Week 20: February 9

This week something happened which has revolutionized my life here at SFCM. I have re-entered the company of the greatest of all musicians and have once again taken up my study of the most noble of all arts. Read: I........have.........a............Chamber Group!! Let me tell you the story. Last term, Maddy and Nick were in a string quartet with two other guys. This term one of the guys dropped the course and the other opted for a more advanced group (he's an upperclassman). As soon as I heard about this, I immediately volunteered myself as Oscar's replacement, and after a few days during which the coach hemmed and hawed and tested me out, I was approved, and we began intensive rehearsals.

Now wait a minute, you may be thinking. Didn't two guys drop out? Yes indeed, very observant you all are to be sure. Here's the explanation: The quartet our coach assigned us is Hindemith no. 1 op. 10 in f minor, one of Hindemith's earliest works, and he (our coach, Paul) has a personal connection to the piece because his father's quartet was the first group ever to record the work, in 1950 (it was written in 1918). Paul's father played viola, as does he, and he told us that he has been trying for thirty years to get a group together to play this piece (possibly a slight exaggeration), and now that he has people who want to do it, he's not going to miss the chance to play it himself. So, not only do I get to play with my two best friends in SF so far (who are both also wonderful musicians), but I get to play with a FACULTY member who usually only plays with graduate students in the Chamber Music program.

And that's the story of how I wormed my way into a super-fun, super-intensive chamber group without actually registering in the chamber course.

It has been raining pretty steadily for the past several days, so I cannot go on any gloriously indulgent expeditions and do not have any panoramic photos to share. I have, however, been making little sorties and side trips around my usual errands, getting a few caches here and there, and I did see one or two interesting things.

When my dad was in junior high, he had a friend who was a big fan of "Bibbo Baggins"

This place does not sell shrimp which I found extremely disappointing

Today was the feast day of St Blaise, which is apparently the biggest Croatian feast day next to Easter and Christmas. Have I ever mentioned that I go to a little Slavic church here? Well, I do, and the Croatian half of the community had organized a mini-festival in the church hall. There was lots of Croatian food, desserts, wine and entertainment - mostly singing folk songs and reciting poetry. I couldn't understand any of it, but the music was great, and there was one fellow who was quite a talented accordion player. There are a couple of other students who also go to church there, and we had a fine time mingling with the community and dancing to the polkas. I even won a raffle prize which had a bunch of teas and cookies in it and also a Trader Joe's gift card.

One of these days I should show you all my little church where I play violin. I think the only reason I haven't taken any pictures of it yet is because a camera is not exactly the first thing that springs to mind when gathering items for church.

Maddy went shopping in Japantown a few days ago and bought a bunch of weird food including quail eggs.

So TINY!!

 Not a lot of interesting pictures this week so here is something funny I found on the internet. I have become hyper-sensitive to Canadian stereotypes since moving here.

And last but not least, SHOUT OUT to the Most Marvelously Masterful Mary and her Cheery, Chipper Cello, winners of the Frank Simpson Concerto Competition 2014!!!

- Antisocial Violinist