We had to change our plans for today. We were planning on going to New York City for the day, leaving early in the morning on the Fung Wah or Lucky Star Bus to Chinatown. Well, we woke up 40 minutes too late because Pam had turned on the alarm, and I had unknowingly turned it right back off again (*tap-tap on, tap-tap off*). So our experience of ‘The Gates’ will have to wait for a few days. Good thing we hadn’t bought tickets already.
Took the opportunity to get some stuff done, since I was here a day I thought I wouldn’t be: Got advertisements for the piano posted at the Longy School of Music and the New England Conservatory (actually, at NEC you can only leave the flyer there, and hopefully someone will post them in a good place) I take some pride in that it was a beautifully designed and produced poster, complete with photos and schematic in full color. (Here’s a PDF).
Also sent a check (or rather, a cheque) to Cambridge University to pay for a sealed transcript. Another requirement of our immigration forms are sealed transcripts of every college I got a degree from. Which reminds me that I have to do the same with the University of Cincinnati. Originally the Cambridge person said I had to send a cheque in the amount of 7 pounds. Then I found out from my bank that there is a minimum $25 charge for cutting a check (or cheque) in any foreign currency. So that’s right; the roughly $13 in British pounds would have also incurred a charge roughly twice that amount! Fortunately I found out that Cambridge U. will accept US currency for these records (and I sent $15 rather than 13), but it’s becoming clear that we have to start doing something about heading off these foreign currency charges — which will hold true for cheques made out in Canadian dollars just as well as British pounds.
It was good to walk around Boston today. The sun was out and it wasn’t too cold for much of the day. It also gave me a chance to stretch my legs a little. In retrospect, if I had taken the bus to New York and walked around Central Park for 2–3 hours, I probably would be dead tired now; I’m really out of shape!
written while listening to Hindemith — Sonata for Harp — i. Mäßig schnell from the album “Harp Music by various composers ” by Andrea Steckermeier Thiele, Harp
