BON VOYAGE-more summer travels

I’ve been taking a “kinda” break from the computer lately. Only using it for stimuli for my art and English projects.  Hence the lack of recent posts and the considerable drop in views 😛

Truth be told I haven’t had much to write about lately. Brothers spent the last two weeks Island Hopping around the Greek Isles leaving my Sister and I here to do as we may. We went camping for a few days, had our parents drop us off in a camping part of the King’s forest (Thasos tou Vassili) with our bikes, packs and tents and we spent the days biking the trails, making friends with the local dogs (of course! :P) and chatting with tourists. Now our brothers are back and we are off to the lovely little island of Paros for a week and a half. Tomorrow morning we are getting up at 4 am, to be out the door by 5:00-5:15 to be on the plane for 6:45 to be on the Island greeted by our friends there for 7:30. Can you say “YAWN!”

Oh well, at least this way we can snooze on the beach for a little bit (in the shade of course) and then hop right into the sea and have a whole extra day there. My only worry is getting burnt (again) though I’m a bit darker now (as dark as spf 40 lets you get :P) and the friends I’m staying with’s mother is a nurse so she is pretty good with warnings and catching a burn before it happens 😛 Unlike most people she doesn’t take my constantly rosy red cheeks as a burn and so isn’t warning me to put on more sunscreen moments after having applied more.

After my sister and I get back from Paros (when I said little earlier, I meant LITTLE. It only takes about half an hour to drive completely around the quaint little grecian isle. though it takes considerably longer if you stop to get a taste of all the numerous lovely beaches that surround it.) We will have two days break before heading to Italy to spend the rest of the summer with our family there, only to return to Greece in early September for a wedding. It’s going to be hard to re-adjust to school after that!

Anyways, so we are now packing for. not one, but two trips. If you remeber the last post I wrote about packing for the camping trip about a month ago… you’ll know this is no easy task for me. 😛 Needless to say that, once again, thanks to insomnia, anticipation and anxiety Ill probably get next to no sleep done tonight.

Not that I’ve had much the past  few nights anyways. If its not construction work waking you up really early, or all sorts of mechanical devices jerking you to alertness right when you are drifting off (seriously there were two seperate occasions of car tires squealing, fire truck, police car, and then finally, at 6:00 in the morning… the garbage trucks), or mosquitoes (have I ever mentioned they like to eat me alive? Good thing I’m just as good at squashing them with my bare hands (zen I know :P) even if I feel guilty about it.) or else its a rare occasion when BOTH your neighbours… in GREECE who are GREEK decide to have big parties (BIG) on the SAME NIGHT! It was horrible! They have this bad habit of making a fiasco out of anything (my neighbours) and they always hire waiters and caterers and everything and blast REALLY BAD GREEK DISCO MUSIC!!!!!!!! We can all agree that disco music was bad. But Greek disco is just plain gawd awful! I mean lets face it, even current, supposedly good greek music is just about crap! I mean whats the big deal with Sakis Rouvas or what ever his name is. Not only is he a horrible singer and song writer but his songs arer trashy, and if his singing is horrible… then his dancing is even worse and if thats so then he himself is even uglier! (if such a thing is possible). I just don’t get why girls go nuts over him! maybe I’m blind. What I don’t get though is why Greeks are bling enough as to send him to the Eurovision every year for the past, what? Century? If he was ever decent he has certainly lost his touch in his old age. But just lilke any Greek star he insists on sticking around like an old bat, leeching like a parasite off of the stupidityof his fellow countrymen. Do you really think he could do a come back concert in 20 years and get half the notice of someone like Tina Turner? Or ACDC? Would anyone even remeber him once the mob finally gains sanity and mob mentality looses its grip over their impression of him? I doubt it.

Ok well that little rant was random and I can’t even remeber where it stemmed from… a yes… i see now. My neighbour’s bad taste in music, and  even worse taste in playing it so loud so late. Sure if you want to listen to loud bad music at 12 am go to a soundproof club where no innocent by standers will loose their eardrums and braincells to bad music, and get yourself drunk. But dont listen to bad music, so loud i can hear it in my room with everything closed and locked, at 3 in the morning, and get yourself drunk and laugh so loud I can hear your laugh over the music. I’m serious there was one woman there with the most hideous and heinous laugh ive ever heard, and yes, i could still hear her spewing vile laughter even after they started the music. I don’t know if she was drunk or stoned or what, or if she just had poor judgment, but either way she sould be put in a secure facility or else a  hostile nation might record her and use it at supersonic decibels to make their enimy nation’s government buildings’ foundations colapse.

If you, woman, so happens to see this, or if any body takes offense at what I wrote… please let me know. haha. or just use discretion when hosting your own greek style house party 😛

Well… my train of thoughts before the rant has now dried up… but Ill be sure to post again tonight if I think of anything else… to make up for the days I missed and the days I will miss as I don’t think Ill be writing much on the island.

Sunny Summer,

Mirella rose

To dance? Or not to dance?

My mother’s sentiments for me,

mine for my child,

Our wishes for you, world.

Everyone should dance.

It’s as simple as that.

The world would be a better place if we all danced.

And sang.

Enough of the one line paragraphs. Now for real.

Ballet has hardly even stopped for a week and I’m already going insane! I need to dance!!! It’s a love that’s potent beyond belief. It’s passion.

Infatuation.

With movements,

music,

Power,

perseverance,

struggle,

and triumph,

despair,

and hope,

strength,

and fragility,

Its a talent we are born with,

and fight to master.

It’s something we aspire to do.

And cry over when we dont succeed.

But it drives us further,

Into the abyss?

Into the light.

How can you not dance?

In sleep,

I dance.

Awakening,

I dance.

Living,

I dance.

and dead I am without dance.

But even dead, I dance.

With the stars.

Those shining stars who came before us and lit up the abyss with their enlightening ways.

Inspirational ways.

Momentuous ways.

Blinks through time.

The history of dance,

So long and vast,

Beautiful and enthralling,

Majestic and yet meager.

To live is to dance, and to dance is to live.

Ok, now for real. This is a question for any dancers out there. what is the best thing about dance. Whether its dancing, or right before you dance, or performing or right before you perform, what is it that you love most.

You don’t dance? ok fine. Then what is your favourite activity and what is the best thing about it.

Why do we love doing whatever it is that we love. I’m a dancer, and a writer.  For me its all about expression, communication and emotions. they all tie together. I love being able to know how I feel. I love the freedom of being able to express myself. I love knowing that I’m improving. Watching myself grow up and improve through pictures and videos from recitals and classes in the past, and through reading pieces I wrote years ago. Even just re-reading the coursework pieces I wrote at the beginning of this year I’m able to ameliorate them, and that is growth. That is development.

How do you keep track of where you are. In life or in anything else? Exams work, but not always. One of the things I love about dance, is seeing that, I’m only 16 and have already achieved some of the life time goals I set for myself when I was little more than a toddler. I can now do pirouettes, doubles and triples even. I can do pointe work, I’ve even had my first solo en pointe. I can now execute countless beautiful and difficult steps effortlessly. And I can string them together into a piece of jewelry no one person has a right to wear. It’s hard to imagine now, what my dances used to be like. It has been years since I danced a choreography without any pirouettes or jumps or leaps or anything of the sort. It’s slightly difficult to imagine dancing a ballet without them. And yet at one point I did, and it frightens me that now I can’t remember how I did them. Those were the dances that made me pursue and persevere through dance, and yet they have slipped my mind.

Thankfully, what I felt dancing them has not. I guess the thrill, the adrenaline rush and the exhilaration and the feeling afterward, that all that stress, the months of practices, the days of no sleep leading up to the final performance as dress rehearsal schedules fell farther and farther behind (as usual), the feet aches, blisters, stressed and strained muscles, the cramps… were all worth it. The blinding lights, the glimpses of smilling faces you see through them, the applause and gratitude of the audience conveying their obvious sense enjoyment and appreciation of your work. Their obvious oblivion to your pain :P.  It all transcends to make one very potent drug that keeps us going, that binds us to the thing we love.

To dance.

I hope you all dance. Today, tomorrow, forever.

And now, since it is raining again, I think I’ll go dance in the rain. (dance, not sing).

Even when things should be slowing down…

…they just end up speeding up.

It’s summer.

We are now nearly ready to end school. Exams have been handed back (all but art). Lessons are winding down.

Deadlines are being met,  summer work is being set, and relaxation is being post-poned…

Its that time of year when everyone just wants to relax, and finish, and start summer, but our school has decided to have school end a bit later this year, so we are all enduring a bit more of the … well nothingness that marks our daily lives. typical days.

That sounds really depressing.

I just mean that we are all in suspense as usual, always waiting for something, to happen.

Tomorrow morning, something will happen. My grade is going on a camping trip. Beach, sun, trees, relaxation, swimming, ice-cream, good company (hopefully)… what more can I ask for? (that actually sounds like a lot of demands :P)

Well my point is that not much has been going on right now. I just finished packing. I’ve got everything on my check list (provided by school) and yet I still feel like I’m missing something… We all go through this, problem is, I think I have this feeling far too often. And its normally right.

Anyways, I know this is kinda short, (VERY short) but I’ll be getting up in 7 and a half hours… probably I’ll only get 5 hours sleep by the time I’m done getting everything I could possibly need, and finally put my mind to rest that I have EVERYTHING I could Possibly need.

I think the big problem though  is that I’m not taking my I-pod with me. I mean can you imagine 3 days with out music??? I certainly can not! Haha, this sounds really spoiled. But Music, Dance, and words… they are just a must for me in my everyday life. (oh! Thats something I need to get, my notebooks! Thx guys!) (oh and I could get another novel too… what else is there to do but read when I’m not swimming. I’m not a sun bathing type. WAY too boring!) Keep up the Brain storm! see this is one of the great things about being able to multiple think… while you are busy doing one thing you mind keeps tackling another problem… Where as other people, though tend to think about 2 or 3 things at once, it seems that I can annoyingly think of 5 or 6 at once and sometimes end up getting confused.

Ok- new problem arose. My flashlight isnt working. It’s an underwater one I got last year. Bulb is fine, batteries have charge- but for some reason there seems to be no negative terminal and we can not find out how to get the light on! oh well… another thing to do while I can not sleep. Find new Flashlight!  *sigh* aint this just swell?

Ok flash light is now working and I just managed to stuff a few more things into my bag. Next, a couple more books.

Ok books and flash light added to bag… bag itself is full, though the zip still goes by really easily… htere fore there is still some room for stuff on the top should I need it (such as books… camera… more books 😛 I know I know, I’m a total book worm! :P)

Ok forget about that. It’s now officially full… which means that coming back I wont be able to fit ANYTHING in it! haha. I’ll manage… somehow…

Well I really should go. I have some email and correspondances to write before I go to bed so toodle-oo (just found out how to spell it correctly haha!)

Bonna Notte Tutti!

Musica

bored backstage at the concert two weeks ago

I do not know about you guys (*hint hint- feel free to tell me) but I can not concentrate well with OUT music on!  I tend to like all music except for what most people like, haha. In other words I’m the salmon swiming against the stream most of the time. I stick to what I like, and that includes everything except for generally rap, pop, and thats about it. I love classical music, I love jazz, I love show tunes, I love Rock, Metal (heavy and melodic) and I love punk. I tend to like the older stuff more.

This morning I woke up to some LOVELY music. I had set my ipod alarm to play my most played list, so today I will introduce you to some of the artists on that list.

The poster for Steven Tsitsos' tour of Romance 'n' Jazz

1. First of all there is, possibly one of my favourite modern classical musicians (if that even makes sense) who also happens to be a good friend. His name is Steven Tsitsos. He recently started a you tube account and though as of today he only has a few videos up, they are all absolutely phenomenal (if he sees this he will laugh). When He asked my favourite I had to be honest. I couldn’t choose and still can’t! They are all just so beautiful. The three part of ‘Affairs of the Heart’ are all astoundingly beautiful, but the songs for percussion and orchestra are beautiful, fun, and receive more views in general, and I particularly like the Prague segment of these. Check them all out at his channel here: http://www.youtube.com/user/StevenTsitsos#p/u/1/g25j5v0kM3k

I hope you enjoy!

2. A wonderful Canadian star Michael Buble reaches heights of supremacy on my I-pod play lists. Ok that might parcially be because I was dancing to one of his songs and listened to it over and over again, but I still love his music. And the music video was very fun too. Here it is:

The song I danced to was Cry Me a River. I did a little jazz number en pointe, but sadly it did not end well. I had some…technical difficulties. I hadn’t practiced much for it since my ballet exam was coming up soon as well. First the pointe shoes came half off… then one tore! Haha  it didnt go well but for once, I am still able to listen to a song after having performed to it. here it is on Youtube:

3. Another group I love is Weather report. I danced to them a few years ago, the 1min 30 second dance turned into an impromptu improvisational piece when the uncut version was played. Luckily it was a solo and I managed the full 7 minutes, though my mom was near having a heart attack and was ready to pull me off stage when she saw I was tired. I had recently had a sore throat, perhaps from nerves, and when I got off stage, after the demanding jumps and pirouettes and the added stress of not knowing what was happening, I started coughing with my throat so sore, I needed to drink plenty of water before returning to the back stage duties I had helping out other dancers older and younger. They have too many songs to pic a favourite, so I will let you guys explore and make the decision for your self!

4. As for jazz… hmmm. Duke Ellington is pretty good (hahaha). And of course so is Count Basie. I love the song “April in Paris” that he did(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buPYdXcfwJc). Ella Fitzgerald is also amazing. I the album she did with Louis Armstrong. I strongly suggest you find it! But there are too many great Jazz musicians to choose from. The Dave Brubeck quartet is incredible. I was fortunate enough to see them in concert in the Terry Town concert hall, and meet Mr. and Mrs. Brubeck back stage as well. I know I already showed you Take Five, but his pieces “The A-Train” and “Blue Rondo a la Turk” are both incredible too. These guys just need to be mentioned: Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Charlie Parker. Bird of course is possibly one of the BEST and most fundamental musicians of jazz.

I’ll have a think about any more of my favourite Jazz musicians. Tell me who you like too.

5. As for heavy metal, I love Kamelot. There are so many great metal bands, but I love the stories they tend to tell. Amon Amarth is good too. Most of the good metal bands seem to have references to stories. What my brothers and sister and I have figured out from our own experimentation is that Scandinavian, German and Polish metal is really good. Of course there is good metal from all over the world, but its up to you to find your own taste!

Well I’ve had an awful long break from studying. I better get going. More later dear Readers!!!

Mirella Rose

oh and P.S. If anyone wants to know more great Jazz Legends there is actually a book titled that, which has the best must have CD’s for any connoisseur of Jazz. Also, if you want to play jazz you MUST absolutely MUST get the Real Book. Years after being put together it is still in use and a powerful reference book for jazz musicians old and young. It has all the best songs of jazz from all composers. I don’t know if there is a CD of it, but the book itself is good to have!

Meet Missy!

Well hello there everyone!

I promised you all a link to my friend Missy’s new blog and here it is:       http://missymoooonstar.wordpress.com/

She has made it her purpose to prove that teenagers CAN think. When you were a kid, didn’t everyone always look down at you and tell you how much you had left to learn? Tell you how you thought you were so smart… when you weren’t (even if you WERE right and they were wrong)? Well the two of us both love reading. And I love writing poetry. No haickus and meaningless limericks for me. I like the deep matter. Life, Love, Happiness and Death. Oh sure there are a few more. Human rights, animal rights, illness, injustice, frustration, prejudice and so on. Some people read them and are supportive, or give praise even. Congratulate me on my vocabulary, on how I presented my ideas and so on.  But of course there are those odd few that are utterly bitter and say how I’m only biting off more than I can chew and making a mask of my writing. They think that just because I’m 16 I can’t write something deep, or have my own, unbiased views on the meaning of life, and beliefs about what’s important, or what makes me happy or so on without them being stereotypical. THOSE are the people I think are living their life with blinders on. THOSE are the people who people who are shallow, and hypocritical and just plain ignorant to the fact that yes, teenagers can think, do have minds, and personalities and do not all just go with the pop culture stream…

Anyways, that’s why I’ll occasionally put up a poem or two, or a recipe I like or anything of the sort, to show you guys out there what teenagers can be like, and that is why Missy is trying to get input from the world and come up with a big theory of the meaning of life. We each have some parts of our own, and like I said before, I will (hopefully) be contributing to her blog quite a bit.

Her most recent blog was on music, the universal language.

My mom always said that there were only three things that not even cultural, appearance, or even class differences can separate from person to person. Those are maths, love and music. Because no matter what no matter where you are even, 2pi r squared is the area of a circle, and you can’t do anything about it if you like someone. These things have been programmed in us, Mathematics into our brains from our early childhood, and love and attraction from adaptations, its in our genes. Music on the other hand, goes beyond that even. I think that when you dance, or you sing, or you play music, you are praising God, life, the world. Your fellow people and inhabitants of it, the tree outside your window and the flower blossoming down the road. Music is something, like magic that resides deeper than our minds and hearts. Its more than instinct and a textbook. Its something unimaginably powerful and unsurprisingly is the base of the two other universal languages. What came first, music or love? Trigonometry or music? What came first, the lyrics or the song, the dance or the beat? Its hard to say. But they are all each other. There’s a reason why all great mathematicians are somehow, even subconsciously musically gifted. Two of the three math teachers at my school play music. My oldest brother, a musical prodigy, and exception to the 10 year rule, is a great mathematician when he applies his whole mind. Music is all about expression, as is love, as is dance. Dance is all about expression and love. Love is FULL of music and dance! Why do you think newlyweds’ first dance together is such a big deal? its their first act of trust, unison, expression to each other while wrapped in the music (no formulas floating around visibly and cornily, but they are there).

If you want to hear some absolutely amazing lectures on music and everything I was just talking about you should go to the New York City Lincoln center and hear some of Branford Marsalis’ workshops “Jazz at the Lincoln Center” are full of great music and profoundly deep lectures.

Sadly, though I love escaping from the world and writing here, I must return and start revising and doing homework and all the horribly standard things that await a teenage girl when she re-awakes into the world.

More Later,

Mirella Rose

P.S. picture credits to my dear friend Mike in Canada. He took and allowed me to use the picture you see above. I know it might be a bit random, but I thought it was beautiful and might remind us all that spring always comes round at sometime or other, its just waiting for when you will most appreciate it. Enjoy it while it lasts, soon it will be too hot and after that too cold. Embrace the grey area, the No man’s Land.

Hello World- Take Two

Take two… ‘Take Five’- what a lovely song by Dave Brubeck. I HIGHLY suggest you listen to it, even if you aren’t a fan of jazz. Its simply mesmerizing .

Well my dear readers, I am titling this page “Hello World – Take Two” for a couple of reasons. Well first of all, it sounds kinda nice doesn’t it? Don’t you ever meet someone for the first time and think afterward “Geez! I made such a fool out of myself…” or whatever, and totally blow your chances with this person, either as a friend, or as a… better friend…? Well that’s sort of what I’m trying to do here. See “hello World” was supposed to be my first post, and I wrote tons for it. But everything was deleted and somehow never went up… and that page seems to get a lot of views, so I’m just gonna take another attempt at that. Also, I feel really guilty after not writing for… two days? no that can’t be right? hmmm, Sunday was the last time I posted? so… 3 days? ok somehwere round there, but Goodness it feels much longer!

So NEWS: My hand healed itself just in time for the concert. I managed to have two spotless onstage rehearsals with my piano accompanist (that doesn’t look like its spelt right but anyways… :P), and one… very good… final performance. Its that famous curse of the music world, you never want a perfect final practice. the worse that is (unless all your practices have been bad) the better your final show will be… and vice versa as seems to be the case more often than not with me.

Also… I was going to write something esle that was new… but now I can’t remember so I’ll go on.

My best friend (other than my sister) has started a blog too! Much due to my excellent persuasion skills! Ill get the link here next time for anyone else who might be interested. SHe tackles very deep problems… much deeper than you’d expect from a 15 year old. I think she want the purpose of her blog to be trying to figure out what the meaning of life really is. We have spent many sleep overs talking about this (very weird teenager girls we are, aren’t we? no gossiping and chit chatting  about menial topic for us now is there?) I’ll include some of my own thoughts on that on her blog through comments.

Oh and I should probably finish off my reviews of the two movies I was watching the other night. They were both very good. “Proof” was a bit shorter than I would have liked, and had a LOT of screaming in it, and crying. but I think it was a very good topic, and very well done. It tackled a topic that I’ve always wondered, about how do all those scientist and mathematicians come up with theories and proofs and formulas in the first place? Same with how do musicians, Especially now adays, write songs… I once heard someon say that they never wrote songs, or tried to create anything because all the good ideas have already been done, if they haven’t its because it wasnt a good idea. which is very true. Like, how come you always find something you lost in the last place you thought to look? sounds pretty pathetic and philosophical , but its simply because after you’ve found it, why would you continue thinking of places it could be??? Though it is true that sometimes you think something is somewhere but it still isn’t the first palce you go to see…

Ok, I have forgotten how that last bit was relevant, but it was… somehow sometime…

I also have a new movie review. I’ve been watching a lot of movies lately. I’ve had to relax a bit. I had been getting too worked up with school and everything else, but now that im more relaxed and thinking clearer I’ve been producing better work. (but I wont go into that today) The movie I haven’t even finished watching yet (waitng for part 11- final- to load on youtube) is the 1994 “SPEED”. I like the movie, and I think I can see myself (after the exams are over) watching the sequel and third one. It’s quite good, but not the type of thing I would normally be into. its more in my second choice category. But I like that, sometimes we need something like that every now and again.

Does anyone else out there have any good movies to suggest seeing? I’m normally really bad with pop culture and the sort (incase you haven’t figured out- meaning of life discussions and all….) and especially movies. I hardly ever go to the movie theaters, unless its a movie that is really so much better in the cinema, whats the point when you can rent it a month later, and watch it in the comfort of your own home, with your jammies and endless home made popcorn (i prefer it to theater pop corn) with your best frineds and being able to laugh as much as you want at the msot random comments that you think of in the middle of a dramatic scene, not get scolded, and then you get to rewind after you realise none of you have heard anything anyone’s said for the past five minutes becuase youve been so busy laughing your heads off…

Haha, now that I’m done advertising for home cinema companies across the globe…

It’s Tuesday, a week after that iconic post when i got my first comment!!! Annika, this post is dedicated to you for that! Thank you, I hope you see it, and look forward to any feed back you have. Oh and My mom and I made another batch of the lemon bars this weekend for a bridal shower we held today. Very nice with a beachy theme…

I also got some pictures recently from one of my cousins in Greece. They are of the burnt out bank in Athens from the riots. I will post them as soon as I figure out how. there are huge masses of candles and flowers and teddy bears for the almost life taken. Do you think its unnecessary to mourn an unborn baby’s death? I think it is, especially when its something that could have been prevented. I mean, some people say, oh whats the point, its not like the world would have been any different in 20 years if they hadn;t died, but you never know who’s going to be the one to discover a universal cure to cancer, or a way to stop CO2 emmisions or whatever life altering discovery could be made.

I once had this discussion with one of my brothers. I said, imagine how different our life would be if Benjamin Franklin hadn’t lived and been the brilliant man he was. My brother didnt think there would have been much difference. I said, but think about the number of people more that would have been affected without the lightning rod, the Empire state building never would have survived more than a few months for example. And Imagine if we didnt even have electricity! (needless to say the world’s population would probably have been much smaller). He thought someone would have made the discovery everntually, it was just up to fate to decide when and by who. But I think that if someone had discovered it later, we wouldn’t have made as much progress as we have today. I mean, ideas are like species. They evolve, develop, they morph and merge to blend into ohter ideas… and all that takes time. Just look at computers. first you have the BOMBE, the computer which cracked the German code in WWII which couldnt even fit in a regular room, and now we have these teeny tiny mac laptops which are no bigger than an exercise book… incredible isn’t it? and all that took time, for the computer to morph. first it was merely a calculator on steroids capable of doing more than just a few minor calculations, now we can play games, comunicate, type, and even draw! I mean if it werent for the evolution of the computer I wouldn’t be able to be writng this right now!However the development of the modern computer was much faster than that of implementing electricity into our homes, and even those said computers.

Well, it’s geting late, and i still have the movie, and i’ve gone so off the topic i started on i can hardly remeber what was the first sentence i wrote (yes I know I could just scroll to the top of the page, but for the… artistic quality i shant) nor what it was that I was meaning to say.

However I’m waking up early tomorrow, so should I remeber during the night, rest assured I will write another post bright and early to await all my dear readers like a cup of freshly brewed coffee… umm…

A Bientot mes cheries!

Till next we meet,

The Mira Mira on the wall: Mirella Rose

P.S. -> don’t forget to leave any comments or suggestions, and/or contact me at my email: miraellarose@yahoo.com (hence the mira mira joke) or even Facebook. My account is free for anyone to see. just type int the name Mirella Rosaria and you should find me! Cheers!

Its Saturday… Sit back, relax, and watch a feel good film.

Well everyone,

I have to write tonight. The blog is one week old. And I am officially a blogger… I think.

But I warn all, this is gonna be a bit of a short post. My hand still hurts, and when I tried to play violin today it REALLY hurt despite how I thought it wouldn’t hinder me. I had to put ice on it again; much to my annoyance. I hate being injured, held back, vulnerable, weak and all in all, just generally unhappy. All because I’m a horrible horrible klutz.  And you thought ballerinas were graceful… pfttt!

We might be, but when we are totally… well if your me… then constantly… a klutz. There’s no other way to describe it. When we were kids, I was the last one to graduate from the plastic childish, unbreakable, ME- proof cups to proper glasses. Even my twin was using a proper glass on a regular basis months and months before me…

Well I’m not going to write for too long. I want to rest it for the concert. My sister will be singing, luckily she never injures her vocal chords. Shes singing the lovely “Summer TIme” and she has a beautiful voice for it.

So anyways, Instead of doing homework or practicing violin, I’m watching back to back movies on t.v. One was “the nany diaries”. a very good feel good movie. so sweet. It was the first time id seen it. Now to contrast, is “Proof” which has just started. It seems quite dark.  But I think I will like it anyways. I will try to write more during the commercial, but right now, I want to watch…

Happy Birthday!

On a bit of a lighter note today, I would like to wish happy birthday to Mr. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.  Today he turns 170 years old.  that is, if he had been alive. But I think his is a birthday worth remembering. I personally love Tchaikovsky’s music. Since I was a little girl wanting to be a prima ballerina I’ve dreamed of the day I would don my pointe shoes and perform a dance, any dance, to one of Tchaikovsky’s world renown ballets be it Swan Lake, The Nutcracker or even Sleeping Beauty.  And then later on, I’d watch the ballets or hear the music and not know which I wanted more; to be front and center on top of the stage or front and center beneath it, in the orchestra pit.

I started dancing as soon as I could stand, and my mother first enrolled me in lessons when I was only 2 and a half. She was scared that if I kept trying to be prima ballerina without proper training I would go skidding around the house until I had managed to seriously hurt myself. I started with ballet but slowly took on more dance styles. Sadly, as all things good must come to an end, I ended up having to limit what I did outside school and now I only have time to do ballet and a jazz mixed course and of course my musical theater workshop which runs for half the year.

Music, well I started that later on, when I was about 6 and a half I held my first violin. I had admired them since I was little too. Always leaning over in my seat when the orchestra began to tune, and then at intermission I’d lean further over to see the violins and violas lying there beside their larger sister the cello. I always had a particular attraction to the violin and cello. I wanted to start cello when I was finally old enough to play in the school orchestra.  But my fingers were to short, so instead I stuck with violin which I had already been playing for around three years.

And that was 7 years ago.

But anyways… Back to Tchaikovsky.

Does anyone else have any opinions on his works? I love them all, and 90% of the time, what I am humming (which I do constantly- much to my mother and one brother’s annoyance) it is one of his overtures, or themes, or symphonies… It is annoying, sometimes even for me having these songs going around in my mind constantly, but how can you mind when it is so beautiful!?

I’m sorry this post has taken so long to write folks, and im sorry its so untypically short, but I’ve been typing with either one hand, or very painfully and slowly with both, and can’t really bring myself to type much more. Stupid clumsy me has totally messed up her left hand today, or else the right had bad karma against it…I get home, desperately needing a cup of nice relaxing black tea, and while taking out the pot to put water in, manage to smash my hand with such huge force against the oven door handle. Luckily I got the bit between your thumb and forefinger, you know that soft part where there is nothing? Well thank goodness I smashed my hand there, because there was so much force I think I would have broken a bone… Its already swollen and bruised just a couple of hours later, and then later I tried to close the door. By just pushing it with my palm SOME HOW my pinky got cuaght between the metal door and the doorframe. needless to say more bruises…But to top it all off, I twisted my wrist while trying to pick up my heavy back pack full of textbooks for revision… and to think I was using both hands…

Oh well, if it still hurts tomorrow as much as it does today I will go the emergency room. Though I doubt anything is broken, and thank goodness for that! I have a violin concert on Monday, and YES I am playing Tchaikovsky’s Chanson Triste, sad song. Its very sad and ha plenty of vibrato as in the classic Tchaikovsky fashion. I hope I’ll manage to do the piece justice…

More tomorrow, hopefully.

Well there better be. The blog will be 1 week old tomorrow at 8 oclock at night!

Alas, if I type any more I fear I will sprain something, so good morning/day/evening/night everyone!

The World is FULL of music… if you know where to look…

Why hello there audience…

Ok so I promised a post about music… So this post is dedicated to songs that the average person just doesn’t hear everyday, anymore I have everything from Beethoven to Broadway… and everything in between…

Well… not quite, see I already can’t lie to you guys… Anywayzzzz, my sister and I tend to be pretty similar, we are the best of friends, but even better because we live together and are together like CONSTANTLY!!! (thats actually the title to a song we both had stuck in our heads…) and though we both LOVE almost every genre of music, from rock to metal to death metal, neither of us tends to sing it in our head… In my mind, the mind has to be reserved for singing songs that can be beautiful with just a single voice… Like one of the songs I’ll have mentioned by the end, which actually comes from one of my favourite movies of all time…

So lets just start at the beginning…

I was at the breakfast table this morning humming a song while crunching my cereal. It was driving me crazy and I’d only been up for about five minutes. You see, I’m very bad with words… and names… and numbers… to get to the point, I can not remember lyrics or singers or band names or song titles… ever… ever ever ever… and it sucks…  I can only remember the melodies and harmonies…

Now this is one of the rare areas where my sister and I differ. See, she can only ever remember lyrics… (though she is sometimes off when she sings them…). so when we are together, and have the same songs stuck in our heads (which is most of the time) together we have the whole song…

By now you are probably wondering why I’m saying today was any different if we tend to think alike when it comes to music (among other things).  So while it was driving me crazy that I couldn’t figure out where the song was from, my sister comes bounding down the stairs hollering the words… (ouch!!- not what you want first thing on a Monday morning!) When she paused for breath I managed to squeeze in a quick “where’s it from?” before humming along the next verse… her reply was the weirdest thing…

The song was called “the best of friends”. As you can assume, the lyrics are annoyingly sweet… and here’s why (I found this out later for you my dear patient readers) it was from the Disney movie “The Fox and the Hound!” I never would have guessed that I’d remember the songs, cause I can’t remember the plot at all! (never liked that one much- doesn’t the fox die? That’s probably why).

So my sis and I really are the best of friends after all… hmmm

So that one was solved. But then I get to school and in fourth period maths my friend starts singing Beethoven’s  9th symphony, the infamous Ode to Joy. She didn’t even know who it was by, and though I did, I hadn’t thought much of the song  since I’d given up piano. It felt very odd to realize I had pushed the song to the back of my head… I’m just glad to have it back. Mind you along with number 9 also came 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 and 8… that’s a head ache I REALLY didn’t need in the middle of maths… (below is a link to a version of excerpts with German singing and English subtitles- enjoy)

Then we had English.  We are watching “The Colour Purple”, a superb movie and book which I sincerely suggest to anyone interested in excellent directing and writing… not to mention a great (if sad) story and wonderful acting!  Back to the point! The movie is full of different music. A lot of more gospel type, and more traditional blues and rag time. I personally have always been a fan of rag time music… there’s something about it that just makes you want to get up and dance. Actually It’s not all that fair of me to say that – just about any good music can make me want to dance… You can watch the whole movie on Youtube in 15 parts, or find the book at any self respecting book shop or library

Lunch was also another interesting moment… I mentioned to a friend how I was having and amusingly musical remembrance day… and she whipped out her ipod and stuck her earphone into my ear on a song I hadn’t thought of since the last time my mom was humming it… probably just a couple of days ago… It was “The Heart Asks Pleasure First” by Michael Nyman. Its one of the most beautiful songs ever written for piano and was from the original soundtrack which Mr. Nyman wrote for “The Piano” another excelent movie. I absolutely love the song, and wouldn’t give the i-pod back to my friend until I had listened to it about … 20 times. Sorry I know its selfish of me, but when it comes to music- I cant resist. (below is a link to youtube of the part this song is featured in the movie. I love it, but it does creep me out a bit… the way the camera comes out from the floor… jsut watch and bask in the glory of excelent music… we should all try to this as often as possible).

Anyways, the next song came after school. I was staying late at school for a musical theater workshop. This year we are working on a Broadway dance “ONE” I had done this song with my school choir YEARS ago, but never danced to it. I can say, it’s very fiddly, even for me… so many parts are so similar that its hard to kee track of where you are with the music, let alone trying to practice without. And whats more, I have to SING while dancing. Ok I’ve done it before (last year we did “LIFE IS A CABARET” which I loved) but this year the dance is much faster, and in the early summer heat its hard to keep your breath…

Well folks, I ought to be out. Tuesdays are long days for me and my sister… and everyone wish good luck to my oldest brother who is starting his examinations tomorrow!!! I wont be writing tomorrow, but hopefully Wednesday is a go…

Over and Out

Ella Rose

Well thats Annoying!- Life just gave me Lemons…

I spent about two hours last night writing my first post…only to find out this morning, that I don’t think it actually posted!!! Isn’t that annoying???? Oh well I suppose its for the better. I went off on a bit of a rant.

So I’ll Just tell you a bit about myself… First of all, Hello Everyone… or anyone.

My Name is Mirella Rosaria. Most people call me Ella, or Ella Rose for a totally abbreviated version.  I love my name. It was my grandmother’s. I look like her, and was named after her from birth. I have light eyes, pale skin with freckles and light hair. SO light some people call it blond even though I call it “hair coloured hair” (to quote my favourite Madeline L’Engle book). Needless to say I look nothing like my twin sister, who has dark hair, skin and eyes just like the rest of my family. I live in New York, just a 45 min metro ride from Grand Central Station. But despite that both my parents have Mediterranean backgrounds. My father is Italian, and moved to New York city when he was young, though he would spend the entire summer back in Italy and whenever else he could. He met my mom, a Greek Canadian living in Montreal when they were both going to University in Vermont.  They moved to the Suburbs when they got married, wanting my brothers and sister and I to have a child’s life.

Anyways so a bit more about myself:

• I am 16 years old

• your not so common teenager

• LOVE :

1. BOOKS
2. DANCING
3. MUSIC (making or listening :P)
4. ART (photography, paint, charcoal, pastel, and as of most recently engraving)
5. WRITING

That said, I write anything from poems to short stories… maybe I’ll post some here sometimes to get some objective feedback. I also dance any style, though most people forget that and think I just do Ballet and Jazz. I also play instruments… well violin mostly though I used to play piano, flute and drums as well (see I forgot that in the last one…). As for art… Well I take photographs, but so does most people now adays… Therefore I also sketch, paint, draw in detail, use pastels, and make engravings which i can then copy using a printing press… That last one was newly discovered by me and I LOVE IT!!! I never knew I would like it so much… but i get to involve drawing, with ink with paint… because there is nothing like working back into a print with water colour or oil paint…

So now, item de jour…

I had intended this blog to be a creative outlet, for me and you readers alike. We can share poems… story ideas, even art work if anyone wants to scan… talk about our favourite songs from all styles of music… but I also thought… since I bake a lot! y’all might like a few recipes…

So today, since life gave me lemons with this post… Im making lemon squares. Will get the recipe for you all later. And if anyone ever wants a recipe for something in particular, let me know in comments and I’ll see what I can find!!!

cheerio world!