Mumbling on a Sunday

Just a grab bag of thoughts, no real coherent theme except perhaps ``real life and what transpired''.

First off, I'm off Facebook once again. This time, however, I'm going to keep the account ``live'', but just not log in to do anything. I've left a single post on my wall indicating the ways of contacting me, and if you are one of those people who come here from that post, congratulations and thank you very much for keeping in touch somehow.

With that out of the way, let's get back to what I intended to mumble about.

Not too long ago, I made a trip to Teck Seng's place (NTS to those who play the 笛子) to get a replacement for my G-key 梆笛. That poor 梆笛 of mine had been in service since 1993 or so, and I would've continued playing on it if not for the fact that it had developed an extensive network of cracks particularly around the 膜孔---the hole where the paper-thin 笛膜 is placed. That has, naturally, caused me great grief over the past few years as I had to keep replacing the 笛膜 ever so often despite having fixed the cracks by filling them in with super glue. I had wanted to go to Teck Seng's place to get a replacement for a long while, but Sifu's timing had always been off---it was always better to go over with Sifu because then there will be lots of interesting conversations about 华乐 and 笛子 construction in general, among other sundry; it's basically like a meet-up with old friends. The new bangdi that I got is a wonderful instrument---it played wonderfully at the rehearsal last night. It's sweet and nimble, and more importantly, accurate in tuning, with the ability to hit the highest E, F♯ and G, of which the last two notes are notoriously hard to hit with any old 梆笛.

I've also got a G-key 大笛, thus fulfilling one of the items in my shopping list items. This instrument plays with the same range as a regular concert flute, with the chief difference of the added ``buzzing'' provided for by the 笛膜. I like its material feel; the bamboo is dense and even, it felt solid to hold and had a solid tone that resonated well. The only [minor] defect was that it was a little top heavy---the headjoint would feel much better if around two to three centimetres of the bamboo were sawed off. But with a change of fingering technique to use a more ``open'' holding method (I was using the concert flute style of holding with the index finger ``shelf'' resting on the 笛子 body), the weight imbalance can be mitigated almost completely. I have great hopes for this lovely instrument, and am looking forward to the day where I get to use it for a piece in the orchestra. There are a couple of pieces where the use of the 大笛 is necessary, but those have been elusive in rehearsal these days due to the rebuild phase of the cycle. The day will come, I'm sure.

Recently too, I had a big surprise---I got promoted at work. I wasn't expecting it because in my mind, I didn't fulfil the time-dependent criteria that HR set out due to my time in and out of studying overseas. But I'm not complaining; I feel a little more mollified that my work is getting recognition officially. That's a good type of incentive. Now I'm just wondering if they will keep promoting me a la Peter's Principle or will they know where's the sweet spot that best meshes my interests, abilities and capabilities. Only time will tell for this one.

I have started reading S. and it is a very interesting piece of work, with all the sub-texts here and there complete with their own conspiratorial tendencies. Unfortunately, much of S. is of a tactile/haptic nature with a lot of feelies and false documents to further enhance the frame story, it is not a book that I can easily read while I'm on the bus or MRT. Because of that, I am also simultaneously reading The Illuminatus! Trilogy on my Nexus 10, having switched over from my Kindle DX just for variety. The Trilogy can also be loosely described as being somewhat ergodic in nature, with the simul-flow texts and slight time independence in which the concurrent events are sometimes described with, though it still maintains a relatively linear layout without the fancy typographic adjustments the way House of Leaves uses to heighten the emotive content it is trying to convey.

I have finished reading The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night just a few days ago, and it has been a wonderful journey of slightly more than a year through it. The stories are at times moralistic, sexy, and sometimes just pure comedy, and I feel a little sad now that it is all over. It is a different sense of achievement as compared to reading say the KJV. Incidentally, I have placed the NIV on my list of things to read, just to compare and contrast between that and the KJV to see how imagery and interpretation changes over time. I have also added the Saheeh International Translation of the Quran to my list as well---it serves as a good complement to 1001 Nights because a lot of the imagery and moral lessons highlighted in 1001 Nights are strongly steeped in Islamic practices. I think these will all be excellent reads in the future---just not right now. I've read too many epics and need a little break (the Dune series is an epic).

On a last note, I think I will have to break a promise I made with a friend over War and Peace. We don't even talk much anymore, and even if we did, we barely trade a dozen of words. Somehow, I don't even think my friend is going to ever read War and Peace, so I will just go ahead and do whatever I want.

I think that's enough mumbling for a Sunday. Till the next update.