Updates

A phone call to a friend in Graz last weekend put me back in touch with all the latest news from there and brought me up to date on activities of cpmg, Gesangsverein Trofaiach, Frauenstimmung Lassnitzhöhe, Gesangsforum Gleisdorf, and many other choirs.

In the same way, I am now going to bring this blog up to date. I've had a lot of work in the last days, with Helsinkikuoro, Kaamos, Dominante, Murtosointu and the yet unnamed staff choir at the Diakoniaopisto taking pretty much all my weekday evenings. I have stuck to a rigid schedule, heading out the door at eight o'clock and spending the mornings studying, preparing for rehearsals, having buckets of coffee at the cafeteria, and socialising with colleagues at lunchtime.

If you think this sounds like the words of someone who's stressed out and on the verge of a nervous breakdown: think again! I'm serious about everything I'm working on now and enjoying my everyday routine. (Okay, there was one day this week when I felt I would rather have been lying on a beach somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, but just one).

While this is what goes on in the weekdays, on weekends I turn the off-button and hide all the music (except for catching up on some paperwork). Saturday is cleaning and laundry day, on Sunday a good breakfast and a walk. There have also been nice evenings with friends, as well as dives into Helsinki's nightlife (in my case, it pretty much revolves around one bar: Kampin Teerenpeli). And let's not forget!!! Now already three times: BodyPump, my latest hobby! It's a lot of fun to move along to techno versions of latest pop hits while swinging tens of kilos (ignore this exaggeration) all around you in sync with the other people at the gym. I especially like the moment in the end when we lie down on the floor to stretch out - while others probably use this time to do some last work with their bodies, I like the legs-and-arms-splayed-out position because of the sense of emotional drama it gives the moment.

At home, everything is perfectly fine, and my room is starting to look like what it will probably look like for now. Unfortunately, I learned that my bedside wall is very hard the hard way when I chipped of a piece of it while trying to hammer a nail in. I guess I'll have to think of something else -> posters?

Good night.