Letting Nature Take Its Course II

Man, what a day...

This morning I had to get up early, hop in my BLUE RAV4, and drive, first to Ye Olde Academy, and then all the way to the Hitachi Civic Center up north in the city of Hitachi (yes, home of Hitachi electronics) for the Ibaraki Prefectural Band Contest, North/Central/East Block (slightly out-of tune fanfare, euphonium slow on the attack). In the past it had always taken me about four hours to get there, but this time I tried a new route, and I arrived in only an hour and a half(!). Still, it was a long day, it was hot, (I got sunburned,) and helping unload and load all those percussion and low brass instruments off and on the truck was really hard work. Despite all the problems, though, the kids did a pretty good job. I was happy to have been able to be there for it even if I wasn't directing.

I wasn't able to stay till the final results were released, unfortunately. I had to shoot back to Ye Olde Academy as soon as the truck was reloaded because tonight was the night that the new conductor was coming to direct the Kashima Philharmonic for the first time. The new route once again got me back a lot quicker than I expected, which gave me time to practice and set up the rehearsal hall (all by myself) before the new Maestro made his appearance.

As it turned out, the new director seems like a great guy. He also knows his stuff very well, and he's obviously quite used to working with amateur orchestras that are still just getting it together. He actually seemed to enjoy ironing out the weak spots. He didn't make it easy on us, though; we played all four movements of Beethoven's 7th symphony up to tempo with no punches pulled. Full throttle from the get-go. It was amazing that we were able to get through it as well as we did. The new director seemed to think so, too. He said quite frankly that we were much further along than he'd expected, especially after only three rehearsals.

Considering I'd directed two of those rehearsals, I guess I was doing something right even with my very limited experience. We'll see how it goes from now now that I have a better understanding of the ground rules.

After it was over we found out that Ye Olde Academy's band placed second in this morning's contest and will be moving on to the Prefectural Championship.

It had been a long and bloody tiring day, but it had also been a good one. Then I came home to some bad news. My in-laws' cat, His Royal Redness, Aka, was in terrible condition and not expected to survive. Apparently he hadn't eaten a bite of food for two or three days. This morning he suddenly started coughing up blood, and he spent most of the day like he was in a coma. As I said a couple of posts ago, his health hadn't been all that great for at least a few years. Apparently it had finally given out. Not unexpected, but still sad.

After I finished my (late) dinner, I gathered up my things to go to the in-laws' house and take a bath. As I did so, I heard my father-in-law tromping around outside loudly calling Aka's name. Apparently the old cat had come to, pried open their screen door, snuck outside, and disappeared. It seemed like quite a feat considering his condition. But then I opened my front door and found Aka immediately. He was curled up on the welcome mat on my front porch. He looked terrible. He was even skinnier and bonier than he was when I took the picture I posted a few days ago. His face and front paws were caked with blood he'd apparently coughed up. He hardly moved a muscle even when my front door bumped him. When I stepped outside, however, he used his scant strength to curl himself around my leg...just as he'd always done.

When I petted him he purred louder than he had for at least the last five years or so. I stayed with him until my father-in-law came back and collected him to put him to bed for probably the last time.

Ironically, Aka was skittish and wouldn't let me near him when I first moved here about ten years ago, but he quickly became my buddy. For a while, even though father-in-law doted on him and even let him eat directly from his own dinner plate, he would still come a-running to me with his rich "MAAAAAAAU" if he saw me outside. He also kept trying to sneak into our house to visit...until Mint came along two years ago followed by Tora the year after that. Then he became more stand-offish, as if his pride had been injured, but he'd still make a beeline for me if he saw me either outside or in the in-laws' house. He made it clear that, no matter what, we were still buddies.

Just as he did tonight. I think he just said goodbye.