The sound of perfect suffering

[ellenscult]

(It's a quotation...)

There was a week in there somewhere... I'm still not back up to speed. Wednesday in particular was a day of staring into space. But hey, I was in work Thursday and Friday and actually got productive stuff done, so yanno, that's all good. And I was in bed (and heading to sleep) by 9.30. And still tired in the day. Ho hum.

Friday evening was ravenlas's work Xmas do. He'd spent all day trying to fix a very important server, was coming down with a cold, and had reached the very end of his patience for anything. So of course the trip into town took as long to drive as it would have to walk, thanks to an M&S van backing up traffic on the Stonebow, stupid drivers, a full carpark, parking across the other side of town and having to walk back down Micklegate and through town in the rain with all the usual Friday night idiots around. We got to the Merchant Adventurer's Hall around half an hour after the meal was supposed to start - people were actually just going upstairs to sit down. And there weren't enough places. At which point ravenlas had Had Enough. So we went home instead and changed into more comfortable clothes and had takeout and that was a much better evening.

Yesterday was lunch at VJs followed by some cello practise followed by an evening with Steve & Lesley (wanolj), which was filled with much nattering and some Little Big Planet (v. cool! with extra added Henry VIII! and Stephen Fry!) and SingStar (which I can't resist). It's like throwing gasoline on a flame.

Today was a very late start - got up at 11:45 - and a bit of cello practise and couple of hours seeing lots of big and little and brand new people over at clotilde and smorgasbord's and playing the cello piece I'd been practising. Which didn't go too badly. :) Then I ran away (sorry, just too tired), came home, and am curled up on the sofa playing with Garage Band, attempting to put in the piano accompaniment to the cello piece. So maybe I can play along with it. Nowhere near as good as actually having someone accompany me, but better than nothing. :)

Next week I'm off work (hurrah!) and I'm hoping to get over this bout of tired, do some writing, clear out Hub and Pseudopod's slushpiles, finish knitting 2 shawls and do some shopping for Christmas presents for people. It's also (iirc) the start of the Ikea sale, and I'll be heading over to pick up the shelving I need for the living room, so if anyone fancies flexing their diy muscles, practising their flatpack skills, I'm more than happy for you to come round. I can provide tea. And if you give me warning, biscuits and pizza and suchlike.

And we've just watched The Princess Bride. Which is Still Awesome. Yay!

Comments

[little-dumpling.livejournal.com]

i had no idea you were musical as well! i am super jealous of your cello skills, it has got to be my favourite string instrument, which i just can't seem to ever get a hold of. so thats so cool that you play!

glad at least a few things worked out for you guys this weekend!

(p.s. hehe toy piano icon, because i couldn't find an icon of a real one xD)

[ellenscult]

Music's something which runs in my family, especially on my Dad's side, back umpty generations. :) His father was a musician and conductor, and his father was an opera singer, and so on. Which is really cool, but I sometimes think maybe I should have become a professional cellist. And then I remember I don't have the discipline or the desire to practise for hours a day. And I like a steady income of more than nuppence. And I have exactly no patience for the incestuous backstabbing infighting which characterises most orchestras. And then I feel a lot happier about being a technical writer instead. *heh*

If you ever get the chance, it's well worth having some cello lessons. Some places will let you borrow instruments. It's not all that difficult an instrument (she says, having played it for *cough* a couple of decades now...) but it's not as easy as, say, piano.

Thank you! I hope you're holding up okay.

Love the icon - I always liked the Peanuts character with his tiny toy piano. :)

[little-dumpling.livejournal.com]

Schroeder. :D

oh i've tried cello before. because of certain health problems, i have a hard time getting my hands to work the same time. the only way i can actually play anything on the piano (even though i've been playing for years upon years) is i actually have to memorize each hands part separately and then put it together. so i have some songs i can play, only because i have taken time in the past to memorize them.

i've also had guitar and drum set lessons before, and i just can't do it. the only instrument i play with a proficiency is the flute because i've been playing it since i was little.

music is grand. *is still jealous of you, and everyone else in my family, a lot of them who have degrees in music*

[ellenscult]

There's always singing?

*big hugs*

[little-dumpling.livejournal.com]

*grin* oh i've always sung. i've done a lot of classical singing in the past before, and had lessons

*hugs back*

[kissmeforlonger.livejournal.com]

May be around next week to flex the screwdriver and other tools if that would be useful. I'm at work during the day, though.

[ellenscult]

Cool! You're always welcome, with or without diy-age. :) I'll post when I've got the shelving - it's likely to be Thursday or Friday before I go to Ikea. *big hugs*

[ellenscult]

Thank you - definitely need a whole pile more practise first, though. Looking through my sheet music, it's almost all baroque. I need to get something a little more recent... :)

I'm very impressed with your recording stuff. :)

ty!

[clotilde.livejournal.com]

I loved the cello-playing, and the toddlers were utterly entranced.

[ellenscult]

Thank you! It went better than I'd feared it might, so that's always good. :) I was worried that it might get a bit loud for some of the toddlers; I'm glad they were entranced instead of scared!

*hugs*

Thank you for a super afternoon!

[bob-stone.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I love Garageband - I've an Edirol music interface (which is almost as big as my Mac Mini, which sits on top of it), which has electric guitar and XLR mic inputs and midi inputs for my Yamaha keyboard (which is from the pre-USB days when Midi ran on clockwork and coal), and this interface was splendid for recording bits and pieces such as [Fire Woman (http://www.bobstone.info/Fire%20Woman.mp3)] which is me playing everything except the drums which were pieced together from Apple loops.