Very unlike me...

So I love cook books. Which is a little strange because I'm not a huge fan of cooking. Actually, that is not entirely true. I don't mind cooking as such and I always try to think of ways to improve a recipe. I'm also not a terrible cook. Things I cook usually turn out quite delicious. I do however hate the post-cooking cleanup. Guh. Cleaning the kitchen... :S

Anyway, so on Tuesday we're having two run-throughs of the opera. One is the Sitzprobe, which we were meant to have on Monday, but which got moved to Tuesday because most of the brass players will still be in Melbourne, where they attended the brass festival, on Monday. So now the Sitzprobe, which is a run-through of the entire opera without costumes, is on Tuesday in the morning. Also on Tuesday we have the Dress Rehearsal 1, which was already scheduled for Tuesday evening anyway. This is a run-through of the opera with the cast in costume and the orchestra dressed in black. For some reason we're having two dress rehearsals, one on Tuesday and one on Wednesday. So we poor orchestra members will have run out of blacks before the opera even starts proper performances. :P There will also be a photographer present at one or both dress rehearsals to take photos for publicity purposes.

The opera, by the way, is Dialogues of the Carmelites by Francis Poulenc, though the singers will be singing in English and not the original French. Performances are in the Geoff Gibbs Theatre at WAAPA from Saturday, the 10th until Saturday, the 17th of October, although there are no performances on Sunday and Thursday. Tickets are available from the WAAPA box office during office hours and presumably also at the door.

So with Tuesday being such a long day (the dress rehearsal starts at 7.30 pm and finishes around 10.30 pm) I thought I'd bake something to eat during the day, and maybe share with fellow prisoners of the opera. ;-)

So far I haven't quite decided what I'm going to bake. At first I thought I might bake savoury versions of the mini pumpkin pies I saw on www.bakerella.com but then I couldn't find any canned pumpkins anywhere, so I guess that is out of the question. So then I went through my collection of recipes and cookbooks (of which I have a few, because as I said, I love cookbooks!) and picked out possible things for me to bake. So far I've narrowed it down to:

Chicken and Mushroom sausage rolls


or Corn and Bacon Muffins


or maybe Banana Muffins


I don't know. So far the sausage rolls seem most appealing to me. Somehow I've never been particularly attracted to muffings. Although I do prefer savoury muffins, so the corn an ham muffins aren't totally out of the question either. I really don't know. I want to reach a decision tonight so that I can buy the ingredients tomorrow. Hmmm... maybe I'll come across some other recipe that decides it for me once and for all...

Holidays. Finally!

Today I spent all day in bed. It was glorious. I like to spend at least one day during each break in bed, reading, watching movies, surfing the net... Just relaxing.
So we finally have our mid-semester break at ECU. Calling it a mid-semester break is a bit of a joke though, because we've already had 9 teaching weeks. After the break WAAPA has another project week followed by three more teaching weeks and then it's exams already. Wow.

This break isn't all that relaxing either. On Monday it was a public holiday. Queen's birthday? And I had a conducting test at uni. Still, that unit is finished now, so at least that gives me some more time and less stress on Mondays from now on. Tomorrow my quartet is rehearsing at uni from 12 til 2 pm. I'm hoping to drop off my last overdue library book (I couldn't find it when I dropped off the other ones) at Joondalup library and grab an early lunch at Joondalup shopping centre before I head into uni. A very early lunch. Maybe something from the spud bar? I'm not usually a huge potato fan, but I love their Ciao Bella spud, even though it's Italian. It contains cheese, mushroom, mild chilli bean, tomato, wilted spinach, light sour cream and chives. And of course I always also have butter on my spud. It's absolutely delicious. I reckon if I ever get sick of it I might try one of the other ones or build my own. They all sound so good. :D

After the break I'm going to be full on busy again. I want to try to write my education assignments which are due the first thursday back during the break and I guess I'd better make a reasonable attempt at cleaning my room, to keep my parents happy. Sigh. No more days in bed until the summer break for this young lady. :S

So embarassing... if he ever finds out. :P

I hate it when I can't remember someone's name and it gets to the point where it's just too late to ask for it. Gah. To fully understand my predicament, I have to go back, to last semester.

I was wandering through the hallways at WAAPA looking for a practise room. There weren't any. Just as I was about to give up a door opened, and this guy asked if I was looking for a practise room. He said I could have his, because he had a lesson but would I mind if he left his stuff there. I said that wasn't a problem and started practising, delighted at having found a practise room. It was great, because I was looking after his stuff (bag, laptop, instrument case) I didn't want to leave the room, which I occasionally do when only my stuff is in the room. I think it's one of the most focused practise sessions I've ever had. :D After an hour he came back in and I asked if he needed his room back. He said no, and explained that he now had a lecture with his instrumental teacher, which he was running late for. He told me who his teacher was, but I can't remember. Maybe Paul Pooley? He asked if I minded if he left his bass in the room and I said no worries. So I remained in the room for another hour and did some practise. After that hour the guy came back to grab his bass. I'd had enough of practise and decided to leave the room as well. So while we were both packing up and grabbing our stuff we talked for a bit. Introduced ourselves and said which course we're doing and what instrument we play. I'm pretty sure he said he's doing contemporary bass. Pretty sure. So then we both left and I saw him when I was eating dinner in the lower foyer later that afternoon and he was leaving to go home. Oh right, it was a Friday, so I was going out straight from the city. My sister had a modelling competition. :D

So I was really happy that I had a room and was very greatful and told everybody about the nice guy who let me have his practise room. :D I couldn't remember his name but I figured it didn't matter because I thought he probably wouldn't remember mine either. We passed each other a couple more times at WAAPA over the next few weeks and said hi, or gave a nod each time. So I though, ok, cool, he doesn't remember my name either. :D However, in one of the last few weeks of last semester (first semester of 2009) I was running late for a class in building 14 having had a chamber music rehearsal at WAAPA in building 1. As I was walking I could see that jazz/contemporary concert practice must've just finished because the jazz and contemp students were making their way back to WAAPA or their cars from building 17 where their concert prac is held. As I was reaching the building next to building 14 I crossed paths with that guy again. And he said: "Hi Cristina, how's it going?" I smiled and told him I was fine, running late for class, how are you? After he said he was good or whatever I said bye and walked off quickly to get to class. I though: "Oh crap, he knows my name, and I have no idea what his name is." I knew that he was a first year contemporary bassist, so that was something. However none of my friends I asked about him knew who I was talking about. So I still don't know his name. Whic I guess wouldn't be so bad.

But then today I was heading towards the aroma cafe after doing some practise and saw some of my fellow third years looking for the location of their harmony class (I'm not enrolled in that unit because I'm doing education). I suggested where I thought the class might be and cheerfully sent them on their way with a: "Have fu-uuun!!!" :D I was about to follow them on my way to the cafe when that guy walked past and said hi. I said hi back and we were almost past each other when he said: "Oh, wait.", and pulled me back. I said: "yes?" and smiled. He said: "Would you be interested in going to the casino on Saturday?" I said: "Sure!" He said something along the lines of: "It's just some WAAPA students going. Saturday at 8 o'clock." I said: "cool." He said: "Well, that was easy." I said: "Yeah, I'll see if I can make it." And we both walked off. :)I'm not exactly sure what possessed me to say Sure! so enthusiastically without knowing any of the details. I think I'm still in holiday mode. After I walked away I realised that I still didn't remember his name. Although I think it might be Stephen. Also, how am I going to get there? And where exactly are they meeting at 8? Burswood isn't exactly small. Even narrowing it down to the casino doesn't help much. Although I guess they'd meet at the entrance. And who else is going? Do I know any of them? Presumably they're mostly first year jazz or contemporary students. I don't know many of them. I'm friends with some second and third years and some of the Cert students. Oh, wait, I guess I do know a couple of jazz/contemp first years although not that well. And why did he ask if I wanted to go? We're not really close friends or anything. I talked with him once quite a while ago (it can't have been later than early June). So I figured I'd leave it open-ended if he asks me if I'm going on Saturday. I sent a text message to a friend who I've been meaning to go out with for ages and asked her if she wanted to go out on the weekend. She said yes and suggested Saturday. We both figured Burswood was the place to go, so unless she cancels at the last minute again I will be in Burswood, just not necessarily in the casino. I guess if I see whatever his name is I'll say that I forgot that I'm going out with my friend, but if she cancels at the last minute which she did the last two or three times (although I may have cancelled one of them, actually) I might go to the casino. Life's so complicated. I wish I had a better memory for names. I wonder if he's got a nametag on his bass case or bag. :-/

A bunch of rants... Or is it a pack of rants?

So, it's once again weekend. Saturday, to be precise. Which in this household means chore time. Except I have a tendency not to do my chores. I'm amazed with how often I get away with this. Today I actually mended some socks (my main chore is mending clothes) and I'm in the process of tidying up my room. Anyone who's ever seen my room (and I mean ever) will know that this is a long and drawn out process. And the tidyness will not last long, once I've finished. Three days is all it takes for my room to look like an explosion hit it during a tornado.

Tomorrow I have work. It will be ok I guess. Necessary if I want some money. :) And I do want money. One thing I'm not looking forward to is the loop tape. This month's loop tape is actually not too horrible. Although I'm getting really really sick of seeing the Bride Wars trailer. Such a mediocre movie. It's got some rare funny bits but most of it is really condescending to women in general. The idea that two women would behave like that over something so trivial is just moronic.

So yeah, apart from that work generally isn't too bad. Sundays tend to be quiet which can get boring, but at least it's not all that stressful. Except for last Sunday. For some reason last Sunday was insanely busy. I barely had time to eat lunch. Anyway, so I need money because a) I'm trying to save some of the stuff and b) I saw some shoes I want. :D They're Scooter shoes. The style is called Newbury. I saw them in Emporio when I was catching up with a friend in the city and the size 5, which they actually had in store (it was even on the shelf) magically fit me! Here's a picture:


So I've decided if I manage to save up enough over the next few weeks I get to buy the shoes, if I don't I'll have to live without them. It's not like I really need them.

So apart from shoes I can't stop thinking about this guy I like. And it's really stupid because I need my brain for other things. It's like I'm incapable of really concentrating on anything because I'm always thinking about him. It's stupid. I don't even know if he likes me. Actually, he probably doesn't like me. If he did he'd ask me out, surely. So now I've decided to just enjoy being friends with him and if he likes me he can ask me out, if he doesn't we'll still be friends. And I have to stop obsessing!

Woo, holidays!

So now it's holidays. And still I'm busy. This week I'm taking it fairly easy with practise so far, although I really wanna get stuck in after Wednesday before WAYO rehearsals get frequent during the school holidays. Tomorrow I've got a viola lesson. Yay. Gotta get some help with my AYO excerpts. And I still haven't found the viola part for the Brahms. I think maybe I did accidentally return it to the library inside something else... I'll have to drop by the uni tomorrow on my way to the lesson (it's not really on the way...) and check again. I've looked before, but only briefly. And I'll ask at the WAAPA box office, although whoever's working will probably give me a look. It's the third time this semester I'll have asked the box office if someone handed in something by me... Last time someone had. Yay. My pencil case... I was so glad that it was there. I don't care much for the actual pencil case but some of the pens would be difficult to replace.

Then on Wednesday I'm catching up with one of my friends from high school in the city. That will be fun. I always enjoy chatting with her. Filling each other in on all the latest gossip. Usually we wander around for a bit and then get something to eat or a coffee or something. I'm really looking forward to it. We also plan to go out together sometime. Of course that's been in the works since we both turned 18 in year 12... We've had concrete plans twice so far, but both had to cancel once each... Maybe it will work out sometime this holiday? We'll see. I need some occasion to wear my awesome high heels. :D

On the home stretch...

Nearly done with this semester of uni now....
I've only got one more exam and after that it will be fun fun fun! :D Hopefully...
Right now I'm meant to be practising for my aural exam, it's just some prepared singing and rhythms. Usually I play them on the piano but it's getting late, so I decided to put them into Sibelius. But of course I keep getting distracted by the internet. Such a big and wondrous place. :P

So my aural exam is on Monday. And afterwards I'm going shopping! I need some new dresses for winter and maybe a jacket if I can afford it. I'm thinking I won't be able to afford it, but we'll see. Afterwards I might go back to uni and watch a recital, depends on how I feel and how much shopping I have to carry... :D Hopefully lots of shopping for very little money...

I've discovered a new website to help me procrastinate. It's called polyvore.com. One creates an account and can then create sets. Fashion sets, Art sets, Interior design sets... whatever. Here's one that I created:

Angel of music by Stinu featuring Christian Louboutin shoes

Hopefully that works...
I should also be practising my AYO excerpts. I don't know if I'll get into anything, but I'll give it a try. I've played two of the excerpts before, so that should help...

Anyways, so on Tuesday, my first official HOLIDAY!!!! day, I'm wasting the day away and then giong to see the student preview of 42nd Street, this semester's musical theatre performance with Annie. Lots of my other friends from uni will also be there. Yay! I'm looking forward to it. Might go watch some more recitals during the week, not really sure what's on. And on Friday it's the end of semester party! I'm going with Annie and other friends will be there. It will hopefully be awesome!!!! (The guy I like will also be there.) So it will be a fun-filled week all round. Hopefully I'll pass aural just to make the week perfect! :D

I should be sleeping right now...

I stayed up late to study. Of course I didn't exclusively study. I also watched Sailor Moon and checked my Facebook and twitter for updates. But I did do some harmony study.
And I filled in my National music camp/AYO application. Now, as soon as I get dad to fill in the credit card details I get the excerpts. Should be interesting. They're supposed to be hard. Usually I do ok at learning excerpts. I think I played the ones for the last WAYO audition quite well. And my viola playing keeps improving, thankfully. It would be terrible if I stayed at this mediocre level forever. Now I'm trying to motivate myself to pack up all my stuff and go to bed. I was also going to wash my hair, but I think I'll do that tomorrow morning, if I manage to get up. If I don't my hair will look absolutely disgusting. I'm meeting Annie and Ji-Min in the library at uni at 10 to do some harmony revision. I hope I can be a productive member of our study session.
I would love to wear heels to uni, but when I have to carry my bag and viola it's just too heavy to walk around in heels all day, especially since I catch public transport. I really need to get my license. I should see if I can book a test for the holidays. Although my parking needs more practise. Sigh... practise... Everything in life needs practise.
I didn't get into the final of the concerto competition, but I didn't expect to, so I'm still happy. I played well, and hopefully it will make for an awesome concert with the people that got in the final. The people that got in are Madeleine Antoine, Aidan Boase, Katherine Shinnick and Alexander Ong. Maddie and Aidan were also in the final last year and Aidan won it. Let's see if he can pull it off again this year. ;-)
I watched the afternoon performances on the second day of semis and all the performers were really good to the point where I'm not sure how the judges picked the finalists. I'm glad it was their job and not mine.
So now it's time for bed. Tomorrow I'll look like a zombie and probably feel like one too, but it should be an alright day. In the afternoon the ABC is recording the Cage piano concerto performed by Resonator, the new music ensemble at waapa with Anthony something as the soloist. He's really good. It's amazing how well he knows the piece and how he can play the style. It's mostly graphic notation, so it turns out differently each time. So that's tomorrow afternoon. I'm looking forward to it. :D And then hopefully I'll never have to play the piece again. :P I don't mind the music, but it's not my favourite. I much prefer Tchaikovsky! :D

Study Week!

So the semester is nearly over and it's once again study week.


The last few weeks have been so busy. Last week I had two concerts with the Faith Court orchestra. On Wednesday and Thursday we played to a full house in the Music Auditorium at WAAPA. It was quite a short concert comprising of only two pieces. Ben Martin joined the orchestra for the first half of the concert to perform Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2. After the interval the orchestra performed Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5. I think the theme of the concert was Russian Romantics. The Russian's are in vogue at the moment. WASO just gave a concert entitled Russian Fire and WAYO is playing The Rite of Spring in its next concert. The Faith Court concerts went well. On the first night we performed the Tchaikovsky better than the Shostakovich and I think on the second night we gave an excellent performance of the Shostakovich but the Tchaikovsky didn't quite have the energy it did on Wednesday night. Neville Cohn wrote a favourable review of the Wednesday night performance for the West Australian.


On Tuesday Eneksis sang in the free classical lunchtime concert at WAAPA. Eneksis is a chamber choir at WAAPA which one of my lecturers runs. I auditioned for it for the first time this year and was, I have to admit, a little surprised when I got in. This was the second concert for the choir this year, but I had a cold during the first performance, which was combined with the WAAPA strings and so didn't sing, but I played in the string orchestra. The Tuesday lunchtime concert performance went quite well, I think. Photos of the performance are on Facebook somewhere...


On Friday night I had a rehearsal with WAYO for the Sunday conert "The Planets". The rehearsal was originally scheduled for Thursday night but got postponed to Friday because of the Faith Court Orchestra Concert. Most of the brass players in Faith Court are also in WAYO as are three of the violists. Four before Alix quit WAYO. We had another WAYO rehearsal on Saturday morning but I came down with something over the course of Friday and felt really sick by then end of that night's rehearsal. So I spent Saturday in bed. However by Sunday I was feeling well enough, and stubborn enough, to go to that morning's "sound check" and to play in the concert that afternoon. I put sound check in quotation marks because usually the soundcheck comprises of topping and tailing the pieces we're playing and maybe going over some of the more tricky questions. But on Sunday morning we went through all the pieces in full. We played Bolero twice! Personally I think this wasn't a great idea, because we only had two hours to recover afterwards and I know the brass player could've done with more recovery time. Myself I wasn't feeling great anyway, because I was still a little sick so I didn't have that much expendable energy. The concert still went well, I think. :-)



After the concert I got changed into some blacks that were less cleavagy and covered my knees and got a lift with someone to a temple in Warwick where we were performing a Cantata which Sam Parry had arranged. We got some dinner when we got there and then we performed it. I think the performance went well. A few of us had already been in the WAYO performance (including Sam) and were correspondingly tired, but it was a good performance to a big audience.


This week is study week. Right now I'm waiting for some chicken nuggets or something to finish. I put them in the oven about 20 minutes ago, so they're nearly done. After I've eaten some lunch I'll have to get onto practicing. I'm competing in the Warana Music Award Heats 2009 tomorrow. The Warana Music Award is the concerto competition at WAAPA. It was held for the first time last year and it is quite competitive. This year there are 24 hopefulls competing, three of which will go through to a final performing with the faith court orchestra and one of those will be the winner. Last year the finalists were Madeline Antoine, Joshua Webster and Aidan Boase. Aidan won. I don't think I will go through to the final, mainly because I know how well everyone else in the heats plays. I entered for the experience and because I don't have a performance exam this semester because I'm an Ed student. So it gave me something to work towards. Unfortunately I was insanely busy over the last few weeks and then got sick over the weekend (I spend Monday in bed, recovering from Sunday) so I haven't practised my piece as much as I would've hoped. Thankfully I had it up to performance standard before all the bussy-ness kicked in. So, lunch is cooked, time to eat and then do some practise.

So I like this guy...

I like this guy. He goes to the same uni as me although he's not in the same course or year as I am. He's a tad younger than I am. He's really really nice and sweet and funny and of course good looking. :-)
I don't think he knows that I like him and I don't think he likes me in that way. Sigh... I'm too shy to say anything and besides we're friends. I wouldn't wanna ruin our friendship. It would just be weird.

Other than that life is busy. It keeps going. The world keeps spinning. As far as I know anyway, I'm no expert on the whole earth rotation thing...
This week I've got four concerts. Five if you count the one where it's two nights of the same concert. Busy busy busy. Tuesday I have a lunchtime concert with Eneksis, as chamber choir at uni. Wednesday and Thursday I have concerts with the uni orchestra. It's called the Faith Court Orchestra in honour of Faith Court. We're playing Rachmaninov's piano concerto (no 2, i think?) and something by Tchaikovsky. One of his symphonies, I think. Then on Sunday I have a WAYO concert. We're playing The Planets by Holst as well as Bolero and a new composition by Johannes Luebbers. Johannes is an awesome young Western Australian composer. He recently won a jazz award over east. The piece is called Soluiloqui for Change. Should be a good concert. Also on Sunday I have a smaller concert of a Cantata that one of my friends arranged for orchestra and choir. Originally it's for piano and choir. I just play in the orchestra. We'll see how that goes. I'm already tired just thinking about that week... And then of course extra rehearsals for each of those ensembles. I think it's time for bed now... Gotta save my energy.

Who knows maybe I'll find the courage to tell the guy I like that I like him? Doubt it...

Keeping busy...

I'm keeping busy. Or at least keeping pretending to be busy.

Yesterday I was at uni for 15.5 hours. I got there at 7.30 to do some practise. Didn't actually do a lot of practise because I didn't have a practice room booked. Tough. I shared the MA (Music Auditorium) with one of my friends. I also forced him to listen to the opening of my concerto and give me some feed-back.

Later we had two hours of harmony. The lecturer spent the first half talking about our next assignment. Apparently he already talked about it in the last lecture, which I missed. Then I had an aural lecture. I can't really remember what it was about. Oh, except "Think note names when you play your guitar." And we did some singing.

Then it was time for lunch. Sat with Trev, then with Nat, then went to the library to get a book out. Then went to the library to see if they sold safety pins at the bookshop to fix my broken bag a bit better. Couldn't find safety pins, so decided to buy some pens and asked the lady behind the counter if they sold safety pins. She said no and asked how many I needed. When I told her that I just needed a few to fix my broken bag she said that she might have some in her bag. She did and gave them to me free of charge. How nice of her! I'm very grateful. So I went back to Nat and my bag and fixed it good. :-)

Then I talked with Naomie and Aby and walked to Clusters cafe with them and then it was already time for orchestra. Three hours later orchestra was finished and my quartet had a reheasal. I had to borrow the key to the "cage" off Rob to get some stands out. My nice violin friend stayed back and gave us all some pointers, which really helped. Thank you crasian violinist. :P

After that I had a much needed break and then got on with some practising. I wasn't all that inspired but still got some decent work done. When I took a break at around 9 pm I ran into two of the second year jazz singers I know. I talked to them for a bit and then Dale (a cute second year guitarist) came along and asked if we wanted to keep him company while he ate dinner, since it looked like we were on a break. The two girls said that they weren't on a break, and went back to their practice room. I said, sure, I'm on a break anyway and walked to some chairs with Dale. Then the other two girls decided that it was time for a break after all and joined us. :-) Fun fun fun. Then we all went back to practise. I did some further practice on my concerto and actually made some good advances. Although it's still not nearly perfect. Later I joined one of the singers and Dale for another break. They then decided to jam and asked if I wanted to jam too, but alas, I had to decline because I'm not trained in the art of jamming. I'm a classical violist, so I don't possess the skills for jazz playing. Comping, soloing, improv, it's all one big question mark to me... Soon after my parents called and picked me up from uni on their way home from Tango dancing. And another long day at uni came to a close.

Not much happening...

Not much to report today. I had work in the morning. I set my alarm for 8.30 and then decided to sleep for another ten minutes which turned into half an hour, so I didn't have time for breakfast at home. My breakfast consisted of a delicious Kinder bueno. Yummo! :-) Not very nutritious but it tasted good.





It was surprisingly busy at work today. People must be stocking up for the public holiday tomorrow, although Blockbuster will be open. Maybe they're just bored with the weekend. From all the games and new releases being rented you wouldn't know that we're in a recession. Or maybe it's because we're in a recession... people are renting movies and staying in rather than going out. I get the movies for free. :-) Every job has it's perks.





Right now I'm waiting for my parents to come home and give me a lift to WAAPA. The orchestra I'm rehearsing with on Sunday's to perform a partita or something which Sam Parry arranged rehearses at WAAPA this week and the next two as well from 7-9.30 pm. My parents were going to drop me off at the train station, but they went dancing in the afternoon and didn't want to come home that early, so they're giving me a lift and then they're going out for dinner. Lucky them. :-)





Tomorrow it's a public holiday because ANZAC day fell on the Saturday. I organised a rehearsal for my string quartet at Natalie's house. Hopefully everything will go according to plan and everyone will turn up and we'll have a good rehearsal. Fingers crossed.





In other words I finally figured out why that kid in Forbidden Kingdom looked so familiar. It's Michael Angarano from Sky High. I didn't know his name because his castmate for Sky High, Steven Strait was cuter.

Yay, they remembered me. :-)

So I finally got a letter from the State Library. I'd gotten out some music a while ago. It was due back ages ago. I know this. The quartet I got out I don't need any more. However the other piece I got out I really like. I expected them to send me a letter earlier. They didn't. I was already beginning to feel neglected when I finally got a letter yesterday. Yay! They must be behind on their paper work. Now I have six days to renew or return the items.

I'll probably go in on Monday and return the quartet and renew the other piece. Oh wait, Monday is a public holiday. I'll go in on Tuesday.
Right now I'm watching a movie. Pathology. I saw the trailer while I was working. It came out on dvd last month. The idea looks interesting and promissing. The execution isn't that great. It's not a terrible movie, but it's not a great movie either.
In other news, I bought my brother a birthday present. More on that later. :-)

I LOVE those shoes!

The other day while I was cleaning my room I was leafing through last month's issue of 'Shop til you drop' before putting it on the magazine pile in the hallway. As I was going through it sighing at all the pretty clothes and items I will never own I realised that I hadn't looked at the rmk shoe catalogue inside it yet. I decided to see what shoes are in fashion at the moment. As I was looking through it I saw the most amazing shoes. At first I thought they were a little strange and I wondered what they looked like on. Conveniently a model on the opposite page was wearing them (the pair in the catalogue is purple). They actually look really good on.

The pair of shoes that had captivated me thusly was the Macdowell. Pictures below.

I had originally been drawn to it by the purple colour. However I would probably buy it in black because that is more versatile and I need black shoes for concerts and such. So, I love these shoes. However, I know that sometimes my tastes can run towards the kitschy and so I decided to show them to my sister and ask her what she thinks.

So when she was home yesterday I got out the catalogue and told her that I loved these shoes. She replied: "I've got those shoes!" Ok, so she obviously doesn't think they're too much. She did say not to wear them with any really short dresses because that would be skanky. That being said, she wore them at a bikini model comptetition. Although I guess the aim there is to make your legs look as long as possible.

She brought them over today so I could have a look at them. She'd told me that they were really comfortable and I tried them on. They really are comfortable. Of course hers are too big for me because we're not the same size. Still. I'll go have a look at the store tomorrow and see if they have them in my size. :D With any luck I'll soon be the proud owner of a pair of these sweet shoes!

I'm sick. :-(

So I’m sick. Lucky me. Headache, sore throat, upset stomach, the lot.
I started feeling sick on Thursday. I initially though the headache and sore throat were down to listening to students bashing away on keyboards, drums and electric guitar and talking over said instruments, respectively. But apparently not. The next day I managed to get through teaching the year 10s for first period and it was actually the best lesson I had taught so far. After that it went downhill with me feeling like I was going to throw up, my throat hurting like hell and my head punding. Yay. I stayed until after school, watched the barbershop choir rehearse and then went to the city to buy a present for my friend who has her 21st tonight. Which I’m not attending cos I still feel like shit.
Thursday night I couldn’t sleep properly and kept waking up because my throat was killing me. Yesterday evening I was about to head home when Annie called me and said that she had tickets for this Greek performers in the concert hall. It was some fundraising thing for St. Andrew’s. Apparently they have Greek ties, who knew? It was fun. It reminded me of holidays in Greece. Especially with all the Greek people in the audience. Greek women sure know how to dress tackily. Well, not all of them. Just the ones in their 30s and 40s. Ah well. Who knows, maybe I’ll be walking around in a spandex reptile print turquoise mini-dress one day... Just like when I was 10. Oh the memories.
Anyway, I ended up leaving during interval cos I felt like shit and was soooooo tired. Luckily for me my parents were on their way home from the movies and had just got on the freeway. So they decided to turn around and come pick me up at the concert hall. Yay!
So this morning I didn’t go to WAYO. And tonight I’m not going to my friend’s 21st. I was really looking forward to it. Seeing her and all my other friends from high school again. I don’t see them nearly often enough. Finally meeting her boyfriend. Partying after teaching all week! But just the thought of leaving the house is enough to make me collapse on my bed indefinitely. Well, at least for the next ten minutes. There is no way I’d survive more than an hour at a party right now. And what would be the point in that? I also called up my boss and told her that I can’t work tomorrow. She was very nice about it. I wonder who’ll be doing my shift...
Oh, I should also call Sam and let him know that I won’t be at rehearsal tomorrow evening. Gah. Being sick is more effort than just turning up to rehearsals, work and parties.
So now I’m listening to Reggae in an effort to actually know more than the year 9s I’m teaching next week.... I’m trying to get as much lesson planning as possible done on the weekend. When I get home from school I’m too tired to get much work done. I really want to do some practice. Right now I don’t have the energy to play viola, but hopefully once I’m better I can squeeze in ten minutes or so... I’m also supposed to learn my part for eneksis. Although not sure if my throat will be up to singing by Monday’s rehearsal... So, time to do some work.

My Weekend!

Things always happen en masse. There will be entire weekends where nothing much is happening and I’ll be sitting at home sighing and watching TV. And then suddenly a weekend comes along when I have more things to go to then I have time for.
This weekend I’m going to see Phantom of the Opera on Saturday night. YAY! And my parents are giving me a lift there, which is great. I was afraid that I’d have to take public transport which would’ve taken two hours. I’m really excited. Last time a Phantom show was near where I lived was when I was in primary school in Switzerland. Most of my friends went to it but my parents weren’t interested, so I didn’t go. I just heard all their stories about how great the show was. The same happened with a Magic Flute performance where three of my friends happened to be watching the same show and Pamina lost her voice. How exciting!
Well anyway, this Saturday I get to watch Phantom and I’m really looking forward to it even though I have to go on my own because nobody wanted to go with me. I have a good seat as well. My dad offered to pay for a ticket when I complained about not having money and once we looked at a map of the seats decided that if I was going to watch it I might as well have a good seat, otherwise what’s the point? My dad is really awesome like that.
Then on Sunday night I have two options. Either I go watch the WAYO at Burswood concert. It should be fun with WAYO playing music from various music, including Titanic, as well as some operatic pieces with young stars from the WA Opera. I love Titanic. We played it when I was in the Philharmonic Orchestra. It’s pure cheese but I absolutely loved it. Especially when the drum kit came in when we played the “my hear will go on” section. I really enjoyed playing with drumkit because usually we don’t do that. In that same concert we also played Handel’s Watermusic. Or was it Handel’s Fireworks music? Either way, it was polyphonic baroque stuff. The sort of stuff that doesn’t really sound good unless played by a really good orchestra, but always played by bad to moderately good orchestras because the notes aren’t that hard. Anyway, we didn’t really get a good pulse going so Pete who was conducting us got us to play it with the drumkit in the rehearsal. That was fun. J
So anyway, I could go to the WAYO concert. I’m not in it because the stage isn’t big enough for everybody. So my desk and the last desk got cut. I was in the last concert instead. The one with WASO in Kings Park. That was great! So I was thinking that I might go to the Burswood concert with Annie and some of her friends and we’ll have a picnic. But I’m not sure yet. It depends on how Annie feels. I don’t want to go by myself.
So if I don’t go to that I’ll go to the movies with Nat and her sister instead. To see Watchmen. We were going to go last weekend but then we were both busy. So if I don’t go to Burswood I’ll go to the movies. Actually, we should go out after that. Although we probably won’t, seeing as it will be Sunday night and we’ll have to drop her sister home right after the movie because she’ll have school the next day. I don’t have uni until 12.30 on Monday although Nat has history at 10.30.
Of course after standing around at work all day on Sunday I probably won’t feel like going out after the movie anyway. So that’s my weekend. Hopefully. J

Awesome Valentine's Day!

So, yesterday was Valentine's Day. And I had a great day despite not actually having a 'Valentine'. :-)

I went to Kings Park with my parents because I was playing in the WASO/WAYO concert there in the evening. It was one of the concerts in WASO's Classical Spectacular Series. We had a few rehearsals without WASO first and then three rehearsals with WASO. There were about 150 people in the combined orchestra. It was always a WASO member and a WAYO member together. We played the Festive Overture by Shostakovich, and then Shaun Lee-Chen played Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso by Saint-Saens with WASO minus WAYO. We went off stage and listened. Shaun Lee-Chen is such an amazing player. I know the piece quite well, even though I've never played it and I didn't know what it was called or who it was by. Listening to him was heaven. Sigh....

After that, all us WAYO players piled back on stage (me with the addition of some really annoying mozzie bites) and played Stravinsky's Firebird Suite (1919). Then it was time for the interval and we all found our way back down the hill in the dark to return our instruments to the safety of their cases for the duration of the interval. I once again made my way to the portaloos which were available to the performers (just like during the break from the previous day's rehearsal). There were two for the ladies and two for the gents. For some reason there was a queue for the ladies' both nights but not for the gents. On the rehearsal evening I decided to wait until one of the ladies' got free and then made it back on stage just in time for the second half of the rehearsal which contained some drama. More of that later. So when it came to the interval in the concert I decided to not take any chances by waiting for a ladies' to get free and went into one of the gents' portaloos instead. All I can say is that I sincerely hope that the liquid on the floor was water... I made it back to the tent in time to talk to Bec who'd gotten back before me from saying hello to some friends who had come to watch the concert. Oh, did I mention the portaloos were on top of the hill, but on a sort of an incline, actually about halfway up the hill. So you sat at an angle. It was quite a weird experience...

After the interval we played Peter Sculthorpe's Sun Music III followed by Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. Ravel).

Out of those pieces the only ones I hadn't played before were those by Sculthorpe and the Firebird Suite. We played Pictures at an Exhibition in our midyear concert last year with gues conductor Vladimir Verbitsky (awesomely great experience!) and the Festive Overture was the opener of the WACO concert last Monday. Wow, I've really been busy...

So, back to the piece I hadn't played before. The Sculthorpe was mostly effects and counting. No difficult runs or anything like that. However, the Firebird Suite is a killer. I can honestly say that I could not play every note. Although one of the more difficult movements was our encore piece and I played it much much better the second time round. I think everybody did.

It was a really great concert and such a good experience to play with the professionals and see how their rehearsals run, although I guess they made some concessions for us kiddies. The woman I sat next to was really nice and chatted with me and told me funny stories about previous outdoor concerts. :D The weather for the concert was really nice too. Earlier in the day it had rained on and off and as we arrived at Kings Park there was one last shower and then it cleared right up. Actually as I sat in the sun with my parents and ate dinner it was quite hot. In the end I decided to get myself backstage before I actually had to because it was behind some trees and the stage, so it was cooler there. Also fellow young musos including a rather cute bassist had congregated there while I was eating dinner. :)

Anyway, so the weather for the concert was great. Pretty much windstill which was great for us because we didn't have to cover the music with clear perspex sheets which make page turning a real chore. (Move perspex, turn page, replace perspex, don't drop instrument in the process and don't hit anyone with any part of your instrument either.) Due to the calmness of the evening we were able to leave the perspex sheet on the floor and all page turns went off without a hitch. :-)

The day before it was quite windy, so we used the perspex thingy and I had more than one page turn which took longer than the time I really had... In the second half of the rehearsal we also had to stop for a while because it had started to rain and quite a big portion of the orchestra was not covered by the roof of the stage. Actually, most of the string players weren't under the roof, which considering we play wooden instruments which are highly susceptible to changes in temperature wasn't ideal. So then 10 minutes before the official end of the rehearsal we all sought cover and they told us we'd wait a while to see if rehearsal would resume (we still had some movements of the last piece to go) or if we would leave the rest of the piece to chance. In the end it stopped raining long enough for us to bash through to the end and then it was time to go home.

Below are some pictures of the concert.

I know the picture quality isn't very good. But you get an idea of what the stage with the orchestra on it looks like. If it was a better quality picture you'd be able to spot me on the right. :-) Another photo of the stage.

A close up of the right hand (or left hand depending of where you're standing) of the stage. I am pretty much in the centre of the picture towards the back... My head looks really tiny. :D

In this photo you can see me putting the little microphone on my strings near the bridge. I'm the one with dark brown hair looking down when you look past Catherine in the forground. These pictures will no doubt pop up on Facebook in better quality.

Creepy Posters

When I went into work today (I didn't work last week because I went to a friend's engagement party) I was greeted by a new poster in front of the pile of posters for sale. With the new store layout those posters are pretty much the first thing a person sees as they put in the code to disarm the alarm. The poster that I saw was this:

Or at least a poster with a similar picture. Now, I know that there are many girls who would love to be greeted by Edward at work in the morning, but I think the poster is creepy. The corpse like complexion isn't really improved by the bad lighting in the store before I turn on the lights. As for the expression and stare... Let's just say I found myself avoiding his stare for most of the day... Needless to say, Robert Pattison isn't really my type, otherwise I would probably love this poster. As it is, it has a place in my top two creepy movie posters I could be greeted by when I go to work.

I was going to take pictures of the two posters today, but I ended up leaving work early because I wasn't feeling well. So I found some approximations of the posters of the internet. I shall have another attempt at taking my own pictures of the posters next week...

The other poster which I told my work mate to move towards the back of the posters because it nearly gave me a heart attack when I first went into the shop one morning is a poster of the Joker. My work mate obliged and the poster has not been on top of the pile for some time now. Maybe we sold it. Since I haven't seen it in a while I can't really remember that well what it looked like. But I think this might be it:

There seems to be a theme when it comes to creepy posters: ghostly complexion? Check. Staring at camera? Check.

As I mentioned above I will attempt to get the actual posters on here next week. I will also post more creepy posters as I encounter them.

Poser Alert!

Here are some pictures of me taken with my camera phone by me. Lots of poses! :-)

Movie star pose!!! Now with bonus under-eye bags!

Audrey Hepburn pose!!! (aka Who Hid My Drugs???)


Deer in Headlights pose! Surprisingly similar to the Audrey Hepburn pose! (aka. It's ok, I found them! :P)

Lady Di pose! Note the coy tilt of the head! The looking up through the lashes! The mysterious smile! Now compare to a photo of Diana or Prince William! That's right, he also uses this pose!

Ye olde take one's photo in the mirror pose! 'Nuff said!

When is an Australian not an Australian?

Yesterday I got accused of not being a real Australian. I was just sitting in the shade with an Australian friend and two German backpackers. We were in King’s Park to celebrate Australia Day. I can’t remember what we were talking about. Something to do with being Australian. I said: “I’m Australian too.” And my friend answered: “Yeah, but not really.” And I said: “Yes, I am. I’m an Australian. Really.” And my friend said: “You’re only an Australian on paper.” I answered: “So are you.” And she said: “No. I’m seventh generation Australian.”
I did not want to make a fuss on Australia Day, so I left it at that, but privately I was quite offended that she did not think I was a ‘real’ Australian. What is it that makes me less of an Australian than she is? Is it that I speak with a Swiss accent? But many Australians have different accents. Hardly anyone speaks with the stereotypical broad Ozzy accent anymore. Is it the fact that I was not born in Australia? Does the fact that more of her ancestors have been born in Australia make her more Australian? Is she more Australian than say, someone who is sixth or fifth generation Australian?
I suspect that her line of reasoning is that I was not born in Australia, therefore I am not a ‘real’ Australians. I’d like to think I’m a real Ozzy. I’ve been living in Australia for years. I went to high school here. I study here. I have many, many friends here, some Australians some not. I had my first boyfriend in Australia, although he was not an Australian. I voted in the last federal election. I voted in the local elections. I have an Australian passport. I cheer for the Australians at the Olympics. I go to the ANZAC Day service. I have sung at ANZAC Day services in France, England and Australia with my high school choir. I celebrate Australia Day every year. Over the years I have considered moving either overseas or just over east. But as the song says: “I still call Australia home.” I live here. I study here. I work here. I live my entire life here. I may be a Swiss Hispanic Australian. But I still am an Australian. I don’t think there is such a thing as less or more Australian or ‘only an Australian on paper’. As far as I’m concerned if you’re an Australian you’re an Australian, nothing more, nothing less.

There is a Review in Perth? Why didn't I know?

Yesterday before orchestra I was grabbing a bite to eat at the McDonald's in the city. The 24 hour one that's just up the road from the underground trainstation. As I was eating I looked out of the window and what did I see across the street? A clothes store with a line of clothes along the glass wall. I thought it looked quite nice so I checked where the entrance was and over the entrance I saw REVIEW. I did not know this brand until I went to Melbourne in December and stumbled across it in the DFO. My sister's boyfriend's dance partner bought a really nice grey wrapdress there. I loved most of the clothes but didn't buy anything because I was a trying not to spend too much money.

Here is a link to the website. I think it's divine! http://www.review-australia.com/

Somehow I don't think so...

Yesterday I was thinking. As you do. And this scene played in my head. I thought what if someone was in church and something happened and they started swearing: "Holy...!" But then they'd stop because the priest was glaring at them and they'd continue: "Lord, you are great and almighty. Please feed all the hungry children in the world and clothe the poor and cold." And then the priest would smile approvingly and life would carry on as normal. Or would it?
I'm not sure if a priest would really approve of a prayer like that. I don't think it is really God's responsibility to take care of the people on earth. Sure he loves us all. After all, we're his creations and if you've ever created something or know someone who has created something, like made a table or knitted a scarf then you'll know how proud people are of their creations. However I think God is more concerned with the afterlife than our lifes on Earth. He gave us laws and sent us his son to lead by example so that we should take care of each other if we really truly lived a Christian life. Of course to do that is totally against everything modern society stands for. I do not claim to lead a truly Christian life. Few people do. In the end I believe in God and follow him as best I can. I don't think it's God's job to feed or clothe people. It is not his job to lead us in the right direction either. He has already given us all the directions. He cannot interfere, because if he did there would be no free will. And free will is important. It makes us who we are. If there were no free will nobody would claim responsibility anymore. It would be like a variation of "the devil made me do it". All we can do is try our best to be good Christians. Or if we don't believe in God try to lead good lifes and do right by others.

Busy busy day... if I get off the internet.

Today I have lots of things to do.

At the moment I'm voting at the Ninth Annual Weblog Awards. Go vote for your favourite blog in the bloggies. http://2009.bloggies.com/ There are so many amazing blogs to choose from. It's really inspirational. :-)

Once I get off the internet I have to grab all my stuff. Then I'm heading to Joondalup. I'll get off the bus before it gets to Joondalup trainstation and head to the bank. Then I'll probably go by the library to get out one or two books to read. Then I shall walk to Joondalup shopping centre to probably buy some groceries. I'll have lunch at Joondalup or catch the train to the city and eat something there.

In the city it's late night shopping so the shops will be open until I have to catch the train to go to a string sectional for WACO.

I'll have a look at JB Hi-Fi for classical CDs and probably snoop around Myer. I'm not sure if I'll buy anything. I don't really have a lot of money at the moment and I swore I wouldn't buy any more clothes because I already have so many clothes that I can never wear them all. To buy any more would be a waste. I shall also not buy any more make up, nail polish or shoes... Although I wanna get some Converse. Convereses? One of these days I'll have to head to Harbourtown to buy some. I have small feet so I can buy kids sizes which are generally cheaper than adult sizes. Woohooo!!! I love the sequined ones. I'd love some blue ones. But I also saw some black ones with shiny rainbow coloured hearts on them. They would also be great. I guess I'll just have to see what they have instore when I eventually get round to it.

After the city I have to go to orchestra. Adrian is picking me up from Stirling train station. The violins are apparently doing reverse seating order today so the leaders can see what the rest of their section is doing and the back of the section are forced to play and hopefully gain some more confidence. I find sitting in front makes me play out more. Usually I tend to be towards the back in most orchestra but in WACO I'm co-leader of the viola section. So far it's been alright. And now I'd better go get ready to leave, it's going to be a long day. Unfortunately I'll have to carry my viola around with me all day and the little top handle is broken so holding it upright is getting difficult but I'll cope somehow. I just feel lucky to have all these opportunities. I love playing in orchestras and I can't imagine not studying music and not playing an instrument.

Abbalicious.... what? it's the least cringeworthy title I could think off.

I am currently in Love (with a capital L) with Abba's album Arrival. This is not the original. Apparently there were two original versions, one for Australia and one for the rest of the world. They had slightly different track listings. The one I bought has all the tracks from both versions plus Fernando as a bonus track.

I especially like the track That's Me. I identify with it. :-) Here are the lyrics:

That's Me

(B. Andersson/S. Anderson/B. Ulvaeus)

Are you sure you wanna hear more

What if I ain't worth the while

Not the style you'd be lookin' for

If I'm sweet tonight

Things look different in the morning light

I'm jealous and I'm proud

If you hurt my feelings I'll cry out loud

I'm Carrie not-the-kind-of-girl-you'd-marry

That's me

Are you sure you wanna hear more

Would I be the one you seek

Mild and meek like the girl next door

Don't you realise

I may be an angel in disguise

It's lonley to be free

But I'm not a man's toy, I'll never be

I'm Carrie not-the-kind-of-girl-you'd-marry

That's me

I don't believe in fairy-tales

Sweet nothings in my ear

But I do believe in sympathy

That's me, you see

Are you sure you wanna hear more

Won't you have a drink with me

Just to see you're not really sore

I can't help my ways

I'm just not the girl to hide my face

I'm Carrie not-the-kind-of-girl-you'd-marry

That's me

There's a special love

Like an eagle flying with a dove

I'll find it in the end

If I keep on searchin', but until then

I'm Carrie not-the-kind-of-girl-you'd-marry

That's me

Some Things about Me.

My name is Cristina. I am currently 21 years old. I play the viola. I switched to viola full time two years ago. Before that I played violin as my main instrument and just played viola in some orchestra. Now I rarely pick up my violin anymore. I am studying Music Education/Performance at WAAPA in Perth. It is really great.

I'm currently in the Western Australin Youth Orchestra. In December we are going on a tour to Asia. I'm really excited about it.

At the moment I'm on summer holidays. And playing in the Western Australian Charity Orchestra (WACO). On the 9th of February we have a concert in the Perth Concert Hall. It will hopefully raise funds for Princess Margareth Hospital. It's the hospital across the road from the high school I used to go to.

I enjoy reading. I especially like books by Terry Pratchett. I also like to go horse riding although I haven't been in a couple of years due to time constraints. I like to draw and always doodle on everything. :-)

Lots and lots of pretty colours!

Today I couldn't decide which nail polish shade to use.

So I lined all my nail polishes up in rainbow order in the grannyflat and painted my nails in rainbow colours.

Here are pictures of both my hands and my line of nail polishes. I think I need more red shades.

The colours on the left hand from pinky to thumb are: gold, pink and three shades of red from light to dark.

The colours on the right hand form pinky to thumb are: pale bluish green, royal blue, dark black blue, dark purple and pink.

It's not quite age appropriate but it looks great. It will look especially awesome when I play viola in orchestra tomorrow. Can't wait to see what that looks like. :-)

I shall also look for more shades of nail polish. Once I have dusted off the shelf above my bed I will be moving the line of nailpolishes on there and there's plenty of room.

Shopping Outfit

This is an outfit I wore to go shopping. It's summer here at the moment, so it is quite warm but the shopping centre is airconditioned so I took a kaftan to keep warm. Sorry about the bad picture quality.

In the picture picture on the left you can see the black singlet and stripy scarf I wore.

In the picture on the right you can hopefully just about make out the shiny blue heart earrings I wore. They are absolutely awesome. I think they look at little like the Heart of the Ocean in the Titanic movie.

The picture underneath is a full body picture. Again really really bad picture quality. I wore jeans, a black singlet, a dark pink kaftan, a thin stripy scarf and of course my heart shaped earrings. I also wore sandals from Betts kids.