January 1st, 2000
- Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
- Memorise your favourite poem.
- Don’t believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want.
- When you say, “I love you”, mean it.
- When you say, “I’m sorry”, look the person in the eye.
- Be engaged at least six months before you get married.
- Believe in love at first sight.
- Never laugh at anyone’s dreams. People who don’t have dreams don’t have much.
- Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it’s the only way to live life completely.
- In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.
- Don’t judge people by their relatives.
- Talk slowly but think quickly.
- When someone asks you a question you don’t want to answer, smile and ask, “Why do you want to know?”
- Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
- Call your mom.
- Say “bless you” when you hear someone sneeze.
- When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
- Remember the three R’s: Respect for self; Respect for others; Responsibility for all your actions.
- Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
- When you realise you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
- Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice.
- Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.
- Spend some time alone.
- Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.
- Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
- Read more books and watch less TV.
- Live a good, honourable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll get to enjoy it a second time.
- Trust in God but lock your car.
- A loving atmosphere in your home is so important. Do all you can to create a tranquil harmonious home.
- In disagreements with loved ones, deal with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.
- Read between the lines.
- Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality.
- Be gentle with the earth.
- Pray. There’s immeasurable power in it.
- Never interrupt when you are being flattered.
- Mind your own business.
- Don’t trust a man/woman who doesn’t close his/her eyes when you kiss.
- Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.
- If you make a lot of money, put it to use helping others while you are living. That is wealth’s greatest satisfaction.
- Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a stroke of luck.
- Learn the rules then break some.
- Remember that the best relationship is one where your love for each other is greater than your need for each other.
- Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
- Remember that your character is your destiny.
- Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.
January 1st, 2000
- p – piano (soft)
- the neighbours have complained
- f – forte (loud)
- the neighbouts are out
- Crescendo
- getting louder – testing the neighbours tollerance level
- ff
- fortissimo (VERY loud) – to hell with the neighbours
- pp
- pianissimo (VERY soft) – the neighbours are at the door
- Dim
- thick
- Obbligato
- being forced to practice
- Rit (and/or) Rall
- coming up to the bit you haven’t practiced
- Con moto
- I have a car
- Allegro
- a little motor car
- Maestro
- a bigger motor car
- Metronome
- person small enough to fit comfortably into a Mini
- Lento
- the days leading up to Easto (with eggo and choco and things)
- Largo
- brewed in Germany (hence “Handel’s Largo reaches parts other beers cannot reach”)
- Piu Animato
- if you don’t clean that rabbit out it will have to go
- Interval
- time to meet the players in the bar
- Perfect Interval
- when drinks are on the house
- Cantabile
- singing (that is, viz. drunk)
- Con spirito
- drunk again
- Cantata
- a fizzy drink
- Tutti
- ice cream
- Coda
- served with chipsa
- Codetta
- child’s portion
- Chords
- things that organists play with one finger
- Dischords
- things that organists play with two fingers
- Suspended chord
- for lynching the soloist
- Rubato
- ointment for the musician’s back
- Subdominant
- “I can’t play until I’ve asked the wife”
- Tonic
- a pick-me-up
- Syncopation
- bowel contition brought on by an overdose of Jazz
- Crotchet
- knitting
- Quaver
- the feeling you get before a lesson when you haven’t practiced
- Key signatures
- silly things put there to frighten you (ignore them – they will go away and so will your audience)
- Time signatures
- things for drummers to ignore
- Colla voce
- this shirt is so tight I can’t talk
- Professional
- anyone who can’t hold down a steady job
- Flats
- English apartments
- A tempo
- in time
- A tempo de cafe
- Ah, coffee time!
- Improvisation
- what you do when the music falls down
- Fugue
- clever stuff
- Prelude
- warm-up session before the clever stuff
- Acciaccatura / Appoggiatura
- insects
- Opus
- exclamation made when Moggy has done a “whoopsie” on the carpet
- Scales
- fishy things
- Trill
- bird food
- Virtuoso
- someone who can work wonders with easy-play music
- Antiphonal
- crossed lines
- Melody
- an ancient and now extinct art in songwriting
- Music
- Happiness
