Ah...work. Making money to spend it on other goods and services to fuel the economy- The ultimate goal of every responsible person in modern society. It is the culmination of years and money spent on pre-education, education, higher education, and everything in-between. It is the crowning achievement of our work through the days of our youth, and it is what the majority of our lives will be spent doing. Ah...work.
...but if my current job is the culmination of my Stanford years and my $180,000 education, then shoot me now. Unfortunately, because I'm just starting my taiko career...it's not quite off the ground yet. In fact...it's far from that. I'm not really getting paid yet for what I do, so I actually have to have a "real" job on the side to support myself until taiko can be my means of living. And that real job is quite a source of anxiety in my life.
I'm currently working at a law office in downtown Honolulu, and I thank Yoko (not sarcastically) for getting me this job (she works there too). The three lawyers that work in the office are all young and (for the most part) friendly, and the work itself isn't hard...it's just mundane. It's boring. It's repetitive. It's tedious. There are lot of things I have to remember (and I'm always forgetting) with every task I'm given. Copies need to be made and then initialed by the lawyers, and then copied again for filing. But only certain copies get the stamp that says, "file copy", and not all files get hole-punched to be filed away. Some copies get sent out and some copies get scanned and emailed. And for all the copies I make, I need to put in the times at which I made the copies for record-keeping. But when I stamp, email, send, fax, or file the wrong copy, I ruin the whole system. I'm sure you're having a ball just reading about all of these copies.
Work does consist of a lot of copying, but I also answer the phone and deal with crazy people (I work for divorce lawyers) that have such messed up problems that they really ought to be looking into the services of someone other than a lawyer. Ah yes...work.
So...in word, work kinda...sucks. But it is paying the bills, and to be honest, it has given me such an increased appreciation for taiko and for the pursuit of my non-conventional, currently-non-paying job. Perhaps some people like filing, making copies, and dealing with crazy people, but it's not for me- enlightening me more to how important it is to find a job you love. Do something you love, because having a job you truly enjoy makes for an enjoyable life. Work is, afterall, what we do for most of our adult lives. Why spend most of your life doing something you don't enjoy?
Friday, February 16, 2007
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Impulse Buy
So in my last post, I mentioned a workshop with the principle fue player of Kodo, Kaoru Watanabe. Now, I mentioned him, my workshop with him, and my interest in buying a fue. However, what I failed to mention was that he was also selling fue from a very good fue maker in Japan...
Now before I go any further, I know that you may be asking yourself, "What is a fue?" And that's a good question. A fue, is a Japanese bamboo flute, which is actually known as a shinobue (I believe "fue" is an abbreviation). The shinobue comes in a variety of sizes, each with a number on it. The higher the number, the higher the pitch. The most commonly used shinobues with taiko are sizes 6 and 8. The 8 happens to be in a C major scale, while the 6 is a whole step below that. Each number is actually a half step difference between the shinobue's with the next incremental and decremental numbers. Now, I may sound like I know what I'm talking about with all of this music talk, but I honestly don't really know much about notes, scales, and all that jazz. (no pun intended)
So...back to my story. Because I wanted to learn how to play the shinobue, or fue, I was completely set on purchasing one from Kaoru. However, the fue he had for sale were not cheap. The cheapest was $140, and they went up pretty high in price. Now, most fue that you find in Japan range between $50 and $100, so the "cheap" fue that Kaoru had were still great instruments. But of course, I wanted better. I was actually originally set on purchasing the $140 fue, but after hearing the difference between the $140 fue and the next level up, it was hard to justify the purchase of the cheaper fue. Additionally, I wanted to have a really good fue so that I wouldn't have to buy one in the future. I wanted one good one that would last me (hopefully) forever.
So, I went for the gusto.
After a lot of talking, trying out the different fue, and blowing the only two notes I could make into every size 6 fue he had, I subtracted $300 from my checking account, and I now have a very expensive piece of bamboo with holes in it sitting on my bed. =P Impulse buy indeed.
Now I really have NO excuse not to learn how to play the fue. I have a really nice one, and I also have a limping bank account. Indeed, it's time to practice.
Note: For those of you who I informed of my possible visit to Stanford for the Kenny Endo concert on the last weekend of February, that won't be happening now because the money that would've been used for the flight ($300) went to the purchase of this instrument instead. Sorry about that. And no, I did not choose a piece of bamboo over you. =P
Now before I go any further, I know that you may be asking yourself, "What is a fue?" And that's a good question. A fue, is a Japanese bamboo flute, which is actually known as a shinobue (I believe "fue" is an abbreviation). The shinobue comes in a variety of sizes, each with a number on it. The higher the number, the higher the pitch. The most commonly used shinobues with taiko are sizes 6 and 8. The 8 happens to be in a C major scale, while the 6 is a whole step below that. Each number is actually a half step difference between the shinobue's with the next incremental and decremental numbers. Now, I may sound like I know what I'm talking about with all of this music talk, but I honestly don't really know much about notes, scales, and all that jazz. (no pun intended)
So...back to my story. Because I wanted to learn how to play the shinobue, or fue, I was completely set on purchasing one from Kaoru. However, the fue he had for sale were not cheap. The cheapest was $140, and they went up pretty high in price. Now, most fue that you find in Japan range between $50 and $100, so the "cheap" fue that Kaoru had were still great instruments. But of course, I wanted better. I was actually originally set on purchasing the $140 fue, but after hearing the difference between the $140 fue and the next level up, it was hard to justify the purchase of the cheaper fue. Additionally, I wanted to have a really good fue so that I wouldn't have to buy one in the future. I wanted one good one that would last me (hopefully) forever.
So, I went for the gusto.
After a lot of talking, trying out the different fue, and blowing the only two notes I could make into every size 6 fue he had, I subtracted $300 from my checking account, and I now have a very expensive piece of bamboo with holes in it sitting on my bed. =P Impulse buy indeed.
Now I really have NO excuse not to learn how to play the fue. I have a really nice one, and I also have a limping bank account. Indeed, it's time to practice.
Note: For those of you who I informed of my possible visit to Stanford for the Kenny Endo concert on the last weekend of February, that won't be happening now because the money that would've been used for the flight ($300) went to the purchase of this instrument instead. Sorry about that. And no, I did not choose a piece of bamboo over you. =P
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Big Island Tour Update Coming Soon
So it's been awhile since my last post, and that is largely because I wasn't around for 5 days. In fact, I was quite far from any sort of internet access because I was on the Big Island of Hawaii (which is named, Hawaii). I was there not for vacation, but for a 5-day performance tour, which had a whooping 9 performances and 4 workshops on two sides of the island packed into a very short time. It was tiring, but fun at the same. I started writing my epic post describing my tour, and I reeeeally wanted to have that posted before any other post to keep things in Chronological order, but I realized that the amount of time it's going to take me to finish that post would just mean that you guys won't have anything to read for quite awhile. =P So, I caved in, and decided that I'll have smaller postings while I work on the big one, and just put that up when it's done.
So, things are getting busier over here. And it's actually not for taiko (unfortunately), it's with work. Yes, I finally have a real job of sorts, and I just started three days ago. I'm working at a law office, and it's in fact the same place that Yoko works at. I work part time (just three days a week on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday), and I honestly I couldn't take much more than that. My work consists of such enjoyable pleasures as filing, answering phone calls, making copies, shredding documents, and mailing documents. Joy. The saddest part is that I began contemplating to myself on the FIRST day how much of this sort of work I could stand before just totally losing it. Honestly, after having experienced this great taiko lifestyle for the past month (where I had no real job, and thus also no real income =P ) it's harder to entire the "normal" world. Especially doing this kind of work.
Despite the work being...well...(to put it bluntly) not fun, the three lawyers in the office (my bosses) are all really cool. They're all pretty young (probably in their mid thirties), and they're also really chill. They're relaxed about work, and even about showing up to work. They're very accommodating to my crazy taiko schedule and all of the performances I have, which is a real plus. They also buy me lunch sometimes too! =P
As far as taiko things are concerned. Taiko has actually been quite relaxed this week. We have two performances on the weekend (one being for the Pro Bowl), and Sensei has a concert on Friday with guests from Japan. I'll be helping out with the concert, which promises to be pretty awesome. It's being held at a small venue called the rRed Elephant (yes it has two r's in it), which seats about 150 people or so.
I actually had a fue (bamboo flute) workshop with one of the artists who will be playing in the concert on Friday, Kaoru Watanabe. Now, if you know me, I can't play a flute of any kind to save my life. However, I really want to learn, and since he was offering lessons for any skill level, I thought I'd give it a shot. So, I had my first lesson, and I was actually able to make sounds out of the instrument (definitely better than any of my previous attempts).
I had to sit seiza (the uncomfortable way of sitting where your knees are touching the floor and the lower part of your legs are under your thighs) during the whole lesson, and my legs not only fell asleep, but actually lost motor control and all nerve sensations because they had absolutely no blood in them. =P In fact, I could not physically move my left foot for several minutes after the lesson.
I learned that there are a lot of nuances to playing the fue in my lesson (including how to sit seiza for a long time), and although I'm terrible at it, and I've never done it before, I'm excited to learn and try it. In fact, I'll be purchasing a fue from Kaoru (a very nice one) so that I can practice on my own and really get proficient with the instrument. It's a way of putting myself in a position where I'm certainly not the strongest, and I'm willingly embracing that challenge- a challenge that will make me a better taiko player and a better musician.
So, things are getting busier over here. And it's actually not for taiko (unfortunately), it's with work. Yes, I finally have a real job of sorts, and I just started three days ago. I'm working at a law office, and it's in fact the same place that Yoko works at. I work part time (just three days a week on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday), and I honestly I couldn't take much more than that. My work consists of such enjoyable pleasures as filing, answering phone calls, making copies, shredding documents, and mailing documents. Joy. The saddest part is that I began contemplating to myself on the FIRST day how much of this sort of work I could stand before just totally losing it. Honestly, after having experienced this great taiko lifestyle for the past month (where I had no real job, and thus also no real income =P ) it's harder to entire the "normal" world. Especially doing this kind of work.
Despite the work being...well...(to put it bluntly) not fun, the three lawyers in the office (my bosses) are all really cool. They're all pretty young (probably in their mid thirties), and they're also really chill. They're relaxed about work, and even about showing up to work. They're very accommodating to my crazy taiko schedule and all of the performances I have, which is a real plus. They also buy me lunch sometimes too! =P
As far as taiko things are concerned. Taiko has actually been quite relaxed this week. We have two performances on the weekend (one being for the Pro Bowl), and Sensei has a concert on Friday with guests from Japan. I'll be helping out with the concert, which promises to be pretty awesome. It's being held at a small venue called the rRed Elephant (yes it has two r's in it), which seats about 150 people or so.
Flyer I designed for the concert
I actually had a fue (bamboo flute) workshop with one of the artists who will be playing in the concert on Friday, Kaoru Watanabe. Now, if you know me, I can't play a flute of any kind to save my life. However, I really want to learn, and since he was offering lessons for any skill level, I thought I'd give it a shot. So, I had my first lesson, and I was actually able to make sounds out of the instrument (definitely better than any of my previous attempts).
I had to sit seiza (the uncomfortable way of sitting where your knees are touching the floor and the lower part of your legs are under your thighs) during the whole lesson, and my legs not only fell asleep, but actually lost motor control and all nerve sensations because they had absolutely no blood in them. =P In fact, I could not physically move my left foot for several minutes after the lesson.
I learned that there are a lot of nuances to playing the fue in my lesson (including how to sit seiza for a long time), and although I'm terrible at it, and I've never done it before, I'm excited to learn and try it. In fact, I'll be purchasing a fue from Kaoru (a very nice one) so that I can practice on my own and really get proficient with the instrument. It's a way of putting myself in a position where I'm certainly not the strongest, and I'm willingly embracing that challenge- a challenge that will make me a better taiko player and a better musician.
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