⭐
I had only been dating the guy who would eventually become my husband three weeks when he called me and, at once brazenly and sheepishly, asked me if he could borrow three thousand dollars. He wanted to buy into an investment opportunity that he was excited about, but he had enough sense to recognize that it was a huge ask because it was far from guaranteed that that money wouldn't just be flat out GONE, it was one of those super risky things that essentially never pan out, but some people go for it anyway because hope is a powerful drug. He immediately launched into all sorts of "no matter how long it takes I'll pay you back and if it pays off you'll make interest" but I cut him off and said, "Listen. I will lend you this money. If the investment succeeds, I'll expect you to pay me back in full. However if it fails, we can simply call it a loss. I am prepared to lose the money. I am only going to ask one thing of you, in return for this: I would like you to play me something that you truly like playing." My husband is a pianist. At the time we were both performers in a show, I was in the dance chorus and he was one of the conductors of the orchestra. I'd heard him play rehearsals and other work stuff and we'd talked a lot about music, but I'd never heard him truly play. He didn't have access to any pianos outside of work, but the next week he was slated to move into a new house that came with a baby grand piano. He already had the keys, so even though his lease hadn't officially started, that Sunday (our day off) we went to the house where eventually I'd be putting my step kids to bed, learning to cook and how to be a partner. The utilities were off so there was no light or heat on this afternoon in late autumn. I wrapped up in my scarf and sat on the floor next to the piano and he played this sonata for me. Best three thousand dollars I ever spent.
Feb 12, 2024
Related Recs
James Ehnes and Andrew Armstrong at Wigmore Hall last Sunday -- absolutely bodied the whole programme but the Shostakovich changed my life. They seem like two nice men who really respect each other so I wasn’t fully sold on the emotion, but still had so much fun watching one guy bouncing on the piano stool and the other fully battering an 18th century Stradivarius. It was slapstick! I loved it!
Feb 21, 2024
Jan 7, 2025
Whatever cocktail of angst, melancholy and adrenaline that homie was drinking back in 1901 when he finished writing the second movement of Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 19, I feel it.
This rendition by Sheku Kanneh-Mason & Isata Kanneh-Mason is my absolute favourite– the emotion they're both putting into playing the piece is palpable and absolutely phenomenal.
BONUS REC: If you like working to classical music, I recommend to give the full sonata a listen (it’s like ~30 mins of complete intensity & beauty)
Aug 8, 2024
Top Recs from @marisapaullgorst
⭐
This is (I think?) a form of meditation, but it's what I use to calm my mind, especially when I've woken up in the night and need to get back to sleep. I learned it from my favorite dance teacher who starts every class with this exercise. What you do is just tell yourself things, in sentence form, that are true about wherever you are right now. Majority of them should be sensory things. Like, "I feel my sweat pants on my leg." "I feel the heater blowing my hair." "I hear a car passing outside." "I see a gray sky." "I taste the apple pie I had for dessert." Just statements about what is true right now -- and this is the important part: WITHOUT COMMENTARY. Of course, because you have a human brain and this is what it is hard-wired to do, your will start supplying commentary anyway. So when that happens you just notice it, and absolutely don't judge it or anything, it's just another "fact of the moment" -- "that was commentary." You acknowledge the commentary and then go back to stating other (non-commentary) facts until the next bout of commentary, which you then acknowledge and move on from -- or until you fall asleep, which happens shockingly fast for me once I notice and move on from my first bout of commentary. Eventually you might feel like you've run out of facts so you can start saying the sentences over to yourself, with more space in them to take up more time, and somewhere in there, a sense of peace develops? A place where, just for a moment, thoughts get lulled into taking a break? I find that as soon as I notice that I'm in that peace, huge thoughts come FLOODING IN, and then I have to calmly and gently be like, "this is commentary. back to the facts." It's refreshing and it takes a very passive form of discipline, like, you should be as relaxed as possible -- lying on the floor or on a couch, not holding a single part of your body up, maybe eyes closed, total release, but not *total* because the thoughts do need to be guided -- not controlled, not judged, not even stopped. Just guided, like re-routing a little rivulet of water that's rolling down a hill.
Feb 11, 2024
📓
For feel in the hand my favorite one is TÜL that I can only ever find at Office Depot. For ease of clicking the lead up and the best eraser I love the Clear Point Elite by Paper Mate. I'm a 0.7mm fan for lead, not so skinny that it breaks under my ferocious pressure but still thin enough to write pretty small notes in the margin.
I've been lost for pens for many years. I yearn to find a good one and have actually put up an ask here myself on the topic. I'll be following this thread.
For notebooks the common denominator I'll be fine with is Moleskine. Don't love it but it won't ruin my life. I sample around like crazy and 90% of what I get drives me up the wall, luckily I write every day and go through them like tissue so I'm not stuck for too long before I get to sample anew. My absolute FAVORITE notebook was from an Italian company called Impresso on Etsy -- GOD I LOVED THOSE NOTEBOOKS -- I was gifted one and bought the second. Alas they are really thick, impractical for tossing in a bag with computer, dance stuff, change of clothes, just too bulky to be a constant companion. I never even thought to check if they make slimmer notebooks until now. ON IT
Feb 12, 2024
📞
I know her
Jan 31, 2024