I wonder who reads my posts.

Anyway... On reflection, 2009 was quite a year:

The oh-god-last-semester-of-undergrad + med school craze --> DMP recital where I played some crazy stuff (did I really do that?!) --> graduation (holy crap, 2009 always seemed so far in the future) --> the awful summer of 2009 where... wow, don't let me get started on those brats again --> getting a "job" (sigh, the "real world"?) and getting my first real "salary" (or, pity pay) --> being in *Boston* --> finally getting to playing the cello.

All of this, mixed in with plenty of crappy situations with too many people and a truly, truly strange turn of events with a few. Hm, better luck next year?

My posts are so scattered! Often it's because I don't update enough (or maybe that's a lie), so I have little bits of multiple thoughts I end up writing about. All in one post. But here it goes...

String Review, Continued: As of today, the two sets of strings are getting closer to each other. The Larsens are getting a little more lively while the Spirocores are getting darker. The C string is getting a little too dark already for my taste, too "grr." However, the G & C strings still have their metallic edge. Sigh. I'll give them a few more days of hardcore playing :)

According to Benjamin, my Korean-ness sometimes shows in my English! Who knew that "fiction" cannot be pluralized! Heh, don't answer that. This reminds me how one of my high school friends was really bothered whenever I said "yesterday night" and told me that it's common practice in English to say "last night" although it's fine to say "yesterday morning" or "tomorrow night." But of course, it's abnormal to say "last morning" or "next night." What a strange language.

Cello Strings Trial #1: Larsen Medium A & D + Thomastik-Infeld Spirocore Tungsten G & C.

Ok, let me begin by saying that I don't think these trials will go far, seeing as how ridiculously expensive cello strings are. But these -- I purchased these strings ~3 years ago for some reason. I'm sure the prices have gone up since then, but currently, they cost: $248.60. But since they've just been sitting on my shelf, I figured why not try it now.

It's mainly the tungsten strings that cost nearly a $100 per string. But I hear that they don't need to be chanced for... ever. As in, they're good for a few years without the sound getting weak and muddy (as opposed to, well, at least on the violin the general rule of thumb is to change strings every 120 hours of playing). The tungsten-core strings have great longevity, but I think they are a hit or a miss as far as the sound-quality.

Review at Time 0: The Larsens have such a warm, rounded sound... the Spirocores have a borderline aggressive, strong, kinda metalic (though this might go away with time?) sound, but really resonant too. At the moment, there is way too much contrast between the 2 lower strings and the 2 upper strings. This better go away soon, or I may have to switch to something else, because it's that noticeable. I never quite noticed such differences when I tried violin strings -- everything seemed so subtle. I wonder if all this is because the tonal qualities among different strings/brands are amplified on the cello.

Well, anyway, Merry Christmas Eve!

BY THE WAY, wow, Boston = dry. No snow whatsoever. I swear, Charlottesville got so much more snow than here this year, it's unfair. I love snow, too. I've been snow-deprived for years and years, and the first year I'm out of VA, the big snow storm hits VA?! ::steam coming out of my ears::

The new renter in the unit downstairs had a holiday gathering today. Apparently, she moved from two blocks away 2 months ago, and she's lived in Boston forever, so she has a lot of family and neighbors around. There was tons of food and she even had us take the leftovers. And she still had a ton of leftovers for herself, after serving 30+ people. That's how much food she had. And being the poor graduate I am, I stuffed down so much food, it was gross.

But it was really funny, apparently, I'm the "cellist upstairs."

For the whole six hours, as I talked with different people:
"where do you live?"
"right upstairs in the studio unit"
"ohhhh you're the cellist that Emilie told us about! She told us, man, thank god she's a good cellist! We figured out that we can hear you best from our TV room over there!"
"haha.... oh..."
"so, I hear you're working on the Elgar cello concerto! boy, what a beautiful piece, you should play that for us next time!"


The pressure is on. Apparently, I'm fully audible from the downstairs TV room when I practice. And they want to hear me play the Elgar. Ha ha ha!

Something I found online:

"Hello Amtrak here."
"Hi. May I purchase a child seat for my cello?"
"Is the cello over 15 years of age?"
"No. It's only 4."
"Well...you should be fine, then. Does the cello have a name?"
"It's Llew."
"That's really good. I'm trying to figure out what to put here."
"Llew Chelo?"
"No...I want them to be able to realize that it is a cello. We'll put __ Cello."
"Wow! Thank you so much!"
"Just make sure Llew Behaves."
"Of course."

"I asume if the cello is over 15, then it's an adult fare?"

"And antiques get a senior discount then?"

Hahaha :) Looks like I will also be Amtrak-ing (an overnight one) back to VA with the cello! Except I didn't buy a seat for it.

Some of my more recent Youtube obsessions:

• Bach Cello Suites -- I've been listening to these on loop all week on my ipod. Each suite has such a distinct character! But all beautiful...
• Suite 1, Sarabande (Mischa Maisky): Such a gorgeous sound... A bit on the heavy side of interpretation, but I love it!
• Suite 2, Sarabande (Micha Maisky): Haha, what a depressing movement... almost too dampening, but it's so beautiful. There's something so melancholy about the double stop 5ths. I also love how it looks on the cello, haha...
• Suite 3, Prelude (Mischa Maisky): I'm loving all these Mischa Maisky videos for the Bach Suites on YT... more so than Yo-Yo Ma or Rostropovich! Such smooth yet powerful (and romantic) interpretation! Anyway, this movement is currently at the top of my chart. So many unexpected harmonic progressions and funky moments! Aww I love it! :)
• Suite 3, Gigue (Janos Starker): What a sharp and crisp performance. And what a movement! Looove the part from 0:27-ish and on! Oh Bach... <3.
• What's so incredible about Suite 3 is that all of the openings sound so plain, scale-like, and etude-like. And all in C major, I mean, really :) But soon enough, it progresses into something so complex and intense! Not plain at all...
  
• Suite 4, Prelude (Mischa Maisky): Bach to Mischa... what can I say, I guess I like my Bach heavy. But this thought-provoking prelude, whose "rhythm" is almost entirely in just 8th notes, captures so much with its harmonic progression. Amazing how Bach does that... (and I just noticed, holy crap, Mischa's endpin is soooo long...)
•  Suite 6, Prelude (Mstislav Rostropovich): Besides the minute-long introduction, I think Rostropovich's is my favorite rendition of this movement! It's very dymanic and I think he captures the essence of this movement :) 

The Bach Suites are so incredible... Not to mention all the other amazing movements I didn't list above. But moving on!

• Bach, Arioso from Cantata No. 156 arranged for the cello (Julian Lloyd Webber): Yes, Andrew Lloyd Webber's little brother! Again, a heavily romanticized performance of a Bach piece, but who cares! Also, it's very reminescent of cheesy wedding music, but I still like it :) :) I can play this now too!! The whole package, with vibrato and all :)
• Saint-Saens, Allegro Appassionato (Jacqueline du Pre): You all knew that Jackie had to show up on my list at some point. Honestly, I've never heard of this piece until I started working on it. Apparently it's a really popular encore piece for cellists! I wouldn't call this my all-time-favorite piece any time soon, but it's a cool piece nonetheless. Very fiery!
• Mark Summer, Julie-O (Martin Nocedal; Char Prescott): Now a change of pace... Julie-O! I fell in love with the original version written for a solo cello, but I'm starting to love this duet rendition more. Haha, when I first heard this a couple of years ago, there was another surge of "I want to learn the cello!" It's suuuch a fun piece! I heard the violin rendition too, but it's just not the same.
• Kodaly, Sonata for Solo Cello Movement 3 (Alisa Weilerstein): I'm not big on ridiculously dissonant modern compositions, but... woah. Haha, first of all, what an insane piece. Secondly, what a crazy performance of it. I loveeeeee it! So much passion and fire!
• Haydn, Cello Concerto in C Major, Movement 1 (Han Na Chang): I find Han Na's interpretations pretty radical -- very different from the standard interpretations, and usually I don't like them very much because they get sooo temperamental. But for this piece -- I do like it! What an enthralling performance!
  
• Haydn, Cello Concerto in C Major, Movement 3 (Han Na Chang): So playful! Looking very nonchalant with this beast :)
  

I read that most people who pursue cello seriously during and/or beyond college typically own a cello worth ~$15,000 as a minimum. Craziness... But then again, that will only sustain me in this Boston apartment for slightly over a year.

Ugh I'm getting sick. I haven't had coffee in a few days... because I didn't want any! Also, the last time I stepped into Starbucks was when the new barista who screwed up my drinks many times in a row was working again. I stepped right back out. Meh.

It snowed very little in Boston last night... so I didn't really get to see it. There are still some piled on top of cars and stuff but most of the snow on the road/sidewalk has been shoveled as soon as the sun rose this morning. Seriously?!?! I guess people here are just well trained to shovel whenever they see snow. But I also haven't really felt like going outside. But the next time it snows more, I shall make a snow figurine of the RNC complex (and if I'm confident enough, the channel). Unfortunately, I left my camera back in VA over thanksgiving break, so I can't take a picture of it now anyway!

Oh, and I forgot to mention -- Thursday evening was Brookline's 1st "Light Festival." Strangely, there were no lights (and I mean, besides the normal level of traffic lights and store signs). I guess I expected something like UVA's Lighting of the Lawn, but I'd imagine that lighting up the whole town like that would be a bit tough.

I think my big project until I leave for Christmas break is to finish the food in my apartment, especailly after I bought the bagel pack from Panera's yesterday. Now things fall out of my freezer every time I open the door. I also noticed that I have two bottles of soy sauce, two bottles of sesame oil (same brand, might I add!), and two bottles of maple syrup. Apparently, I don't grocery shop very rationally. No wonder my food expenses were worse when I grocery shopped and cooked versus when I ate out a whole lot.

I am 22 now. Sigh, from this point on, I can only get older without the additional excitement as with turning 16, 18, or 21.

Being back in VA was good! Visiting Charlottesville was great! I wish I could have stayed longer :( And I have to say, all of you folks with a car -- enjoy it! The hour long drive on 64 West/East has never felt so liberating :). Having to depend on public transportation 24/7 can feel so restricted.

The weekend is here!

First, I have to do laundry.

Second, I have to figure out my life. Or at least figure out how to prepare for Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C.

Third, I shall practice.

Yay.