a day in the life of piano monkey

my wee old granny went with me today, venturing out to the cold, with her new shiny shoes, riding taxis in town, i took her out for a bit of air, as i definitely know how to show a girl a good time for a friday night. she is hopefully now asleep, under the florescent lights as doctors will take a look at her heart, heart made of love, just bit worn on the corners, enough to show what she's made out of- soft fibres, weaved and worked, with feathers of life, fragile and beautiful. she'll be back home before the year of the dragon- i pray. my wee granny, who i love  and she will return to family, who she loves. *my granny had a wee heart attack it seems. we'll know better once tests are done. but thanks everyone for warm wishes. she's 87 years old and i was happy to think she was the brightest, sharpest lady in the entire ward. hooray. what a class act!

three years ago today, i met a sleepy minnow in amidst of electronic music. on 4 january 2009, i arrived to banff centre, my home for the year.  i have not played much piano for a long while since i finished my degree and it was all a big surprise to find myself in one of the world's greatest place- for arts but more importantly, for humanity. after finishing my doctoral degree, i enjoyed working at the coffee shop (the regular 5am - 130pm full day shift for the type A financial district crowd, mon-fri...) and i wondered what i should do with life. i did think hard about going into the corporates ladder within starbucks.  i told self that i did not miss music that much. and three years ago today, i was getting ready to play a suite in a public concert on next day (which i havent done since i played my last doctoral recital), day full of practice and rehearsals, sharing personal tales and ideas with total strangers who i just met- only because we were all there with...

this winter, we have decided that it would be grand to open the new year with a banging smashing concert.  no lollipops and potpourris, though they can be nice.  but there's something about a good meaty joint and a glass of robust barolo... i am quite fortunate to have friends who are generous.  the best kind, really- we share normal things such as food and ride-to-work.  we, however, are extra lucky that we can share something so intimate- music.  for me, it's a different experience playing with chinley friends, as they are mature boys (and hopefully girls as well, for next concert!) who are willing to take the risk of 'playing,' not just rehearsing.  surely, every 'go' has it's own spots and scratches, but we are able to go on as a group, to strive to make music- without clinging onto it and therefore holding it back from the audience from the full experience.  and the fact they work in a great orchestra means several things- including somewhat s...

another year is going and another one is starting. however, depending on which calender is being referred you may still be in the old pools of days- like a puddle, collected drops of rain, dew, from the sky, now on the ground. and then it will dry up when the sun comes out (though it seems highly unlikely at the moment, thanks to damp winter), floating till the next chance it finds to descend down- whether it may be a sweet drink for a thirsty plant or another drop from the bucket of soggy winter sky. however, one must keep in mind that even a simple water drop can be transformed into something magial- like the new stream that just came up one day in the cracken edge (the back hill from small wee house of ours in uk).  no one knows where it came from- but it's quite busy one, alive and fresh- just starting to carve out its own path along the soft earth and the hard rocks that creates memorable silhouette of the rocky teeth of cracken edge (which is so different from all the oth...