Monthly Archives: November 2020

Yamaha YDS-150

Yaaayyyyy - a new toy. I'm really in need of something new on the musical front. It hasn't been a year with a lot of musical gigs. I missed the first four gigs because I was sick, and because of the COVID-19 pandemic, I've missed additional six gigs. To be honest, it was not difficult to convince me that I needed to spoil myself - just a little bit :-)

Last year I purchased my first wind synthesizer, which was a Roland Aerophone AE-10. I'm very satisfied with it, and I love the trumpet sound, but I would like it better if the keys were placed better.

A new wind synthesizer has come to the market. This wind synthesizer is produced by Yamaha and is meant as an alternative to a saxophone. It has a lot of different saxophone sounds, but it doesn't have a lot of other sounds in it. You won't find a trumpet a clarinet sound.

The keys are more similar to a saxophone than the Aerophone. The mouthpiece is also a 'real' saxophone mouthpiece, and it is sensitive to how hard you blow. It doesn't respond to pressure on the reed as the Aerophone does. The price for both instruments is similar, but the audience is different.

I'm looking forward to becoming more familiar with the Yamaha because, as with all instruments, you have to practice to be good at playing on it.

Yamaha YDS-150

New masseuse

Normally, I'm getting treated with acupuncture and a massage every three weeks. Because of the shutdown of the country in the spring, I couldn't continue with the treatments, and I haven't heard anything from my masseuse since. I think that I've gotten by pretty good, but now I think it's time to start getting treatments again. But who should I choose as a masseuse when my old masseuse has closed her business?

Preferably, I would like to find someone in the nearest city, but I also want someone who can do other things than just give a massage. I didn't succeed in finding someone who fit those criteria. I chose someone a little farther away, and she does the treatments a lot differently than I'm used to, but that is good. And she can do so much more than only acupuncture and massage, so I'm looking forward to my next treatment.

By the way, I'm very proud of myself. I've been busy creating Christmas decorations. I thought that I would need several trial runs before I got something useful, but I succeeded on my first try. Pictures of the decorations can be seen below. Next year I just have to decide whether or not to use the same decorations or if I want to create new ones.

Christmas decoration
The first decoration (for my parents)
Christmas decoration
The second decoration (for me)
Christmas decoration
A smaller decoration for my dining table

Work weekend

I've never worked that many hours during a weekend. I worked 39 hours in total this weekend, and I still had to work today. Hopefully, I can go home early because I'm beat and extremely tired.

I had to move the data on a file server cluster to new cluster servers. Additionally, I had to review all permissions and correct any errors. I corrected a fair amount of errors, and I implemented more restrictive permissions. Therefore there was a chance that I had overlooked something which would result in users that didn't have access to their data.

We didn't get a single support case regarding the file servers or access to data which must categorize the work weekend as a success. Today it's Monday at noon, and I've just taken the rest of the day off. I can hardly keep myself together, but I'm not allowed to go to sleep because then I can't sleep tonight. However, I'm happy that the work is done.

Now I look forward to starting my new project at the end of the week. I've taken a couple of days off, and I'm planning to create Christmas decorations from artificial things. I would have preferred to have seen and bought the things in Denmark, but that was not possible. Instead, I bought a lot of different things on Amazon, and I bought extra things in case some of the things weren't useful. Luckily, I was satisfied with most of the things I received, and I'm now looking forward to getting started.

Artificial decoration things
The ingredients for artificial Christmas decorations

Virtual Saxophone Workshop 2020

Earlier this year, I participated in a Virtual Jazz Workshop, and the content was, as expected, not exactly to my likings. There was a lot of content about improvisation and theory about chords. I'm never going to be able to improvise by looking at the chords because I don't have the patience to learn it. Still, I was happy that I had participated because there were sessions that were very educational. I also realized that virtual workshops are a good way for me to get new information. And it so easy when it's virtual.

Therefore, I didn't hesitate when the same organizer invited me to a virtual saxophone workshop. Immediately I signed up for the event and I also noticed, that these sessions were more relevant to me. I already knew that this type of workshop would suit me well, and since I also knew that the skill level was high, I knew that it wouldn't be a waste of money - and it wasn't.

I can only repeat myself - I think there is a lot of great new things being developed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Of course, the pandemic is a tragedy, but I enjoy all the virtual arrangements that are being held. I live in a country where these kinds of things aren't being held. Also, professional musicians don't create events for hobbyists, so it is great that international musicians want to do things like this.

I thrive on learning new things and being inspired by others, which increases the quality of my playing. And then it is much more fun to play.

Christmas light
Peeping tom

Delicious salmon

Once upon a time, there was a store called Metro. Each time I shopped there, there were two things a bought - lamb and salmon. Generally, they had a lot of delicious fish, and their whole salmon filets were popular. Their other fish products were, of course, also popular. The store is closed, and I have for some time only ordered fish from internet stores.

It has been ok, but it has never been quality nearly as good as the one from Metro. I've also had difficulties finding fish fillets of a decent quality. I haven't given up on finding good fish again, but I must admit that I wasn't optimistic when I tried to buy salmon at a fish truck by the local supermarket.

I was positively surprised, and now I have found a place to buy good salmon. My mom tried to purchase salmon from a fish truck at her local supermarket. She was told that it wasn't cheap but that the flavor was exceptional because the salmon was Faroese.

She invited me for dinner, and I didn't think the salmon could be better than the one I bought, but I was very wrong. And now I'm wondering why it is so difficult to get good quality food in Denmark. I will always prefer quality over quantity.

Garden
The last picture of my walnut tree (it will be cut down in the spring)
Front garden
Front garden