Solo

This post is a few days overdue. Better late than never. Last Monday, I tore down a massive wall as a musician.

I have played quite a few classical solos on the flute when I was learning about 10 years ago. I always played them with accompaniment. It was always a rush because you were the musical highlight of the piece. Last Monday, I had to perform a traditional Celtic/Swedish Air alone. This was my first solo on the Irish Whistle. Perfect time to showoff my Tuneable Chieftan Whistle in the key A. Also, I was alone for this piece. This put a lot of pressure on me, but I practiced with confidence.

First traditional [Celtic-style] solo and first solo alone. I was so excited and anxious about doing it. It wasn't perfect, but I performed with feeling. Everyone was moved. I'm very proud of accomplishing this. It's a huge milestone for me as a musician.

For the curious, the tune I played was the Jim Good/Flook version of Glass Polka, a tune written by Ale Möller. You can check the ABC Notation after the jump.

So Far in the Land of Skyrim...

(In no perticular order and as Spoiler-free as possible) In about 35 hours of Gameplay of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, I...

Living - My Skyrim Impressions

Dragons are bad for your health... really...

As you saw from my previous post, I've been playing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim a bit. I have clocked in 25 hours of game-time so far and I can't even say that I've just scratched the surface. I can't even scratch the thing.

Skyrim and Mead

Yup. That's The Elder Scrolls V with a bottle of Mead.

Managing Mid-Back Pain

Those of you that follow me on Twitter (either officially or through this blog's sidebar) know that I'm afflicted with mid-back pain. In this post, I am to share my experience and what I do to manage as part of Canada's Pain Awareness Week.

When I was a kid, playing video-games, I would sit leaning forward. Not just a little. To the point where my back was almost rounded. My parents would come up to me and say "Sit up straight! You're going to have back problems later". As a kid I was comfortable that way and didn't believe them (Ah, kids!). Many years later, more or less 15 years later, in my old apartment I had a loveseat (small couch). One Sunday afternoon, I fell asleep on it. When I woke up, this is when it started. Pain like I haven't felt before.

Deus-Comfort

In video-games, I do not dislike very specific styles or genres. But there are specific things that will push a game outside my comfort-zone.

With Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Eidos Montréal has been complimented on their ability of staying true to the Deus Ex IP while still resulting in making the game they wanted, the passion and research behind the development, and so on (you've read them all). But there's one thing that's not often mentioned that I think is really important. Something that probably contributed a little bit to the Critical and Consumer Reception it received.