A couple evenings ago, Stephany and I met up again in order to attend another concert at the NAC. Last time we’d gone to see a concert that featured Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (and a disco ball out in the main hall afterwards, to our delight), and this time we were out to see a concert featuring Bryan Cheng, a cellist from our hometown of Ottawa.
This time, we had plenty of time before the concert was to start so we decided to go chat over milkshakes beforehand. We got our wires crossed right off the bat though, when I wasn’t clear enough with one of my texts, and so I went to the mall to meet her and she went right to the the milkshake bar. Luckily, we realized the mix-up quickly and I power walked my way to meet her where she’d already saved us the best seat in the house.
Not only is the name For God Shakes a great pun, the milkshakes were also pretty damn good. We talked about work a little, and then finished up our shakes over anecdotes about our cats because Scout and Marcel are always zooming around and getting up to silliness.
In this case, said silliness was getting their humans so distracted with talking about them that said humans had to dash out of the shop or risk being late for the concert! So off we went as quickly as we could, stopping only for a moment to laugh about the fact that we’d both worn cuffed pants and boots that were very similar in style. Our power walking didn’t quite cut it, though, and we arrived just a minute too late to go in. We had to stand outside the doors and watch the first piece in the concert from a screen before they would let us in.
Then, when they did let us in, we arrived at our seats but were perplexed when we found that they were already occupied. A pair of elderly ladies, thinking that they would remain vacant, chose to move into them but upon seeing our confused and/or frantic looks explained and moved without us even having to ask. I was thankful for that because I’d just about entered anxiety-mode and begun wondering if I’d read the map wrong and gone to the wrong side of the room! Crisis averted. We hurriedly settled into our seats and then Bryan Cheng and the conductor readied themselves and launched into the second piece.
The piece was brought to life beautifully by the orchestra and the cello had such a soft, warm sound. After that piece, the conductor left the stage and Bryan Cheng regaled the audience of his hometown with an unusual and lovely piece on the cello that would probably normally be meant for a fiddle. He also gave us all a good chuckle by demonstrating a “chop” on the cello (he very dramatically rapped the strings on the bridge once with his hand before starting the piece).
This bit of levity (followed by much applause and cheering afterwards) led into the intermission and Stephany and I got to talking about Japanese studies and using the Japanese language. She told me a little about what the most advanced Japanese course offered in the city was like, and I told her about the kanji studying app I was back to using after half a year away from it (Kanji Study — it’s incredibly versatile for self-directed study especially… I used it before taking the N2). I also told her that the JLPT is now offered in our city (and that we no longer need to travel to Toronto for it).
…I still intend to achieve N1 certification, even if it takes me a couple tries.
But I digress.
The orchestra returned to the stage, the lights dimmed, and once more they drew us into an incredible piece of music that was filled with so much energy and dramatic high points. I normally get lulled into a doze partway through classical concerts because they’re so relaxing, but this music had me awake from start to finish! Despite the fact that we missed the first piece of the night, it was a gorgeous concert and we both had a good evening taking it all in… which is not to mention how enjoyable it was to catch up too!
On the way back to the train, we got to talking about the last piece and what we’d each imagined, and it was so interesting that while we both got the same energetic impression of the music, we both imagined different scenery: Stephany imagined a stormy sea and running through a forest, while I imagined huge snowdrifts and powdery snow blowing up and away in the wind.