Back and More

I’m really tired as I write this – it seems I’ve been tired a lot lately (lack of sleep perhaps due to the unusual hot nights we’ve been getting this week, etc.). Nevertheless, I wanted to try and update this blog before it got much more stale. And it was getting quite stale indeed. No crunch left at all. (See, I told you I was getting tired).

So what has happened in the past 3 weeks or so?

1. The rest of the trip went without any transportation problems (aside from a couple of hours on the runway at Laguardia, but from what I hear, that’s par for the course for most US travel this summer.)
2. I got to hear my Nominative Prelude: Castles in the Air played by the pianist to whom it was dedicated, Pat Plude, and it was a great experience. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard anything that I’ve written, and I’ve come to the conclusion that I have to try to write more music. It’s just a hard thing to do, requiring a lot of time and energy, so I think I’ll only do it, for the time being, unless I know I’ll get a performance. I have enough unperformed music (an Orchestral Tone Poem, a couple of chamber works – one for Violin, Viola and Piano, a short work for Piano, Celeste and Vibraphone, a study for 2 pianos that I wrote in college, and a half of a Chamber Opera – all that have never been heard outside of my mind or their notes banged out in a practice room or piano somewhere) to last me for quite a while, thanks.
3. I saw a few old friends at the Walden School Reunion, but surprisingly, the years that I attended (the late 70s) were somewhat underrepresented. I saw plenty of people who were older than I was by about 20 or 30 years, and also several who were 20 years my junior, but few who were my age. It made for a unique social situation.
4. I had a great time visiting my parents, and was able to enjoy some quiet hours surfing the web on their back deck. Warm, breezy afternoons in the shade with hummingbirds and wi fi, as well as gourmet meals (both out and at home) are what I will remember the most from this trip.
5. That missed opportunity on the road was yet another of those times in life where you think you’ve missed the boat, only to find a much better vessel float in behind it. Yes, another opportunity presented itself a week and a half ago. I had an interview at IBM (yes, that IBM) for a 6-month contract as an Information Architect/UI Designer. There was a message from them in the affirmative before I made it home from the interview (!). A new record, the guy at the agency placing me said. So in about 11 days, my life changes significantly, as I say good-bye to my current part-time employer, and hello to a new contract in Burnaby. It’s a bit of a distance from here (about an hour’s commute on the buses and skytrain). Hopefully I’ll be able to use that time to catch up on podcasts and books on tape. Too bad that I can’t compose on the skytrain. I think I’ll dedicate my next blog posting to my old employer, who deserves some mention (I’ve always been really careful about the work vs. personal life vs. loud murmur thing.)
6. We celebrated Canada Day this year with some (temporary) tattoos of the Maple Leaf (see above). We’ve even had a chance to celebrate my new contract with a lovely dinner at Bridges with a view of the sunset.

Have I gotten caught up? Well, a few other things:

In 4 days, we’ll have been living in British Columbia 2 years. We took out a 2-year mortgage on this condo, so with any luck, we’ll be all paid-up in about 6 days. We haven’t thought about a mortgage burning party (It sounds so wonderfully 1960-ish, doesn’t it?) but maybe we’ll do that.

The time spent traveling truly showed me that I do indeed belong here in Vancouver. Despite some nice experiences on my trip to the Eastern US, I did really miss this place, and was extremely happy to return to the beautiful city and mountains I now, without any doubt, call home.