Brahmy

Some people drown their sorrows in alcohol. Other people...well, I don't know what else you can drown your sorrows in really. Apart from variations of alcohol.

I, on the other hand, play clarinet. This is my latest challenge:



Beautiful Brahms.

Highly recommended listening.

Not that I'm drowning my sorrows or anything. I don't exactly know why I'm doing it. I guess, having not picked up the clarinet in anger for about two years, I felt like reliving good times past when I'd create semi-pretty music.

I'm also a lot better at it than I am at guitar. I actually vibe with it. The guitar doesn't fully feel comfortable in my hands. Probably owing to the fact that I've played it for a shorter period of time, coupled with lack of teacher. I'm just not as good at it as I am clarinet.

It's also a good relaxation method. There's something soothing about the mellow tones of a clarinet, more so when they're emanating from me. Probably means I'm an egomaniac or something. Analyse me, psych students.

And, because my life is so exciting, pretty much nothing else has happened since I last blogged. Yep.

Word of the Day: Sorrows

Worries

I am very worried about many things at the moment. All these pressures are just starting to build up. I hope there never comes a day where that final straw breaks this particular donkey's back.

First and foremost, Linda is driving me crazy. I have no idea why she's been ignoring me for a week. At first, it made me worried. Then it made me very, very sad when I realised that she may be ignoring me. Then I found out for certain that she's been ignoring me, for some inexplicable (to me) reason. Deep depression set in, I was about to cry, then I manned up. Now I'm just seething with anger and sadness. It's a dangerous mix. I might skip dinner tonight just so that I don't get to my family. I've tried my hardest, I haven't deliberately done anything wrong by her, and to the best of my knowledge, I haven't done anything wrong. I think what gets me the most is the fact that she's been ignoring me, without me knowing what I've done wrong. Like, she hasn't even shouted at me or anything similar.



I'm confused can you make me understand
Cos I try to give you the best of me
I thought we were cool, maybe I was blind

Next up on my pile of stress is my real estate course. I want to finish it by the end of this holiday.

Thirdly is worry about what the upcoming semester will bring. From here, it looks like a semester of academic hell. And possibly other types of hell.

Fourthly, I'm stuck in limbo about what to do about my clarinet. Do I go on, and take it half-paced, or do I stop? This is actually a big concern of mine. It's so hard to make a decision.

These would hardly be problems if Linda just started talking to me again. God, I never knew that someone could cut me this deeply. Looks like my heart isn't as cold as many people think it is.

Word of the Day: Worries
Currently listening to: Can U Help Me by Usher

Thanks

And as if just to reinforce the point, Arsenal won against Hull this morning, capping off what turned out to be quite a swell week for me.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, you may recall that I predicted that good week would follow after Arsenal beat Liverpool on the weekend. Read for more information.

By swell, I mean mostly good.

Annual Kris Kringle with A Rotational Roster of People on Thursday night went quite well, except for the timing issues. I have no idea why, on that day, people had to turn up late, leave early, and just generally not fit in with the plan. Must have been a bad day to pick. But apart from that, it all clicked together fairly well. Most things that I plan generally do, I think, except when people mess them up for me.

Anyway, I got a shirt to add to my growing collection (thanks Davy), and Yvonne seemed pleased with what I gave her. I hope. Unless I'm reading the signs wrong again, as I am wont to do. I think everyone else liked the 'things' that I made them, useless and non-functional though they may be, and Linda didn't kill me for defying her direct order not to make her anything, so I guess that worked out alright. All I know is that I've been completely turned off folding stars, at least for a while, and Sicilian salmon with potatoes at Airstream is also getting a bit old. Alas, must find new thrills.

Imesha and Linda bailed halfway through our dinner, so we moseyed on down to the cinema to watch Avatar.

Personally, I didn't like the 3Dness. Apart from the fact that you had to pay an extra dollar to watch 3D (unless you're Yvonne and have five pairs of spare 3D goggles at home), I thought that it actually made most of the movie look worse. I wasn't really feeling the 3D, and when I did, it just looked like one of those dodgy lenticular things you get out of chip packets. It looked less realistic than it would have on a normal screen. Everything just sort of looked stuck on. But it was a good movie. Not that Davy would know. I found out just then that he fell asleep during the film. He's making a habit of this. First New Moon with his girl, then Avatar.

On Friday, nothing much happened, except for Victor coming over and fiddling with my computers, and FIFA 10. Thanks Victor.

Saturday, would've liked to have gone to Kylie's, but no transport/didn't want to trouble other people in giving me a lift/ditched by Victor. Sorry Kylie.

Just then was the NQT Christmas dinner. It was cool. Found out that Catherine is a pretty cool person, and that I'm a pretty terrible person to sit next to at dinner, as I pretty much go quiet. Also, 'Same Girl' is a universally recognised benchmark of an awesome song.

Here's to having more fun-laden and awesome times ahead. It's a shame really, because I have all this free time, and no-one to spend it with. Guess I'll just practice my newly-acquired guitar (thanks for the Christmas present parents) and my grandpa clarinet. Perhaps working out more. But definitely no more folding of stars.

Word of the Day: Thanks

Eclecticity

How strange. I don't know if anybody else finds this weird, but this is the story.

Today, I went to a performance of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, K622, my favourite clarinet piece of all time. It was awesome. And to cap it off, they played an impromptu rendition of the Londonderry Air, which was the first piece that I played and loved.

Then, when I got home, I listened to Coldplay and Jay-Z.

That's the end of the story. Good story Andrew.

There must be something wrong with me.

And I'm really looking forward to Usher's new album next month.

Yep, there's definitely something wrong with me.

Word of the Day: Wrong

Insecurity guard

Ah, I knew this double-clash-whammy thing would always test my masculinity, make me question my own fortitude, push me to the limit, and all that jazz. But my, how even the lead up revealed so much about me. My insecurities and flaws were exposed in the most brutal fashion possible, just like a Liverpool defence at set pieces. But I also learnt about my strengths. I hope they're my strengths. Because if not, I'm more screwed up than I think I am.

First weakness: Girls. Well, I wouldn't be a very straight male if this didn't apply. So like, I was talking to my good friend David Lee, and a female friend of pretty everyone I know, who I'm not going to name because of that very reason, looked like she wanted to talk to me. See, it's that awkwardness again. That's another one of my weaknesses. She keeps like, walking in front of me and looking at me when she thinks I'm not looking at her. Cos you know, she got ditched by her friend.

This also links onto my insecurity. I'm actually still a really shy person. It's gotten a lot better, but you know. Yeah.

Anyway, I had a feeling that maybe I should've talked to her. But then I thought, nah, that'd be weird. I mean, it is me after all.

Anyway, the second weakness links back to this.

As most of you, and half the world know by now, because I've been griping about it for a while, I had a clash today, so I had a double exam, and a prisoner during the break. During the break, after the torrid time that was the French exam, I started thinking about this girl who shall remain unnamed. Because, you know, I'm instantly attracted to people that actually show an inclination of wanting to actually talk to me. Which exposed my lack of concentration. So I listened to music. Which made it worse. A downward spiral of pain and anguish then. And they suspected my iPod of being an iPhone to boot.

Third insecurity. I get scared when people stare at me. Like those damn invigilators. I'm walking back from the toilet, they stare at me. Two of them waylay me at different times. I don't know what they suspected me of, but the second one was just damn rude. At least one of them was nice. She made me coffee. Kudos to her.

Now, on to some positive stuff. I must admire our brain's capacity to cram stuff in. I pretty much memorised the whole management course in the three hour break, and spat it back out during the exam. Right after cramming French in the morning. Double crammage. Hope my technique doesn't backfire.

I thought I'd also take this opportunity to remark upon how unfair the exams today were. Surely I'm at a disadvantage. Having one exam after the other is bad enough. But not being able to leave in the break?

Now that I have free time on my hands, here's the plan:
1. Clean room
2. Work this damned right leg harder and get it working again
3. Find a summer job
4. Put my other plan into action. Don't worry, I know what I'm talking about, even if you don't.
5. Make some stuff. Star jars and all that.
6. Somehow learn guitar without a guitar.
7. Get the clarinet going again.
8. Organise my music collection.
9. Catch up with some of my homies.
10. Buy some gifts and miscellaneous items.

That's about it for the moment.

Hope everyone did well in their exams, and gluck for anyone still to do some.

Ah. Relaxation.

Word of the Day: Insecurity

Joyjoyjoy

There are some positives that have resulted from the busted knee. For one, it's a good conversation starter.

"So, like, why are you hobbling around on crutches?"

It's kinda mean to reply "Because I love this mode of transportation," so I explain, which usually gets the conversation ball rolling. Because then it leads on to all sorts of other topics.

Okay, so maybe that's the only positive. Well, apart from sympathy, which I really don't see as a positive, seeing as it's not healthy or sustainable in the long run, and I would much rather be running around than me symped (?) over.

As you can probably envisage, there are many, many more negatives. One of the main ones is not being able to do anything. Except play clarinet and cards. And maybe a bit of PC. I've been playing a lot of clarinet these past few days, because there really is nothing much better to do when you're sitting down.

So the moral of this story (which here is pronounced "rant"): don't get injured.

Word of the day: knee