A Long Hiatus

My first post in a really long time, during which a lot has transpired!

In June of last year, I made my first trip to Bonnaroo, which was held at Manchester, Tennessee. Then in September, I made my first trip to The Burning Man at the Black Rock Desert in Nevada. Both turned out to be very interesting experiences, far removed as they were from everything one gets to see while being part of the mainstream in a place like the Bay Area. The things that stood out for me at these events were the sheer creativity, imaginativeness and an all round sense of tolerance and inclusiveness among those that showed up. For the curious, The Burning Man Image Gallery has a very good collection of photographs taken by various people over the years. I’d love to go back to Bonnaroo and The Burning Man some time.

In November, I took time off from work to spend a week by myself in the Santa Barbara wine country. I stayed in Solvang, a small Danish town north of Santa Barbara. Looking back, I realize that a week of vacation is a long time if you don’t plan ahead, paradoxical as it may sound. I hadn’t even made a hotel reservation, literally “stopping by” with only my Casio Keyboard and enough clothes to last a week.

It was refreshing to befriend the locals and discover from them which places to go to or which wineries to visit; often, they even accompanied me to show me around. I was surprised to discover that Solvang was at the heart of the Wild West, evident in the way some restaurants and pubs still display the cowboy culture. Coexisting with the ranches and the horses, though, are some of the finest wineries in all of California. My taste in wine has gone up a couple of notches after tasting the wines of the Santa Ynez Valley and the adjoining areas. While there, I also visited Los Olivos, a charming community north of Solvang, renowned as much for its art galleries as for its wineries. I don’t have the kind of money to afford most of what was on sale but I bought what was within my means and merely appreciated the rest.

My poor prose cannot capture most of what I experienced (as couldn’t my camera either), so I’ll be content with just saying that the trip would always remain memorable to me in more than a few ways.

Then in late November last year, I auditioned for CAPMT, the California Association of Professional Music Teachers, and passed, following which I was invited to play at the Northern Festival recital in Danville this January. I played Bach’s Prelude in C Minor.

During this time I’ve also been composing a little bit, and although I’ve written down some of it, I haven’t recorded anything yet. I’m currently preparing for my piano evaluations due in May. Later in June, it will be two years since I began taking lessons and I’m quite happy that I’ve already started playing Level 6 solos. But I can’t wait to get to Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy and more of Bach in the coming years, and composing more of my own stuff.

And on that note, I’d like to sign off. A much belated Happy New Year to everyone!

My first Haiku

I recently discovered Haiku, a form of Japanese poetry, while reading The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality and have, since, been fascinated by the concept of expressing a momentary experience in poetic form, as simply and minimally as possible, while remaining faithful to the original essence of the experience. In this respect, I think Haiku is to poetry what Impressionism might be to painting. As an example, here’s one that I found in the above book that very succinctly expresses the joy of living in the present:

I am cutting wood,

I am drawing water,

It’s so wonderful!

Last evening, I met up with two friends I hadn’t seen in a couple years. We hung out at the beach until very late in the night, drinking an exquisite Glenlivet, while sitting around a bonfire, amidst the calming sounds of waves crashing onto the shore. (As an aside, it’s amazing how, sometimes, utter chaos, such as that constituted by waves, can actually lead to something that is at once random and beautiful!)

On our way back, we stopped by what seemed like a reservoir. It seemed like a very profound place and time — perhaps the pleasant Glenlivet buzz had something to do with it! So, while my friends were taking pictures, I stood out on the edge of the water, soaking in the beautiful view that was formed in the night. Despite all that I apparently found lacking up until that time, that moment, strangely, felt very comforting!

I have tried to express the experience of all that was around me in that moment in the following haiku, my first one. I’m not sure if it can technically qualify to be a haiku but it, nonetheless, expresses what I had felt:

The rays’ gleeful dance on water in the moonlit night,

The crickets’ chirping, the wind’s gentle caress;

Nature’s sweet embrace is so comforting!

Sadly, as with everything else, that moment, too, passed! And here I am, writing about it as one would about a distant memory at best!