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sorry i've been really bad at updating. my last post was about 2 weeks ago, just before i left (if i recall correctly).
so, what have i done?
slept
tried to practice piano (with varying degrees of success)
read harry potter 5 and 6 in anticipation for book 7
read pride and prejudice again (mmm...)
seen pirates 3 and shrek 3 with my brother
gone out a few times with a few friends
and therefore, caught up with all the news
organised most of the melbourne welcome stuff. this has involved booking 80 tickets for healesville (to pay lots of money!!! i am getting really good at spending other people's money!)
borrowed a few piano scores to start more work
listened to two more versions of the beethoven

not much has happened otherwise.
which is kinda good because i've been needing this rest.
but alas, i cannot rest too much, or i will get lazy (which i fear has already happened). there is much to look forward to, such as RSA training (woop de woop), going to the 'rat (woohoo!!!!), flying back to melbourne (ok, i know, these are all out of order! this should have been first...), welcome training, welcome (woohoo!!! hello americans! oh, and the one british guy, the one irish guy, and random kids from germany yay, france, yay, and others..), urinetown camp (urinecamp, for greater conciseness), going back to jude's (woohoo!), and starting semester 2 (argh! so soon!). i was flipping through next semester and looking at all the milestone-y events. it kinda looks like this (barring welcome and its lead-up events, and urinecamp):

Week 1: idea of north gig at end of week. oh, and it's dis-o'week that week...argh!
Week 2: Beethoven!!!!!!! (details coming soon!); going to see JCH play, I've been told it's this week, is that right?
Week 3: more stuff
Week 4: Urinetown!!!
Week 5: Orchestra concert, MUSIC BALL!!!
Week 6: I've forgotten.
other stuff includes 21sts, Switchfoot (will get onto tickets for that soon...), perhaps Phantom (dunno, need job and $$$). like, for real, it will be busy.
add to that concerto competition, more accmopanying, more rehearsals, apollo, more urinetown (but thankfully it's over soon-ish!), oh, and trying to survive with uni! hehe.
good thing my official load is only 3.5 subjects this semester...i knew i'd done that for a reason!

home

i'm going home tongiht!
so email will be limited.
but if you can wait, email me if you like. updates and stories of holidays greatly apreciated.
if it's urgent call my mobile.
if not, fellow melburnians (or fake ones like me), see you in a few weeks time! xo

Some photos

These are photos stolen from other people. Because I haven't posted photos for a very long time, probably not really since posting them on facebook.
But just in case you don't have facebook, here are a few things I've been up to in the last six months...

Queen's Ball 07: Tim, me, Sally-Anne

Queen's Ball: Tim, Steph, me (look crazy!)

Idea of North concert, April 2007. Me and

The Idea of North

Sam's Surprise 21st Birthday Breakfast
Tim, me, Sam blowing bubbles

Rowing Day 07: me and Pete (hot look, both of us... :S )

Queen's Ball: me and Sal

Queen's Ball: me and Ben (proxy brother)

Queen's Ball: Mel, Renee, me

Queen's Ball: me and Mel

Rowing Day 07: Renee and me

Fellow's Dinner: me and Renee

Fellow's Dinner: me, Tim, Renee ('look hard-core')
[I clearly cannot do this look....!]

Admittedly:
1) the same few people have cropped up in these photos. I have probably stolen photos from those people.
2) There is a great young presence. They're EVERYWHERE..!!! (run away..! Haha)
3) These few photos admittedly miss out even greater events, such as my birthday, Music events, connect and just general life, not just college stuff! If you want to see them, you should get facebook. So that we can be 'friends' and you can view my pictures....ya wouldn't!

Hilarious

The rumour I have found the funniest in recent times is about ME!
Who would have thought?
And as most rumours go, it's not true.

Which is why we're trying to come up with a funny way to propogate it.
It'd be funny.
And embarrassing. But oh-so-funny.

And apparently it seems to have been floating around for a while.
Well, that's what we gather.

random thoughts

*bach was a genius. he remains one of, if not, the top, favourite composers. just look at his stuff. absolute magic. my old piano teacher once said "listening to bach makes me believe that there is a god" (although she was a christian lady...). i think it has that quality too. perhaps it was seriously inspired by god.

*groves is by far the most amazing resource for finding stuff out about western art music. the online resource is fantastic. even for finding out opus numbers, keys, the life of little-known composers. it's there. totally awesome!

*despite my final exam being today, my diary kinda reads like this:
Tuesday - return library book by 10am, after photocopying; practice in the basement because it's not worth coming home and walking back again; exam 11.30am; meet friend to return something to him 11.50am; eat lunch; meet friend for rehearsal 1.30pm; accompany said friend in exam 2pm; meet somebody to organise instrument loan (which was rather unsuccessful) 2.30pm; rehearsal 3pm.
Wednesday - no sleep in; mss executive meeting with the dean 9am mmm.....; mss executive meeting with office staff to organise open day (i should make a note that i have to nip over to the med faculty for apollo..!) 10am; go to friend's music lesson to accompany him 12pm; dinner with small group at night.
Thursday - perhaps meeting up with a friend in the morning; dinner: with a few friends, including a friend who is on holiday in australia, from high school in usa (haven't seen her for about 5yrs, so yay!)
Friday - coffee with some old school friends and my ex-principal; production meeting with theatre manager 1pm (urgh..); flight departs 8.30pm.

i told mum to book my flight for after business closing time so that i could complete all my business then.
yes, my business and pleasure unfortunately can't be separated (most of the time). oh well. it just means that when i go home i have limited communication means and can't get my business done as efficiently. at least i cope with it most of the time! wow, if i ever had a family, i think i'd be one of those mums who was always on her mobile..that's pretty bad..! :S

*i got a really cute letter from the secretary of the friends of the library. it was very cute.

*stuff to work on over the 3-week holiday (time at home):
-beethoven cello sonata
-ravel concerto
-recital programme, including bach (plus new bach), beethoven, chopin, rachmaninoff, debussy, rautuvaara (sp.?), perhaps ravel. i know, there is too much repertoire there. and i have to pick..?! how unfair is that?!
-accompaniment stuff for voice: poulenc, finzi, faure
horn: strauss, saint-saens, stuff in general...
-figure out apollo stuff
-melbourne welcome
-urinetown, including practicing the piano part

i think that's just the start of it...!

*time is ticking....ten months :P hahahaha. if you know....hehe! if you don't....you might have to just wait those ten months to see what happens! sorry..!

time

is relative.
but i wish i had more of it.
or that i didn't need to sleep, and that i could keep carrying out my business as usual.
and that one would only have to sleep if they felt like it.
or perhaps that sleep didn't cut out hours of your day, just added them in magically.

because i still have an exam to go. but it feels like i'm spending this week going out with friends
and catching up with them before i leave for 3 weeks.
and some of them are going elsewhere themselves, so it might be more than 3 weeks.

i don't need a PA at the moment.
i need a time-turner. or just for time to magically stop.
appointments every day. it will be busy while they're happening.
and probably boring for the rest of it.

also sucks, because i can't watch college network because my computer always has a problem.
so, i have only watched up to about episode 7 of house season 3. sucky.
and about episode 8 of scrubs season 6. yes, that's right, TV is beating me..! how depressing!

so, my friends, if i don't manage to catch up with you before i go, i apologise. i do still love you all very much. email to keep in touch over the break, but be aware that i have dial-up at home!
enjoy your holidays, you all most definitely deserve it :)
i would love to catch up with you all, but unfortunately time doesn't always allow that.
unless you can find a way to make my time extended :)

if you are going away for the holidays, enjoy it. whether it be oxford, DC, london, to the snow, melbourne's outer suburbs, ballarat, other europe, malaysia, or wherever else you might be heading to. make sure you send me postcards :) or at least bring some back for me!

xoxo

what it'll be like - as i imagine

*oriental lillies
*the first dance at the reception will be with my husband. and he will look into my eyes like never before. because he can't take his eyes off me. don't worry, it's not all about me. i will stare into his too!
*he'll be able to dance. Probably because I make him take dance lesson with me first. I have to do a proper wedding waltz.
*he's gotta have asked my parents first. the first thing i will say after being asked is "have you asked my parents?"
*it can't be a public proposal. i don't want to have my face on a big screen only to have to kiss him and then whisper "can we talk about this later?".....all on big screen.
*if he's smart, he would have scrounged around for the perfect ring, and possibly have gotten my friends involved in planning the perfect way to propose. which has got to be romantic. remember: big screens are NOT romantic. nor are words tickering across a screen. it's gotta at least encompass a down-on-one-knee thing!
*i will probably cry at my own wedding. which is bad, because i look HORRIBLE when i cry.
*if he cries, i will cry too. so hopefully he doesn't cry too easily. but if he does shed a tear or two, that'd be really cute :)
*my family has to love him. and i his family. and just love all round!
*no flowergirls or pageboys. urgh, i don't need cute little children stealing any spotlight!
*drinks in the dusk sounds beautiful
*one of the readings will be the one about love, from 1 corinthians. cliched and over-used, but i think there is a reason for it...it's beautiful!
*i will eat at the reception. i expect that if i pick the food, i get to eat it too!
*there will be lots of photos! a professional photographer, plus lots of cameras from friends and family. i will keep posing, i promise! hehe. and do my 'photo smile' all day if i have to!
*wedding cake: not fruit cake. perhpas chocolate. i don't want a cake i don't like..! what a silly idea!

i guess seeing as i've planned half of the wedding, i had better hope my future husband likes it all. and hopefully cares enough to have a look too. none of this "whatever" stuff..! now i guess i just have to wait for him to waltz in and sweep me off my feet.....(cue: Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, that famous variation). i dunno. i might know him already. then again, i might not..! who knows...
i know, it seems too early to be thinking about all this kind of stuff. but every girl dreams of it, don't they? and i'm an idealist. and a hopeless romantic. that's why.

random stuff

i was supposed to have an appointment from 8-10am with a piano in the basement on friday.
when i woke up, i looked out the window (as i normally do), and was horrified when i saw it was already light!!!! how could this happen?
i frantically rolled over to look at my phone only to find the time to be 7.58am!!!!
ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and then one minute after i get up, there's a knock on my door. and there is anna, laura and tim, who are here to organise stuff for penny's birthday. anna is so shocked to see me, because i told her i wouldn't be around.
and i'm there, dressed in my finest (read: sarcastically) pajamas. haha

and then penny comes around to sing to me (in which i make her sing quite high, for so early in the morning) and she kinda looks at her watch and goes, "isn't this a little late?!" haha. yep, all my friends have noticed that if i'm not out of my room by about 8pm, something's wrong!

so yeah, swotvac was kinda ok. i went to uni every day to practice. i even went on the weekend to uni to practice. it's good having that time to get away from college, because it's the only time i get out. the rest of it is spent either at my desk or in another corridor chilling out (also: procrastinating, distracting other people from their study...) it has been pretty cruisy; i'm not really stressed about my music exams (including today's) because i feel like i'm pretty prepared. it's a nice feeling. although i'm trying to hype myself up a bit!


also, i started looking at what perfect pitch is really all about. how people 'get' it. i read wikipedia's article on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_pitch which i thought was very interesting. i decided that mine was 'active' perfect pitch. (read the article for definitions). then i decided to do the survey (the university of california one). so i filled in all the bits, and do about 80 sound tests. and the conclusion?

it tells me:
CONGRATULATIONS. YOU HAVE PERFECT PITCH.

GAHH!!! i knew that already!!!!!!!!! i am classified as AP1.0, with a score of 36.0 in both categories. darn, i already knew that.
but anyway, i hope my little test helped out their survey; i hope they use those answers i provided (eg. very brief family history, years of musical training etc) plus the results to further their study into this phenomenon.


had my techniques written exam today. went ok.
have actually been itching since saturday afternoon to do it. just to get it over and done with. because i'd done heaps of practice. and answered many questions in the process ;) [i love all you guys for asking. because it makes me have to know my stuff inside out! thanks a bunch xo]
i finished ridiculously early. but jac and i were supposed to go to the shops, so i figured i might as well sit there. and check my work a bajillion times. and look at the pretty paintings and architecture of the royal exhibition building. hehe. and go to the toilet. which was very far away...! anyway...
then we (a bunch of us) went to the vic for some coffee/tea/cake (yum cake, thanks rach..!) and hung out and talked and did silly funny things. and laughed a lot. thanks for the laughs and good times, my friends! (luv ya!)
and have been kinda bored with study. apart from the fact that i don't kinda get all of micro at the present moment. i'm working on it. i guess because my music subjects are kinda sitting quite comfortably. there are a lot of things i have to sort out though, mostly urinetown and mss stuff. which is very difficult.

[OMG. DEJA VU ABOUT WRITING THIS BLOG!!!!!!! that is the weirdest thing....]

so yeah, listening test tomorrow. i'm pretty right with that. i like all the pieces, except for the webern, which i don't particularly like. that's ok, i have learnt it and all.
micro is on thursday, piano technical exam the next tuesday, then i'm done.

in the few days i have after my exams, i have to do the following things:
* have a meeting with the Dean with the rest of the exec
* have a meeting with the staff about open day
* catch up properly with flick
* hopefully have a piano lesson
* hopefully have a rehearsal with lily
* catch up with a few more friends
* do melbourne welcome stuff - lots of stuff
* do urinetown stuff - lots of stuff
* pack to go home
* clean my room

and that's just the beginning. do you think it's going to happen?

gah

where are all the pianists of this world?
more specifically, where are all the ones i need?
for the purpose of this rant, i shall consider those who are pianists as those who:
* can play different styles (classical, contemporary). i don't mean to be highly skilled at them all. but at least to have the ability
* are able to sight-read to a fairly competant ability
* possess strong ensemble skills

and highly desirable, has some singing background too.
and would therefore be able to follow singers and understand their needs too.

yup.
zip.
well, the ones i may know won't be available.

and continuing on the rant...

everybody who intends to sing should play piano. because piano is probably the best extra skill (if it already isn't your primary capability) to have as a musician. particularly as a singer. singers can't do multiple notes. at all. and lots of singers i know are divas - get over it. you want to show the world your talent, the least you could do is help others out with what you've got. most people don't stand around you ooh-ing and aah-ing because you're usually not that good. get off your high horse and learn some piano so you could at least accompany to a competent level.

sorry, this is clearly an issue with so many musicians. and something i feel very strongly about.
if you want real work, work that will probably earn you the food on your table, you've got to be versatile. unfortunately, not every job will be enjoyable. that's life. deal with it. but if you can only do one thing, you had better be the best at it, or it will be a very tough road ahead of you.

so please, please, because i have firm ideas of what i expect, please do not tell me, "i am a pianist" when you do not fulfill the base level of my expectation. and please don't tell me you are a well-rounded musician if you do not at least dabble in the very least in 2 fields/instruments/musical activities outside your own. you would have very limited scope of what a musician does otherwise.