The most amazing weekend ever!

My last post was written while sitting in an airplane 10000 meters above the ground somewhere over Germany.
Mum and I went to Kraków, Poland this past weekend. It was our first time visiting Poland, but definitely not the last! We had an amazing time in Kraków, even though we didn't have the possibility to go into the city anything, see, we went there to attend the Queen+Adam Lambert concert at Tauron Arena Kraków, and since I need my wheelchair to be out and about, and couldn't bring my wheelchair to the concert, we stayed in and around our hotel until it was time to go to the arena. We were staying at Hilton Garden Inn at Kraków Airport, and it is by far the best hotel I've ever stayed at! The staff were just amazing! So friendly and helpful, and it was very nice to just chitchat too when they had time. It being weekend meant the hotel wasn't very busy. I guess most people who went to Kraków for the concert stayed in the city closer to the arena. Mum and I choose the airport hotel simply because of our late arrival time and very early departure. We landed at 11:20pm (was supposed to land at 11:35pm so we were early) the evening before the concert, and then the morning after the concert, our flight home took off at 6:35am which meant needing to check in at the airport around 5am or so to get through security and such without stressing. By staying across the street from the terminal, we at least managed to get some rest in our hotel room after the concert, and we didn't need to find a taxi at like 4am.

So, the whole reason of traveling to Kraków: The concert!
OMG! Where do I start? It was pure epic, and so much emotions! I finally got to hear and see Queen live! Something I never thought I would get to experience! Brian and Roger were so amazing! Even at 60+ and over 40 years on stage, they were just glowing and were so full of energy, and you could see the joy in their faces, they truly love what they're doing!
And Adam Lambert! What an amazing live singer he is! That voice!

Some people think it's wrong of Brian and Roger to still call themselves Queen, and no one should sing Freddie's songs and so on. But as I say: Haters gonna hate... Unlike the haters, Brian and Roger owns the music they play, and if they still want to play live they should play live! Freddie is no longer with us, John made a choice to drop out after Freddie's passing, some claim he got severely depressed, others claim he just wanted to leave. I'm not going to speculate why he choose to leave Queen, but he did and it was his choice. I just hope he's doing well and is happy with his family!
Adam was asked to sing with Queen already by the time he won Idol, but hesitated for a long time before finally accepting. He never claims to be Freddie or trying to substitute for Freddie, he simply sings the songs and he does so in an epic manner with a voice even Freddie would be proud of, and Adam is a really good front man! Adam and Freddie are pretty similar in many ways, and if Freddie's spirit can see and hear the concerts now, he'd probably have some witty remark about Adam's voice range and totally approve of Adam singing with Queen. Queen can't really have a better singer than Adam, seeing Freddie is no longer with us!
Freddie may be gone, but he's definitely not forgotten! Adam is very grateful and humbled to sing the songs Freddie once sang, and the entire concert in a way felt like a celebration of Freddie's life and achievements, and the achievements of Queen as a band. Freddie is honored and remembered throughout the entire concert and even makes some guest appearances on the screen a few times.

I cried a lot during the concert. It was just so emotional to hear my favorite music ever, being played live by my biggest musical heroes walking this earth today!

The music of Queen has gotten me through rough times, inspired me and given me strength, and it still does all that. Brian and Roger are both amazing virtuoso, and I find that very inspiring, makes me want to dive into the music again, listen more, pick up my instruments again and try to improve my own skill some. Last night I took out my large keyboard again for the first time in over 3 years, and just played some randomly, just some melodies as I don't do chords or two hand playing (yet) and before I knew it, I was playing some parts from Bohemian Rhapsody, very very simplified, but still... Last time I played on my keyboard I couldn't play anything from that song!

And the thoughts of wanting to more for HIV/AIDS awareness and The Mercury Phoenix Trust grows on me more and more. I just need to find out what I can do, other than just blogging...

I really hope Queen+Adam will tour together more, and I sure hope there will be DVD's and CD's from this tour! If they tour nearby again mum and I will definitely go see them again, both of us are huge fans of Queen, Freddie and Adam!

Having seen Queen+Adam live this weekend is something I'll remember for life, and the only thing that could possibly top this would be a time machine to visit the 80's and attend one or more of the huge Queen concerts back in those days!

As an extra bonus when on the way to the runway on Sunday morning, I spotted Queen+Adam's private jet parked at the airport! The aircraft I was on drove right past it!

Planning the journey of my life!

It sounds dramatic, but it isn't really. I'm just planning to go on an extended weekend to Barcelona sometime this year, and I'll see an opera there and if I can get to see Montserrat Caballé perform, that would be the absolute best! I'm also going to London for a few days to see some places that were important to Queen and Freddie Mercury, and to see the musical We will rock you. I'm also hopefully going to attend the Freddie Mercury Memorial festival in Montreaux, Switzerland in September and put some flowers at the base of his memorial statue there. Freddie would turn 65 this year, had he still been amongst us, and it's also 20 years ago since his passing so doing this journey this year feels like the right thing to do!
If any of my friends reading this would like to go with me, or meet me at one of the locations do let me know. The more the merrier :)

Dear Freddie

Today it's been 19 years since you left earth life. I've been thinking of it all day today while I was working. Have been watching some videos on youtube this evening, and my video for you came up late last night after I had gone to sleep.
I don't really know what to write today, I'm just too sad I guess.

Here's the video I made anyways.



I hope you like it. I'm no good at making videos, but I just felt I wanted to do something for this day.

Hope all is well in heaven!

R.I.P Freddie! We still love you!

An open letter to Freddie Mercury.

Dear Freddie
It's been 19 years today since the world found out about your AIDS. I don't remember the day, nor the day you passed away as I was only 6 years old at that time.
The world has changed a lot through the years since your passing. Mobile phones has become something everyone has now, TV's are flat and in high definition, music is mainly made on computers, computers which are small enough to carry around and they work very fast. People mostly listen to music on something called MP3 player and the device is tiny yet holds a huge storage capacity, you'd easily be able to store all songs ever made by you and Queen in one device.
Pretty much the only thing that hasn't changed much is people's love and passion for you and for Queen. The music you made, the songs you sang, they are timeless! And your voice is still considered the best by many, and I don't think anyone can ever have a better voice than you!
I have been watching music videos of Queen and your solo career on a site called youtube, and that site also has videos of some of your live performances. You were totally amazing on stage Freddie!
I don't think we'll ever see anyone else with the same talent as you had when it comes to music. You were such a natural with everything you did! Your voice is magic, your piano skill is incredible, and your ability to write music just stunning.
I used to take violin lessons when I was younger, I played for little more than 5 years and wasn't too bad at it. I also have some ability to play by ear, but I'm no where near as good as you when it comes to playing by ear.
You're my inspiration! Since I started listening to your magic voice, which is quite recently I'm ashamed to say (what have I been listening to all these years?), it woke something within me! I've decided to take up music in my life again now. I'm about to learn how to really play on my keyboard which has 61 keys, and I'm planning to start learning guitar too, and I want to learn how to control my voice when I sing. My voice is not too bad, I'm just too shy to let it out, and I don't have much control over it and get tired fast. I want to change that!

I'm however sad to say that even if 19 years has passed now, far too many around the world still see homosexuality and bisexuality as something bad or wrong. One would think the world would change after so many years, but no, there's still people who have to hide their true self because the surrounding can't accept what's "different". I'm hetero myself, but I see nothing wrong with bisexuality or homosexuality. Love is love!
I'm also sad to announce that HIV/AIDS still doesn't have a cure even if more is known about it today than when you were alive.
After you passed away, the remaining members of Queen started a fund raising for AIDS awareness in your honor. It's called Mercury Phoenix Trust. They've raised millions through the years, and I'm planning to make an annual donation to the Mercury Phoenix Trust to honor your memory and help others who are in the same situation as you once were.

You were such a strong person Freddie, daring to be yourself to the fullest, being open about who you truly were, yet off stage you managed to keep your private life private and that's just amazing! I really admire you Freddie for all this!

I wish you could still be among us in person, you'd be an older man today, possibly retired from the stage but most likely still making incredible music.

As it is now, you may not be able to be here in person, but in the heart and soul of your family, friends and fans, you live forever and will never be forgotten!

Thank You Freddie for once being among us, sharing your wonderful voice and talent with the world!

I hope you are at peace in Heaven.

Oh, and I hope you like the tribute video I put together for you. But it seems youtube is a bit slow on processing so I'll have to post it for you as soon as it is up.


Yours sincerely.

Jennie

Ambidextrous people rock the world!

By the word pretty much ;) As I was looking for pictures of Freddie for a tribute video I made yesterday as November 24th is the day he passed away in 1991, I found a photo of him playing guitar left handed, which made me pretty sure he was ambidextrous. Some googling today, and my guess was right!
I'm ambidextrous myself, and it's so handy! In fact, I remember this one time when I was going to hold a guitar for the first time ever, think it was in music class in junior school, I first held it as a left handed would and this was before I even found out I'm ambidextrous. I found out I'm ambidextrous 10 years ago now, when I was 15, until then I was right handed with left handed tendencies like wearing my watch on right wrist- something I've always done ever since having those plastic toy watches that always breaks after 2 minutes ;)
Today I mix between writing with left and right, but for many other things I'm left handed. I can't for e.g brush my teeth with right hand, while I do brush my hair mostly with right hand. As for using the tape at work, I almost always use left hand, same goes for cutting down cardboard boxes.
At work I'm funnily enough not the only ambidextrous. I have a couple of workmates who are ambidextrous too, even though they seem to be a bit more right handed.

And they say being ambidextrous is rare? I know several ambidextrous people around the world, and many musicians are ambidextrous too. It's a good thing when playing an instrument :) Maybe that's why violin wasn't too difficult for me...
And no, I haven't learned to be ambidextrous, nor have someone taught me to in my childhood. I just tried writing with left when I was 15 and it worked! After that I've just tried more and more to compare my ability in both hands. The only thing I can't do with left hand is using scissors but I even know purely left handed people who can't use scissors with left hand, no matter what kind of scissors it is.

Being ambidextrous really gives you the best out of two worlds! I think it will come very handy too now when I'm wanting to learn to play keyboard properly, and not just play one handed melodies. Should I try guitar too, it will be interesting to see which will feel better, left or right.

Oh gosh am I rambling or what. It's midnight, I've slept too little all week and felt craptastic most of the evening so I guess that's why I just type out these kinds of random ramblings about whatever.

Oh well, here's the photo I found which made me google and is the reason behind this long post.

Finding your inspiration and motivation

For the past few days I've felt so inspired to start with music again so yesterday I went to my rental storage room and picked up fairly big keyboard (all in all 61 keys) which I haven't been playing on for years really. Being without car these days, going to my storage room meant having to take the bus there (could have walked, but weather was bad) and then carry above mentioned keyboard to bus stop, and then from bus stop to home. Anyways, I got my keyboard home, with it's support legs and cable, in the rain which may still have been snow mixed. Now I'm looking up piano and keyboard lessons online to really learn how to play keyboard. Until now I've only been playing by ear, which worked fine until now when I've set a goal to myself to learn Bohemian Rhapsody ;) 7 pages of sheet music and said to be very difficult to learn.

I've found musical inspiration from Queen and Freddie Mercury's amazing talent, especially Freddie is an inspiration for me with his incredible talent for writing music and playing the piano and sing. Another reason I look up to him is how he, despite being so desperately ill, never gave up! He kept singing until the very end. So if he could do that, then I should be able to really learn how to play keyboard, right?
I do have a fair music ear after playing by ear on small keyboard since I was very young, I actually had a keyboard when I was really little, and it was broken so it only worked if leaning it against something while up-side down! You could even say I learned how to play up-side down ;) After playing violin for over 5 years while in middle, junior and early high school, I do know how to read music too, I just need to learn it on keyboard as well.
I've also started to try to improve my voice a bit and learn how to control it. It's not because I want to become a star or even go to an IDOL tryout, it's just because I WANT to do this as a hobby. I'm also planning to start playing some guitar just for fun, that's something I've never tried before.
I guess I just feel I need a hobby to do at home, after work which doesn't require much time and effort. I'd love to start dancing, but with my work hours it's difficult to go somewhere to attend something after work. Singing, playing guitar and keyboard is something I can do while I wait for my hair to dry in the evenings.
Internet has been my main hobby for too long now, it's time to let creativity flow!

If you are going through some difficult times, or have something in life that just complicates things a bit (like a chronic disease, just to mention something), find someone to look up to! If he or she can do it, you can too!

Nothing is impossible!

Best song by Queen, ever!

I've totally fallen for Queen in the last few days, especially the song The show must go on. Today while I was listening to it at work on my iPhone, I started analyzing the content of the lyrics while listening, realizing that this song sounds like a kind of farewell song. By the sound of it, I just made a wild guess that it was written after Freddie Mercury got his AIDS diagnosis. Did a google search to know more after I got home from work today, and it truly brought me to tears when I found out that the song was written in the very end of Freddie's life. Upon recording it, he was so ill he could barely stand on his legs! Yet he nailed the song completely. The rest of Queen never even thought he'd be able to sing it in his usual way, but he did! The single was released on October 14th 1991, just 6 weeks before Freddie passed away. It was before he even had made it public that he had AIDS.
Knowing this now, makes me realize the lyrics of the song has a hidden message in it, telling his fans that the show must go on even after he's gone. He's in the song discretely saying he's dying. He knew he didn't have much time left.
It's the last song he ever recorded, yet his voice is flawless!
Singing and smiling until the very end...

Some people seem to be of the opinion that Freddie brought on HIV/AIDS on him because of his sexual preferences. To those people I want to say: It can happen ANYONE if not being careful! Freddie was just unfortunate to catch the infection and it has nothing to do with him being bisexual! It's especially unfortunate that he caught the infection back in the days where there wasn't much knowledge about it, and no good medications for it.
It's tragic how he passed, and I can't even imagine how much suffering he must have been going through before he finally got to rest.

NEVER say that someone brought on a disease on themselves! Doesn't matter what disease it is or the severity of it.

But seriously! Do let him love who ever he loves and loved! There's absolutely nothing wrong with bisexual or homosexual relations! LOVE IS LOVE!

This last part I just had to let out. Some comments on youtube really made me upset!

Now do enjoy this masterpiece and let the show go on!





(On an additional note, in case someone wonder: I'm hetero and have never had any kind of STD or any other potentially dangerous infection)

I accept people as they are!