Here, Jacqui - hopefully this will make your friends page less boring.  :)

The Japan pictures are up (well, most of them)!!!  You can find them here.  I still have some to upload yet, but you can see what I've done so far.  :)  Uploading these photos has really made me realize how much I loved Japan.  The fact that Jacqui's letting me use her Japan icon also makes me happy.  ;-)

Something else that makes me happy?  I'M GOING TO VISIT TISHA!!!!  :)  I'll be in CR for a whole week this month, and I can't WAIT!!!!! 

I'm really sick of being unemployed.  It's been nice to have the break after school, but I'm ready to get back into doing SOMETHING during the day.

Mom comes back from California tomorrow.  She's been gone all week, which has been no fun.  I did go see the Base fireworks with Christie and her dad on Friday  night, and that was pretty fun.  This is the first time since second grade that I went out there, and I was pleasantly surprised by the flybys and AF Band of Flight. 

I guess I really don't have much else to say.  I've been doing lots of Sudoku (I'm obsessed now) trying to relearn needlepoint (failing miserably), and putting together/redoing all of my photo albums/scrapbooks.  What should I REALLY be doing?  Unpacking all of my stuff and redecorating my bathroom.  Oh well - it's not like I'm short on time.  :-/

From now on, my journal will be friends-only.  If you want to keep reading (cuz my life is so interesting) I'd suggest getting an LJ.  Just make sure you comment and let me know who you are so I can add you back!

Well, there are some tornado warnings in Miami Valley, so I should probably shut this thing down (even though I don't think we're supposed to be getting storms until later).

I'm up uploading CDs for Jacquie's new iPod (although it's not really NEW, she got it in February!!), and jet lag has finally caught up with me. I'm wide awake and thought I should update.

I got back from Japan almost a week ago, and I'm STILL having issues with getting back on schedule. I wake up around 12 and 3 every night, and usually can't go back to sleep for another hour. While my days and nights are no longer confused, I must say that it's really annoying.

Even though my sleeping habits are still off, I had a phenomenal 9 days in Tokyo. Morgan showed us all around the city, and Jacquie and I got really good at navigating and getting around by ourselves. The language barrier proved to be more than frustrating sometimes. I guess I figured when I went over there that more people would speak English. I know that's a stupid assumption to make, but I guess I assumed that since it was the biggest city in the country, it wouldn't be as much of an issue as it was. Even ordering from Starbucks and buying stamps took a lot of sign language and rewording. It's always a learning experience, though, and next time I go I will know more Japanese.

Top ten favorite things about Japan (in no particular order):

1. Mount Fuji. Even though it was cloudy and humid, there's nothing quite like looking up at the summit and knowing that you're more than halway up already. Kind of puts life in perspective.
2. Kirin Cherry Tea. Jacquie and I discovered this on our second day there when we went to Kamakura, and I stocked up before coming back. Unfortunately you can't even get it at the Japanese market here, so I'm going to have to wait until I go again.
3. The people. The Japanese people are, for the most part, very respectful. They turn their cell phones off in the subway, they are delicate with everything, and they are as helpful as they can be with the language barrier. The thing I did notice, however, is that no one says "excuse me" - they just go!!! Hard to get used to.
4. The "department stores." Loft and Tokyu Hands were the two "department stores" we visited. They're both really more home/craft stores with clothing sections, and included stationary, office supplies, crafts, and pretty much anything else they could fit in the building.
5. The 500 yen coin. Don't ask - it's just cool.
6. Kabuki. We decided NOT to get the English guides, which made for some laughing at inappropriate places and a COMPLETE misinterpretation of the plot, but it was still a wonderful experience for us. Next time we go, we're getting the guides and sitting in a different row with more leg room.
7. The JR train system. It's clean, smooth, and VERY easy to use.
8. The Shinkansen. If you want to travel in style - and at 180 miles an hour - the bullet train is the only way to go. It's like being in a plane, only more leg room and on the ground. The front of the train reminded me of a Jedi.
9. Gardens. All of the gardens we saw were beautiful, clean, and well maintained. It was the cheapest form of entertainment there was in the city, and made for some good pictures.
10. Harajuku. It was by far the most amusing time we had, but it was interesting to see all of the different outfits these teenagers came up with!!

I could go on forever, and maybe once I get back to Ohio and have more time I'll copy and paste my daily update e-mails in here so everyone can read them. Right now I'm tired and need to go to bed.

Btw, when I get back to Ohio, I'm making this friends-only. I'm just not feeling the public entries anymore. If you'd like to keep reading, I suggest you get an LJ! :)

Greetings from Japan!!! :) Jacquie and I got in around 5:00PM this afternoon, about an hour after we thought we would. Overall the flight was fine - as fine as a 12-hour flight could be. The best part was that, because our flight was overbooked by 35 passengers, they bumped us up to business class!!! I will never be able to fly coach again...wait, what? Our flight back is in coach? Crap.

I feel like we've been running running running since we've been here. After we landed and cleared customs, we had to wait for Morgan to arrive (he was on a different flight), then took the two hour train ride to Tokyo. Honestly, I'm really overwhelmed - the language barrier, the pace of the city, and just how different everything is. We're staying at Morgan's apartment, and it's kinda cool. He has two rooms for the bathroom - a shower "room" and vanity area which also houses his washer/dryer combination unit. Another room holds the toilet with two flush settings and a heated seat. Needless to say, it's interesting. :) We at dinner at this restaurant which apparently literally translates into "King of Dumplings." The food was awesome, and told me that I could go other places besides TGI Friday's. ;-)

If the weather cooperates, we're headed to Kamakura tomorrow with Morgan and his girlfriend Tomoe (who I love, btw). I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! :)

I'm in California right now, and what am I doing? Not sitting outside in the sun, not enjoying everything that living in Orange County has to offer - oh no. I'm working on my resume, updating this, dogsitting, and watching some show about plastic surgery on E! That's just not right.

It's been nice to have a change in scenery, though. I've been runningrunningrunning since graduation, and it's nice to be in my pajamas at noon. Unfortunately, the boy next door apparently lost his hearing at college, because I was woken up by a very loud guitar solo at 7:30 this morning while he was getting ready to go surfing. He's lucky I'm still on Ohio time - stupid fool.

I had my audition in Richmond - haha, fun times. There were 150 people there, the person in the room next to me kept playing everything I was using to warm up right after I did (how OLD are we?), and it was just not my favorite life experience. It made me seriously start to wonder why I'd chosen a profession where my career path is based on a short 10 minutes of my ability, especially at these big auditions where you lose it if you breathe wrong. Despite that, I'm still forging ahead with job applications. I'm applying to two arts administration jobs which I think would be AWESOME. Both are with the Cincinnati Symphony and both are things in which I have experience, thanks to band staff and SAI. I've always thought an arts admin. job would be fun, so hopefully this will work out.

I leave for Japan the day after tomorrow. YAY! Not exactly looking forward to the 11 1/2 hour flight, but I think that's a small price to pay for 10 days in a different country. Thankfully, Morgan and his girlfriend Tomoe will be there with us, although with the mistakes Morgan has made with the language, I don't know if I trust him. :) I have no idea what we will be doing, but Morgan told us that Tomoe has a long list of things she wants to show us.

If anyone wants a postcard while I'm gone, please let me a comment with your address, because I don't have most of your addresses. Even if you DON'T care about getting a postcard (although why not?), I do want everyone's address just to have it. :)

I'm finally home in Dayton. The past week has been exhausting, emotional, but stressful, but overall it was good.

~Graduation: That day now seems like such a blur to me. The morning commencement ceremony was long (the procession alone took a half hour), but I got to sit between Suzanne and Becky, so we had fun for the most part. The SOM ceremony was intimate and fun, and I actually got my diploma cover (it's HUGE). Too bad my actual diploma won't arrive at my house until I'm in Japan.
~I took my dad and stepmom to the Biltmore on Saturday, and my car showed its first signs of true suckage, although much of that can be blamed on the huge mountain we had to climb to get there. My dad was a champ and, although I know he was in pain and had to use his cane, toured all four stories of the house. I got some more flower photos in the garden, too.
~Moving: I hope that I don't have to go anywhere for awhile - although if I get a job really soon, I won't have to unpack. I never realized that I had so much STUFF. Even selling most of the big furniture to Becky and Kelly didn't seem to make a dent in the amount of crap I've accumulated over the last few years of living on my own. After we found out that the guy that we were going to hire to help us either (1) gave us the wrong numbers; or (2) changed his numbers in the last four months, we ended up calling Two Men and a Truck again to help. Expensive? Yes. Worth it? TOTALLY. The drive home was fun, if by fun you mean riding in a cargo van holding a Tupperware container with your fish floating around getting seasick for eight hours.

Unfortunately, we had to leave my car in Greensboro, which means that I won't be able to make it to Augie this weekend. I'm sick over this, but there's no way that my car would have made it to Dayton, let alone a trip to Dayton AND Augie. Mom and I have discussed it, and depending on what's wrong with it (I've been told that it MIGHT be over a grad to fix) I might trade it in. It makes me sad that I won't be able to see everyone, but I'm also glad that I won't be stranded on the side of the road.

Next week is my audition in Richmond. Between the moving, graduating, and more moving, I feel less than ready, and that's the understatement of the year. Mom has to go with me so we can get my car, have it fixed while we're in Richmond, then go BACK, get the rest of my stuff at my apartment (which was supposed to go in my car), then come back to Ohio once and for all. It's going to be a crazy couple of days, then it's off to JAPAN!!!! Fifteen days and counting! :)

Good luck this weekend, Augie band, and congratulations to all of my friends that are graduating. I wish I could be there to celebrate with you.

I GRADUATE WITH MY MASTERS DEGREE IN TEN HOURS!!!

HOLY POO!!!!!!

So I realize it's been about eighty YEARS since I last updated. Just not really much to say that hasn't been said before, I guess.

Last weekend I went to Phoenix to be a bridesmaid for Sam Cochrane's wedding. I fell in love with Arizona and miss it a lot, but I realize that part of that was the fact that I went in April, when it was only 90 degrees instead of 190. Still, the wedding was beautiful, Sam looked gorgeous, and the reception was like a fairy tale. And my dress almost caught on fire during the ceremony.

The excitement continued on May 1st when I got to pick up my hood. Becky and I were like bunnies on crack walking to the EUC to pick them up. We tried them on in a practice room after we got back to the SOM. I'll tell ya - they're funny looking. That isn't going to prevent me from wearing it every day of the week no matter what I'm wearing. Seriously. I have it on right now.

I can't believe I graduate in 4 days. Almost doesn't feel real. I don't have to be in graduation band, but it feels like I should, since at Augie we always were. I'm almost not dealing well with the "what are you doing after graduation" thing that people ALWAYS ask.

At least now I can say that I've started applying, cuz I have. I applied for two teaching positions - one in Minnesota at an anonymous Norwegian Lutheran school (c'mon, I just gave it to you) and another in Colorado. Haven't heard anything from either, but they just started reviewing applications today at the former. I also have an audition in two weeks in Richmond, VA. I just want a job. Right now, I'd do pretty much anything.

I can't WAIT for this weekend. The parents will be here, I'm GRADUATING, having graduation dinner with Becky and her family, going to see the Biltmore, then MOVING OUT OF MY APARTMENT. Then next weekend I'M GOING TO BE AT AUGIE! Look out, QCA, The Woolz is back in town. ;-)

So, really haven't had much to say, but felt the need to update:

~ Spent Easter weekend at home. Unfortunately it was only four days, and I REALLY could have used longer. Finally saw King Kong (what's with all of the bugs? GROSS!), got some new dress clothes, and went to PF Chang's. Overall a good trip, but way too short.
~ Paco cheated death again. This is the second time in a month he was sick, and this time, it lasted for a week. I was expecting him to be dead when I got back from Easter, but he was fine. He actually seemed a bit mad that I left him alone.
~ CJ and Gwen's recitals are this weekend. Trying to prepare for those and hope that my mouth doesn't fall off on Sunday.
~ Three weeks from today, at this time, I will have my Masters degree. WOW.
~ Thanks to Kate for pimping Hem. Great band, and I love all the oboe! :)

( Quite frankly, I'm bored. )

Except for my exam in WW Ped, I'm officially done with school. In mid-April. This could make for a BORING month. I gave my presentation yesterday in class. It seemed to go well, even though I was boring myself. The only things I have left are two recitals next Sunday, an orchestra concert, and a final exam before graduation. Our papers for class were due WAY early, I don't have to play a jury, and the only music I'm working on right now is stuff for an audition.

I realized today that I'm graduating in a month. A MONTH!!!!! I'm kind of torn between being really really excited about moving out of my apartment (I've spared you all the complaining b/c you heard it all last semester, but it's not any better). I'm not, however, looking forward to moving away from school and friends. I've really done a lot in the two short years I've been here, and have made some truly wonderful friends here. Although a lot of us are graduating, everyone that I've met will be staying in the area. It seems like I'm the only moving away again (although that's not all set in stone for anyone). That's going to make May 12th pretty tough. :(

I am, however, applying for some jobs around the country. I'm taking an audition for the Richmond Symphony on May 23rd. It's for the second oboe/English horn position, and both Thomas and I are taking it. It would be a great job (I wouldn't have to do anything else!), but I highly doubt that I'll get up to par on E horn before then, so am not getting my hopes up at all. I'm also applying for a Lecturer of Oboe/Principal Oboe job in Grand Junction, Colorado. I'm really excited about applying for this one, since it's my first college job application. :)

Paco's sick again. :( I don't actually think he got 100% well the last time he was sick, so I don't know what to do. Apparently you're supposed to feed them a piece of a pea when this happens, so we'll see if that helps.

Can I just say how much I love the School of Education? In no other department would the Associate Dean of Operations dancing to NC A&T's marching band with her Grad Assistant.

That is all.

It's official...

I'M GOING TO JAPAN!!!!!

Jacquie's buying the tickets as we speak, and from June 1st through the 11th, we will be staying with my stepbrother in the lovely city of Tokyo. I'm so excited to meet Tomoe (Morgan's girlfriend), make day trips, and take rides around the city in Morgan's brand new Ferrari. :)

Does anyone currently living over in Asia want to make a trip to Tokyo to see me? *wink wink, nudge nudge*

WOOT!

I have twenty more minutes of work time to kill, and that's really not enough time to start doing the course evaluation packets. Wait, yes it is - I'm just avoiding them. :)

Yesterday was our last opera performance. After the drama of the night before, it just didn't seem to be as interesting. I'm glad it's over, but I must say that it really didn't bother me as much as I led on. Sure, it was time consuming and a pain in my ass, but I have no idea what I'm going to do with my time now, especially since the only thing I have left besides my final exam in Ped is a presentation on my paper, and really, it's just summarizing what I already wrote.

Last night Becky and I went to see Switchfoot in War Memorial Auditorium. After the Mute Math was done with their set, we decided that that hall is just too small for someone like Switchfoot. They put on a good show, though, and Mute Math was good, too. We had a blast, mostly because we kept noticing that we were pretty much the oldest people there not getting paid to be there. Then I pointed out to Becky that the members of Switchfoot were older than we were, and that made her feel better. What didn't make her feel better was when I pointed out that ten years ago, we started high school. YIKES.

No one comments on here anymore. Don't you guys love me? I was in a "fire" on Friday - wouldn't that have made you sad?

Oh, and it looks like my summer plans are unfolding quite nicely. I will know later today when everything's official. :)

So, I've heard that SAI elections were done, blah blah blah, but no one has really, like, ya know, told me who won and stuff. What's going on, yo????

You know, there's never a dull moment in the world of UNCG Opera Theatre. Last night was our second performance of Tender Land. I think I've been pretty clear about my feelings for this show (even our amazing singers can't make me enjoy it), so I wasn't particularly looking forward to doing it again after Thursday felt so uncomfortable. I am having these thoughts to myself as we are warming up before the show, just after they had opened the house, and then...

( Read more... )

I turned my Ped paper in yesterday afternoon. I was afraid I wasn't going to get it in in time, and in theory, I didn't, because it was in his box by 5:06. I think it's a piece of crap, but luckily, it's one less thing I have to do before graduation. Unless I do what I did last year and end up wanting to revise it and turn it in for a better grade. We all know how I am...


Tomorrow's the last opera production, then Becky and I are going to see SWITCHFOOT! Should be good times!

It's time for what I like to call a power update, as I haven't updated in a long time and feel the need.  There were quite a few major events last week:

~ R.I.P. Paco - or not?:  Last Friday night after taking Becky to dinner for watching Paco, I came home to find my little baby floating on his side, not breathing and not moving.  For those of you who know my attachment to Paco, you know that I was devastated.  I called my mom and went to see what had happened when he started moving again, although obviously distressed and not able to go to the bottom of his bowl or stay upright.  I noticed he had a bump on his side that hadn't been there that morning.  I decided I was going to give him until midnight, and if I didn't see any improvement, I was going to go ahead and euthanize him because he was obviously going to die anyway.  Midnight rolled around and I called my mom again so someone would be there with me.  Deciding that his color was still too good to be dying so soon, I decided to give him the night, leaving him in the bathroom with the light on.  I awoke the next morning 99.7% sure he was going to be dead,  but instead he was better - although not 100%, he was able to stay more upright.  I spent the good part of the afternoon checking betta illness websites (SHUT UP), to find out that he had good old fashioned constipation.  My fish's inability to poop almost killed him.  In hindsight, it's actually really funny, but it wasn't for those 12 hours.  He's completely back to normal now, thank goodness, but I was pretty mad at him for awhile, especially doing that to me the weekend before my comps.
~ Comps:  Completely and utterly the worst day of my grad school life thus far in terms of stress and exhaustion.  I sat in an isolation booth in the tech lab from 8:15 to 4:45, leaving the room only to go to the bathroom and go to the Pit Stop and get lunch (and then eat it IN the isolation booth.  I got thirty-one pages of writing out of seven questions, and was done a lot later than I thought I would be.  The night before I was freaking out about the questions from Dr. Locke, because I had realized that I neglected them while preparing, instead focusing on most of the area questions (that should have been common sense).  I think I did pretty well, though, and should find out in the next couple of days.  Word to those who have yet to take your comps:  Don't take a Nalgene bottle full of water in there, then proceed to drink it all in the first half of your test.  You WILL have to get up three times, and people WILL start to wonder what's wrong with you.  Afterward, Becky, Robyn, Elizabeth and I went to Old Town for dinner and a beer (for me anyway), where we had to deal with some very loud, crude, drunk people.  Who am I kidding, though - I was just glad for human interaction!  And beer!!!
~ Birthday:  On Wednesday, I turned 24.  I already knew that we had an opera sitzprobe from 7-11 that night, so I wasn't expecting anything FANTASTIC.  The first half of the day was actually AWESOME!  I came into work that morning to a present from Angel - a whole pack of Burt's Bees stuff!  Then around 11, she brought me a bag of Jimmy John's stuff, which Mom had ordered from the store on Tate and had delivered to Curry.  Angel and I sat for about an hour and just ate and talked, and it was a lot of fun.  The rest of the day I had back to back rehearsals and spent about seven hours with the oboe on my face, but we got out of the sitzprobe an hour early, which meant I was able to go home, have a STELLAR dinner of macaroni and cheese, and go to bed at a semi-decent hour.
~ Birthday PARTY!:  Since Elizabeth and I both had late night rehearsals on our birthdays, we decided to celebrate together by inviting some of our close friends to go cosmic bowling Friday night.  It was SO MUCH FUN.  I hadn't been bowling in about four years, and that showed in my scores - 54, 73, and 57.  Becky, Robyn, and Tom were on my team, and considering that we were the oldest people there, we were the most WIRED.
~ Accident:  I got into a small fender bender yesterday.  I was in the apartment complex parking lot, waiting for this idiot to decide what he's doing when all of a sudden he decides he needs to back up and SLAMMED into my car, despite my attempt to reverse my car and honk my horn.  I parked my car and went to the front, and luckily my car had little/no damage (there are some scratches, but I think they were already there).  The guy in the other car said that his car had a dent, but when I went over, I couldn't see it.  I was also pissed because his music was so loud (I think that's a trend in my complex) that he couldn't hear my horn.  I didn't even offer to exchange insurance information, and I was concerned when he watched me walk into my stairwell, but everything seems to be fine, and my mom is my witness, even though it was over the phone.

This week is going to suck.  I have opera every night but Wednesday - two dress rehearsals today and tomorrow, then performances Thursday, Friday, and Sunday.  We're doing the Tender Land, and I came to the conclusion I came to two years ago at Augie - I still hate this opera.  Although the singers sound amazing, the set is good, and it's been going smoothly for the most part, I still think it's a piece of crap.  It does have its moments - and all of those moments are in the Tender Land suite, so go listen to that instead.  Otherwise, you get to hear Grandpa Moss calling his granddaughter a "dirty bum," and that's just unnecessary.

I got some new pictures of the baby.  She's so cute.  :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day. Erin go Bragh and all that jazz. And no, I'm not wearing green. It's not in protest, it's not because I'm not celebrating - it's because green looks ghastly on me. I do not own a single article of green clothing. So please, stop pinching me. Especially if you don't know me. Don't get me wrong, I love this holiday (for obvious reasons). Besides the fact that I'm so Irish my blood is practically green, I love any holiday that's all about fun...and drinking. Who doesn't love a good green beer at 6 in the morning? I dare you to find one! The only thing that would make today better would be to have Harp with me (my Build-a-Bear I made over spring break that is COVERED in shamrocks and carrying a pot of gold), but I couldn't fit him in my bags to come back. Le sigh.

The comps are three days away now. I think I have sufficiently freaked myself out in the last few days. Dr. Barret seems to have confidence in me, but I still have so much more to do. She gave me an assignment, though - to go out and have fun this weekend! Uh, I doubt it, but okay. I'm going to take Becky out to dinner for taking care of my fish tonight, so that should be fun. Except I realized that since it's Friday, the only meat we could eat is...fish. Does that feel all wrong to anybody else?

I guess that's really it. If you think of it on Monday between 8 and 5, say a prayer that I'm not having a total nervous breakdown in the isolation booth. I basically plan on rolling out of bed and going to school since I'm going to be locked in solitary for eight hours.

I'm alive. Barely. I've been studying like a madwoman for my comps, which just happen to be a week from today. For those who are not learned in the ways of the big bad comp exams, let me explain: basically, these tests are meant to quiz you (understatement of the YEAR) on everything you've learned so far in grad school. That meant that during my spring break, I was studying anywhere from five to eight hours a day - JUST FOR THESE TESTS. So much for "break." I'm just hoping I live through them. Oh, and did I mention I have a 15-page paper due four days later? I'm seriously trying to decide whether or not I want to ask for an extension. I think I can do it, personally, and I want to get EVERYTHING out of the way so I can concentrate on playing for the rest of the time I'm here (only two months!), but I also don't want to kill myself and do a truly crap job on the paper. Decisions, decisions...

Spring break pretty much sucked. Don't get me wrong, it was good to get out of Greensboro for awhile. Some highlights were:

~Spending time with my grandmother and aunt
~Seeing Christie and going to Build-a-Bear and making our St. Patty's Day bears! I have a feeling they're going to start banning 24-year-olds from that store, cuz we definitely named our bears after Harp and Guinness... :)
~Studying for eight hours straight - JEALOUS?
~Getting a call from Tisha (and a very drunk sounding Josh!) after the Home Concert
~Getting the flu and having to leave a day late
~Having to take a 5:45AM flight this morning to get back to NC

On the bright side, though, Becky asked me to read at her wedding next summer! :) I'm so excited and honored! She's been such a wonderful friend to me (and aunt to Paco!) - I just hope I've been half the friend to her. WOOT! :)

Today has been such a dreary day. It was dark, raining, snowing, and just not worth going outside at ALL. For some reason, days like this always make me want to listen to the same song over and over again (or, in this case, artist), watch movies, or play MahJong mindlessly on the computer until the mouse becomes an extension of your hand. So, needless to say, today was no exception.

Now I'm sitting here, waiting for my dinner to finish cooking (yes, I cooked - amazing, I know), trying to decide whether or not I should brave the grossness to go to a party, and I find myself thinking about Augie, for some reason. I was talking to my mom today and someone living in the HoH came up, as well as hour senior house. I miss those things a lot. I miss Tisha, and talking to her so much this weekend makes me realize that a trip to Iowa needs to be in my immediate future. It's amazing the things that cross your mind with way too much time to think.

So, instead, I'm going to do ( these. )

Well, looks like we're going to get some snow. Yay blizzards. Looks like I'll be camping out tonight and going to bed early, which I should do anyway since I have church and concerto competition tomorrow.

Damn. I was looking forward to being irresponsible.

What a great - and extremely short - weekend. Actually, I guess my weekend started when my Mom got here Wednesday night, because after that, my mind was bye-bye to school. Dad and Jacquie got into G-boro on Thursday, and my aunt and uncle got in on Friday. Although I had a slight wardrobe crisis, it was solved in typical Woolsey fashion (less than 24 hours before the blessed event) and ended up turning out REALLY well.

The recital itself was also fairly good. Of course, there were moments where I wanted to slap my forehead and say, "WTF were you thinking?" but overall I was very pleased. My family was so supportive - tears were shed - and I have great friends. :) Although, my mom tricked me:

Mom: I don't want you to be mad, but I didn't get you flowers.
Me: ???? *puzzled look on face* o...k...
Mom: Well, I thought this would mean a lot more to you instead. *moves to the right, revealing RUSTY hiding behind a group of people*
Me: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

So, needless to say, it was an amazing night. Unfortunately, now it's back to the real world, with coachings, concerto competition audition (EEK), and lots of readings for Woodwind Ped. GROSS. I will post pictures when I have heckled my dad and Rita into getting me what is on their camera.


( Procrastination Station )

Okay, if I don't do my Ped NOW, I'll be up all night. Later duuuuuuuuuudes.

MY RECITAL'S TONIGHT!

AT 5:30!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If anyone ever says anything bad about someone French in my presence again, I might just have to smack them. Why? Well, besides the fact that my dad's mother is half French herself (which, duh, means I have French blood myself), it is a Frenchman that I have never met that has pretty much singlehandedly saved my graduate recital from totally sucking.

For those people that couldn't access my friends-only entry (cut because I had a lot of swearing to do), let me fill you in. Last Thursday I had my lesson in the school's large wave room because it has a setting to simulate the acoustics of the Recital Hall. After my lesson, I was in a HUGE hurry to return the key to the library for the next person, and in doing so, stupidly forgot to pick up every single piece of my recital music. I spent all of Friday desperately searching for it, hoping someone had turned it into the library or office, with no luck. Luckily, I saw Dr. Barret later that afternoon, and we took care of getting me every piece but my favorite and the hardest to get - Richard Dubugnon's Cinq Masques. The only other person I knew in the STATES that had the piece was Dr. Ostoich at CCM, and he told me that his copy was in Chicago for binding for their library. Needless to say, I wanted to crawl in a hole.

The only other thing I could think of to do was to get in touch with Dubugnon himself. I wasn't looking forward to telling him that his piece was gone, but figured that I had no other choice. Well, I got an e-mail back from him yesterday saying it would be taken care of today, and now sitting in my bookbag is a faxed copy of the last piece I needed. Which means...yes...my full recital will go on as schedule.

Good, I can finally sleep. :)

Well, the first week of my last semester is over, and I must say that if the rest of the semester is going to be like that, I am okay with graduating today.  It was stressful, not fun, and made me realize that I have managed to stretch myself too thin already.  Besides orchestra, lessons, and class, I have TEN - yes, TEN - coachings and rehearsals.  Don't ask me how I'm going to have time for all of this.  I mean, I'm glad for the experience, but until February 5th, it's a little much to take.

This past weekend, I took advantage of the federal holiday, found an internet airline special, and flew to New Jersey to visit Kim and Craig and meet their new daughter, Spencer.  Mom ended up being able to come as well, which was a lot of fun.  All I wanted was a relaxing weekend with family and the new baby, and that's exactly what I got.  On Sunday, we ended up taking the train into Penn Station so I could get my NYC fix and go to the Museum of Modern Art.  After seeing some of the world's most famous paintings, we went to dinner in Tribeca at Bubby's, where Kim and Craig have seen a lot of celebrities during brunch.  Unfortunately, we weren't that lucky for dinner.  =(  I did get some good pictures though, which I will now force down your throat.  =)

( WOOT! )

Overall, it was an amazing weekend. 

I have to play in Convo today.  While Augie's Convo barely had any people there, this Convo is for the School of Music and most of the undergrads will pack the Recital Hall.  NOT looking forward to it.  =/