from my Texas days.  That friend's also studying biomedical science, though not in Ontario...she's in Texas too!

There's so much to catch up on!  Luckily I have the rest of my winter break to do it...

World Peace, Please!

This is the first year I ordered something myself for Christmas...but I wasn't always this resourceful.  There was once a time where I asked Santa Claus...for world peace.  See, when I was little, I wasn't one of those kids who asked for the latest Apple product or some new-fangled toy...I usually didn't ask for anything.

But one year, when I was eight, I remember that I did write dear old Mister Santa Claus a letter.

And yes, I did ask him for world peace.  I sat down, had a "Miss Canada" moment and wrote in red and green crayons, "I want the world to be happy and for you not to worry and for there to be world peace."

Was there really a time when children were unselfish and content with what they had?  Or was I just too stupid to realize that this was an opportunity of a lifetime??

Oh well...happy holidays, folks!

Free from exams!

Happy holidays, everyone!  I finished my last exam this morning which was physics.  It went well (I think)...but I'm somewhat comforted by the fact that if I do get a 60 on the exam, I'll still get 80 in the course!  Of course, 100% would be a lot better :)  Let's hope for the best!

So what do I do with my freedom?  Back to piano-ing again...I need to come up with a list of all the things I want to learn and need to practise...definitely a good time to add some spectacular things to that repertoire list. :)

I started the holidays off with the thing we all love to this time of year - SPENDING $$$!  I spent $275 on textbooks this morning and then ordered $70 worth of concerto CD's for Christmas :)  Or rather New Years...since Amazon.ca is so busy this time of year, apparently my stuff won't arrive till January 5-14!  Oh well...this is the stuff I got:

Schumann & Grieg: Piano Concertos; Leif Ove Andsnes
Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2
Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos Nos. 3 & 4
Shostakovich and Prokofiev: Violin Concertos

Regarding my new textbooks for next semester, my chemistry and physics ones are being used again, so originally I thought that I would only need to buy three textbooks, but the lady brought them over and there was a HUGE STACK of them!

Apparently there's two for molecular/cell biology, a textbook and a random book about mussels for environmental biology, and FIVE for philosophy (they didn't have one of them - I'll have to see where else I can find it) - works by Socrates, St. Thomas Aquinas, etc...weird!  Sounds like a list out of Harry Potter...which, by the way, we're seeing in an hour since my exams are done!

Oh, and I need to finish my 365 Sonnets!  Only 14 left! :)

My barf stories!

I was a rather fragile, easily amused child (how things have changed!).  I used to barf pretty frequently...but I have some pretty special barf moments.

Since the results of my ongoing poll on the right ---> indicates that people like my "stories"...I guess it's only appropriate to barf and tell!  Here are my three favourite BARF STORIES.  100% true and 100% gross!

1. The Jungle Bathtub Barf.  I used to live in Texas when I was about four or five years old.  The weather was always AMAZING...but now...just looking outside at the Canadian snow makes me want to illegally cross the US border...the northern one, that is...

Anyway, back to barf...my kindergarten teacher was this nice lady the kids used to call "Mrs. Broccoli".  We had this gorgeous bathtub in our classroom.  Yes, a bathtub.  It was special and painted like a jungle, complete with leaves, a tiger, parrots, and other amazing Amazonian creatures.

If you were extra good (or one of Mrs. Broccoli's favourites), you got to have nap time in the tub!  The whole year passed before I got a chance to sleep in the special jungle tub even though I was the nicest kid EVER...I guess being the only Asian kid in my class (and one of two in the whole school) didn't work out that well for me?

I was so excited because normally Mrs. Broccoli would come around and check that we're sleeping, but since the walls of the tub were tall enough, no one could see that I wasn't sleeping!  So I spent all of nap time looking all around at the cool painted tub and being so excited because I didn't have to go to sleep like everyone else!

Maybe I was too excited?  I barfed.  Mrs. Broccoli wasn't amused.  It was her only jungle bathtub, after all!

2. The Apple Barf.  I didn't really like to eat things when I was little, and I normally barfed yucky things out.  But I always was (and still am) very polite.

So when I was offered an apple by the host of a Chinese party at a family friend's house...I accepted it.  But I wasn't ready to eat it...since I'd never had a whole apple before and I wasn't really "into" the whole mushy apple business.

Oh well...once I accepted the apple, I had to eat it.  I remember that I was watching my friends play some online game on the computer at the time.  I was chewing the apple and feeling it turn mushy and slimy in my mouth...and after a couple bites, I couldn't swallow the yucky apple stuff in my mouth.

So I decided to spit it out into the garbage can...all of that yellowy-whitish home-made applesauce.  And then I got grossed out by the feeling of having apple guts dripping out of my mouth and seeing mushed up apples, so I started barfing.  Aforementioned party was ruined...

3. The Inside-My-Desk Barf.  So we moved back to Canada when I was about 6 and a half (that's another story entirely...).  After about a year afterward I was in Grade 2 at a private school.  I was in a class of seventeen kids and I sat at the very, very back of the class with a girl named Esmeralda (name changed for privacy reasons).

Esmeralda and I got along reasonably well, but things started to change after..."the barf".

Each of us had a mini-chalkboard with a little blue plastic bowl in our desks.  The bowls had stuff like cloth erasers for the board, chalk, crayons, and other little Grade 2 things.  Esmeralda asked me for a piece of chalk because she didn't have any in her bowl left.

I went looking for some in my desk.  All of sudden...the urge to barf struck...and I vomited all over the inside of my desk.  I emerged from the desk and Esmeralda screamed because there was barf all over my face.  And there was a wooden ruler and other stuff in the desk that was now covered with yellow barf mixed with green and red chunks.

The teacher came and called the janitor over, who arrived with this white powder stuff to clean up the mess and disinfect my desk and the surrounding areas.  And for some strange reason...I can't remember ever speaking to Esmeralda again after that little incident...hmm...?  Was it something I said?

So there you have it...three barf-tastic stories.  Maybe I should have saved them for Halloween!

Nocturnes and Sonatas

So over the past few months I've been fiddling around with some difficult (near impossible?) repertoire from the Romantic era and I've made some progress.  I mean, I've got about 11-ish of the 14 pages of the Chopin Polonaise-fantasie down, but it's still pretty rudimentary after all this time.  I've started some Liszt, like some of the Hungarian Rhapsodies for example, but that's pretty slow too.  Ach.  Takes a lot of stamina to perform too.

So looking through the other music I have, I thought, what's going to feasible to learn?  Since I also volunteer playing piano at a seniors centre, I thought...some loud, frightening Liszt or Chopin is never popular there, so what should I learn?

Here's the stuff I have: Haydn sonatas, Mozart sonatas, Chopin preludes, Beethoven sonatas, Chopin nocturnes, Bach Well-Tempered Clavier Book I, Schubert Impromptus & Moments musicaux, other stuff...

I like Bach, but the prelude-fugue thing isn't so popular with most people (But why?  His invertible counterpoint is GENIUS!).  So two weeks ago, I decided to start with two famous sonatas instead: the "Alla turca" sonata by Mozart and the "Pathetique" sonata by Beethoven.  Both were pretty easy so those didn't take that long to learn and polish up.  Over-played yes, but it's still nice to be able to pull out the "Alla turca" rondo because everyone knows it.

So looking over my repertoire post, I've already made my way through most of Schubert's impromptus and I've learnt a ton of Chopin.  Since I already learned seven of his nocturnes, I thought, "Hey, why not learn them all??"

It's probably going to take a while since there are 21 of them, though I picked up No.'s 1, 3, 4, 7, 10, and 15 rather easily.  Some of them really aren't my cup of tea - some are surprisingly jazzy and really, really progressive. There are some pretty unique technical and harmonic innovations that surface frequently in some of the later nocturnes.  I think it's in No.17 that the melody returns in the A' section all in trills...a really neat effect.  Speaking of jazz...I learnt the Rialto Ripples rag by Gershwin for fun...it only took three tries to get it on its way!

So those should keep me on my toes for the Christmas holidays - or on my fingers, I should say.  No Christmas carols for me!

New baby: future poet?

This morning my mom called overseas to talk to her youngest brother and they told her that their new baby girl had been delivered!  The baby was originally supposed to be delivered on December 11 by caesarean section.  Interestingly enough, the delivery had to take place earlier than expected, so just as I was posting about Emily Dickinson's birthday yesterday on the 10th, it so happens that my new baby cousin shares a birthday with Emily Dickinson!

Pretty neat...and considering that it's also the tiger year, the new baby is a horoscope twin with my favourite poet...which is pretty amazing...and weird at the same time I guess.

So now...the bases are pretty much "fully loaded" - my dad's youngest brother had a baby girl last year in August, and now my mom's youngest brother also had a baby girl!

Happy 180th, Emily!

My favourite poet, Emily Dickinson, turns 180 today.  It's not a birthday that's widely celebrated since her work often comes across as obscure and enigmatic, but that's what fascinates me about her.  She's extremely intelligent but tragically brilliant at the same time.

When I read her poems in my early teens for the first time, I was struck at how succinct and unique and memorable they were.  I always aspire to write like her, but my sonnets are nowhere near as intelligent and well-crafted as her poems.  Still, she inspires me to be better and reminds me that writing can often be one of the best ways to understand yourself and the world around you.

One of her most famous and accessible poems is also one of my favourites - since it's really cheeky in a weird way, and also because it really sums up her feelings about being an "outsider" and a loner.  I feel this way often too - and it's rare to find someone who understands the same feelings of isolation:

I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there's a pair of us — don't tell!
They'd banish us, you know.
How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!

The only time Emily uses the word "birthday" that I could find in my book of The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson is in this fascinatingly elusive poem:

Birthday of but a single pang
That there are less to come - 
Afflictive is the Adjective
But affluent the doom -

For me, it's a fitting poem to read on Emily Dickinson's birthday since it talks about birthdays.  More importantly, it brings up two topics that Emily Dickinson often commented on: death and loss.  For me, this poem both comments on fearing the coming of death as each birthday comes and passes as well as on loss - life can often be seen as a series of losses I guess, and death is the biggest one.

For me, Emily's poems are just so captivating in their darkness, their lightness, their morbidity, their directness, their coyness, their uniqueness...and sometimes I feel like she understands me far better than anyone else does.  Or is it me - am I the one who understands her?

Something interesting to note is that Emily Dickinson and Beethoven have the exact same zodiac sign (Sagittarius Tiger).  Their birthdays are also close - Emily's is on the 10th of December and Beethoven's is on the 17th.  Interesting, no?  Neither of them married and both are now known as typical "tortured geniuses".  I wonder what would have happened if they met?  Unfortunately, I'm not sure Beethoven spoke any English and Emily any German and Beethoven was 60 years older...that might have been a pretty disastrous, if not fateful, meeting.

Well...happy birthday, Emily Dickinson, even if I'm the only who cares for your poems.  I'm a nobody too, and I love, love, love being a nobody.

Exam scare!!

I like to think that I am an intelligent human being...but that tends to make my stupid moments seem just that much more stupid.  So I had my first university final yesterday...chemistry...which was rather fun.  Hopefully I didn't make any dumb mistakes!

Today I was busy studying for my biology final since I did so poorly on that dumb assignment I got semi-blackmailed over.  So today I was reviewing the cardiovascular and GI system, etc. for the final tomorrow.  My mom came to talk to me and asked how things were going, and then I kept studying.

Then she comes back a couple hours later and tells me, "You don't have an exam tomorrow!"  Whattttt...so I checked my own agenda, and sure enough...I don't have my bio final until Thursday morning!  Thank glycolysis for mothers!

Oh well!  The studying had to be done sooner or later anyway! :P

Migrating speed limits?

I'm a little disconcerted...the speed limits keep changing.  Is it a trick?  A prank on innocent civilians?  Though in retrospect, though, it's sort of comical, I have to admit.

The speed limit as I remember always was 80 km/h for a looooong time on this stretch of country road...and then it changed to 50 just past the bridge and after the hill.

A few weeks ago, I was zooming a long at 80, when suddenly the speed limit changed to 50 before the bridge.  Whoops...I'm speeding!  But wait...didn't that used to be after the bridge?

After a few more days, I had realized that it had definitely changed.  I was definitely not going crazy.  Soon I began to appreciate the logic of the speed limit change...going 80 was a little fast over the rickety bridge.  So I made sure I slowed down well in advance.

Then last week or so, I was zipping down the hill before the bridge.  50?!!!!

Ok...ok...so...maybe they want us to slow down in advance now?

Well...I was zipping along at 80 again and what do I see...50?????  HERE???  Then I relaxed when I saw that it was only a "50 begins ahead sign"...but I slowed down anyway.

And then just recently, I have thankfully not seen any more 50 signs...but as I go down the hill, and past the bridge, and down to the houses...there's this BIG honking sign with red numbers...it reads, "YOUR SPEED IS......"

From 56...to 54...to 52...to 51...my speed limit drops quickly as I self-consciously try to slow down even more.  Having everyone know that you're going over 50 is rather embarrassing I guess...and now there's this big thing to remind us how bad we are.

Image source:

theoriginalbman's photostream

So...I'm not sure why we don't have the speed limit for the whole thing changed to 50 km/h?  It's pretty much almost all 50 anyway, and since there's also a big fat sign to tell us we're going too fast in the first place, why not just make us all drive 50 all the time?

Classical Class #8: Concert

I'm SOO excited...I (barely) got tickets to see the French pianist Hélène Grimaud perform in January!  Going to a "classical" concert of any kind always raises questions, but one of the big ones is how do you act and where did these rules come from?  Today we're going to talk about concert etiquette and a little bit about how public concerts started in the first place.

Image source:

http://www.bozar.be/dbfiles/activity/201009/prev_9933_img1.jpg

A video to enjoy: Hélène Grimaud and Vladimir Jurowski perform the second movement (Adagio assai) from Maurice Ravel's fascinating Piano Concerto in G major.  The music that I'll be hearing in her January concert is going on her new CD, Resonances (featuring sonatas by Mozart, Berg, and Liszt as well as Bartók's Roumanian Folk Dances).



Concerts for the public didn't really start happening in the Western world until the Romantic era (in the 19th century).  Before that, there really wasn't a middle class - most people were servants serving the aristocracy and royalty.  However, ever since the decline of the rich and powerful, a rising, steadily richer middle class came into existence - and voilà!  Musicians could be celebrated and heard in concert halls instead of just by kings and queens.  The everyday person could now afford a seat in a concert hall.

So of course we have lots of famous names from this era - Beethoven, Liszt, Chopin, etc. who took Europe by storm.  Liszt especially - in terms of piano performance, he really set the bar high.  He was known to cause women to swoon at his playing, for stimulating changes in the way pianos are constructed, and for placing the piano on its side, so the performer's (hopefully attractive) profile could be seen.

Well, after hundreds years of public concerts...they're really aren't any rules or conventions that have been established, but the demands on the listener in terms of attention span and politeness are definitely different than those at a popular concert.

So...here are some tips.

• Dress: you can be as formal or informal as you want - but you don't usually have to go crazy and wear a tuxedo or dress.  All eyes will be on the star(s), after all - not on you!
• Be polite.  Don't talk or eat during the performance.  Enjoy the music and allow others enjoy it, too.
• Know the program.  Make sure you look over the music being performed.  If it's something like a sonata or symphony, you'll be waiting a while before clapping.  Many pieces are often in movements - count the number of movements and wait until they're all done before clapping.
• When in doubt, wait and look around.  If other people are clapping, clap.  If they're not, don't.
• Most of all, just be yourself.  Don't worry or feel self-conscious!  You don't need to do anything special or really have to understand the music - the music is the magic - enjoy it.

Well, these days...things have certainly changed.  Not only do you have the opportunity to see stars from all over the globe thanks to modern transportation, you don't necessarily even have to go to a concert.  The Metropolitan opera does live HD broadcasts to cinemas worldwide and to TV and you can even see other performances in online concert halls.  One thing is for certain: the music will be the same in concert halls, but the way we experience it definitely won't be!

Who doesn't like a diva?

Prima donna...diva...megastar...these words all bring up images of those stars who get whatever they desire, no matter how extravagant.  I  never thought that I would be one to joining their ranks as a pampered star...but, hey!  People just can't get enough of me!

In truth, real-life classical stars are generally very down to earth (let's not get consider Hollywood's "stars") because going a little cuckoo over nothing can just get in the way of things sometimes.  But it does get you what you want!

Anyway, back to important stuff...ME.  The volunteer coordinator at the seniors centre where I volunteer wanted to ask if I could perform at another event they're having in January.  She wanted to let me know in advance to make sure that I was OK with the date.  They wanted to make sure I could come because I had been specifically requested to play.

That made me smile.  But it also made me realize...if they want me so bad, there's a few "conditions" I'd like met before I go.

So first of all, I got tickets to see the French pianist Hélène Grimaud play in Toronto in January (more about that tomorrow - I'm really excited)!  But it's on the same day as the date they sent me.  What a coincidence!

Another thing...it's being held in the café again, which is a nice, open space.  The only problem is that the piano there has really uneven key weighting and needs a massive tuning session.  Plus it's dusty and old and really hasn't gotten much TLC over the years.  So I wanted to have that addressed too - could they just, you know, buy a new Steinway grand or something? (OK, I wasn't that crazy, but I made it very clear I wasn't playing on that thing again.)

So I waited for an e-mail back and I got two.

The first said how glad they were that I could come and that they changed the date to the next weekend in January.  Just for me. :)

The second told me that they invited a piano tuner over to service the piano.  He agreed that it was in terrible condition (of course).  The volunteer coordinator told me that the tuner wanted to tell me that next time I will notice a BIG improvement. :)  I certainly hope so!

I feel really happy about having people going through so much trouble just for me, but now that I think about it, it isn't that much that I was asking.  It's not about being like a diva, it's about asking politely.  And everyone loves a polite person...who can play some mean Bach (and other things). :)

New neighbours

Once upon a time, I wrote a sonnet about our neighbours from across the street moving away.  Yesterday, our next door neighbours also moved away (by a weird twist of fate) to Edmonton, my hometown.

At around 4:00 PM today, the new family moved in.  Right now, as I'm ready to go to bed, I feel a little weird having these new people next door.  The whole atmosphere of the house has changed and it's going to take a while to get used to.  But at least there won't be any more late-night parties...our old neighbours had twenty-something-year-old daughters who occasionally liked to let loose at midnight...

I remember when we first moved in, a nice lady from across the street came over and brought us an apple pie, somewhat à la Desperate Housewives.  I wonder if she'll do it again.  Or maybe she's just not as curious this time.

I think it's sort of funny how I didn't really think that much about the other family that moved in across the street last year. I guess it's because they're just so far away and I've never really seen them before.  But I've already met the neighbours...or one of them I guess.

Last week, someone rang our doorbell and I went to answer it.  It turned out to be the guy moving in and he wanted to leave his card with us so that my parents would call him back.  He wanted to talk to them about building a special enclosure for his two dogs that reaches up right to our boundary.  We're not really animal people, but it seemed OK with us.

After my dad spoke with him on the phone, he told us that they're a really young family.  The wife's still pregnant and I guess they're sort of just starting out.

I guess it's not really that exciting, but it's still interesting nonetheless.  I guess I'd be the nosy neighbour secretly spying on them through my window?

Colder - inside or out?

Before bedtime, our house's temperature dropped to 19 degrees Celsius...this morning, it was 17, and by the afternoon it was 16.  So is it supposed to be winter outside or inside our house?  Since we were rather worried about the fact that the temperature kept dropping no matter how we tried to adjust it, we called over a guy to fix the problem, but he got caught up and didn't arrive until two hours later, when it was time for supper.

Anyway, it turns out that our air exchange pipe thingy was really dirty, so we weren't able to get much warm air even though we sent it to 25 or something crazy like that.  It just wasn't responding.

So the guy just rinsed it out and it was fine.  And he charged us 100-something dollars for it!  Now at least we know how to clean it...or perhaps know we know that need to clean it in the first place...regularly...considering this is the first time it's been done - ever!

It's sort of nasty, but some of the wood scraps and paint from last year's project was found in the thing after it was cleaned, so maybe that's why my mom and brother were sick for the past month and I've been sick for the past week?  Hopefully not...but today I feel better!

P.S. Today was my last day of lectures, so now I'm free!  Free to study for exams that is...my first one is chemistry and it's on Monday.

Mystère et boule de gomme!

"Mystery and ball of eraser!"...French people have the best sayings, don't they!  In my context, its meaning means "The plot thickens"...and yes, it certainly did today.  If you actually read my rant about my 82.5% yesterday, you know what I'm talking about...but there's more...!  Oooohh...actually it's pretty lame.  But read on if you want to find out what happened.

Today, two weeks later from my lunch date with dad, my group cured malaria.  And guess who was there??  Ms. Course Coordinator Lady.  Yay!

So this is what happened...before the TA's came to asks us questions, we are all standing in front of our projects cowering in fear...and guess who comes to visit every group for the only purpose of grilling us and intimidating us before the thing even began?  Lovely Ms. Course Coordinator Lady!

She started with the group right next to us.

She started with an easy one..."How did your group make the most of the integration required for this assignment and how were tasks delegated in order to maximize group efficiency?"


I felt terrible just watching their jaws drop.  She stood there all satisfied with herself, her steely eyes gleaming triumphantly.  Abusing defenseless first-years IS how she gets her kicks everyday!

What's funnier is that after her first session of torturing, she pretended she became temporarily blind and casually skips my group!  Ha!  Chicken!  She waltzes over to the next group and begins Interrogation #2.  Etc.

I actually burst out laughing, and of course, I told my group what happened between Ms. Course Coordinator Lady and me.  At any rate, we were glad she skipped us.

Anyway, I was in the washroom when the actual TA came, but I came back just as my group was in the middle of muddling things up, so I quickly saved the day by re-explaining their parts, etc. etc., doing the things an overachieving Asian does.

Anyway, some of my other friends came to talk to me after.  When I asked them how it went, they all started with, "Well, this really INTENSE lady came and asked us really hard questions..."  I laughed, especially when one friend described Ms. Course Coordinator Lady's eyes as "lasers of DOOM".

I just had to all of them my ordeal...after all, the more I share my story, the quicker she loses her job...woops...I mean...uh...

Anyway, I think the plot has thickened quite enough already.  But university is boring enough without petty academic drama...after all, maybe this is how I get my kicks everyday!