Post 899?!

Holy moly, I feel bad wasting a post as I get so close to 900, but oh well.

I'm about to make my return to the concert stage tomorrow at noon. Both pieces are well rehearsed and will be pretty awesome at the concert tomorrow. I am not nervous at all, rather, excited!

At the same time, I feel pretty behind on my composition. Last weekend, I worked like a madman, barely leaving the apartment for a few days. After that, I lost motivation for a few days, and I'm struggling to pull it together right now.

I sent the first half of my bassoon piece to the performer - early! In theory, that buys me a few days of leeway with the other half. It is coming, and I know exactly what needs to be done, it's just a matter of doing it.

I'm currently at a crossroads - I should stay up all night writing music, BUT I have to be in top form for the performance tomorrow. I'm going to stay up a little later, but not too much. I will also use my time before and after the performance to get as much done as possible.

In other words, I'm stopping this post NOW so I can get back to work.

I hope to post a recording of tomorrow's concert on here or myspace as soon as it's available.

Pumpkin Party

This is what I did!

8 people were at my house this afternoon carving pumpkins. 6 of those 8 were using stencils to make beautiful, ornate pumpkins, but I stuck with the old-fashioned method of freehanded pumpkin stabbing!

I finished my pumpkin's face within a quick timeframe, but sensed I had another hour or so before everyone else finished...

I carved the star, moon, and bat into the back and realized that they actually shine onto the wall, which I think is pretty cool.

Then, I separated and baked the pumpkin seeds while others were still carving. 8 pumpkins make for a lot of seeds!

In other news, I worked harder on my bassoon piece this weekend than I have on anything in a long time. I'm now half finished, and seriously doubtful that I'll get the rest done on time, but I'll still try and keep working at full force until I finish.

While I had my doubts about the piece even just a week ago, I'm liking it more and more as I go. I'm looking forward to hearing from the bassoonist who will be playing the piece - to hear about how it actually works.

Anyway, back to work for me. So much to do!

Hooray!

I'm still alive

... not that anyone would notice if I stopped writing this blog altogether.

This week has been pretty busy so far. Lots of late nights and hard work. The deadline for my bassoon piece is coming up and I'm working fairly feverishly towards it. I'm almost half done... In terms of time, it's been about a month and a bit since starting it, and I now have about a week and a bit left. I'm pretty sure the remaining work will come relatively quickly because I have the basics figured out already. Eek, it's definitely going to be a time crunch...

I had my first midterm of my DMA earlier this week - I felt ok about it. I improved in that course between the first and second assignments, so things are moving in the right direction. Also in little over a weeks time, I will be performing in a concert.

Oopsie, I got distracted and now it's time for bed

Since starting here, there have been some busy times, but generally I've had lots of free time. While one might think I would, I haven't done much blogging or knitting. These seems to be time-occupiers that I end up doing when I shouldn't spend the time on them.

My bassoon piece is due in 2-3 weeks, I have lots of work to do in that time, which is why I started knitting last night! I made 1 slipper... not a pair of slippers, but a single one. I hope to get the other one done soon, maybe tonight. But, I am making good progress on the piece - with my time management, it's all or nothing, I seem to only function at full capacity, when I have many things on the go.

So far, I'm happily off the pump. I forgot my insulin pen when I went to thanksgiving dinner at Jon and Mai's, but we were able to secure a zipcar to pick it up before dinner was ready! I now have 2 pens going, one in my bag which I always have with me (face it Michael, it's a purse) and another on my nightstand/shelf for all at-home insulin needs.

We all have stupid moments: the other week, I went out for the evening with not-enough insulin left in the reservoir, but it turns out that the pump underestimates the amount left in the pump for safety anyway, yay!

These kinds of silliness follow me in all areas of life, so I'll try to be better, but never any promises.

Ok, back to focusing on my work instead of jumping back and forth from window to window.

Happy Turkey Day!

My sugars were high all night, but now they're coming down.

I've done a few double takes today - after checking my sugar this morning, I went to check my pump for when the last bolus I took. Unfortunately, the insulin pen doesn't remember that... I used to have the Innovo, which did, but it's been discontinued and my old one's internal, non-replaceable battery finally died - it lasted many many years!

I've planned for today to be rocky. Once I'm over the sensation of renewed freedom, I'll stick in a CGM so I can know how things are really working out.

In other news, this is Thanksgiving weekend and I really do have a lot to be thankful about:

-While I've been obsessed with the problems I've been having controlling my diabetes, I'm thankful for not having any complications, after having the condition for nearly 20 years.

-Even at it's worst and most complicated, diabetes care is worlds better than in many areas of the world. I'm thankful that I will be able to live a long and healthy life.

- I'm thankful for the drunk-dial I got from my sister yesterday evening. They have the annual Thompson Thanksgiving dinner with far too much wine. I usually get a phone call and it's damned entertaining!

- When I moved to London, I made some friends, but it took a while to feel settled and comfortable in my surroundings. Moving to Vancouver has been so much more wonderful. I'm thankful that the people in Vancouver have been so wonderful and friendly. Even yesterday, I went to a thanksgiving dinner hosted by someone I just met, yet by the end of the evening, it was like sitting around with good friends.

-I'm also thankful that I'm able to get paid to study and practice what I love!

Thanks for reading!

Thankfully yours,

Michael

back to Old Skool

I've been using the Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) over the last week. I was hoping it would enlighten me as to what exactly is going on, but not so much. It just presents some of the mysteries more clearly.

I was using an expired sensor, so I shouldn't have expected perfection - it was actually more accurate than one of the sensors I used when I initially tried it- but as usual, I ended up chasing more frustrations than I was solving problems.

ALSO, not having your technology Mac /Apple compatible? NOT COOL Minimed/Medtronic - not cool! What is the point of having the CareLink stuff if I can't use it to analyze my information from this last week.

I'll have to use one of my friends' computers, but that is a terrible inconvenience for me!

I took an injection of Lantus half an hour ago. I took it in the bum (tee hee hee!), and it felt good. I haven't been able to use that area for infusion sets, because you sit on it all day; I forgot what good real-estate it was for injections. Also, the physical act of using a syringe is something I've missed - it felt good.

I can't even explain how excited I am to sleep without my pump - either figuratively or literally naked.

In other news, tonight I went to a delightful late Thanksgiving dinner with some friends from music school. It was hosted by a music theorist who has a columbian husband, so both of those demographics were well represented. It was tons of fun, great food, and good times all around.

a lovely visit, come and gone

Fun Friend Fi and her boyfriend were here for two nights and now they're in Victoria. As usual, it was filled with fun times and general excesses - eating, drinking, and laughing to be specific!

Yesterday we did loads of walking around downtown and Stanley Park. We also went to the Vancouver Aquarium and went to the movie Zombieville - Amazing movie!

Tonight I'm going with a friend to a thanksgiving dinner, I think - it's almost 7pm already... I think we're either going to be quite late, or this is an oddly late dinner..

Anyway, tomorrow I'm going to have dinner with a good friend from Winnipeg.

Altogether this will be a good weekend, though nowhere near as productive as it should be. Oh well.

Fun Friend Fi in Vancouver

One of my bestest friends in whole wide world is in town with her boyfriend. It's only been a few hours, but I'm already having a great time.

None of us are big planners, but there are some things they've mentioned that might be fun: Stanley Park and the Vancouver Aquarium. I've been before, but they're always a good time. Stanley Park, while not a relative (hardy har har!) is a beautiful large park that is well worth visiting.

Also, since Winnipeg is behind the times, they want to go to IKEA. I've been to the one in Richmond a few times now, so I think we'll head to the one in Coquitlam. I've already met some great new friends in Vancouver, so my inclination is to try to get everyone together for fun times. Worlds colliding (a la Seinfeld) aside, it promises good times!

They always say that having visitors is the best way to explore the city you're living in - it's totally true: I'm testing the knowledge I have about Vancouver, but also adding to it!

Ok, good night.

I'm finally starting to feel a bit overwhelmed. This is going to be a very busy month, getting more intense as it reaches the end. I've never been a particularly fast composer, but I took on the challenge of finishing a short-ish piece (6-9 minutes) in a month. There will be a performance of it on Nov 30'th, so I need to get it done with at least a month for the performers to learn it. It is a multi-movement work, so at least I can send separate movements, so that's sorta cheating, but there is still a lot of work to get done.

This weekend, being long for Thanksgiving, could be a great opportunity to get a lot done, but I won't... One of my bestest friends in the whole wide world is coming to visit - Fun Friend Fi! I'm very excited and it will be an amazing weekend, but I'm realistic and I know that I won't get anything done. That way, if I get anything done, I'm a winner!

Also, I got a haircut yesterday. Now it's short. I should know better than to go to a stylist, they always cut it for a style, ev

en when I tell them I don't use product and I just wash 'n go. As a result, I always have to do some alterations on the front. Today, without product, the front looks worse than when my drunk friends butchered my hair.

Like, seriously, where did the hair on the right half of that picture go?

I realize my hair looks better with product in it, but I think a good haircut should be able to stand on its own without product, and this one certainly can't. I don't have time to fix it before I leave today, so I'll throw some hair gunk in for today. I hate touching a hair that's filled with product.... Yuck!

Anyway, I should get a start on my day.