Picture post - Part 1

Victoria was amazing!  I was attempting to upload more pics than this, but the uploader thing wasn't working properly, so in the meantime  here are a few photo highlights of the week out west:

Went out for supper with Brianna and Todd to Sookjai Thai (best curry I'd had since Palmerston North, NZ!)

The Parliament building at night reminds me of Disneyland. :o)

Sitting with Liam on top of Mt. Doug

Liam looking very peaceful and reflective after a hike up Mt. Doug

A visit to the wax museum

It was a great 4-5 days out on the beautiful west coast of Canada.  Liam was a great host and tour guide, and I saw and did a lot of very cool things.  On my first day he took me to McIntosh Point, the Gonzales observatory, the Oak Bay marina (to see the seals up close!), and to his parents' place for supper.  It was great to catch up with him again, as we hadn't spent any quality time together in about 5 years, and it was wonderful to catch up with his family as well, as it had been even longer since I'd seen them - I'm sure it had been since I was 16.  Wow.  Anyway I caught up with the whole family, and even met their cousin Regan, who graduated from the U of S Music Dept. the same year that I started, so we had just missed each other on our Music Ed paths.... but we sure had a lot to talk about over dinner (reminiscing about certain profs and their quirky personalities, etc.).  I also got to spend some time with Brianna and Todd, my friend Tim whom I hadn't seen in 3 years, and my former voice teacher Cheryl, whom I hadn't seen in probably 2 years or so.  It was a great trip, and a real whirlwind of activity to say the least, but worth every minute of it.  I miss it already.  Victoria is AMAZING, and I WILL go back there again.  I have to.

More pics to come.

Oh, and while I was out there, Cheryl gave me the music to "Butterfly" by Rajaton, so I decided to record it as best as I could.  It's a very difficult piece, and I found it tricky to line up the parts rhythmically while singing them all myself.  Also the Bass II part is cut off on the copy I have so the part is missing in several places.  Overall though, considering I recorded it just onto my laptop (no special effects or reverb or fancy editing, etc.), it's actually not too too far off of the original recording.  I put this one together tonight.  Take a listen and tell me what you think, especially if you know the original.

Cheers!

Butterfly - Rajaton.wav - Lauren C