Relief!

I have AC! This means that I finally have some relief from this weather, which has been in the high 90s and very humid every day. This makes practicing and reed making much easier.
Last week was another interesting one in the orchestra. We had an excellent guest conductor. She was from New York, but spoke fluent Spanish because her family is from Mexico. We played some pieces that I though would be way beyond the capabilities of this orchestra (including another awful piece by a local composer), but she got a very solid performance out of us. I hope she comes back...
We have been traveling almost every weekend lately, and will continue to travel a lot until the season is over in June. Many of the trips are to Mazatlán, which is always fine with me because not only does that mean beach time, but it also means I get to eat Thai food. Culiacán is not exactly known for its ethnic restaurants, and I really crave it sometimes. Anyway, Andrea and Anthony introduced me to this place a few weeks ago, and I think it is one of the best Thai places I have ever been to. Definitely on par with Thai Pepper, Allan's favorite Thai place. So, that is more incentive for people to come visit me in Mazatlán. Really, lots of good food and beaches. What more do you need?
Ok, I'll stop with the shameless plugs and get back to practicing...

Catching up...

So, I'm a complete and total slacker, and it's been almost two months since I've written! In my defense, I've been busy, and I'll explain why. Since my previous post, I've made two trips to the US. I'll give you a very brief recap of both of them. The first was for an audition for the Marine band in DC. Overall, kind of a stressful and rushed trip since I stopped in LA on the way, and I played like poo. However, I did get to see Kyung and Joe, some old friends from Round Top (I went to that festival almost 5 years ago!) and my high school oboe teacher Joan, so the trip was definitely worth it. My second trip was the last two weeks in March for Semana Santa and Semana Pascua (Easter break). This trip was also a little bit hectic because I went to 4 different cities, but worth the trouble because I got to see so many friends. I stopped in LA and had a lovely dinner at Noshi with Jon, Gabrielle, Kristin, Sonia, Kelly, and Christy. I also got to have lunch with Agnes. Then Jon and I went Jacksonville for Heather's wedding where we also got to see Ruth Ann, Mike, and Marianne (an IU quintet reunion!), and on they way, we saw Cat for a few days in Naples. Then it was off to the Fort, where I hung out with my parents for a while. Lastly, I went to Chicago to catch my flight back to Culiacán, and picked my brother up on the way from Purdue. I got to see Rupal and Ashok very briefly, and also randomly ran into my friend Nameeta who I haven't seen in 6 years! And she doesn't even live in Chicago! Anyway, it was a busy but good vacation.
I was sad to leave, but we did get to play Tosca when I came back, which was fun. We had a good guest conductor, and believe it or not, the singers (at least the soloists) were good! Unfortunately, the week after, our program was terrible. Really awful. Bad. Honestly the worst piece I've ever played in my life. Some local "composer" wrote a piece for us, but I'm not going to go into further detail because the memory of it is too painful.
Oh, I almost forgot the thing that has been occupying my time the most! I'm going to peru in June!!! I'm very excited, but planning out the trip is taking a lot of time, and therefore my blogging has been sporadic...or non-existant. But I'll try to do better for my faithful reader(s) and update more regularly.
Buenas Noches!