I'm a high school senior and I bake and watch anime

Friday, 15 June 2012 was my last day of my junior year of high school. Essentially this means I am now a high school senior. I have no feelings as of now. That last week of school was patterned in stress in the morning, lackadaisical in the afternoon, and baking whatever the heck I'd like in the evening. I had senior friends, but instead of crying over no longer seeing them, I think I am more calm because I have faith that they'll do well and that I'll do well without them knowing that they are doing well on their own.
Also, it is the first week of the summer. I am kind of in limbo as a given. I've taken up baking recently, though, so I am indulging in this new hobby to use all this time for not really having to do anything anymore for about two months!
I'd just like to share below the photos I took:

And now I am all out of bread flour! Among all the baking I have also started watching anime again. Right now I'm continuing a series I started in April that I absolutely cannot stop loving! From the director of Cowboy Bebop, Shinichiro Watanabe and the musical director of the same anime, Yoko Kanno, is Kids on the Slope, a wonderful anime about two school boys who, regardless of each of their social issues, become intimate through jazz music. My description doesn't do it justice. Here's a clip:


Most of the performing goes to pianist Takashi Matsunaga and drummer Shun Ishiwaka.
I'm a big Nodame Cantabile fan, but this is far more satisfying to watch as dir. Watanabe made sure the animations for the movements were not only realistic but also precise. Now that I look back, all I really watched in Nodame Cantabile were just PICTURES of people playing piano. That's no one's fault, though.
Anyway, this anime's got my thumbs up, both! And now I go back to crunchyroll to watch episode 9.

CARMEN!

Evil...

I know I said I have my music chosen for college and stuff, but now I'm really wanting to just play a movement from a Carmen Fantasy. I say "a" because I'm not going to touch THE Carmen Fantasy, I refuse to touch anything by Sarasate. Just last week, though, I found a much easier arrangement really similar to Sarasate's version by Franz Alois Drdla. Nothing's stopping me from learning it! I just don't know if I'll get this down technically AND musically in time for auditions! Especially since now that I have my teacher back from maternity leave, all she wants to do with me is Kreutzer and Mazas etudes, which are fine, but with only single-hour, weekly lessons, we both think the most important things to work on are those etudes, among other dreadful things like Carl Flesch scales and Suzuki...

I know, not mature, but I'm allowed have feelings and express them on this blog regardless...

Sarah Chang (left), Plácido Domingo (middle)

One thing's nearly set about Carmen though - I get to play it at the senior concert the following school year! The version that I have comes with piano arrangement though, and I know an orchestra accompaniment exists, somewhere out-there, either composed by him or arranged by another, and I want it... You just can't get Latin music across on piano! These Carmen legends (Sarah Chang known for her Sarasate Carmen Fantasy at age 10 and Plácido Domingo for being the best damn José ever) know how to perform Carmen, and I'm inspired every time I look at the Aragonaise movement on my stand to play it at a quarter of the quality they gave. Bahhahh ain't goin'a happen, but out of everything I've played for myself and for others, Carmen probably means the most to me, so in theory I should play well whenever I should perform... *crossing fingers*

Now I'm off to finishing off the kinako dango I made this morning and maybe actually practice..

kinako dango + azuki bean paste

Summer and music

NOW I see the importance of making connections.
My schedule for June is looking pretty awesome as of now, minus the stressful schoolwork due in a week, so I shouldn't be blogging, but this is actually kind of important to me so I might as well!

2 June, job as a waitress/helper for a private musical event. I get paid about $60 for the day which is pretty awesome. I'm not already saying the job's going to be easy, but given the description I think I can handle it and I probably will have fun with it and maybe make connections with those musicians performing... :)

15 June, last final exam and last day of my junior year in high school! It's only one more giant leap and I'm so satisfied to have grown so much these past three years in high school. People will always be d-bags in high school, but it gets a lot better when you're a senior is what I figure.

30 June, first official gig at a wedding as a solo violinist! I've got plenty of experience playing for weddings, but I've always done that in my church and with 'my band', the people I play with every Sunday in church. That makes this a giant step into what my mom calls "our business". Last night we had to sit down for about twenty minutes to draft our reply to her email asking for my repertoire list. I'd be there for only 45 min. and would get paid $75 which is pretty rad.

So that's June. I'm crossing my fingers that my former beginning student will come back for cheap summer lessons, because unless I get my butt out of the house and send in my stinking TJ Max job application, that would be my only income. She was an angel, too. She had to quit in October because she was real busy learning how to play flute for band as there's no string orchestra at her school. :( God bless her for pursuing another instrument out of her own efforts.

I think I, myself, will learn to play the cello this summer. In orchestra, while I was waiting for my final assessment I was playing an excerpt from Farandole on my friend's cello. I have been practicing double bass before this year and so cello came a bit easier, especially since the strings are 5ths from each other, anyway.