Black and White

Screw it. I've decided to stop thinking about how to start this blog out and just start. I'm pretty much just typing what's coming to my head, so this blog might turn out somewhat incomprehensible.

Anyways, I wanted to write about how music has affected my life; how it's put me through tough times and gotten me out of rough times; how it's such an amazing part of my life. So...here goes nothing.

Like swimming, I was somewhat forced to participate. A good friend of mine back in Wisconsin had just started to play violin. My mother, thinking it would be a good idea for me to start also, pulled one of her little tricks. "Hey, Jay. Look at HJ. Isn't he so cool playing violin? He told me he really likes it. You have a lesson next week." I, being a five year old (as opposed to a rebellious teen), just kind of followed along. It was one of those, your parents are always right moments. So with that, started a very musical journey through my elementary and high school years.

As I said before, I had plenty of arguments with my parents about practicing. One frequent topic was my mom being too strict with checking my intonation on the tuner. Oh, and then the amount of time spent practicing... That was a fun one. (Hold please, idiot kid pulled the fire alarm and now I have to go stand outside in forty degree weather for twenty minutes)

Back, give me one more second to warm up my toes. Yes, I was smart enough to put a jacket on, but nothing more than flip flops for my feet...

Before I go on, I would like to say that I have no regrets about violin at all. I might have had some arguments with my parents about practicing before, but going through all that was totally worth it. Through all these arguments came a better musician, someone who was more focused, someone who could experience the benefits of hard work and persistence.

Now that I've stopped taking lessons, and without any music programs at UIC (that I know about at least), my life has felt extremely empty. (Gah...writer's block... I'm gonna try a bit of a jump. I hope it isn't too far of a leap...)

Because I don't have the opportunity to play as much anymore, I've attempted to fill this void by joining the opposite end of the music world: listening. I could go on about so many different topics that have to do with listening, but since it's 1:30 AM already, I'll just talk about my absolute favorite instrument.

It's not violin. I think I've heard myself playing violin too much to find anything amazing about it anymore. I love the sound, but, growing up with it, it's a bit too much.

It's piano, and I think one video can explain why. I'm proud to present... Yiruma playing an original composition "River Flows In You."



Recently, Henry, a close friend, told me he was trying to learn how to play this piece. And at that moment, I knew how I was going to really bring music back into my life. I decided, after listening to the song over and over and over again until about 2:00 AM yesterday, that I'd try to teach myself how to play piano, starting with this piece.

Race you to the end Henry!

Born From Boredom

Well, I thought I escaped the blogging world when I quit Xanga, but it looks like my procrastinating habits have created a new monster. And there it is, my welcome statement to my readers.

Andy, a good friend of mine has a blog here, and after reading his blog a few times, I've become tempted to start blogging again. Excuse me while I chuckle at my cleverly composed title...

Anyways, let's start out with a little bit of an introduction hm? My name is Jay Hsu (pronounced shoe, don't even start...) and I'm an 18 year old freshman at the University of Illinois at Chicago. I'm working towards a major in finance and a minor in international business, but my true love is music. I've played violin since I was 5. I've dabbled a bit with guitar, bass, drumset, piano, and trumpet. I like pretty much all types of music. My music selection goes from Audioslave to The Strokes to Mika to Kanye West to Nirvana to Jay Chou to The Chicago Symphony Orchestra to Paramore to Jack Johnson to Colbie Caillat to Switchfoot to... If you skipped about half that sentence, I don't blame you. I would, too. Back to the introduction. I chose to go into business because I'm a slacker. I haven't practiced violin seriously since I was 13, although I have kept my "chops" by participating in various musicals, chamber groups, shows, and even played in a band for a little while. I used to swim competitively. And I procrastinate. A lot.

I don't want to depress or bore you with too serious of a topic, so let's start out with a topic that I love to bring up during awkward moments (insert awkward turtle here...maybe even go as far as row the awkward canoe away?). Anyways...back to the topic: the amazing taste of artificial grape syrup (that stuff they use in grape flavored popsicles and soda). Just kidding.

Oh, I know. I'll tell you about my little stint in competitive swimming.

It all starts with a minor back problem. I have extremely minor scoliosis (curvature of the spine). It's something like 8 degrees off? I forget... Anyways, a doctor recommended that I start swimming regularly in order to decrease the curvature, which would in turn help minimize something I can't remember how to spell or pronounce. So, with this doctor's recommendation in mind, my mother drove me home.

Now, there's something you should know about Asian mothers. They are very extreme in everything they do. They either talk extremely quietly, almost to the point where you can barely understand them, or they yell to the point to...where you can barely understand them. They either drive extremely passively, or more aggressive than the average teenager. And when they do either, it's scary. So, add that characteristic onto the usual mom characteristic of being over-worrisome, and you got one crazy mommy.

While on the ride home, I was thinking that my mother would probably just get a membership to the local park district's pool, but oh was I wrong.

About a week after the doctor's appointment, my mom comes home to say, "Jay, you have swim practice tomorrow at seven o'clock, so have your suit, towel, and goggles ready when I get home from work." Umm...PRACTICE?!?!? Too bad Asian mothers are pretty determined to control every aspect of their child's life, so any hope of getting myself out of this situation died right there. I went to practice, and got hooked. Swimming up and down the length is actually a little more amusing than it looks like, especially when you're as scatterbrained as I am.

Two years later, with one high school swim season over, I reached the apex of my swimming career. I had finished sixth in the state for my age group in the equivalent of the state championships in club swimming. Stepping up on that podium at the end of the race was one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had. That feeling of accomplishment, of hard work paying off. It's not something a slacker experiences often, which brings me to the purpose of this story.

Thank you, Mom, for pushing me to accomplish what I have accomplished in swimming, in music, in academics. *Happy Tears*

Well, it's almost midnight now...enough procrastinating. Homework time...

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Now playing: Rooney - When Did Your Heart Go Missing?