Susie's Blog

I remembered for my 30th big birthday my gorgeous friends Selina and Lu-dan (egg) flied to Sydney to celebrate with me! Now both of them got married and had kids!Mine is still the same which is rather depressing isn't it. Anyway I haven't heard much from Ludan after and at one stage Selina and I want to contact her but feel a little weird because we just never hear from her after she told us she is pregnant. We were a little worried if anything wrong with the kids? So we just leave it like that. However this morning at 7:30 am my door bell rings and the postman delivers the surprised birthday present from Lu-dan!! I am soo happy! My student was so excited opening the present with me too. Looks like everything is fine with her and that's absolutely fabulous! Thank you darling!

Mara invited me to the ear hour dinner at her place. I think the Australians are amazing. They followed it religiously and we had the whole garden and house full of beautiful candle lights. I forgot to bring my phone on that day so couldn't take photos! What a bummer. We had about 8 people there and the average age there was probably 50 so it was very fascinating to chat with them about life and everything. At the beginning i thought, oh no i might not fit in and don't know what to say among all these middle age OZ couples but it turned out to be a truly wonderful evening. We had so much food and lots of good red wine. What did you do at earth hour last saturday at 8 pm? did you turn off the lights?

We have been exploring the afternoon tea spots around sydney. This one is in Birkenhead. Pretty nice....you overlook the water after shopping spree (though lots of shops are still in renovation). then had a good old fattening tea and cake before going for a walk around the bay. Not a bad sunday afternoon at all...

 The brand "Seduce" in Sydney is normally quite expensive. Not much materials but quite expensive. On the weekend a friend of mine took me for afternoon tea and we just saw the sales in the stall. All clothes were put there randomly for people to select. 5 dollars each dress. Can you believe it? This is the Seduce brand and every dress is 5 bucks. I don't think I have ever got such good bargains in my life. These two dresses were $205 on the price tag before. Gee don't we love a bargain.
 

On the weekend a few friends and i went to Balmain for the organic afternoon. We had great lunch, walkabout and then checked out all the organic shops and cafes in retro balmain area. We walked past this shop and I had to stop everyone and took the photo. See those pillows with names? I have every single one here in the studio. Quite a coincidence. Harry Jack Cooper Mia Ella Olivia. .every single one. Awesome.

I honestly think all of my students can play Gu Zheng. I really teach every single one of them regardless they learn piano, singing or dancing with me.  My Gu zheng skill is really crap but at least I am putting a bit of multi culture elements in all these OZ kids. really fun watching them playing. They can all read the simplified Gu Zheng score. Pretty amazing.

I thought I have lots of shoes. I always thought I must have more than 50 pairs. But I bought the new shoes rack and put all of my funcitonal shoes there. Less than 30 pairs. Not bad ma.....only 30. How come this rack looks like it's gonna collapse any minute.....maybe i am not very good at ensemble them together...

Before dad went back to Taiwan more than a month ago, he planted some random seeds into these 5 empty pots. Look at it. Now even the flower popped out. What is it anyway? I only watered them with the water that neko didn't want. but they still managed to grow rather beautifully.

Sunday afternoon is always the most relaxing time for OZs. Lots of people hang around doing nothing. Claudia and i went and checked out the new yumcha in city first. Still full, we continue enjoyed the chocolate at the rocks. Gorgeous sun, people and chocolate. This is Claudia and our dessert.....

My old teacher used to say to  me nstantly, Susie you are not a real artist. A real musician should not think like you. Never think about what profit you can get, you have to think about how you can contribute to the kids!!
I do think about how to contribute to the kids education and how to teach them with all I could in singing piano and dancing. But you know what, I also do think about how to make the school bigger and how to earn more money by creating new classes and target different groups. Nothing glory about not having money at all!!
Today my old wonderful teacher in her 70s, she lives in the public housing after the passing of the husband, being so miserable, broke and lonely. I walked past her studio in city the other day. She has a little sign putting up at the bottom of the building entrance. She never needs to advertise all her life. But this is where she is now. You know, I feel so sorry for her. She used to be the top teacher in the industry and she charged us the earth for the lessons.
She has terrible temper but everyone puts up with it before she is a very good teacher. A true artist. From very early on I know she is terrible with money. Over 20 years of time she rented in the most expensive suburb with the massive house with her good income. I know she has lots of credit card debts too because she didn't know paying off the credit card debt is important. I no longer keep contact with her since few years ago because she gave me lots of stress and I didn't like the influence and comments from her that Susie is way too commercial in my way of running my studio. But Miss, I love you still but look at where you are today. That is the path we shall never follow. Be smart. Never be just the true artist in this modern day.