Dear You: Day 3
Hey you.
It’s Monday night and I’m getting ready to call it a day.
It was a warm, sunny day, but it just started raining and I’m a bit worried about the peanuts we planted. Just this evening I moved two racks out of the roofed area into the fabric tunnel, because I thought they might sprout better if it’s warmer. But apparently peanuts don’t like moisture at the beginning (too much water and they literally rot/melt!) So fingers crossed, hopefully they’ll be ok!
They’re “ōmasari”, the giant kind from the town in Chiba prefecture near where my relatives live, literally 3-4 times the size of the kinds you find at the store (or, the size of your whole thumb) Yum! Can’t wait.
The Ōmasari peanut on left, regular store-bought peanut on right
Tomorrow we head into Tokyo for a 3 day performance! Because of the ?th wave of COVID, we didn’t even know it would be get canceled or not until this afternoon! You have to be very flexible these days. Either way I’m so glad to have the opportunity to perform, and to see my Shamisen teacher in person, who we haven’t seen for a whole year and a half! I’ve been thirsting to hear him play live.
I started packing immediately after finding out it was a go, and am having fun picking out the books I’m going to take with me.
Definitely taking two of my Fue (Japanese bamboo flute) practice guide books—working on creating some solid practice plans using my new favorite practice tool: the app Modacity—it’s seriously a game changer.
It helps you create playlists of practice items, record and listen to yourself practice, set item specific goals, track progress, and take notes, etc. Practice planning is becoming the source of my peace of mind.
I think I’ll also take the book of the philosophy of performance art written by Zeami, the person credited to have shaped “Noh” as we know it today. It talks about the different “flowers” each performer can blossom into at different points of life. Very interesting, and relevant to life in general.
Gah, it’s still raining! Why did I move the peanuts!!
Alrighty then, until tomorrow,
peanuts on my mind,
Mao