I would much rather be
playing the piano right now but I am waiting for the electrician to come fix my stove and I am worried I won't hear the doorbell with my headphones on. So instead, piano is getting a little spotlight in my blog.
Just in the past week, I have finally started really enjoying playing the piano again. Getting back into playing is difficult and it's a bit of a let-down when you can't play songs well that you used to or when you can't remember songs you used to have memorized.
But then it clicks! This week has been piano euphoria and I have finally felt that exuberant sensation when your hands seem to be detached and working a magic all their own. When you get to stop thinking, you get to start playing.
I read a book awhile ago called
The Piano Shop on the Left Bank by Thad Carhart. It's part mechanical manual, part history, and part philosophy, but what I remember most about it was how Carhart highlighted the piano's uncanny way of becoming a personality in its own right. I remember all the pianos I used to play, not just their color and shape, but their resonance, tone and feel of their keys.
The last line of the book is "You can never have too many dream pianos," and these are mine:
I learned to play on a Baldwin baby-grand that had the softest, gentlest tone I have ever heard.
I spent many days cranking out notes on a sparkling white baby-grand Yamaha in an echoing auditorium. This piano sounded so bright that there were some songs I wouldn't allow it to play.
I used to go in to a piano store on my lunch break, and the owner would let me play their prized Faziolis, and I never got enough of hearing them sing.
For six months I was the proud owner of a painted upright that may have looked like trash to some, but had a beautifully sounding harp.
Although I wish I could have a room full of my "dream pianos" even if it was just for a day like catching up with old friends, I am so grateful for my current piano. The keys are old and noisy, but since it's digital, I plug the headphones in and I don't hear the keys, only the notes, and it's like I have transported myself to a grand stage (minus the audience of course--those are nerve-wracking).
Don't get me wrong, my hometown Salt Lake City is gorgeous!...on a much grander scale. 
For six months I was the proud owner of a painted upright that may have looked like trash to some, but had a beautifully sounding harp.
Most of this alone time is spent in my living room, which is also awesome. This is where I blog, read, do pilates, and play the piano. Sometimes I sit on that futon until my tailbone hurts. (This is the same futon where Daniel and I had our first kiss, and two years later where he proposed!)
After school as I was walking to the bus stop, I had to get out of the way because there was a sidewalk parade heading right toward me! You never know what you'll run into on the streets of Portland. There is always some walk or protest for this or that. Although this particular walk was memorable for the music and stilt-walkers, they only had one sign in front and all I could see was "March for..." Someone was walking right in front of the last word!! It made for quite an inefficient message.
As I have mentioned, this book was one of my main summer reads. I had a hard time making it to the end of this book, but my mid-book review was very different from my post-book review. I don't know if I'll ever look at a tiger without recalling Pi Patel and Richard Parker.
Vanity Fair is my favorite magazine because it is a reader's magazine (with a little added glamour), and in the August issue, there was an article on the current rise of elephant poaching for their tusks. You can read it here. I am appalled by the poacher's lack of indecency, but more so by those who purchase ivory. Losing the elephant would be a great loss, not only for their sake but for ours. We would lose a cultural symbol! Think of Ganesha or the story of the Buddha's birth. I hope the killing stops soon.
I treated myself to some new school shoes! But now I feel like I have created a conundrum of "one thing calls for another" because they aren't looking that amazing with any of my skinny jeans. Maybe it's just because I'm not used to them yet.
I made this one and after I was done Henry said "That took you forever!" I went a lot faster after I stopped trying to make all my colors match.
Henry is the master lego builder. I think these are a few days worth of projects, but judging by how quickly he made a race-car this morning, he could definitely handle all of this building in one day.
Today has been a math day but I don't mind it. School doesn't start until Monday but I have started studying for my first actuary exam on financial math. I want to take the exam the week after finals in December so that I have plenty of time to study for the second exam. If I have two under my belt, my chances of getting an internship are much better. 
Today I went to the University for a routine pre-schoolyear doctor's visit. I snapped this picture on the way there, and all day in keeping with my 'be in the present' theme I was thinking about how grateful I am for Portland State.
I love love love Daniel's days off and that he likes to hang out with me. We didn't have much of a plan so we just kind of played the day by ear and ended up on a walk through the Portland's rose garden. It was so pretty there today!
I looked out my window tonight and happened to catch the most beautiful sunset. The wildfires by Mt. Hood have made for poor air quality but beautiful sunrises and sunsets.
