Monday, November 30, 2009
Closing down a month
Well, there's only twenty more minutes in November.
Aside from blogging 30 times this month, almost even on the proper days, I don't really feel like I accomplish much in November. School flew by because I didn't really have any assignments. Now I have a presentation and a paper left, and that's all I have to do before I leave for Winnipeg.
I feel like I should have something profound to say, but I don't.
Just that I'm looking forward to the end of term, the start of new projects, and the new year.
Sunday's Post - NaBloPoMo's Penultimate
Once again, I don't seem to have a schedule that allows for regular, daily blogging. Nevertheless, I kept up and there's a post for every day of the month!
This was not the most productive weekend, but it was enjoyable. I did some practicing for the concert, which I'll post about in the next entry, and a little bit of work on my presentation, but not enough of anything. I was somewhat social, but I was also fairly hermitty.
I met with my poet again, and this time it was more social. I really enjoy conversing with him. We have a shared sense of artistic ideology which I haven't felt like I had in common with anyone since I was involved with the dance improv scene in Winnipeg. Long story short, it's a good feeling and I'm glad to have like-minded artists around!
I've emailed a few people, and it seems like there won't be a festivus this year, at least not with the group that I usually celebrate with. This seems like the year that many high-school friends are just not coming back to Winnipeg. I can't blame people, but it will be a different Christmas this year. My sister and brother-in-law are going to Thailand for the holidays, so it's just going to be me and my parents. At least I'll get more work done....
Saturday, November 28, 2009
I spent far too much time yesterday updating my website.
Really, I only changed one thing - updated from mp3 samples to full streaming audio.
Check it out: www.michaelpark.ca
I'd previously used myspace as my audio hosting, but now I can have it all available on my website - I feel much more professional.
This evening, I get to help babysit a friend's three year-old daughter. She's super cute, and with three babysitters, I'm sure it will be lots of fun and fairly low-key.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Friday is techno-savvy blogging day!
It's Friday evening and I'm staying in to get some work done. You know you're a grad student when...
Actually, I passed up a pot-luck tonight, which is very much out-of-line for a grad student.
I've been fussy and cranky lately - not exactly sure why, but I'm just feeling like I'm wanting to be a bit anti-social this weekend.
After some troubles with proprietary audio file types today, I put some recordings up of my latest performance last month.
They are available on my myspace page, but since I'm getting more and more techno-savvy, here it is, embedded!
First and Second Movements
Third Movement
Fourth and Fifth Movements
I play another concert on Monday - also through the UBC Contemporary Players, but this time the piece is quite a bit shorter. I hope to have a recording available a little bit sooner than it appeared this time around
Thursday post
Happy Thanksgiving... if you're American.
On a Thursday - really?!?
I don't get these Americans. One of my good Vancouver friends is American, so we had a makeshift Thanksgiving dinner tonight. 2 of the 3 present were Vegetarians, so it was a non-turkey event, which is fine.
The menu:
Appetizer: Artichoke dip with Tostitos: The chips were surprisingly salty. The dip was rich and delicious.
Mains/Sides:
-Sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top: I was confused about why they needed so much sweetness. Brown sugar AND pure sugar on top... was a bit much for me. I would have preferred nice creamy mashed potatoes, but this was a meal to help our American friend feel less home-sick.
-Green Bean casserole: mushroom soup and french-fried onions. Even though I'm not a huge bean fan, I actually would have preferred them just plain with butter.
-Stuffing: after my roommate made it with the directions from the box, we realized that we had spent 3 dollars on a box of croutons! Nevertheless, it was ok with the gravy.
-Stuffed Red Peppers: This was my contribution. The stuffing was mixed beans, tomatoes, spinach, onion, tomato sauce and chili powder. They turned out pretty good, not that anyone else would know.
I am not the easiest person to offend, but tonight my feelings were hurt. Neither of my friends even tried the peppers they were served.
It's not just the fact that the food went to waste (I'll eat the leftovers, but stuffed peppers are never as good after they've cooled), but it was fairly clear that they assumed they would be bad, so they didn't even try them - essentially telling me that my food wasn't even worth trying!
After I had tried my pepper (I tried it last on my plate, after everyone else's...) they asked me how it was. I replied modestly, 'it's okay", because, what kind of douche would reply 'oooh, the peppers I made are superb, you simply must taste my deliciousness!'
Oh ya,
We had peach/blueberry pie from Safeway. It was sugary and delicious.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
I'm a fairly slow composer. It takes me longer than I'd like to get the ideas I have down on the page. At the same time, I usually have the whole piece conceived and planned out in the pre-planning stage, when the pencil is just starting to hit the page.
I get bogged down by the idea that so little of the piece is on paper, that I feel like I'm always behind. Today, my lesson was a nice reminder that that's not true!
In my lesson, my prof complimented me on how organized I was and lamented about how she wished all her students put that much thought into their pieces.
It's not like I'm going to take this as license to stop writing things down altogether... but it was nice to have my compositional method reaffirmed.
Labels: composition
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
As much as I don't like to identify with bachelor lifestyle, I fully embrace the practice of (almost) never making my bed.
Of course, I know how and do it from time to time, but I'm just not willing to make it into part of my daily routine.
Soon, I need to invest in the proper sized sheets - my mother bought me 2 sets, both of which are king sized and I have only a double bed. On the one hand, the fitted sheet fits perfectly over both the mattress and box-spring, but I can't tuck in the flat sheet at all, and there's a lot left to be tucked in.
The other problem is that, Feng Shui be damned, I have my bed in a corner. With one side against the wall, it makes the bed-making process rather obnoxious.
Ok, that's enough random dribble.
Back to composing.... random dribble.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Only one more week of NaBloPoMo
NaBloPoMo is reminding me why, every once in a while, I think of killing the blog altogether.
Forcing myself to write something everyday shows just how little of worth I have to say on here.
I lost my bank card a few days ago, so I had to go all the way across town to a PC Financial pavilion to get a new one. I love almost everything about PC Financial, and those who have ever talked about banks with me will know all about that, BUT I don't like how few locations there are in Vancouver - either for shopping or for the banking pavilion.
Nevertheless, I rarely actually need to go to the pavilion - in fact, I don't think I went even once when I was living in Ontario.
Anyway, I did need to go today and it was horrendous. Google maps and the lady on the PC phone both told me it was at the wrong intersection, so I had to walk about 20 minutes in the rain along a big ugly, busy street to get there. When I did arrive, the pedestrian entrance was an uphill mud path leading to a large parking lot to walk through - cause really, who would try to go there unless they had a car!?!
After all this hassle, I bought myself socks - lovely, fresh, clean, new socks!
New socks are one of the best feelings in the world - I'll go reward myself with that happy feeling right now!
Sunday, November 22, 2009
The meeting this afternoon was great. My poet and I are on the same wavelength artistically, so that is wonderful.
He is very open with how I use his poetry, and he even seemed really excited about my plans.
In other news, I'm not happy with my cellphone.
About 4 months ago, I got a smartphone - the BlackBerry Storm. Not comparing it to anything else, it's not bad as a phone. Nevertheless, comparing it to the iPhone, it's shit.
Mostly, the applications.
One of the things I wanted to do with my smartphone was organize my diabetes with some of the applications out there. I was told that, at the time I got the phone, the BlackBerry AppWorld was under development and would soon have lots. 4 months later, and there is NOTHING new in terms of diabetes applications.
I'm not sure whether this is BB's fault or what, but it doesn't matter - they're simply not meeting my needs.
I called Telus to inquire about switching to an iPhone. Long story short, I need to call back during regular business hours, but they seemed resistant to it...
I have a 3 year contract. I'm not trying to back out of that, in fact, I'm willing to extend that by another 4 months by resigning - fresh.
In fact, I'm wanting to upgrade my plan and pay them an additional 5-20$/month MORE per month for the next 3 years, and they still don't want me to do it?!?
I just don't understand. It defies logic.
Anyway, I'll call again tomorrow and see if I can't talk some sense into them.
Making up for the 9th
I realized that I never posted, late or otherwise, on Nov 9th. That was probably because I was desperately finishing up the bassoon piece.
To make up for it, I'll do 2 posts today in regards to a meeting I'm having a little later this afternoon.
I'm collaborating with a poet for my choral pieces. Technically, it shouldn't be much different from using any other poems because they've already been written, but it is. Working with a poem is fun because you get to highlight different elements of the poem and even rework it structurally.
I have chosen one of his poems already and I believe he will have some others that complement it to suggest.
I have some ideas and I think they're pretty good, but I'm really interested to hear how the poet will react.
Also, I know that writers are very aware of the sonoristic elements of the words they use, but I wonder how organized he was with them. I did a phonetic analysis of the poem and have found/created structural divisions based on types of vowels used.
Oh wel, I'm about to find out soon!
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Reconnecting
I guess movies and sitcoms had convinced me that reconnecting with people from the past could go horribly wrong, but I'm rethinking that now.
Since moving to Vancouver, I've gone for coffee/dessert with a few people that I haven't seen in years. There's always the fear that you'll have nothing to talk about and that things could end horribly, but that's not been the case - and I don't think it actually ever would be.
Anyway, today I had a delightful 2 hour chat with a girl I went to undergrad with. We hadn't kept in touch at all, but since we're both in the same city, it made sense to meet up. I'm glad we did - it made for a delightful afternoon.
Despite nice distractions in the afternoon, I need to focus tonight and get lots of work done...
Here we go!
Friday Post
Hmm,
This drinking all afternoon and evening thing on Fridays seems to be a regularity. Not that I'm complaining, but it got in the way of blogging yesterday.
Anyway, this week has not been good for getting things done. I had my personal day in the middle, and no assignments or anything, so I really didn't have any motivation. I should know better - there's rarely any outside motivation in grad school.
This weekend, I'm meeting with some people in the afternoons, but that will hopefully be the extent of my socializing. I need to get a lot of music written - that is priority #1!
Friday, November 20, 2009
Thursday post
And, we're back on schedule!
I've been knitting an elephant lately. I don't know why, but I'm not enjoying it. The pattern is overly complicated and it's just frustrating me. Also, it's pink, but I didn't have enough so I'm using a variety of pinks, and I might even run out of those!
I would really like to just trash this project, but out of spite, I'm going to finish it.
I've been in a funk lately. It might be the lack of sunlight, and constant raining, leading to SAD - I hear that's quite common in Vancouver. I'm also over sleeping. Staying up late is fine, as long as I wake up after only 8 hours of sleep, but after sleeping through the whole morning, I end up sleeping another few hours. I feel tired all the time because of it.
I remember when I first got here and was still waking up early in the mornings, I had so much energy and was so productive. I should get back to that!
For now, I just need to force myself to be productive no matter how I feel!
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Today has been good.
I took a personal day.
I've been stressed and overly emotional lately, so I haven't been getting much composing done. I cancelled my lesson yesterday, and my prof was very supportive. Also, the rehearsal I was supposed to have today got cancelled.
I slept in and took the day to myself. I bought groceries and rearranged my cupboards.
I'm going to do a little work tonight, but we have friends coming over later this evening for fun times watching Glee.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Mr. Insulin Pump,
Why do you annoy me, even when I'm no longer using you?
I was trying to sleep peacefully this morning after my alarm went off. After a few minutes, I heard a faint beeping. Smacking my alarm again, I realized it was not the cell phone alarm. I assumed it was imagined, but then it kept going on.
Eventually, I realized it was coming from my desk drawer, where you were hiding.
I asked you what was wrong and you said, "OFF NO POWER".
Can't you just die silently? I promise, I won't shed any tears either way.
Sincerely,
Michael
This is precisely the kind of thing I was trying to avoid. I asked a forum on TuDiabetes for advice on what to do when not using a pump.
They failed to comprehend why anyone would not be using the god-like machine...
I was wondering if taking the battery out would result in losing all my settings and info from CGM, but no advice there. The responses chose to focus on trying to convince me to stick with the pump, or trying to speculate on why I was having problems, rather than helping me with the questions at hand.
Labels: Insulin Pump
Monday, November 16, 2009
Caught up, for a day...
NaBloPoMos,
You should be proud - I am actually posting my Monday post on Monday!
Today was very pointillistic. I had three reasons for being at school today and they were all spread out, but I think I made good use of my time.
After a short rehearsal, I spent an hour just chatting with a friend.
After a delightful composition seminar presenting Chinese and Indian instruments, I got some work done over lunch.
After the executive meeting for UBC Composer's Collective, I headed home and wrote a blog entry.
Then everyone read it and was happy.
The End.
Sunday Post
Well, another failed attempt at posting on the proper day, but I'm not too concerned.
Today was a pretty lame day. I've watched a lot of internet tv and got minimal work accomplished.
I discovered the comedian Sarah Haskins. I've been watching her segments all day long, on and off...
www.current.com/sarahhaskins
She's hilarious and I'm one-day addicted to her comedy!
After a week of no rehearsals or coachings, I have a rehearsal tomorrow morning at 10am - the earliest day of any of my weeks. It will be fun and I'm excited to play!
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Saturday's Post
I seem to be falling into a habit, I'll try to fix that tomorrow with a properly timed post.
I often tell myself that I favor simplicity in my music, but I often give myself reason to question that premise.
I'm currently working on a choral piece with text by a writer I've met in my time at UBC. Without getting too detailed, I want to expand on the inherent sounds of the text, as spoken. Counterintuitively, I've complicated everything by translating the text into IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) so that I can be picky about the precise vowels and consonants used. I'll have a huge palate of colours with which to compose.
Despite having a lot of material to work with, I'm trying to figure out a way to maintain the simplicity and cleanness I'm wanting.
I'm noticing an irony:
In the classical world, singers learn IPA and the proper diction so that they say everything properly. The effect is something that sounds nothing like how people really talk.
That is not what I want, so I am taking a largely academic approach to getting a choir to sing like they would talk it... The diction element (at least) would be much easier if I just got a bunch of uneducated schmucks off the street to sing it, but I don't know how pretty it would be.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Friday, Nov 13th
It seems like I keep missing days, but that's not the case.
I consider the day to be over only when I go to sleep. Since I usually stay up until 2 or 3, I have a few hours of grace period, for any of those NaBloPoMo sticklers out there.
Foozball Friday usually lasts about 2 or 3 drinks, and around 2 hours. Today, it lasted 10!
The campus bar portion included foozball as well as shuffleboard. We stayed later than normal because one of our friends could only join us after 2 hours in, and we wanted him to experience the joy of shufflepucking!
Libations included the standard Rye and Diet, and some chicken fingers for food.
Next, we went for some food at a bar near Granville. It had been over 4 hours since the start of the day, so I had another full meal. I had a pulled-pork sandwich and split a half-litre of red wine with a fellow non-beer drinker.
Well fed and liquored, we went onwards to 5-pin bowling. All they served was beer, so I had a can... Yuck! I'm not a beer drinker, and I shouldn't even try! I only played one game, because they had to clear out for the glow-bowling reservations - if only we knew!
Then, we stopped off at the BC Liquor store to pick up some libations before heading to our apartment to watch some episodes of the Flight of the Conchords. Having finished the bottle I got around Thanksgiving, I got another bottle of the Canadian Club 12-year aged rye whisky. If I haven't raved about this, I should have! Rye is a pretty standard mixed drink, but it's mass produced for purely it's alcohol content. On the other end is Single Malt Whiskies and Scotch. This stuff is much closer to that end, which is why I wasn't willing to buy a standard rye this time around.
Anyway, while midnight might seem like an early end to a Friday night, it was just about perfect after having spent the entire afternoon and evening with good friends!
I don't think I'll sober up enough to get something productive done, but enough to write a blog post!
