We’re back home from NYC and getting back to normal life. B and I had so much fun and needless to say, we ate tons of good food. It is a good thing that we walked so much otherwise, we would’ve rolled home on our new spare tires. Here’s some pics out of the 200 that we took along the way.

We also did some tourist-y stuff as well. B insisted that we go to the Empire State Building, despite the long lines that we would stand in. The whole event was about 4 hours long, and I felt like I was trapped in a hellhole. I was quite grumpy when we finally got to the top, but then after looking at the views, I chilled out. Waiting in line with all those people with no way out just gave me the heebie-jeebies.

B and I caught up with a group of people that night at a restaurant called Pipas, next to ABC Carpet and Home. The portions were pretty big for tapas, and the sangria was pretty good. I am not much of a sangria fan, but this was delicious and went really well with all the food. The two of us were the only non-designers of the whole group, so we were probably the odd balls. You can barely see my head in the lower left corner and B took the picture by standing on the bench. This was only half of the table shown….. our bill was over $1000.00… so many people!!

Our last favorite event (this post has taken me a week to write, and I will write no more on this trip because I’m done), was our tour of the UN. I really enjoyed going here and the tour was pretty cool. I wasn’t grumpy because there were no lines here, but I also think that the UN has a more significant value than the Empire State Building Anyway, the last photo is done by the artist Octavio Roth. It is one of the 30 Articles of Human Rights. All 30 are hanging in the UN and I wanted to read all of them, but our tour guide rushed through this area. Guess I’ll just have to go back.

Yup, guess we’ll just have to go back….

May 30th, 2008

B and I will be leaving for NYC tomorrow morning.  We planned the trip back in December and thought it would be a good way to end the school year.  I will be playing a Poulenc duet for the piano ensemble recital and Kaoru’s senior recital right when I return though.  Hopefully I won’t be jet lagged!!  As long as my eyes are open, I’ll be able to play  that’s what Melatonin is for the night before.

D will be dog-sitting Nigel while we’re gone.  She is pretty excited to have the little guy around and that makes me happy.  You see, Nigel to me, is like that one kid in school that no one understands.  He’s the loner that plays by himself, picks his nose in the back of the classroom and has weird social problems that no one “gets.”  He’s quirky, but that’s why I love him.  Makes me sad sometimes that he doesn’t play  with the other “kids,” but he’s happy being the way he is and I’m happy to love him.

I guess I’m also drawn to people with social quirks and it’s probably because I have some of my own.  For instance, I think middle children are interesting.  They may seem like the quiet ones in the family, but they have so much to say.  Slow talkers are also interesting.  You know that a million things are going through their head though, and they don’t blurt out things like verbal garbage.  (Haha, but I sometimes have verbal vomit when I have tons of energy.)  Also, quirky people come up with the best comeback lines.  The best.  

But, I can’t deal with attitude (ie. hipsters, scenesters, prima donnas, and snobs).  Those are not social quirks, those are just boring, YAWN…zzzzzzz… and they’re just a pain in the ___, like dealing with a bratty kid.  

Nigel loves his Auntie D though.  Every time we say “where’s auntie?” he goes crazy looking for her.  We now have to spell out A-U-N-T-I-E so that he doesn’t know who we’re talking about.  Funny.

Will miss my quirky Nigel.       

After my graduate exams, I wanted to be free of school and enjoy life’s other offerings.  This lasted about two weeks and then I became restless once again.  I then realized that I did not have any thing or event that signified the completion of my studies at CSUH until tonight.  At the Glenn Glasow Memorial concert, I was given the opportunity to have my trio performed by these incredible musicians, Wenyi Shih, Nina Flyer, and Irene Gregorio.  I mean, incredible musicians.  Did you catch that?.. Incredible.  Even better, my professors whom I have so much respect for were present and I could not have asked for a better way to end my time at CSUH.  

I’ll probably write more about the concert in the morning. 

I hope I can get a recording of the concert very soon.  I was at the concert last night, but I wasn’t all there. It is still nerve racking for me to hear my pieces live, but hey, I don’t think that will ever go away.  Ugh, however, I do need to work on my mouth.  My supremely immature, goofy sense of humor always gets in the way and I oftentimes find myself putting my foot in my mouth. Maybe it’s my way of releasing the energy when I focus so seriously on my work.  Well, I’ll work on it, but I can’t guarantee anything.  I love to laugh and that’s why I love life.  In conclusion, I won’t tell my foot-in-mouth story here because you see, I’m now trying….really.  really hard not to.. say… anything.

La Rocca’s piece, Secret Thoughts, was intense.  It was very moving and the cellist was amazing. I am not being biased either.  It was my favorite piece of the evening.  Everyone I spoke to really loved it as well.   I think many people in this industry get caught up in flashy, academia, competitiveness, or what have you.  So for me, it is always refreshing to hear La Rocca’s pieces because the listener can tell that it is all coming from an honest and thoughtful place.  Word.

Reading about and hearing what people say about Glenn Glasow, I wish I had the opportunity to meet him.  There is a drawing in the program of him by Yoshiko Kakudo, which was very telling of his personality.  What a great concert series to honor this man.

All in all, I am so happy with the concert last night.  Did I mention the incredible musicians?   

A couple years ago, D asked if we could compose a short song for her Hitchcock class.  It was super cheesy, cliche, and funny as hell.  We wrote it for 2 violins and 2 violas, thinking that D would play and record it herself.  Alas, time did not permit so we now have the cheesy, cliche, and funny as hell project on a Finale recording.  Took us about 10 minutes to write the darn thing.  We laugh hysterically every time we hear the end.

+++BY THE WAY+++

some friends of mine will be at the National Stationery Show in NYC from the 18-21st of May. Check out Mixed Co. , or check out their cool stuff in stores!