I’ll just keep on humming. 
With his rare gift of perfect pitch, Yang would often just snort “out of tune” from under his breath. I have long come to accept the truth about my musical nature; me = nothing very musical actually. Given that music is not in my blood, I’m deeply grateful to my mother who forked out her hard-earned money to support me through 8 years of piano tuition during my school days. I did enjoy playing the piano despite the fact that my parents’ ancestors did not have the ‘tao (3) gei (2)’ (musical notes) genes. It was no wonder that I often did badly in the aural section of my piano exams. Anyway, just playing at the piano has given me years of pleasure (& years of frustration to my family members who had to bear with the repetition of pieces and countless mistakes). Thank you, ma.
The piano at our place now is my very first piano bought with the collective savings of us three siblings – my 2 brothers and I. It was about 1.6k then. A cheap Yamaha piano which went through a major repair a few years ago, it is a pity that I seldom touch it now. One of these days when darling dearest is not around (for he will surely criticise my inferior playing technique), I shall while my time away hitting at the keys once more and sing myself silly. 
Music can be very up-lifting to the soul.
Besides piano, I had the privilege to pick up the guitar-playing too – and that during my JC (Junior College) years. Playing in an ensemble was a great experience. Just a bunch of like-minded, amateur musicians making music together – what joy! Those were treasured moments I recall with fondness. Dad bought me a guitar and I liked it very much. Whenever I lugged the guitar to school for afternoon practices, I felt like some sort of an expert musician – wah, cool siah (hee, some childish notion in my head then).
I used to teach some general music (ya, even though I was supposed to be “out of tune”) before I became a full-time science teacher. I attended a guitar course for teachers to brush up my playing skills and quite out of the blue, got a prize for being the ‘best student’ at the course. I had serious doubts about my guitar trainers’ judgement but still, the prize thrilled me nonetheless. It was a brand-new guitar! But really, what use do I have for 2 guitars? There’s only one of me.
My sister in-law suggested something wonderful recently during one of our get-together sessions. Instead of exchanging Christmas gifts, you know, the normal thing people do during the Christmas season, she suggested that we contribute our gifts for a missionary’s outreach work to the poor children in Asia. I was excited because 1) it was a super-meaningful gesture to the poor, 2) my 2nd guitar could finally be a blessing to others. It is my hope that this gift will make sweet and joyful music with the little ones.
Matt, I hope that you won’t mind me giving away the extra D-string you bought for the guitar while you were here. I’m sure it will come in handy for the missionary. Once again, I thank you for thoughtfulness of buying the back-up string!
Hey, I haven’t criticized your inferior playing technique before lah! :)
Anyway, Ling usually hums about a semi-tone higher than the actual. So, if she can hum just that mite bit lower, it’ll be perfect hehe.
After moving to The Rivervale, we put Ling’s Yamaha piano through a major internal rework as apparently, many of the key drums were out of alignment. The repair bill cost about $700, but it now sounds as good as new.
That sounds like a wonderful idea to me. Hopefully it will get some use and bring joy to others. I don’t recall buying the guitar strings (I’m pretty sure you insisted on paying for them!), but I remember forgetting to string up your secondary guitar with the D-string before I left!
Speaking of off-key, you two should listen to the song “Desafinado” (Portuguese for off-key) as recorded by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Frank Sinatra from their recording sessions together.
Friend, you sure did buy those D strings. And if my memory serves me well, you got them from a Yamaha music store. :)
Thanks for telling us about that off-key song. Sounds like fun to listen to! :)
Oh, and it’s good to hear you’ve got the piano tuned up. I felt tempted to tap away at the keys from time to time during my visit even though I can’t play. Each morning like clockwork I could hear a neighbor playing piano from somewhere nearby. That I could so easily hear that guaranteed I wasn’t going to inflict my playing on your neighbors’ ears. I tried to use it to tune your guitar, but it was obviously a bit off-key at the time — probably how you and I sound to Yang’s ears! Instead my routine was to quietly play your guitar in the morning while stared out the window, mapping out the day’s itinerary in my head (and stomach). Good memories.
Next time I’ll bring an electric tuner so a) I’m not playing slightly off-key and b) so I don’t have to pester Yang with, “Hey, buddy, tell me when this is a D: *twang*, *twang*, *twang* . . . :)
That’s weird; because now I can’t remember for certain if we had the piano tuned up before you came last year, bud. I was pretty certain it was (it was done as soon as I got the keys for the apartment), but now that you’ve remarked the tuned piano still sounding out of tune, I’m no longer so sure.:)