Really digging the improvisational vibe from jazz saxophonist Jasmine Myra and her ensemble on her latest release.

Matcha and tonic is my new favorite drink.

Matcha with tonic water in a transparent cup on a table looking at the corner of Nassau and Spadina in Toronto.

Morning is all about the coffee ☕️

An AeroPress filled with brewing coffee on a kitchen counter

There is proper authentic Mexican food in Windsor! Tonight’s dinner was chile rellenos at Mi Casita on Wyandotte Street.

A chile rellenos with rice, a small salad and refried beans.

From my lunch break on the Windsor waterfront earlier today.

A view of downtown Detroit on a sunny day, taken from the Windsor waterfront on the Canadian side.

Finished reading: Learn Like a Pro by Barbara Oakley PhD 📚

This was a really practical book that I’ll be putting to use in my own learning and teaching. I first found out about Barbara Oakley’s work on Ben Owden’s Why Lead? podcast. Highly recommended.

Currently reading: Brain Power by Catherine de Lange 📚

Currently reading: Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi 📚

A small cafe in Tokyo has a single time-traveling chair, but there are several rules which must be observed…

Had a fun morning teaching an adult piano student. The 4th through 7th Goldberg Variations, then Brahms' arrangement of the Bach Chaconne for the left hand. 🎵 🎹

In der Weihnachtsbäckerei is the most 2024 thing I’ve heard so far: an AI-generated Japanese pop song, in German, about a Christmas bakery. 🎵

Espresso, a quick breakfast, shower, and then 8 hours of teaching piano students.

Rebecca Toh on how narrow points of focus can be the secret of this universe:

Having the discipline to sit down every day for a few hours to write can make all the difference between someone who manages to write a book and someone who doesn’t.

Let’s hear it for simple and boring systems.

Props go out to @heyloura for her Lillihub client for Micro.blog. Things I like so far include the layout of threaded conversations and mentions as well as the Discover area at the very top of the interface next to Timeline. There’s something really satisfying about using opinionated software that easily plugs into open standards formats.

I still miss the days when you could post, view conversations, and comment on both Facebook and Twitter from the Friendfeed interface.

Four years ago on March 21, 2020, a recital I did with mezzo soprano Krisztina Szabó at Tapestry Opera was the last concert of the season in Toronto before everything shut down for the pandemic. Tapestry has made the recital public for one week, and you can watch it below:

We’re not here to crack any mysteries. We’re here to roll around in life and experience its peaks and troughs and make discoveries and pick up things and poke at things and create things that express our ignorance and awe at all this mystery and beauty.

Rebecca Toh: 04: photography as a result of life

This morning I’m grateful for the experience of browsing Micro.blog, which largely involves visiting elegantly designed blogs with zero clutter and reading interesting articles, most of which generously invite further thought. Back to my espresso.

Your ikigai can be found in small daily rituals, side projects, and deep conversations. It can be found in moments of silence and idleness, or in moments of creative flow.

Anne-Laure Le Cunff: Rediscovering Ikigai: What We Got Wrong and How to Find Meaning in Life

Hussein Kesvani’s Guardian article about Reddit becoming rubbish in the lead-up to its IPO paints a rather bleak picture of the internet in 2024. All the more reason to embrace microblogging, which might already be a dark forest of the internet