Awalkingtune's Weblog

Eggs, Milk Bread

awalkingtune — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 16:14:06 +0000

A selected list of this things that I have learned thus far:

Eggs, Milk Bread..
Don’t get stuck
Proud, not arrogant, Proud
Institutional Family
Loud is good, Soft is good
Listening is to hearing-Seeing is to looking
Wear a turtleneck and tie-that’s who you are!
You don’t want them to look at you, or think, and you can’t force them!
Don’t get in the way of their stroke
See-they will know if you care
Be better than great, that is your potential

Good, Bad, Good

awalkingtune — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 15:13:06 +0000

Good-Get to see Jenny in a few days
Bad-Abigail got sick this week-2 vet visits (no explanations)
Good-Abigail is OK now
Bad-Car broke down (could be 4 things-3 of those things could land me on the side of the 401 on my way back to London-car is in the shop.
Good-purchased a house
Bad-Old owners won’t vacate the house when they are supposed to.
Good-We have a contract that is supposed to protect us if the old owners refuse to leave the house
Bad-In the United States contracts are meaningless/flexible documents that protect you against nothing.
Good-We are getting our deposit back from a failed house purchase in Rochester
Bad-We have hired packers/trucks/and prepared visa docs, for our move on the 18th which may not happen.
Good-the house we are moving into is great
Good-my program in Rochester starts in less than 2 weeks
Bad-not quite ready for the diagnostic tests
Good-I will be ready for the diagnostic tests
Bad-Not quite ready to conduct my first piece
Good-I will be ready to conduct my first piece

13 days til chaos

awalkingtune — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 04:15:40 +0000

I have 13 days until all hell breaks loose

I have to pack all of the rooms (Je packed a lot as well)
I have to set up the utilities in Rochester
Set up insurance
Bank Accounts
Moving Trucks
Dogs to the Kennel
Prepare for my Diagnostics
Prepare for the Conducting Symposium

I am a tad bit worried, but secretly I like being busy!

a bit of this and that

awalkingtune — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 22:56:22 +0000

Our house is on the market and we have had lots of showings but no offers as of yet. If you are interested in these sorts of things here is our listing.

http://mls.ca/propertyDetails.aspx?propertyId=9551391

Let the study begin,…well it has already begun!!

but I am currently working on putting together the following repertoire:

NEC Conductors Forum: Persichetti: Symphony for Band, Stravinsky: Symphonies for Wind Instruments, Mozart: C Minor Serenade, and Beethoven Symphony #4.

I have been asked to audition for the orchestral conducting course at Eastman so I will have to learn any movement from any Brahms symphony. They are such wonderful symphonies, I will let you know what one I pick. Any suggestions?

Our visas are in motion and we have applied for passports but we can’t go house shopping until the new ones arrive in approx. 2 weeks.

My parents are coming for our grad ceremony soon and I am really excited to see them. I haven’t seen my Dad in 2 years!!! I am happy that they will get to see my grad!

All is well with the world,

Love it or List it?

awalkingtune — Fri, 14 May 2010 04:02:57 +0000

LIST IT, I can’t wait to get this house on the market. I painted for about 8 hours today and we will clean and stage the house tomorrow. It looks like the finish line is in sight.

The weather is gonna clear tomorrow. We still need to do a lot of outdoor jobs.

Weeding, staining, planting, mulching. mowing, and phooey!!

Can’t wait to get this thing listed.

Funny Websites

awalkingtune — Thu, 13 May 2010 02:21:41 +0000

http://instantbazinga.com/

http://trololololololololololo.com/

Finishing touches

awalkingtune — Tue, 11 May 2010 22:26:39 +0000

We have been working like CRAZY to put the finishing touches on our house before we list it. The painting is almost complete. We are waiting for the weather to give us a break. It has been raining for about a week now. The rain broke just long enough for us to seed an area in the backyard, and mow the lawn.

The dogs are bored. They HATE the rain, so we bought them some chew toys from the dollar store and they are killed them almost instantly.

Summer is sweet!

Summer Days

awalkingtune — Sat, 08 May 2010 05:16:13 +0000

Wow, I forgot what it was like to have time to hang out, work on the house. We are going to list our house soon so we are fixing it up. I don’t understand why I didn’t fix some of these things so we could enjoy them. Oh well!! We are hoping to make a profit off of this house. We have fixed it up!! We have fully fenced it, put new toilets in, a new laundry sink, painted just about every surface, trimmed the bedrooms upstairs, put a new shed in, landscaped, put in a lovely french door, and new faucets. The house was already pretty good. BUT it is looking amazing now.

We were recently in Rochester looking for a new place and it was amazing to drive through the different neighbourhoods. Some of them were so bad they were uncomfortable. However, there were some lovely places as well. We will post some of our favs at a later date. It is too early to do any shopping as of yet. Right now our focus is selling.

I have realized that it is time to create a study schedule to prepare for diagnostic tests and for score study for my new rep. I have to pass first and second year history and theory tests OR I will have RETAKE THOSE COURSES,..EW. I really do not want that to happen. I still have quite a bit of time so I am in good shape. I recently went to the library and got the first eight scores that I will need for next year.

It is getting quiet here in London. Many of our friends have returned home for the summer. I miss everyone!

Funny

Trip to ESM

awalkingtune — Sun, 02 May 2010 03:36:36 +0000

Wow, what a great trip. I had a chance to go down to Rochester for to meet with my new teacher and watch some rehearsals. We stayed near the airport (we bid for a room on Priceline.com for our hotel rooms and got a great room at an unbelieveable price). I saw the Eastman Wind Ensemble rehearse: Festive Overture, Holst-1st Suite, Music for Prague, and more. I watched two rehearsals on day 2 of the trip Where the groups rehearsed Child’s Garden of Dreams, Radiant Joy, and much more.

I was assigned a portion of my repertoire for next year. I will be conducting: Scherzo alla Marcia, Zion, George Washington Bridge, Suite Francaise, Persichetti-Divertimento, Variations on America, Trauersinfonie, and Tocatta Marziale. I was told that this will probably less than half of the repertoire that I will be conducting next year. I am soooo excited. I had better get to work.

Long List of Summer projects include:

Acquire scores, start studying
Visas, Passports, etc,
Sell House-Prep House for Sale
Buy a House
Move
Study for Diagnostic Tests

LOOKING FORWARD TO THE CONCERT ON MONDAY

Sliding into summer,…

awalkingtune — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 15:47:51 +0000

I always feel a bit uneasy about the transition into summer. It is almost as if I feel that I shouldn’t take a rest. However, the past two years have been a lot of work. So, I will take a small break. I have something nagging me in the back of my mind. I have to take diagnostic tests in August and I DO NOT WANT TO FAIL ANYTHING. I have to take 1st/2nd year history and theory exams. So, as I relax, I am constantly thinking that I should be studying. So, instead of stewing about the whole thing, I think I will come up with a study plan, to prepare myself for the upcoming tests. Grout here I come,.sigh.

On a more pleasant note, my wife got into the Banff orchestral program. I am so proud of her. That program is really competitive and she got a full scholarship. The only bummer is that it is from July 15 to August 15th. The two drawbacks are 1) no Je,..:( , and that we are planning a move to the Rochester at about that time.

We are house shopping so I will post some links of the houses that we are interested in:

http://www.homesteadnet.com/SiteContent/PropertySearch.aspx?Addr=rochester%2C%20New%20York&CityStZip=

This is a sample of about 20 homes that we are interested in. We were surprised to find that you could purchase a house in a decent neighbourhood from about 20000 to 40000USD. This will be cheaper than renting for us!

Here is something funny!