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Paperclip, that's great. We have only one life time to live. I bet you will have a great time. You will use so much of creative brain when you are cooking. When I was in uni, I worked as a muffin baker at a natural food place. Of course, it's nothing like a professional chef. But I enjoyed the work, people I work with and the hours - I was done by 10:00 AM working from 4:00 AM. I had a great time experimenting with new recipe and eating them

I always remember the movie "Saving Private Ryan". Towards the end of the movie, Ryan says something like "Am i worthy of their sacrifice? Did I live my life well?" It still brings tears in my eyes just thinking of it. IMHO everyone should live their lives like Ryan grateful for the gift of life. So I am very happy for you. Good luck and let us know how you are doing in the school.

What a great weel everyone has had!
I've been "treading water" so to speak.. .just staying in one place.

I had a bit of a scare earlier in the week -I feared I had a detached (or rather re-detached) retina - I had surgery in 2006 and was having similar symptoms. Turned out the eye dr said my retina is just fine - but she suspected I have high blood pressure. I went to the pharmacy to have it checked and yup.... It had been high in March, lower at the end of March and fine in July -but it was up again.
I went to the dr the next day and he lined up some tests and gave me a light perscrption for lowering the bp right off the bat.

On Saturday I could barely do anything - I was exhausted- no energy and felt really awful so I suspect even the light dose was too much for me. I only took half this morning and will take the other half before going to bed....and I will see the dr tomorrow again.

All in all, I did play every day but I wasn't terribly focused.

Did the pharmacist take your BP at least twice, with an interval of at least a few minutes for relaxation between the readings? It's VERY easy to worry your BP up.

I hope you live in a civilised country where medical care doesn't lead to heavy bills!

Yes, he did, and yes I do. (Italy)
The funny thing was I wasn't that worried about it ... I was so relieved about my eye, I felt relaxed....til I heard the news!
Ah well, I've taken the first steps to get it under control.
Thanks for your kind words.

Good! Keeping your BP under control is one of the most effecient ways of prolonging life! I'm glad you caught yours in time.

Casinitaly, what a relief your eye is all fine! That's very good news. The high BP is a little minor, but far better than a detached retina. I was a bit worried while reading your message. But as soon as I understood it, it was a relief for me also that you're all fine.

Farmgirl, thank you for your kind words. Here on the TV is an american serie about two sisters who decided to quit their jobs to become muffin makers with their grandma's recipes. It's quite an art and they were very good at it. They loved their new jobs. I would be a very happy Ryan if I was such a muffin maker like them.

Today, I made progress on three of my assigned pieces: playing the second page of Mozart's Lacrymosa, third line on my Chopin Prelude, and fifth line on Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. Though, I neglected my Clementi piece as my hands were tired after two hours.

Cheryl,

I am so glad you got dr.'s attention.
i also believe in natural health in addition to with meds that they give you.
You may want to tray Quinoa - it's a grain like substance from South/Central America. Actually it's not grain at all, it's related to spinach. You can see the health benefit in the link provided below. Good for high blood pressure as well. I am hoping it would give you energy back without increasing the bp. You can eat as much as you like and it's easy to mix into anything you make. Hope you feel better.

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?dbid=142&tname=foodspice

My week was not great but I read a few chapters of my Practicopedia so I'm off and running again......count, count, count.... Is my plan for this week. I have a bad habit of 'hearing the music' in my head and making up my own rhythm I think!! I try to call it rubato but my teacher isn't buying it!!! :-))

IreneAdler - welcome to the forum. Sounds like you have a full schedule that keeps you busy. we have quarterly recital (on-line). The next one is March or April, not sure... Anyway, it's a really good thing to aim for. This community is very kind. Look forward to hearing your piece. If you'd rather feel like listening to others only, that's okay too. Enjoy.

February 15th 2012 is the next recital - woo hoo!!

Started early this week and now I'm halfway through memorizing a simple arrangement of "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" Riding that Recital wave of motivation...

Hi FarmGirl - how interesting you should mention this - I just started using quinoa recently - I "discovered" it in a new cookbook and found some at a local health food store. I didn't realize just how healthy it was - I knew it was a complete protein. I have some great receipes for it, and my husband loves it too.
I will put more of it on our menus!

Thaks PaperClip for your kind words.

We had a musical afternoon yesterday at a friend's house. I didn't really play much ( I brought my digital) but it was great fun to just sit and listen to the others - (all of whom have been playing for about 30 years, and in a semi-professional way too! )

They were brilliant.At the best of times I can barely keep up - yesterday was a bit of a wash out, but it was really delightful.

They (I'd love to say we, but it would be a fib) played "Fly me to the moon" "All of me" "Mack the Knife" and two other tunes that I had never heard before "Adios Amigos" and "I love you because".

Wonderful fun.

not an achievement, but something that got me excited: the past few months while practicing piano--my piano sits in a big window overlooking the sea--there have been butterflies flitting around in the garden outside. Then the other day, a tree outside was full of these little green birds (called mejiro, or white eye, in Japanese). They make practicing so much fun!

I memorized half of a simple arrangement of "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out". Riding that wave of recital motivation

I am progressing really well with my Christmas selections. However, after listening to them, I realized how simple they are. It can be depressing thinking that you work really hard on a piece.....and when it is done, you aren't exactly happy with it. I am starting to assemble my "new years resolution" list of pieces that I want to learn next year. So far it includes: Bach Invention #1, The Entertainer (original composition,) Fur Elise (original composition) I also want to complete Faber Adult Adventures book 4. I would like to add a jazz piece to my list but I'm not familiar with any........suggestions?!?

This has been a very productive week, as far as piano goes. I had my first lesson, which was terrific! Today I went to two piano showrooms in Manhattan (Allegra Pianos and Steinway Hall) and had a blast playing a bunch of lovely pianos.

I also started working on the Preste con Fuoco section of Ballade no 1 (skip right to that part with this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR7eUSFsn28&t=7m55s ) and found that it's not as difficult as I thought it would be (meaning that with time and practice I think I'll be able to play it pretty well).

Overall, a productive week on the piano

Have you ever looked at Martha Mier's Jazz Rags and Blues? Book two would be a good one for you given that you are working from book 4 of the Faber series. I am particularly fond of Misty Night Blues, but there is another beautiful piece called Red Rose Rendezvous in that collection too. You can hear most of the pieces on youtube.

Related to what you said at the beginning, I think that your playing is absolutely beautiful and exceptionally smooth. When I listen to your playing, I don't think of the pieces as simple. Perhaps they sound a bit like that to you because you have spent so much time with them. Remember, you wanted to play each of the pieces, you thought they were beautiful enough to play and they were something of a challenge to get to the level that you have gotten them too.

I never though I would post here because I'm only playing between 30 to 60 minutes a day, but yes!!! I've been studying Chopin's Revolutionary Etude for a few weeks, and following Chuan Chang advice on his book "Piano Practising and Technique" (free online book) I used slow play trying to be very accurate and add musicality, I've been playing just the left hand (I know it all by heart) about three times before going to sleep, very slowly and relaxed (about two notes per second), trying to make it sound musical, and yesterday I decided to give it a try and play it cold as fast as I could, to my surprise I played it at full speed M=160 without feeling almost anything in my hand and without mistakes through half the piece!!! It was so awesome!!! I started feeling a bit tired before finishing so I stopped.
But well, I hope to have this playable in a couple of months...

I'm excited because I scheduled my piano to be tuned in 2 weeks.