Concert is cancelled in Hong Kong, two weeks before the performance, almost two months after paying for the air ticket. It is perfectly fine if a concert has to be cancelled due to varies reasons (better be real good reasons), but the fact that the director did not intend to inform me about the cancellation, until I happened to ask him about the concert, on Facebook. Seriously, this is not even a professional vs. amateur issue; this is about responsibility. Should I have signed a contract before I decided to attend the performance? I guess a paper is more trust-able than a person, which is sad. This person calls himself a professional musician and a teacher, which is even more sad---way to corrupt an entire generation of musician. Teachers should really learn about moral issues before they are allowed to teach, especially, young kids.

I never learned about fraud in school---way to spend an international air ticket to learn just that. Worth it?

It feels like I have been composing a lot this semester, but I actually haven't written that much. My bass trombone quartet commission is coming very slowly. I have this urge to finish it ASAP--don't know whether it's a good thing or not. Perhaps I am just anxious about commissions, that I want to see a finished product as quick as possible. I am, however, very satisfied with my recent completed piece Katachi IV for alto saxophone and live electronics. I can see my style slowly changing and evolving. Honestly, I would have never imagined it be like this, say, five years ago. I am excited, and anxious to see what's next.

More travels are ahead of me: Bowling Green, Hong Kong, Iowa... as much as I love traveling, I am broke.

Had three concerts in four days! It was a lot, but hey, can't complain! My music is being played! What could be better than that? (don't know if it's ever gonna happen again---I mean, three concerts in four days!)

The symposium at Connecticut College was a great experience. I met many musicians/artists, and made me feel that, we are all in this TOGETHER! Daniel was a great performer. It was a somewhat different interpretation, and that's what's fantastic about live performances! There was a slight feedback issue towards the middle of the piece because of how the speakers were placed (sorta weird position...), but everything else went well. And, a new commission for piccolo violin!

Wish I had time to drive to Boston or New York City... Oh well. Stay at airport for the whole night just to save this one night's hotel fee, worth it?

I have been quite busy, not composing, but patching with Max/MSP, just exploring different ways to route my signals and building instruments/effect modules. The results are couple patches that I can well use in the future, and I also generated a fixed media piece (Stargaze) with them.

I am expecting to write one new fixed media and two new interactive electroacoustic pieces with these patches. I will continue the Katachi series, and start a new series called ALEA.

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And, having come back from the UAHuntsville New Music Festival this weekend, I feel fresh and inspired. It was a nice event with seven concerts and over 40 guest composers. Duo for Two Flutists (2008) was performed.

This summer has been great! Mum and sister came for two weeks, and we took a road trip in the mid-west and around the east coast; we visited cities and places including:

1. Chicago, Premiums outlets;
2. Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Cleveland, Erie, Buffalo;
3. Niagara Falls;
4. New York City - Statue of Liberty, Time Square, bus tour, Top of the Rock on Rockfeller Center, etc.
5. New York City - Met Museum of Art, Central Park;
6. Philly - Independence Hall, National Constitution Center, Liberty Bell, City Hall, etc.;
7. Washington D.C. - Capitol Building, Lincoln Memorial, White House, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History/Air and Space, etc., Shenandoah National Park;
8. Shenandoah National Park

It was SO tiring... now rest for a couple days before I head to Hong Kong!

April is a very unsure month. I need to make my final decision on what school I will attend for my doctorate, which will directly affect my travel plans in the summer, and whether or not I should go to the soundSCAPE Summer Festival in Italy. This is a really difficult time for me... hopefully everything will clear up soon.

Sometimes, I think maybe I'm too tired for more schooling...

Zeitgeist was amazing. They are very professional, and are certainly enjoyable to work with. They presented four pieces tonight with such musicianship and high degree of ensemble playing! It is very exciting to hear active contemporary music playing outside of school!

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The storm (thunder and rain and snow) was getting really bad on my way back to the motel, hope that it'll clear up by tomorrow!

I am on the road again! I am really looking forwards to Zeitgeist's and Bel Cuore Quartet's performances this week! I'm staying at a motel now, and am about 180 miles away from Zeitgeist's Studio Z. I just received Bel Cuore Quartet's reading on my Saxophone Quartet (2009), and it was fantastic! Life is obviously treating me very well at this moment, except that my homework and project loads might kill me when I get back.