You pull the trigger of my... LOVE GUUUUN.

Augh, it has been a busy few days.

On Friday, Egg and I arrived in Boston around 8 pm. I realized, in Germany where our connecting flight was, that I'd forgotten her papers in Istanbul so I was definitely holding my breath as we walked by the customs guards. I put her case on the cart and hoped they'd just think it was another bag and we sailed right through. Not that they've really stopped me before, the one other time I traveled back with Egglet they just asked to see her, checked her eyes to make sure she was healthy, and didn't do much but glance at her papers. But, I didn't want to risk it. Good news for us but bad news for America; I could've been carrying a rabid zombie psycho cat that was hellbent on destruction and no one would've been the wiser. But a rabid zombie psycho cat probably would've made a fuss unlike my Eggalita who just kind of sat there watching the world. She was such a good girl. Except, she got bored or fed up or something near the end of the trip because the last couple hours she kept trying to dig herself out of her case. She mewed and pawed so much I finally had to unzip the case and hold her a bit (without letting the stewardesses see that she was out). I popped her back in after fixing her blankets but she wasn't having any of it. But other than that, she just quietly slept all the way back.

The airport was a mess in Istanbul and the crowd and heat and the slow movement of the passport control line finally made me snap at the guy working. I felt bad but come on, an hour waiting in line to get through passport control is ridiculous. It wasn't the official's fault and I do regret taking it out on him but our airport needs to wake up and get moving. There is no need to have empty control booths and no air conditioning.

Elliot arrived from Austin Texas, where his work has sent him for the next month and a half, about an hour after I did and after he cuddled and said his hellos to Miss Egg (and vice versa, she went running to him meowing in this hilarious scratchy voice that made her sound like an old lady), he sent a message off to one of our friends casually inquiring what he and the others were up to. We tried not to give away too much and when we showed up at their door there was plenty of excited cheering. And this was a huge ego boost; there was an even louder bellow when I walked in after him. I've missed my friends and I can't even begin to describe how delighted they made me when they each personally told me how good happy they were I was back.

We watched a movie and ended up at a new bar which was kind of hipster central but not as bad as our old bar. Better music too, Queen was played. At around midnight Elliot noticed I was falling asleep in my chair (at this point I'd been awake for exactly 24 hours, I didn't sleep on either plane), so we said our good-byes and left. There was a pretty cartoony thump when I finally got home and passed out on my bed.

Oh, the reason I didn't sleep on the plane? I was too busy watching the best movie ever; How to Train Your Dragon. It is probably the best Dreamworks animated movie. The main dragon called Toothless the Night Fury reminded me of Egg and all the characters and creatures were just amazing. Elliot didn't want to beleve it surpassed Kung Fu Panda, his Dreamworks movie of choice. I admit, it's a pretty close tie. Heh, as Elliot put it, it's so obvious what our tastes are; he likes martial arts and weird animals so he goes with Kung Fu Panda while I love mythology and weird animals so I get How to Train Your Dragon. But come on! Animated Vikings punching dragons and then having them as pets!

Saturday morning, my darling boyfriend and I lazed around the house and played with our little kitty. The previous animated movie discussion propelled us to buy Kung Fu Panda so we had our customary before concert meal of Thai food while watching it. Oh yes, concert. The doors were ridiculously early so we set off around 4 to catch the commuter rail up to Mansfield to see... KISS!

God, it was such a good show. So. Good. It was everything you expect from a KISS show. Explosions and fire and blood and I reviewed it for MetalSucks so you can go ahead and read it here. I think it merits it's own post too though, so I'll save it for later.

It was a weirdly family-oriented show, so many parents with their kids, so we didn't think we could really hitchhike back. Calm down, I don't mean standing at the side of the road with out thumbs out. At another Mansfield show, Judas Priest, Elliot and I ddn't have a ride back (my cousin had dropped us off and the commuter rail stopped at some stupdly early hour like 10 pm) so we stood in the parking lot yelling/asking if anyone was going back to Boston. A nice couple gave us a ride back. They were so weird though. She had a thing for sprinklers and after they dropped us off they made plans to go run through them, while he was a hippie who didn't like metal, who went to a Judas Priest show. Nice couple, just odd. Anyway, we didn't think families with kids would voluntarily pick up strangers so we took a 70$ cab ride back to Boston and for the second night in a row, I passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Sunday, since Elliot was leaving early in the afternoon, we decided to go have some Indian food at our pace, India Quality. I don't know why but we always end up there right before one of us gets on a plane. My diet wasn't strictly followed this weekend but I wasn't too bad and right now I'm trying to stick to it as best as I can. I have fruits and veggies and salad and I just need to get my body used to be being back in Boston because I know I'm retaining water; I feel heavier if that makes sense. But, my dietician allowed Indian food so I just didnt have the bread which is a big deal for me. Turkish/Iranian girl who loves Indian food not eating naan? Unheard of.

It was a little sad saying bye-bye to my Elliot but I'll see him soon. At least he's only one timezone away and still in the same country. This was the most fun weekend I've had in a long time and I'm really happy he came up, it wouldn't have been the same without him. This week has been so busy so far, and it's only Tuesday. I went to the apartment walk-through and closing, took measurements, got all the new furniture settled for the new place, arranged movers, contacted a painter and floor buffer, got in touch with a cleaning service, arranged electricity transfers of service as well as cable, contacted landlady about problems in the current apartment and assured my bank my identity hadn't been stolen due to the sudden increase of activity on my card. I even managed to get to the gym today! I cheated a bit with dinner because I'm not supposed to mix carbohydrates and meat and I had (whole wheat) spaghetti and meatballs, but I kept the portion small.

I'm getting a little paranoid and nervous about my whole diet issues because it's beyond just losing weight. After all those tests and countless tubes of drawn blood, and even a thyroid x-ray (it's in the throat. I don't know why I never knew that but your thyroid is in your throat) my doctor said I had the beginnings of diabetes and my thyroid was not working properly. I had a couple of setback this week; didn't eat quite as well as I should have and had maybe too many sugary things because EVERYTHING has sugar in it. Though I probably shouldn't have sneaked a couple of Gummi Bears. Sugar is now my sworn enemy and I can't have it unless it's naturally in fruit and even then I have to have nuts like almonds or hazelnuts with it so my system doesn't go crazy. I lost almost 4 kilos in a month at home and I just don't want my efforts to go to waste, as well as my health. But by being careful and going to the gym I think I'll manage.

The next week will be more packing up and moving and getting new apartment stuff organized. Tomorrow I'm going to start packing up the books and movies and my clothes and try to sort out all the itty bitty junk stuff (I have two of those stacked drawer sets filled with junk) and organize/get rid of it. Right now I'm relaxing on my couch with my kitty curled up so close, her butt is squished on me and watching Dazed and Confused. It's kind of fitting well with this post with the amount of classic rock, including KISS, songs it has. I like it a lot though it makes me nostalgic for a time and events I've nothing to do with. Trying to get laid while partying the summer before your freshmen (or senior depending on the characters) in the '70s? Yeah, not me. Here's some tumblr inspiration since this is a pretty long, all-text post.




Bizarro (bottom half of) me, and Egglet?

Don't want to kiss, don't want to touch, just smoke one cigarette and hush

I don't know if anyone outside my family does this but when we love, love, love a song, we will play it non-stop over and over again, days on end. Then we'll get sick of it but return back to the routine a day later. I've burned myself off so many songs that way but after I suck every bit of life I can out of it, I always come back months later and most remain among my top favorites. Right now the two songs I'm alternating between are Tarkan- Öp and Lady Gaga- Alejandro. Tarkan's song is obvious why, especially after last weekend but honestly, it confused me to that I like Lady Gaga. Logically, she's everything I don't like in music/artists; faux edginess and art school hipsterism combined to deliberately cause controversy with songs that aren't anything to write home about. But... she's SO damn catchy and I just appreciate her aesthetic. She's not boring. Doesn't even come close to Madonna, as some seem to think, but she's working an industry to her liking and making a name for herself, and a shit-ton of money so good for her. And she also got to make out with the Swedish Sunset (S)triplets* and Alexander Skarsgaard in her videos so there's that bit of envy. Oh, that's another thing. She makes music videos. They have stories and budgets and set-ups and scenes. She makes them mini-movies which is what they ought to be. Actually, that might be the biggest thing. She's a pop star in the truest sense of the word. She doesn't spare anything when it comes to her image whether it be a concert, a video, or a public appearance.

*Guess which one is Gaga!


Here are my sister's pictures from the Tarkan show as well as the video for, "Alejandro," which is excellent. It's so weird and sexual and she's so androgynously ugly that it basically is modern art; no one gets it. She does draw a lot of inspiration from Madonna though, that much is clear.
















Lady Gaga - Alejandro
Uploaded by UniversalMusicGroup. - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.

Bonus, "Paparazzi," video because mmm Alexander Skarsgaard.

Lady Gaga - Paparazzi
Uploaded by UniversalMusicGroup. - See the latest featured music videos.

You are the best, you are the top

I can't believe it's time to go back to Boston. The last couple weeks I alternated between urging time to go by faster because I was bored and wishing it would slow down because I was in a blind panic about leaving. Tomorrow, Egglet and I are setting off back towards our second home to finish up the summer and hopefully usher in a beautiful fall. It's always fall that makes me think of new beginnings, not spring. I guess it's because I associated it with going back to school for so long that I will never get out of that mindset. It's my favorite time of year and I hope it will bring all the good and happiness everyone deserves, as well as a blessed cool breeze.

But before I go, I should probably write about some other adventures. Last weekend we managed the third one-day-travel-for-a-concert event of the summer. My mom, sister, cousin and I came back from Bodrum on Saturday, went to a concert that night, and then the three of us minus the cousin went back to Bodrum early the next day. The concert? Why, Tarkan of course.

Tarkan is probably one of the most beloved Turkish pop acts. He's quite popular around Europe too but he's been in our lives in particular since we were little, little girls. He was the standard to which my sister measured all men. If someone was cool and passed muster, she called him Tarkan. She was like three at the time but still, there isn't anyone quite like him. My mom might be his biggest fan. Which leads me to believe he's gay because her bond with gay men is like the Ninja Turtles with Splinter. They look to her for approval and guidance. We believe she's building an army and will take over the world quite fabulously soon. She would vehemently disagree with this though. Tarkan is a unique being who appeals to all women, young and old. But I digress. Apparently we, ahem my sister, used to go on about Tarkan so much, my grandfather asked my cousin who this Tarkan fellow was. I didn't know that story and we were all laughing when my cousin told it at dinner where we all met up before the show. We all like various Turkish pop and rock and I have many Turkish songs and bands scattered here and there on my iPod, but Tarkan unites us all haha. He's like the Turkish Madonna. I'd say Michael Jackson but it just doesn't seem right. He's our Madonna like Ajda Pekkan is our Cher and Serdar Ortac is our... Ricky Martin? Back when he still mattered.

I'd been to a previous Tarkan concert a few years ago and he's had some albums out but none that were "official," I'd say. Meaning, they didn't make as big a splash. He had an English album out too but I never listened to that nor the previous album. The new record came out on Thursday, three days before the show, so we bought it to get a taste and it was classic Tarkan; well-written and often introspective lyrics, bouncy fun beats, and a loooot of a la Turca rhythms. We had decided to make a ladies night of it so it was us, my aunt, another cousin, a family friend, two of my mom's and our friends from her work and one of their daughters. Altogether, we were ten ladies. But since it was Tarkan the entire arena was basically all ladies. I swear there was so much estrogen in the air that our periods probably all synced up at the pivotal moment when the curtains went up. Though funny side comment: the house lights dimmed right when there was a commercial for um, sanitary napkins, showing on the big screens flanking the stage so it totally looked like an audience of women were cheering for pads.

I kid though, there were some men; they were either forced to be there or gay. The concert itself was amazing. We didn't sit down once and we screamed ourselves stupid. At the end, the sweat was just dripping off of us and nobody had a voice left. He sang a bunch of the old favorites like, "Acayipsin," which my sister used to sing before she could talk and my childhood favorite, "Gül Döktüm Yollarına." He also performed a bunch of songs from my favorite album Karma. Aaaand, I realized he dresses like me; tight pants, t-shirt, vest with shiny things on it. We have excellent taste Monsieur Tarkan.

He has such a charismatic air though. You know how people say that some have "it?" That certain star quality that you can't manufacture? He has it. He looks at the audience and plays up to them and has his little dance moves and his stage banter is so cute, it's almost like he's too humble to accept all this love and joy. He always thanks his fans for coming and tries to play down his popularity and if it's an act, it's a damn good one because he blushes and grins and looks genuinely delighted and surprised that so many people are screaming for him and for his music. He's just so charming and personable. He mistook a lady in the audience for someone else (both famous) and he looked so abashed and kind of grinned in embarrassment. It's okay Tarkan, to quote the woman next to my mom, "They all look alike anyway, they all go to the same surgeon." I personally don't think it's all an act because after he sang one of his most popular songs, "Kuzu, Kuzu," the audience started chanting, "BIR DAHA BIR DAHA," which means one more time, one more time. He just went, "Again? Okay, if you really want to," shrugged to his band and sang it again! And EVERYONE basically went crazy. So did we. Not to mention, almost everyone knew the words to the songs from the new album and he had to pause mid-song to exclaim, "The record just came out three days ago, how do you know this?" The arena wasn't that big but they sold 6,000 tickets. For two nights. That's 12,000 people. They sold tickets for the stairs because the seats ran out!

He took a 20 minute break mid-show which, as demanding show-goers, we were kind of surprised about, but he freakin' worked for us that night. He jazzed up his songs (especially, "Hüp," which we almost didn't recognize) to make them more concert-y like Madonna does and he sang about 4 encores after 2 relentless curtain calls and had even the reluctant husbands and boyfriends standing up and clapping. There was a picture published the next day that showed the audience; everyone had their hands up, were on their feet and smiling hugely. My mom is in the picture too and we had a Where's Waldo? moment when we found her amidst all the faces! It's our tradition to scream his name at shows and by God, did we scream. All the rows around us actually turned to look at us. Lungs of steel I tell you, pure steel. He didn't play one of my favorite, "Sen Baskasin," and he sang a couple songs from the new album several times but I can't really blame him, he has to sell records. At the end, we finally collapsed in the car in a mess of limbs and sweat. It was probably around 35 degrees Celsius, even at night, with rainforest-like humidity and we did not stop moving. Only for you Tarkan, will I grin and bear that, only for you. Because even heavy metal girls like to dance.

It's been quite an interesting summer in terms of music. I traveled to three different cities in three different countries and saw six different shows. There was Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood in Istanbul, the opening of the Istanbul International Music Festival with the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra at Hagia Irine in the old section of Istanbul, and re-known 27-year-old Chinese pianist extraordinaire Lang Lang. There was Mercan Dede, traditional Turkish music mixed with modern electronica, featuring Elif Safak in Brussels. There was our orchestra again in Salzburg, and finally, Tarkan. Last, and definitely not least, I'll be heading back to Boston, the fourth city, in time to see lucky number seven; KISS. That's a pretty diverse range of music but I think it sums up my tastes pretty well. Just maybe add a bit more Madonna in there.

This is my favorite song off the new record. It's a fan-made video but I have been listening to it non-stop. I love the lyrics and if you know Turkish, you should really listen to them.

Tarkan - Öp

Tarkan-Op 2010
Yükleyen selimsavas. - DiÄ�er müzik videolarına göz atın.

Hüp, which he had a pretty cool/creepy video for.

Tarkan - Hüp by Aluxton
Yükleyen Aluxton69. - Video klipler, sanatçı röportajları, konserler ve çok daha fazlası.

Classic Tarkan- Acayipsin

Tarkan - Sikidim
Yükleyen goldrausch. - DiÄ�er müzik videolarına göz atın.

One more for good measure - Kuzu Kuzu

TARKAN - Kuzu kuzu
Yükleyen hasankefeli. - Yüksek çözünürlüklü video keyfini yaÅ�ayın!

The crappy photo credits go to my phone, the good photo credits will go to my sister once she gets off her rear and sends me the pictures.

Cat Scratch Fever

Bahahahaha, so this is what extreme exhaustion makes me do. Some people drink, some people party the night away, others simply pass out. Allow me to introduce my new creation;

Like A Mews

It ain't the flash man, it's down to attitude

There have been so many easy to replicate, DIY fashion pieces popping up everywhere that I kind of want to try out. Especially the pins on a blazer look.



From blogger Sea of Shoes.

I loved this look from a couple months back and a recent blog did their version of it (the above picture) and it got me thinking about my own pin collection. I have quite a few pins, I used to collect them when I was younger, and they've just been hanging out in a box at home. I'm not really the blazer type but I rather like Silence and Noise's casual take on it. I also saw one in Zara recently, made of sweatshirt material, that seemed less business-woman and more me.


Then of course there's the studding everything I can find phase I seem to be going through. I want a pair of jeans like this:



And these which I keep reposting everywhere but it's been almost a year and I still love them and I will make them happen.



Oh and of course, studded boots. But not Docs. Knee-high leather or suede are more my style.


I have a new vest I'll be working on when I get back to Boston. Denim vests seem best suited for Viking metal band patches (well, technically they're for thrash bands but I favor Vikings over thrashers) and this is the patch I'll be working in as well as playing with different sized and shaped studs.



Free People always seemed a little hippie-dippy to me but my sister always manages to find cool pieces and make them look good. I guess I'm just terrible at mixing and matching because I can't do more than the basic pairing of tops and bottoms but I love all the outfits created on the website, especially these three. Time to start experimenting I guess.




Oh, and I might be a little late to the party on this, but how amazing is Daphne Guinness?

Lobgesang auf die feierliche Johannisloge

I have no idea what the title means, especially since Google translate is a joke; Paean to the solemn Johannisloge. Can you believe people actually trust it to translate from English to other languages and get the result tattooed on them?? Anyway, I figured a Mozart-related title would best befit our Salzburg, Austrian adventure.

The trip started at 5 am last Saturday morning. My family, a 100+ orchestra, along with our staff (the Borusan Art and Culture staff), various invited guests, and members of the press all checked in at the airport in Istanbul. We actually had to reserve/rent a whole plane to ourselves as well as a couple private planes and another that connected through Munich to get there. The occasion? The Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra was invited to be part of the opening festivities for the Salzburg Music Festival, the most prestigious classical music festival in the world. Not to mention, the Austrian government was awarding my uncle Ahmet with the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art because of his contributions to the respective fields. Our orchestra was to perform at the festival along with Fazil Say, a re-known Turkish pianist who was premiering his original composition Nirvana Burning.

When you put my family with a large group of friends and then expect us to travel, a million things can and do go wrong but it's also the most fun time ever. First off, my sister wore a blazer to the airport and though she looked stylish, Miami Vice became the running joke of the weekend between us and the head of the Borusan Music House who is also a friend of ours. Have I ever posted a picture of our Music House? It's right on Istiklal Caddesi:


Secondly, Fazil Say's, the pianist's, manager looked so much like Tom Petty that every time we saw him, which was all the time, my sister and I would keep a running commentary of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' songs, i.e." So do you think he's "Learning to Fly?"" "Noo, he's "Free Falling."" "Well it's to be expected, it's his "Last Dance with Mary Jane,"" and so forth.

The plane ride there was pretty subdued since it was the crack of dawn and everyone was sleepy and rather nervous for the days ahead. Except for our family friend and CEO of Borusan, our company who would. Not. Stop. Talking. We love our Agah abi but sheesh. He doesn't have a soft voice to begin with and when you're sitting right behind him and trying to sleep it's like verbal sonic booms constantly exploding over your head. We managed to arrive and get through passport control with one orchestra member sneaking in a blanket he stole from Turkish Airlines. It was about 38 degrees Celsius in Istanbul and 18 degrees and pouring rain in Salzburg, so you can't blame the guy. Though, it was their crappier blankets, not the nice, soft, fleece ones that I smuggled off a previous flight. My kitty loves them. But of course, the one suitcase that didn't show up was our maestro's, our conductor Sascha Goetzel's. Of all people. His first job was to go shopping as soon as he got to the hotel. We weren't all staying at the same hotel; the orchestra was in one, the staff another, and us in another with Sascha and Fazil Say.

Anyway, we got through and as we emerged into the rain, a rather matronly lady in traditional Austrian garb was waiting to greet us. She snatched me and my sister away from my parents, dumped us in a car, and proclaimed she was ours for the day.

Umm.

As the car drove away, we looked back to see our parents getting loaded into another car. We must have looked pretty impressive, our train of dark cars gliding through Salzburg but at the time we were half wondering if we were getting kidnapped. The lady was under the impression she was going to take us sight-seeing and her demeanor pretty much made it clear that she was going to teach us about her city whether we liked it or not. Luckily, my parents dissuaded our "guides" of their notions, politely telling them we had been there before (fifteen years ago but shh). Our hotel was the Sacher Hotel and if you know anything about Austria it's that they're famous for their sweets, especially Sacher tortes. I'm not a fan, it's too rich for me, but my sister is and she was in diabetic coma wonderland since the hotel had tortest coming out of every orifice. Each room had complimentary large tortes along with mini-ones waiting to greet us and half the lobby was the most picturesque little cafe with Sacher tortes lined up everywhere. There was a big lunch organized for everyone but we didn't really want to go and as it turned out, neither did our famous piano man so he tagged along with my family and the five of us had wiener schnitzel and beer at the hotel because what else are you going to eat/drink there?

After a short nap (read: Mina and I passing out in our bed while watching German-dubbed 16 and Pregnant on German MTV), the rest of our cousins arrived and we had a nice little reunion in one of our bedrooms. We all met up with the rest of the family and guests/friends in the cigar room in the lobby, which we took over for the weekend, and indulged in tea and treats. One little cousin of mine was so hell-bent on Sacher torte she ate maybe 4 pieces and a couple mini ones throughout the weekend. We were taking bets on when she'd throw up but she never did. We have iron stomachs. That night there was a reception at the Turkish consulate but it's an open-air area and it was still gushing rain so everyone was huddling under makeshift tents. I chatted with Sacha's manager whose always been very sweet and kind to me and she introduced me to a friend who used to work in publishing. He and I had a nice conversation about books and publishing and I told him about the places I'd applied to and we bonded over our mutual love of Mad Men. He wished me luck and I hope he brings me some. Us cousins ran away early from the reception and went and had a nice dinner back at the hotel.

I keep saying cousins and aunts and uncles but I'm counting second cousins and their parents, who are technically my mom's cousins, but we're so close in my family that we don't make any distinctions. I mention this because most of the family was on the trip so I'm generally not referring to the same people. One "aunt" had her 60th birthday that weekend, so we had a makeshift birthday celebration in the hotel lounge after the reception. We sneakily stole a candle from the restaurant and bought a slice of torte from the cafe and walked into the lounge singing, "Happy Birthday." We spent the rest of the night sitting around just talking and having fun and enjoying each other's company. It was so reminiscent of the family cruises we used to take every year; everyone together somewhere foreign laughing at everyone that wasn't, "us," and just having a good time. I really miss those cruises and all I've wanted this summer was a chance to be with my family and I got that this weekend. One aunt couldn't make it though and we missed her but we did call her every two seconds.

Sunday was the day of the concert and it was kind of odd getting so dressed up and made up at 10 in the morning. I wore new platform heels that I had managed to find the day before leaving (I had a wardrobe crisis and ended up wearing my mom's dresses for both the reception and the concert but I didn't have shoes so the Friday before we left, my mom and I went on a hunt and found a pair, by pure luck, in the second store we looked at), and they were a good 5 inches and so surprisingly comfy. I pretty much loved towering above everyone else. We all headed to the concert hall and my cousin and her husband who live an hour away, just outside of Munich, drove in so they joined us there as well. My mom was nervous, she's the chairperson of the art and culture department and keeps a close eye on the orchestra and this was the first concert I'd ever seen her get nervous before. I can't blame her, it was a pretty big deal. Plus her big brother was getting a huge honor as well! It's such a milestone for not only us and our orchestra, but our country as well. Istanbul was named the 2010 Cultural Capital of Europe and I'm so proud that we could contribute to upholding this title. However, in the program, whomever wrote made sure to mention that though Istanbul was 2010's capital, Salzburg is the eternal cultural capital. You kind of have to laugh at how uppity some people can be. Personally, Salzburg, you're a quaint town with a rich history and though I have fond memories of you (the cousin who drove down got married there at the house where The Sound of Music was shot and I have vivid memories of my sister and I running around screeching because we were so bored because the grown-ups were enjoying a seven course meal and completely ignoring us), we could take you.

The concert itself was beautiful. They opened with, "Köçekçe," which is an old Turkish composition and my favorite piece they play. I accompany my mom to most of the concerts when I'm home and I've heard them perform this piece four times now and I never get sick of it. Fazil Say's original piece, "Nirvana Burning," premiered right after and it was such an interesting piece that kept dipping between sweet and whimsical to dark and vaguely threatening. A Mozart piece (of course) finished off the first half. After the intermission, my uncle was awarded the badge and of course all us cousins whooped and cheered in a most un-professional concert-goer way and took a lot of pictures. Two more pieces rounded out the concert and at the end both Fazil Say and our maestro Sascha recieved standing ovations. I get goosebumps thinking about now as I did seeing it then, but we got a standing ovation at the Salzburg Music Festival. These are Austrians, they never show emotion! But that might be unfair, Sascha is Austrian too and we definitely saw him tear up onstage because he was so overwhelmed. They got applauded so much that they went into an encore performance of "Köçekçe," with Sascha doing his best, conductor-with-ants-in-his-pants impression. He is so fun to watch. He's not stiff and unpersonable at all, he moves and smiles and shares in-jokes with the orchestra and it's just as much his performance as those playing the instruments'.

We had lunch and kind of all hung out again for the rest of the day. Most of us were returning early in the evening so we did a little walking around the town (the sun finally came out), had some more last-minute tortes and schnitzels and strudels and beer, and packed up to go home. It was a little bittersweet though. As one cousin mournfully put it, what are we going to do back home, we got used to being around each other after 48 hours straight.

The flight was a lot more relaxed now that we'd basically conquered Salzburg. The orchestra was chattier, happier, and deservedly proud of themselves. They always look to my mom when they're playing and she always secretly waves and smiles at them too, her surrogate kids, and even they had noticed she was nervous on their behalf but it all worked out. There were impromptu horns playing in the airport lounge and the entire flight was like a school trip coming home; so much shrieking and drinking and singing and laughing. Our stewardess had kind of a stick up her ass though. She didn't let one person use the bathroom since we were "landing." We were not. Then she turned off the lights to get people to shut up and sit down. It didn't work. My mom's two best friends had also come with us on the flight there and back and they were so silly, they seriously reminded me of seventh grade field trips with the stewardess as the default exasperated teacher. When she huffed around, they imperiously raised their hands and asked if they were allowed to sing. It was the weirdest, most fun flight I've been on in recent memory.

Not for my sister though. Her eyes had swelled up for no reason that weekend and she was kind of miserable. I bought her a little stuffed animal lemur at the airport because it had such a cute smiley face and the dark shading around its eyes made it look like it too was swollen. She didn't appreciate that detail but I think she liked the lemur. At one point the noise and confusion was just too much as she...started talking to the lemur.

We got back home around midnight, unpacked, re-packed and left at 9 in the morning to come to Bodrum in southern Turkey, where our family's summer home is. In the airport lounge we ran into a beloved, and really well-known Turkish comedian, Cem Yilmaz, who worked with our orchestra at one concert and my mom got to tell him about Salzburg and he said he wished he could work with us again. I hope it happens. They (we) are really making a name for themselves (ourselves) through the music and all the accomplishments and there are so many opportunities that lie ahead.


Now, my mom, sister, two cousins and uncle (and as of today, my dad) are all here in Bodrum. My grandparents had this house built so that we could all stay here together so there are rooms for everyone and we brought my cat along too and I'm enjoying my last few days in Turkey here. My grandparents arrive on Friday so I guess I'm getting my wish of family time, even though I got it in Salzburg. We're right by the sea and the days are spent swimming, playing games, watching movies. The other night everyone was doing their own thing but we were all together in the living room, including my Egglet who was sprawled on the floor, and my uncle was softly singing, "The Sound of Silence," and it was just one of those moments that made me appreciate how lucky I am, for being who I am and for having the family that I do.

The view from our front balcony.


Congratulations to the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra and to my family but as my uncle said in his acceptance speech, "This is only the beginning."

BIPO/BIFO

My uncle delivering his speech.

My mommy and uncle with his shiny new badge.

With Sascha Goetzel, our conductor.

Us!

My snazzy-lookin' mom and dad.

Impromptu airport concert.

The delightful staff.