Monday, January 11, 2010

an end of an era

there are some moments in life when you know that a certain event has happened that will change all the assumptions and feelings that one has about the present. When I started secondary school I morphed into anentirely different person, from the perspective of my friends from primary school, I was not a nice person.

Today I woke up at a relatively early 7am. I decided to go back to sleep, mainly out of laziness and post-orgasmic accidie. I also was too lazy to put an audiobook on, no wait, that isn't true. I lazed about until 1400, when my mum said to my dad next door that my piano teacher, who is a very very old man, has retired and will stop teaching effective immediately of informing my parents.

At that point, I realised that an era had ended. My piano teacher was the one regularity of my whole life. I remember him as a teacher to my older sister since before I was born; and when I was a little older, he taught my precocious older brother, and then, me. I was an arrogant but brilliant student. I was academic and intellectual and very much into the music. After I left for university my mum started lessons. His regular visitations were welcomed by me and I miss him dearly. It also represents a different temporal era, he spanned across many decades present in my family's history, and his knowledge and cultural background imparted to us a sense of cultural capital and middle classness that an immigrant family of working class parents would rarely have an oppurtunity to.

I attribute a large amount of my personality to him, and the european culture he introduced me to. Having a white person in the house changed me as a person, especially living in an asian ghetto as I am in. There is no small part in which the man who I am was influenced by his lessons and character and old fashioned nature. I'll miss him dearly, and hope to see him about in the area.

In other news, today I have finished reading the book that I have been trying to write a review for and one of my referees replied saying that he has sent off a referee letter to belgium. Tomorrow I shall make a decision about the university interview I have next week; and decide upon what universities I will apply to, as well as make transcript requests

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