Something (Not) to Look Forward To

Well, it looks like I'm doomed to be the butt of old-maid jokes again at the annual, inescapable and excruciating Carlos family reunion, which my mother says is scheduled for January 2. I can't think of a worse way to begin the year than to have your unchanged civil status announced over a microphone to eighty of your relatives by a host with all the sensitivity of a circling vulture. If she dares to humiliate me even more this year by reminding everyone of the 22-year old niece who got preggers, married and gave birth (yes, in that order) all within the past 365 days while I was still kneeling on the starting blocks... man, I can't promise I won't come over and strangle her with her own microphone cord.

I'm trying to think of a way to get out of that party, but the only things that come to mind which will not have my mother holding the "guilt card" over my head are to contract an infectious disease or to drop dead all of a sudden. I honestly hate these big reunions; I always have. I'm uncomfortable engaging in stupid chit-chat about what kind of work I'm in or how much I make. I don't want to have to offer any excuses about why I'm still just as single as I was last year. Most of all, I am uncomfortable knowing I am surrounded by couples and their children; painfully aware that I am the odd man out. Damn, can't we all just stay in each of our own homes for a change and privately snarf through the media noche leftovers? Party schmarty. I'd rather run a Zildjian drumstick into my eyeball.

Anata ga suki da, Chiaki-senpai !!!!

There's a Japanese manga-to-anime-based television series from 2006 called "Nodame Cantabile" that I discovered through my almost-otaku, self-proclaimed hentai (not in the perverted sense) cousin Iam (Yami-chan!). It centers on Chiaki Shinichi, a piano student with ambitions of becoming a famous conductor, and Noda Megumi, his next-door neighbor and fellow piano student, who immediately falls in love after a performing a piano duet with him. I love it so much that I won't let a day pass without re-watching my favorite scenes from the dvd or playing Beethoven's symphony no.7 and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, two orchestra pieces among dozens that make up the soundtrack of the show. I won't pretend to be familiar with classical music -- only recently I could only recognize and name Pachelbel's Canon in D (because it's in such popular demand as a wedding march) and Rossini's William Tell Overture (while still occasionally forgetting the composer's name). I have a "Classical for Beginners" cd that I listen to from time to time, but I have trouble remembering symphony titles and the composers, and all that sticks in my memory is that the Mussorgsky piece sounds like something that was used for the Star Wars films. I still can't tell a Mozart symphony from a Beethoven, but at least now I can recognize S#7 when I hear it, and salute the great Ludwig.

The wonderful thing about this show is that it pumps anime comedy into stodgy classical music, and the result is absolutely brilliant. And then there is Tamaki Hiroshi who's spot-on perfect as Chiaki -- snooty, uptight, gifted and so beautiful that even if he lets fly a dozen anime wallops at poor lovesick Nodame throughout the series, she still won't give up on him. I wouldn't either, if I were next-door neighbors to a kawaii music god who will feed me and clean my apartment while still managing to keep his hair perfectly in place. I love you too, Chiaki-senpai !!!!!