WHY? While most of the northern hemisphere (save for the Yukon territory.. or the alps.. or Oymyakon, Russia the coldest city in the world ) is busking in a balmy spring climate, NYC is still experiencing below 10 degrees celcius weather with strong winds!! Ok granted the strong winds are a year-round NY thing, but one would think that because NY isn’t that up north in terms of latitude that warmer weather would already be here! I wanna wear my shorts and sandals again!
Anyway my landlady’s cat got neutered two weeks ago haha! It’s interesting to see the difference in behaviour before and after the surgery, they really do mellow down after.
Ok everybody real talk – taking care of Loki has made me realise that one should never get a pet unless you are 100% sure you have the time, money and emotional capacity for it. It is not only expensive to own a pet (thankfully I’m not paying for his vet trips, food and toys), it also requires a lot of emotional investment. Because animals are like human babies, they demand your attention – they want you to play with them, and pat them every now and then to make sure they are growing up happy. And if you don’t shower them with the attention, they will demand it in various ways. Cats might meow at you, knock down display things (like standing photo frames), climb on you (especially if you’re seated down) or poop in places they are not supposed to. Basically they WILL do things that annoy you to get your attention. Then you will also start to realise the need to cat-proof the house – like making sure you don’t leave the pot with food uncovered or leave your wires around because they will play and chew on it. And all these are in addition to the basic needs – making sure their food bowl is filled, and be observant to that they are not developing signs of sickness. Once, Loki started sneezing a lot and one of his eyes started ‘winking’ like it’s constantly irritated or something. So I brought him to the vet and that trip costs $222. One trip was not enough as his sneezing did not go away. So I brought him back the next week to get an antibiotic shot – another $200 spent. Plus, because of his eye issues, I had to give him eye drops twice a day. This was such an experience because Loki is a feisty cat and getting him to let me put eye drops into his eyes took a WHOLE LOT of patience and insistence. SO, DO NOT get a pet unless you have sufficient time and money and love in your heart because it takes a lot more of you than you might expect!!
Ok but that being said, Loki is a very cute and sociable cat so I enjoy his company very much. I just know that I won’t ever own a pet (fish maybe, like ONE low-maintenance fighting fish or guppy lol) because I don’t have the love and patience for them. Because to be honest I get angry at Loki a lot – but that’s another blog post for another time.
Cat stories aside, these past weeks have been very musically satisfying! I had the greatest pleasure to see some very wonderful concerts featuring some of my favourite pieces!!!
Ravel- La Valse
Ravel – Piano Concert in G featuring ft. Pierre-Laurent Aimard
Beethoven – Eroica
Cage – The Seasons
Shostakovich – Cello Concerto no. 1 ft. Gautier Capuçon
Bartok – Concerto for Orchestra
Britten – War Requiem with Kent Tritle, David Rosenmyer, Bryan Zaros
MSM Symphony
MSM Symphonic Chorus and Chamber Choir
Oratorio Society of New York
Cathedral Choristers.
ft. Susanna Phillips, soprano
John Matthew Myers, tenor
Matthew Worth, baritone
Hearing the requiem in the cathedral was quite a moving experience, the acoustics made everything sound very reverent :’)
Currier – Clockwork
Mozart – Violin Sonata in A Major
Respighi – Sonata in B Minor
Saint-Saens – Introduction and Rondo capriccioso
And some portraits from Carnegie hall hehe:
The Joffrey ballet Company from Chicago, with the Chicago Philharmonic, invaded the David Koch Theatre last weekend with a pretty modern taken on Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet. I really enjoyed it, the music especially.
AND, I managed to catch Beauty and the Beast with C and D! I LOVED IT SOOO MUCH!! I remember watching the cartoon version when I was younger so seeing the remake did bring a sense of nostalgia – especially how the movie producers did try their best to keep some parts of the script, action and scenery. I also appreciated very much the addition of the backstory about Belle’s mother and the new songs yay!
Random picture dump:
“For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favour lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. You turned my wailing into dancing, you removed my sackcloth and gave me joy.” Psalm 30: 5, 11-12
Charity Kiew 