Fyrewurks

Last week I started a new regime that involves playing more piano and implementing a healthier lifestyle… well I did work up my Bach and Debussy (though the Debussy has a little more work to go) but I only got half-way through my Hanon - I just got blocked when I got to the scales!  I figure since I’m going through a different key each week, I can skip over the scales and arpeggios for now and only do them in the particular key.  So it’s on to Hanon book 3 to catch up (and that’s no easy task)!

I found I had less ‘extra’ time for playing than I thought I would - I forgot that the WoW Wrath of the Lich King expansion pack came out this week - how on earth can I do anything else with this time when I have Frostyna to work on?!?  (And I’ve always wanted a frosty character!)

My Death Knight Frostyna

As for the health part, I did manage to go all week without eating beef - it was actually quite easy!  I even forgot about it until I almost ordered my Thai noodles with beef and then changed to chicken.  1200 calories a day worked until the weekend where I undid most of the good (though I did lose 2 pounds for the week).

Tags: Frostyna, goals, WoW, Wrath of the Lich King

I love making grand plans - and small plans - and everything in between - call it an addiction. Of course following through is the hard part… what I’ve been doing is creating grandiose plans and then if I get a little bit of it done, I’ve accomplished a lot. I know setting realistic plans might be a better way to go, but I’ve been a little scared to shake up my plan-making. However I’m going to try making them more realistic in 2009.

I’ve already got my new 2009 Chococat calendar hanging up at my desk, and I will be getting my planner pages soon.  Here are my goals so far:

• More games & cooking together with the family
• Take more trips with the family
• Play more music
• Plan an internet publishing business model for 2009
• Healthier lifestyle
• Create a family and a business budget and follow them
• Get back into reading more

So, there’s a rough draft - now I have a few weeks to polish things.

Tags: 2009, about me, plans

Spencer Krug of Wolf Parade, Sunset Rubdown, Frog Eyes, Swan Lake, & Fifths of Seven

10 Wolf Parade + You Are a Runner and I Am My Father’s Son

09 Wolf Parade + Grounds for Divorce

08 Sunset Rubdown + Us Ones in Between
.:*Spencer Krug gently singing in the lamplight*:.

07 Sunset Rubdown + For the Pier (and Dead Shimmering)
A great glimpse into Spencer Krug’s show intensity!

06 Wolf Parade + This Heart’s on Fire

05 Wolf Parade + Modern World

04 Wolf Parade + Soldier’s Grin

03 Wolf Parade + I’ll Believe In Anything

02 Sunset Rubdown + Shut Up I am Dreaming of Places Where Lovers Have Wings

01 Wolf Parade + Kissing the Beehive
FIRE IN THE HOLE, FIRE IN THE HOLE, FIRE IN THE HOLE…!

Tags: lists, Spencer Krug, Sunset Rubdown, Wolf Parade

Today I went to the funeral of an old friend from high school.  I hadn’t seen him since school but I remember him well and he was truly one of the nicest guys - the type that’s always positive and always friendly.  You know how high-schoolers get moody & cocky a lot?  I never saw that in this guy and I don’t even know if I could say that about anyone else.

I found out this week that since high school he and his wife have raised quite the family - seven kids!  And it was obvious that he appreciated every moment and celebrated his family.  What I gleaned from today is to celebrate every moment that I have with my family while I’m on this planet.

Tags: appreciation

Glenn Gould

I couldn’t sleep this morning - I was wide awake at 4:00 and couldn’t get back.  I tried the usual plane crash daydreams but to no avail… so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to start my new regime.

I’d been planning to make some changes this week anyway and was falling behind, so really, this was perfect.

For one, I want to really get back into piano so I’m getting to know the keys again - I plan on spending each week being intimate with a different key, starting with C of course and going around the circle in the usual fashion.  I hope to get through Hanon (sans the nasty thumb-under excercises

Glenn Gould

which my brilliant piano teacher advises cause carpel-tunnel and of which I was painstakingly reminded after trying them this weekend) once a week in one key, then I’m picking two (or more in the case of C) interesting but not terribly difficult pieces in each key for each week.  Part of being intimate with the songs and keys is going to be listening to different well-done versions of the songs each week as well.

This week (week of C) I’ve been playing Bach’s “Prelude #1 from The Well Tempered Clavier” and have been listening to M Ward’s version (everything Ward touches is golden) as well as Glenn Gould’s (my former teacher studied under the same master teacher that Glenn Gould did!) - he had Bach down:

Glenn Gould was so hot.

And my other piece for this week is Debussy’s “Dr. Gradus ad Parnassum” from “Children’s Corner,” what a dreamy tune - I just get lost… Alfred Cortot playing here:

My other regime involves health - I’m starting by having no more than 1200 calories a day and taking a variety of vitamins. I’m also slowly moving towards becoming fish vegetarian but I’ve got some work there… though I very rarely eat beef so that’s a good start.

I would like to include some sort of exercise, but it just won’t fit in right now because I want to spend as much time with my daughter as possible and I’m already getting up early to do most of my piano playing before she wakes up and putting my internet publishing business on hold (just hiring out some work right now).

Tags: Bach, Children's Corner, Debussy, Dr Gradus ad Parnassum, Glenn Gould, health, M Ward, Piano, plans, Prelude No. 1 from the Well Tempered Clavier

if you’ll believe in anything.

Wolf Parade's Dante DeCaro & Spencer Krug

I took a rare week night out with my sis and her husband to go see Wolf Parade at The Marquee in Tulsa tonight - it was the best show I’ve seen in years.

First we stumbled out of the T-storms & tornadoes into “Lola’s,” a dia de los muertos themed tapas bar where we got some fantastic mojitos.

Eric & Christine in front of Lola's

Lola's Decor

Me likes a good mojito

Afterwards we got to The Marquee early enough to get a decent spot and catch the opening band - [insert name here - I'm terribly sorry and mean no disrespect but I forgot] The Listening Party - which had a good blend of native beats and rock (not in a boring hippie way); very Animal Collective-esque.

The Listening Party

Then came Wolf Parade.  I used to listen to them a lot then I kinda forgot about them - I’m sooo glad I was reminded! 

Wolf Parade + Spencer Krug

Wolf Parade + Spencer Krug

Wolf Parade + Spencer Krug

Wolf Parade + Spencer Krug

Wolf Parade + Arlen Thompson & Dan Boeckner

Wolf Parade + Spencer Krug

Wolf Parade + Hadji Bakara

Wolf Parade + Spencer Krug

Wolf Parade + Dan Boeckner

Give me your eyes
I need sunshine
Give me your eyes
I need sunshine
Your blood
Your bones
Your voice
and your ghost…

Tags: concert photos, Dan Boeckner, Spencer Krug, The Listening Party, Tulsa, Tulsa venues, Wolf Parade, Wolf Parade photos, Wolf Parade pictures

It felt like my family and I spent the whole of October celebrating Halloween; or at least celebrating the cool weather and the orange backdrop of fall, as well as out-of-town family & friends coming and going.

Our family loves fall anyway and we always get an early start on the festivities… this year it started with a trip to Hobby Lobby for some fall craft projects, the making of a haunted gingerbread house, several trips to the pumpkin patch, dressing up just for guests - see my niece and daughter the cat:

Non-touchy cousins doing their best at hugging.

 - and then during the last week we went to two Halloween carnivals and then finished off the week with a trip to the Haunted Castle of Muskogee.

I live only 30 minutes from “The Castle” and I knew that they had a Halloween thing every year, but I hadn’t ever been and had no idea how big it was! It’s like a little village with Halloween activities for all ages.  So we did all of the kiddie stuff involving crafts and food and cuteness:

Candle-making at The Castle

HalloweenLand

While I had a ton of fun in October, it got a little hectic with all of the guests and events.   As a result I ended up eating out way too often and really need to get back into a healthy regime now (and back into a more productive schedule).

…So now that we’ve settled down, and now that everyone in the house is quietly tucked into bed for the night, I’ll probably spend tonight filling out my planner for November (which I find quite enjoyable, anyway).

Tags: Castle of Muskogee, family, fun, Halloween, Haunted Castle of Muskogee, October

If you’re getting back into piano after a ten-year break, don’t try to jump back in with Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody #2.  (No matter how much you really really want to play it).

No one plays this like Horowitz.

Tags: Horowitz, Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, Liszt, Piano

Well - I may not have produced the world’s greatest modern mosaics, but I did end up with three little pieces of color and awkwardness that I like enough to display in my decor. Plus going to art class was really a nice segway from the office.

So here’s what I made - three tree-themed smalti mosaics (photos taken on my sister’s phone - memo to myself: get a purse at least large enough for my a digital camera):

Tags: mosaics, smalti

Tegan and Sara!  I wasn’t a fan of their earlier music (at least what I’d heard) but many of the songs off of The Con have really grown on me.  And in their recent Letterman appearance they were just so cute - the singing was cute (and this song is just beautiful anyway), they were cute, and they have these new adorable haircuts (I like Tegan’s best) to boot.

Tags: cute, Tegan and Sara