One Thousand and One Nights

Couple of TASO concerts coming up! Our main events for this season. Here's the poster and more detailed info:

TASO concert! Wed 1.12 at the University of Tampere. I'll be performing!! Hope to see you there :)

Jämsä concert:
- Seppolan koulu (Seppola school hall)
- su 28.11 klo 15 (Sun 28.11, 3pm)

Tampere concert:
- Tampereen yliopiston juhlasalissa (University of Tampere Hall)
- ke 1.12 klo 19 (Wed 1.12, 7pm)

Works we're performing at both:
- Mendelssohn: The Hebrides Overture, Op. 26
- Strauss: Horn concerto No. 1 in E-flat major, Op. 11
- Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade, Op. 35

Tickets are 15/5 € at the door!

Here's my "performance record" since joining the orchestra in early May this year:

May 21 -- my first time performing with TASO. No "audience" as we were up in the balcony of Tampere's City Hall, playing background dance music for University of Tampere's (Doctorate?) graduation ball.

Sept 2 -- first time with an audience, although not a public concert. It was for University of Tampere's 50th anniversary celebrations. We played some excerpts of Sibelius' works plus Maamme (Our Country).

Nov 13 -- yet another private event, but my first "concert trip" ever (i.e. more than an hour away, and traffic-jams in Singapore doesn't count). We premiered a symphony at KNL's assembly for their chairman.

Nov 28 -- this will be my first public performance with TASO! People will buy concert tickets to hear us play. Also another road-trip, but a shorter one compared to Kouvola.

Dec 1 -- if some of my friends are willing to attend, this is going to be my first time playing in front of people I actually know! At least in Finland... although it's been so long since I've done this, I hope I won't get too nervous and make stupid mistakes. It's really easier to perform in front of people you don't know. Then again it isn't as rewarding :)

So please come and support us and enjoy a lovely evening of beautiful music! You haven't lived if you haven't heard Scheherazade at least once live! It's just a magical piece... I get stirred with emotions by it almost every rehearsal! Hopefully I can keep it together during the concert and save the tears-bursting for later :D

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Update 27/11/2010:

Created a FB event page here, please RSVP, would be nice to know who's coming!

Mr. Nobody

Nothing too exciting over the remainder of the weekend. Did two large loads of laundry yesterday, attempted to clean the apartment but only got the dishes done, and daydreamed ... well, mostly thinking about the movie I watched the previous week with Jessica. A movie about making choices - Mr. Nobody.

Choices. There are probably several distinct turning points in our lives when we are faced with major decisions that affect our lives drastically. How do we go about making the "right" choice when the outcome is so hard to predict? Then again, if we knew exactly how each choice will turn out, would that make it easier to decide? This movie explores the idea of choice (and even "not choosing", which I think is still a choice) with interesting references to the butterfly effect (just a small, seemingly minor choice/action/deviation can lead to unexpectedly different result), the big bang/crunch theory and even string theory. In other words, awesome movie for a geek like me who happens to be pondering choices in her life too.

The side effect from the above exercise was that I spent quite a few hours googling / wikipeding / reading up and refreshing my mind with the theories of Quantum mechanics, parallel universes, etc. etc. Now I'm reminded as to why I didn't pursue theoretical physics. As much as I am interested/intrigued by all these, just some "light reading" on a weekend is enough to make my head spin and feel 10x as big (as if it's not big enough already).

But back to the movie. So this Mr. Nemo Nobody recounts the 3 lives he seems to have lived, each resulting from a different choice/decision. I won't give away too much of the plot here, except to say that the interweaving between the different realities/lives is very well executed. Both cinematographically (is that a word?) and musically effective. And overall very thought-provoking, a big plus in my book, for I'll remember this movie much longer than some big-bang-boom blockbuster. I'll definitely revisit it sometime. The only thing I didn't really like was how he arrived with his choice of the life with the Asian wife, and how disinterested he was in her and their kids and even his own life in that alternative timeline. You don't know what you're missing dude! Well of course it wasn't her fault or anything but more due to the events leading up to that decision. Still, a somewhat stereotypical play - boring asian, neurotic blonde, leaving the brunette to be pretty much his "true" love.

Another side track... I didn't really notice this before, but Jared Leto is hot! Oooh those eyes. A couple years ago someone mentioned that Jaakko (guy I used to date) looks like him. I don't quite see the resemblance, nonetheless both of them are extremely cute :) Toby Regbo as young Nemo looks yummy too; and he'll be portraying the teenage Dumbledore in the next Harry Potter film. More eye candy, yay!

Crushed

Boo. There's a ring. He's taken. Now I need to find another target for my infatuation.

That was the realization from earlier on today. No, I'm not crushed by my crush. I haven't gone in that deep yet :P The crush was actually a diversion for me. I realized that I haven't properly dealt with the raw emotions from my recent break-up. I thought I was "handling it well". I thought wrong.

It wasn't even that long a relationship. What was it, 6 months? And with us living in different countries we didn't get to see each other that often either. But if you know me, you'd know that there's no loving "just a little" for me. Once I'm committed to a relationship, I'd give it my all. I can't hold back, I don't know how.

I should have pulled in the reins much earlier. The warning signs were there, including some that reminded me of my ex-husband. Then again, nobody is perfect. So second chance, third chance... No more. I made a promise to myself when I got divorced that I will not let someone else treat me like that again. I broke that promise. Now it's time to fix it.

Except it still hurts. The reins were still pulled too late. Getting busy helped - traveling, best friend's wedding, hanging out with friends, work issues, orchestra (filled with cute musicians), volunteering for Meego community, Finnish lessons... - up to a point. I even fooled myself into thinking I'm ok, that I can have a crush on someone else already. When that didn't work out (see first paragraph), what did I do? Listen to sappy love songs during the ride back from the Kouvola concert. Big mistake. Or maybe not... well I mean I have to deal with these emotions sooner or later, although in a bus with 40 other people was probably not the best time and place to do it.

Anyway, I'm still waiting for the tears to fall (as I had to hold them back just now). Hopefully I'll feel better then, coz I'm definitely not feeling good now. I want to believe that I deserve better, but it seems all the good guys are already taken (esp those around my age). Then again what does that say about me, since I'm also "left on the shelf", so to speak?

Received an sms from a friend just now, saying he misses the smiling and happy Carol. I miss her too. I don't like this Carol with the fake smile. How can I help bring her back?

For now the more pressing question is: who shall I have a crush on next? (another diversion wouldn't hurt, right? right?)

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Update (30 minutes later): writing is cathartic indeed. Maybe even more effective than tears. I feel somewhat better already.

Linja-autossa on tunnelmaa

We spent almost 6 hours on the bus today. Not quite Kummelin tunnelmaa, but it wasn't too bad (for me at least). I napped most of the way there (since I had to wake up around 7:30 to get ready and stuff) and listened to sappy love songs on the way back (more on that maybe in next post).

These orchestra kids love to read! I saw many of them with books on the bus journey. Even during rehearsals I see some of them with paperbacks, consuming a paragraph here and there during appropriate breaks. Or is it true of Finnish kids in general? I suppose they talk less and read more?

We arrived at Kouvola city hall slightly ahead of schedule, only because at the last minute our chairman told us to meet (in Tampere) half an hour earlier than previously planned to account for winter driving conditions and speed limits. There was enough time to warm up a bit and even for some people to change. I didn't want to risk having to rush so I was already changed and ready. Was a tad little nervous about the timpani because we didn't bring our own. Needed to familiarize myself with the borrowed ones...

Fortunately we were allowed a run-through beforehand. The timpani was nicely in tune, although it sounded flatter the louder I played. I didn't have the luxury of time to learn the nuances of the instrument so I just had to make the best of it. The run-through went very well, perhaps even slightly better than when we had an audience later. Nerves maybe? I know it wasn't my best rendition of the pieces during the actual performance, but at least I didn't make any mistakes. Nonetheless the composer (KNL's chairman) seems pleased with our performance of his work and arrangements. And his symphony kinda grew on me a bit. Parts of it, not the whole piece, yet still interesting.

After playing we were fed some food. The food wasn't bad but there was barely enough for all of us. I was one of the last ones in line and had to scrape the tray for the last bit of rice. When we were done eating we just packed up and left. No idea how the KNL assembly was going (it's all in Finnish anyway so makes no difference to me). Got a window seat on the way back, was hoping to see a little more of Kouvola (stopped by here last year for food shopping before heading to friend's summer cottage in Jaala) and scenery along the way, but it got pretty dark pretty quickly. It wasn't even 4pm!!

Ride from Kouvola to Attila was uneventful. However on the bus from Attila back home, a creepy old guy who smelled weird (don't think it's alcohol, not sure what...) got on and sat next to me. There were so many available seats! Why me? He seemed to be inching his way closer to me as well. Luckily my timpani sticks were sticking out of my bag far enough to prevent him from getting too close, but still he kept nudging against my sticks. Why? Why? If it's uncomfortable, go sit somewhere else! There's plenty of room!

Now resting my feet (that have been in high-heeled boots all day) and burping pizza. Contemplated going out again, but only briefly. Right now I'd rather hear the rain/snow hitting my window than hitting my face.

Wait, I think this is my first concert trip as a performer! As in traveling and performing in a different city than the ensemble's home location. I mean, Singapore is so small, different "cities" don't count. And I don't remember having performed outside of the Dallas area. Well, another concert road-trip coming up in 2 weeks - shorter one to Jämsä. Looking forward to it!

T.G.I.F.

Had Finnish class last night. I am making improvements but need to study more by myself instead of just flipping through the book right before class. Yesterday we went through some present perfect and past perfect tenses, as well as pronouns. There's this Chinese guy in class who didn't speak much English. I tried to explain the stuff to him but my Chinese skills are insufficient. Or is it that Chinese grammar is in fact insufficient to explain the above? There are no tenses, so how do I explain the perfect tense? And pronouns... how do you translate "whom/whose" to Chinese? Or explain the "which" in this sentence - 'The car, which I drive, is old.'

Apua. (Help.)

Typing this in a new browser - RockMelt. Pretty nifty, clean interface, based on Chrome. Haven't found it extremely useful, plus there's no Linux version yet so I can't run it on my home laptops. Will probably just use it as a light social browser on my work laptop.

So, Friday is here. Sauna soon. Might go for the "International coffee house" meetup after that, but not staying out too late as I've to be up early tomorrow for the road trip to Kouvola for the performance.

Have a good weekend!

Shopping for percussionist's accessories

Thomann cyberstore is dangerous!! Just a few clicks and see what I ended up with 10 days later:

Early Christmas for Carol

Big box but luckily not too heavy. Had to pick it up from the post office and lug it back home myself. And now let's take a peek at what's inside:

On the left we have 2x timpani damper pads, a cute drumsticks key-fob, and a Meinl drumsticks holder; all on the Meinl percussion tray. On the right is an electronic snare practice pad (Millenium SPP-3). In total about 150€ including shipping. Before this another 100€ or so for 2 new pairs of mallets (since joining TASO) and a music stand. All these and I haven't bought any instruments yet!

In addition, since the black top and pants I've been wearing for performances are pretty old, I thought I'd treat myself to a new outfit (or a new top at least). Went shopping a couple of times this week and here's my loot:

Hehe :P I really tried to focus on just looking for a black top! But the purple items are so distracting. In my defense the sweater + dress combined is still slightly cheaper than the blouse (which is 35€ - saved 5€ with a coupon). However I'm not too sure about the ruffled sleeves... not my style. Might return it after all. But I'm keeping the purples!

Need to find cheaper interests/hobbies... between my lust for cameras & other gadgetry, my craving for exploring all corners of the earth, my desire to learn to fly a plane etc. => I'll never have any savings! Might as well die early so I don't have to worry about retirement. Oh I'm not even done with music yet, I still want a grand piano and a (maybe electronic) drum set.

I'm thinking of taking skydiving lessons next year. They're not cheap but still cheaper than the pilot route. If I don't get to fly a plane, at least I still get to fly. Gotta let my dream take flight!

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Update 20/11/2010:

Black top returned to Vila store. The search continues...

Dark November - revisited

Well, ok, yet another post about the weather. But at least this time with some pics :) We've had quite a bit of snow over the past couple of days (mostly in the evenings/overnight), at least more than I remember for the month of November. Plus still seeing a bit of sun in the morning, so the initial one-third of November hasn't been too dark yet. Although this can quickly change...

Anyway, enough words. Onto the pics. First one from two nights ago:

Car on life support

Next one from yesterday on my way to work - I even needed sunglasses!

Sunny and -3C. Pretty blanket of fresh snow. If only every winter's day is like this!

Lastly, here's one from my way home just now from the city center. The snow was coming down pretty hard, and sideways, thus hitting my face giving me a free facial. My footprints on fresh snow:

H is for Haughty Horn

We had a full day's rehearsal yesterday (Sunday) and then our regular rehearsal this evening. I'm enjoying every minute of it. A big reason is of course that it's been my dream for a long time to play again in an orchestra. And while I know I won't be able to play in a professional one, this is a really good amateur orchestra and I'm so thankful they accepted me :)

This weekend, we're going to Kouvola to perform at the opening ceremony of some assembly event for Kokoomuksen Nuorten Liitto (Youth League of the National Coalition Party). It's not a public concert, KNL hired us to premier a symphony composed by their 24 year-old chairman Wille Rydman. While we're not a professional orchestra (i.e. the players don't get paid, in fact we have to pay membership fees), the orchestra still need operating expenses (salary for the conductor, purchase of sheet music, transporting instruments and people for events, renting instruments and players when needed, refreshments for rehearsals etc. etc.). So it's great we can get paid gigs like this. And I'm happy because the percussion section is benefiting quite a bit from all these. When I joined in April, we only had a set of timpani (which was also just purchased last year). Now we have a snare drum, bass drum, cymbals and a few auxiliary instruments. Maybe more to come!

Another reason (for enjoying the rehearsals so much, especially recently) is - and I surprised myself upon realizing this - that I think I have a crush on someone in the orchestra ;) What to do? I've always had a thing for musicians. And now I see this group of wonderful musicians every week... it was only a matter of time! Heheh...

Oh I've only just learned the details of this Northern European Note system (originated from Germany). For a while there I was wondering how do I play note "H" on the timpani?? In my many years of making music I've never heard of an "H" note, only A to G. I listened to the recordings and figured out for myself that H = B, and B = B-flat. Confusing, right? And they use -es and -is to indicate flats and sharps, e.g. Fis and Ges. A couple of times I heard the conductor asking some player to play the Es note, and I thought -- what? "S" note? yet another note I've never learned??

This wiki entry cleared up the confusion for me. Should have checked it earlier. Felt inadequate for the longest time due to this :P

We'll be playing a horn concerto by Strauss in the upcoming concerts at the end of the month. The horn soloist came to rehearse with us these couple of days. No denying that he's a good player, but I didn't care much for his attitude. Even though I didn't understand too much of the Finnish he was saying, it seemed that he was trying to tell Kimmo (the conductor) how to conduct and the players how to play the piece. That's not his job!! When you play in an orchestra, you respect the music director! Sure, different people have different interpretations of a piece, but if you want it played your way, go find an orchestra to conduct! I happen to like Kimmo's interpretations. If the horn soloist really had strong objections, he should have voiced them to Kimmo during a break or something instead of taking over and directing the orchestra what to do. Not sure what the conductor thought, perhaps he didn't mind as they are colleagues (both play for the Tampere Philharmonic), but at least to me it looked very disrespectful. I don't think I've seen another soloist do that.

Anyway, I simply adore the pieces we'll be playing for the Jämsä and Tampere concerts. If you're coming to those concerts, I hope you enjoy listening to them as much as I do playing them!