{"id":9,"date":"2010-07-19T22:34:14","date_gmt":"2010-07-20T02:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jalyhe.wordpress.com\/2010\/07\/19\/kids-are-tough-i-am-not"},"modified":"2020-11-02T04:24:53","modified_gmt":"2020-11-02T04:24:53","slug":"kids-are-tough-i-am-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.jaly.us\/?p=9","title":{"rendered":"Kids are Tough. I am Not."},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/font><\/p>\n

The nurse got her syringe in between her fingers, and was
\npreparing an antiseptic wipe.<\/font><\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t hurt that much, right?\u201d My wife wanted some
\nlighthearted reassurance.<\/font><\/p>\n

\u201cOh, it hurts a lot.\u201d The nurse was not cooperating.<\/font><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, at least my kids had it. So I should be able to take
\nit.\u201d She forced a smile.<\/font><\/p>\n

\u201cKids are tough, you know.\u201d The nurse deadpanned. With that,
\nshe pushed in the needle.<\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Yesterday was our piano recital. Usually it means my wife
\nand I get the camera and camcorder ready, and enjoy an evening of concert. The
\nlittler kids start first, and then it\u2019ll be the bigger kids. We encourage our
\nkids, congratulate other kids, and thank their teacher Rowena Arrieta. But this was not a usual piano recital.<\/font><\/p>\n

During the intermission, a couple of parents bid me \u201cgood
\nluck\u201d. I smiled, and thanked them. Yes, my name was on the program. I was to
\nplay a four hand with my daughter. It\u2019s a first for me, and a first for a
\nparent under Rowena\u2019s tutelage.<\/font><\/p>\n

I mentally prepared myself. It was a simple and short piece,
\nOffenbach\u2019s
\nBarcarolle. And Rowena prepared us well enough that sometimes we even played
\nwithout any hitches.<\/font><\/p>\n

I concentrated on the kids who were playing in front of us,
\nuntil the last minute. Then I turned on the camcorder mounted on a tripod, took
\nour music sheets, and followed my daughter upstage. I smiled, bowed, arranged
\nthe piano benches for four hands, and set up our music. All was well.<\/font><\/p>\n

We started playing on my cue. The first note I played
\nsounded overly harsh, partly due to my over correction for a
\nless-than-sensitive piano. I adjusted and we were off. Let the waves roll! I
\nfelt in control.<\/font><\/p>\n

Then it came all of a sudden. My right leg, the one
\ncontrolling the damper pedal, started to shake violently and uncontrollably. I
\ntried to calm myself. We had to play on. There was really nothing to worry
\nabout, I told myself. Then I missed a pedal. Rowena could hear that, but most
\nof the people in the audience probably wouldn\u2019t notice. We played on. Then my
\nright hand started to shake as well. Oh, that was bad\u2014because now I started to
\nplay wrong notes. I couldn\u2019t believe what was happening to me.<\/font><\/p>\n

I had stage frights before. I was never comfortable
\nspeaking in public, and in junior high the speeches I wrote were made by a
\nclass leader appointed by our teacher. When I worked in Atlanta, I voluntarily participated in a Dale
\nCarnegie training course for speeches, and joined a Toastmaster Club. Yet even
\nthrough all these events, my heart always pounded involuntarily whenever I
\nspoke.<\/font><\/p>\n

But that had changed over the years. Through practice, I
\ncould now speak in front of dozens without any mental preparation. I spoke at
\nconferences, and taught kids from primary school to college. So when Rowena
\nasked me to play at the recital, I readily agreed.<\/font><\/p>\n

Who would know that an adrenalin rush could roll me over
\nlike a freight train when I thought I was mentally calm? I could not understand
\nnor control my body! Fortunately I was hiding behind my daughter, who soldiered
\nbravely on. I tried to keep pace with her.<\/font><\/p>\n

It was a short piece; this was not by chance. At the end of
\nthe piece were a few tremolos. That\u2019s where my shaking hand did not hinder the
\nperformance. Yeah! We smiled to each other, and got up to bow. Standing up
\ndefinitely helped my leg to calm down. Especially with all the flaws in my
\nplaying, the applause was so very heartening.<\/font><\/p>\n

The rest of the afternoon and evening was all R&R. A few
\npeople told me that I played well. I thanked them politely. To a few that I
\nknew well, I told them about my shaking legs. And hands.<\/font><\/p>\n

My daughter was incredulous about the experience\u2014she saw it
\nup close. \u201cWhy were you shaking so crazily?\u201d<\/font><\/p>\n

Well, kids are tough. I am not.<\/font><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The nurse got her syringe in between her fingers, and was preparing an antiseptic wipe. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t hurt that much, right?\u201d My wife wanted some lighthearted reassurance. \u201cOh, it hurts a lot.\u201d The nurse was not cooperating. \u201cWell, at least my kids had it. So I should be able to take it.\u201d She forced a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.jaly.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.jaly.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.jaly.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jaly.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jaly.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jaly.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":463,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jaly.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9\/revisions\/463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.jaly.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jaly.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jaly.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}