Something we don't know... about you!

[furtwaengler]

What do we really know about each other? This will be funny: I "use to" have a 39 inch vertical leap, and I still have an ego about it. I made video tapes dunking a basketball over and over...up until I saw this movie, Napoleon Dynamite in the theaters...not only were Uncle Rico's football videos mocking me, I had a mustache like Kip! I shaved it the next morning. 

[m19834]

Wow, furtwaengler, that's quite a jump reach !  There was a point in my biscuitball days (as my bro sometimes calls it ... hee hee) when I could at least touch the rim ... that's pretty good for a girl in high school  .  My jump reach these days is probably about an inch ... haha.

Okay, here is my thing that (most) people don't know :  I DO study with somebody in real life who is also on this forum, and I met him on the forum !!    Been studying with him for a bit over a year now !  Horrraaayyyy !  

hope I'm not jinxing it or upsetting it ... but, long ago I believe I was told I have permission to tell !

VIVA LA VIVA !!!  Yip, Yip, Yip !!

[pianowolfi]

Glad to see you happy, K  

[sr_ludwig]

yeaaaaaaah

I knew bella in the last week!

just few moments togheter, but time enough to say that I would love stay much more time with her =]]]

[m19834]

For some reason I find lots of money.  Once I found an entire wallet that had loads of money in it (returned ALL of it to owner).  I've found several $20 bills (3 of which I returned to the people who lost it, one of which I kept b/c there was no way to find the person who lost it).  Recently I found $1 on a hike and now ... for the grand finale ...

About 2 months ago I found a $5 bill wrapped up in bear poopy ... I had to see if it was for sure money and found out that it was also ripped in half, besides the obvious problem of being inside of (and quite inseparable from) bear poopy ... but, I decided not to keep that one, either  .  True story.

[thalbergmad]

I am not very good at finding things, but my dear old mum must be the World Champion at finding golf balls.

I used to be a pretty crap golfer and would lose loads of balls, but i would always finish the round with about 2 dozen more than that i started with.

Mums are wonderful things.

Thal

[ahinton]

I used to be a pretty crap golfer and would lose loads of balls, but i would always finish the round with about 2 dozen more than that i started with.

Ah - that might explain your occasional use of the term "bollox"...

Best,

Alistair

[m19834]

AND (!) I forgot to mention about the time when money literally rained down on me ... haha !!  I was walking in a large crowd outside the fences of a temporary fair/carnival and I suddenly see bills just raining down ... somebody was on a ride inside the park, where they went upside down and somehow their money was falling out of their pockets and floated right to me   ... hee hee.

[ahinton]

AND (!) I forgot to mention about the time when money literally rained down on me ... haha !!  I was walking in a large crowd outside the fences of a temporary fair/carnival and I suddenly see bills just raining down ... somebody was on a ride inside the park, where they went upside down and somehow their money was falling out of their pockets and floated right to me   ... hee hee.

Clearly you are not a composer! Things like that rarely if ever happen to members of that fraternity...

Best,

Alistair

[m19834]

Clearly you are not a composer! Things like that rarely if ever happen to members of that fraternity...

Best,

Alistair

Well, perhaps I belong to the sorority then and that explains it.  In any event, after having written out these incidents with finding money and it finding me, I have to say that it seems to be a little strange, actually !  I mean, is it a normal kind of thing ?  It seems perhaps abnormal !  And, I am probably forgetting other times, too.  And, of course, I have not mentioned finding coins.

[pianowolfi]

Clearly you are not a composer! Things like that rarely if ever happen to members of that fraternity...

Though I believe you, I'm convinced that K is a composer 

[ahinton]

Though I believe you, I'm convinced that K is a composer 

Well, I can tell you that, if she is, I have never seen or heard any of her works but I'm sure that she will tell us if she is indeed a composer...

Best,

Alistair

[magsd]

I've been in prison in Saudi - 10 days.

[m19834]

I just found another $1 bill a couple of hours ago  .

[furtwaengler]

Would I be wrong in saying things like that rarely happen to any fraternity...or are you using this, trying to suggest composers have limited fortune or no luck, Alistair?

It's okay. I'll pity you!

[ahinton]

Would I be wrong in saying things like that rarely happen to any fraternity...or are you using this, trying to suggest composers have limited fortune or no luck, Alistair?

I simply pointed out that, if K is indeed a composer, she'll almost certainly tell us about that (at least if she feels disposed to do so).

It's okay. I'll pity you!

For what?

Best,

Alistair

[m19834]

I simply pointed out that, if K is indeed a composer, she'll almost certainly tell us about that (at least if she feels disposed to do so).


Best,

Alistair

The whole Universe hears my work, many people have just not quite realized it yet .

[ahinton]

The whole Universe hears my work, many people have just not quite realized it yet .

OK - so perhaps we mere mortals at pianostreet can (and perhaps should) wait...

Best,

Alistair (who, it is apparently said, also composes things on occasion)...

[m19834]

OK - so perhaps we mere mortals at pianostreet can (and perhaps should) wait...

Best,

Alistair (who, it is apparently said, also composes things on occasion)...

Well, first of all, I don't believe that I am more or less immortal than anyone else.  Secondly, to be quite honest, my "mortal" self is struggling at the time with feeling as though I have any idea under the sun how to express my musical thoughts, especially in the form of composition.  It's not that there are not things in there to be expressed, it's just like they are too huge for my actual tools/technique/know-how or so.  I mean, some of that has to do with the idea that I have a difficult time putting ANYTHING down if it seems as though it might just be junk.  Most of the times I have tried to actually really start writing anything, it only gets so far before I don't know what to do anymore.  

Along those lines, I don't know how to improvise anymore either, and this is not because I am currently studying piano music (it seems that some people think that one kills the other or so, and I personally do NOT believe that).  It is that everything I do sounds to me boring and the same and unoriginal and I hate it.  I have had times like this in my life before, believe me, I know.  When I listen to my improvs from a year/couple/few years ago, some of it sounds okay to me, but anything that actually sounds like music, it's like I have no idea where that came from/who that person was/how that actually came out.  And, along those lines, I NEVER want to go back to being that person that I was then.  I HATED that life.  HATED, HATED, HATED it.

I would like to study composition again ... I would also love to play the violin again.  I would also love to play the cello.  And, of course, it would be great fun to better learn how to playt the French horn, how to play the Bassoon and the guitar.  I'd also love to learn how to fluently speak German, Spanish, French, Italian, Russian, Japanese, Chinese and whatever else I could manage.  It would be fun to draw more, as well, and of course paint and study art in general.  Not to mention I would love to develop my sculpting and pottery skills ... and I have always fancied making jewelry.  I would love to write more, come to think of it, and I wish I could set aside time to study mathematics, especially.  Those are on the top of my list anyway.  Aside from that, I would love to see the world, you know, travel a little ... or a lot.  In the meantime, I guess I will try to figure out how to actually live this bloody life ... while parts of me get greyer and saggier by the moment, and I sink further and further away from making that list of "attractive pianists" ... you know, when I cease to be anywhere close to what everybody really cares about anyway !

Thirdly, I HAVE posted many an imporv, and even some actual "compositions".  The fact that you have never listened to them is not my fault, I think, nor does it mean I am not a composer.  If all else fails, I will just rely on that piece of paper somewhere in some binder that says I won some award for composition when I was smaller.

[ahinton]

Well, first of all, I don't believe that I am more or less immortal than anyone else.  Secondly, to be quite honest, my "mortal" self is struggling at the time with feeling as though I have any idea under the sun how to express my musical thoughts, especially in the form of composition.  It's not that there are not things in there to be expressed, it's just like they are too huge for my actual tools/technique/know-how or so.  I mean, some of that has to do with the idea that I have a difficult time putting ANYTHING down if it seems as though it might just be junk.  Most of the times I have tried to actually really start writing anything, it only gets so far before I don't know what to do anymore.  

Along those lines, I don't know how to improvise anymore either, and this is not because I am currently studying piano music (it seems that some people think that one kills the other or so, and I personally do NOT believe that).  It is that everything I do sounds to me boring and the same and unoriginal and I hate it.  I have had times like this in my life before, believe me, I know.  When I listen to my improvs from a year/couple/few years ago, some of it sounds okay to me, but anything that actually sounds like music, it's like I have no idea where that came from/who that person was/how that actually came out.  And, along those lines, I NEVER want to go back to being that person that I was then.  I HATED that life.  HATED, HATED, HATED it.

I would like to study composition again ... I would also love to play the violin again.  I would also love to play the cello.  And, of course, it would be great fun to better learn how to playt the French horn, how to play the Bassoon and the guitar.  I'd also love to learn how to fluently speak German, Spanish, French, Italian, Russian, Japanese, Chinese and whatever else I could manage.  It would be fun to draw more, as well, and of course paint and study art in general.  Not to mention I would love to develop my sculpting and pottery skills ... and I have always fancied making jewelry.  I would love to write more, come to think of it, and I wish I could set aside time to study mathematics, especially.  Those are on the top of my list anyway.  Aside from that, I would love to see the world, you know, travel a little ... or a lot.  In the meantime, I guess I will try to figure out how to actually live this bloody life ... while parts of me get greyer and saggier by the moment, and I sink further and further away from making that list of "attractive pianists" ... you know, when I cease to be anywhere close to what everybody really cares about anyway !

Thirdly, I HAVE posted many an imporv, and even some actual "compositions".  The fact that you have never listened to them is not my fault, I think, nor does it mean I am not a composer.  If all else fails, I will just rely on that piece of paper somewhere in some binder that says I won some award for composition when I was smaller.

Karli, I hope that I am not overstepping any marks here, but whether or not I may unreasonably be perceived to do so, I do rather think that you appear to be asking just too much of yourself here - all those instruments, improvisations, composition, piano, singing, mathematics, jewellery making, etc. etc. I am not for one moment suggesting that you should not pursue any one of these lines but in the end something has to take precedence, for your own sake and for the sake of what it is that you are best suited to doing. I have never suggested, nor sought to suggest, whether or to what extent you may be a composer (pace your own words here - not mine!), for that would not only be grossly arrogant of me but would also possibly risk discouraging you (and indeed others) from addressing the art of composition which is an essential for all musicians to address.

I wish you the best of good fortune in what you do - and I do so from the standpoint of being a non-performer who finds composition very difficult - essential to just getting from one day to the next, yet, but immensely difficult nonetheless, at least in terms of getting it all as it should be; there's no use in what might turn out to be second best (for me, at least) and so I release perhaps a good deal less than I might otherwise do (yet still perhaps too much - who knows?...)

Best,

Alistair

[m19834]

Karli, I hope that I am not overstepping any marks here, but whether or not I may unreasonably be perceived to do so, I do rather think that you appear to be asking just too much of yourself here - all those instruments, improvisations, composition, piano, singing, mathematics, jewellery making, etc. etc. I am not for one moment suggesting that you should not pursue any one of these lines but in the end something has to take precedence, for your own sake and for the sake of what it is that you are best suited to doing. I have never suggested, nor sought to suggest, whether or to what extent you may be a composer (pace your own words here - not mine!), for that would not only be grossly arrogant of me but would also possibly risk discouraging you (and indeed others) from addressing the art of composition which is an essential for all musicians to address.

I wish you the best of good fortune in what you do - and I do so from the standpoint of being a non-performer who finds composition very difficult - essential to just getting from one day to the next, yet, but immensely difficult nonetheless, at least in terms of getting it all as it should be; there's no use in what might turn out to be second best (for me, at least) and so I release perhaps a good deal less than I might otherwise do (yet still perhaps too much - who knows?...)

Best,

Alistair

No, you are not overstepping your bounds.  I do appreciate your thoughts and your post, actually and I believe I understand the spirit in how you have written.  It has been really difficult for me to understand how to focus my attentions in the right ways, but something that has been consistent in my life, from my earliest memories to now, is my desire to simply play and know the piano.  That is truly a very top priority in my life, and I know that this is what is right for my heart.  In terms of what I am best suited for, who knows ?  It is just that, sometimes I feel I am too much for my own self, which perhaps everybody feels at times.  Sometimes the whole concept of this human life is just a plain trip for me, and sometimes I feel stretched as it is to just do any one thing at all, let alone to be honestly striving to play something of true value at the piano, to sing as at least a semi-professional hobby (of sorts) and to teach ... not to mention have some kind of household here.

I am probably just stressed mostly b/c I have some stupid rehearsal tonight where I know I will probably end up spending HOURS of unorganized time, after I have spent hours teaching and that, after I have spent this time at the piano, trying to jam as much as I can in (though obviously taking breaks).  I don't know.

Honestly, I spend much of my life unhappy and upset, even much of it actually mad.  Most of the time, I think I am just mad that I don't understand life, and an offshoot from that is that I can't seem to just accept it.  It's like I am always reaching for some other world that is either some memory of some past life (if there is any such thing) or some kind of vision into a life that COULD be, or maybe I just have no grip on reality at all, who knows ?  What I do know is that I need to keep playing the piano, and I don't really know why that is so.  

There have been some really huge changes in my life during this last year, especially deciding to go meet my teacher (Marik) and to really start studying again.  Sometimes I, for some reason, can't quite even have a grip on how huge of a decision that was ... yet, somehow completely natural, too.  I definitely have a sense of leaving some things while embracing others ... it's a little disconcerting sometimes, yet needed.

Well, I'm going now.  Thanks for your post.

[thalbergmad]

Honestly, I spend much of my life unhappy and upset, even much of it actually mad.  

Well, this is wrong and should not be allowed to continue. However, judging by some of your posts on here, i am not altogether surprised.

Every person on this Earth has the right to be happy and make changes to their life if they are not.

What you say makes me sad.

Thal

[m19834]

Well, this is wrong and should not be allowed to continue. However, judging by some of your posts on here, i am not altogether surprised.

Every person on this Earth has the right to be happy and make changes to their life if they are not.

What you say makes me sad.

Thal

Well, don't fret, as that's not entirely true, either   .  On some level I am deeply happy in some magnificent way ... haha.  However, I'm a bit of a perfectionist and am rarely satisfied.

[pianowolfi]

Karli, really you are surprising me once more, like so often. Though some of your words seem truly pouring out of desparation, I hear and feel some sort of "melody" in what you say and in what you think.
I say to you what you have said to me: I believe fully in you. I can't say more, but perhaps this is at least something, since I remember how much it meant to me when you said it, back then.

[thalbergmad]

Strange creatures women

[lostinidlewonder]

Sadness is ok in your life, but not clinical depression. When we are sad or unhappy we often produce things to solve our problems, if we are always happy then we can sometimes be too content to do anything great.

[m19834]

I don't think I am depressed, and I think that when I feel unhappy or upset or mad, it is almost *always* a matter of wanting to be doing something better than what I am doing, and that is pretty much always the way that I feel about things.  Right now I feel like I am fighting very hard against just sitting back and being content in my life, when there are probably many things about my life that would suggest I should perhaps just sit back and be content.  I know it's important to be grateful, and I truly am, it's just difficult for me to imagine living out the rest of my life *exactly* the way it is now.  However, maybe despite my desire to grow and to break down whatever the next wall is or whatever it is that I feel is holding me back, in 70 years I will look back on my life and it will all just look the same way it does now anyway ?

Well, it's time for my beauty rest  .  Thank you, truly, and Wolfi, I did go ahead and find a melody .

[furtwaengler]

Karli, your the most thoughtful person I know, and that's strange because I don't know you, and it's coming in a thread detailing what we don't know about who we don't know. I'm just amazed at how focused and intense and intentional you are, as observed in words on a screen and, of course the recordings which are like a well on secrets (that's not what I want to say because some of it is so obviously not secret and communicates with a sharp edge, but where is my gift of expression? I can't do words.) You are a concentrated form, unique and vital, and sometimes I wonder how you can stand being as thoughtful and concentrated as you are. Goodness, I'm incredibly fickle and I've missed the entire forum, only catching bits and pieces on certain days and checking for replies. I need to slow down, sit down and take a deep breath and read you very carefully.

As to music, composition and improvisation...I don't know what to say. I'd like to find your actual compositions. I think you've improvised compositions, but the issue for myself is a tangled wire. I'm sad that your in the place you are with this creativity, but I understand. I hope selfishly that you get your groove back soon.

I think my favorite of yours is "New Breath." I wish I could describe it, but I can't (It is a concentrated form). I've done my share of meditation on it, and I believe it was on the day you shared it, or shortly after that I drove up the street to the old high school with a cheap tape recorder and documented a long reaction of musical ideas springing from this gift...a meditation on "New Breath." And I wish I knew how to transfer tapes so I could share it with you, even if it is for selfish reasons.

And then I remember listening to Chopin's B minor prelude. I've hardly heard more brought out of a single phrase as you handled every phrase, every motif, every note. It's truly breath taking (a concentrated form). Oh how I would love to hear you play, and I really want to hear you play. You'll have to tell when your recital if you're thinking recital, and share some sounds.

(That's all. What am I writing anymore?)

[thalbergmad]

Karli, your the most thoughtful person I know

She does seem to be all round nice person.

Massive rib crushing thalhug to karli

Thal

[pianowolfi]

She does seem to be all round nice person.

Massive rib crushing thalhug to karli

Thal

Ouch, be careful, we need her alive old chap 

[thalbergmad]

I like hugging people, it really is a nice thing to do.

Good for the body and spirit.

Thal

[m19834]

She does seem to be all round nice person.

Massive rib crushing thalhug to karli

Thal

Thanks for the rib crushing Thalhug, Thal .

And, Furtwaengler, thank you so much for your post .

[ahinton]

I don't have Thal's embonpoint and in all probabilty do not possess his arm muscles either, but may I offer another hug to K from such body and arms as I do possess?

Don't get too worked up about these things. "My life" - as you put it quite often - can and usually will find its own level rather more easily than you, Karli, might suspect - so at least try to let it do so; let whatever comes to you make its effect - and then endeavour to respond to each and every influence appropriately - your instinct will let you do this well as long as you allow it to do so.

Best,

Alistair

[m19834]

I don't have Thal's embonpoint and in all probabilty do not possess his arm muscles either, but may I offer another hug to K from such body and arms as I do possess?

Yes, sure .  *accepts hug from Alistair's body and arms*   (and your mind ).

Don't get too worked up about these things. "My life" - as you put it quite often - can and usually will find its own level rather more easily than you, Karli, might suspect - so at least try to let it do so; let whatever comes to you make its effect - and then endeavour to respond to each and every influence appropriately - your instinct will let you do this well as long as you allow it to do so.

Best,

Alistair

Yes, you are right.  I think I also need to foster those times of letting myself be inwardly quiet and just to listen.  This has been a very important thing for me to do throughout my life, but sometimes I get tricked into thinking I am too busy for that, and then my whole life feels worse and too busy to ever gain a sense of quiet again.  When, really, if I truly took the time to get quiet like that (though sometimes it can literally take hours), my whole day is something different and, even though it's still busy, my perspective and ability to handle it is altogether different, too.  

Okay, well, thank you very much .

[thalbergmad]

embonpoint

I must admit that i had to look this up. I have learnt many new words from reading your posts.

I like to think you might have learnt a couple from mine

Thal

[ahinton]

I must admit that i had to look this up. I have learnt many new words from reading your posts.

I like to think you might have learnt a couple from mine

Thal

Only "a couple", Thal? You must be kidding! Although I suppose that "bollox" must be one of these...

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

Yes, sure .  *accepts hug from Alistair's body and arms*   (and your mind ).

You are more than welcome!

Best,

Alistair

[brahmslover]

I am a ketchup gal; I'll eat anything edible with ketchup.

[Bob]

I have ketchup in my fridge that is over a year old.

[m19834]

One time, during my New York/Carnegie Hall debut as a conductor, the suspenders on my pants broke during the first piece and so I had to conduct with only one hand whilst holding up me britches with the other   .... hahhahaa ...  

Okay, I'll admit that didn't happen to me but instead it happened to Sir Thomas Beecham when he and Horowitz made their crazy New York debut together.  BUT it's so entirely hilarious sounding that I kind of hope that DOES happen to me someday ... or at least some near equivalent, and if it doesn't, whilst I am 101 and laying on my last earthly pillow, I shall imagine, falsely remember my life, and pretend to myself (and with whatever audience i have at the time) as though it did !

[ahinton]

Okay, I'll admit that didn't happen to me but instead it happened to Sir Thomas Beecham when he and Horowitz made their crazy New York debut together.  BUT it's so entirely hilarious sounding that I kind of hope that DOES happen to me someday ... or at least some near equivalent, and if it doesn't, whilst I am 101 and laying on my last earthly pillow, I shall imagine, falsely remember my life, and pretend to myself (and with whatever audience i have at the time) as though it did !

If you assume the example of a certain most distinguished compatriot of yours, you'll have better things to do as you approach the age of 101, such as writing your next piece (his next birthday is next Friday, actually)...

Best,

Alistair

[john11inc]

_{And sorry, loon, but I'm a lesbian.}

_{I'm also a lesbian.}

[furtwaengler]

I think it's Joseph Horowitz's book on Vladimir Horowitz which details the occasion of Beecham's and Horowitz's debut with the NYPSO (I think they had a lot of initials back then...) in, I want to say 1926. I don't own the book. If I'm right, be impressed, and if I'm wrong...eh...

So I guess the two weren't gelling (Dr. Scholl's first American retail shop didn't open until 1928...you can look it up). My memory, and this is the memory of a child...I must have been 13 when I read this book, idolizing Volodia...is that there was some dissension over Beecham ending the concert with a Bruckner symphony and not the Tchaikovsky. This makes no sense...this is the structure of concerts, and when has Beecham ever conducted Bruckner? You're correct, he did do the 7th Symphony, so it's possible. (I adore Bruckner, btw.) So, there was supposedly some dissension over the tempi in the Tchaikovsky, and the young renegade Horowitz decided to take his octaves (and Beecham's suspenders?) and run. And the audience ovated (ovationed?) him for many, many long times as he showered them with encore (!), encores!

Ah...the memory of a youth. Won't someone PLEASE correct my mistakes?

Ah...how things can change. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed Horowitz. I don't hate him, I just fine him really hard to listen to sometimes. And Beecham? Oh, Beecham is splendid, splended, splendid! Why I might just put on some Sibelius and drift to blissful sleep!

Goodnight, everybody!

Goodnight.

D.

[go12_3]

Well, for now, I am in three art clubs in dA where so far they have accepted my
drawings for this month and week....For those that don't know, I do a lot of art work, such as
drawings in pencil, colored pencils and ballpoint pen.     

best wishes,

go12_3

[hidayah1190]

I love to observe things. Anything!
From following a group of ants trailing down the wall to the lights on the wall and definitely the millions of stars in the skies. I will get super absorbed by all this - simple things are indeed AMAZING!
I even thought I was an alien once! (Talking about brain)
Haha

[littletune]

Until I was about 5 and a half years old i had almost 50% hearing loss (in one ear a little less). I don't know exactly since when, my mum noticed it when i was about 3, but the doctors first didn't believe her because i was speaking well anyway. And then i had surgery (adenoids), and my hearing was the way it should be again. But i think i got more used to looking at things than at listening to them. Maybe that is why i started to really like music kinda late  . Until two years ago i never imagined music can be sooooooo great! But now i love it sooooo much !!!  It's the best!       
(I just hope adenoids can't grow back!  , i saw a video about adenoids on youtube and i thought i had some of the symptoms, so i got really afraid, but it also said in the video that adenoids shrink almost completely till the age of 12, so.... mine should be almost gone by now, even if they could grow back after the surgery! And i dont think i have any problems with hearing!)
And i hope i wont have too much problems learning about music, sometimes i just get afraid what if ill never get really good at it  . well i dont know.... i just know i loooove music and i love love love piano!!!!!!   

[m19834]

I just found another $1 bill a couple of hours ago  .

haha ... well, let's just say that my bank account just found $150/month for three months, but I definitely can't keep this one  .  Somebody digitally put it in there by mistake and will continue to do so for the next two months if I don't say anything ... and, I *have* to say something ... right ?  There's actually a good chance that nobody from the place that put it in there would notice on their own ... hee hee.  But, if I planned to keep it, I wouldn't be posting about it here  .  

Kind of hilarious, I must say !

[thalbergmad]

haha ... well, let's just say that my bank account just found $150/month for three months

That was from me for advice given.

See other thread.

Thal

[ahinton]

That was from me for advice given.

See other thread.

"Other thread" or no "other thread", I would have thought that, had you agreed to provide advice on anything to K in return for payment, some kind of contract would have been set up between the two of you in advance of any such advice giving or of payment for such advice, but what K appears to be writing about here is sums received into her bank account of whose source she is unaware...

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

Yes M'lud.

Next witness.

Thal