piano is my drum

der part with

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:26:44 GMT

I'm thinking of selling my RD-500 Keyboard and my VS-880ex 8 track recorder and CD-RW burner.

I don't use my keyboard except for recording projects, which I admit
I haven't done lately and I would rather pare down and use my RS-9.

(I will start doing again soon)

Grant it ... I adore the 500 and it was my first keyboard I bought in
1996 for just under $2000.

And I would almost rather pare down my project studio to a pocket studio
with the option to transfer everything to my computer to master via
SD card or USB.

Kelly got a Tascam Pocket Studio a few weeks back and I checked it out.
It even has onboard microphones for live recordings too.

It's very clever, and she loves it.

So those are my options.

I'm not sure If I will do flea market, ebay, craigslist or what.

I have the original boxes for both items, so if comes down to shipping
that's not a problem, except I am not sure how much shipping would be
for such heavy items.

The keyboard is great for practising so for beginners or just to tinker
its a great keyboard. It's been used so there is one weight completely broken
and was taken out and its the highest Bflat that is rarely ever used.

If you think you or someone you know might be interested, contact me
direct via email:

notyoursinger AT mai-ling DOT net

time to get ready to play a concert this afternoon.

o/o

amusing random playlist titles

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:10:32 GMT

today while driving around, i had my phone's
music player on random and the first song was

"fuck was I'

and the second song was

"sure as shit"

oh what a day that could mean.

:)
heah.

pictures & video of shows and such

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:16:33 GMT

I have a show this afternoon but I do plan to catch up with photos
and videos of previous and past shows...

pictures also including the wedding pictures that we had taken and
received from others who were there. And hopefully a video
(*crosses fingers*)

I need to find software that rips the DVD into mpeg tho.
The software I used was an older copy and used it on my
averatec that run XP. Which I probably can do if the OS
doesn't crap out.

yeesh.

wedding sneak-a-peak

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 02:13:06 GMT

Just tease photo of a little this & that.

photo credit ed varga

about 12 hours

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 05:49:51 GMT

i'm getting married.
i can't sleep.
i'm wired.

i knew i shouldn't have had 'bucks pikes place coffee.

bad frances

yeesh.

3 days and 1 year

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:05:46 GMT

3 days until the wedding...
today is our 1 year anniversary.

it doesn't even feel festive without momma.

just in case you missed yesterday entry...
our wedding website is:
www.mai-ling.net/wedding

asian grocery stores

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:37:41 GMT

there are more philipino grocery stores and markets in the 'burbies than you wouldn't believe.

you'd think i could find one...just one...chinese market in the 'burbs.

but noooo...

i don't want to drive down to Chinatown in Chicago...

Every pianist should play on an out of tune piano

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:16:18 GMT

As promised a re-cap of the last couple of months...
should i say the summer.

Some photos too

June

June was a warm month and a very stressful one.
It was just a few days before the start that I lost my mom.
We were busy moving Eric from his dad's rental house to mine.
Which he only gave us 4 days (not enough time because we
made a hast decision).

I had a lot of things on my mind between greiving and etstate stuff.
Which included the incorrect death certificates.
Delay Delay Delay.
Stress Stress Stress.
Merging lives together is much more difficult than I realized.
Mom's fruitful yard she loved was looking un-tamed.

It seemed like the world stood still and I didn't know what to do
without her here.

Towards mid-June I had my first concert.
It wasn't the make-up concerts from May either.
It was one I had booked a while back.
It was in a Lutheran Chapel and I played on a beautiful
grand piano. The sound was magnificent.
Although I broke down and cried, because I knew mom was
looking forward to this show. And I wished she was there.
I ended up with an all instrumental concert because I couldn't
get myself to sing without crying.

We did video record the concert and it turned out great,
I hope to return there later this fall to get another recording
and this time with vocals.

I also had one of my make-up shows in June that I ended up
cancelling due to car issues. I had to have two sensors replaced
because I couldn't crank the car to start. That was $900 I didn't
expect to spend. But the car works perfect now. Cheaper than
buying a new car or a newer used car.

That concert was re-schedule the following week.
Prior to that, I went back to playing at Caffe Luna the first time
since last December. Again, very difficult. Alan
welcomed us with a open heart. I figure it was father's day weekend,
it would be nice.

June 27th we went to the Abilities Expo at the Renaciannce Convention Center.
This place was amazing. I saw the ad on TV and thought it might be a place
to get some contacts, or learn about new stuff.

The Chicago 2016 games committee was there.
We got bracelets of with Chicago 2016 in the olympic colors.

I tried out one of the automatic chairs that puts the person in the car, this was
a Toyota Venza. That is an awesome vehicle.

While there we also had new front wheels put on by Frog Legs.
This front wheels were original to the chair (almost 11 years old).
And were chewed up and bad looking.
These are awesome wheels.
You can bounce them like a ball.
The cost for the wheels and to put them on was only $40.00 and they
did it right there.
I knew mom would have us do it.
So we did...why not.

We took a walk around the center and I found a white baby grand piano.
Eric took photos of me at the piano and with dad.
(They are on his phone).
but I did capture this one of him:

whee!

Afterward we met up with my mom's cousin Susie and her daughter Cathy
at Sweet Tomatoes. Then we drove down to Wheaton to Fry's.
That was interesting.
Then home.

It was a hot hot day....So that makes me uber tired...

July

I still was trying to find out the certificates at the beginning to mid July.
It was still being processed. I was getting frustrated.

Early July was the surprise birthday party for mom's cousin aka
Aunt Susie. It was her 75th. I thought I was going to hold up ok.
But as usual, I LOST IT.

When the photo montage started. I really lost it.

You can view the montage here if you are on LinkedIN at my cousin's page:
http://tinyurl.com/n8xwq8

There's a particular photo I never saw with my mom.
I cherish that photo a lot.

Lots of photos of dad doing his magic show. After all, he knew Susie
and Ralph (her 2nd husband passed) about 5 years prior to meeting
mom...

I did have some shows in July that came through nicely.

I performed at a Children's Cafe in Wheeling.
It is such a unique place for babies all the way up to young kids.
A place for the adults to relax while the kids are occupied.

It was super fun to be at.

Ironically the assistant manager recognized dad as a magician
from the days a Magic Inc and on the Bozo Show. Because her
father was a magician that was good friends with my p's.

Small world.

Photos of Nibbles:

The following week I had two concerts back to back.
Zion & Schaumburg.
Zion was nice, and they really liked me a lot.
The one in Schaumburg is where my parents long time friend
Ken Madsen of The Great Andre act lives. The Great Andre is
a huge poodle they'd make disapper and levitate. They go back
40 years if not more.

We visited him last year in August and it was a nice visit. You can see here:
http://pics.livejournal.com/mai_ling/tags/with+ken+madsen/

Dad with Ken this year:

My reception there was awesome.
A lady liked me much she wanted to make sure I stay so she can buy a CD.

After the show we decided to drive out to Cabella's to see what it was like.
It was nice. Interesting. I prefer Bass Pro Shop.

This is one thing we saw:

In July we also went to Heritage Fair in Union.
We planned on going as usual because my mom and I enjoy the pink elephant barn.
I saw soo many people and they showed concern.
So many came up to hug me and knowing that made me miss mom.

We bought a pine tree for her garden (which I have yet to plant).

I tried doing the cake walk three time and did not win once again.
We watched the pupeteer which was actually good.

We bought some goodies too.

I capture this photo of dad and eric while doing the cakewalk.

awww... mom would be proud.

It was mild weather which was nice.

I also did a new UPcycled leather purse I found at a rummage sale for 50 cents.
Its like a messenger bag but a bit bigger. definitely great if you have
a binder or sprial notebook or folders to carry with a netbook.
I did of course a magic theme. I think they turned out great.

This is what the end result looks like:

July also brought us 11 years since dad had his stroke.
I learned that certain current events that have reflected in ones life can
alter your view when something more emotional has happened.

On the 29th it was not only my dad's anniversary since his stroke but
was exactly 2 months since mom passed away.

In returned being consumed with so much of those emotionals I forgot
what family holiday was leading up next.

August

It started out interesting.

Since its that time of the year where my emotions run high to begin with.
They were set even higher.

One thing was that I received a call from the creamatory that my mom's
corrected death certificate were finally ready and processed.

It took only 2 months, but I guess it usually averages 6-9 months.
The office manager kept on top of it though.
So I feel fortunate.

It was hard getting them.
No matter what it is hard.
What is hard is looking at these certificates.

So I finally got stuff going on estate with the bank.
What a long process that was.

Every couple of weeks was meeting with the financial investment rep.
Bringing dad in figuring what we should do. Signing this and that.

Things finally have settled.

August was also a busy month for me for work.
I pretty much played every week almost every few days.
Good pay, new clients. Happy listeners.

I played on my keyboard.
I played on very out of tune pianos.

But I think its a testament if a pianist can play on such a out of tune piano
and still keep within the song without goofing up and on top of that, be in
tune when signing.

That's professionally high technique.

I dont' know how I do it.

Countdown to Watermelon Day! didn't seem as exciting
without watermelon momma. She was the force behind the day.

As the days came to. It was busy up until.

Between shows, estate stuff and house stuff...

Eric & bought a car on the 8th.
We traded in his '01 Ford Windstar and got an '04 Chevy Aveo.
The Windstar came during a good period of time with all that
was going on with mom and the MCA weekend was perfect.
But it was acting up and it wasn't working well with the mileage
and gas issue with his work.

So I dealed down and got a decent price. As with anything we
had to do front brakes, spark plug & wires and battery to start.

The battery was something else. It must have gotten frozen and
we didn't realize it was so bad until it wasn't holding a charge and
when we went to buy one. They said it could have blown up.

Uh... hazard via the dealership...?
I think so.

After purchasing the car we went to the Kellogg's Keebler Snack
division company picnic.
Eric was personally invited by the district manager.
Its only for Territory Managers and Customer Service Reps only.
but he's special and the DM likes him.
So we went along.
The DM is nice.
We sat with his boss and chatted for a while.

Then we went home and relaxed.

The 9th was Watermelon Day.
We had watermelon.

The next day was 34.
I went to work with Eric and relaxed at the 'bucks.

Then we went home for some dinner.

I missed momma way to much that weekend.

The following Monday was Eric's birthday.

We got the van towed down to the dealership.
(the battery was dead. dead. dead.)

He went to work and we just did stuff around the house.
Cooked dinner and relaxed.

We also decided to try something interesting.
Paint our crushed asphalt driveway with sealer.
I will talk more about this in seperate post

I also bought the Roland Mobile Cube.

OMG its absolutely amazing.

Kelly & Dale told me about months ago but had no clue
what it looked like then I talked with them again a couple of
weeks back.

So after performing a show we had our birthday dinner out
at the Golden Corral. I decided to stop at Guitar Center.
I checked out the cube. Decided to try it out for the hell of it.
Ordered the adapter too.

Got home ... WOW.

I just booked a private concert the following Saturday evening and
thought it w would work perfectly. And it did.

I can use it for light small concerts (although medium sizes work great).
And use my P150 when doing really large outdoor events.

Although it does pack a lot of punch.

Great investment.

Now we are in September....

I performed a concert at the Drury Lane Theatre which I'll write more about
and its Wedding Countdown

Four more days!

More detais soonl.
In the meantime visit our wedding site at

www.mai-ling.net/wedding

PHOTO TAGS: http://pics.livejournal.com/mai_ling/tags/summer+2009+recap/

ps. This entry actually took me almost 2 weeks to write...yeesh!

A shed I would want: TARDIS shed

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 20:03:13 GMT

34.

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:30:48 GMT

picture of being.

My yearly after birthday post was delayed two weeks.
August has been a busy concert month.
And to sit down and take the photos off the camera and cell phone to adjust
and then write an entry just hasn't seen a time that i can do it all at once.
So its been a little here and there...

Thank you for the emails, tweets, and comments on watermelon day and birthday
on August 9th & 10th.

Its been a difficult time.
Since loosing mom, I didn't greive as I did the last 11 years during the time dad
had his massive stroke. I'm usually in a wonky mind frame. Instead that has been
replaced with greiving and mourning my mom. Which is more difficult to deal with
more than my father's stroke. At least I had my mom around during the time and
she always took my mind off the time frame with other activities.

Now that certain times of the year I will be hurting that I never did before because
no one can replace her, I do have my wonderful signicant other and husband to be
with me to deal with all the feelings I'm going to be dealt with. Along with my father.

In which I'm lucky.

This is the first birthday in all 34 years I did not receive a red envelope.
It is the one thing I miss. It was a ritual and legacy that happened not just on my
birthday but for many different occassions. Especially the origin of the Chinese
New Year. My mom was always on top of that.

It is something I miss. And actually looked for when I woke up on Monday morning.
Thinking she'd tucked one away somewhere as she was always ready ahead of time.

So what did I do on my birthday...well we had a lot of things to do.
But we didn't go out to eat because Eric's birthday is exactly 7 days later. We decided to
celebrated our days together yesterday at the Golden Corral after I finished performing yesterday.
Dad enjoyed the baked fish and I enjoyed the steak. I can't cook steak like that.

Otherwise, we were doing car repairs on a 2004 Chevrolet Aveo that Eric and I bought
the previous Saturday before we went to the Kellogg's Keebler corporate picnic.

I dealed down on the car because you know when you purchase a used vehicle (whether
from a private seller or dealer) you have repairs on it even if you don't think so.

We purchased the vehicle from Libertyville Mitsubishi in trade for Eric's Ford Windstar van
he got in April after trading in a 1997 Ford F-150 and 2 caveliers. The truck was nice but
being it was stick shift and alignment off we got an almost even trade ($300) for the van.

The van worked perfectly when he got it four months ago. It was comfortable, automatic,
roomy and working perfectly for when I did a couple of shows and the collector's weekend.
Plus carrying materials from Home Depot/Menards for the garage.

It was comfortabble for mom and pretty easy for her to get in.

But since she passed the van had been acting up. The battery was draining and I don't think
it was the Alternator, I think there was short somewhere. Because the battery was draining
even though it was sitting there. We bought a new battery and so we knew it wasn't a
battery issue.

Since it was hassle he was driving my subie to work and we looked for a different gas saving vehicle.
We could not trade it in for the CARS because you have to own the vehicle for at least a year.

So we found this Aveo and it was a good deal for what it was but we had to do a complete
brake job, add coolant, replace spark plugs & wires plus the battery was so bad.
It must of froze and that is why it bulged that any continuous charging would make it explode.
That is why the battery kept dying. We were lucky it didn't eplode while on the road.
The only thing we have to look into is a alignment (which we probably can do ourselves)
and a new horn relay.

On my birthday we planned to drive the van down to the dealership since they gave us a
trade-in quote blindly. But that didn't work because the van wouldn't start. It started the
other day but of all days, not that day. So we had to think about how to get around that
in which we figure they could have paid for a tow to Libertyville. But they wouldn't so luckily
my car insurance was willing to tow the vehicle which worked out well.

So after cleaning the van and taking the battery we paid for out (the GM said we could do so)
we said good-bye to it. And Eric worked on the car for a bit then we all went together to
Mundelien Target where he worked a couple of hours. Dad and I sat at 'bucks where he
watched a Criss Angel DVD and I thought about all the tasks before me to think about.
While drinking a coffee...

Then we shopped and went home where I cooked Lemon/Lime Chicken.

We relaxed the rest of the day...

I am working on a re-cap of the last couple of months of the goings on.

In the meantime, here are some pictures from that day.
(You can see how stressed I am in my face.)

Enjoy!

more photos
TAGS: http://pics.livejournal.com/mai_ling/gallery/000801ch

license to marry

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 01:29:25 GMT

today we got our license.

its something we have been planning to get for the last
few weeks but his work got in the way.

we actually had multiple tasks today.

got my silver subie plate sticker.

I met up with my cousin Cathy in Woodstock at the
courthouse to get afidavid papers for small estate
stuff.

Just to get in the building took the longest and all
we needed were papers and nothing to file there.

We were done in like 20 mins.

then eric and i went to get our license.
It was a busy day for it appearantly.
as soon as we walked in the guy knew why we were there.
and when we walked in the office the lady knew too.
appearantly they needed to print more up or something.
BTW in Illinois its $30 not $25.
$5 is donated to a domestic woman's fund.

When the lady asked about my Mom and her maiden
name and her current living address, saying deceased...
I started to get sad.

after that i stopped by the recorders office and had
my mom's death certificate recorded. It costs $40.
I figure the lawyer could do but I was bythere, I might
as well get it done.

then we met up in fox lake to get an estate account
opened just in case i get more estate accounts.

That took a long time too.

All this was emotionally draining on me.

And to make things more difficult, I realized that 3 months
ago today was the last time I spoke briefly with mom before
she was vented.

marry away

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:11:00 GMT

My lack of journaling here at the good 'ole LJ
has good reason.

I've been dealing with mom's estate stuff
and planning my wedding which is a month
from now.

typically I do an entry after my birthday.
i'm still working on that and a re-cap
of things for the past couple of months.

i'll get to it, i promise.

really.

time to set aside as to when i can.

xoxo

2 more days until

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:49:19 GMT

WATERMELON DAY!

six for days

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 20:14:17 GMT

until watermelon day...

coping

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:42:37 GMT

tomorrow is going to be either a decent day or a devastingly horrible day.

its a double whammy.

1. it will be two months ago tomorrow that my mom passed away.

2. it will be 11 years ago my dad had his massive hemmoraghic stroke.

i think tomorrow i will have to keep myself busy either tidying up around the house
or going out to do errands.

something.

on a good note.

i did get a call that the creamatory finally received my mom's corrected death certificates.
I think between the cremation place and the fact I called my state rep last week probably
helped get things moved along.

They were sitting in Springfield waiting to be processed.

if nothing were to happen in the next week or so I did plan to call the lawyer a friend
referred me to. They do pro bono work.

which mean we finally can move forward in getting things taken care of so we can get
see where we are at and not have to let things go into 2010.

...all that tax stuff...

if everythign works right hopefully this time around my dad can get the Aid & Attendance.

I am still thinking about calling the lawyer to see what can be done with the shit the
doctor did leading up to everything.

as the lady from the crematory said on the phone said "way to much heartache."

So we'll see.

I will update with what else is happening in the course of the last month soon.

I just need to get through tomorrow and the next couple of days after that...

Its still good days and bad days.
but mainly not so good days.

Candian, Please Video

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:32:43 GMT

With yesterday being Canada Day...
Joe from the CBC posted this...
couldn't help but post it here too.

makes me want some tim horton donuts,
mother parker coffee, watch some due
south and use my candian tire money,
visit knob hill (oh that's no longer there).

Oh Canada!!!

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:56:58 GMT

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!

my canadian friends...

Listening to the most current release by Neil Young and Kathleen Edwards today!

it was

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:17:58 GMT

exactly a month ago today i woke up knowing i only had so many hours with mom before we had to let her go.

...

if you get MAGIC magazine, you would have saw the photo of mom and dad
and a small write up about Mom in the milestones section.

I chose this picture to send because this was one of my mom favorites photos.
Not only are they doing the Chicken Vanish but even though you can't see me,
I was there too...She was expecting me at that time.

You can read my longer rememberence in the special section at Magic Magazine here:
http://www.magicmagazine.com/remembrances/remembrance-arlene.html

in ref: http://www.livejournal.com/users/mai_ling/380516.html

thank yous

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 23:50:17 GMT

for everyone's support through this difficult period.

for everyone who commented on any entry here in LJ land.
Twittered their good thoughts my way.
Comments and messages on myspaces.
Phone Calls.
Cards in the mail box
and cards in my email box.

and anyone who stopped by to spend time with us with
mom and at home.

It means more to us than you could ever understand.

I have good days and bad days.
Mostly not so good days.

I miss her soooo very much.

my heart is empty without her here.

farewell to thee my wonderful mom

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:27:11 GMT

We spent quite time with momma for a couple of hours
before close friends and family arrived at three for
a prayer vigil.

Lunch was on the house for my father, Eric and I.
I saw the hospice people in the cafeteria. We ate
with momma and we talked to her. gave her kisses
on the forehead.

Karen arrived with three balloons and the four calla
lillies I ordered that we put in the vase with the
magenta peonies from our yard.

I put together four photos on a piece of black
poster board (as she would have).

One was a family portrait taken a year ago by Dale Horn. He was kind of enough to email me
the image.

One of me and mom taken with my cell phone at Oberwiess a couple of years ago.

Dad and mom on their wedding day 37 years ago.

Eric and Mom hanging in my room.
(She's meditating).

PHOTOS TAGS: http://pics.livejournal.com/mai_ling/tags/mom/

The chaplin arrived with the hospice worker and
I told them the plan for the afternoon.

Karen brought two CDs. Andre Bocelli and Josh Groban.
We decided what scriptures she would read and what
pieces of writing would read of my moms.

I put "For Jose" on repeat while
People started arriving around 2:30pm.
It was one of my mom's favorite songs I wrote.

Friends and family, approximatley 20 people filtered the room.

At 3pm we played Andre Bocelli's "Go Where Love Goes".

The Chaplin said a prayer for mom.

Then Karen read The 23rd Psalm" and "Ecclesiasties verse 1-8"

I then read while trying to keep it together, three peices of her writing
from her "House of Memories" section of her book.
One about her mother and how there should more like her, in reference
to my own mom. One about memories and remembering a path,
and lastly, about things you keep.

Then we played Josh Groban "You Raise Me Up"

We did a final prayer for mom ending with the "Lord's Prayer"

Her nurse and a respitory therapist prepared for her to excubated.

Once she was released from the vent, a oxygen mask was put over her.
Where she breathed on her own for two and half hours.

My dad held her hand and talked and conversations arose.
It was quiet then loud, then quiet and loud again.
Fluctuating inbetween.

I think hearing that she was surrounded by friends and family
with chatter would make her feel good. It wasn't gloomy or
depsressing. My father talked about magic and back in the days.
There were two close friends there from Magic for dad.
Jim Sommers and Marshall Brodien and Mary.
So having them there was good for him.

I sat next to her holding her hand watching her...
Talking to her and telling her how much I love her and that
everything will be OK. Kissing her forehead.

Then around 5:45 she took her last breathe on Friday, May 29th.

And she was gone.

My dad said,
"She is in God's hands. God has called her home."

I cried...and everyone hugged me as I got to my father
on the otherside. To hug him and let him know she was gone.
I sat on Eric's lap and he held me. He started crying too.

Then someone started singing "Amazing Grace" and
everyone joined in.

People came up and gave their condolences.

Comments were made on how the send off was beautiful.
And that they have never seen one like this before.
Especially Hospice and the Chaplin. That this is how
send off's should be done.

Then it was just dad, eric and karen with mom.
We spent a little time with her afterward's.

Then we said our final good-bye.

We went down to the parking lot and dad held the three
balloons and said good bye to mom and released them.
We watched them go up into the sky.
One raced further ahead while the other two stuck together.
I think the one racing was mom because she was released.

It felt grey in the sky earlier but then she gave us a beautiful day.

I asked dad what he wanted for dinner and he requested
"Happy Family" from the Chinese take out in town.
Which he loved and would always ask momma for.

Nancy later came over with some rhubarb/strawberry cake.

Then we just relaxed at home.
Adjusting to the idea that mom wasn't coming home.

I had a hard time sleeping that night.
I was scared because I knew she wasn't coming back.

I miss her sooo much.
I have waves of emotions and will cry at a drop of a hat.
When I'm in room or closet I can't help but feel her near.
I miss her and start crying.

My dad misses mom a lot of course.
Eric said she was more of a mother to him then anyone.
She treated him like her own.

Because in all of the things she loved doing, was being
a mother and mothering was her greatest gift.

More later...

Sometimes

Fri, 29 May 2009 15:53:38 GMT

When I lay by her feet and take a nap.
I feel her arms around me and I hear her voice calling for me.
In that slow but subtle way.

"Frances!"

I already miss her and have missed her since Thursday...
we haven't even let her go yet...

i wish

Thu, 28 May 2009 01:14:57 GMT

I could just lay with momma
and hold her in my arms one more time.
Re-assure her about how much she really means to all of us.

The Last Emperor : The Criterion Collection

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 21:50:13 GMT

This movie continously amazes me to no end.

Its is vast, beautiful in every possible way.
Without knowing, I hadn't realized that it was re-released.

It comes with four DVDs.
The theatrical version
Made for TV version
and two supplemntal discs.
That include additional interviews, films and other
related such stuff.

Plus a full color book talking impart of about the
production of the film.

This is a magnificent journey of historical China.
The crosses between traditional to modern.
To fight for country and for self.
The transitions of one being put in a power situation
to losing power. Only to be imprisioned at a young
age in a city and imprisioned later in life as a war criminal.

You see many decades of history in this transition.

In this epic film you learn so much about how China
changed as did the people and their culture.

When this film first came out in 1987, I was still in
grade school. I was more entralled by that fact I
was seeing beautiful images of my ethinicity without
really understanding the political nature.

We have a collection of items from the Ching dynasty
and many books, poster and ephemera from a exhibition
that was at the Royal Ontario Museum in 1977.

Being part of a royal dynasty line ( there was a duke who was
a Louie who married an emperor's daughter) according to a
history that is recorded. It makes watching this film with wider
eyes. I also want to note, that know this doesn't make me any
more than who I am. I am still Frances, not any more special
than the next Frances.

As I grew older, I appreciated this film. I also understood
a lot of my Chinese family that lived in mainland China before
moving to Hong Kong.

With all the political upheaval, you have to wonder what
would have happened if China did not go through its
transition.

I know for one, I would not be here.

I recommend this film for its beautiful images, its story, the
court costumes, architecture and of course the history
of what made China modern.

recylced and crushed

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:05:26 GMT

Two weeks ago we had our driveway re-done.
Instead of going with grade 9 gravel, we
went with Recycled & Crushed Asphalt.

It packs down better and harder.

Appearantly, gravel companies put more sand
than rock in the mix which results in crappy
driveways.

The asphalt is crushed fine enough that the oils
adhere together and has you drive on it,
it compacts down enough to make it a hard surface.

We extended ourd drive to fit my two subies
comfortably that way I wasn't parking in the mud.
Also the ruts from this past winter was horrid than
ever.

So that made it much easier plus better parking if we
have more than 3 vehicles. We also did it in front of the
truck making it an actual parking space.

Local company Hoenhe and Sons of Solon Mills did the work.
They did a really nice job.

Eric and I will probably oil it down and put a sealer on it to
make it harder so that during the winter we don't have to
worry about loose rock.

At least its not muddy soft and is decent to walk on.

PHOTOS

TAGS: http://pics.livejournal.com/mai_ling/tags/crushed+%26+recycled+asphalt+driveway/

Tonight is the start of the 40th Annual Magic Collectors Weekend.

Before that I actually have a playing show early this afternoon.
Its simple background music for a luncheon.

Then tonight it is the Dessert Reception and the first lectures of the evening.

All three of us are registered this year.
I'm looking forward to it.
Its like my vacation for the year.

I'll be twitter about it and from time to time, I will definitely do
a voice post too.

Photos and possibly some video too.

I'll be playing during cocktail hour on Saturday night's banquet and show.

And as always, will report in nextweek with a recap.

Starting with the "It's Magic" Roundtable discussion from this past Monday.

o/o

me and my keys

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:48:23 GMT

from the March N&P :: 3/13/09
caricature by ruthie red