a day in the life of piano monkey

it's been somewhat uncreative days as far as blogging is concerned. it's always on the edge of my mind, as it does make me happy to share thoughts to not-so-random-public.  and there has been much conversations with monkey surroundings, things that speak audibly and things that speak silently. but it does take a fair bit of time to adjust and assess thoughts, then put it down.  perhaps couple new small habits are getting in the way?  it is a weird thing, one can stay out from home for a long time and do many hours of 'work,' however, being a freelancer means that one does whole bunch of different things in the day.  there are less familiarity with the days- if i was working at an office, for instance, i would have some constants: co-workers, my (rigidly confined) tasks/responsibilities, geographical logistics (path to work, home, favorite coffee spot, pick-me-up-bakeries, my working area, etc).  but often such things, taken granted and even despised once in awhile (by

it's another full moon. a lenten moon.  shrove tuesday have passed and those who observe, has been marked with small reminder on forehead: ashes.  though the city has been sprinkled with green bits celebrating st. paddy's day, which turns itself into a weekend-long celebration, there is a definite scent of solemn silence.  it's a funny thing isnt it- st. patrick's day somehow became a reason to drink silly and be less-responsible.  however st. patrick was promoted largely to create pro-christian slant to the pagan irish, initially.  but supposedly in this world where there must be no co-relation of religion and society (which is impossible anyways), st. paddy may be happy enough to be recognized, even for selling another pint of guiness. memento pulvis es, et pulverem reverteris (genesis 3:19). in one of the most important book of western civilization, the bible, we are reminded of the 'end,' that to dust, we shall return. there has been much stories of unea

Hiroaki Ohno/Yomiuri Shimbun, via Associated Press average price (in yyz, recent as possible, in canadian dollars) pint of decent beer: 7  a bottle of crap beer: 4 a 'good' burger: 7.5 'good' fries: 3 a fast food meal combo: 7 ttc one-way ride: 2.5-3 weed: 10 per gram movie at big theater: 13 movie at crap theater: 5-10 condom big-pack (12): 10-15 cell phone plan (month): 60 functional meal (nothing fancy): 7 itunes song: 1-1.2 bottle of wine: 12 pack of fags: 9 money spent on 1st date: 25-50 a bottled water: 1.5 cup of coffee: 2 burrito: 9 1 canadian dollar : 80 japanese yen it is pain to carry a sandwich or go without a cup of coffee in the afternoon. yes.  it's nice to be able to afford that second pint at your local fav brewery.  what's a burger without fries?  no one said you should go without shelter or even starve a meal.  most likely, a univ student or a full time worker is likely to skip a meal because of lack of time.  home packed lunches dont s

the whole week flew by and i thought: friday, i shall finish the week and catch my sanity.  so i dragged self up early in the morning to cram mahler 1 for the class i work for. yawning, i had my eyes barely open, toothbrush stuck in my mouth, clicking through the daily emails, spams, scheduling and special online doctoral degree offers (somehow they have stopped sending me penis adverts. i wonder what caused that).  and as a proper farcebook sucker (i cant help it. i do like looking at it multiple times in a day, just to see how everyone is... or just to snoop, an honest answer), i started to eavesdrop on my friends... then a surprise: magnitute 8.9 (max 9.1) earthquake in japan. the farcebook was scattered with comments from friends, hoping and looking for footages or news from tokyo (where they are staying for next couple days) or yokohama (the concert venue they were on way to).  apparently the quake struck while the coach was on the suspension bridge. beside video footages of se

as a person who loves to eat, i do understand the dire importance of ‘moving.’  well, because we are animals, moving should be the integral part of our lives- however, the motivation for comfort often sabotages the lifestyle we require (to be functional), it often becomes a huge chore- to live the way that we are built to live.  for instance, i hate going to the gym in the evening; all i want to do once the sun is down is to borrow into a hole called home and do not much. Im not a big partier nor i ever enjoyed things like pub crawl or club hopping.  gimme a good bowl of food and a book/internet, im a happy bunny, albeit a fat one. so, instead of eating less and moving more (which would be greatly beneficial for the world), i tend to eat more and move a bit.  once in awhile, after holidays, especially, i get on the scale and get motivated to: move more.  never-ever i try to eat less, haha. some things are just too enjoyable, i suppose.  today is fairly clear day for monkey; though i

this is the infamous audition week: all kinds of people auditioning at the music school- i overheard that there are more than 600 auditions to be fitted in the months of february and march.  it makes playing the piano look like a seasonal gig.  and yes, it certainly is. people are flying with their instruments, driving hours with their parents, little kiddies making their first trip alone, the nerves, excitement, forgetfulness that resulted in missing scores for the audition panel, mistaken times, the triumph of playing it 'right' for the first time during audition- it's a very colourful  time. and i, piano monkey and other pianists are very busy as on top of auditions, there all kinds of recitals, recordings and projects.  usually september is so quiet you can hear the fly sing. march, you cant hear anything since everything is roaring loud. not just the music. but of transits. logistics and... ego. five days ago, i got an email late night. someone is looking for a pi