It’s Therapeutic, I Say

If increasing material possessions is indeed a vice, I lean towards Evita’s “better to win by admitting my sin, than to lose with the halo.” Shopping really is therapeutic for me, and right now I need it, even if a good part of that is window shopping. It’s been a really packed couple of weeks, performing with the Thailand Philharmonic organized by my uni, starting rehearsals with the Chulalongkorn University Symphony, making some practical efforts at planning and progressing my career, taking my CPU for repairs, and dealing with this bout of gastrointestinal whatever which really left me drained of energy.

I hope my leave is approved so I can go back to Penang to celebrate my birthday. There should be some sort of kickbacks for being reminded that one is getting even more ancient.

Popped by a new Macintosh shop. Man, Apples are just beautiful, they are. They defy all the new trends of increasing sharp edges of software and dark colors of hardware that the PC world generally conforms to. Soap white, with rounded curves and the basic interface that’s more charming than exacting. I know I’ll get a laptop eventually, if just to get away from lugging around the CPU of a PC whenever there’s a hiccup, but also for educational purposes with all the performance videos, MP3s, encyclopedias and whatnot. I’m itching for a iBook, but it’s still pricey, and with some doubts as to software compatibility with the rest of the world.

Also looking forward to music shopping next week – on the list is a set of quartet scores for functions/gigs. My older friends in Penang were always supplying the music and it’s about time I added to the available repertoire, even if I’m not playing with them anymore. I’ve also decided that the best strings for my viola are three Helicores and a Evah Pirazzi A, and off to a new branch of a strings store to get spares, and to take up their request to try out some new violas they’ve just brought in, while I’m there. Sadly for me but happily for my wallet is that the CD shops are woefully downsized in all areas, which means even more bad news for the classical selection – which, however, didn’t stop me from obtaining a copy of Beethoven’s 4th Symphony, Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks, Bach Orchestral Suites and another copy of Mozart’s Coronation Mass in the last week. The final one at an actual mass with the late Pope John Paul II, the Berlin Philharmonic, with Karajan. Plus the full score of all the Brandenburg Concertos.

If some things I’ve been working on pan out in the next week, I’ll splurge the 14 pounds to get a copy of the Peter Pan soundtrack which isn’t released anywhere in Southeast Asia.

Every musician wants to make some sort of lasting mark, and hopefully mine will be more than being the Imelda Marcos of the classical music world. :P

Kangadrew updated.