This is of course the exclusive concert introduced in my previous post.

Those of you with slower connections and less time may opt out and download the mp3 file of the entire Concerto in one go.

But who wants to do that?

Wouldn’t you rather be there yourself?

Wouldn’t you rather smell that musty and creepy odor from the couple sitting next to you, or feel the hot stickiness of your seat cushions?

Or I bet you’d like to enjoy the incessant coughing of an audience member mid-performance in full DOLBY DIGITAL SURROUND SOUND (okay, not really).

Do yourself a favour and watch it instead. And then download the mp3.

Because all the cool kids are doing it.

By the way, if your connection isn’t fast enough, the videos will stutter. The way past it is to press play, then pause, then leave it to load. Years of maintaining a pathetic internet connection have taught me such indispensible tidbits.

Yes, this will probably be one of the only times I’m going to feature a YouTube embedded viewer on my blog.

Hope you enjoyed the concert. E-mail me and let me know what you thought.

You’re in for a rare treat.

Someone asked me about family members and apparently, I’ve given the impression that I’m an only child, having rarely spoken about my older sis’.

Truth be told, we were never close, but that hasn’t diminished my respect for her any.

When we were both five years old, our parents forced encouraged us to begin learning classical instruments — her on the piano, and me on the violin.

I suppose it’s every parent’s dream to have lifetime tickets their very own living room piano/violin concerts.

super sister

Obviously, she was the artistic and musical one in the family, and she went on to enjoy a great deal of success with piano…

You should know by now that I gave it all up after a bit more than a decade of playing.

I’m such a wuss.

On the other hand, my sister graduated from Lisgar in 2001 and continued her musical studies full time at the Conservatory.

Obviously, she was the artistic and musical one in the family, and she went on to enjoy a great deal of success with piano, having played on the radio stations and won such and such awards at such and such competitions.

She’s now at the University of Concordia (Montreal, Quebec) studying French Translation.

In an effort to better aquaint you with my sister, I’m offering readers the marvelous once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see her play the most famous Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor by Tchaikovsky, Op. 23.

Oh, and she’s in a real purty red dress. Like that matters.

It’s a 25 minute extravaganza and I promise by the end you’ll be jumping off your seats, playing your air violins and air cellos, and resisting the urge to applaud and cheer maniacally.

What can I say. My sister is cool.

Just got this moments ago.

To: Phil
From: Anonymous
Date: Moments Ago
Subject: Contact Form Results

You aren’t known as “the top student” - nobody thinks of you like that. You are thought of as someone who still lives at home, graduated with a general degree by skipping his first year, and then worked through a Master’s degree by having half of the requirements removed. People think that you are arrogant, effeminate, and possibly on steroids. Women have told me that your pants are tighter than theirs.

You have no background in English Literature, Astrophysics, or Philosopy, and you would be terrible at these things. And this blog is basically a shrine to yourself.

Grow up, Phil. I’m sure you have a good possibility of getting into [Schools Removed], which will be a great opportunity for you. But, you have some serious personality problems that you need to work out.

I’m surprised. Not so much because of the comments.

But because whoever wrote it sounds like a friend. A close friend, even. Someone I cheerfully say hi to. Someone I thought I knew. Someone who thinks they know me.

Not some anonymous juvenile punk having stumbled away from his MySpace page.

That’s what bothers me. You think you know everybody in your life.

That’s all.

I got my first A today.

Since, like, ever.

As if you’re surprised. I told ya it was going to happen. In a class of older Ph.D. students where the average on the final was an astounding 49%, there was little I could do but screw up.

has-been  /ˈhæzˌbɪn/
–noun

1. a person or thing that is no longer effective, successful, popular, etc.

2. Phil. Loser.

Whatever.

They say life gets easier once you hit rock bottom.

This will undoubtedly ease my eventual transition to college dropout, juvenile delinquent, street bum, and ultimately, male gigolo.

You know, the stuff movies are made of.

I told them I only wanted to teach the younger students. Younger students not in math. Younger students with math phobias and mathematical bogeymen prowling in their closets.

Instead they gave me two 3rd-4th year classes only for math majors.

Now I have to march to the main office and, like, totally put my thing down.