Lekaro

So what has happened ? A lot

After Muskeldundermarsjen to Verdalen I had a great time  with all my friends from Sørkedalen. The week after my trip to Verdalen I went to Tallin for a few days. Working. But still got some time to have a look around and find some GeoCaches. Yes I just got my self a new hobby. I guess Geocaching is the nerds way to get fresh air, or perhaps not.

Geocaching is a way to find places and read stories that you might have missed if you were just passing by. All over the world people hide geocaches, containers which at least contain a logbook that you can sign when you find it. You then get the GPS coordinates of the hiding place and post it in the Geocaching website other people can the locate the cache, and learn a bit of local history. Bigger caches can contain track able items that you can pick up and drop in another cache somewhere else, leaving a trail across the world on the Internet.

I guess it might fit just as well as a family hobby as a nerds hobby

The week after I came back from Tallinn I went to London for a few days to do some Blackberry training, and since the training was set for Thursday and Friday I got the weekend in London. Doing some more caching while seeing the sites and did a bit of photography. I’ll see if I can upload some more photos soon to. I’ve been experimenting with HDR images.

And the finally last weekend I went to Gothenburg with Lilleaker Janitsjar which was fun to. I guess that was the last of my concerts before summer

I guess that’s it for tonight, I better start writing a bit more often.

Muskeldundermarsjen 2009
Sørkedal’n – Verdal’n
597,2 kilometer
Inkludert 0,1 km pissepauser

Det ble en flying start på årets store internasjonale muskeldundermarsj. Rett fra
barnefødsel kom Lommedalens store datter Leahmus Agrolica svevende over startstreken
med den nyfødte hengende i brystet. Fra Sørkedalen brus og edruskap stiller
hurtigkar og supersjarmør Speed Date Rennafart. Verdalen stiller med skistjerna
Hjørdis Rappen fra Fishølet turn og idrettsforening. Ingen internasjonal turmarsj
uten innslag fra vår nabo i øst; Søtabror Svensson har funnet toppformen etter lang
tids gangsperre.

Med på marsjen følger Oppmuntringskorpset Sørkedalen Homp & Blæs som vil bidra med
oppmuntrende toner i hilldur og valsetakt. De vil også fungere som notelesere for
sin sambygding Speed Date Rennafart, som er kjent for å hoppe av i svingen.

Turmarsjen følger Pilegrimsleden som for anledningen er forlenget til Verdalen
Folkepark. De konkurrerende har allerede passert Krokskogen og er rapportert i godt
driv mot Hønefoss. I tet ligger Søtabror Svensson etter at Leahmus Agrolica rotet
seg bort i ammetåka. Speed Date Rennafart skar over krøn, men håper å nype seg
tilbake rundt en stein på ytter. Vi følger spent med på den videre utviklingen i
marsjen.

Den store målgangen vil foregå i folkeparken i Verdalen, sånn rundt regnet klokka
etter lunsj lørdag 30. mai. Ryktet vil ha det til at Vømmølfestivalen arrangeres i
samme tidsrom, og deltakerne satser derfor på å bli feiret med et stort og vømlende
opptog.

Med vennlig hilsen markedssjef Sigfrid Sainndøla Svingtrapp

And a bit tired one to

This has been quite a busy weekend for me. It started out on Friday with me and some friends going to a concert. We saw PLAY! A Video Game Symphony. Which is a rather cool concept. A symphony orchestra playing tracks from well known computer games. Bot hold and new. I’d never think I’d ever cue in such a long cue to see that kind of concert.

But I guess computer games are what makes younger people aware that a symphony orchestra isn’t that bad.

Then on Saturday we had our last band practice before the Oslo Mesterskap on Sunday. And we had a little mini concert with Sagene skoles Musikkorps. And the rest of the evening I spent at home watching TV and relaxing.

On Sunday we meet up at Folkets Hus at 1300 and we were scheduled to play at 1420. But the whole event was a bit behind schedule so we had to wait for quite a while.

But we got in there, did our thing and wasn’t to unhappy with it. After hearing the other bands in our division we went to Justisen and had some food and started drinking. A few beers later we moved on to Politiker’n to save some money. Which saved us 5 NOK a beer

We spent the time there waiting for the prize ceremony to start, and we managed to get there just to late for the whole thing. But we didn’t win so I guess it didn’t matter to much.

We came second in our division with 86 points. Two points below the winners in our division ( 2. division ) and I think that we beat at least one band in 1. division if you look at the score.

We were hoping to get to above 90 points but I guess this wasn’t the year for it. It seems to me the judges were strict since as far as I’ve understood only two bands got a score above 90, and the just barely.

After the ceremony we went back to Politiker’n and sat there drinking until they closed, actually for some time after they closed. The girl working in the bar was cool and didn’t chuck us out, and me and a Aase ended up going to Mono and having a drink with her and some other people after Politikeren closed.

I caught the last train at six past one and I’ve suffered the consequences today. At Least earlier today, no I feel good.

But I better be off, back to band practice today, and it will be good to finally play something other than Concert Prelude and Variations for band.

The weekend has almost come to an end, and this one has been a good one.

I’ve been to Hamar with some people form Sørkedalen brass and Vivo brass where we have had a seminar with some south Africans that are in Norway on a exchange program. They travel around the country doing seminars like the one we have been to and performing.

This weekend it was our turn, and apparently we are the first grown up band they’ve had. Which would be challenging in it self. but it went very well, I thing everyone there have had a great time.

We have rehearsed a few pieces without sheet music, just by listening to the instructors. It’s a lot of fun and actually not to hard. The biggest problem is remembering which parts belong to which song. But when you put it all together it seems to be working reasonably well.

The real test comes next Saturday when we are giving a concert with the stuff we have been working on this weekend. I’m really looking forward to that to, and hope I’ll remember what to play.

A week is a long time

if you are in town you should come visit and ave a good time. The concert is held at Årvoll Gård

Check out the poster: concert poster

And this one has been good, hectic but good.

Starting out with Dj Tiësto on Friday, and yesterday we played a rather good Christmas concert with Sørkedalen brass in Sørkedalen church. Then afterwards we had a Christmas party, great food, lots of drinking and laughter.

Sørkedalen brass is such a great bunch of people, loving it.

Last night I went to Dj Tiësto at Sentrum Scene, and it was good

I think Tiësto plaid the best set he’s played in years, and even if they crammed 1800 people into the place it didn’t get as bad as I’ve expected. A bit of cuing to get inn, but not to bad, go frisked by a ho gal , to bad she was such a pro at what she was doing, a bit of cuing to get rid of my jacket and then into the main venue.

When I arrived DJ SL was warming ut and he played quite good, then I still haven’t figured out who came on next but he was dull, and I think a lot of people would agree. It seems that most of the room stopped and people just stood watching.

Then 10 minutes before Tiësto was scheduled the sound suddenly went. My first thought was “Fuck .. someone has managed to spill beer in the mixing table again ” (It has happened before) But after a few minutes of running by the crew they got it back up and running.

Then just past midnight Tiësto came on and he played a nice set until half past two, he started out with the first track from the latest in search of sunrise, as expected, played some from this latest album and towards teh end a few older tracks that i enjoyed. Especially “He’s a pirate”

All in all it was a nice evening, and I got home even if my legs were totally worn out. I guess doing a spinning class before such an event isn’t the best idea

Today I came home and saw that I got Ambis ( a magazine made by Norwegian Music Band association, that I get since I’m playing in a band) in my mailbox, and when browsing it I found this article. Stating that from next year Bands like mine would be able to get some money out of Norsk Tipping ( A Norwegian state run gambling monopoly ) Earlier most of the money going through there were marked for sports, but finally we might get a piece of the cake to.

And I lived in that dream all the way to the gym, and there warming up and watching the news they covered a story on sporting clubs not getting any support, or rather have to wait for 5-6 years to get any.

Guess it will be a cold day in hell before we get anything then.

Today I’ve been to a music store and been looking and testing new trombones. And eventually I found the one for me

It’s not actually a bomb that I ended up with an CONN 88H, but it could have been different. We went through and tested six different instruments but in the end the one I got felt the best for me. Tried one that was twice the price but it didn’t feel as good as the one I’ve got so I’m really happy.

But still it’s not cheap, but I think the 20k NOK is well worth it in the end.

Time flies and sometimes I’m not able to do all the stuff I would like to do. Like making updates here.

But tonight I sat down and finally managed to get my Curriculum Vitae updated, about time

I got an e-mail from Valeri whom I meet in Australia earlier this year, and she is of on new adventures, I cannot say anything other than that I envy her this trip You should check out her blog and se how she fares in the fare east. Have a look at her blog here. http://marinoandvalou.uniterre.com

I’m going of for a few days to in a weeks time, not that far and not to such a nice and warm place either. I’m of to Starum where I’m going to get two weeks training to do eventual works that my position in the Civilian Defence forces calls for. Since I’m only second in command in the little group that we are I’m not to sure how often I’ll get to use the skills, but things happen, and some of the stuff I’ll probably be able to use in other situations.

Further more, since my last update. Melissa has gotten married! Congratulations Melissa.

As for the hunt for a new trombone, things have slowed down a bit, I’ve tried a few and in a few weeks I’ll get some professional help in trying to decide which one will be the best one for me, looking forward to that quite a lot.

It’s time for me to get to bed I think, isn’t much happening tonight, and tomorrow we are going to have an October Party, probably going to be quite a moist affair . I hope

Last week while traveling back from Austria, my trombone got a bit mishandled by the airlines. So now it’s been sent off for repairs.

This seems to be the start of something larger.

Yesterday I got to borrow a friends trombone in order to have something to play on while mine is being fixed, and now I’m sold. I need to get my self a better trombone that the one I got. Both the one I’ve borrowed and one I tested yesterday are way easier to play than my old one. I had such a good time playing yesterday.

And so the hunt is on to figure out which one I would like to play, and to figure out what I can afford