Mastodawn

First band performance today, and despite not having played two of the pieces before (the rest of the band had played them before; I had not), it went really well. There were definitely times when the others carried me but I held my own at times... for four rehearsals, I feel like it was a solid achievement. It did wipe me out for the rest of the afternoon though. All the stimulation and adrenaline, it's quite a lot for a body to manage.

I didn't get much time to practise this week but I'm hoping next week will be better. At the very least I'll have time tomorrow and Monday. Something else to look forward to: one of the guys is bringing me a cornet to try out next rehearsal. Exciting!

#trumpet #music #ThingsILove #StartingFromScratch

Bec May 30

Was feeling naff and annoyed. Practised trumpet for half an hour. Feeling so much better now 🥰🎺

#music #trumpet #ThingsILove

Bec May 26

How cool is this?! I had to swing by Woolies after dropping Dad home tonight and they had restocked their saucepans (the ones they're giving away with Rewards points).

I don't tend to shop at Woolies much so I only had 50-odd points, but I also really needed a new frying pan since our old one started leaking some months ago. I'd thrown that one away but kept the lid.

Anyway. This Woolies had some of the biggest stainless steel frying pans in stock and so I thought, well, I'll have to pay $35 and use 35 points, but that's cheaper than the $100 for a similar frying pan in the homeware shop. The only downside is that this one doesn't come with a lid, oh well.

I get home, wash it up to use it for tea (tacos) and then, out of curiosity, get the lid from the old pan out of the cupboard and try it for size. IT FITS. It fits so well!

So how awesome: I got a decent stainless steel pan for relatively little money and the old lid fits. I'm irrationally happy about this whole thing 😊

#cooking #ThingsILove #kitchen

Bec May 10

What a full weekend. Thank goodness for work tomorrow, in some respects – it was a really great couple of days but I badly need some recharge quiet time!

Yesterday was the Green Fair on the Square and I picked up my free plants, huzzah! Bumped into a friend, which was lovely. I also rode a bike to make a smoothie for Kid3 and then Dad and I went to a talk by a local elder about resilience and sustainability from an Indigenous perspective. That was super interesting and fascinating and I would have loved to stay and chat with her for hours.

The rest of the day was errands and busyness. Today was a bit the same but with extra gardening (which was, of course, great). I planted the free plants and also the poor kangaroo paws that I believe have been waiting in their pots since last year 😬 Had to get quite aggressive with the trowel to break up some of the roots... hopefully they cope in the ground OK.

#gardening #MothersDay #KillYourLawn #DieLawnDie #plants #community #ThingsILove

Bec May 3

#ThreeGoodThings on a Sunday evening:

+ spent an hour in the garden and as I was filling a planter box with soil, a mole cricket fell out of the potting mix bag. We've been hearing them at night recently (even though they're probably due for hibernation soon, I reckon). I scooped it out of the planter box and put it down carefully and it started burrowing straight away. So exciting to see it :)

+ visited the community garden yesterday despite the rain. I took lemons, lilly pillies and rosemary to swap, and brought home tomatoes, garlic, basil and rhubarb

+ there was a tiny fire in the kitchen earlier... this is a Good Thing because I happened to walk in as it was starting and said, 'Ooh, that's interesting' and then set about putting it out. tl;dr the sausages spat some fat into the gas griller, the fat caught fire and then dripped down into the fat tray where it continued to burn. Bit stinky, glad I walked in when I did. I was thinking of grabbing the fire blanket but as it turned out, a saucepan lid did the trick (so I can save the fire blanket for another, bigger fire!)

#ThingsILove #3GoodThings #today #CommunityGarden #gardening #fire

gmrstudios Apr 30

A Sense of Doubt blog post-4091 - Letter to Dad-33 - Taking a Photo of My Birthday 1971 and PISTONS WON!! https://sensedoubt.blogspot.com/2026/04/a-sense-of-doubt-blog-post-4091-letter.html #LettertoDad #Seventies #DetroitPistons #PlayoffWin #ThingsILove

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Bec Apr 17

My teacher got me two new trumpet books this week! I can work through them at my leisure but we chose a few to get me started. He also told me that he's taught me all he can on an individual basis and now I need to join the band. That's a bit scary and new and exciting...? But he said he's told them all about me and they keep asking when I'm coming 🥰

Due to family stuff I won't be able to go next week but we've agreed that he'll bring the band music next time we meet and then we can go over it together. Progress!

Also, something I've noticed recently is how much music runs through my head now. I'm often thinking about motifs and melodies, either ones that I've played or ones I'd like to play. It's a cool development

#music #trumpet #ThingsILove #StartFromScratch

无用之用 ☯️ 🐋 ⚧️

Mar 31

My new blog post:

Following the random list of things I hate, here's a list of silly little things that bring me joy.

A random list of silly things I love

https://giuliabrazzale.eu/2026/03/31/a-random-list-of-silly-things-i-love/

#blogging #thingsIlove #blogpost

A random list of silly things I love

Following the random list of things I hate, here’s a list of silly little things that bring me joy.

The Mast-Head

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Bec Mar 23

It's coming up to three months of learning trumpet (about two months of lessons). The book my teacher gave me six weeks ago is supposed to last a full school year and we're nearly finished it – this sounds more impressive than it is because the book is for beginner musicians, not just beginner trumpet players. So there's lots of 'this is a minim/crotchet/rest/key signature' which I don't need to learn.

Biggest challenge continues to be lip strength. But also I find it hard to be thinking of everything at once when I'm playing something new. There's finger positions, intonation, pressure, pitch, so I find myself gripping the trumpet harder than I should, and getting a sore hand afterwards!

I spoke about that with my teacher and he reassured me that there's so much to think of, no wonder I sometimes find it hard. It will be fine with time. He is a good and patient teacher and we're doing more and more duets – this, I love, because you have to keep up and keep playing, no matter the mistakes!

I can play almost 30 minutes at a stretch now, which is making practice sessions more enjoyable. So the short version of this post should read: Trumpet. Still loving it. Music is so fun. The end (or actually still very much the beginning).

#trumpet #music #ThingsILove

Joe B. Wall Mar 11

I love intentionality as much as I love happenstance.

#intentionality #happenstance #dualities #thingsIlove