Thesis-ing

I'm at that odd point of working on a composition where you've given the work a lot of thought and you're at the point where the music itself (the actual notes on the page) is at it's genesis. It's a point in which you start thinking of large scale concepts, about what overall things will make the beginning, middle and end contribute to a satisfying whole... and it's really hard to do when you're dealing with a project that is supposed to represent a whole year of work.

The individual ideas and moments have been floating in my head for months now. I've done my research (ie. Listening) and I've developed an idea of what I want my mini-opera to sound like. Now I must sit in front of a piano and bang out my harmonic vocabulary.

Sometimes I wish I was working on a thesis that wasn't such a personal expression or a passion. Somehow it might be easier...

... Of course this might all be a little less annoying if I actually worked on my thesis often which would require the following things to not exist:

1) Kingston 1000 Island Cruises
2) The Need of Money
3) My Comfortable Bed
4) Arrested Development
5) Eating
6) Sleeping
7) A Phone
8) Battlestar Galatica
9) The Boiler Room
10) Alcohol

Of course if those things didn't exist... well what would inspire me to write?

Self-Motivating

Haven't updated in a while but I've been pretty busy between work and life and stuff. Charlotte's been up for the past few days which has been great and I've been getting enough shifts at work though I need more to make sure I actually put money away this summer. I have also bought a membership at the Boiler Room for the summer and have put it to good use so far. I forgot how much I enjoy climbing. It's one of the more interesting sports (if you can call it that) for it requires two people to do (at least the actual climbing a route part) but the success is all personal.

What I mean is that unlike many other sports, how you rate in comparison to someone else is unimportant. Climbing is one of those sports in which "success" is entirely based on beating your own limitations. It's not that there isn't a competition to Climbing but rather I guess the people I've climbed with choose not to treat it that way. It's one of the most rewarding feelings to be able to accomplish something you couldn't do before. A real sense of accomplishment and improvement. It's also amazing how if you beat your own record, it's really self-motivating, a real boost... But if you fail to exceed your own expectations it's quite devastating. I suppose in a way it's worse to loose to yourself then anyone else.

I wonder how much better people would feel if we didn't hold ourselves to a criteria set by others but rather only set out to exceed our own expectations. Of course, that idea is a pipe-dream, and not even a very good idea. With no competition would we actually bother to improve? Are humans self-motivated enough to bother to exceed their expectations?

In other news... My thesis still sits un-started on my shelf... Sigh...

Summer...

So... I guess summer has begun now. I've been up in Kingston since Sunday and have settled into the old routine of work followed by Margaritaville. It's been a pretty busy week doing the training for the boat lines. All the Managers this year are very involved with the training and so it's been keeping me pretty busy. I mean our meeting at Margaritaville Monday afternoon for 5 hours was tough! :)
Things have been good. Got in a rock climbing session after the 5 hour meeting and it was good to see that I can still do it though my body ached afterwards for 2 days. I think I'm going to get a membership because it's 12.50 a climb but only 130 for a summer membership. That means once you've gone 10 times you've paid for it. Even if I only go 1x week it's still a good deal. Plus since I work at the waterfront I could buzz down after or before work and do some bouldering on my own as well. I think in addition I may grab a new pair of climbing shoes as my old ones hurt my feet and when I buy a membership they'll give me 15% off the gear which isn't bad, no tax anyways.
Yesterday was a 14 hour day. Thankfully 2 breaks were spent at Margaritaville, but still a long day. Today is $4 drinks at the Merchant, followed by getting paid to take the Haunted Walk... Unfortunately it looks like it's going to rain. Tomorrow is the Wine Tasting seminar followed by a party at the Griz. Saturday I head into Toronto to see Sigur Ros with Laura and Ian and as well meet up with Haley for dinner, who I haven't seen since last summer.
Next week I plan to accomplish the unbelievable and begin writing my thesis proposal which I hope to have done at the end of May, then I'll have June to work on the actual music before my job takes over my life again. As well, Charlotte has a few days off work so she'll be up here visiting which will be fantastic .

Life is busy.... And old people are shitty tippers.

Lists:

Reasons I love Kingston (in no particular order):
1) Kingston Brewing Company
2) The Boiler Room
3) White Mountain
4) Waterfront Trail
5) Wolfe Island Ferry
6) Gusto
7) The QP
8) Chez Piggy
9) Hard Cider
10) Campus Bookstore
11) Pan Chancho Bakery
12) Beer with Friends
13) The Student Ghetto
14) Random Encounters with Friends
15) Margaritaville
16) Church Bells on the Hours
17) 24 Hour Walk Through McDonald's
18) Golden Gael
19) Backyard BBQ's

A Good Day for a Bike Ride

Taking advantage of the sun and an afternoon of spare time, I decided to go out and explore the farm lands around my house in Port Hope on my Bike. My parents have been here nearly two years and I always said I was going to do some biking so I plan to get that in this week before I move up to Kingston permanently on Sunday. Today was the perfect day for biking: the sun was shining, birds were singing, and there was a nice cool breeze. A combination of warm sun and cool breeze make for the best bike riding days, as you're warm but kept cool at the same time.

I decided to do a simple route, a square around the local area. Heading out of my subdivision and sliding along Marsh Rd, I enjoyed watching the farm fields being turned for the new season. I stopped at the rail crossing and watched a train pass and then continued up Dear Park Road over the 401 and through more farmland and onto highway 2. Highway 2 is quite hilly at that point but with relatively few cars it wasn't much of a challenge. I followed Highway 2 back to my subdivision. All and all it was a great day for a ride and a good replacement for time I would have spent on the treadmill. As well a good intro back into the kind of biking I enjoy doing on Wolfe Island in the summer. This summer I intend to conquer the longest bike trail on Wolfe as in the previous summers I did the short and mid-length one. The short one is only 18km, and the mid-length is 28km. However the large trail is over double at 58km. It makes the 11km route I took today seem kind of measly but as I said a good start to the season.

I do so enjoy biking.

Quality

I was over at my Charlotte's place tonight watching some "Kenny vs. Spenny" on DVD. That show is ridiculous but hilarious. The episodes I watched involved them trying to be figure skaters, impersonating women and being blind for 3 days. They do some pretty ridiculous stuff. Usually Kenny ends of being an absolute bastard which is hilarious.
As well I saw the movie "Thank You For Smoking". A quirky black comedy that is definitely worth seeing. As well I've been watching BBC's "Coupling" with Charlotte, which is also quite hilarious. Kind of like Friends, except every episode is written really well and entirely revolves around sex.
Tomorrow I move my crap to Kingston and I'll permanently move up there this Sunday to start work. This week will involve driving to and from Kingston. I'd move up there now but as I have no work I'd rather be in Port Hope with the gf.
I know this posting is kind of boring but I"m tired and don't care...
Anyways... I cut my hair short. Below is a stupid picture: