Musings of a Liber Boy

A Few Thoughts on (Mostly My) Education

2012-01-21T23:20:00.000-07:00

I’ve been thinking a lot about myexperience in school recently and about what I’ve learned, aside from thecoursework. Mainly, I’ve thought about the education system, compared with themany years that I homeschooled, (which were the fundamental years of myeducation, and the years that really shaped how I think). Up until this pastSeptember, I’d been homeschooled for my whole life. Technically, I suppose thisis my 4^th year of high school and combined with the fact that myparents actually started “officially” educating me a year later than normal,the result is that I’m taking a year of “normal” school at an age where I’m olderthan any of the other students I’ve met. Since I’m spending a school year in“the system,” I feel that I’m finally allowed to comment on what I’ve seen andexperienced, and the problems I have with the school system. I could go intothe question of whether standardized testing is an accurate way of evaluating astudent’s learning (my view: it isn’t), and I could go into a discussion of theschool system’s poor attempts to take different learning styles into account, butI want to write about something completely different.

I had a pretty great childhood,and I certainly don’t take it for granted. Ever since I can remember, I had alot of freedom to spend time doing things that I really wanted to do. I couldlearn about what I wanted to learn, and explore things that interested me. Asfar as my parents were concerned, so long as I was learning and exploring, itwasn’t a waste of time. I was about 14 when I started to seriously focus onmusic and theatre. I disciplined myself to diligent piano practice, startedtaking lessons for flute and voice, began composing music, and co-founded ayouth theatre company with two driven friends of mine. As you can imagine, thisdidn’t exactly leave a lot of time for studying the provincially-preparedcourse load of Math, English, Social Studies, and Science. It’s not like I was completely ignoring thosesubjects though. I plodded along through a math textbook, read and discussedgreat Classic literature, discussed current events with my family, and learneda great amount about the environment around me, (the perks of having a botanistfor a father!). But I invested so much time in my arts studies that theresimply wasn’t time to fill the government’s requirements for what constitutedan education.

Fast forward to where I am now.I’ve cultivated skills in the areas I plan to pursue after high school, but Idon’t have the courses required to get into post-secondary. No problem, that’swhy I’m doing a year in normal school, simply to crash my way through some30-level courses. Sure, I may be older than my fellow students, but I don’tregret a single minute of my education prior to this year. The school system isvery heavily oriented to getting students their high school diploma and pushingthem into a good university so that they can get a good career and make goodmoney. Teachers often talk about how you should get a good career in somethingyou love doing, but how can you possibly know what you’re passionate about ifyou haven’t been given the freedom to thoroughly explore your interests? I seelots of students and friends finish high school, and then either a) come to a stopand realise that they have absolutely no clue what they want to do, and/or b)go straight into University, not in a program that they’re really excitedabout, but rather just settling for one that seems okay. Bearable. Something thatsounds relatively interesting, and would appease the parents. There areexceptions of course, students that have managed to find something they trulylove doing, despite spending the majority of their childhood in school, butthey do seem to be the exceptions.

I wish that wasn’t the case. Duringthe K-12 years, at an age when one doesn’t have to worry about paying the rent,affording food, or affording your electricity, I wish that every student couldhave the opportunity (as I did) to spend their childhood discovering what theyloved, not to pass a test, but to cultivate a genuine love of learning and tofigure out what they really, truly want to spend time in their life doing. Forme, an extra year of high school is a small price to pay for spending my K-12years figuring out what I’m excited about and what I’m interested in pursuing.If the school system spent more time allowing students to figure out theirinterests, and spent less time on exam marks, I believe that we’d have manymore happier people spending their time on pursuits that fill them with joy,rather than drifting aimlessly through years of their lives spending money andtime on post-secondary degrees only to realise that they weren’t all that interestedin them in the first place.

I don't like titling posts.

2011-11-26T19:40:00.001-07:00

In this day and age, it still boggles me that people think you need money and a high paying job to be happy. You don't. You need to absolutely love what you do, and the happiness will come. The living will too.

Characters

2011-11-06T22:07:00.001-07:00

Okay, sorry for another Oz-themed post.

Okay, I lied, I'm not sorry. :P

I've been thinking a lot lately about my character and who he is, what makes him "tick", per se etc. I think the characters in The Wizard of Oz are so wonderful, and so human. In my opinion, the reason that The Wizard of Oz has been around for so long and become a classic is because there's a bit of Dorothy in all of us, a bit of Scarecrow, and Tin Man and Lion, and we can all relate and resonate. I love the story, and I love the characters. Sure, they're larger than life, and somewhat caricatures, but there's beautiful, human elements in each one, and that's what I'm really excited and interested in exploring, finding and expressing.

Rehearsals etc.

2011-11-01T22:52:00.001-06:00

Hi everyone!

Life is crazy. Seriously, I always seem to be busy, but right now, I think I'm busier then I've ever been. I'm sitting in rehearsal for The Wizard of Oz with a rare spare moment as they rehearse Munchkinland, one of the few scenes that I'm not needed for! Rehearsals are going very well, and it's very exciting! There's always multiple things going on in the theatre building where we rehearse, so we're rehearsing in the space in front of the stage as they paint enormous drops for the show on the actual stage (it's the only place big enough to be able to lay them out and paint them!). Right now, they're painting one for the Emerald City and it looks wonderful! I'm off-book for the stuff we're doing today and so it feels really nice and productive to work on character stuff without script in hand. It feels like it's slowly starting to have some shape. We have about a month and a half! Anyway, that's all for now, I think I'm called soon. I may post these periodically if I get some downtime during rehearsals...

Take care everyone!
Dan

Note: Although I'll type them when I'm at rehearsal, I won't be able to post them till I get to wi-fi, hence the possibly strange posting times.

School etc.

2011-09-06T21:53:00.001-06:00

Good evening! How are you?

I've really missed blogging. I'm happy to be back.

Things have happened. I go to school now. Which is, you know, different. My sister just came back from India, and just like she was a Canadian visiting India, I very much feel like I'm visiting a different country. I'm a Homeschooler visiting Public School.
So far, I've just had three days of orientation, so I can't really tell officially, but I think it'll be good, and I think I'll enjoy the experience. Certainly good preparation for university. It's sure a different sub-culture then I'm used to though. From what I've seen so far, junior high and high school students are... exactly how I expected them to be, from what I'd heard. Now, I know this makes me sound incredibly arrogant and "high-and-mighty", but I'd hoped they'd be a bit more, I dunno, mature or something. Of course, that's a generalization and it only takes a couple to stand out and act for the masses. Ah well, though. We'll see.

Other things. I have a new piano teacher. I haven't had a lesson with him yet (I will have by this time tomorrow), but I'm really looking forward to it! At the end of last year, my old piano teacher (who I studied with for about ten years) told me that she had taken me as far as she could and that if I hoped to continue studying piano, I should move on to a different teacher. So I did, and plan to study for my ARCT with him. I think I'll really be challenged, and learn tons.

Also, I went for a lovely walk with my family on the weekend to the nearby National Park, and saw this adorably tiny little Boreal Toad. It was so cute! Blogger isn't letting my post photos, but when it does, I'll add photos.

Take care!
Dan

went from "in a relationship" to "single" to "in a relationship"...

2011-08-28T17:55:00.000-06:00

Hey folks,

You know what bugs me? When people on facebook post a live feed of all the current developments in their new relationship. It shouldn't bug me of course. It doesn't concern me really, or shouldn't concern me at least. And I swear that it's not that I'm bitter about being single. :) (I'm honestly not!) The issue I have with it is that relationships are personal. They're supposed to be about you and that other person. It's not that you don't have to share it with world, and it's not that none of us are interested. I just think it's good for you and your bf/gf to have some sense of privacy.

When you change your relationship status to "in a relationship" ten minutes after your first date, change it to "single" two days later, and then soon back "in a relationship" with the same person, I can't help but wonder what would happen if you put more energy into cultivating your relationship, and not as much into making sure the world knew about every advance and recession. Facebook relationship statuses make things look final. Seriously, you are not obligated to let us know everything about your relationship. It's okay! We won't mind. I would much rather you were happily focused on your relationship, and not spending your effort making sure that we are focused on your relationship.

Peace.
Dan

News

2011-08-26T17:37:00.000-06:00

Hi. How are you? Life is really good with me. Like, really good. I'm just really, extraordinarily happy right now. Not because of anything in particular, but rather because of a combination of smaller things that have happened or are happening in the future.

Things that have happened since I last blogged:

The Wizard of Oz. I auditioned for a large community theatre production of The Wizard of Oz. The audition went really well, I thought, and weeks later, I found out that I had a callback. Went to the callbacks, and then the waiting began. The day that my dad and I (and two good friends of ours) left on a backpacking trip, I got a text from my mom saying "call me!". I called home, and found out that the director had called, and I was cast as the Tin Man! You guys, you have NO idea how excited I am! It's 16 shows in December in the largest theatre I've ever performed in (it's got a balcony!). I guess this show is kind of this years "huge annual Christmas family show" so it's usually sold out and really popular and stuff. It'll be great. Tragically, the man who was supposed to direct it suddenly passed away, but the assistant director has stepped in to direct and the show is going ahead. This may sound silly, but I'm also pretty excited to do WoO because when I was younger, The Wizard of Oz was actually a really big part of my life. I was kind of obsessed with it for a number of years, and when I was probably about 9, I had this big elaborate plan to mount my own production of The Wizard of Oz. I had the script ready, I'd contacted many of my friends to be in the production, and had double-cast myself as both the Wicked Witch of the West and the Tin Man. To this day, I still don't know how I thought I could manage that. :D But it's kind of cool, years later, to be indeed be playing the Tin Man in a much bigger productions (we're going to have flying monkeys that fly, people!).

Backpacking. As I mentioned, I went backpacking with a friend of mine from Scouts, his dad, and my dad. Great trip. We didn't have the best weather for the hike we wanted to do, and consequently had to change our plans a bit, but it was still a great trip. Backpacking is amazing and I look forward to many more trips.

The Fringe. I had the pleasure of being part of the Fringe festival this year in a show that I wrote the music in. (I think I've mentioned it before. One of my friends "concieved it" and wrote the book, then another friend of ours wrote the lyrics and I wrote the music). We got good reviews (my first ever reviews!!) and our last shows were sold out. We even made some money! Hurray!

I got my learner's license. Finally.

I also have applied for 5 jobs and haven't heard back from any of them. That's an achievement, right?

My most recent big news is that I'm going to school this year. Which is a big change for me, since I've been homeschooled my entire life. The school I'm going to allows lots of flexibility, and is self-directed. I can work at my own pace, and I don't have to "sit in a classroom", but I likely will have to be there (I haven't got my time-table yet) for regular school hours. It's crazy, but strangely, I'm really, really excited. It'll be a change, which will be nice. Not that I was unhappy homeschooling by ANY stretch, quite the contrary, but I was just looking for a change of pace, change of scene and a good way to get these courses done. And I'm taking French, and possibly Italian and Spanish, so I'm very excited about that! It just feels really right for me at this point in my life.

Lots more has happened, but this is long enough for today. :)

This summer has been fabulous, but I'm looking forward to jumping into new adventures. And I'm looking forward to blogging again!

I don't know if anybody reads this blog anymore, but if you do-thanks! If you read that entire post, survived, and are still planning on reading my blog, you rock and I love you.

Take care,
Dan

Yes.

2011-03-30T20:02:00.001-06:00

There's Rebecca Black, and then there's Savannah Robinson...

I think that's facepaint on Savannah. She's too good to be white.

2011-03-03T12:59:00.000-07:00

You know, it's amazing to me just how much energy we as humans spend complaining about the weather. It seems to me that out of the entire world, it's the only thing that we have absolutely no control over. In fact, I'm beginning to wonder if that's not exactly why we do it. The weather is one thing that we can complain about and not have somebody say "Well, if you don't like it, then do something about it!"

questions part 2

2011-02-20T22:26:00.000-07:00

It seems that whenever I feel inspired to blog, I don't have time, and when I have time to blog, I just...don't. Eh eh, eh eh, there's nothing else I can say.

...

Questions! (Or rather) Answers!

(Anon.) "If you were sent to a deserted island and could only bring 3 items (none of which can be a boat or other means of getting off the island) what would you bring?"
Hmm. This is really hard. I suppose I could go with practical things such as a knife, flint/steel and a tarp, but I am also inclined to go with a package of pencils, a giant stack of manuscript paper and great reading book to ensure that I spend my time productively. I am torn. Creativity or survival? Hmm...

(Anon.) "If you had to pick one, and only one, person who was your ultimate role model..who would that be?"
I honestly don't know enough about anybody yet to say...

(Anon.)"If you could pick any career and money/time wasn't an issue...what would you do?"
What about talent/skill? Would that be an issue? If I just suddenly jump to any job, I would have to say that of a Broadway actor. I can't think of anything funner than getting to sing and actor in front of an audience every time and get paid for it. People do that, you know! Crazy. But no, seriously, if I could just jump to my dream career it would be (and the moment), to live in NYC alternating between an actor in shows and composer (writing classical music and new musicals, which of course would be running on Broadway), with a side career as a vocalist/keyboardist in a great little indie folk/pop/rock band.

(Anon.) "If Lady Gaga, Patti LuPone, Bernadette Peters, Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenowith all asked you to sing on stage with them at the same time..which one would you choose and why?"
Oh gosh, these are HARD questions. I'm kindof inclined to say that Gaga and Patti are both people I would just love to spend a day with, but I think that I would love to sing onstage with Bernadette Peters. So I think, I think my pick is Bernadette. I would just love to met Idina and Kristin.

(Logan) "What's your view on prostitutes? Such in Paris it is a legal job, I know I think it is revolting and should be illegal. However to some it is entertainment and good money. So you wanted questions so I am asking a question!"
Hmm. Good question. My first instinct is that of course I disagree with prostitution absolutely, and think it should be illegal. But the problem is that that really won't do anything. Same with abortion. You can make it illegal all you like, but if people really think it's the answer, they'll seek it out illegally and dangerously. I absolutely don't have an answer. I don't believe that either are morally right, but don't think that simply making either illegal will change anything. I have no answer.

Part II will come.

How are you?

Ask me questions!

2010-12-29T12:11:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas (if you celebrate it-if not, I hope you had a wonderful whatever-else-you-celebrate!). I know I did.

For fun, since it's been a while, let's bring back the old Ask-me-questions thing! So ask me questions in the comments below and I'll answer them!

Expedition- Day 2

2010-12-19T20:35:00.002-07:00

I honestly don't remember exactly where this was. We saw this kind of view regularly.

August 15th, 2010
We’re at the Waterfalls Campground today. We had heard that it was a beautiful site, so we decided to spend a good day here. So today’s hike was a mere 4.5 kms.

We followed the creek for most of it (hiking South), until it split, one part going East and one going West. The West section comes down from a huge waterfall, which is where the camp gets its name (surprise). The campground location really is beautiful. Standing near the camp looks down over a hill, with the water fall on our left and the creek at the bottom.

Today was leisurely. We spent most of the afternoon playing in the water, washing our shirts and faces and hair. My feet feel wonderful after all the cool water. Surprisingly, the water is the perfect temperature, and not as frigid as one might imagine from a mountain stream. For drinking and cooking, we filter all our water. We have three hand pumps and to pump enough water for meals (for the 9 of us) takes about an hour. I’m getting used to the weight in my pack (about 40lbs) and really enjoying it. It’s really so far a remarkable trip.

Waterfall

More waterfall.

A really lovely pool in the creek, which was nice and deep and cool, perfect for wading.

The waterfall.

I have to remember to ask my dad what these little flowers are. They were growing all over the hill.

My pack on the table.

A casuality.

Ah, yes. Here we are. The Green Throne Privy (That's what they're actually called in the pamphlet). Yep, these are the toilets on the trail. Don't expect privacy.

Expedition- Day 2

2010-10-10T08:00:00.006-06:00

(Nothing much happened on August 13th, as we just drove to Jasper. So we're starting on Day 2)

August 14^th, 2010

The vehicle loaded with our stuff!

We started the big Jonas Pass trail today. We had to pack up our base camp and move vehicles to the ending trail-head, and so by the time we left the trail-head, it was 1300hrs. We hiked about 8 kms to the Poboktan Campground. The trail is a typical mountain trail, muddy, rooty and constantly going uphill!

It follows Poboktan Creek almost all the way and so the sound of the water is always nearby.

We made it to camp in good time and had the whole evening to enjoy the campground. The creek nearby is lovely, and the perfect temperature for soaking my feet after a day of hiking as my Plantars Facisitis always makes them painful.

Cooking supper.

Our campground is really quite nice. There are 4 tent pad sites, a main area with a fire pit, two picnic tables, a bear pole and a “green throne” privy” (I’ll explain just exactly what that is in another post. :P )

The bear pole consist of a wooden pole nailed horizontally between two trees, with four loops of wire hanging from it. On each line there are two clips, one at the top, one at the bottom. You clip your bag of food to the bottom clip, and use the pulley system to host it to the top. The (formerly) top clip is now at the bottom, where you can clip it to one of the trees, leaving your food hanging at the top. It’s a simple, but very effective system.

The bear pole at work.

Our camp.

These are our tents. They are very light, and very small. They fit two people. Just.

We spent the evening enjoying the creek, and planning out the next day, an as it was our first night on the trail, figuring out exactly all the things involved when we get to camp.

Jasper Expedition- Prologue

2010-10-09T17:41:00.000-06:00

So, this past August, I went on a backpacking trip to Jasper National Park with my Venturer group. Our Company had been together as a group for the past 4 years, and so this was the final trip as a group. We'd been working up to it for a long time, and so
we were as prepared as we were going to be.

Our timeline looked like this-

August 13- Drive
August 14-18- Jonas Pass trail
August 19- Rest day
August 20- Day hike
August 21- Small day hike and driving home.

I'm planning on posting one post per expedition day every now and then. So hope you enjoy!

When will this stop?

2010-10-02T00:23:00.002-06:00

I have to get this out.

Perhaps you’ve heard about the four teen suicides in the past 3 weeks. Haven’t heard of them?

“Tyler Clementi a freshman at Rutgers University jumped to his death last week off a bridge a day after authorities say two classmates surreptitiously recorded him having sex with a man in his dorm room and broadcast it over the Internet.
Seth Walsh, 13, committed suicide last week after years of being bullied. The police interviewed several of the students who teased Walsh but determined their actions did not constitute a crime, news reports say.
Asher Brown, also 13, shot himself after being harassed at his middle school in Houston. According to news reports, his parents said they had complained to the school authorities, but the bullying continued. The school reports that no complaints were made.
Billy Lucas, a 15-year-old in Indiana, hanged himself Thursday after being bullied. He never told anyone he was gay, but his classmates acknowledged that he was teased because students assumed he was.”

(quotation from http://voices.washingtonpost.com/blogpost/2010/09/suicide_of_gay_teenagers_four.html)

But this really isn’t even a gay issue. It isn’t even just a youth issue. This is an issue, because people all over the world, (although especially young people), are being told, sometimes indirectly, that whoever they are, whether they’re black, white, gay, straight, male, female, Christian, Muslim, is wrong, that they don’t matter, that they are something that can be laughed at, something that doesn’t have to be taken seriously.

Who you are is NOT WRONG. I don’t care what your “friends”, adults, Churches, classmates tell you. You are NOT a mistake, and you are exactly what God wants you to be.

People notice little things. If you think that somebody isn’t going to notice being called a retard, faggot, nigger or slut, think again. Let’s step up to the plate here, and make a change.

I honestly don’t know what I’m going to accomplish by writing this. Most of the people who are reading this probably aren’t guilty of intense bullying. But as long as we stand back, and take the attitude of “not my problem”, this problem will honestly be all of our problems.

Peace.
Daniel

Update

2010-09-29T21:48:00.000-06:00

Hi folks,

I obviously haven't been blogging recently, because I've very busy getting back into my regular schedule of life. I'm back at weekly piano and flute lessons, but not voice lessons yet because my teacher is busy being a new father. :) But I've started something new: Musical Theatre! Twice a week, for 3 hours. On Mondays, we alternate between dance and acting for the first half, and then have choral for the second half. And then on Thursdays, we have vocal masterclasses. It's fantastic, and I'm learning loads!

And of course, I have "school work" too. I'm also taking an online writing class, so that's good.

The theatre company I'm with is doing A Midsummer Night's Dream this November, so I'm just starting to get pretty busy with that too, directing, music writing, and lots of rehearsal scheduling! It's going to be fabulous.

Also, in case you didn't know, I went on a big backpacking trip to the mountains with my Venturer company, this past August. I'm working on a big series of blog posts on that, which I will post periodically.

Anyway, just thought I'd post a quick blog to let you know what I've been up to!

Take care,
Daniel

Indeed

2010-08-12T21:30:00.002-06:00

Two-way dialogue is good.

The story of Daniel's spectacular day

2010-06-11T23:22:00.000-06:00

I had a spectacularly wonderful day today. :) My flute teacher had this wonderful idea to take as many of her students as could make it on a bit a of "school tour". So this morning, we toured to two local elementary schools and played a short concert (about 35 minutes long) for them. It was really fun, and they were great listeners. I have to say that I was also impressed and appreciative that the teachers were willing to take time out of their class schedules to bring their students to listen. Music is always worth the time. We all went to Subway for lunch afterwards. Yay for Subway, (always my lunch-out place of choice). I went home and slept for 1.25 hours, even though it was only mid afternoon. I was really tired for some reason, more than just mid-afternoon drowsiness. After my nap, I cut the grass, sang for a bit, made myself a good, strong coffee, and practiced some piano. After my mother reminded me that I was on supper-making duty, I made some delicious barbecued chicken, roasted potatoes and salad. I'm not just bragging, it really was tasty! Anyway, after supper, I got out my shirt and tie and headed off to the symphony. Amazing. The program included Shostakovich's Concerto for Piano, Trumpet and Strings, Debussy's masterpiece La Mer ("The Sea"), as well as some other fantastic pieces, two of which were composed by Canadian composers. Brilliant stuff. The Debussy though, was just exquisite. Debussy never wrote a Symphony, but La Mer is the closest he got though. It's an incredible piece of music and just indescribable when heard live. It's so full majestic and full of life, and so beautifully textured and colourful. I found it pretty moving and inspiring. The concert tonight was exactly what I had been needing for a long while- a chance to reflect, get inspired and have a "night out" with myself. Ha. I feel ready to tackle new challenges and endeavours. All in all, a good day. Tomorrow- busking at the farmer's market, a talk/workshop about efficiency, and the last performance of Word Problem in the evening. Which reminds me that I haven't posted about Word Problem yet, so some of you won't know what I'm talking about. I'll blog about it soon. I promise. Until then, take care.

-Dan

Quandary

2010-05-21T15:05:00.000-06:00

quandary [ˈkwɒndrɪ -dərɪ]n pl -ries a situation or circumstance that presents problems difficult to solve; predicament; dilemma

Okay, so I'm in a bit of a quandary right now. It's coming up to the end of the school year, and I need to let my piano teacher know what I'm doing next year, so I can register. As you may know, I completed the Suzuki Piano program this past February, and I am taking my Grade 9 Royal Conservatory exam in mid-June, and so it seems like a good time to re-evaluate and make some decisions. The thing is, I honestly don't know what to do for piano next year.

Here are my options:

Option 1. Get a new piano teacher, and see where that takes me. My current teacher has actually suggested this to see how a different approach will help my abilities grow.

Option 2. Stay with my current teacher. Maybe work on my Grade 10 exam or on a larger work i.e. concerto.

Option 3. Take a year off from piano lessons. Focus on preparing for post-secondary, thinking about what I want to focus on, and preparing for that. Practice piano on my own.

I'm currently leaning towards Option 3. See, the thing is, as much as I love piano, I'm not sure that I have any plans to be a concert pianist. I think that my passion lies in a mixture of music and theatre. So, I guess what I'm saying, is if I don't have specific plans to pursue a life as a pianist, what's the point in studying that at university, and if I'm not going to study that at university, then I should be spending the time on things that will prepare me for university. I don't know... Obviously, I'm never going to stop playing piano, and the skill that I currently have will be of huge value to me in the music/theatre/composing world. So yeah.

By the way, my current plan is to be a working actor with lots of musical theatre training and a composer/sound designer on the side. I love directing as well, so I guess my title would be actor/composer/director. I just have so many choices, and so many interests, it's just really hard.

Sorry, this has been rambling. Bleh.

2010-04-27T10:00:00.000-06:00

Well, look who it is. It's me.

(you) Oh, Daniel, nice to see you here, it seems you don't post a lot here. Is this your blog? I come here more than you.

(me) Yeah, well, I'm sorry, but I'm really busy right now. It seems the menu of my life is full of all sorts of tasty exciting things, and I'm having trouble fitting them all in.

(you) Like what? What could you possibly do besides blogging?

(me) Well, all my writing time is being taken up by Script Frenzy, and I'm currently preparing for my Grade 9 RCM piano exam in June. And I'm in the middle of Kiwanis Music festival. And I'm also getting ready to go to Toronto for a National Youth Shakespeare festival. I'm trying to get rehearsals in and also work with some friends on set/costume design for the above festival. And I generally have lessons and rehearsals and meetings every day. So yeah, not much.

(you) Darn you, you always have good excuses.

(me) ...

(you) What page are you on in Script Frenzy anyway?

(me) Page 61. I have 39 pages to type in 4 days.

(you) What's your script about?

(me) Shhhh. It's confidential.

(you) I see. Well, I guess I'll see you more after Script Frenzy.

(me) You will. I promise.

Prelude

2010-04-22T11:59:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone, this is just a little piece that I wrote for solo piano. It's also the one that I am submitting to the Kiwanis Music Festival for composition. Here's the short blurb I had to write about it:

"Prelude is a short piece for solo piano. The theme is introduced in the opening bar, modified and developed, and then finally recapitulated near the end. It is largely inspired by the works of Scriabin and Rachmaninoff and should be taken at a moderate, very free tempo, using lots of rubato to convey the dark, mysterious feel."

Hope you enjoy it. By the way, if you can think of a more creative title for it, I would be forever grateful! Post them in the comments. :)

2010-04-19T09:58:00.002-06:00

If there's one thing I've learned from facebook fan pages, it's that we're really not that different after all.

Two answers to music-related questions

2010-04-06T15:18:00.001-06:00

A couple more answers to questions, these ones rather music related.

Why don't you like top hit songs, but like classical music, upbringing?
The main reason is that simply, I don't think a lot of the top hit songs are very good. But I actually do listen to some "pop" music (*cough*Lady Gaga*cough*). It really depends on the music. I won't listen to it just because everybody else is listening to it. It's got to express something or make me think. But I actually do like a wide variety of music! The reason I like classical music so much is that I think there's really something to it! And judging by the fact that a lot of the good stuff has been around for hundreds of years, obviously other people think there's something to it as well! But yeah, my taste in music goes from J.S. Bach to Benjamin Britten, to Beethoven, to John Adams to the Beatles, to The Smiths, to Regina Spektor, to Loreena McKennitt to Queen to REM to Lady Gaga. I just love music! I can't say I'm super keen on rap, or heavy metal, or techno, but I'll listen to almost anything short of that. As for upbringing, my parents played a lot of classical and folk music when I was younger, so that has probably influenced my music taste, but now, I'd say I probably listen to the most varied in my household.

Do you like Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos #1 & 2?
Oh yeah! Rachmaninov's piano concertos are some of my favourite piano concertos! He actually wrote four of them (as well as a another work for piano and orchestra, his Rhapsody on a theme by Paganini). Out of the four concertos, his 2nd and his 3rd are the most well known. The Third concerto has a reputation for being one of the most difficult in the repertoire, as it takes a huge amount of technical skill, expressive power and lots of endurance to make it through the 50 minutes of intense playing. The Second concerto is probably the most played, because it's incredibly beautiful, and very popular. I have a real preference for the First Concerto, which in my opinion is very under appreciated (although I think it's very rapidly gaining popularity). The second movement of the 1st is just exquisite, and has this amazing dialogue between the flute and the piano. Just amazing. And then everybody forgets about the Fourth concerto, which just saddens me, because I think it's a great piece and needs your love too. But it always gets forgotten in preference for the 2nd and 3rd concertos.

Answers (some of them)

2010-03-25T13:06:00.000-06:00

What is your favourite movie of all time? And why?
Um, that's honestly such a hard question. I've got a couple. The Pianist would definitely be up there, just an incredible movie about survival, that really made me think about how fortunate I am and taught me a lot of lessons about gratitude. Moulin Rouge! is one of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen, and all about L-O-V-E (lol). And of course, because I'm a fanatic about the musical RENT, the movie of the same name is one of my favourites too, and the core message is all about really living and living as if it's your last day alive. So those would be three of my favourite movies. But I have others, and I don't have only one.

If you had a billion dollars and hot chicks what would you do?
AND
If you had a million dollars what would you spend it on?
If I had a billion dollars, I'd build a beautiful little theater, and then rent it out to small theatre companies. And I'd obviously give a lot of money away. I'll pass on the hot chicks. :)

Why do you like answering questions?
a) It's fun!
b) It makes me think about things I might not have before.
c) and it makes my blog more "interactive". Lol.

If you had a superpower what would it be?
I'd like to be able to fly invisibly.

If you could change ONE thing about people (in general) what would you change?
I wish people were more open-minded. We've made so many mistakes in the past by not being willing to revaluate our opinions. We'd be a lot better off if we would listen honestly to other people without prejudice.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Sondheim!

2010-03-22T22:14:00.000-06:00

So, today (March 22), the greatest musical theatre composer that's ever lived, turns 80. Happy Birthday Stephen Sondheim! Sondheim's music is just so fascinating to me. His lyrics are so clever and inspired and his genius in being able to work character and emotion into music like no other musical theatre composer. Unlike other composers, he doesn't write the exact same style for every character, it differs depending on the specifics of the person. And his ability to combine lots and lots of separate melodies into rich, musical harmonies is just mindblowing to me. Just completely inspiring.

Questions!

2010-03-17T08:36:00.000-06:00

So we did this a while ago, and one of my regular readers suggested that I do this again! So go ahead and post some questions for me in the comments below and I will do my best to answer them. Go ahead, put me on the spot!

Alice in Wonderland

2010-03-16T12:33:00.001-06:00

Alice in Wonderland is the movie this year that I've been most anticipating. It came out on March 5, and for the first time for me, I actually saw it in theatres the day it came opened. I had been excitedly watching each trailer, and each clip as soon as they came out, and as Tim Burton is one of my favourite filmmakers, I was getting pretty excited! It has a crazy awesome cast too- Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Michael Sheen, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, and Johnny Depp to name a few. The film also stars Mia Wasikowska as Alice.

Overall, I loved it. Tim Burton's style of directing is so interesting. It's very artistic, stylized, quirky, and dark. Alice in Wonderland didn't disappoint. The acting especially is brilliant. Helena Bonham Carter was probably my favourite character, as the Red Queen. Johnny Depp's performance of the Mad Hatter is amazing, quirky, layered and subtle. Every cast member is strong, and all the supporting roles are interesting and memorable.

The biggest flaw, in my opinion is the script. Instead of following the story of the Louis Carroll's original Alice in Wonderland, Burton decided to make a sequel, set thirteen years after Alice's original trip to Wonderland. Its a great idea that could have been interesting and innovative, but unfortunately, I didn't find the plot or the script to be anything special. Without Tim Burton's directing, it could have easily been another predictable Disney movie. Personally, I don't think it's a masterpiece, but it's sure pretty good, and definitely worth seeing!

Henry V

2010-03-16T12:31:00.001-06:00

So, tonight is the dress rehearsal of Henry V, we have our first preview night tomorrow night, and by Sunday night, it will all be over!

Overall, it’s been good and good experience for me (ooh, something to put on my resume!). But it’s been exhausting and quite a big time commitment. I have to say that I haven’t felt full energy for a while now, especially with a big lack of sleep from Scout camp this past weekend which I don’t thing I’ve fully recovered from. It feels like the show is finally all coming together now, and despite tech rehearsals being slow and boring for the actors, it is pretty exciting to have lights, sound and set. But we’ll see how the dress rehearsal goes tonight.

I was talking to one of my friends, Zach, who is also in the show about this strange drug that is theatre. I mean, I always get soo stressed about it, and say “I can’t wait till this is all over”, and you get so sleep-deprived and sanity-deprived, and you think it will never end and then when it does, you know what you do? You do it all over again! I seem to have this annoying habit of taking on more that I should really be able to handle, but then when I’m finally done all my projects, I just get bored and take on more. Why, Daniel, why? But yeah, it’ll be nice to have Henry V be all over, and then I can have some free time.

Oh wait, actually I’m just getting started on another Shakespeare project. But that’s a story for another blog post….

Scriabin Prelude no. 9, op. 11

2010-03-10T09:05:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody, I just wanted to post this little video that I recorded yesterday.

I wanted to record it and post it because I think the music is just remarkable. It''s Scriabin's Prelude no. 9 from his Opus 11. I haven't been practising this piece long, so I hope you can get a sense of the music from my mediocre playing and video quality. What I love about this piece is that it's so rich, musically. It's only one page long, but he packs so many notes, and thick harmonies into it. Each prelude is like a perfectly formed package. And they're so intelligently composed! I mean each one has a beginning, middle and end, and every note is important. They're just brilliant! So I hope you enjoy this quick little video. Oh and by the way, if you want to hear this prelude played by a master- Here is a video of of the great Russian pianist Vladimir Horowitz playing it.

Oh and by the way....

2010-03-07T14:56:00.000-07:00

Oh and by the way, I am not wearing a dress as Katherine in Henry V. Honestly, that's what everybody asks me, but seriously? It's hardly like dresses are the only thing that women wear. If you're a woman, look down at what you're wearing. Are you wearing a dress? I didn't think so. You're probably wearing pants.

Catching up

2010-03-07T14:47:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

I haven't posted for a while, so I expect that this post will be quite a long one. I apologize.
At the moment, I am sitting in Second Cup drinking an Italian Soda. It's an absolutely beautiful day outside so I decided to walk over to Second Cup (it took me sixteen minutes). The sun is shining, there isn't a cloud in the sky and it's about +3 (which means that I can wear a spring/summer/fall jacket instead of a parka!). It's wonderful to take a break from everything and just enjoy the beautiful day.

My long hiatus from blogging can be blamed on many things. Mainly, I've been quite busy with Henry V I've had rehearsals almost everyday, and to be honest, I'm now cramming to get my lines into my head. Did I mention that my parts got changed? Instead of playing Alice (the maid to the Katherine), I am now playing Katherine, the princess of France. The guy playing Katherine had to drop out because of a family wedding in the middle of our performance run. So I took on that part along with the other two little parts I've got (Messenger and Grandpre).
We're 10 days away from preview night, and so the atmosphere at rehearsals has changed. Everybody is a lot more alert, focused and quickly hurrying to learn lines. The fight choreography is really coming together, but frighteningly, it seems that my choreography is kind of getting abandoned. We haven't ran it since learning the choreography. Eep! And the girl who is my "fight partner" is currently sick. So I've had to fight with a fake opponent. I know it'll all come together though. The whole thought of acting in a real theatre with real lights and a real technician and a green room and tech rehearsals and everything is still so exciting to me!

My graduation recital is all over and it went swimmingly! It actually went better than I could possibly have imagined! The piano that I was able to play on was this incredible Steinway. If you're not an musician, you might think this sounds crazy, but there are some instruments that you just connect with. It's crazy and sounds weird but honestly, when you touch the right instrument, it's just amazing. It feels completely natural and almost feels like you don't have to do much, like the instrument can feel what you want and respond. It's pretty crazy and I was fortunate enough make a connection like that with this piano. So it was a pretty amazing experience and I felt right at home playing. Thanks for all the support everyone and thanks to those of you who were able to come out!

I should probably write about something other than the arts so people think that I actually do something other than music and theatre. Ha! I actually finally finished that math textbook I was working through (Saxon Algebra 1/2). Ah, finally. It felt good to get it over with and now I can move on. And I got a good mark on the final exam too!

To change subject completely, I was reading The Screwtape Letters (by C.S. Lewis) this morning and I found a quote that I thought was really interesting. (It's in Letter XXI if you're curious to look it up).

Lewis says:
"Men are not angered by mere misfortune but by misfortune conceived as injury. And the sense of injury depends on the feeling that legitimate claim has been denied."
I thought this was a really interesting quote because I can really see the truth in it. We get angry about things because we think we have the right to something "better". We have this idea of what we think we should get out of life and get angry when we don't get exactly what we think we need. Maybe if we took a step back and appreciated what we were given, we would be happier. Hmmm.

Anyway, I think I'll wrap this post up now, so thanks for reading! By the way, I'm still planning on posting Part 3 of my last post. It will just be delayed, as I haven't written it yet. Lol.

Eeeee!! Stuff.

2010-02-12T07:58:00.002-07:00

Okay, so after a long hiatus of being locked in my house at the piano, I am back! A lot of things have happened since I last posted. Wait, when did I last post? Too long ago, that's for sure.
This blog post will be in three parts.

PART 1: Henry V
A local University-College is doing a production of Henry V, and they had semi-open auditions. So, I auditioned, got a call back and got a role! Actually, three roles to be precise. Our director decided to do some unconventional casting, and so she cast all the women in the cast as the English, and all the men as the French. So I'm Alice (maid/lady-in-waiting to Katharine, the French princess), a messenger to the Grandpre, and the Grandpre himself. It should be fun. It's great to just have somebody else plan everything and tell me what to do and when to show up. I don't have to plan a thing! Yay. Thankfully, it's not devouring too much of my time or energy, because I have something else on my plate that is devouring my time and energy. This brings me to:

PART II: Piano Recital
In other news, as I mentioned briefly here, I am performing my Suzuki Piano Gradution Recital on February 13, which is like, tomorrow. When you complete all 7 volumes of the Suzuki Piano repertoire, you perform a solo recital, which is what I'm doing. Actually, I'm not exactly doing it the conventional way, as I'm only playing one piece of music from the Suzuki repertoire. Ha. But I do have a full hours worth of music memorized to play. So, I've been practising madly 3 hours a day. Btw, if you're interested, here is the program I'm playing.

F. Chopin
Polonaise Opus 26, No. 1 in C# Minor

W. A. Mozart
Piano Sonata in Bb Major, K. 281

S. Rachmaninoff
Prelude in C# Minor, Opus 3, No. 2

J. S. Bach
Partita No. 1 in Bb

I. J. Paderewski
Minuet in G, Opus 14, No. 1

A. Ginastera
Suite de Danzas Criollas

Part III will come in another part, as I must go eat breakfast and get to practising.

sigh Comments

2010-01-22T10:28:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,
It is with great regret that I am announcing COMMENT MODERATION. Due to a large amount of icky spammers posting spam comments on my blog, I've decided to add a word verification box when you post a comment, and I will also be "moderating" comments. So when you submit one, it won't show up until I've reviewed it. Sorry about this. :( It's just that I'm getting tired of fake users posting links to stupid spammy websites. But don't let this stop you from posting comments! If it's really a problem, let me know, and maybe I'll revert it to it's former glory.

Spammers begone!

2010-01-21T21:56:00.002-07:00

Hi everyone, sorry for the lack of posts/comment responses lately. I have lots on my plate right now.

Dentists and blood

2010-01-14T22:30:00.000-07:00

I went today for my annual teeth cleaning and general tooth check-up at the dentist, and was quickly reminded of why I don't like going to the dentist. It's bloody painful. Oops, I mean bloody and painful. You see, I, um, don't floss. And so my gums are really sensitive and are rather prone to bursting and spewing forth lots of blood. When I brush my teeth every day, it's rare to have a day that they don't bleed. As both of my parental units told me today, if only I flossed, my mouth wouldn't bleed as much. In fact, my dad even gave me a stirring speech about how not flossing would cause bacteria to infiltrate my gums and make my teeth rot from the root up. Anyway, it was very painful having my teeth cleaned, and all I could think of as I was lying there bleeding on the dentist was, "gosh, do I really have to do this every year for the rest of my life?". Nice thought. I think I probably lost about 2-3 tablespoons of blood (I'm serious). By the time I got out of the chair, my teeth and gums felt like they had been stabbed, poked, prodded, scraped and gouged, (which, incidentally, they had been). So, I guess my new New Year's resolution is to floss. I flossed tonight and bled more.

Which brings me to another thought. I think I've said this before, but as I was staring at all the blood on my finger, I was thinking about how much I love the colour of my blood. Is that weird? Maybe it is. But it's such a beautiful, rich, bright red! I love it.

Hmm, what else? This has been kind of a rambling little post. Hey, actually, what do you think about this kind of post? Do you like the random little posts about my cool (read: weird) life, or do you like the more formalized posts?

Um...-insert lame title here-

2010-01-12T22:30:00.000-07:00

Last night, I was thinking about what I do for fun. Obviously, the first things that crossed my mind were music and theatre. And then, as I was thinking about it, I considered whether I actually completely do them for fun. Clichéd as it sounds, they are more of a necessity to me, rather than pure entertainment. When you truly have a passion or a calling for something, it's not necessarily always a fun thing, but you just have to do it, because it's something that is essential to you.

A random note- I apologize for the lame titles of these posts. I can write posts, but I can never name them. It's almost comical.

Brainwashing

2010-01-07T22:22:00.000-07:00

Well. After the overwhelming response to my last post, I can only guess that people don't like answering questions. Or don't like thinking about them (goodness, I hope it ain't so!). And that, my jolly friends, is precisely the topic of my post today. In my opinion, we don't think about big questions enough. We accept things too easily and move on to the next thing. After all, that's what our society teaches us to do. Fast food, disposable technology and and our whole obsession with "fast results" teach us to zoom through things without really taking notice about them. It's the same with ideas. We often don't think about them, and take them for granted, without putting them to a test and thinking for them for ourselves. There are so many issues out there that people have opinions on, without really thinking through them and often without having researched for themselves. They've just heard them passed down from passed down from parents, friends, leaders etc. and never questioned them. Which is how brainwashing happens. Yay for our generation.

Think.

What's the issue?

2010-01-05T22:01:00.001-07:00

What, in your opinion, is the biggest issue that is dividing people today?

Post your comments below (anonymous if you like)

Five Love Languages

2010-01-04T20:10:00.000-07:00

Have you ever heard of the five love languages? There's a book about it by Gary Chapman, which I actually haven't read. But you can do a quick test on the official website. You can take it here.

Basically, Gary Chapman says that there are five basic ways that we express love. Each of us has a primary way (or maybe two) that we use the most. The five are:

1. Words of Affirmation

2. Quality Time

3. Receiving Gifts

4. Acts of Service

5. Physical Touch

It's interesting to know what your primary one is and the primary ones of those around you, so that you can best show your love in the way that matters most to them.

I just took the test and these were my results.

Your Scores (Out of 30 questions)
10 Words of Affirmation
8 Quality Time
0 Receiving Gifts
5 Acts of Service
7 Physical Touch

Interpreting and Using Your Profile Score
The highest score indicates your primary love language (the highest score is 12). It’s not uncommon to have two high scores, although one language does have a slight edge for most people. That just means two languages are important to you.
The lower scores indicate those languages you seldom use to communicate love and which probably don’t affect you very much on an emotional level.

So as you can see, my primary love language is Words of Affirmation, followed closely by Quality Time and Physical Touch. And check out my score for Receiving Gifts. Ha. Now these scores obviously don't mean that you don't use that language at all, it's just not your primary love language.

You can read more about the languages here.

Anyway, I strongly encourage that you check it out, take the "test" and encourage your family/friends to take it too.

Oh, and if you're comfortable, post your results in the comments below! I'm interested in knowing. (But no pressure)

About the name of this blog

2010-01-03T20:29:00.000-07:00

I don't think that I've ever posted about why this blog is entitled Musings of a Liber Boy.

Liber is a Latin word that means free. It originates from the name for tree bark which was used in ancient times for writing on. Those who were free (and not slaves) were usually fortunate enough to be able to read and write, and so the "educated", or free folk were called liber.
I feel so fortunate to be truly free, both in mind and body, and so I put that in the title as a reminder to myself of what a blessing it is to be a free person.

The other part of the title is simply what this blog is about: musings. It's a place for me to write my thoughts, and my musings for other people to read. They might be just a couple thoughts, or they might be some formalized paragraphs, but they are always musings from a free, young guy (that's me).

Enjoy!

January 2nd, new year's resolutions, etc.

2010-01-03T10:35:00.000-07:00

Today is January 2, the second day of the new calendar year. Of course, the year doesn't begin just because we say it does. You could really start the year at any point in the Earth's rotation around the sun. Regardless, the New Year is seen as a kind of "new beginning". People make all sorts of New Year's resolutions, which usually crash in the first month or two.

I think the reason for this is that although people get really excited about the idea of starting over, they simply aren't willing to change their behaviour, or they don't realise that they have to.

Our culture is so in love with the idea that "this year is going to be different". As if the change between December 31, 2009 and January 1, 2010 makes a difference at all! We should be making goals and "resolutions" the moment we think of them, rather than waiting for the New Year to change us.

In my opinion, the way to change behaviour is a day by day thing. Instead of focusing on this year, (which is a pretty long stretch), we should focus instead on this week, or today. It's much more practical and much more achievable.

By all means, set yearly goals, but then don't just expect that you're going to achieve them unless you plan and work towards them on a day by day (or week by week) basis.

Anyway, all that said, here are my goals for 2010.

Increase the quality of this blog. I'd like to improve my writing, and delve "deeper" into topics of interest. Maybe this year, I'll do some writing about politics, religion, faith, etc.
Continue exercising regularly. In 2009, I got into a habit of using our Elliptical for an hour every second day at an increasing difficulty, and so I'm keeping that up.
Begin writing a musical. I'm planning to write the script+lyrics/libretto during Script Frenzy in April, and then work on composing the music during the summer. I'm theoretically working on plot outlines now (actually, I do have ideas). I'm excited.

Okay, written down, those don't look particularly spectacular. Ha. I have more, but I'm not going to bother you with them.

In 2010, other milestones that will come up for me is that I'm doing my final Suzuki Piano recital (a solo recital!) on February 13. I'm majorly excited for that!

Also, on September 22, I turn 18, which means that in Canada, I will no longer be a minor and I will have all the legal rights, which include drinking (not applicable), smoking (not applicable), and voting (YES!!). Crazy. This year, people!!

Happy New Year!

On playing Bach and Mozart

2010-01-01T22:07:00.000-07:00

I adore playing the music of Bach and Mozart (especially the Bach! It's glorious!), but at the same time, it makes me feel so inferior as a pianist. You see the wonderful thing, and the thing that makes it so difficult to play well is that it's so transparent. If you make one wrong note, or misplace the weight of your finger by an tiny degree, it stands out, and it sounds wrong. In short, you have to play it perfectly. When you're playing something really Romantic, like Chopin, you can get away (if you have to) with a slip, here or there, and most people won't notice. Not so with Bach. You have to be precise. And that precision, is precisely what makes it so wonderful to listen.

*sigh* I'm not there yet.

Snow!

2009-12-06T22:03:00.000-07:00

Attn: Humans.

(Are you human?)

I love the snow. All the time. I love driving in it, I love hiking in it, I love tobogganing in it, I love shovelling it, I love skiing in it. I think it is gloriously beautiful, and I don't complain about it. I mean, for a third of the year, we have beautiful, fresh, clean, intricate crystals of water falling from the sky and coating our little world in pure white. It's amazing, it's incredible!
And then when I express my joy on various social networking mediums (including face to face), people constantly say, "Oh, you wouldn't like it if you had to..." or "just wait, you won't like it after..." Gosh darnit people! Are you suggesting that my alternative is to spend four months of our year complaining about the beauty around us?
I won't take it! So complain all you like, but please do not try to tell me that I "wouldn't like it if I had to drive in it" or that I wouldn't like it if I had to shovel it. Actually, I do all of the above and I LOVE IT.

There are some things in life that we can not change, and the weather is one of those. We can either take it, appreciate it, accept it and love it, or we can complain about it. I choose the former.

Book Review: Starclimber

2009-12-01T07:53:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody! So, I haven't had a book review in a while, so here it is. I just recently read Starclimber, by Kenneth Oppel! It's the third book in his Airborn series. They are fantastic books. They follow the adventures of Matt Cruse, and his romantic interest Kate de Vries. The books are full of excitement, energy, suspense and really great characters! I don't want to give much away in the book, but it's the kind of book that you don't want to put down!

Here's a brief overview from Amazon...
"It is the beginning of summer in Paris. Matt Cruse is looking forward to spending time with Kate de Vries and piloting an aerocrane for the Celestial Tower--France's great project, which will allow the nation to be first in outer space. But Matt and Kate's idyllic time is shortlived. Matt narrowly survives an attack by fanatics who are opposed to humans reaching the heavens, while Kate is summoned back to Lionsgate City by her wealthy parents. It's time she began to think about getting married. But things look up when the Canadian government makes an exciting offer to both Matt and Kate. Canada wants to reach space first, and the Canadian Minister of Air wants Kate to join the first expedition as an expert in aerial zoology. There's a place for Matt, too--if he can pass the gruelling tests to become one of the world's first astralnauts onboard the incredible ship Starclimber. The third book in Kenneth Oppel's bestselling Airborn series vaults readers into another thrilling adventure, with all of the exciting twists and vivid imaginings that Oppel's fans have come to expect--and a little romance, too. From Paris to Lionsgate City, from the Pacificus Ocean to the depths of space, Starclimber is an exhilarating ride from an author who soars to rare heights."
(From the Amazon product review)

Anyway, Starclimber is a fantastic read, and stands on it's own (but you owe it to yourself to read the first two, Airborn and Skybreaker first. You don't want to miss them.). So that's my pick of what to read! :)

A quote...

2009-11-29T22:44:00.000-07:00

"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong." ~Mahatma Gandhi

I came across this quote, and really liked it, as I can see the truth in it. Forgiveness takes strength because it requires seeing past, and letting go of each other's weaknesses and mistakes and loving them in spite of it. And of course, forgiveness isn't limited to other people. Forgiving yourself can be the toughest thing. But it does take strength. The great thing? We're all strong enough.

Beethoven, and Wagner and me, oh my!

2009-11-28T23:26:00.000-07:00

I just came back from a mind blowing symphony concert. Katherine Chi playing the Beethoven Emperor Concerto (Piano Concerto No. 5) and Die Meistersinger: An Orchestral Tribute (Arranged by Vlieger).

Katherine Chi played the concerto magnificently, every note just perfect. The first movement was just exquisite. Ahh. Gosh, I just love this concerto, and this being my first time hearing it live, it was pretty darn fantastic.

*A side note: Okay, between movements, if you ever attend the symphony, you've probably noticed that people tend to cough between movements. It confuses me, but I tolerate it (what can ya do, anyway?) Well tonight, the audience positively erupted with coughing. It was thunderous. I just don't get it. When I get a cough, I can't usually control when I cough, so I try to do it quietly. But it seems that for the majority of symphony goers, they can hold in their coughs and spew them forth at every possible break. Weird, imho.

Anyway, the Wagner. Oh my goodness, the Wagner. It was heavenly. I could live on it. The orchestration was so lush, and rich and delicious and beautiful that I just wanted to shout with joy. I didn't. As much as I adore the Beethoven (it's one of my favourite concertos), the Wagner was the highlight of the evening. Just glorious. The musicians were evidently loving it too, and I saw of number of them with happy grins on their faces at certain places. It was exquisitely, beautiful, satisfying, nourishing, exhilarating. My goodness, it's good stuff.

All in all, a brilliant concert and one that I shall remember for a very long. Anyway, thanks for reading, and stay posted for more posts!I have a bunch coming up. It feels great to be back blogging.

Questions!

2009-11-26T21:50:00.001-07:00

So, a while back, Raine posted some questions in the comments. She asked:

1. If you listed your favorite Shakespeare plays in a particular order, what would it be?
Hmm... That's a really hard question. I'm going to think on it more and see if I can get it into a list... Really, really, tough.

2. "And I think you would enjoy Elijah Bossenbroek, he is a pianist/composer"
At your suggestion, I googled him and listened to some of his stuff. I liked it a lot, and very beautiful! Where did you hear about him?

3. When you listen to music do your fingers play along with the music? As if you were playing it on a piano?
All the time! And as if I was playing the flute too, no matter what position my fingers are in! But yeah, my fingers are always moving!

Post your questions in the comments below! They're fun to answer! :)

Back into a schedule

2009-11-26T21:43:00.000-07:00

Ahh, bliss. After getting H1N1 (which really through me off my normal schedule) and then getting into the really intense period of rehearsals and performances, I finally feel like I'm back on my regular schedule of things.
My normal weekday schedule looks something like this.

0700-0800- Read in bed, eat breakfast, check email etc.
0800-1100- Practice piano
1100-1200- Practice flute
1200-1300- Lunch, email,
1300-1500- Math
1500-onwards- French, reading etc. It really depends. I have supper around 1730/1800 and then every 2nd day, I use the ellipticle for an hour, and stretch etc. And then I spend the rest of the evening unwinding, etc. And then I'm in bed at 2230.

It works really well me, and when I stray off that schedule, I tend to get grouchy and feel useless. It's a fairly loose schedule, and with lessons and other appointments, I never get 5 days just like that in a week, but it puts some form to my days and makes me a lot happier. So it's nice to get back to my happy, little schedule.

What do you do to ensure your general sanity?

The Tempest!

2009-11-23T22:53:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody,

I'm back to posting! The Tempest is over! Yay! I mean, I have mixed feelings about it. I'm sad it's all over, but it's nice to have the weight off my shoulders. How did it go, you're probably asking? It was fantastic! Okay, I'm pretty (extremely) biased, but honestly, it really went well. On the marketing side, we had everything together (dates, advertising etc.) way sooner and that was really nice. As a small little theatre company, we're constantly improving and growing and learning, and this was definitely our best production. Hands down.

*The following section is unbiased*
We had a killer company too. First off, we had Nicole, who was a stage manager/lighting/understudy and general on-top-of-everything kind of person. Honestly, five days before opening, we found out that our actor playing Gonzalo couldn't make one of the performances. So we called in Dorothy, who was playing a spirit/mariner and asked her to play Gonzalo for that performance (the Saturday matinee) and in five days, she had Gonzalo's lines solid, all the blocking learned and the acting was all there. And then because Dorothy was now Gonzalo for the matinee, we asked Nicole if she would stand in for Dorothy. At a rehearsal, we went to run through the dance in Act II with Nicole, and gosh darnit, Nicole didn't even need that runthrough, because she already had it all perfect. I was honestly in awe. I've never understudied, but from what I've heard, if you can understudy, you can do anything, because when you understudy, you're not only learning your part, you're learning somebody else's! And for the record, the matinee was practically perfect and Dorothy and Nicole were fantastic! Yay Nicole and Dorothy!
And then we had Josh, who was brilliant as the grief-stricken King Alonso. Josh, you were really great in a really dramatic role! And Calla, who played Ariel, was totally fantastic as Ariel. Lots of energy, but perfect at pulling out the dramatic moments and hope in Ariel. Everybody else was great too, but as they don't have blogs to link to, they don't get reviews. :P
*Okay, unbiased section ends*

But we heard lots of great reviews for the production and I (personally) think we really did it justice. Now, I'm all sad and I miss it.

Anyway, this is getting long, and it's getting late (for me), so I'm going to end it here. I'm going to get back to my daily posting, now that I have more time, so you will actually get a post tomorrow!

-Daniel

My life

2009-11-12T21:54:00.000-07:00

After my last post, I took all of my own advice, (which really is good advice, honest)...and promptly got sick. Very unpleasant. Without getting a swab, it's pretty tough to tell exactly what it was, but it's looking like I had H1N1. I had like, all the symptoms. Honestly, I went through the list of symptoms and I had every, single one. Almost funny. Almost. But now I don't have to get the vaccine because I have the natural immunity. Yay?

Anyway.

The long and short of it is that I've missed three rehearsals that I should have been at, a piano lesson, a piano masterclass, a cello class (that I am supposed to accompany on piano), a flute lesson, a voice lesson and who knows what else. So I'm grumpy. Grrr. But I had a good music rehearsal today with the musicians for the Tempest. Actually, with only 3/5 of them, and then I had to play the other two parts on the piano. But it was good, and we went through all the pieces with the script and worked them in where they should go.

That's all for now.

How to avoid getting H1N1

2009-11-04T07:45:00.005-07:00

So wow, this H1N1 thing is getting pretty crazy everywhere. Everywhere I look, people are getting sick (even if it's not with H1N1). So here are my tips for staying healthy. They've all been said before, but they bear repeating and they've kept me healthy so far!

1. Drink lots of water/herbal tea. Lots and lots and lots. It's good for you.

2. An apple a day keeps the doctor away. So eat more then one. And other fruits and veggies. They are also good for you. (Duh)

3. Get exercise, keep in shape. This is also important, as you need to be active in order to sustain a strong immune system. So walking, running, dancing, whatever. We have an ellipticle trainer that I hop on for an hour 3-4 times a week.

4. Wash your hands! Every time you shake hands with someone, before you eat, after you use the washroom, and at least once an hour!

5. Take Vitamin C + Echinacea. And possible ColdFX. That's what I take.

6. Cut down on/eliminate sugar. Freeze the rest of your halloween candy, until the flus have past.

7. Stay warm! Don't let your body get cold or your body will spend it's energy on warming you up, rather then fighting viruses. Put on a sweater, or run around the house.

8. And get lots of sleep!

Honens

2009-11-03T21:58:00.000-07:00

So, about a week ago, I had the great fortune to be able to go the Esther Honens International Piano Competition. Actually, I had great company too, as I went with my wonderful mother and my great friend Josh. Hey, speaking of Josh, why don't you hop over to his blog and remind him that he hasn't posted since March and that he should get back at that?

Anyway.

In short, it was just fantastic. Totally inspiring, and very exciting. It's an international competition, and the level of performance is incredible. We spent almost the entire time listening to concerts by the quarter-finalists, or master classes taught by the jurors to Alberta piano students, and heard a lot of great music. We all got kind of music-ed out. Wait, no, forget that. That's not really possible. But we did get a little exhausted from sitting in the performance hall just listening. By the end of it, my fingers were just itching to touch the keys. I couldn't wait to get home and practice. But yeah, very inspiring, and hopefully I'll be able to go to the next one (in three years from now).

Honens: Coming soon

2009-10-29T22:11:00.000-06:00

Splish, splash, sploosh, phwoosh, blubblubblub... That's the sound of my creative juices happily flowing along. Why are they suddenly flowing along?
Because I just got back from a really great, inspiring time at the Honens Piano Competition! I'll have a post up about it tomorrow.

I love Rachmaninoff. And Britten.

2009-10-22T22:23:00.000-06:00

Stephen Hough (who is a fabulous pianist/composer/writer and one who I really really think is brilliant) posted on his blog today about composers and how some of them just click for people. You can read the full article here.

He says:
"Perhaps it’s like friendship, we just like certain people and not others; we resonate with certain composers; we are touched by the cracks between their notes; their music has a ’smell’ with which seduces us, leading us willingly into submission beyond analysis or logic. A composer we love is one where we treasure even the dross, even as we recognize that it is dross. "

I can certainly say that's true for me. For me, two of those composers would be Rachmaninoff and Britten. From the very beginning, their music just enticed me: the textures, the harmonies, the moods, just the very sound. I just like them. It really is just like friendship: you just like certain people, for reasons that you may or may not be able to pinpoint.

What composers (or musicians/artists/bands/singers) do you like? Or heck, let's not limit it to music. What artists (in the visual art sense) or actors or dancers etc. do you admire and respect and just click with? And why (if you can pinpoint it?)

Answers!

2009-10-21T17:50:00.000-06:00

So, people asked me questions! Well, two people anyway. Yay, this is fun.

So here are my answers.

Kathleen asks:
"What did you cook for breakfast this morning?"

Well, this morning, I had scrambled eggs and salsa rolled up in a tortilla. It was delectable.

Anonymous asks:
"Have you read every Shakespeare play? And which (ones) are your favourite(s)?"

and also

"How long do you usually practice your instruments?"

No, I actually haven't read them all of them. Out of the 37 plays that are expressly credited to Shakespeare, I've read 26 of them. And my favourites? Hmm. These would be my top ten in NO particular order.

Much Ado About Nothing
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Twelfth Night
Timon of Athens
Othello
The Tempest
Titus Andronicus
Hamlet
Richard II
Richard III

(Honourable mention: All's Well That Ends Well)
So that's my top 10 (well, 11)

As for how long I practice my instruments: I practice piano daily for 2-3 hours and flute for about 1 hour. And then I usually don't "practice" singing per se, but I just usually sing while I go about my daily life. So I practice all day. Ha ha. :)

So, that was fun! I think we should do that more often, maybe, say, once a week. It's fun, because you suggest what I should blog about (see? It's just a plot to make you come up with my topics rather then me!)

Talk to y'all soon.

Questions. questions anyone?

2009-10-20T10:43:00.002-06:00

Hey everyone,
I'd like to try something a bit different. I'd like you to ask me a question. It can be about anything: goofy, philosophical, religious, about me, musical, political, etc. And I'll do my best to answer it to the best of my abilities. It'll be fun.

So post a question in the comment section below!

Music Monday: The Golden Compass

2009-10-19T22:16:00.000-06:00

Hey all, so my pick of the week is Alexandre Desplat's score to the recent film adaptation of The Golden Compass (Can you tell that I think Alexandre Desplat is a brilliant composer? First Benjamin Button, then this)

Anyway, the following Youtube video has some clips from the score (along with some film clips). Pay special attention to the very first clip. It's gorgeous. And listen to his instrumentation. Very mystical and mysterious. Love it!

Hey, today on the radio, they played a piece from the soundtrack of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button! I was very pleased.

Balloon boy etc

2009-10-19T22:08:00.000-06:00

My goodness, how far are we willing to go for fame and attention? Have you been following the saga of "Balloon Boy" Falcon Heene? Just google it and you'll find loads of hits. Obviously, I don't know the family, so it isn't really fair for me to make judgements, but it appears that this family is willing to hide their son in the garage attic and fake his danger just as a publicity stunt. Goodness me. What has our world come to?

2009-10-15T22:07:00.002-06:00

I haven't posted for 10 days. I don't like that. I'm going to post soon. But not right now. Because I'm tired and I want to go to bed.

Quote

2009-10-06T22:12:00.001-06:00

A man's dreams are an index to his greatness.
-Zadok Rabinwitz

I like this quote. I once went to a conference and heard a very wise man speak (actually, I'm fortunate to have had that happen to me quite a bit). One thing that he really drove into our heads was in the importance of dreaming big. Like really big. Bigger than is realistic, bigger than is practical and bigger than you ever think is going to happen. It's important to dream really, really big. Because if you don't push yourself and think big, you ain't going to accomplish anything.

Britten violin concerto

2009-10-05T21:51:00.000-06:00

Hey y'all, sorry, I left you cutting your toenails for a while there. (If you haven't the foggiest notion what I'm talking about, see the last sentence of my last post).

Gah, recently, I've been finding myself busier and busier. I had my first rehearsal with my musicians the other day, and so it was a cool experience hearing my music live! It went quite well, the minor glitch being that I found out that one of my musicians, um, can't read music. Which makes it a bit tough. But surely we'll be able to figure something out. I also found out that I have some more pieces to write for the show, but there's just three or something, so it's no biggie. But I'd like to rework a few of the pieces. The first piece, which opens the show, just isn't strong enough. It hasn't anything to do with the musicians, they're doing fine, just musicially, it's not strong enough. So I'm going to rework that and it'll be good.

As for your music suggestion:

Benjamin Britten's Violin Concerto.

Gosh, there isn't enough I can say about this concerto. It's a masterpiece. You'll likely have to listen to it at least 10 times to really grasp it (I know I did), but it's just amazing.

Here's the first part on Youtube.

Oh yeah, that's another thing. To really appreciate this concerto, I think you have to listen to it from the very beginning all the way through. It's a full journey. Really. By the end of it, I always feel different. Calm, but changed, because it really is this huge scope and you go through this whole range of emotions. And it isn't music to vacuum too. You have to put your whole mind to it. I'm not sure what else to say about it. This concerto really touches me. Not sure if it will for you. But this piece is (honestly) on my top 5 favourites ever. It's been there for quite a while, and I'm quite sure it'll stay there.

Life. Random.

2009-09-27T22:14:00.000-06:00

I don't know what to blog about. It's troubling. And so now instead of the wonderful, thought-provoking, inspiring, genius post that I'm sure you were expecting, you just get a post about me whining about how I don't know what to post and how annoyed I am with myself that I haven't posted for the past couple of days.

I was going to be at scout camp this weekend, but we cancelled it because practically everyone was sick. I wasn't though. I'm determined not to get sick. It's just not an option for me at this point. So I've been taking echinacea, Vitamin C and Cold FX, washing my hands obsessively (oh look, Daniel's doing something obsessively, gee, what a surprise), and drinking lots and lots of tea. I always drink lots of tea, but recently I've been drinking at least 5 cups a day and at least that much water. So far, it's been working. I've felt a couple symptoms, but I've fought them off.

In other news, I have my first voice lesson of the year tomorrow! I'm veryveryvery excited to be back at voice lessons. Huzzah!

Aaaannnd in other news....

Well, there isn't any other news. Sorry. I'm sure I'll have some for tomorrow. So just go and drink some tea, or cut your toenails. Or something.

Bye.
-Daniel

I donated blood!

2009-09-24T22:30:00.000-06:00

Yay! So, a few days ago, I turned 17, which is the youngest age that you are eligible to donate blood! So this morning, I went to the blood donor clinic and donated! It was pretty neat, and actually quite fun. They prick your finger with these funky awesome high-tech poking devices first, that make these awesome clean, quick, painless cuts and then they take a drop of your blood and test it for iron by dropping it in this blue liquid. If it sinks, then your iron is good, if not, you can't give. After a couple failed poking tries, we finally got it to work and my iron was good, so I could give blood. Yay! It took me about 7 minutes for my body to pump out 500mls of blood, and I felt fine through the whole thing. And in 56 days, I can donate again. Huzzah.

Music Monday! (among other things!)

2009-09-21T22:27:00.018-06:00

Hi everyone,

So, every week, on Monday, I'm going to post something about music! Who knows what it will be? It might be a Youtube video, or a music review or anything else pertaining to music. Today, it's a mixture of things.

Firstly, I have a new favourite soundtrack. I've been listening to a lot of soundtracks recently, and one that's really caught my ear is the score for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, composed by Alexandre Desplat. Oh. My. Gosh. It's breathtaking. Honestly. It's just gorgeous. He really captures the mood of the film, using a full orchestra, often highlighted by piano solos. Listen to it yourself. Personally, it's one of the most beautiful things I've heard in a long time. Definitely in my top favourite movie soundtracks. Gosh, it's gorgeous.

Secondly, in my other news, I've picked up an (unpaid) gig as a piano accompanist! So I'm excited about that. I'm accompanying a group of about 10 young cellists in a group cello class. I think their ages range from about the 7-9 yo age range. It's pretty cool. I admit that I was rather nervous at the prospect, as three days before the first rehearsal, they gave me 3 (!) books of music to learn (!). Yes, in three days. Thankfully, it was mostly easy, and I was able to sightread (read as: fake) my way through it. And we only did I think, five pieces tonight. But it'll be good, and I think it will really let me gain experience as an accompanist, and chamber musician.

That's all for today!

Film Fridays! - The Aviator

2009-09-18T19:25:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone, I'm starting a new "section". Every week, on Friday, I'll post a movie review! I'm also starting a new section on Mondays too. See if you can guess what it is.

So this week, I'm going to post a review of Martin Scorsese's 2004 film "The Aviator", starring Leonardo DiCaprio. You can read the IMDB page here. You can also read the Screenit parental review here.

Firstly, DiCaprio's performance as Howard Hughes is nothing short of brilliant. He shows many levels of emotions, and his performance is subtle and nuanced. We see his character start strong, but eventually fold under incredible pressure, but eventually return to (almost) his former glory, but...changed.

The plot moves along quickly, and all the performances are great. It's a fantastic film and it has the emotional content that I look for in a film. Highly recommended, and I'd give it a 9/10.

But don't take my word for it! Watch it yourself! But read a parental review first to make sure that it's something you want to see! I take no responsibility for any scarring, maiming, nightmares, murder, thievery, fire, abduction, spontaneous combustion, mental illness, cancer, explosion, or any other harm that may come to you as a result of watching this film. Be warned.

10 things about me that you may not have known

2009-09-17T22:14:00.000-06:00

I like people, but often distance myself from them for various reasons.
I believe in equal rights and equal treatment for everyone, whether they’re male or female, black or white, gay or straight, Christian or Muslim, American or Canadian etc.
I don’t like loud noises, or loud voices or crowds of people for that matter.
I drink copious amounts of water. I mean a lot of water. Obsessively. Yeah, I love me my water.
I love being barefoot. I like it more than wearing shoes. In the summer, I almost never wear shoes.
I like class. You know, not really formal things, but I love wearing a nice shirt and tie, and doing something classy, like playing a music recital or going to the theatre or the symphony.
I don’t swear. It doesn’t offend me per say, but I’d rather not stoop that low. I can be classier and more creative with my language than that.
I enjoy cleaning my room. Yes, you really did read that right. I find cleaning my room very therapeutic. I put on some music, and just...clean. It’s relaxing.
I read Shakespeare. And lots of old books. For fun.
And I get called weird. Quite a lot. And I’m proud of that. Because I don’t want to be called normal.

Why I don't (really) believe in peace on Earth

2009-09-16T22:47:00.000-06:00

Okay, I'm not trying to sound like a pessimest or anything, but I honestly don't believe in world peace. I just don't think it's going to happen. Whenever I hear somebody say "I wish/pray/hope for world peace," I think they're just fooling themselves. Seriously, in our huge world, there is always going to be somebody who wants to get a head of the game by cheating, lying, killing and being generally bad. And there will always be people to join that person. I just don't think a peaceful world is realistic.

But I think that peace with your self is realistic. I've said it once, I'll say it again. You are the only person you can change and come to peace with. And by doing that, you may be able to influence others to do the same. And maybe, just maybe, we'll be able to increase the amount of happy, loving, people.

Gossip

2009-09-14T22:14:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone, I wanted to post today about gossip. Not that it's been especially on my mind recently, but because I wanted to highlight a brilliant passage from one of my favourite plays, Doubt, a parable, by John Patrick Shanley.

Here it is:

A woman was gossiping with a friend about a man she hardly knew – I know none of you have ever done this – that night she had a dream. A great hand appeared over her and pointed down at her. She was immediately seized with an overwhelming sense of guilt. The next day she went to confession. She got the old parish priest, Father O’Rourke, and she told him the whole thing.

‘Is gossiping a sin?’ she asked the old man. ‘Was that the hand of God Almighty pointing a finger at me? Should I be asking your absolution? Father, tell me, have I done something wrong?’
‘Yes!’ Father O’Rourke answered her. ‘Yes, you ignorant, badly broughtup female! You have borne false witness against your neighbor, you have played fast and loose with his reputation, and you should be heartily ashamed!’

So the woman said she was sorry and asked for forgiveness.

‘Not so fast!’ says O’Rourke. ‘I want you to go home, take a pillow up on your roof, cut it open with a knife, and return here to me!’

So the woman went home, took a pillow off her bed, a knife from the drawer, went up the fire escape to the roof, and stabbed the pillow. Then she went back to the old parish priest as instructed.

‘Did you gut the pillow with the knife?’ he says.

‘Yes, Father.’

‘And what was the result?’

‘Feathers,’ she said.

‘Feathers?’ he repeated.

‘Feathers everywhere, Father!’

‘Now I want you to go back and gather up every last feather that flew out on the wind!’

‘Well,’ she said, ‘it can’t be done. I don’t know where they went. The wind took them all over.’

‘And that,’ said Father O’Rourke, ‘is gossip!’

I think that's a perfect allegory for gossip and it's a good reminder for me. I don't think I'm particularly horrible for gossipping, but I would certainly be lying if I said that I don't gossip or haven't gossipped. But it's something that I try to keep in the front of my mind, so I don't fall into it. I like that image of the idea that once out words are out of our mouthes, who knows where they are going to go? Scary, but also something that can be used for good. But if we speak and think with love all the time, that's something that we can be happy about having spread in the wind.

Finished the score for The Tempest!

2009-09-13T22:17:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone, I just wanted to share with you that I finished writing a score of incidental music for Shakespeare's play, The Tempest. It will be performed live accompanying Celsius Youth Theatre's production of The Tempest, this November. It took me almost all summer to write, but I am very happy with the outcome. It's the longest thing I've written (10.5 minutes), and I actually like it, which is saying quite a lot, seeing as I am quite the perfectionist when it comes to my music. Anyway, I just thought that I'd let you know! Maybe I'll find a way to post some of it here or something.

School, and my musical lack of happiness

2009-09-10T21:49:00.000-06:00

Hey everybody,

Well, "school" has started for me! Kind of. Being a homeschooler, who's to say when school really begins? But for me, since some of my weekly lessons have begun, and I'm back to practicing piano and flute for hours, and doing math etc, I think it's started for me. I have to admit, I'm pretty happy to be back at it!

Right now, I'm still writing music for my youth theatre's production of The Tempest. It's coming along pretty well (I've written 8.5 minutes!), but I'm finding that I have trouble writing really happy music. Maybe it's because I like really dark music and stuff in minor keys. That's all good when I'm writing whatever I want, but in this show, there's a couple of spots where it's actually gotta to be joyful. It's funny, because if you know me at all, you'll know that I'm a very happy person. I'm not a dark souled, troubled, sad person. Quite the contrary! But when it comes to music, I just like...dark music. So I'm trying to listen to happy, joyful tonal music, as opposed to my regular music (Sweeney Todd, Wicked, RENT, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev...)

So, that's a little update into my life. :)

Obama's message to students

2009-09-08T19:59:00.000-06:00

Y'all should read US President Barack Obama's address to students about education. You can read it HERE or watch it on below. (his address starts 2:30)

An experiment...that is neat.

2009-09-06T20:46:00.000-06:00

So I was doing a bit of recording today, and I was playing with different effects on my software. I improvised some flute and recorded it, and then put the "echo" on. And it sounds really cool! So I uploaded it to my youtube. Here it is. Bear in mind, that like I said, I just did it off the fly, so it doesn't "go" anywhere, and my intonation is pretty blah (to my ears), but I hope you enjoy it!

To give or not to give PART II

2009-09-04T21:14:00.001-06:00

If you remember, a little while ago, I blogged about an experience I had with a homeless guy who asked me for money very persistently. It wasn’t a bad experience, just a thought provoking one. You can read my original post HERE.

And I asked for your feedback! You wonderful readers commented with really thoughtful, great answers, and I wanted to follow up with another post responding to your responses. Thanks for the great, great feedback everyone! Here's some highlights from your comments:

Dorothy said:
“I don't generally give to them, though I do give to homeless shelters regularly.
Sometimes I feel bad, but I think usually it's feeding an addiction. I know a few people that have tried giving food or bus tickets and have gotten sworn at by the panhandler.
This isn't to say it's always the case, but it seems to happen a fair bit."

Anonymous said...
“I usually don't carry money on me, so I can honestly say that I cannot give them any money. If I do carry money, I just carry the amount that I will need to use that day (which helps me not to make impulse purchases) and I keep it in my pocket or another out of the way place, and I say I don't have any change to spare.”

Logan said...
“Also having the money right there would be a hard thing to not give the money, Personally I most likely give out the 5 dollars, but then pray to God that he would do the correct thing with the money, and then next time (if I went busking) when I would go to the market occasionally empty the money into your pocket or something along those lines so it’s not in plain view.”

Josh said...
“Honestly, I don't think that we should decide what they do with the money, if giving them money is going to help them feed themselves then I think it is worth every penny, if they use it for something that isn't going to help them it was their choice. But there is always a chance that it will really help them.
Giving to shelters is always a really good idea, but sometimes I think it's best to give directly to the person in need.”

Dorothy brings up a good point when she says that she gives to homeless shelters regularly. I have to admit that I don't and it is something that I certainly should do. Giving to shelters is definitely a good way to give and be able to know that your money really is going where you want it to go. This would also allow me to say, when asked, "sorry, I give my money to such-and-such-a-shelter". And then I wouldn't have to feel guilty about not helping the homeless.

But I think Josh is also right when he says "“Honestly, I don't think that we should decide what they do with the money." But, but, but...Oh gosh darnit, it's a tough call.

So I have a plan.

Here's the plan.

I have decided to give 10% of all my busking money to a shelter of some sort that directly helps people in need.
When asked, I can realize know I am under no obligation to give money, but if I feel called to, I will give them some money. I'll just see, and judge from the situation. I'll certainly give money if I feel I should.
As Logan suggests, I'll also empty my case every once and a while, to avoid obviously having made a bunch of money and denying them a loonie.

So that's the plan! And I'm stickin' to it. I'm planning to go busking tomorrow, so I'll let you know how it goes.

I'll also be back on facebook for the first time in two weeks tomorrow, so I'll post my feelings about my facebook-less weeks then!

Jasper part 4/4- Geradine Lakes

2009-09-04T20:33:00.000-06:00

This is the final post in a four part series about my hiking/camping trip to Jasper. You can read part one here, part two here, and part three here.

So, on our last day of hiking, we went up on the Geraldine Lakes trail. I've done a little bit of hiking on it before, and it's just gorgeous.

A view of the first lake.

And a view from higher up.

We stopped for lunch by the base of a beautiful waterfall.

My feet were starting to get sore (thank you plantars fasciitis), so I stuck my feet in the ice cold mountain creek.

I loved watching all the fish in the lakes. Just ask anybody who was there or anyone who has travelled with me. I'm pretty obsessed with fish-watching.

Look below: It's a fish!

Another shot of the waterfall from further away.

Kind of a wacky shot of a the lake, from a different angle. I happened to catch a dragonfly in the photo, which adds a certain element of quirky character to the photo.

So that's it! The end of this "series" of posts. I hope you enjoyed reading about my trip. It was a really great trip. I hiked over 30 kilometers and gained over 1600 meters of elevation. And best of all, I had time to think, reflect and appreciate our world.

Thanks for reading.

2009-09-03T08:59:00.000-06:00

This is too cool. This guy made a bunch of videos and merged them and voila! a one man instrumental of Billie Jean, which, incidentally is my favorite Michael Jackson song. :)

Jasper part 3/4- Mt. Edith Cavell

2009-09-02T21:23:00.000-06:00

So, that night, the Venturers arrived (all except one, who came the next day). The next morning, we set off to Mt. Edith Cavell, a merry group of seven.

Our plan was to hike up the main trail, up to the top of the "Cavell Meadows" which offer great views of Mt. Edith Cavell (we weren't actually climbing the mountain). Here's a look at the Angel Glacier, which is the "icon" for Mt. Edith Cavell.

A couple of the boys.

The view from the first viewpoint.

My dad has this little plush penguin that he takes hiking and uses for scale photos. Here's a loverly photo. of Monsignor Penguin (not real name)

And after a steep climb, we're at the top of the meadows!

At the bottom of the glacier, there's this pond/lake with all these ice chunks that fall off the glacier.

And that's all for today! Hope you enjoyed!

Jasper part 2/4- Athabasca

2009-09-01T19:10:00.000-06:00

So, on the second day, my dad and I decided to hike up to a little cliff that he calls "Little Athabasca". He calls it that because it has a great view of the wonderful Mt. Athabasca.

The photo below is a picture of my finger pointing to the cliff that we hiked up. I'm standing beside our car in the Columbia Icefields parking lot, and we hiked the rest of the way.

Here is close up of the cliff.

My dad hiking up. What you see in the photo is average terrain, and no, there wasn't really a path.

The wonderful Mt. Athabasca

There were some climbers coming down from Athabasca. Inspiring! I took some photos of them through my binoculars.

This is the stuff we were climbing up for the last part till the very top.

And without further ado- the view from the top.

A cool rock I found with a hole in it. No, I didn't take it home (it's a National Park)

Gotta love snow patches in summer.

I love the plant life that survives in the mountains way up high. Don't you sometimes feel like you're all alone in the wilderness?

The pictures just don't do it justice. It was just incredible. I'll probably post more photos from this hike, as it was so good. I think it was the best hike I've ever done.

Jasper part 1/4- Wilcox Pass

2009-08-31T21:42:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone,

So, as you probably know, I got back from six days of camping and hiking in the Rocky Mountains (Jasper area). I went for a three day camp with my Venturer company, and my dad and I went three days early to do some extra hiking.

Below are some photos.

The first day, we hiked about 12 kms (with about 400 meters of elevation gain) in Wilcox Pass.

There was a herd of 11 bighorn sheep in the pass

And down below, we visited Horseshoe Lake which is one of my favourite little lakes in the Rockies. It's very beautiful ( and really deep and full of fish!). Actually it's deep enough that people like to go to a little cliff ledge and jump in, just for kicks. We saw a whole bus load of people in swim suits going to jump into the water. It was pretty funny.

More to come tomorrow.

2009-08-30T21:49:00.000-06:00

I'm home! No, really, I am. I'll post something good tomorrow. Good night.

This was a lame post.

2009-08-29T10:18:00.000-06:00

I'll be back tomorrow. Do you miss me?

New flute!

2009-08-27T09:04:00.009-06:00

I have some pretty exciting news!

What could possibly be in this case?

Ooh, I know!

It's a brand new Miyazawa...

Flute!

And it's mine!

Ain't it pretty?

You get a mini lesson about flutes now. This is the end part of the flute. It's called the "foot". See the three circular keys? This is a B Foot. My old flute only had two keys on the foot and so it was a C Foot. With the extra key, you get an extra note! Flute music never really goes below the B, so with this flute, I can play pretty much all the flute music written! (Theoretically, of course, I'm not technically capable yet. :P)

This flute is also an open hole flute. That means that the flutes have a hole in the middle of them, as shown by the photo below. Open hole flutes are quite a bit tougher to play, but give a lot more room for different tone colours, pitch control etc.

Now, I've never played open-hole before, so until I get used to it, I use plugs that basically make the flute just like a closed-hole model. The plugs are just like little silicone blobs that you push into the keys.

More photos...

Sterling silver lip plate!

So that's my new flute! I absolutely love everything about it. I love the tone, and and the action of the keys, just everything about it! I tried out a lot of different flutes, and this one really "clicked" for me. We have a good relationship. :)

So, I hope you enjoyed this, and learned a thing or two about flutes!

Click buttons, do some good

2009-08-26T09:13:00.001-06:00

Good day! If you're like me, you've probably seen websites (or perhaps the facebook group) that say stuff like "feed a child with just one click!". I've always been pretty skeptical about them, as I think that some of them are definitely hoaxes.

Nevertheless, I am very pleased to have come across one that actually does what it says it does. It's called The Hunger Site and all you have to do is visit it everyday and click the button on it and the sponsors will pay for cups of food.

Here is the link.

I looked it up on Snopes.com and it's real. Here's what Snopes has to say.

So go and click daily! You'll notice that there is a bunch of different tabs at the top of the page (they read: Hunger, Breast Cancer, Child Health, Literacy, Rainforest, Animal Rescue).

So please click the "Click Here to Give- it's FREE" button on each tab daily!

Snopes also has an article about the Breast Cancer tab. You can read it here.

Whadaya know? It seems that you can actually (distantly), do some good from clicking buttons on the internet. Tell your friends.

Gone camping!

2009-08-25T08:57:00.009-06:00

Hello my lovely blogging buddies.

I'm going camping and hiking with my Venturer group, and so I'm leaving today for the mountains! Actually, our camp officially starts on Thursday, but my dad and I are going a few days early to get some extra hiking in beforehand. Once the rest of the Venturers arrive, we're going to be doing some long dayhikes in the mountains, and just getting more experience camping in the mountains. I'll be back on Sunday. Meanwhile, I've got some posts written that are scheduled to be posted while I'm gone. I'll try to have one written for everyday that I'm gone, but we'll see.

Take care everyone!

To give or not to give?

2009-08-24T08:47:00.030-06:00

I had an experience two days ago while I was busking at the farmer's market, and I'd like your opinion on what you think is the correct course of action.

I was busking at the downtown market with my flute and an open case of money at my feet. I had been playing for about 45mins and so a fair amount of money had accumulated. As I was taking a break, a homeless man approached me and asked if I could spare some change. He seemed sober (and I couldn't smell alcohol on his breath) and was not "stoned" as far as I could tell, so I pulled $2 out of my case and gave it to him. I don't usually give money to people who just ask for money, but my money was sitting right there, so I did.

Then he said "Please sir, can you give me at least $5, enough for a meal?". I said "Sorry", but he kept saying "please". I kept saying "Sorry", but he just kept repeating "Please, I haven't eaten in days". He wasn't being obnoxious, but he was just being very persistent, and finally I fished $3 out of my case and he took it, thanked me and off he went.

I'm never sure whether to give money or not. My kind of default answer is "Sorry, no" but I'm not sure whether that's the best (and most moral) answer. I've seen posters around the city saying not to give money to panhandlers, but to instead give money to homeless shelters and places that provide safe food and shelter. That way you know that it's going toward "healthy" stuff rather than drugs, alcohol etc. I think that's probably the best thing to do. But how could I in good conscience not give him anything when I had a full case of money sitting right there?

So comment with your thoughts!

Do you give panhandlers money?
Do you think we should just give money freely and believe that it's not our responsibility to know what they do with that money?
Should I have caved in and given him that $3?

Thanks for the thoughts.

Email post option

2009-08-23T10:32:00.000-06:00

Hey everybody, just to let you know, there is now an option to email posts to friends really easily. Beneath each post, by the commenting option, there is a little graphic that looks like this:

You can click on that and email that post to anybody you think may be interested. :)

My (temporary) facebook purge

2009-08-23T10:00:00.000-06:00

If you're friends with me on facebook, you probably noticed that I'm taking a two-week break from facebook. I've done this once before (you can read about that here) but I did it for just a week then. So I'm going to quote some my post from then, as my reasons for leaving are largely the same.

"Now, I'll just clarify. I do not hate facebook. I love facebook. I really do. It's fun, and makes it easy to connect with friends I haven't seen in a long time, or live far away from me. So this isn't a stand against facebook at all. Its just a way for me to take a break from something that was becoming too much of a time waster for me"

And mainly, I've been feeling like I really need more time to read, think, observe, write and compose. And facebook is too much of a distraction from that. So goodbye facebook. I'll be back in two weeks. I'm still going to blog daily and email and all that, just...no facebook.

It feels good for me.

BOOK REVIEW: How Doctors Think

2009-08-22T16:53:00.000-06:00

So at at good friend's suggestion, I read How Doctors Think, by Jerome Groopman. I found it very interesting, and enjoyed it a lot. I'm a big nerd when it comes to books on psychology and how people think (which is why I find books by Malcolm Gladwell fascinating!). This one is pretty similar in thought process and in writing style. It offers some very interesting insights into what affects diagnoses and what can affect misdiagnoses. And it certainly isn't only for people in the medical field, or for those interested in the medical field. It gives lots of suggestions on how patients can help with diagnosing and questions to ask your physician. It's a good read. I'd recommend it.

2009-08-22T12:28:00.000-06:00

"I am not truly free if I am taking away someone else's freedom, just as surely as I am not free when my freedom is taken from me. The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity."

--Nelson Mandela

Important news!

2009-08-21T14:03:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone,

After a temporary hiatus from blogging, I am back! And so, I have something extremely important to share.

I have new sheets. And a new comforter. No, really, it really is that cool.
Check out the photos.

Isn't that fabulous?

Check out this pattern and tell me if that isn't the most groovy, rad and cool pattern for a comforter ever.

Look at this wonderful sea of green and blue fabric and see if it doesn't harrow you with joy and jubilation. It does for me.

Okay, more exciting goodness coming up in the next couple days! Watch for topics like my brand new flute(!), a book review on How Doctor's Think, a movie review on the new movie Adam and other things! Thanks for reading!

Folk fest

2009-08-10T18:24:00.001-06:00

For the past couple days, I've been attending a Folk Music festival. I mean they call it that, but it's really not limited to folk music at all. You'll hear bluegrass, country, blues, celtic etc. It's great. I've been attending every year for 16 years, which I think is pretty good, seeing as I'm only 16 anyway. Anyway, it was a great festival, I heard some incredible music, and I'm very inspired by what I heard musically.

I was also inspired by something I heard from a little boy. He was probably about six years old. I was sitting on the hill on my tarp, when he and his family walked by. The mom and the dad were looking around and discussing the best place to lay their tarp down. Then the little boy said

"Mom, it looks like they put a lot of work into this, so let's just enjoy it."

It was completely adorable. But more importantly, I think he unknowingly hit right on the head, exactly what I trying to say in this post. I really think that one of the important things about living life is realizing that circumstances are not either good or bad, but simply are and if we simply appreciate them for what they are, we'll be a lot happier with our lives.

Folk music festival

2009-08-08T09:31:00.001-06:00

Hey everyone, right now, I’m just in the middle of a great folk music festival, so I haven’t had the time to post regularly. Sorry! I have some posts that have been stewing in my mind and I’ll get back to a regular posting schedule on Monday.

Take care,

Daniel

What do you do with the time that you've got?

2009-08-07T16:29:00.000-06:00

There's a line that's repeated a lot in the songs of the musical RENT, (which is quite possibly my favorite musical ever) that says "no day but today". It's kind of like the "motto" of the show, which is all about making the most of the time that you have on earth.

So, what do you do with the time that you've got?

It's a question that I've been thinking about, because I don't know if I'm really living or not, you know? I mean, I love life, and I'm really very happy, but I'm always wondering if I'm really making the most of my life. What can I do differently? What can you do to really live? Maybe it has something to do with learning to notice every single aspect of your life, and realize that they all come together to make this moment, and then be able to appreciate the moment, not label it for good or bad, but just to appreciate that it is.

Daniel, once more thinking out loud.

Wait, did any of that actually make sense at all?

What have I been up to lately?

2009-08-04T21:50:00.000-06:00

Well, for starters, I'm writing a whole bunch of music for a youth production of The Tempest with Celsius Youth Theatre which is the theatre company that I co-founded. I'm writing a fair amount of music, in a relatively short time, so it's rather challenging, but hey, deadlines are good. We're having some live musicians that will be playing the live music on stage with the production, so I think it will be really great. We have 1 bass guitarist, 1 classical guitarist, 1 violinist and 1 recorder. Funky combo, huh?

I'm also doing some reading. At Kelsey's suggestion via the comments section, I'm reading How Doctors think by Jerome Groopman. I'm finding it really interesting, and I'll be sure to post a review once I'm finished. I'm also reading Richard II by Billy Shakespeare. I've only just started reading it, but again I'll post a review when I'm done.

2009-08-03T21:18:00.000-06:00

Went for a great bike ride today. About 25kms and found six geocaches. It was pretty cool out, but not horrible. Anyway. I'm tired and so I'm not writing anymore. Thats all. Good night.

Danse Macabre

2009-08-03T21:16:00.000-06:00

Okay, this is the single greatest thing I've heard for a long time.

New poll!

2009-08-02T21:54:00.000-06:00

New poll! Please vote! ========>

2009-08-02T20:45:00.000-06:00

So as you know, I just got back from a few days in the mountains. I would like to write a little bit about something that I was thinking about while I was there. I don't expect that it will make much sense, as I'm very confused about it myself and I don't know the answer to it at all.
Hmm, it seems like I ask waaay more questions on this blog than I answer... But I suppose it's true that:

"The unanswered questions aren't nearly as dangerous as the unquestioned answers." (Anonymous)

Being in the mountains, I felt very, very small. It was wonderful in some ways, because I felt like all of my problems and concerns were all so insignificant and unimportant to the planet in general. I'm just one small person in the entire universe. It was refreshing.

On the other hand, I'm the only thing in the entire universe that I can control. So is it better to focus on the fact that the universe will go on without you and that your problems are insignificant in the scheme of things, or to focus on the idea that you and your problems are the only things you can control and focus on working on you and not thinking about the universe?

I guess that the best thing is to find a medium between them both- realizing that you can only control yourself, but working on bettering yourself so that you may have an influence on others.

Thoughts anyone?

Daniel, thinking out loud.

Camping, mountains…

2009-08-01T19:31:00.001-06:00

I just got back from camping in the mountains. It was a really great vacation. It’s been said hundreds of times before, but there really is something about the mountains that is so rejuvenating, awe-inspiring, spiritually-provoking, or something. It gave me a lot of time to think and read, and I’m thankful for that. We did a whole bunch of hiking and saw some incredible views. It was seriously breathtaking. I feel like it was just what I needed. Now my challenge is: How can I better appreciate all the beauty and goodness that is all around me?

#$@(*$)@(#$!!!!!!!

2009-07-29T09:00:00.000-06:00

Okay, so this post is all about swearing. Ha ha ha. I though it would be a funny topic for a post. To be honest, I find swearing pretty funny. I don’t find it offensive in the least. Why is the word f*ck any different than the word puck? It’s just another word, isn’t it? Yet people find it so offensive. I think it’s rather interesting. Oh well, swear words will be swear words I suppose. Actually I think that a well chosen swear used at the right time is quite effective! Swearing itself doesn’t bother me. What bothers me is when a swear is (a) used in a derogatory manner towards another person, and (b) when it is used is such excess that it becomes meaningless. Come on, a swear is a swear, it’s not supposed to be used as a noun, adjective, adverb, pronoun etc. (in one sentence!). So yeah, I’m not completely against swearing, I think it has it’s place, but I think it is way overused in a meaningless way in our society. Personally, when I stub my toe, I’m much more inclined to say “bother!” then anything else, much to my companion’s amusement.

Daniel goes on vacation!

2009-07-28T09:20:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone, I'll be out of town camping for the next four days, but I have a post scheduled to be published tomorrow (it's all about swearing!) Enjoy the next few days, and I'll be back posting on Friday or Saturday.

10	Words of Affirmation
8	Quality Time
0	Receiving Gifts
5	Acts of Service
7	Physical Touch

Musings of a Liber Boy

A Few Thoughts on (Mostly My) Education

I don't like titling posts.

Characters

Rehearsals etc.

School etc.

went from "in a relationship" to "single" to "in a relationship"...

News

Yes.

questions part 2

Ask me questions!

Expedition- Day 2

Expedition- Day 2

Jasper Expedition- Prologue

When will this stop?

Update

Indeed

The story of Daniel's spectacular day

Quandary

Prelude

Two answers to music-related questions

Answers (some of them)

Happy Birthday, Mr. Sondheim!

Questions!

Alice in Wonderland

Henry V

Scriabin Prelude no. 9, op. 11

Oh and by the way....

Catching up

Eeeee!! Stuff.

*sigh* Comments

Dentists and blood

Um...-insert lame title here-

Brainwashing

What's the issue?

Five Love Languages

Your Scores (Out of 30 questions)

Interpreting and Using Your Profile Score

The highest score indicates your primary love language (the highest score is 12). It’s not uncommon to have two high scores, although one language does have a slight edge for most people. That just means two languages are important to you.

About the name of this blog

January 2nd, new year's resolutions, etc.

On playing Bach and Mozart

Snow!

Book Review: Starclimber

A quote...

Beethoven, and Wagner and me, oh my!

Questions!

Back into a schedule

The Tempest!

My life

How to avoid getting H1N1

Honens

Honens: Coming soon

I love Rachmaninoff. And Britten.

Answers!

Questions. questions anyone?

Music Monday: The Golden Compass

Balloon boy etc

Quote

Britten violin concerto

Life. Random.

I donated blood!

Music Monday! (among other things!)

Film Fridays! - The Aviator

10 things about me that you may not have known

Why I don't (really) believe in peace on Earth

Gossip

Finished the score for The Tempest!

School, and my musical lack of happiness

Obama's message to students

An experiment...that is neat.

To give or not to give PART II

Jasper part 4/4- Geradine Lakes

Jasper part 3/4- Mt. Edith Cavell

Jasper part 2/4- Athabasca

Jasper part 1/4- Wilcox Pass

New flute!

Click buttons, do some good

Gone camping!

To give or not to give?

sigh Comments