8/6

I just finished watching an interview with NEUROSIS on Swedish TV, and now I’m listening to Sigur Rós Ágætis Byrjun in my room.

This is a short break in between terms; I’ve been cruising around on my orange motorbike through the city, making some progress on the piano, and reading.

Driving down a busy road today I saw an anubahn baby Thai girl and her mother sitting inside a makeshift metal side-car crudely fastened with a few bolts to a motorcycle the father was driving. The baby girl was sitting in a small plastic chair not secured to anything, not wearing a helmet. It looked so dangerous!

My music teacher is going to be moving from Lanna Music to a new school in late September, and today I checked it out for the first time. It’s close to the Ping River, near the Nawarat Bridge. This is where Atsuko Seta – an incredible pianist from Osaka, Japan currently living in Chiang Mai – occasionally teaches master classes.

The performance room doubles as a Tae Kwon Do studio, with walls covered with full-length mirrors, padded floors, and Thai and Korean flags displayed prominently above the windows.

I practiced Debussy on the Yamaha baby grand piano. The delicate feel and dynamics of this piece are polar opposite to the dark intensity of Rachmaninoff Op. 3 No. 2; but I like the contrast.

(Photo: R. Zoey Setiawan)