Anyone Can Play Music

Have you ever wanted to play a musical instrument and thought that you were too old to learn? Do you think your child is too young to play anything decent? Here are a couple of videos to prove you wrong!

A darling young boy playing the drums:

An old man playing music on a piece of leaf!

As you can see, music is for people of all ages and transcends language. You can see the twinkle in the old man’s eyes as he performed and the laughter in the boy’s face as he was playing.  My favorite part of the boy’s video is how he was laughing even when the drum stick slipped out of his tiny hand.  If you enjoy what you are doing, you will make beautiful music.

I played the piano for many years and quit just before my grade 9 piano exam. I had a great albeit strict teacher who made me practice any performance or examination song forward and backward (yes, backward); she also took advantage of my left-handedness and my obvious tendency towards deep sounding or depressing music, so she made me play a lot of Chopin and Liszt, both of whom I was very fond of.

Several years after quitting, I lived with a friend for a few months who liked jamming on his guitar. I would try to play along, but as I studied classical piano and music theory and not jazz music, it was very difficult for me as I was never taught to improvise. Some people have musical talent. I don’t. However, I learned that it is much easier to learn the songs that I love, so I started trying to learn songs from my CD collection. I must have ADD when it comes to learning music though, because I usually can’t learn an entire song before I get bored and move onto the next. Here is a list of songs I can/could play on piano ever since I stopped playing Royal Conservatory type music:

• Songs by Tori Amos

1. Beginning to the chorus of Winter
2. Most of Horses
3. Beginning of Happy Phantom
4. Beginning of Cooling (the first song I tried to learn completely by ear — usually I get at least some chords to work with)
5. Simplified version of China (because I couldn’t bother to learn to play it properly)
6. Simplified version of Putting the Damage On
7. Simplified version of Hey Jupiter
8. Parts of Spark
9. Half of Jackie’s Strength
10. Bit of Northern Lad
11. Half of Pandora’s Aquarium
12. Her version of Angie (Rolling Stones)

• Radiohead

1. No Surprises (I was forced to learn the whole song because other people needed me to play it properly … and it was quite easy to learn this)
2. My version (i.e. simplified) of Fake Plastic Trees

• Ben Folds (Five)

1. Bits of Brick (too hard to sing and play this at the same time)
2. Cigarette (the first complete pop song I’ve ever learned — go figure that it’s less than 2 minutes long!)
3. A dodgy version of Smoke
4. Evaporated (this one was pretty easy, I have to admit)
5. Half of The Luckiest
6. Fred Jones, Part 2 (as this was the second part to the story from Cigarette, I HAD to learn it and it was quite easy)
7. Parts of Annie Waits

• The Cure

1. My version of Love Song, which totally does not do the song justice

• Smashing Pumpkins

1. Everything but the chorus on Crestfallen
2. Stumbleine (on guitar)
3. Cherry (on guitar)
4. Soothe (on guitar)

I’m kind of shocked as I make this list to find that it’s much longer than I thought, but as you can see, I’m not terribly good at finishing a song.  I’m a little too impatient, but when it’s a song I love, I find a way to play it, such as the songs that required a guitar; I sneaked out my parents’ guitar from the 70s and learned those songs while hiding in a closet.  The guitar, however, mysteriously broke one day.  Maybe the closet gnomes didn’t enjoy my playing.

It amazes me when I see people doing cover songs on Youtube, and they get every note right for the entire song.  Me, I want to learn a cool part of the song and move on to something that’s simple enough but not overly repetitive to me.  I wish I can do that one day, but I need to buy a piano, or at least a keyboard, first.  When I get my hands on my own piano, I am going to learn some jazz piano and improvise at least half decently!

What do you enjoy doing? Do you have an instrument you play around on?

V-Day, Chinese New Year, Anniversary, and the Olympics. Oh My!

This was an event-filled weekend for me, even though I really didn’t do much.

Anniversary, Chinese New Years, and Valentine's Day

As you all know, yesterday was Valentine’s day.  As I described in this post, the tulips were my V-day present to myself.

The tangerines are from my parents to celebrate Chinese new year, which was also on Valentine’s day.  We went to their place for new year’s eve dinner on Saturday and also went to dim sum on Sunday, where we saw a lion dance at the restaurant.

I made a video of the lion dance and was hoping to show it online, but the file size is too large.  It was a decent lion dance; the interesting thing is that one of the lions were made more modern with blinking LED lights covering the eyelids and various patterns all over the body.

Although I only made a video of that lion, I captured the second lion in a photo (shown below) while it was dancing around getting red pockets (i.e. tips) and bringing luck to each participating table in the restaurant.

Today is also the first year anniversary of my and my husband’s marriage.  We completely forgot about this, but my mother-in-law kept and froze the top of the wedding cake for us.  We are in the process of eating it.  It still looks as pretty as it was a year ago.

I don’t have much to say that’s inspiring about all this.  I am just thankful to be able to celebrate life.

Lion dance at a Chinese restaurant in Richmond Hill

To be honest, I spent most of this weekend watching the Winter Olympics.  I was so happy when Alexandro Bilodeau won his gold medal in freestyle skiing.  I loved seeing how ecstatic his brother was.  It was also great to see how happy Bryon Wilson from USA was for getting the bronze medal, which was in stark contrast to how unhappy Dale Begg-Smith, who is a former Canadian and came in second, looked on the podium. Great sportsmanship Mr. Wilson!

I also watched the female speed skaters and while I don’t love the Canadian team’s uniform (why oh why must it look like some weird S&M strappy get-up with saran wrap shorts over the uniform?), I love all three ladies on our team.  Congratulations to Kristina Groves for getting bronze in the 3000m.   Martina Sablikova was fierce though; it’s easy to see why she is a favorite.

Anyway, go Team Canada!

Celebrate Valentine’s Day in 5 Inspiring and Meaningful Ways

Aside from this blog, I also write for Associated Content.  Usually I use it to write articles that are off topic for the inspirational theme of this blog, but I have an article on there that focuses on celebrating Valentine’s day in more meaningful ways, especially since the original celebration on February the 14th was not meant to be a celebration of romance but on the life (or lives, depending on if you focus on one or several saints) of Saint Valentine.

Please take a look.  The article is meant for everyone, whether you are attached or single.  I was struggling with whether to post it on here or on Associated Content, but eventually I made my decision based on the fact that I have a larger audience on there at the moment and I think that the article should be read by as many people as possible.

You can view the meaningful ideas for Valentine’s day here.

Happy Valentine’s day and Happy Chinese New Years everyone!  And in case I can’t post tomorrow, Happy Half Price Off Chocolate Day for February the 15th!

Valentine’s Day – A Day to Love … Yourself?

Valentine’s day is today! This is the first year ever where I had to go to a mall or a shopping district just before February 14th, so I was a bit shocked to find that all the shop windows are a blur of pink and red as I drive by.

My biggest shock was on Friday afternoon, as I walked past Tiffany’s at Yorkdale Mall. There was a line up of men waiting to go into the store, and there wasn’t a sale as far as I can tell. It took me by surprise, as I’ve never seen such a sight before. I couldn’t contain myself and laughed heartily as I walked by. Maybe they thought I was nuts, walking and laughing out loud all by myself, but I couldn’t help it.

An hour later, I walked by Tiffany’s for the second time. Again, there was a line up; this time, there were a couple women in line too.  I was expecting the line up, so I only chuckled quietly to myself. I don’t think badly of these men, I just find the scenario extremely amusing. While I love jewelry, I personally don’t think Valentine’s day warrants an extravagant gift like that.  Obviously, that’s just me.  I only wish that I took a picture of the line up for this post.

How about if we just do something nice for ourselves instead this Valentine’s Day? If everyone is nice to themselves, no one will be left alone.

To celebrate Valentine’s day, I got myself a bunch of mini tulips — my favourite flowers in my favourite colours. I am married, but who says that I can’t do anything nice for myself?

They didn’t fit into a single vase, so I had to split them up. The apartment finally looks like a woman lives here!

My Valentine's Day Gift to Myself

It was a spontaneous gift; I was actually getting a bag of cactus soil.  The purchase of the cactus soil was also a spontaneous decision after bringing my husband’s mouth guard to him because he forgot it at home.

Because of various situations that I didn’t plan for, I spent the day doing nothing from my original to do list.  Instead, I caught up with something that I love doing.  All in all, I enjoyed my day.  The apartment is still messier than I like, but I created some pretty things that I will show you soon!

What did you do for yourself this Valentine’s Day? Please leave a comment, I’d love to hear about it! ♥

My Journey to a Diagnosis of Silent Acid Reflux and an Inspirational Twist

(Illustration: Jared Rodriguez / t r u t h o u t)

For the last 3-4 years, I felt as if I have a lump in my throat constantly. I can’t cough it up and it won’t go away no matter what I do.

Each time I brought it up with my doctors, they asked if I can swallow. As I have had the issue for at least a year before I remembered to ask a doctor about it, my response was, “Of course I can swallow, otherwise I’d have died of starvation by now”.

Smart alec aside, I grew increasingly concerned, but the doctors I went to were not because, as one doctor told me, “if you can swallow, then it’s not cancer.”

My original doctor, who I’ve been with for over ten years, seemed to think it was related to asthma, which he diagnosed a few years before, even though I was never tested and an allergy specialist suspected that I don’t have asthma.

My next doctor was young and enthusiastic. She thought that I had nasal drip. I was 99% sure that wasn’t the case, but did not press the issue; she was the doctor afterall. She gave me a nasal spray to try, and asked me to use it every night until it was done. It lasted for about a month, and not surprisingly, it did not work. After I told her that I forgot to spray for about two days at the end, she insisted that I do it again properly.

Since I heard that overuse of nasal spray is bad, I was fairly certain that I did not have nasal drip, and I thought that missing the dose for two days out of an entire month should not affect the outcome, I decided against it. It didn’t matter as my time with this doctor was short-lived, thanks to receptionists who were unable to answer the phone for weeks on end.

A few months ago, I finally found my current doctor (I will post about the experience of trying to find a doctor in Toronto soon). She tried to ask about nasal drip, but I made it very clear that the trial with the previous doctor did not work. She sent me to an ENT specialist, who, upon hearing my symptoms, said I have classic symptoms for (silent) acid reflux.

On Monday, he looked at my throat with a little camera; the swelling at the back of my voice box confirmed his suspicion.

Now, you may ask, where is the inspirational twist in this story?

It is in the first time I have ever heard of silent acid reflux.

In 2007, I went on a cruise with my husband, who was my boyfriend at the time. I sat in a lounger on the lido deck, ready to absorb some Vitamin D. My throat had been feeling closed off all morning, and just as I was thinking about how annoyed I felt about the lump in my throat, the wind blew open a magazine that someone left on the table next to me.

Now, I normally don’t touch other people’s things, even if they are obviously left behind to be thrown out or used by others. This time, however, something told me to read the article the wind blew to. The article was written by a woman who was misdiagnosed for years before finding out that she had silent acid reflux.

I was very excited to read it, as the symptoms fit me completely. The author even talked about her chronic fatigue and how it was due to the untreated silent acid reflux.

“That’s me!” I yelled as I shoved the magazine into the space between my boyfriend’s face and novel. He looked at me as though I was crazy — more so than usual — and said that I shouldn’t jump to conclusion.

At that moment, I knew in my heart that this diagnosis made the most sense. Afterall, acid reflux is a common ailment. The probability of having silent acid reflux is certainly much greater than many other diseases and disorders that cause “a lump in the throat”, most of which are rare, especially for my age and gender.

But…

My boyfriend/husband was doubtful.

Three consecutive doctors could not come up with this possibility. When I brought it up, they too seemed doubtful as they said “well … it’s possible, but it could also be x or y” and quickly moved onto the other possible ailments.

So I didn’t believe, and I forgot about the possibility. In other words, I doubted myself.

If I had just listened to my heart and been more assertive instead of expecting that the answer could only come from an external source (i.e. doctors), maybe I would have had the answer sooner. Maybe I wouldn’t risk permanent damage to the tissues in my throat.

What I learned from this is that things sometimes happen for a reason, and we should not ignore signs that at times literally fly into our faces. We should listen to and trust our intuition a little more.

Lastly, the author simply wrote an article. Perhaps it was nothing groundbreaking and didn’t win any award, but it landed beside me on that fateful morning and opened my eyes. Because it also acted as a sign, it opened my mind as well.

To me, the woman is an inspiration, but she will never know.

This woman could be anyone. She could be you.  We could all be an inspiration to another person, unbeknown to us.   You may not get any tangible reward from this, but believe that it is true, and live your life accordingly.

Stand Up to Cancer with Jim Parsons

Stand Up to Cancer has a mission to end cancer, and Microsoft and Xbox are working together with Stand Up to Cancer in a campaign to promote the fight against cancer.

The campaign is for a noble cause, so it is to my delight to find that Jim Parsons, the actor playing my favorite TV character Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory, portrays 30 different characters in the music video “Up 2 You + Me”. Song and video are created by the Selwyn brothers.

He looks good as “the hipster”, but my favorite characters are “the hairy guy who keeps hitting on you at the bar”, “the girl with the muffin top”, and finally, the Speedo.

If you’d like to see what Stand Up to Cancer is about, please click here. Various things you can do to help include writing to congressmen, starting an Ebay auction, starting or joining a Stand Up to Cancer team, educating yourself, and making a monetary donation.

The first and foremost thing that you can do, however, is take care of yourself. If we all take care of our bodies and strive for a healthier lifestyle, we can minimize the risk of cancer. We may not eliminate cancer completely, as some things in life are unavoidable, but reducing the risk of cancer is the best gift you can give to you and your family.

Lost Generation: A Brilliant and Creative Video

A friend sent this to me today. I thought I’d share:

A palindrome reads the same backwards as forward. This video reads the exact opposite backwards as forward. Not only does it read the opposite, the meaning is the exact opposite.

This is only a 1 minute, 44 second video and it is brilliant. Make sure you read as well as listen…forward and backward.

This is a video that was submitted in a contest by a 20-year old. The contest was titled “u @ 50” by AARP. This video won second place. When they showed it, everyone in the room was awe-struck and broke into spontaneous applause. So simple and yet so brilliant. Take a minute and watch it.

I love the creativity in the writing. Upon study, it doesn’t look hard, but someone obviously needed to think outside the box to come up with the idea.

Inspirational Amateur Photographs Stun Astronomers

Have you ever thought that you could never be big enough do something that you are passionate about?

If so, you need to build up your passion!

Peter Shah is a 38 year old amateur astronomer who is has been passionate about astronomy since the age of seven.  Thanks to his dedication, he has taken stunning photos of the universe with an eight-inch telescope that he set up in his garden shed — hardly the multi-million dollar equipment used by professionals astronomers.

The photos are breathtaking and include pictures of nebula and galaxies. You can find some of the photos on Shah’s website.

Shah did not have an unlimited budget. This is not his full time job. He doesn’t even live in a country that has the clearest skies on most nights.

What Peter Shah lacked, he made up for in passion, patience and persistence.

“I had to be patient and take the images over a period of several months because the skies in Britain are often clouded over and you need clear conditions,” said Shah, according to a Telegraph.co.uk article.

Before seeing these photos, most people would have thought that taking such amazing photos of the universe should be left to the professionals.  Who are we, afterall, but mere citizens of the world with no government funding?  Most people would have thought that stargazing meant driving a few hours away from the city to watch the night sky on a Saturday night, not getting the best telescope they can afford and spending years studying the skies on their own.

For the majority of the world, achieving what Peter Shah did and having a book of photograph collection of your passion and achievement are only dreams.  For people like him, it is an exciting life accomplishment that is attainable.

So I ask you, what are your passions?  What do you want to do so badly that you are willing to sacrifice time, energy, and money?

Kindness Can Still Be Found in Toronto

I hear Toronto is considered a cold city, and I don’t mean the temperature.  We are not known for our kindness. In fact, it was even used by Coors Light in an ad slogan, until some Torontonians complained and they decided to pull the ads.

Photograph by: Steve Bosch, Vancouver Sun

Great. Now we will probably be dubbed The Humourless Ones on top of being arrogant, rude, and unkind.

Despite what is said about Toronto, our city has its fair share of kind people too.

On Tuesday evening, I was on my way to meet a friend to watch a debate panel about the concept of time.  It was one of the few times that I took the TTC, and I had all my coins ready for the subway fare filled to the brim in a film canister — all in quarters, nickels, and dimes.

Just as I feared, as I carefully took the lid off the canister, the dimes made a quick escape.

“Oh great,” I thought. “I’m not about to block a bunch of people to pick up eighty cents. I guess I’ll just put in a five and ask for change.”

I was about to keep walking.  The woman behind me impatiently pushed her way past as the coins were still spinning around.

In front of me, however, was a man who looked to be in his twenties.  He did not look like he had much.  He turned around when he heard the scattering coins, walked back and wordlessly began to pick up my coins. I couldn’t just stand there, so I started collecting what I could find too.

We made a few jokes with one another, I thanked him for helping, and he kindly offered me a chocolate bar, which I politely declined.  I bid him a good evening as I started counting my fare; he went on his way.

I stood there for another minute or so to count out my fares again (thanks for the fare increase, TTC!).

Eventually, I got the right amount to put in the fare box.  As I got to the bottom of the next escalator, I looked up and notice that the same man was taking the escalator back up to where I was, while counting coins in his hands.

I may be mistaken, but it looked like he was going back up to help me pay my fare after noticing that I didn’t come down to the subway platform.

I was all the way at the bottom by that time and couldn’t tell him that I got through. Besides, it might have been a bit presumptuous on my part to think he went back for me.

However, it goes to show that some people in Toronto are kind and helpful.  Like I said before, this man really didn’t look like he had much, but he seemed willing to help with what little he had.  I am so thankful that there are still people like him among us.

Introduction

Hi! My name is Macy.  I’m a twenty-something year old residing in Toronto who has been in the environmental/civil engineering field for about eight years.  My desire to write is getting strong, however, and I hope to make a transition to a writing career in 2010.

My interest varies greatly and I tend to at least dabble in everything.  I have an interest in health, alternative medicine, relationships, psychology, fitness, anomalies, travel, food, indoor gardening, and opinions on various social issues.

Although I may blog about the aforementioned topics, my intention for this blog is to promote positivity and inspiration among readers.  I believe the world is so focused on the negatives and trivial that we sometimes forget what we can achieve.  Many people have so much wasted potential who don’t believe they can change the world; I hope to inspire readers to be amazed at who we are and become empowered to do some good.

My secondary intention, of course,  is to practice writing and hopefully create an interest in potential clients, so if you like what you see and would like me to assist you in your writing projects, please contact me at galapogoz(@)gmail.com.  I would be delighted to help.