Holidays are busy times, so sorry for the lack of posts. For now here are some photos of Teddy and his new friend Mia!
Art
Photo Blogging on Tumblr
I learnt last week that Tumblr is now the 9th largest site in America and that I should probably start using it to my advantage. As you know, I am no stranger to Tumblr. Teddy’s Tumblr was a very successful experiment that I will continue and I have one for doodles which I update very once in a while.
However, I never really had one that showcased any of my photography skills. My Flickr is also too jam packed with concert photos that nobody really knows I can take photos of other things. I have been posting my non-concert photo sets on this blog in the past (and will probably continue doing so), but if you can’t get enough photography I also now have a daily photo blog at tianafeng.tumblr.com.
Being An Imperfect Musician
I played piano today, and I enjoyed it. This was a statement I had not been able to say for a long time.
Over a year ago I had posted about rekindling my love for the instrument, but it never really happened. Life got in the way- or so I thought.
I blamed a lot of not playing on being busy, which I was with various internships. I also pushed the piano aside because Teddy (my precious little puppy) hated the sound and would howl whenever any instrument was played.
Though the above were contributing factors, none of them really explained why I was avoiding the piano. The truth was that in fourth year after a rather disastrous jury, I was tired and frustrated at the piano.
I am a big cognitive science junkie. In Levtin’s book This is Your Brain On Music he talks about how 10,000 hours of practice makes a great musician. I calculated that if I started piano when I was five and averaged about 2 hours a day since then (with the long hours in my advanced years evening out the early years and holidays) that it amounted to something like 12,410 hours. This was approximate number of hours I had spent at a piano from when I was 5 up to the day of my piano jury when I was 22 (I am currently 24).
It was disheartening having put in more than the required 10,000 hours and be far from “perfect”. This anxiety had caused me to be afraid of performing in front of other people. “What if I mess up?” was a constant worry during the hours spent in university practice rooms. The consequence of this unease was more intense practicing and the development of carpel tunnel (which I am happy to say I don’t have any more).
Today I sat at the piano without too much thought about it. I picked up a book of Chopin waltzes and simply started playing. I realized some of my strengths:
1. I am a great sight reader.
2. If I played a song once, my fingers will remember it forever no matter how long it’s been since I last played it.
Though imperfectly, it was nice to be playing again, especially the music of my favourite composer. Now that I am out of school (and finished RCM exams), I don’t have to be playing under the pretense of needing to be perfect or performing for somebody else. I can also explore pieces that excite me and not have to drill them to perfection. I want to continuously enjoy performing for myself. And for me, imperfect is okay.
Photoset: Thanksgiving 2012
Since last year, I’ve been cooking the family turkey for Thanksgiving. I did this year too.
Here are some random photos I took of food, teddy and fall scenery.
Turkey before:
Our house:
Turkey after:
We didn’t notice this sign until after:
Unplugged For A Day
As my previous post mentioned, I went to my uncle’s cottage last weekend. It was 3-4 hours up north, and a boat ride across the lake. I was surrounded by nature and 3G was sparse.
I previously wrote a post, Could You Give Up the Internet for $50 million? where I admitted that I could not give it up. However this weekend unplugged for a day I learned that I was able to (at least for a day). I also realized that there were benefits to it. It was stress-relieving. I didn’t need to constantly check my e-mail, think of what to tweet or give a damn about what my friends were posting on Facebook. I didn’t even have the urge to instagram photos of our BBQ’d food.
Instead I taught Teddy how to swim, went hiking and took some breath taking photos of my surroundings. The only time I did use my 3G was to download Sky Map, an app that names all the constellations in the night sky.
Though I will probably not quit social media or the internet, sometimes I wonder how much of the real world we’re missing as we sit in front of blinking screens.
It’s a big and beautiful world out there.
Photoset: Teddy Learns to Swim
This weekend we went to my uncle’s cottage. Teddy’s afraid of water but we threw him in anyways and apparently he swims. Here are some photos.
You can also follow Teddy’s adventures at teddydoggy.tumblr.com.
Cavalia’s Odysseo = Beautiful
For our anniversary, Nash bought me tickets to Cavalia’s Odysseo. I’ve never seen the original Cavalia so this was my first time at the horse-show. If you’re from Toronto, you’ve probably seen the ads with beautiful white horse everywhere: on the subway, the streets, even in online banner ads. Whatever they did definitely worked. It is the extended running of the show here and yesterday it was pretty much sold out.
The show took place inside the Cavalia tent situated near Cherry Beach. The stage was huge. It’s something like 27,000 square feet. It was elevated slightly so parts of the show would look like horses were coming at you from a distance. The visual aspect of the entire show was thought out ingeniously. The lights could change the ground from green grass to dry land, and could even create the illusion of a path. The background projected moving landscapes on screens that look like they could be 2 or 3 times the size of a regular movie theatre screen.
What I love most about the show is that the horses seemed happy. They were even allowed for moments of impromptu performance. The audience laughed in delight and how adorable it was. They applauded when it went the right way. It’s amazing how lovely they made a line of horses look. I also didn’t understand how some of the riders didn’t fall off when performing some of their tricks. There was plenty of rest between horse-tricks as well. African American dancers did plenty of neat tricks and interacted with the crowd. There was even some call and response singing to lyrics we didn’t know how to say! I later learnt that the group was part of the Kalabante which raises money to build schools in Guinea. Therefore part of your ticket is supporting a great cause.
Near the end of the show, the ground filled with water to create a lake where the horses splashed and danced majestically in the water. What I didn’t realize until halfway through the show was that the music was live! They had musicians in boxes at the top right and left of the stages, but it was only when they were purposely lit up that you could see them.
I loved Odysseo and it was definitely an anniversary to remember.
Photoset: Like A Cloud With A Face
Long weekend here in Ontario. The weather is lovely and not too hot, so I let Teddy run around outside. He’s so white and puffy that sometimes he can be like a little cloud with a face.
Check out the rest of the set on Flickr.
Related articles
Unappetizing Food Photos
I don’t know what it is about Jack Astors, but every time I attempt to take a photo of my meal, it ends up looking like slop. I’m not saying that the food there is slop, just the food isn’t too photogenic. For instance here is a photo of my half eaten scrumptious red velvet cake:
It was delicious, there was nothing inherently wrong with it, but no matter how hard I tried the photo I took turned out horrible. It looked like the mud pies you make as a child. It wasn’t even something I could instagram prettier. I didn’t think that could happen.
On another occasion I tried the Lamb Skewers entree. It came with hummus bread and a mini salad. This was the photo:
You might say “well hummus always looks like slop” but I had blogged about the hummus at By the Way Cafe previously and it didn’t look a thing like that. Not to mention the skewers look a bit like penis on sticks. Again, it wasn’t that bad of a meal just not very photogenic.
Have you ever run into a situation where you couldn’t show your delicious meal to your friends on Facebook because the photos were just horrible? I’d love to know!
Related articles
I Survived Woofstock [Photoset]
I finally had a dog that I could bring to Woofstock, so this was my first year. People and dogs of all types showed up. Dogs in dresses, dogs in strollers, dogs in purses. It was a day for your pup to be spoiled. Booths sold everything from modern dog houses, couches and other strange things. Here are some photos I managed to snap.
This dog looks like a lion:
Teddy got really tired so we had to carry him around. Look this painting kind of looks like him!
Teddy wasn’t very impressed we made him do this:
Someone dyed their poodles hair…
This is Teddy’s potential sibling. They were born on the same day!
Man, these dog cookies and donuts look so good I want to eat them!
Related articles
Tiana Feng 