Answers to Questions (part 2)

Double-posts today! This might be the last blog for a little bit. Cory will be here very soon, followed by Alex. I guess living, breathing people visiting me in Australia take priority over imaginary blog readers, and for that, I'm sorry.

Why are you in Australia?

I came to Australia to study with Donna Coleman, a piano professor who specializes in helping pianists with performance injuries (which I have). I also wanted to study abroad for at least a semester - something I've wanted to do since I started college but never got around to doing.

Haven't you had enough piano teachers?

Yes and no. I've had plenty of GREAT piano teachers, but I've never really chosen a piano teacher, or rather, looked for a teacher that would be a good fit for me. And because I am embarrassingly naive about all matters in the classical music world, or maybe about the world in general, it took me a long time to realize that most people do this.

Haven't you studied abroad enough?

Absolutely. I studied for 3 weeks in England, 3 weeks in Russia, 6 weeks in Florence and 3 weeks in Croatia. Then again, those were all sort of glorified holidays and I was more of a tourist than a resident. I really wanted to go somewhere and pay rent and go to a real school, not just a school set up for the visiting international students. I don't want to be catered to (well, not all the time) and wanted to experience a culture firsthand, but you know, without the whole, learning a new language part.

Well, is it working out like you hoped it would?

I get asked this the most. Yes, it is.

I would like to hear more about your program. Could you tell me more about it?

Really? Do you really want to hear about it? I don't think you'll find it that exciting. My days are all pretty sketchy and full of things I find fun, but I'm guessing most people would rather not do them. Here's what I've done today:

6:30 - I woke up with a headache and decided to go for a jog. The jog felt great. The headache went away.

8:00 - I made too much breakfast and wondered why we get two different GAS bills.

8:30 - I took the train and tried to look uninterested in the people around me, like everyone else.

9:00 - I called Alex and told her the stuff she had left to do for her trip, like I'm some sort of expert, and she told me about the new book, "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" which is, so far, the best thing I've heard today.

9:30-11:30 - I practiced a Beethoven sonata, a Tania Leon piece (she's a living Cuban-American composer), made some copies for teaching tomorrow, practiced learning to read alto clef (the ultimate in Stacey nerdiness).

11:30-12:30 - I read a bit on Percy Grainger, the next stop in my research on early 20th century weirdos.

12:30 - lunch: lentils with rice, "chips" and carrots

1-2:30 - I rehearsed with the percussionist of the Tania Leon piece. I play piano, the percussionist plays about 50 different instruments.

2:30-3:00 - I talked to Cory and the cat was jealous.

3-4 - piano lesson with Donna

4-5 - worked on some stuff for my "professional life" in the U.S. This consists of very, very boring things like writing my own bio for a program in June and trying to decide what conferences to apply for next.

5-6:30 - NOW. Updating blog. Doing more email junk, like "Dear Percy Grainger estate. Can I please copy of a bunch of letters for free? I'll treat them nice. The end."

7-??? Go to a friend's b-day party at a place called "Pelican's" which is "in St. Kilda." Apparently, this is enough of a direction for most people, but is pretty meaningless to me. It's like saying, you know, it's at that bar down by the river. I originally thought this place was called, "Pelican's Time" but I was misread the text that said, "Meet at Pelicans time: 7:00 pm."

10 or so - pump up the inflatable mattress and pass out

I'm already bored by my answers, which means you must not even be reading at this point. I'll get to answering other questions later, like, "Don't you know there's an economic crisis going on? How can you afford this?" and "You just turned 31. Why aren't you getting married or having kids? Cory would make a great father." Don't hold your breath for these next answers.