a day in the life of piano monkey

today was the last day of the instrumental jury accomp. thanks to everyone who has kindly invited me to be part of their prep and presentation. i honestly did enjoy every bit of playing we did together, with every ONE of you and i really am happy to learn more about each persons- and special thanks to the first year students: thanks for trusting me with a 'new step.' there are many able and great pianists in this big city, so to be asked to be the 'wingman' is a great honour. and i hope you felt supported, cared and respected, as a colleague.  yes, colleague, as equals. have a great summer, most of you (expt you poor buggers who has chamber exam on the END OF THE MONTH HAHAHA), and looking forward to next phase of recitals as well! imma lucky kid.

haha, hard to tell whether it's for a child or a senior. today, dad,mom,granny were at home, meeting up with the social worker, i was phoning in. the request for this meeting came quite suddenly, as there's a possibility that a bed may be free for granny at a local nursing home. *yeah this is the shouty lady. granny's 94, turning 95. she's been living a long time, long enough that she is now shrinking. i remember that day i realized that i was taller than her. woot. now she's at least head shorter than i am. her rings are so big now that she has put yarns around the ring to pad them up. hehe. she sometimes forgets stuff now, and though she is quite lucid, sometimes she says unrelated things, like a little kid. when i hold her hands, it's quite tiny. and i have small hands. mom's in late 60s and while dad's seeking freedom (?) at work, she takes care of granny at home. sometimes she's about to lose her mind, but i guess we all do fe

scene 1: urgent call req from social worker for granny's nursing home stuff (we are on waitlist), i keep telling to social worker to speak softer, i cant hear her (old phone, older lady, heavy accent)*holy compression, so she shouts on the phone. i ask her to speak softer, slower, while she shouts to me that shes gotta speak up so i can hear her. hilarious. effort: 10/10 efficiency: 0/10 ---------------------------------------------- scene 2: about 12 hours later, me wearing my winter coat in the house, sitting by the desk. roomie enters. roomie: why are you wearing your coat? me: cold? roomie: cold? *goes to check temp/heater me: no no no, leave it. roomie: you are cold? me: no no no, im just eating unhealthy amo of ice cream. it's warmer this way. priorities. ---------------------------------------------- congrats to joey, chiara, thomas and chelsea for a lovely sax rep play though! and i went home and ate ice cream in my coat. ha ha.

sometimes it takes me quite a bit of time to get a day sorted. for today, i was to cruise through four different locations for four different stuff- and i was so proud when it was all organized.... today turned out to be hilarious instead. so i thought it was worthy of note. proposed plan was: before 930am meeting: 5km run@y 930-1030am meeting: psych assessment (client+psychiatrist)@dundas square -grace through ttc to school (15 min max) 11-12 noon: jury run through for A 12-1 : rehearsal for B 1-2 : rehearsal for C -grace through ttc to union station (15 min max) 230-430 : translation meeting (client+lawyer)@ front st -grace through ttc to branksome (20 min) 5-6 : teach a lesson for D -return to school, get brain sorted, 7-9 : recital for dearest meredith. i thought it was a work of art. then the day actually happened like this: before 930am meeting: rushed 5km run@y, overslept so had to run faster than i wanted, 930-1030am meeting: client got on bus, then

whoa sorry blog, it's been ten days since i could not.. get... to.... you..... ive been buried a little bit, with extra work from all sides. i am very happy to be part of many different things in life, but this means also that im running around more than usual, and that without people's support, i would be, well, crying in the stairwell at the moment. or at least once a day. HAHA. fortunately, that never happened. and i feel supported, loved and cared for. and yeah, lots of laughter. that always helps. so here it is, a bit thanks list: matt g, thanks for your humour. you crack me up. it's always good to see you. arianna, thanks for your grace and poise. share some if you have extra. meredith, prepping for your 4th year recital is a priority for me this wknd and i am so happy to be part of your journey here at utoronto. you were always beautiful (music and person-wise) and i am so happy for monday! mateo g, thanks for your humour, esp. last saturday when i just c

on such a grey raining day, there's nothing better than a hot dinner. minnow's visiting so we met up at union and brought him home. during this busy week, he'll be floating around, saying hullo in person. how nice is that! it is so easy to head out in this town to catch a grub. in fact, if you do it well enough, it's actually cheaper to eat out than cook 'according to the recipe' for one/two persons. we, however, came home and made simple din that took us 20 min today. and talked of small things, like new beer selections at the LCBO. my hot dinner had a warm company and for next few days, minnow'll be sipping into the small cracks in the day loads, in between stuff to do, and that makes me happy. like a simple home made pot stew, served on top of simple rice.

there it was, easter! i quite missed the grandness of the religious services, or lounging around that one does after a big communal meal. but i did get some slow practice in, which really did make me happy. i often take in too many things to do, because i really do like being with people. but that also means that i am quite tightly packed schedule of run-arounds. especially when in switching out around playing, translating, tech work and gawd knows what, it takes a bit of time for each 'things.' i run about 5 days a week, 5km a time at the mo (it used to be 6 miles per session in in 20s, but trying to cut down for wear/tear and also time management), and i try to use the run to practice. i practice phrasing. it sounds grand, but it's quite simple. i sometimes to 6 miles per hour, half hour. or 7 miles per hour, 25 min. or 4 miles per hour, 45 min. or i move it around. first 5 min at 6 miles. (0.5 miles) then 3 min at 8 miles. (0.4 miles) then 2 min at 6 m

my nose's been running pretty amazingly. ultra marathon grade, surely. until two days ago: why do people buy these 4 packs of kleenex boxes? that's too much. today: i shouldve asked someone to take me to costco so i can buy more kleenex. my nostril is feeling raw, and what people call post-nasal drip feels more like that flash flood in basement apartment during summer drench. i can cough so resonant that i could probably get a gig as a subwooper for next few days. i blame this on my occupation. it's still winter and temp just dropped again. so i cant really turn pages so easily (photocopied pages are the worst for sticking together, thanks to static. this is a REAL THING, static + printers) https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/02/12/why-paper-jams-persist so in desperation, i often lick my right index finger tip. and yeah, sometimes my finger, which has been playing on communal pianos, have a 'taste.' i dont even know how many what i have ing