h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

An update on my life:

I was relieved of my briefcase containing my laptop and my international passport at the lobby of a well-known hotel on 13 November, while my parents and I were awaiting Mo and Stephanie to pick us up for our journey up north (we were scheduled to perform on the 14th; my parents, who'd come over for a vacation decided to tag along and see me toot my horn). The perpetrator must have seized the opportunity when one of the hotel security staff alerted my dad to a bag that had toppled over (or was it a staged diversion maybe?). We'd noticed nothing until I'd gone to Coffee Bean to pick up a frappe for Mo and my mum came rushing up to see if I'd brought my briefcase with me. I probably broke all sprint records when my feet pounded their way into the lobby - to find a gap between my trombone case and my chair.

My losses? One international passport, expiring early next year. One Toshiba Satellite A 1800 series laptop with accessories, containing my Sims, Mafia and Hitman 1 & 2 saved games (oh the pain!). Disc 1 of my Mafia game (I'd been playing the You Lucky Bastard level the night before). One Lightning Seeds CD, which I'd bought only the night before. One pair of yellow socks. And my Samsonite briefcase. Oh joy.

To cut a long story short, instead of getting an early start on our journey, we wound up spending more than an hour at the special branch of the police station, reporting the loss of a travel document that's probably worth USD 5,000 in the black market. Needless to say, we weren't in the best of moods when we finally hit the road. Nevertheless we arrived at our destination without event and met up with Jeffrey, who said he'd bring us to this famous joint for lunch, whereupon on the journey there our car got violently sideswiped by a minibus whose bloody-minded driver didn't even slow down, much less stop, to see if he'd left our mangled carcasses strewn all over the sidewalk. Needless to say, this caused an infuriated Mo to chase the bus down and confront the driver - which of course resulted in litle more than a lot of steam and the loss of some brain cells for him since the guy blantantly refused to admit that he'd hit our car. This put Mo in the sourest of sour moods, since he was inconsolably convinced that his Xeno trumpet in the boot Was Done For.

However, despite all these omens that we weren't welcome up north, we had a rather jolly time there (the people up there are Hobbits - eating seems to be a favourite pasttime), and we put up a creditable performance, I think, save for the small boo-boo at the beginning of the Entertainer, and I think I handled my solos in Seventeen Come Sunday rather decently in spite of the pressure applied upon me by Jeffrey, who told the audience that the piece featured some very difficult trombone passages, so Would You Please Pay Attention to Them. We left after an early dinner, and got back in town at ten.

The very next day I went out scouring the computer mall for a new laptop, since it was obvious that I would not survive long without one. Fell in love with one, but as luck would have it all the shop were out since it wasn't exactly a popular model (being a little too high-end for the typical consumer). I decided that we should just check out IT World at the mall next to the hotel, and was leading my parents through StarHill to the taxi stand when I remembered there was a computer mall upstairs as well. And what do you know.... the laptop was available there. The specs (after I was done upgrading it):

*Intel Pentium IV 530 processor with Hyper Threading technology (3.0 GHz, 1 MB L2 cache, 800 MHz FSB)
*768 MB DDR RAM
*60 GB HDD
*ATI Mobility Radeon X600 graphics card with PCI Express, *64 MB VRAM
*17" WXGA wide TFT LCD screen
*Built-in subwoofer
*Bluetooth and Infrared
*802.11b/g wireless LAN
*5-in-1 card reader
*DVD-Super Multi (CD/CD-RW/DVD/DVD-RW)
*One remote control that fits into the card slot

Of course, with specs like that, I could finally play The Sims 2 and Hitman:Contracts (which has been sitting on my shelf since April), so the first thing I did after dinner was buy The Sims 2 on DVD (as advised by Elton). Excellent stuff!

Anyway, we played our very first *official* gig just one week later on 21 November - at our quintet member Mr. Otomura's wedding reception. The do was held at Carcosa, once the home of a British Resident and, during the Second World War, the headquarters for the Japanese. Once an exclusive club for the upper class, the place is now open to debbies who can afford their astronomically priced high teas (which I hear are dead good). Given that, I'm sure you can imagine what sort of place it is. Think sprawling British Colonial building with grand stairways and gorgeous architecture, patios and balconies (also, gorgeous Steinway pianos -- which happened to be badly out of tune). Think gourmet decadence - more than ten types of hors d'oeuvres (including caviar), God knows how many main dishes (including smoked lamb and salmon; it's a buffet lunch do), at least ten types of dessert ranging from Creme Brulee to rich cheesecake and mousse. Think luxurious suites that cost $1,500 per night. Boy, the Japanese really know how to do it with style.

Anyway, we had a pretty fun time - Mr. Otomura played three pieces with us for the first half, and then he and his brother joined us for the second half (his brother took Jeffrey's place on French Horn, and Mr. Otomura himself played the flugelhorn), and I think they enjoyed themselves - Mr. Otomura said as much during his speech, that he'd never before had the opportunity to play for social functions before, and that he had the time of his life playing with us. Hell, if I ever get married, I'll want to play the trombone at *my* own reception.

So anyway, yeah... I've been fairly busy, and haven't been around much. I expect that to change soon though.