Music For Gong Lovers And The Like
Finally, a window of time has opened up for me to make this announcement on my blog. I’ve been helping to organize my orchestra’s summer concert. The management crew even dubbed me as Concert Manager. Yikes! The truth is, I volunteered. So far it has been a fun learning experience and a royal time consumer, which only adds to my madness of juggling or trying on too many hats.
When I started with the TT Orchestra at the end of February 2009 I could barely remember how to read alto clef and my finger tips would ache after 15 minutes of playing. Playing music again has been so rewarding. I forget the stress that comes with life in a foreign country. The musicians are not only fun to hang out with (I get to use both English and German languages!), I can learn from and relate to them even though we come from very different backgrounds. All this has made it easy to over look the energy it has taken to come to where I am now musically. I’d like to be better in many ways but for the time being I’m content. I believe the orchestra and singers have a bright future ahead of themselves. Strangely, there isn’t one nervous bug inside me about playing 50 minutes of music and switching between alto and treble clef for our next concert.. but perhaps I’m too preoccupied with other things at the moment.
So let me get you caught up with a little Q&A and invite you to see us play, er, perform:
WHAT is the TT Orchestra & Singers?
The TT Orchestra & Singers is an English-speaking, amateur orchestra and choir based in Munich. Not only drawn from a mix of expatriates and internationals living and working in Munich but also native German speakers who enjoy mingling with global minds. Our moto is simply FUN, FUN, FUN! We strive to provide a friendly and relaxed environment to anyone who may have just started learning an instrument, have been playing or singing for years, or haven’t played or sung in years.
WHEN and WHERE is the next gig?
Saturday, July 17th 2010 at 8 PM. Save the date and book your tickets!
We are performing in the Carl-Orff-Saal at the Gasteig, Rosenheimer Straße 5, Munich.
WHAT can I expect?
TT Orchestra & Singers presents its 2010 Summer Concert entitled, “Summer Collection for the Common Man” with music from
- Aaron Copland: »Fanfare for the Common Man«
- Ludwig van Beethoven: »5th Symphony, Op. 67, 1st Movement«
- Howard Shore: »Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings Suite«
- George Gershwin: »Rhapsody in Blue«
- Queen: »Bohemian Rhapsody«.. and much more!
Members of the Munich Ladies Choir will be joining us on the Carl-Orff-Saal stage to celebrate the love of music. Our summer concert culminates our musical efforts over the last 7 months of weekly rehearsals and bi-monthly sectionals.
HOW can I help?
Simple: come to our concert and let us entertain you.
This season will be the first time the TT Orchestra & Singers will charge to see our concert. Boo, yeah I know. You wouldn’t believe what it costs to produce a one-night performance even with 80 volunteer musicians, singers and organizers. Eventually we’d like to subsidize ticket prices with sponsorship support but for now tickets, while trying to keep them affordable for our wide audience, are available from www.muenchen-ticket.de, start from 8 Euros. München Ticket offices are located at the Gasteig, Marienplatz, the Hauptbahnhof, and Olympia-Eissportzentrum.
There are plenty of tickets still available, which makes me nervous, but there is still time to encourage friends and acquaintances. It should be a really fun evening for everyone!
If you’d like more information on how you can help or if you’d like to join us, visit www.tt-orchestra.de
PURCHASE TICKETS HERE: www.muenchen-ticket.de
happy with acupuncture
This post should have been published several months ago if I ever got around to do it. The thing is since January 2010 there was nothing related to my knee injury to nag me anymore about this personal obligation I felt I had to write this post. I actually got on with my life.
Honestly I probably would have lived with post ACL surgery pain for the rest of my life and let it leak out hisses of fun like an invisible hole in an inflatable raft. As each month goes by I realize how fortunate I am to have visited Paul De Lucia’s new acupuncture practice. Now I’m able to keep all of my fun.
Sure I was a bit skeptical then. I mean, why does my health insurance company find it inconclusive that acupuncture is a formidable type of pain alleviating treatment? I listened to the puzzling explanation about Qi and although it still is a mystery to me it didn’t seem too far fetched considering it is noninvasive and the practice has been traced back to the stone age. With so much history, there must be some merit to it and the big plus -there are no side effects. Western medicine has a hard time claiming this.
What convinced me to go ahead with this mysterious procedure was most definitely the thorough time Paul De Lucia took to have a dialog with me about my history and describe the fascinating procedure of an acupuncture treatment and general Chinese medicine. Alex sat in on the consultation as well. Despite my mental aversion to needles, I was not only curious but put at easy with the attentiveness Paul gave to me. I could tell he was really interest in helping me and not rush me out the door. This was a refreshing change to the typical pace of a regular doctor’s visit. And what about the needles? – they turned out to be no sweat.
The needles are so thin I didn’t get queasy at all. Once the needle was inserted there is a teeny pinch (way milder than getting your finger pricked for a blood sample) and at a certain point a tingling sensation radiated from that point, a rather interesting experience. Twenty minutes later the needles were out and I could rub my scar with some force without any feeling of pain or sensitivity as before. I was, and still am, amazed.
Will I visit an acupuncturist again? Definitely, it’s just a shame Paul doesn’t live in Munich. Like most physiciansm, no two are alike so when I do visit another acupuncturist I know I want him/her to have similar traits as Paul. Now I know what to look for.
If you are in the Tampa/St.Petersburg, Florida area do stop by to see Paul because there are a whole range of health concerns that acupuncture has been effective in treating, just visit Paul De Lucia’s Acupuncture website. A million heartfelt thank yous to Paul for his healing care!
Paul De Lucia, AP, DOM
7235 Central Avenue
St Petersburg, FL 33710
Office: 727.345.7770
in case you are lost, rewind the last couple of years
Ping and Paul De Lucia with Alex and their son on Clearwater Beach
Just to recap: I tore my anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in my left knee on February 14, 2007 during an Ultimate Frisbee tournament in Erlangen, Germany. After some conservative healing and physical therapy, I opted for surgery in October later that year. My surgery involved an autograft of my semitendinosus tendon, the largest of the four hamstrings. Healing was slow and steady and a year after my surgery I could say with confidence my knee was just as stable as before.
My only complaint was a dull, achy pain in and around the two deeper scars (the longer tibia scar and a short scar just to the side of the knee cap), which were very sensitive to pressure. The pain would worsen with prolonged walking, cycling, and of course, jogging. A friend suggested I use a suction bell to work the scar tissue, which, with the combination of strength training, helped for times when I walked around the city but jogging was always a problem for me. After a 30-minute run I’d come home almost in tears. It baffled me that Ibuprofen didn’t offer any pain relieve. Deep down, I knew I needed to find something else or learn to live with the pain.
So being the doctor-shy, needle-phobic person that I am, I lived with it for awhile.. er, say another year. The rewards that sports gave me were always a bit soured by this post surgery discomfort. Most people I know who have had knee related injury or surgery talk of their joints not being the same afterwards. Why should I be the exception? Now I am glad I’m feeling more like I am one.
Maybe relief is in sight for some pain suffers. There is work being done to scientifically quantify the positive results of acupuncture.
Promise spring, then I know you are a liar
But who cares if you are a liar or not, this is my 400th published post, according to wordpress. Well I’m sure I teetered over this mark several times before but with the recent demotion of several entries of nonsensical blabbery I’m confident I have reached four hundred posts chronicling my life in Germany and related adventures. I can’t believe I reached the 400th post and yet there is so much more I have to understand and discover about this expat life. I still don’t know the significance of this marble monolith in my neighborhood. I keep waiting for monkeys and Richard Strauss’s Also sprach Zarathustra to echo from the sky.
I’ve decided to dedicate this post to my host city, Munich. She has given me so much to look back on and so much to look forward to. Even in the waning hours of winter, there is beauty at every angle.
In 400 posts I learned a new language yet I hardly ever write with it. It’s no longer a problem for me to interchange between English and German when speaking and reading, if I don’t get too disappointed how slow my comprehension for the deeper meaning is, it is getting better with each book. Why don’t I try to embarrass myself now?
Ich weiß, dass es viel zu viel Zeit gibt, wenn ich dumm herumsitze und genieße mein fremdes Leben überhaupt nicht. Es ist nicht, dass ich traurig bin sondern, dass ich nicht in Deutschland mein Beste bin. Schau diese Kommas an. Ich weiß nicht, ob sie richtig oder falsch sind und das macht mich entsetzt. Dann blöderweise verlange ich nach dem alteren Leben. Warum? Innerlich bin ich eine Jammerin! Wie die deutsche Sprache kann das Leben auch schwer sein. Das bedeutet aber nicht, dass wir die Freude nicht finden könnten, sogar wenn sie unter Schnee lag. Langweilig ist das Leben eben nicht und das bringt mir Spaß. Alle brauchen eine “weh mir!” Pause aber irgendwann ist die Pause zu Ende.
My favorite spots are along the Isar. I don’t get out much when it’s below minus 3 degrees Celsius. That is my limit and my nose starts to protest, not bad for a Floridian. On this day it was minus one and higher in the sun. Isn’t it pretty, even without a speck of green? I know that the Bringer of Spring can’t hold out forever. At some point in time he or she will have to get his/her natural tan on, make the sidewalks safe to bicycle and Rollerblade -paint this city green and pastel again.
Click below for more photos of Munich in late winter.
dappling of shade
Mr. Progagation Green House
It was time to invest in a decent greenhouse or Anzuchtschale (as apposed to old Langnese ice cream tubs) and some sterile soil since last year my babies took a bit too long to get ready for the balcony chaos. For 12 Euro I got this plastic greenhouse at Samenhaus.de and 20 pellets from coconut husk.
We will be again trying to grow flowers, an herb garden and see if we can’t increase our yummy tomato and baby pumpkin yields this year. The flower seeds going into the greenhouse will be Portulakröschen or moss rose because we’ll need flowers that tolerate my forgetfulness. The next dry loving plant is the African Delosperma – Hardy ice plant or in German, Mittagsblume. I seem to get along well with succulents. The more attention seekers will be the Violets/Pansies (but I’ll call them violas, yay! in German: Hornveilchen) and the blue Forget-me-nots or in German, Vergißmeinnicht. We’ll see if I remember the names in both languages. I was very mindful that this year none of these flowers reach a high above 15 cm and cause our neighbor below to birth a cow at my front door.Whether the sage, thyme, lavender, and oregano survived this year’s winter is still up in the air. I know I killed my jalapeño two weeks ago by accident after I left it in freezing temperatures on the balcony over night so its seed brothers are going under the dome along with more cilantro, thai basil, and tarragon. I hope this year will be plentiful.
