Brrrrrrrr. Also, a quick pimp
1. In the space of a weekend, summer breathed its last and the autumn weather has made its big entrance. By now, it's very windy and chilly, but I am not complaining because cooler weather = happier lungs. Still, it is very much time to put away the summer things and switch to sweaters and jackets and such. It was cold enough last night that I had to dig out the thermal and flannel PJs, and the cats have a renewed interest in glomping me in my bed. I'll have to see how the next few days go, but it feels like it's time to turn on the heat.
I love autumn in the Midwest. I really do. I want to bake and go see a football game and carve a pumpkin and visit a cider mill. :D
2. As always these days, I am very busy. However, it's a productive and stimulating kind of busy, not a paralyzing, stress-filled sort of busy, and I'm enjoying it. I also just had a very excellent lunch with an old mentor whom I haven't seen in some time, so not only is my stomach full to bursting with good Greek food, but my head is full to bursting with all kinds of ideas and insights that I want to incorporate. Mmm. Bliss.
3. Weird shit is still happening. Last night, my kitchen timer was apparently possessed by Zuul, because after I set it, I looked up at it and realized that it was flashing all kinds of strange... glyphs or sigils or something, and it was most definitely not keeping time or responding to my button pressing. So I moved it over to the table, thinking I would deal with it after I finished cooking dinner (Farfalle with Kale and Spicy Italian Sausage, if you wanted to know), and then, just as I was finishing up... it started beeping. And when I looked at it, it was once again completely normal.
4. I has new shoeses! I had to order them from the store because they didn't have my size in stock, at least not in the color I wanted, but they shipped them to my house for free and they arrived within three days. They were on sale, too. To top it all off, they are incredibly comfortable and indecently cute on my feet. Highly recommend them.
5. The weekend was great, for the most part. Went to dinner and the symphony with Best Friend again, and it was equally excellent, if not quite as electric as the first time. (Well, not every night can be opening night, right?)
Still, the first half was amazing, with the premiere of Alla Borzova's piece, "To The New World," which turned out to be exceptionally brilliant and exciting to hear. I knew going in that it was meant to be a representation of the American Immigrant experience, with different motifs for groups immigrating from different areas, but it worked so much more fluidly than I'd expected. The African section gave me chills, and when Borzova herself came out to take a bow afterward, I wasn't surprised at the enthusiastic response. I'm looking forward to hearing more from her. I'm also looking forward to getting the CD, because the performance was recorded for a joint DSO/Borzova collection.
The Borzova was followed up with an equally exciting and lively performance of Rodrigo's Fantasia para un gentilhombre, featuring Sharon Isbin as the classical guitar soloist. Her playing is breathtaking in person, incredibly clean and precise, and she also received a standing ovation. She was kind enough to treat us to an encore, which was equally beautiful. The Rodrigo itself was fantastic, and I almost found myself wishing the piece were twice as long, just because it's such a skillful blend of the renaissance/folk melodies and sleeker, more modern dissonance--just enough to make the flowing melodic sections shine all the brighter.
The second half of the concert was taken up with Rachmaninov's 2nd Symphony, which was very beautifully played, very well conducted, very sweeping and lush and very Romantic with a capital R... but it isn't my favorite. I'm a Rachmaninov fan, but the grand romanticism here is just a touch too romantic and soft for my tastes. Not textural or clean enough for me, I think. It had great moments and will make for a very nice recording, but I'll take a later Rachmaninov piece any day. However, as I said, it was well done and Slatkin did a good job of navigating the fine line between passion and total bombast. We also got lucky and happened to be at the second performance in a row with a surprise encore! They performed Rachmaninov's Vocalise, with the concertmaster taking the solo line; it was very, very beautiful and more than made up for my minor discontent with the other Rachmaninov piece. :D
6. Quick pimp: I wrote a response for the "Not a Gentleman" challenge on grangersnape100. It's called That Was Then, This Is Now, and I promise you that there is no effete Lord Snape to be found here. ~wicked grin~ Alternate link here, on OWL. I'll have it up on Ashwinder eventually.
Good days to you all, wherever you are and whatever you're facing today!
I love autumn in the Midwest. I really do. I want to bake and go see a football game and carve a pumpkin and visit a cider mill. :D
2. As always these days, I am very busy. However, it's a productive and stimulating kind of busy, not a paralyzing, stress-filled sort of busy, and I'm enjoying it. I also just had a very excellent lunch with an old mentor whom I haven't seen in some time, so not only is my stomach full to bursting with good Greek food, but my head is full to bursting with all kinds of ideas and insights that I want to incorporate. Mmm. Bliss.
3. Weird shit is still happening. Last night, my kitchen timer was apparently possessed by Zuul, because after I set it, I looked up at it and realized that it was flashing all kinds of strange... glyphs or sigils or something, and it was most definitely not keeping time or responding to my button pressing. So I moved it over to the table, thinking I would deal with it after I finished cooking dinner (Farfalle with Kale and Spicy Italian Sausage, if you wanted to know), and then, just as I was finishing up... it started beeping. And when I looked at it, it was once again completely normal.
4. I has new shoeses! I had to order them from the store because they didn't have my size in stock, at least not in the color I wanted, but they shipped them to my house for free and they arrived within three days. They were on sale, too. To top it all off, they are incredibly comfortable and indecently cute on my feet. Highly recommend them.
5. The weekend was great, for the most part. Went to dinner and the symphony with Best Friend again, and it was equally excellent, if not quite as electric as the first time. (Well, not every night can be opening night, right?)
Still, the first half was amazing, with the premiere of Alla Borzova's piece, "To The New World," which turned out to be exceptionally brilliant and exciting to hear. I knew going in that it was meant to be a representation of the American Immigrant experience, with different motifs for groups immigrating from different areas, but it worked so much more fluidly than I'd expected. The African section gave me chills, and when Borzova herself came out to take a bow afterward, I wasn't surprised at the enthusiastic response. I'm looking forward to hearing more from her. I'm also looking forward to getting the CD, because the performance was recorded for a joint DSO/Borzova collection.
The Borzova was followed up with an equally exciting and lively performance of Rodrigo's Fantasia para un gentilhombre, featuring Sharon Isbin as the classical guitar soloist. Her playing is breathtaking in person, incredibly clean and precise, and she also received a standing ovation. She was kind enough to treat us to an encore, which was equally beautiful. The Rodrigo itself was fantastic, and I almost found myself wishing the piece were twice as long, just because it's such a skillful blend of the renaissance/folk melodies and sleeker, more modern dissonance--just enough to make the flowing melodic sections shine all the brighter.
The second half of the concert was taken up with Rachmaninov's 2nd Symphony, which was very beautifully played, very well conducted, very sweeping and lush and very Romantic with a capital R... but it isn't my favorite. I'm a Rachmaninov fan, but the grand romanticism here is just a touch too romantic and soft for my tastes. Not textural or clean enough for me, I think. It had great moments and will make for a very nice recording, but I'll take a later Rachmaninov piece any day. However, as I said, it was well done and Slatkin did a good job of navigating the fine line between passion and total bombast. We also got lucky and happened to be at the second performance in a row with a surprise encore! They performed Rachmaninov's Vocalise, with the concertmaster taking the solo line; it was very, very beautiful and more than made up for my minor discontent with the other Rachmaninov piece. :D
6. Quick pimp: I wrote a response for the "Not a Gentleman" challenge on grangersnape100. It's called That Was Then, This Is Now, and I promise you that there is no effete Lord Snape to be found here. ~wicked grin~ Alternate link here, on OWL. I'll have it up on Ashwinder eventually.
Good days to you all, wherever you are and whatever you're facing today!