Music with Jun / Photos with Wendy

Thursday: Up around 8. Stretching as MB was in the shower. Shower for me. She off to work, and me down basement, for morning practices. Up around 10:15. A little stuff shuffling, and then off to my first music lesson with Jun, in JP. Ate some cheese and crackers MB had packed for my lunch on the way.

Arrived on time, finding the entrance to his basement apartment around the side of the house. He kindly gave me some V-8 and a Japanese cookie as a welcoming offering. Then next hour and 45 minutes or so, were spent in the enthusiastic discussion of music theory. The breadth of Jun's knowledge is quite amazing. He has studied at both the New England Conservatory and Berklee, and can switch back and forth between Classical and Jazz idioms effortlessly. This session was covering the basics, and then moving on. I think he was trying to gauge my level of understanding, to know where to begin. We talked about scales and modes, the history of Western music, the octotonic scale, the melodic minor scale, and its relation to the altered scale, pentatonic scales (including some traditional Japanese pentatonic scales), diminished and augmented resolutions... etc. Lots of stuff! I hope we can take a few of these concepts and work on actually having me apply them.

In to work. Continued my efforts on the bug that had been handed off to me yesterday. With good result. Talked with Dv and later Dv and B about a problem Dv is having with an API mismatch. Rbt and B talked to me about some UI issues. Headed out around 7:20.

Drove out Route 2 to Lincoln. Found Wendy and Nick's house, nestled among the trees at the end of a cul-de-sac. The prayer flags were a dead giveaway. She showed me around. They had just had some trees cut down. Funny cats (one likes to lick Scotch Tape.) Tea. Chat. We scanned photos, and sorted through ones that had already been scanned, all in preparation of my uploading them to the KKC website. Nick arrived home around 10:30. I left around 11.

Back home. MB was already showered, and heading to bed. She told me about her BD rehearsal with Za-Beth. We hung out for a little while. I left her to sleep. An egg on toast. Tortellini. Down basement now. Need to complete a few morning practices, before I call it a night.