Week 25: March 17

This week we had orchestra "readings", which consist of working on pieces for study purposes rather than performance purposes. We studied some Schumann and Wagner.

I find this funny because I'm immature

On Friday I went down to the Mission District, got a cache and celebrated Pi Day with a slice for $3.14. I like the Mission. It's a Hispanic/Mexican neighbourhood, with more Spanish than English on the shop signs, and murals everywhere you look (they're a Mexican tradition). Lots of interesting things to see, that you won't find anywhere else.

Houses in Mission

Mural 1

Mural 2 (there are a lot more of these, but I didn't take pictures of them all)

Sidewalk decorations

Found my lil cachey (yes, that is really it)

Told you!!

These guys had a Pi Day special.....

$3.14 a slice, and the New Yorker was free.

On Saturday I went to Noe Valley. I had never been to Noe Valley before - it's a quiet and pretty neighbourhood. Lots of families live here.

Looking down into Noe Valley

Pretty house on the way

Another pretty house on the way

The Noe Valley Branch Library, my mission destination for today

Miniscule little nano cache in front of the library

Miniscule little log sheet that was inside the cache

Saturday night I performed in my second ever Handel opera. I had never played a Handel opera before in my life, and now somehow I did two in the same week. I guess when it rains, it pours. This production was organized by an SFCM student, and everyone playing and singing was either a student or an alum. We performed in a tiny little black-box theatre whose entrance is hidden in an alley in a very seedy part of SF.

Our promo

 There were eight players in the orchestra and we were sitting on a series of boxes that were stacked up.....four different levels in all. I tried very hard to get a picture of this unusual little venue, but the lighting made it impossible. Luckily a real photographer had come to the dress rehearsal and so I can show you what it was like.

Credit to Cliff Romig. Apologies that this is the only picture with background. The rest are closeups of the singers or of our instruments.

Yesterday (Sunday) I went to Yerba Buena Gardens to get a letterbox. I have been to YBG many times, but I had never explored the area where the letterbox was. You can always learn new things about old friends.

I found this quote funny because it seems to imply that all low notes on a keyboard are black and all high notes are white.

I never knew you could get BEHIND the waterfall!!

Stamps are the defining characteristic of letterboxes. This was the YBG stamp.

The "Wishing Tree" garden

Apologies for the late post. I am trying to write an analysis paper which counts as my music theory midterm and is due on Wednesday. Usually I don't write about things like that in my blog posts because I know that you guys are not interested in my homework, in my practicing, or in my complaining (which, collectively, take up a much larger percentage of my life than the awesome stuff I write about here). However I feel the need this week for a lame excuse to explain why the post is late.

- Antisocial Violinist