Writing piano music

Today, after more than 15 years away from writing and playing music, I started re-transcribing a piece called Children's Concerto. It's a rock/classical song for piano and drums that I initially transcribed and performed way back in my highschool talent show with a drummer friend. We took 1st place.

There are relatively few songs and artists that inspire me to play the piano. Really. Instead, most of the music that moves me seems to come from the guitar. And thus my current desire to learn and sing along with it.

Sometimes I think I didn't get enough exposure to good piano stuff. To the stuff that really appealed to me. I just got the standard classics, although there were undoubtedly nice pieces that I enjoyed in the bunch. Still, i guesss it wasn't enough inspiration for me.

So thank goodness I took a listen to Children's Concerto again. It makes me conscious of where I can take this talent, even though it's waaay years later, as I know I shouldn't throw such a gift away.

Stomach virus

All of us at home are sick with the rotovirus. Actually, all of us but Mindy. There's lots of puking and diarrhea going on. Not a pretty site. Thank goodness I'm starting to feel better.

Lots o' email

I had 438 accumulated emails in my Inbox as of last night. I sorted/deleted/processed 239 of them early this morning. I now have 199.

One of my 2005 New Year's resolutions is to stay on top of things. No more playing catch up this time. My email Inbox and To Do list will be the first of my many backlogged tasks to be dealt with.

"Do the best you can because that's the best you can do."

--Space Boy (Rolie Polie Olie)

Bon Appetite!

Cooking is now my new passion. I became obsessed with preparing culinary cuisine after watching an episode of Jacques Pepin: Fast Food My Way on PBS a few months ago. I'm currently reading his autobiographical book, The Apprentice: My Life In The Kitchen. Now I've gone through the TV food channels and cooking shows many times for loads of recipes, but for some reason, Jacques' charisma and his idea of 'cooking as an art' struck me deeply enough to get me going in the kitchen.

Want a quick classy delicious dessert, try this: take some fruit (preferably frozen berries), place them in single serving bowls (oven proof), crumble some chewy cookies on top, and bake for 10-12 min at 400 degrees. Yummy, yummy, yummy!

Teach them well.

It's always been my worry that despite the 'best' upbringing, kids can still end up doing drugs and other harmful things.

Band concert

I went to a Christmas band concert at my old highschool this weekend. I hadn't been back to my teen stomping grounds in years. It felt surreal looking at my highschool from a grownup's view. I pictured myself as I was in the band, playing the sax ... or clarinet ... or piano (I changed instruments over the years). I remember having lots of fun hanging out with all the band geeks. They were a bunch of good guys. I miss it all, especially playing the music.

Anyway, the band is now more than three times the size of ours compared to way back when. They even have special wind sections. But to me, the most impressive development is the addition of a glee club. A chorus or choir, that is. Way kool.

You go, boys!

Pee-pee in bed

Mindy, my 2nd oldest, wet her bed tonight. She's been potty trained for almost 2 months now, but still has her 'accidents'. I'll need to do some heavy cleaning in the morning just after the kids wake up. Thank goodness we have one of those 'wet' vaccuums to remove practically all the mess. This appliance is probably the greatest gift any parent with a baby could ever ask for.

Hiatus

Sorry for the long delay between entries. I have another blog that I had been obsessing on recently, although that too had been suffering from a lack of posts. Nonetheless, hopefully this week I'll make time for more entries to summarize these past couple of months.

Happy 4th Bday!

Tina turned 4 this week. Yea! I get the feeling that she seems very proud of it as she always looks forward to being considered as a grownup. Undoubtedly, she does mother her younger siblings. In fact, Mindy -- our 2nd oldest -- calls her 'mommy' when they're playing together.

We celebrated Tina's bday early on July 4th with my wife's and my families (or should the grammar be "...my wife and my families" without the possessive in wife?). The town fireworks are held right across the street in the park so we get a great view from our backyard just by looking almost straight up. It's that close as well as loud. (Note that this year's show was aweful as it was cut short due to some likely mishappening -- we heard fire trucks halfway through and the cumulative showy ending never happened.)

Nonetheless, we still had our traditional Carvel icecream cake (with bonus crunchy chocolate sprinkles in a cup).

I miss my daughter.

My oldest one is on vacation away from her immediate family (ie, me and my blood posse). She's staying with her relatives, a half hour's drive south of our home. She's been gone for 2 days and I do miss her very much. I see it as a sign, though, to focus my love on my other 2 kids. So tomorrow we'll go shopping, visit the playground, and get some nice edible treats.