It seems I have squandered away the month of May without doing any of the work I needed finished. I have no real complaints, I've had a great time, but now I need to get down to business - lots of things to get finished/started in the next few weeks.

Diabetes-wise, things are pretty good. I tried to use the CGM the other week - after about 5 hours of "lost sensor" and "bad sensor" messages, I gave up. I'm pretty sure they're past the expiry date, so I'm not surprised, but the expiry dates on these things come up far too quickly! No one can afford to use these things too regularly, but you almost have to unless you want them to go bad , which they apparently actually do.

I only have one sensor left, after which I can't see myself having the funds to buy more, nor the motivation. The technology, somehow, is still infantile and unreliable. Yes, it can shed some light on trends and the intricacies of rising and falling sugars, but it takes an incredible amount of work and luck to get it working properly.

A week later...

Oopsie, I made it an entire week without posting!

Blogging goes in ebbs and flows - but even though it's been lower on my list of priorities lately, I have no intentions of stopping.

I'm loving the summer: Kung Fu, Frisbee, walking, soccer, and going for sushi have been some of the things keeping me distracted from composing lately...

My diabetes control was getting a bit out of hand for a while - when I took a step back, I realized it was because I've been taking insulin closer and closer to the first bites of meals. Now that I'm consciously aiming for 10-20 minutes before I start eating, the numbers are behaving much more nicely. It's a mixture of letting the insulin work and also double checking carb counting during that time! It's impressive/bad - how fast bad habits become routine.

Speaking of breaking the routine, I finally did something that I've avoided for a long time... I learned how to crochet. Earlier this year, my roommate tried learning to knit, but gave up in favour of crochet - which she picked up quickly and really enjoys. I am a die-hard knitter, so I mocked her and flauted the inferiority of her chosen handicraft. Nevertheless, I gave it a try.

I was a terrible student, impatiently ignoring most of her instructions, but eventually I listened to enough to get through making a granny square. After mild-to-moderate frustrations with the technique of crochet, I caught on and (within the first project) mastered the basics of double crochet.

I'm still not convinced that it's a worthwhile venture, but I'll stick with it for a while longer.

As I become more active during this beautiful weather, I am momentarily missing the insulin pump I was using this time last year.

And now the moment has passed.

Time never seems to align properly; last year, I was not very active at all, but now I am doing some kind of physical activity pretty much every day or second day. It would be great to be able to adjust my basal insulin, but that's just not going to happen!

I am going hiking on Tuesday, and since that takes up a substantial chunk of the day, I will be cutting my Lantus almost in half. Last hike, I dropped it from 36 units down to 25, this time I'm going to 20.

Today, I had to sit out of the last half hour of my Kung Fu class. After an hour, of chugging orange juice between exercises, I ran out of juice and my sugars were 4.2. It wasn't safe to continue, knowing my downward trend at the time...

I ate lunch not to long before, so I could have done with much less insulin for that meal, but then my sugars would have been higher going into the class, and I would have felt shitty.

It's a hard balance to find, but I'll keep trying!

I'm beginning to understand why I've been told, on numerous occasions, that people don't get anything done during the summer in Vancouver.

Over the last few days, the weather has been absolutely perfect: mid-to-high teens through most of the day, clear skies, and lots of sunshine. I spent this afternoon playing tennis with some friends, the other day I went for a long walk at the beach, yesterday I went for a long walk by another beach. All of this is wonderful, but it's hard to focus on getting work done!

Long story short, I'm glad to be in Vancouver for the summer. I don't usually get anything done in the summer, so I might as well have lots of fun while I'm not doing it!

Obnoxious Drunk

Walking home from the bar with my roommate and another female friend, some drunk guy on the street stopped smoking long enough to shout something about, "gay, mumbly, fag..."

Wisely, we kept walking and ignored him, aside from a comment about how obnoxious he was.

While I passed it off in the moment, it pissed me off. Some thoughts on the matter:

1) What a douche!

2) What can you possibly say to that?

3) Though I was happy to avoid confrontation, I couldn't help but imagine what might happen if I had responded... If thing had gotten violent, would it be considered a gay-bashing? Does the actual orientation of the bashee matter, or is it the motivating perception? Bi-bashing doesn't sound quite as intimidating - Aw, alliteration, you make everything nicer!

4) How did he get so good at orientation identification? I've been trying for about six years now, and my sexuality still lacks a certain clarity!

5) I can't tell what I dislike more : the fact that he assumed he could tell my orientation simply by situation/looks, or the fact that his utterance serves as a beacon for society's obsession with gender/sexual binary.

5a) Would I be as angry if he had called me 'bisexual'?

6) What about me screamed gay tonight? I'll take it as a compliment because the Vancouver gays I've been seeing are a good-looking group of guys, but khakis and an untucked plaid shirt don't exactly warrant my place amongst the pretty 'bois' of Vancouver!

Aside from that little incident, today was one of the most phenomenal days of ever!

I participated in a piano study on sightreading and improvising. I had a massage. I went for a walk with a friend by the ocean, on the beach, and decided I'm going to take up ocean kayaking. I had sushi for dinner and then went for cheap martinis with friends.

I love the summer!

Tennis Scotch!

A friend and I were playing tennis against the wall of a school today. It was great fun, but the wall always seemed to beat us...

My friend came up with a delightful and challenging new game that we call Tennis Scotch! As you may have guessed, it's a cross between tennis and hopscotch.

Instructions:

Using the tennis racquet, you must bounce the ball on the numbers in order - always increasing one number per round. If you don't get it on the right number, you have to start again at one.

Neither of us won; I made it to 6 twice, but there were 8 hops/scotches.

With practice, we will get better and then add in other challenges, including, but not limited to: drinking scotch, eating butterscotch pudding, something to do with scotch mints... The possibilities are endless!

Exciting Projects

Vancouver has not been short of opportunities for me since moving here. If at all, I've only had momentary thoughts about not having something to work on or be involved in - and the summer is no different.

I've had the fortune of becoming involved with the Vancouver International Song Institute. I've been helping to organize an exciting workshop focusing on the interpretation of songs by living composers preferably with texts by living poets.

The workshop will feature baritone Michael Broder, mezzo-soprano Gayle Shay, and pianists Alison d'Amato and Laura Loewen, and will be moderated by Canadian radio broadcaster/comedian, Tetsuro Shigematsu.

The workshop will be a reading session with an American Idol style panel: a composer, a poet, and an audience member. Not only is it a great opportunity for composers to have their works performed by professionals, but it will be a great grounds for discussion and exploration of interpretation!

It's exciting to see how what was only an idea last week, has really materialized through the ideas and resources of the committee I'm involved with. I'm beginning to see lots of opportunities not just as a composer, but as an advocate for new music in general!

School is done and I'm not going to talk about it!

I've rediscovered my love for the t.v. show Married With Children!

It's fantastic, and I will not hear any nay-saying about it.

I'm excited to get into the full swing of the summer:

The other day, I went for a picnic with some friends on the beach and we played frisbee. As you may know, I tend to swear... a... lot, especially during competitive things. With board games, this is ok because we're usually in a private residence; when I play foozball, it's in a bar, so it's not out-of-place; when I'm playing ultimate in a public park with families and children running around... OOPSIE!

This is very much going to be like a childhood summer - I don't really have to work, and I don't have school - I basically get to do whatever I want for the next few months. I'll still be teaching piano and I'm taking a German course in May/June, but the majority of my time will be free.

I want to play as many gigs as possible. I will be writing as much music as possible also.

So, a few weeks ago, my new choral pieces were premiered. Even if you weren't able to make it, you can hear them now:

Click Here and listen to the first two audio boxes on the page.

Apparently, they were well received - or so said Ernest Whitmore (American Guild of Organists) when he described them as "incredibly creative and polished pieces."

Hooray for publicity!