Fortunately, the musicians are actually picking up the slack, with the brass and reed section getting their parts just right and the ersatz drummer kicking the bass drum like never before. Amidst this all, the strings section (guitar, keyboards and bass) is doing some of best performance since the inception of the band.
Which leaves me the weakest link. Time to pick up the pace and practice at home as well as during the weekly sessions, as the clock is ticking. (T-minus 19 days and counting)
Luckily, time for books is still present.
Nagaru Tanigawa - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
If you are not familiar with Suzumiya Haruhi, you are either not into japanese animation or you have been hiding under a very, very big rock for the past couple of years. If any series has rekindled the the fanboys out there, it most certainly is this one. And at last the starting novel is available in a language I can read without referring to a dictionary every couple of lines.
A pity that it was not a more interesting book to wait for. The story is a bit bland, with most of the high school harem genre jokes making an appearance in the first couple of chapters. As with every light novel I have read so far, the twists were omnipresent, but none were surprising. Maybe it was the lack of depth to any character in the book or perhaps I lack the 'enlightenment' of those who have watched the anime, but it just did not float my boat.
Then again, when a writer has to compete with Kouhei Kadono, Kazuki Sakuraba, Keiichi Sigsawa and NisiOisiN, you might get disappointed a bit sooner than you would expect.
Now I am off for a week of introducing the new arrivals at Eindhoven to a wondrous world of roleplaying, served with a side dish of Japanese culture, whilst making sure their inebriated caretakers do not teeter too menacingly towards flights of stairs or poke their eyes out on deceptively soft pillows.
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