TROIKA

 

Alright everybody - - 

What would you prefer,

a captivatingly beautiful piano performance by me.....

or

an update on the anguish and misery that I'm enduring in rehab.

The votes are in! It's unanimous!

You want anguish and misery.

Well, I'm not in the mood for verbosity or details. I'll be brief. Sort of.

The big storm arrived on time with snow on Friday and Saturday. Not much snow here in town. A lot more way out in the boonies where I live.

I'm still on a massive amount of meds. I think the extremely strong antibiotic will be removed this week. The onslaught of lasix continues - - which makes me pee every half hour.

It's so joyful to keep filling urinals and calling the nurses to empty them.

Yesterday two nurses shaved me (my face/beard). No one has ever shaved me in my entire life. Weird.

When I was in Cookeville I was on a very strict diet. They hardly let me eat anything. Now I'm on a regular diet with "low" sodium. Yesterday I had bacon, a cheese omelette, and regular coffee (no decaf) for breakfast. I think they're trying to kill me.

I'm really not in the mood to get into complicated details. It's all setbacks, anguish, massive unpleasantness.

Everyone is helpful here, despite my misery.

My vital signs and bloodwork are good. The edema has lessened significantly and is under control.

My biggest fear is that I'll never walk again.

To hell with this.

Like it or not, let's get to the music.

I made this video a few years ago (?). I thought it's appropriate for our winter weather.

Of course it's "Troika" ("November" from "The Seasons") by Tchaikovsky.

video best viewed full screen

Jon

Your driver on the sleigh ride

TROIKA RIDE AND DEAD END

I thought a pleasant troika ride through the snow would be appropriate for this time of year. It's my piano performance on a video I made about a year ago.

Music is by Tchaikovsky - a series of twelve piano pieces depicting the months - entitled The Seasons, op.37
The month November is called Troika.

Dead End

I wanted to brighten your day with the music (hopefully) - - before revealing the dead end reality of my dismal existence here in the forest.

Torrential rain for several days with howling winds. The wind was so strong that it blew my front door open overnight and I didn't discover it until dawn.

My health "issues" are so intense that I can hardly walk and lately I'm getting frequent aura migraines (among other things).
Supplies are low and so are my finances. I tried to start my car yesterday and it's completely dead - - probably because I haven't used it in a long time. Getting a new battery is an inevitable annoyance.....

You wouldn't want to hear the rest of the daily horrors that are torturing me.

Worst of all, very frigid temperatures are predicted for next week - - near zero at night and possible snow by Christmas.

I'm apprehensive about this (hell, I'm actually terrified), since my furnace isn't working and I'm relying solely on a few feeble space heaters. If the power goes out, I'm literally dead. I know I won't survive.
I had a fireplace when I lived in Texas.
I don't have a damn thing here.

Sorry for writing another depressing post, but I'm offering you grim reality.

I hope somebody will dare to visit this wretched blog once in awhile. It will give you a chance to be overwhelmed by my cursed misery - - and thank the Lord for the blessings and luxuries that you have.

 Jon, shivering alone

video best viewed full screen

DECEMBER

Welcome to December!

I can't think of a more appropriate way to welcome December than to post a piano piece entitled November.

Russian composer Tchaikovsky wrote a series of twelve piano pieces, entitled The Seasons op.37. There is one piece for each month.

This is my performance of November, subtitled Troika (Sleigh Ride).

I also made a video of this same piano music for YouTube (and I finally corrected the spelling mistake that was on the title).
My YouTube channel is JayveeSonata.

Please don't hurt yourselves in the frantic rush to get over there.....
he says with bitter sarcasm. 

I ventured out of my rustic cocoon yesterday to make the dreaded journey to town. It was a bleak, grey, misty, rainy day but - despite the negatives - there were a few positives:
1. There was no road construction this time.
2. The weather has warmed up slightly.
3. I wore my new contact lenses, so I could actually see everything for a change.

Unfortunately, the Christmas shoppers are already out en mass - making my Walmart experience even more unpleasant than usual. 

It's supposed to get very cold again next week, so at least I now have enough supplies to get through it. 

I dislike writing boring posts (like this one) but I'm in a boring, lethargic mood.

Perhaps an afternoon nap will refresh me.
Wake me up after spring arrives. 

RUSSIAN COLLUSION

This post is lovingly dedicated to the "FISH".


Okay, I've decided to crawl out of the closet and admit this before someone rats on me and destroys my sterling facade of a reputation.
Well, it's actually a tarnished facade of a reputation.

I have secretly been......let me take a few deep breaths here....in collusion with the Russkies ever since I was fourteen.

That's when I first read Robert Massie's  Nicholas and Alexandra. I was immediately completely smitten by the color, grandeur, and allure of Imperial Russia and - all these years later - it is still in my (Hungarian) blood.

Ever since that long-ago indoctrination, I have been immersing myself in the study of Russian history. Collecting Russian antiques. Acquiring original photos of Nicholas II and the Imperial family. 

As if this revelation isn't shocking enough, I also studied Russian music in college. I participated in many concerts of Russian music.....and performed a Russian piano concerto (Anton Rubinstein's D minor) at Cal State Fullerton.

Hell, I even dated a few Russians in my time.
Well, I'm not sure if picking up that drunk Russian speed skater at the Tiki Hut in Garden Grove was exactly a "date", but that's beside the point.....

Anyway, I'm here to purge my demons by inflicting you with Russian music - -  all performed by ME.
By the way,
Vladimir Putin had nothing to do with it.

This is July from The Months (op. 37) by Tchaikovsky. I thought this was appropriate because......it's JULY!
Sometimes my brilliant mode of thinking amazes me.

Five piano preludes by Alexander Scriabin. Don't let this alarm you. They're all short and the last one is the best. I recorded these in Los Angeles when I was eighteen years old.
Scriabin is one of my ultimate favorite Russian composers. I used to perform a lot of his music.
Audio quality is mediocre.

Note: the third prelude (op. 9 no.1) is written entirely for LEFT HAND. Scriabin had injured his right hand while practicing some music by Franz Liszt - so he wrote several piano compositions for left hand only. 

And last but not least, a prelude by Anatoly Liadov.
BTW
I've heard from a reliable source that Soundcloud is going broke and will be closing up shop in less than 50 days.
I hope this isn't true. What will happen to the music I have on Soundcloud??