Storm and Stress

It’s my first Friday Friday!  And what a week it has been!  I feel like I haven’t had a moment to rest, and the pageant has barely started.  I can’t concentrate on a single thing at any moment, I’m eating all weird, and I wake up exhausted from crazy dreams about the Beckhams.   The question is: has the pageant been stressing me out, or have I been stressing myself out?  Read on to find the answer to this dramatically-phrased question!

Google Image Search: Cursed Leg

Guys! The Cursed Leg has struck again!  This time, the curse has transcended from affecting the living to the inanimate.  I left work late on Tuesday to go to McCabe's Music to purchase a double bass for the talent portion of the show.  I street-parked on a fairly busy street, so I did a little curb check to see if I was far in enough.  And that's when I saw the latest victim of the curse:

Dramatic reenactment

RUFKM?

The front right tire of my car was completely flat!  It doesn't take a conspiracy theorist to figure out that the right tire of a car is analogous to a human's right leg.  Specifically, my car.  Specifically, my leg.

What was I to do?  It was about 9:10 and McCabe's closes at 10.  I went into the store, got a great deal on my bass (Plus a music stand! Plus rosin!), and called AAA.  I don't have AAA, so the conversation went a little something like this "Hello, I'd like to buy a membership; also, can you send someone to fix my tire right now?" kthxbai.

About half an hour later, Tony from AAA rolled in.  He hopped out of his vehicle, gave me some bottled water (I guess in case I was stranded away from civilization?), and changed my tire to the spare.  That's when we discovered the culprit:

<Insert pun about screws, being screwed, etc>

How did this screw conveniently cross the path of my car?  I'm not going to speculate...but I can bet you can come up with some pretty tasty theories.

The spare.  Guys, I don't have a spare leg.

I arrived home late, completely drained.  I made a 7am appointment online to get a new tire for my car at the dealership and, then passed out in my bed.  And then I remembered that I had to write a blog update for Weekend Wednesday.  In case you were wondering why my writing sounded like I had spent my whole day working, then scrambling to buy a bass and then dealing with a flat tire, well, that's why.

The next morning, barely fueled by the fewest hours I've slept all year, I woke up and took my car to the shop.  The day became significantly better when I watched the World Cup at work, but then my body remembered that it can't survive off of 4 hours of sleep, and the rest of my day was like asklsdfksggejgeojkmc.

Actually this whole week has been like asefjasfkljs;gskdfjsd, but not to worry! I suppose it can only get better from here.  I do have my bass now, and I've even practiced it a bit.  The only piece I think I want to play is this haunting melody by Prokofiev.  I'm not entirely certain that it's pageant-friendly though.  What constitutes a pageant-friendly piece?  Even if I could come up with a great answer for that, I think what is more relevant is what constitutes a Taiwanese pageant-friendly piece?  I don't know any Taiwanese folk songs, and even if I did, where would I find music for it?  And even if I did find music for it, would it even sound alright on the bass?  The good news is that I do have an accompanist, which was always stressful for me to find whenever I had to go to competition in the past.  

The last bit of stress on my stress-list is that I need to find jean shorts before rehearsal on Saturday.   Yes, our classy attire for rehearsals includes jean shorts and high heels.  I'm not sure if I could think of a...less flattering combination, for lack of less abrasive words.  But there it is.  If this pattern of working until 9 every day continues, I'm not sure when this jean short purchase will occur.  Stress stress stress stress.  I must find a way!

To end on a very positive note, this blog was recently featured on TaiwaneseAmerican.org, a Taiwanese community website run by the incomparable Ho Chie Tsai!  I first met Ho Chie at UC Berkeley for a Formosa Betrayed event, when we realized that he was the one who had first publicized my UN for Taiwan video!  It was an amusing coincidence.  Anyway, TaiwaneseAmerican.org always features great articles and references for/about the Taiwanese youth, and I feel pretty lucky to have made another appearance on its pages.

And that has been this week!  Here's hoping my stress levels aren't as high anymore and that the US wins on Sunday (although I am still holding a special place in my heart for Japan <3)!