Rehearsal last night was gruelling. We just didn’t seem to be completely there; all a bit off, not listening to one another, the usual “I’m tired” symptoms. I sat next to someone who did his CEGEP degree in music performance… and I was better than he was. At least I obeyed tempo markings and dynamics. My old stand partner has moved up to sit next to our principal cellist. I’m already sitting closer than I was last concert, but that’s by attrition! With a summer off, however, and two hours of practice a day, I think I can deserve a second chair. I know I’m better than I was when we began; I want to improve even more. And you now what? As much as I love Beethoven and Mozart, I miss Bach. I’m looking forward to getting comfortable with JSB again this summer.

I had the strangest dream last night: I woke up to Stuart McLean and Tom Allen sitting in my old bedroom, and they told me about a writing exercise where if I wrote a thirty-page piece, and if I pledged ten dollars, my company would match it and then CBC would double-match it. The topic was something about Asian educational deprivation.

I told you it was strange. What was stranger was that I didn’t think it odd that these two CBC hosts would be sitting in my old bedroom, chatting until I woke up.