goat to the grass

"Chivo pal monte" is an expression we use here that means when you go back to your old ways, because it is instinct, because you are dumb, regardless a goat will munch on grass. We use it to talk about people repeating mistakes.

Well, I got burned last time I taught a young pretty lady clarinet and now I am helping a bunch of pretty young clarinet players, I taught one of them how to do the glissando in rhapsody in blue and she and the other I am teaching, I went to watch to cheer them on... after the show it is tradition for them to line up at the exit to greet the audience. Well, one of them ran at me and dived into my chest while the other one was also running calling my name, the one I taught rhapsody in blue has a boyfriend so that is ok and she was just screaming my name, the other one I don't know but it was the first time something like that happened to me in Japan, it felt good, specially since I got the coldest of shoulders from my last student(still getting ignored if I run into her)


honestly seeing our messages, they kinda give me the deja vu vibe, I have seen this sentences before and I don't know what to do this time. I guess I am the one making shit weird, they were probably excited that it went well for them(they played fucking great) to boot we now play together in the state student band for the march concert so more weird episodes to come.

Black Orpheus

I listened recently to Paul Desmond's solo on this tune so it is stuck on my head here, heck I even learned it... 

I worked a ton this month part time, so I decided to dump some of my earnings into a PS4 and witcher 3, I read the novels as well and honestly it is quite the weird comparison... but I guess a foreign student in Japan can identify with a monster killing mutant, the whole "I hate your guts but I need you to do this" comes through often. A year ago, a nurse that was going to Guatemala to do volunteering needed Spanish lessons, since it was for volunteering I taught her the basics... she still sometimes asks me for help regarding that and this time she told me "she wanted my brain" not the first time I hear them talking about how special I am for having the skills I got, be it engineering, clarinet or language as if I am some sort of magical snowflake that can do anything. I practiced decades(god damn I am old)  to get good at clarinet. I still study Japanese to this day. Finally, even though I do not study it as much as I did when I was little whatever proficiency I got in English was hard earned, I believe.

Putting that stupid rant aside, recently since my country and my region appears on the news often I have had the lovely opportunity to explain what the FARC are to people.

Now to move on to a little lighter talk, for people that know of my existence I am sort of the random man that practices clarinet in a hidden place, usually if someone is brave enough to show their face and ask me for a lesson I usually comply without trouble. Recently, a person that recently bought a clarinet came to see me and asked me if I could see them playing to see if they had any glaring bad habits, a clarinet is a very portable instrument so I wondered why they did not bring it with them, I get their LINE, later I we talk to arrange a date them  and suddenly I get told that the group they are in has an ensemble contest and they would like me to listen to it and give guidelines, of course since I was going there already and said I had time. I got swindled, instead of checking 1 person I gotta check 5.

I got a journal article to write and well lets see how that goes, next year I gotta decide my future in the Japanese job-hunting jungle let's see how that ends up.

Finding your way

Well last time I spoke  was a while ago, so I will line up things... I was doubting myself as a clarinet player not to long ago with the incident just read back, think I am finally ok with what happened to kinda make myself practice I signed myself up for a solo contest, lost on the first round but it was a lot of fun and met a lot of great people the comments from the judges were also very helpful on what to work on.

My research is also going better, it is showing promise at least and by the end of the year I think I can write to articles. I need 3 to graduate... before it didnt look possible at all but now it seems completely reasonable. I was requested to write one in Japanese by the end of September.

as I get older I become more of the mysterious clarinet player that is in a technical university, I already had one bad experience teaching someone... but to prove to myself I wouldn't let it get to me I started teaching someone else, we went to see a concert together and things got scary when I heard a lot of phrases I had heard before.

"I wish I had entered your school, you'd be there for me everyday" and the like

she is very honest about  improving and has no interest in me I believe, also messages me in the middle of the night with questions "how do I play this" etc. She has a lot of talent so if she keeps it up I am sure she will overtake me in no time. She is in a clarinet camp right now, wonder how real teachers compare to what I have been teaching her.

I have nothing to do in Obon, nowhere to go back to and everyone goes back to their own hometown so I asked a girl(thought I would get rejected) to eat a burger, strangely enough she accepted and it was pretty darn great I think. Her kickoff comment about me stung a bit though, "you never post sad things on your social media, but I bet you are the weak type that cries on their own." also learned that she has quite a lot of info on me, birthday, age etc. Honestly, it felt really good to get messages from the morning we went out, but man that comment stung.

pooh style

a lot has happened lately, another Niigata wind concert, lots of clarinetting... but today had an incident that just made me want to write it down.

I was at the convenience store, browsing suddenly I feel one of my hands is cold... a kid is holding my hand I look around for parents I look back again and the kid is wearing no pants or underwear and full of bruises and cuts, drenching wet... first thing that goes through my mind someone is gonna blame me for this soon as the store owner sees me I believe my life is fucked right there and then so I just buy a towel hand it to the kid and call the cops. Store clerk believed me after checking the tapes that I didn't come with the kid, seems he was lost and fell in a nearby river and wandered into that store. Left the issue to the police and went on with my day. My hand felt cold all day.