2- arigatou gozaimasu

Somehow saying "arigatou gozaimasu" seems much more sincere than just the word "thank you", due to its its number of vowels and length of the word. I thought so when I walked out of Kinokuniya, after being served by a Japanese manager. I told this to a friend, and she said, maybe the English equivalent is "thank you very much". A short while later, she received a "thank you very much" from the takoyaki seller and felt it made her day. I guess a little more effort in service does make a difference in someone's day.

1- picking up my erhu

It's strange how I've been playing this instrument for almost 10 years now, and that I'm still in the orchestra more of to be with my friends, mingling with people, getting myself involved in doing design in the orchestra rather than playing the instrument itself to be honest. Though of course I still find joy in playing certain songs if we're lucky. But generally speaking, I've lost interest in erhu.

Today I picked up my erhu voluntarily to play a song that's been playing in my head and even tried writing the score while figuring out the notes. It only took a nice different piece of music to make me suddenly realise the beauty of the sound of my instrument that I've been neglecting for a long time. This is the first time in my years of playing that I'm this keen to play a song out. It makes me wonder why other songs I've come across didn't make me feel as strongly as this.


This is the song. It's a soundtrack from a Japanese period drama I've been watching. I thought it was beautiful.

To be able to find back a long lost interest again makes me happy.