Before I came to London, my Uncle Mervyn and Aunt Patsy sent me off with sushi. I remember the evening well: they knew the restaurant owner and so the wait staff brought us complimentary cocktails, deserts, and extra side dishes. As Classical music enthusiasts, my aunt and uncle always attended my concerts , and treated me to those rare, sold-out concerts that I am never organized enough to book in advance. At the end of our evening, Uncle Mervyn shook my hand and wished me luck for my studies abroad; we said we would see each other again upon my return.

My uncle died yesterday. Last week, they diagnosed him with liver and colon cancer.

Nine months ago, his younger brother died of cancer. And a month later, my mother died.

When I received the news this morning, I sat staring at my computer. I was strangely cool, eerily so. Then I cried. Then I went to the Academy and practised.

Clement to the rescue!

As you can see, the archives are back.

One of my favorite persons, Clement, responded to my previous post and sent me a helpful link. Upon clicking, I was directed to a page with a title in ecstatic 3-dimensional letters that popped out at me and read: "Beta Blogger for Dummies!!!". It was nice confirmation that I am, in fact, a dummy.

Naturally, I am also the same girl that purchased an Apple laptop because somehow, I made a disaster out of my PC and not even the brightest engineer could save me. I went to the Apple store with my cousin Grace, and saw a promotional offer for a free iPod with any purchase of an Apple computer. I did not care much for an iPod, although Grace informed me that iPods are 'cool'. An eager sales associate, a young lad who looked tech-savvy, approached us and mentioned the promotional offer. I was hesitant to reveal my ignorance, but curious at the same time.

"This...iPod device, is for listening to music?", I asked.

He smiled and perked, "Yup".

"So...how does it operate? Do I plug it into my walkman?"

His smile abruptly disappeared, replaced with the slight drop of his jaw. After he collected himself, he patiently explained that I need to download music files and transfer them to the iPod -- and that the iPod has nothing to do with the walkman.

As it is, I have never used my iPod. I would sell it on Ebay if I knew how to use Ebay.

Thank you, Google Blogger.

Google forced me to switch to this "new & improved" version of Blogger by not letting me sign into my old account. I was assured that nothing would change.

Do take notice that I have lost all my archives. All of them.

If anyone can help me, then please fire me an email because I am very sad.

Rapunzel, let down your hair!

Last week, I found two hair salons on Camden High:

The first salon looked chic and they quoted me fifty-five pounds for the initial consultation, which includes imaging, styling, and recommendation of products. The cut itself costs thirty quid on top of the mandatory consultation.

I decided that I would rather let my hair grow like Rapunzel's than to pay eighty-five pounds for a cut. Eighty-five quid (around $200 CAD) is an entire meal at Susur.

Relieved, the next salon I saw advertised haircuts for only six quid. I peeked through the window to watch the hairdressers in action, but my eyes grew wide in horror: they all had mohawks, tattoos, and metal chains on their clothes! Not my style.

Complaining to James, he smiled smugly and patted my hand.

"Have no fear, your gay friend is here", he said.

And with that, he slipped me a card to the Vidal Sassoon academy where hairdressing students offer free cuts. How wonderful is James!

Afghan Fever

Tonight I attended an important cultural and political event, sponsored by the U.S. Embassy and hosted by the Afghan community in London. My friend who works for the embassy gave me a complimentary ticket for tonight's concert, Jazz Bridges. I was delighted to learn that I was in for hearing some of U.K.'s top jazz musicians -- but little did I know what I was really in for.

The concert tonight was part of a continuing project to give a voice to Afghanistan, while aiding in the reconstruction of the nation. This joint venture between the U.S., U.K., and Afghanistan proved to be nothing short of inspiring. What is most inspiring, however, is the use of music as their vehicle.

Two different groups of musicians performed: the Ghulam Hussain Ensemble and Mike del Ferro with the Mondesir brothers (drum and bass). The former is the foremost exponents of Afghan classical and traditional music in their country, once exiled but have reclaimed their cultural significance since the fall of the Taliban. The latter -- incredible, solid, innovative American and U.K. jazz musicians. Fuse these groups together and the result is some of the most exciting world jazz I have ever heard.

The audience lit on fire as they played. I could feel the rhythm in my bones, and my blood ran through my veins like electricity.

As a musician who is concerned with humanity and issues of social justice, I have often struggled to see the pragmatic value in something as abstract as music. After all, how does Beethoven edify a war-torn country? Should music even aim to be pragmatic? When I posed this question to a professor, he told me that the beauty of music is that it is not utilitarian. Still, music cannot solve the world's problems. Are not then medicine, law, and politics -- when practiced in the true spirit of the disciplines -- the most influential and important occupations for humanity?

But tonight restored my faith in what I do. Tonight's music symbolized the coming together of nations, and I saw how it affected the audience in a deep and compelling way. And this is when music moves people to acceptance and positive action.






For more information on the reconstruction throughout Afghanistan:

http://www.state.gov/p/sca/ci/af/
http://www.usaid.gov/locations/asia_near_east/afghanistan/
http://www.nato.int/issues/afghanistan/index.html

For more information on the Jazz Bridges Afghanistan project:

www.americanvoices.org/projects/2005/afghanistan/