Coming up for air



Me, with the quintet that I coach, at my solo recital
on Feb. 25, 2011.  Photo by Tom Day.



Well, hello.  Yes, it's been a while.  I got really, really busy.  I think it's the most busy I've ever been, and definitely the most stressful couple of weeks I've lived through, at least that I can remember. 

I've been working in the shop, teaching, gigging, driving too much, and preparing for several big performances.  On top of that, things have been tense with one of my close friends, who is going through big life changes.  I shouldn't write about HIS issues on MY blog, so I'll just say that my long work days keep ending with marathon phone calls that keep me up too late, making the following day seem that much longer.

I've been wrangling my schedule and all kinds of paperwork to get this grad school audition in order.  Time is short; the deadline for paperwork is March 1st, and the audition has to be done by the 7th, but my teaching schedule makes it almost impossible to travel from Georgia to Virginia on a weekday.  Combined with the faculty schedules at the school, there were very few days that we could arrange the damn thing.  It came down to one day--this Tuesday--and even then, there are things that aren't falling into place.  I really should have an accompanist, but there's no one who can go with me to VA, and nobody in VA who was able or willing to play on such short notice.  I'll just have to do the audition unaccompanied and hope that the faculty are ok with it.  My applied faculty member, the tuba/euph professor, is fine with it; it's the other committee members who might not approve. 

Wednesday, the shit hit the fan.  I was struggling to keep my pre-recital nerves in check, irritated with my phone-calling friend who bailed on coming to hear my recital, doing laundry and packing and finding a gift for my accompanist, and THEN I got a message from the admissions assistant saying that they hadn't received any of my letters of recommendation.  I stressed about it all afternoon, calling here and there, emailing various faculty at schools from Michigan to Valdosta to Virginia, and finally figured out that it wasn't a mistake on my part.  All I could do was remind my recommenders to write the letters, tell admissions that I reminded them, and then hope that everything would be in by the first of the month.  I'm still hoping. 

So the recital went well; not perfect, but not bad, either.  I was happy enough with it.  I'm not ready to hear the recording of it yet.  My friend, Tom, came down and took some pictures and video for me, and brought me red velvet cake for afterward.  Today I drove home and gorged on pizza.  I need to do laundry again, pack up AGAIN, and tomorrow I get on the road for Virginia and the audition.  I'll play that on Tuesday, then head back to GA.  At that point I can relax, and I intend to eat macaroni and cheese, goddammit.

Speaking of mac and cheese, I haven't been eating a lot of dairy.  Last week I noticed the pressure returning in my sinuses, so I cut the dairy again until after the recital.  It worked, and despite eating the cake last night and butter on my waffle this morning--oh, and the pizza--I'm going to avoid milk products for a couple more days till the audition.  Maybe some day I'll eliminate it entirely, but for now I'm just going to monitor dairy every time I have big performances coming up.  I'm ok with that. 

What?  You want to know about the sit-ups?  I quit the sit-ups.  I really hated getting down on the hotel carpets to do them, and ...you know, a million other excuses.  I made it to about the 12th.  I've still been packing my lunch for school on Thursdays, and still losing weight.  Until this week.  I'm afraid the cake/pizza combo, along with too many soy lattes to stay awake and my stress-eat craving for Publix chicken tenders this whole last week, has put the weight loss on hold for a few days.  I'll get back to it tomorrow, no problem.

I'll also try to get back into writing entries.  I missed it.