Seek, and you shall find...

...something least expected. A modelling opportunity!

I found myself in the premises of an Old School campus in Clerkenwell, on a Thursday afternoon, for a 15 minute interview.
A volunteer opportunity for this year's London Jazz Festival at the Producers.

15 minute is short to tell 2 people a story about why you want a job for free, how to ace an interview with very little relevant experience (in hindsight, I could've listed lots more) , so I injected them with passion. My little mind ticking everytime I am in a theatre, what kind of shows will get bums on seats, whether modernisation of classical sets were the way to go, how much to pay artists, attract talent, marketing. The bottom line of my thoughts, I told them, is because I was trained as an accountant. I also said I played the saxophone, and that got their attention, and had their colleague to come in and let me in on their latest project...

Fast forward to Wednesday afternoon - 26th October, I found myself in the Portico rooms of Somerset House. In Concert Musician Black. With a room of other saxophonists. There were chatter, everyone was unloading boxes.

Real cool. We filled in the forms, got paid, and filed into the room which looked like a setting for a press conference - with London 2012 logo and many of the sponsors too. We were to pose, but not play. How to stop horn players from tooting away? Some chose to not insert a reed. Some had their mouthpiece covers on. I came prepared with earplugs from Deafness Research charity that I had been volunteering that morning, thinking there will be musicians letting loose. But it didn't happen.

in the drizzle, we went down into the courtyard - and were asked to form into a shape of the union jack. 'The Asian lady, stand here'...the photographer hollered from the balcony..yes, who else but me. I got into position, looked up, no one asked to smile. Tried to look natural. Same as everyone else.

There were a few other poses. inside, on the stairs. Photographers wanted to know how many girls were there - we were certainly in the minority and had to be mixed around to provide variety to the mix. Diversity as a theme of the Olympics I reckon.

the stairwell , im 3rd up on the left on the stairs. some saxophonists refused to dangle their horns over the railings - these were precious instruments.

We finished off with a final shot outside looking like we were playing behind water - being the River of Music theme.

We then were dismissed - back in the room, undid our mouthpieces, commented on the niceness of each other's horns, how they got into this photoshoot, and what they are going to do with the money. An assembly of players on a weekday afternoon, and who would be free to do this? Only when opportunity presents itself unexpectly.


A day later, some of these pictures were to appear in the press release and further photos. Spot me - pretty obvious I would think! :)

Andy Shepherd (front left) is going to hold an event with 200 saxophonists closer to the Olympics and we would be notified in due course...it would be interesting as it was absolute torture for almost 30 players to gather that day and not make music. It would've been a good jam session.

I didn't get the volunteer role at the London Jazz Festival this year. Which means I will now make my impact as the audience again, analytical mind ticking, wondering how many bums on seats and which ones would've emptied out halfway before the show is done. Perhaps this will free me up for better things that are coming this way?

R.I.P. Steve Jobs

This afternoon, we were in BestBuy
Trialling photobooth
Here, there, different backgrounds.
"Move away from the screen"
The screen says.
When we did, the rollercoaster moved
Ahh...a stroke of genius!
I picked up the MacBook air
Thinking, can I make my next laptop, an Apple?
Thinking of my shares in another laptop manufacturer
And incompatibility with the work of any conventional employer

But ....The lightness, the Smoothness.
Intuitive funky graphics,
The Apple of my eye
Has a higher price to buy

The Apple family that's changed my life, from Nike+, to Podcasts to FaceTime to iPad HDMI videos..as it has for many others too.

The news came that the founder today has died.
Goodbye Steve, hope you've had the time of your life. May you Rest in Peace.

Sent from Bonnie's iPhone4 (not quite waiting for an iPhone5, like many others, but the day will come)

Knife Skills 101

Knife skills, why need them?
Don't we already know from picking it up and using it, from home economics classes in high school, or from the amazing mandolin salespeople in department stores?

I spent a worthwhile saturday morning at Central Market Houston (our local for all fresh food) as a student again, back to the basics, Knife Skills 101.

Armed with my Messermeister knife bag and a few of the Wusthofs in our 'touring collection',

I set off onto the first floor of Central market, to a classroom with groups of tables and a demonstration bench. I always look out for the number of demonstration benches to get a feel for how hands on the class is, and this time, they had chopping boards lining up the front bench with chef's knife for everybody (we were encouraged to bring our own).

Our class started promptly at 10am. Chef explained to us that Knife Skills were essential to greater efficiency in the kitchen, and proceeded to give us some theoretical background on types of knives, safety, uses, maintenance, and then got us all to work at the benches.


We had good practice on slicing, dicing, julienne, supreme ( a technique to use only the soft bits in citrus fruits) on various vegetables - onions (no goggles required although some of us did get emotional), tomatoes, garlic (smash and mincing), potatoes (making fries was that easy?), basil, oranges, grapefruit and pineapple. I love it when instructors explain why we add salt onto garlic before mincing (to draw out the moisture) , or take seeds off tomatoes for pasta sauce (seeds were bitter), as the best way to learn is to know why and to proceed with it.




The fruits of our labor became dinner - was the line on the course description. I had wondered why, but found the answer at 12pm when we settled in our groups with a meal and glass of white to taste the products of our knife work - thanks to all the assistant chefs around.

The key to perfecting knife skills is practice, practice, practice. Equipped with refreshed skills, I can make myself more useful in the kitchen, with more efficient techniques in food preparation. Sharpening the Saw, Woodshedding.....practice makes perfect.


Another thing we were taught, if we drop a knife (even if it is worth $1000), let it drop. It is not worth losing 4 fingers over $1000). Glad to report that no fingers were lost during the class :)

Insightful, and essential. What a class. And with the perfect excuse to tour Central Market in its busy-ness on a saturday lunchtime, all the fruit/food tastings...the chef's world is more than an oyster, when it includes chopped fruits and vegetables.

I am looking forward to more kniving fun in the future.  :)

Killing time whilst on the road

Our journey home last night was delayed by around 4 hours (started driving around 4pm and only got home by 1130pm (incl a brief stop at Maccas to update ourselves via free wifi) due to this chemical spill on the I-10

It's the first time i've ever seen traffic come to a standstill on a freeway like this.No one knows what is really happening. local radios have proved themselves uninformative, stating only a diversion.

Stop. Start. Stop. Start.
 

How do people kill time on the roads  on these long commutes? 

STOP
You might see some get off, go to the back to their coolbox, grab some beers, and 'watch' the action (such as news reporters (as pictured). Truckies emptying plastic water bottles of yellow liquid out their windows, and then bottles of clear liquid afterwards..hmmm.

START
Whilst on the move, the roads are straight and pretty much uneventful (apart from the occasional rogue lane-changers, and the usual desire to overtake trucks, and then being overtaken by the huge 4WDs again).

Some drivers choose to slow down and talk on the phone (dangerous!) ......... but Podcasts are our answer.

In fact, we've almost exhausted our selection on yesterday's run (the time taken could've easily taken us from Louisiana to Atlanta and beyond). With a bit of preparation, they keep you awake, they are informative, amusing, and can bring you to anywhere in the world. Here are some of our favourites:

Freakonomics Radio (US) - the hidden side of everything, very well researched and a good hour's worth of

Restoring the Balance (Australia) - an extreme take on the Australian economic and political scene, views of young Liberal and young National personas , incredibly funny

Friday night Comedy (UK) - a satirical take on the week's news.


Marathon Talk  (UK) - keeping me motivated with news and celebrities from the running world.


and because they are free, and easy to subscribe to and update using iTunes, we're always trying new shows, and shut off those that make you go off to sleep (before you do). Lots better than the car radio, and good for when we've outgrown our music collection on the iPod.


The road ahead may be dark and lonely, but with more than just music in your ears while your hands and feet are preoccupied with driving, it might not be all too bad (with a bit of a laugh).

All done before sunrise!

Managed to get myself out of the door at 5am, the same time as my marathon training pacer, and glad to be back home, dipping my feet into the pool, all before sunrise (7:10am)!

Just short of 11 miles before sunrise, at times when it was still really dark, and we were seeing people running and cycling with headtorches/lights. Houston is a crazy place to train for sports, if one gets out at around 7:30 (like I did last week), it would be too hot, and too humid. On top of that, most people will be out and about, the roads will be dustier. My newly washed trainers have luckily escaped the dusty restoration by my early start this morning.

Saw this signpost on the home stretch of my run this morning, which echoes my last post on the LIFO/FIFO concept in God's books  :)

 

This can surely be applied to the need for speed in our daily lives.  The rogue drivers I see rushing about on the I-10 West every friday afternoon, cutting and chasing through from the slow lane across to the fastest without indicating, and some copycat 'chasers'....what's the point? Occasionally we see them pulled aside somewhere ahead of us by a cop.  In the distance running world, we are constantly reminded that we should start slow, to finish in good shape. True enough, from VLM 2011, I've encountered a few cases of 'hitting the wall' (myself included in the 'starting too fast' category). Is it worth blasting to pieces? and at the end of the day, does the record matter? This week, we've gathered that Paula Radcliffe's World record in the 2003 London Marathon has been scrapped. Similarly, I've written to RunBritain too as my sub-2 half-marathon PB @ Dorney Lake in Feb this year cannot be counted into my handicap as it was not an accredited course. All it matters at the end of the day, is that you have achieved a result that you have worked hard enough for. Recognition can only be external. 

Now waiting for my pacer to come back for breakfast. After all, he's going to be the last one in this morning as he's doing another loop round the bayou!

Matthew 20: 1-16

Hi from Starbucks in  Broussard, Louisiana. Trying to blog on a MacBook Pro whilst sipping a Pumpkin Spice Latte - just like the creative types do :P 

Finally finished reading the 48 days book (although it did take me longer than 48 days, at least I got there!) So here begins my 'Countdown to the Work I love' - (the name of the activity section after each chapter).

What I found interesting with one of the activities is 'read Matthew 20:1-16'. Not having touched the Bible too much since my school days, I turned to my rather less frequented Bible iPhone App.
What has it got to do with job searching? In a nutshell it refers to workers of the vineyard getting the same pay for a day's work regardless of the time of the day they were hired. The parable implies that in the Kingdom of God, everyone is treated the same regardless of when they chose to join. Or rather, the master of the house can choose to compensate the workers in whatever rate they think they are worth, or treat everyone all the same.

Is it the same in the real professional world?

The 48 days book provided examples of those who were able to negotiate for more than their worth, but at the end of the day, it is really up to the employer, and to the employee, whether they are being paid more than just can be measured by cold hard cash. The recipient can choose to be happy about it, or otherwise.

Food for thought for those seeking more, or having a love to boast the % raise they have had since they last signed onto something. It is all relative.

I've posted a link here of the parable for those who may be interested.

Counting down to Amsterdam! Worldwide Training update :)

A course close enough to home, that offers the possibility of 10k /Half Marathon/Full Marathon, in a country that is mainly below sea-level (read Flat), some of our friends have signed up...and we should be home by then, why not?

It's a month away from the next race - Amsterdam Half-Marathon (for me) and Marathon (for Seng).

and How is training going? Hmmm...after the hard work towards spring marathons in April/May in the last 3 years - I'm ready to conclude that Autumn races are not easy to train for. Especially when one is situated in places where there are REAL summers (unlike the UK, which 25 degrees celsius is a very hot day). However, I've tried to make the best that I can given my nomadic life. Some of the more interesting training sessions (very few of them serious unfortunately) are as below:

Paris (July 2011)- a motivating session (for Eleanor who initially thought she cannot do 30 mins of running!) from Galleries Lafayette area to Jardin Tuileries, glimpse of Avenue des Champs Elysees, then across the river along Rive Gauche, to Jardin Luxembourg , rewarding with purchases of Pain au Chocolats to take to the hotel via RER.

Hong Kong (August 2011) - in the heat and humidity of mid-summer, where the mercury climbs to 30 degrees celsius if one doesn't step out of the door before 8am. And where to run with all that traffic? My family's new home in central kowloon have put me very close to some very good athletic tracks managed by the Government's Leisure and Cultural Services Department (ie what used to be called Urban council (市政局)). I didn't mind so much having to share the tracks with people who were not using them properly (eg women holding a radio and taking strolls on the slower lane), and at times, I have had to overtake runners on Lane 1. Or having to ensure I don't 'run over' Tai Chi class participants outside the track, or wait until schools that have booked the track for their PE lessons finish, before I can go in. The quality of the track was very good, if one had spikes and wanted to train properly - these are the places where dreams can be realised :)

What was a milestone for me was revisiting Kowloon Tsai Park , an old favourite of my dad that we used to be taken there for jogging on sundays. In the mid 80's , I struggle to complete even the 550m loop outside the athletics tracks (back then the tracks were not available for general use), let along the greater '8 loop' that would roughly equate to 1 mile. Almost 25 years later, I am glad to report that this was no longer a problem - only that if the humidity was reduced, I could run faster.

[no wonder there are many who choose to run at 11pm in the evenings on the streets, not a desirable option for me at all]



Sydney (August/September) 2011 - going back to my second hometown where spring has just sprung, and with the access of a car, presented me with lots more options (and of course, more options than I have enough time to fit in!) Here's what I have managed to do:

Balmain Bay Run - a 7km loop around Iron Cove. One that I had probably not so seriously attempted in my training for the Sydney City to Surf years ago, however, I was ready to give it a good try. Gave myself a late start at around 9:30am and parked near the Leichhardht Rowing club. Thought I'd give myself some bonus miles by going along the canal, however, I couldn't find another crossing after one that was a new bridge being built! and to find that it was not all flat around the cove as one thought. Did try to go fast but then, I was interrupted by a phone call from a friend who wanted to meet up that day!! Oh well, that was a good hour spent around here. Reward: an Italian Doughnut from Sulfaro's on Ramsay street in Haberfield, as recommended by ex-local Louiza.

Centennial Park - the place where I go for a 'safe bicycle ride' and again a full 3.5km loop was virtually impossible to complete even in my uni days (running that is). This particular sunny monday morning I parked along Grand Drive near the baby cycle tracks to find a steady stream of prams passing by me. Eastern Suburbs Active Mothers galore! Glad to see although it meant I had to be careful overtaking some of them. Armed with a 'cross-country' map (yoohoo! Cross country sounds adventurous and unachieveable in my school days) downloaded from the website , I did the usual loop as well as attempting to do the lakes loop. Unfortunately I got lost and had to revert to the Grand Drive loop onto softer ground (another trial run to soften impact) to retrieve my car. What I manage to see in the middle of Centennial Park was rewarding - Black Swans! Along with Balmain Bay Run, this is all starting to remind me of Perth ...hmmm. I must admit that Perth has more of its share of great places to run, Sorry Sydney.

Across the Harbour Bridge to Crows Nest  - of course I cannot miss the opportunity of running across the famous Coathanger and the chance to catch up with my first 'coach' Calvin - a before lunch catchup from Wynyard across the bridge and up on Pacific Highway. This is just a stretch that I know so well but never ever thought of running the Pacific Highway as from driving, it was always uphill, and from the North Shore line - it's quite a few stations to get to St Leonards from North Sydney. But then Route 1 did provide a more direct alternative to one presented by City Rail. Again I wouldn't call that proper training and I was quickly running out of time on the cooler stretch of the round-the-world trip. What can you do but make do?

San Francisco Bay Area - September 2011 my first stop across the Pacific was the Bay Area, and we landed ourselves with hosts that basically has the best recreational area on their back door (we would suggest their boys get on their bikes as soon as they are old enough :P ). The initial suggestion was : there's a track behind where we live, it's pretty flat. The cooler Californian Fall morning enticed us to believe in all this, and started on a 'Ten Hills trail' around 10 mins away from where we were staying in Castro Valley. Hmm. one should believe that this name was descriptive. It was a very Hilly run, however it was rather run towards the end, when we met a guy with a dog who gave us good directions to head back onto the main road without negotiating 10 hills again. We then followed this Proctor trail running downhills (lots of fun!) and ended up near the driving range. Wow. that was my first 'non scary' attempt at Trail running.

Lake Chabot Loop The next day we came back for more - and better equipped, and got corrected instructions from our host - this time we parked at the Lake and started on the 'right hand side' of the trail. The whole trail was ups and downs (not as intense as 10 Hills), but we had very good views of the lake from all around, and it is lots more efficient than hiking when one was in running gear :) One also learnt a bit about Yema Po (wild horse slope), a chinese labor camp that was in the area when the dam was constructed. This all in all took us about 2 hours, was lovely!

Houston  September 2011 - well now, I'm back. no new pictures as I've done most of it before, except not as early as 7:30am and still feeling very humid and hot after being out for 2 hours! I cannot imagine that there are so many running groups out and about even way before then! I'm hoping that training in heat will leave us better prepared for racing conditions which hopefully will be another 10 degrees lower than what we currently experience over here. We can only hope.