Her Drama-ness

And my piano obssession continues, hee hee... Terrence and I went to a couple of stores today to look at some pianos. I had e-mailed my piano teacher (I still think of him as my piano teacher even though I've stopped having lessons for a long time now!) and asked for some recommendations. He didn't go into specific brands but did say that most European brands would be of better quality, which I already know and agree with. He also suggested that perhaps I could ship my existing grand piano in Singapore over here to Australia. That is definitely a possibility, so the option would be to ship that over and tide me for a while until I can afford the piano of my dreams (close to anyway!) or to just jump straight in and buy a brand new piano here. Of course there will be the packing and international shipping costs, which will be quite substantial for a grand piano, but could still mean significant cost-savings compared to buying a new piano.

However, after speaking to one of the piano dealers today, that may not seem like the best alternative. Singapore and Australia have very different climates - one very humid, the other very dry. As such, the timber may not be able to adapt to the conditions here and the soundboard could crack. Which is not ideal. The piano that I have back home is also a really old one, it's one that I've played on since I was 10 years old, so although the shipping costs will be a lot less than purchasing a brand new piano, spending the few thousand dollars to get it here may not be worth it and could be better spent on a new piano purchase. So, I'm still weighing up all the various possibilities and see what would be best. If I did go for one here, there are also a few options here. One was the Boston, which is designed by Steinway but manufactured by Kawai, so it would be an affordable way for me to get the "Steinway" name. I quite liked it when I tried it at the showroom last week, but today, I went to another place and tried the Schimmel pianos, and they are lovely. The touch and sound were excellent and I think I probably like them better than the Bostons. However, these are also a lot pricier, the cheapest Schimmel grand retails from about A$60K, which is A LOT of money. The dealer did say he could discount to A$50K, but still, that's a big chunk of moolah! Which then brings me back to Steinway. For $50K, I could probably get a 2nd-hand Steinway, so it's then being able to get the piano that I would like to own in a pre-loved condition, or something else, which is pretty good as well, in a brand new condition. Then again, I will need to have $50K first! LOL. At least dreaming hasn't cost me any money......yet. *grin*

On the house front, apparently there is a bit of a hoopla back home in Singapore about the house. The settlement date for our new place is 21 July and my mom and grandparents are panicking about it, because the first day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is 25 July. And why are they freaking out? Because it's the first day of the Hungry Ghost Festival and it's highly inauspicious to do much on that day, especially with big events, like moving house, getting married etc. For those who don't know what I'm talking about, in the Chinese lunar calendar, the seventh month is the Hungry Ghost Festival, and most believe that the gates of hell open for the hungry ghosts to wander in the living world for food before returning at the end of the month. Kinda like a Chinese version of Halloween. I know that some of you must be thinking this is some ridiculous BS; I personally don't take it too seriously, but it's part of my Chinese culture and customs and especially if my family believes in it, I cannot just renounce it - it's who I am. So, we get the keys on 21st July and as long as I do a "symbolic move" before 25 July, my mother and grandparents will be happy. My dad will be e-mailing me instructions, apparently we will need to cook dinner there and spend the night and some other stuff, I'm not sure. I actually find it kinda funny, Terrence got a bit annoyed because he absolutely believes in none of this stuff. Oh well, I wanna appease my family and keep everyone happy! Some things are more than just about us. It doesn't cost me an arm or leg anyways. We will most likely be moving earlier than later anyway, as we hope to settle early if circumstances allow.

Well, I hope I provided an entertaining post, hee hee. If any of you out there are experts on the various pianos available on the market, please feel free to share your thoughts! Unfortunately, I know more about piano-playing than the manufacture of the instrument itself! That's it from me this time, till the next drama unfolds, take care! :)