Today is the last day of my enforced no-weight-bearing period following last month's arthroscopic knee surgery.  Tomorrow morning I get to try standing up unassisted.  Apparently, if I see my own shadow then, it means two more months of crutches....



   Sign of the times:  Target Corporation announced this morning that its first-quarter profits were down 13%--and this was good news.  The company's stock is soaring.  I guess it is better than Japan, which announced its first-quarter GNP had dropped 15.2% from last year, the largest fall on record since they started keeping track of such things.



   I guess we should all invest our rapidly dwindling capital in Nagai Kafu, who seems to be enjoying a little boomlet following the fiftieth anniversary of his death last month.  There's a new edition of his zenshu (complete works) coming out from Iwanami, and the Japan Times recently ran a nice feature story on him. 

   Finally, here's a brilliant blog posting that translates Mahler's famously complex score markings, his verbal instructions to musicians on how to play his works.  Just a sampling: 

Langsam – Slowly

Schleppend – Slowly

Dampfer auf – Slowly

Mit Dampfer – Slowly

Allmahlich in das Hauptzeitmass ubergehen – Do not look at the conductor