A day with Marina

Had a sweet dream. Marina was there too. Seems that we'll become good friends, if so.

Went to the Academy to meet her at 5 pm. We got a room and... She practiced violin, I learnt my voice arias and composed.

From time to time I went to a different room to play on the piano a bit, and came back.

We left the Academy at around 22:25, and went for a walk round Moscow. Talked a lot... Towards the end, we talked a bit about relationships; made clear to each other that this is just a friendship (perhaps a good one).

Then I left at 23:40 - took the metro home.

Dad met me on the way home.

Well. End of October. 2:00 am.

Flight back; New friend

Woke up at 4 am. Packed my bags, ordered a cab, said Goodbye to mum, and went to the airport.

Didn't phone Galya - didn't want to wake her up. It was 6:55 when the airplane left the ground.

The flight was nice, I slept through most of it.

The driver met me at the airport, and we went to the office. I took keys from dad and went home. Checked some stuff which I composed, and got ready to go to the Academy.

At 4 pm I had a composition lesson. The teacher liked my new work. Afterwards I waited for solfedge. While I waited I met someone, and later found out that the solfedge teacher was still ill.

We spent some 4 hours playing and chatting, and then went for a walk around Moscow, and walked for around 2 hours. Great fun.

I went home at around midnight, and got home at around 1 am.

It's now 2 am, I'm going to sleep. Phew. :)

A time with Galya's mum

I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock at 6:30 and went to wake Galya up. She was angry that I got up. She didn't want me to have done so. I just wanted to walk her to school.. Anyway, I got upset, we went to school, and I came back home.

Her mum and I spent some 5-6 hours, doing stuff like taking Olya to kindergarden, going to the post office, and just walking.

I met Galya near her school, and we went home. Soon Ira and Oleg came. We sat together for a while, and then they left.

We decided to go to Ashdod. Ira came back for the last time, we said Goodbye, and she went.

Galya's dad gave us a life to the station, and we went to Ashdod.

Mum prepared fish for us, so we had dinner. Then we went shopping - clothes for me - and in the end just bought a nice coat for me. We came back and had some more food - mum had prepared some chicken too. That was tasty.

Galya and I went to a small park nearby and sat on a bench for about half an hour, and then went to the bus station.

She took her bus to Ashqelon and was gone.

I came back, grandma was home already. She left soon afterwards.

I went to sleep.

Stayover at Galya's

I woke up at around midday, and so did Galya. She came upstairs, and we spent some time together.

Then we went online and tried finding the last bus to Ashdod that day, but it turned out there were none, and I had to stay another night at Galya's (wohoo!). We studied some physics together...

In the evening Galya did her homework on the computer, while I put new strings on her guitar. When she finished, she printed it out and went to sleep. It was 1 am. She came back and kissed me goodnight - that was the coolest!

Walk to the Migdal

Today Galya, Ira, Oleg and I all went for a walk round Ashqelon. It was fun.

We went to sleep at 4 am. She slept downstairs in the living room; I slept in her room.

Back to school

I met Galya near her school, we bought flowers and went to her Grandma's - the one who's my grandpa's cousin. It was her birthday. We spent some time there, and went back to school - Galya had 3 more lessons (Computers).

I went in with her and felt "back in school" once again. While they did some computer error-correction algorithms, I composed some music.

Then we went home.

I woke up at around 11. At 14:00 took the bus to Ashqelon. Galya met me at the station.

We went home (her home). Phoned Ira and told her to come, so she did. Oleg came soon afterwards.

They wanted to go watch a film, but I didn't really want, so we didn't. We just sat in Galya's room and talked and listened to music. Not too much fun, but ok. When Oleg and Ira left, not much time was left before I had to go. Same as yesterday.

Flight to Israel

Composition lesson has been cancelled (by me) due to lack of material, solfedge was cancelled because the teacher is ill.

I worked quite a lot on this homework, pity I didn't get the chance to show it today. Nevermind, next week.

Spent some time arguing with dad over flight to Israel. I want to go. Dad and mum don't. Well, I think I'm going. You never know till you're on the plane.

Recorded a CD for Galya with some software and music...

Then went to the office, and we listened to my new song on a hi-fi. I was impressed. Then we went shopping. I bought some stuff to bring to Israel, and we went home.

Chatted to Galya and Ira for several hours then to Kalich, and packed in the mean time.

Then spent several hours choosing classical MP3's for Ira, and by around 5 am burnt the CD for her. She'll like it.

---

In short, I bought the flight ticket from the agency, and went to the airport. Met my dad's partner and we got on the flight; we sat together and talked a lot.

When we arrived, he arranged for a lift for me to Tel-Aviv. From there I took the bus to Ashqelon. Bought some flowers and went to Galya's house. Her dad opened, and Galya came down. That was cool.

We spent some time together, and went to Oleg's house, where Ira was. Didn't stay for long, and went back. It rained.

I had to go soon, the last bus was at 20:15, and her dad gave me a lift to the station. From there I went to Ashdod, where my grandma lives. Galya went back to Oleg and Ira to study maths for tomorrow.

I stayed at my grandma's.

Nice day

I didn't wake up to early, and went straight to the office. Took with me the new music my voice teacher had given me to photocopy. I did that. Phoned mum, and we talked for a bit...

Then I phoned Galya, but she wasn't home, so I phoned Ira, and Galya turned out to be there :) That was cool. I talked to Ira for a bit, then asked for Galya, and we talked, not for too long.

Then dad and I went to the computers market to buy an Internet card. We spent around 30 minutes there, looking for a specific card, and didn't find anything. Dad bought himself something, and we went back to the office.

I phoned Galya again, this time she was at home, we talked for another 10 minutes, which was cool. This time Ira wasn't home. Hehe. Didn't bother phoning the mobile, wasn't anything important.

Then dad and I went home.

I started recording the new song I finished writing yesterday. And several hours later had a complete song recorded. Way cool. Galya came online, and we chatted for a bit, then she went.

Kalich and I had a small fight before he apologised.. Then he listened to the new song and said it was really good and that he liked my voice there, so that cheered me up. Thus, we truced..

Galya...

Some talk!

Indeed Galya came online just before 1 am, and we parted at 6:00. If I ever felt close to losing her, it was during this conversation. I felt like everything went wrong this past week, and this was the climax...ah I'm talking music again..

Yeah, I said a few words out of place, but they triggered suspicious views on everything I said and did, and I started regretting stuff. But we live and learn. What I learnt is that when feeling low, it's useless telling someone about it if they're not actually listening. First because, you don't feel better, and second, because later, when you do, the subject comes up (because, after all, you did send the messages), and you don't feel better anymore. You feel worse. Worse than what you felt before, because not only you remember the feelings you felt then, but also feel the feelings the person you hurt feels, especially because you couldn't have imagined them getting hurt this much, since what hurt them wasn't intentional, but just a misunderstanding.

---

Sleep? Sure, I got my sleep alright. In place of Music History and Analysis of Music Forms lessons. Great. Just great. First, I didn't pick up the tapes I gave in yesterday, second, I'll have to ask someone, e.g. Amy to let me have the notes from the Music History, and third, I'll have to phone my teacher and apologise.

Well, I woke up eventually, and found an e-mail from Galya. So I replied. Got a reply, and replied again.

Then I started tuning the piano from scratch, and tuned the whole of the middle, and the bass. And was impressed with myself. It didn't take that long, and I did a very good job. Better than any previous tunings.

Dad came from work and shouted at me for several minutes... Yucks.

I spent a couple of hours reading yesterday's chat with Galya. It seemed not even close to being as bad as I felt it was earlier.

I finished a song called 'Вечность' (Eternity). 6:00.

---

Tried sleeping. Nice try...

---

I had some tea, and immersed myself in hot water, and lay in the bath for over an hour.

Need to phone my voice teacher to ask him when's the next lesson (probably today around 14:00).

Misha visited me

I'm still sleeping...oh yeah.

I woke up to the sound of the phone at around 5 pm. It was an acquaintance of mine from the Academy - Misha. We agreed to meet, and at 18:30 I met him at the metro station, we walked home (20 minutes walk), and talked for several hours. I showed him some of my music, he told me stuff about his plans. We had some tea, and went back to the metro station, where we parted. I went home. It was half past 9.

Dad arranged some simple internet connection for the while, but I'm going to get my Cityline connection back tomorrow or the next day one way or another. I can't live like this, I need to talk to my friends once in a while.

It's 23:00. I'm going to do some composition homework for tomorrow, and perhaps Galya will come online. If she does, I won't save on internet time. I want to talk to her. I had a nervous few days, and ... well, not for Journal. 23:00.

---

Anyway, time passes quickly, well...slowly really, I have been waiting for Galya, writing some childish rhymes (special thanks to Nina for inspiring pessimism...(or should I say despiring optimism?)), and it's now 4:20 in the morning.

One way or another I'm freezing to death here. No, no, no, the window stays open. Good night.

---

Yeah right. Four hours in bed didn't help; I didn't get any sleep at all. Yucks. So I got up and started writing music. Dad woke up soon and went to work. I tuned a few notes on the piano, and went to the Academy.

There I felt a bit less sleepy. First I had a piano lesson, which went extremely well, and the teacher was more than satisfied today. I played Beethoven and Mozart, as usual. I have learnt the whole of Sonata Pathetique by heart already.

Afterwards I had a composition lesson. The teacher was satisfied with my work. We've almost finished this 4th piece. And I made some progress on the new 5th one. He says that perhaps we'll compile the first four pieces into a single set, say "Four Pieces for Pianoforte" or something, and the new one will be on its own, or in another set. But we're not sure yet, we'll see where this new one goes.

I gave in 3 audio tapes for them to record the exam material for Music History, which will be examined on 3rd November. Will receive it tomorrow.

My dad didn't have a driver to pick me up, so I went home by myself. I did't have too warm clothes on me, but I was ok. Ten minutes on the famous traffic light was annoying... It's cold! 6°C today. Before going into the metro station, I bought myself a hot dog from one of those women who stand there and sell them. That was fun, though perhaps not too healthy..

When I arrived home, I found 3 messages from Galya on my mobile phone, which means she installed the new ICQ. Afterwards I found out (from e-mail (yay!!)) that she reformatted her whole hard drive. Brave girl! :) I felt much better.

Dad arrived soon, all nervous. Had an argument at work, long story.. I sung for a bit, dad said my voice improved a lot. Heh. I doubt it, I just sing in a different way, the voice has nothing to do with it. Anyway, we went shopping, bought loads of food, and came back.

I need 2 nights worth of sleep before tomorrow's Music History lesson at 12:30. Hope I get enough. I'll still wait for Galya to come online, I wanna talk to her.

Igor's visit

I woke up at 5 pm, got enough sleep...almost 12 hours.

Dressed up smartly - red shirt, and dad and I went to the Conservatoire of Tchaikovsky. The driver took some time finding it, but we arrived on time, and there were still tickets for the stalls. Naum Shtarkman, a pianist, performed Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata #14, Shuman's Carnival and 7 List's Shubert's songs. Very good performance indeed. He ended up adding a waltz by Chopin and 'Autumn Song' by Tchaikovsky to his performance, due to audience persistent applause. I didn't particularly like his presentation of the 3rd movement of Moonlight Sonata; though of course the standard of playing was incredible, the actual interpretation of the piece wasn't as good as I would expect. Perhaps this piece is reserved only for the best pianists in the world...although Shtarkman is supposed to be one... Hmm.

When I came home, I set up my microphone and its equipment so that I can record the new song in the coming days, if I have time. Nina was online, and sent some insults my way, of course, I couldn't care less, and her feeling it was, I may even say, pleasing.

Then Ira came online. That was great contrast. We chatted for over an hour before both realised it's time to get some sleep.

In the meantime, I did some solfedge homework for tomorrow.

Well. At 3:45 I went to sleep, but didn't fall asleep, and got up at 8.

---

I checked my e-mail and found a message from Igor, that he is arriving today and not tomorrow. That was a surprise. His mum thought that he was arriving the next day, and herself was coming in the same morning to meet him.

I went to the Academy, but didn't have a voice lesson - my teacher, who I met on the concert told me to come on Tuesday instead. I had a composition lesson at 4 pm, the teacher was quite satisfied, and then a solfedge lesson. The teacher checked my homework and gave me a 5, plus another '5' for a work I did in class.

On the way home I popped into the office and phoned mum, and then Galya. I confirmed the flight Igor was arriving on, and we went home.

Several hours later we, dad and I, went to the airport to meet Igor. He came out around 1 am, and we went home. Dad went to sleep, but we didn't. We talked for quite long and Igor had a look at some of my music, then we went online, and found Galya there. I chatted to her for a few minutes, before Igor took over, and for Galya it was more entertaining to chat to him for several hours. Cool. Apparently, they talked about psychology (special thanks to Igor for spelling).

---

At 6:45 we had to go meet Igor's mum (who was sure she was coming to meet Igor later that day). That was a nice surpise.

We came home and had some tea. When dad woke up, and left to the office, we went to the centre. To Old Arbat.

We spent a lot of time wandering in the vicinity of Arbat, went into newly opened KFC, and finally to Moscow's "Books House".

I had to leave them for a few hours for a voice lesson - from that Arbat square I walked 2 metro stations (about 30 minutes) to my teacher's house. Had a nice, quite satisfying voice lesson from 3 pm, and walked back. We met at 4:45 at the same place, and went home (by metro).

We had some tea, I opened the beautiful box of chocolate bars Igor's mum presented me from Minsk, and we talked about stuff. Soon dad arrived, got himself some tea and started eating those chocolates, as if they were nuts. After 4 of them, I closed the box, and Igor and I went to my room to burn a CD for him.

After we finished, they got their stuff prepared to leave, we took some nice photos of each other, and left to the Belarus train station.

There we took some more photos, and they got onto their train, and we went home.

Guess what I did...

Yeah...I did what I could - dropped.

At 14:30 I had a voice lesson till 15:30. Then I practiced piano for half an hour before my composition lesson.

But there wasn't one...my teacher is ill. How unfortunate, I hope he's well by Monday, I have some work to show him.

Afterwards I went home (by metro today), and had a funny incident with a girl on the way. Nothing special.

Dad and I went for a walk in the forest, and did a nice big route there, discussed all kinds of stuff. His work, my studies, relationships, and stuff like that...

Finally, talked to Galya today. :))) Lots of interesting discussions..

Went to sleep about 5:30 am.

Teacher's concert

First, I went to my Polyphony lesson, and from there straight to the Academy, even though I wasn't supposed to have any lessons. I practiced piano for a while, and then went to a concert, the performer - my composition teacher. It wasn't a classical concert - A. Klimov and his concert partner sang and played their songs. It was great, I couldn't have enjoyed more.

Then I came home, and worked on my compositions till morning. But went to sleep at around 6 am.

Uzbek supper

So, 8 am. Dad woke up and went to work.

The driver took me to the Academy at 11:30, I hoped there'd be a room to practice in before my lesson at 14:00, but there wasn't. I met my piano teacher and she gave me a room to practice in. Afterwards we had a lesson. It started well, but I got disappointed in her underestimation of the work I did over the week, and started getting upset, slowly and steadily. By the end of the lesson, I just left.

Then a composition lesson. Same story. :((

I worked all night!! Ahh.

I came home and ... relaxed. Thanks to Lena (Matrix) for cheering me up a bit.

Afterwards, dad phoned and asked me if I had eaten; I hadn't. I proposed we go to a restaurant, but he said that there's enough food in the fridge. Ten minutes later he phoned me and said that we're going to a restaurant with the whole office staff. So we did. We went to an Uzbek restaurant, the same one we went to last time. I ate 5 portions of lamb... FIVE!

Ehh...anyway, we came home at 22:30. On the way we listened to the news...what's happening in Israel is crazy. I hate thinking that Galya is there. I don't want a war to start when she's there and I'm not. And plus my mum is going there in a few days. Damn.

I've been awake for over 28 hours, and I'm going to sleep soon. Still I hope to talk to Galya or something..

23:00.

Oh well, so there's no God (and no Heaven either probably). Nothing new.

Mum woke me up in the morning when she was leaving - she flew to London. And soon she's flying to Israel.

I woke up eventually by 6 pm, and started work on my compositions, and practiced my Sonatas. Worked most of the night, and only relaxed a bit at 7 am. Oh, that's tomorrow. (I didn't go to sleep...)

Scandal

"A scandal", anyone remember the song? That's what I'm hearing in my head at the moment. That's what today just was.

Well, apart from the main theme, - I woke up at around 9 am, which was quite impressive. Played piano now and then, played many different things, perfected my playing of Beethoven's Sonata Pathetique (#8), and learnt the rest of it. Not too bad.

Mum and I did go to the forest for an hour. It's getting colder, brrrrr.

The evening got very intense, and I wasn't up to the pressure. But I set my own rules, and acted by them. In the end it was I who resolved it all, and...

When I came online, Galya was there, and we spoke for half an hour. Unfortunately, her effectiveness only lasts while she's around, and it was late. She went to sleep, and I'm going. It's 2:30 am, and I have a heartache. How dramatic, yuck.

If there's a God up in Heaven¹, then I will wake up in Israel tomorrow...

¹ There must be Heaven if there is God

Dad and I went to the Academy at 10 am, and payed the fees for my education there. Then I had a voice lesson. It went quite well.

I spent around an hour playing various Mozart and Beethoven sonatas, and then started composing. Worked on my last composition for around 4 hours, and then had a composition lesson. It went alright. I need to write a new piece...

Then I spent an hour practicing piano, and afterwards - solfedge. It went quite well, the homework hasn't been checked, but during the lesson I did a few exercises, and did very well on them.

Then I went home.

Galya was online, and we chatted for a while. I'm very tired, and going to sleep soon. 22:00.

Despite going to sleep at around 1:15 am, I properly woke up only at 6 pm. Talked to Galya for some time, and then worked on my solfedge homework. Did the first half of it, then Galya came online again. We chatted till 4 am, and then she went to sleep. The poor dear had a minor accident with a bike.

I worked on the second half of my homework, till I finished it. Sounds good to me.
Kalich has put my picture up on #Rusisrael's homepage. Cool.

Well. Tomorrow has arrived long ago, it's 8 am. I have a voice lesson in 3 hours...

Woke up at 4 am. Had a few ideas for my compositions, so got up and wrote them down, and then got more and more ideas; ended up working till 8 am. Then got another 3 hours of sleep.

Galya was online, and we chatted for half an hour. She cheered me up a lot; I remembered I had a dream about her. I really needed that cheering up, I love her. And I miss her...

Went to the Academy and had a singing lesson, and then another one 40 minutes later. It went very well, and the teacher said I was very good today and that I deserve a cake. :)

Then I had a composition lesson. The teacher was more satisfied this time with my work. We have 3 complete pieces now, and 1 in development.

Afterwards, I went home.

Galya came online soon, and we chatted for some time, that was cool. Then she went. Then Ira came online. We chatted for some time, then the chat got cut off, and never reconnected again. Oh well.

Received another e-mail from Nina. They're getting shorter and nastier. Hmm. Good. Good? Hmm.

I'm downloading Rachmaninov's 1st concerto which I might be playing soon. And going to sleep soon.

First lesson: Polyphony

Whatever happened to human respect...

I had Music History and then piano at the Academy. My dad "forgot" to send me a driver to pick me up, and I eneded up walking to my Polyphony teacher's flat, and had a lesson there. Even then he didn't send a driver to pick me up, and I went home on my own again. F***.

The only good thing that happened today was my chat with Galya.

Finally, dad f****d my mood up. Good night.

Woke up at around 2 am. Couldn't fall asleep again, so got up. Started sequencing the music of my new song. After 10 hours of work, by noon, a nice piece of music was ready.

I went to the Academy, and had a piano lesson, and then a composition lesson.

On the way home, I popped into the office, tried phoning Galya, but no one was home..

I'm tired, ICQ doesn't work, I'm going to sleep. 23:30.

Wrote a new song in the morning..! Four stanzas of lyrics plus chorus, and the music.

Worked on some of my compositions, and finished 2 of them. Then went to sleep at around 4 pm.

Woke up at 6 pm. Went with mum for a short walk. Didn't do much, and didn't go to sleep at all.

First HW grade: 5

Unfortunately, I missed a voice lesson, my own mistake. :( But, on the other hand, my last week's and this week's homeworks in solfedge have been marked, and in both of them I received 5. (In Russia, 5 is the highest mark, 4 is good, 3 is bad, but satisfactory, and 2 is the lowest mark - what you get when you don't do anything, or if your work doesn't deserve a 3...)

From the Academy I went to the office to fix the computer there. All fixed. Phoned Galya, spoke for 23 minutes, that was :))) and ((((: !! Then came home.

Ira came online, and soon afterwards Galya. The three of us chatted for some time; I wished them both good luck in the Psycometric Test that they have on Wednesday, and they went to sleep. But not before I sent Galya the song I've been listening to the past few days - a Ukrainian folk song - 'Nese Galya Vodu' ('Galya Carrying Water'), and we listened to it "together" several times. Then she went. I'm so happy!

Went to sleep at 6 am.

Reunion: Maks

Obviously, I didn't sleep much, but went to sleep in the morning. And woke up in the evening. And decided not to go to the concert, stay at home and relax instead.

What woke me up was a phone call from Maks - that's a friend of mine from old times, from Tashkent. We lost contact several years ago, and a few days ago I found him on ICQ, and sent him an e-mail. He found me, and phoned me! That was a great reunion, lots of memories. :))

I stayed up till morning, working on my compositions.