My summary of the closing ceremonies: Canada thinking up every Canadian stereotype possible, making several gigantic versions of each of them, and prancing them around the stadium until it can't fit any more stuff, all while playing cheesy generic music.

So I have to wonder--is this Canada presenting itself to the world as they view themselves, or as they think the world views them?

Music is so powerfully linked to memory.

My team won the tournament! There were 6 teams and we blazed our way through three games to take the title. Our team name: "The Most Funnest Team of Ever," dedicated to the extremely high English language standards at ASU.

I've been to 7 ultimate tournaments, all of them Sat-Sun club tournaments. I've never been to a hat tournament! Today will be my first. I'm so excited!

I had a dream about my blog the other day.

Someone took over my blog. Some guy that I didn't know somehow found my blog and liked it a lot, liked it so much that he decided that he was going to hack in and make it his own. Well, not really his own--he wanted to have a joint blog. I didn't even know this guy, and he changed the layout of the page, the title of the blog, and then started posting in it. "It's much better this way," he told me.
I was outraged--this is my personal blog! I am happy with the way I have been running things for the past 8 years. Sure, it's not perfect, there are changes I probably could make to improve the quality of my blog. But this blog is a part of me now. It has carved a place out in my life, a comfortable place. The last thing I want is someone coming in, changing things, telling me how to run my own stinkin' blog! It's MINE, not yours!

And yet, maybe I did need someone to come in and make changes. Maybe the people who need change the most are the ones who have no idea that they need it. It's possible...

3BK killed tonight. 6-15. What a team, I'll tell ya, what a team.

I played pretty well tonight. Scored once, got two D's, had some good cuts and good contribution to the game. I had a failed layout which hurt like heck. Oh, my leg is going to be bruised tomorrow. It's bad. These Arizona fields are hard as a rock and unforgiving, even at their best.

I'm beginning to realize what my role is within the game of ultimate. I'm a deep cutter. That's great, because I LOVE running deep, and I LOVE beating my defender! If only I was a little taller...

I mixed up my recital halls today and accidentally saw a Joe Alessi recital and masterclass.

I LOVE watching figure skating. These women put their heart and souls into these performances. It's such a personal and artful sport. Each individual has her own style. And you can see the excitement in their faces when they know they have done well; you can see the surge of energy when they've got the crowd on their side. And there's good music to boot--I just watched a performance to music from Riverdance!

(FYI: If I had stayed in Buffalo instead of moving to Florida at 7 years old, I would have started figure skating. And I would have been AWESOME.)

Can't wait to see how it all plays out! Go Team USA!

Missing Florida a lot today.

Dear Blogger,
I realized today that no matter how I may feel sometimes, I really am a good flute student. I do my work as best as I can; I practice as much as I can (even when I really don't feel like it), I listen to recordings, study scores, go to recitals and concerts. I immerse myself in my field of study, doing all the things that a good flute student should do. I have no right to feel like a failure of a student. And I need to remember that.

I'm going to be writing down flute books FOREVER. FOR EV ER.

Also, my room always smells like sweaty old cleats.

The end.

Time! STOP IT!

Window is fixed! And the sun is shining brightly on this 74-degree Arizona day. Woohoo!!!

Sigh to Chicago and Turabian. I miss the old days with MLA style citation. It was so easy.

I passed someone casually whistling Beethoven 9 in the halls of the music school the other day. It's really the little things...

Glass company said they'd be here between 8 and 10 this morning. 20 bucks says they don't come between 8 and 10. It's pretty much a rule that if a company says they will come at a certain time, they will NOT come at that time. Sigh. Maybe someday we will live in a world where people say that they will do something and then actually do it.

Four fruit roll-ups are 200 calories. Yes ma'am.

Here's another good one: Classy Penguin by the Books. I promise this will make you smile.

The weather has been beautiful--BEAUTIFUL!--lately. My love for Tempe has not waned. I'm happy, I'm happy. :)

Watch this video, there's something very simple and sweet about it:

Time to Send Someone Away

(Here's the original version of the song, if you were wondering.)

My car got broken into in the three hours I was at league, 6-9 PM. The passenger window is completely decimated and there is glass all over the passenger seat. Nothing is missing from what I can tell (probably because I don't keep anything valuable in my car), but I know they looked because my inside console was up. My car is sad right now :( But at least it's nothing worse than a smashed window.

It's kind of crazy that this didn't happen in the middle of the night, and it happened in a public place--I mean, my car was just feet away from the fields, and it was still LIGHT out for most of the time. Pretty risky. Aside from being wrong, this particular crime is totally not worth the risk in my opinion.

(and why would you pick MY car?)

Another long day. Sometimes being a grad music student is really easy, and you have a lot of time; other days you're running from one activity (rehearsals, lessons, recitals, practice, class, etc.) to the next for 14 hours a day. Long tiring days.

Mardi Gras today. Things would be a lot different right now if I ended up at Louisiana State! Did you know that they get three days off the week of Mardi Gras/Ash Wednesday?

Chocolates are delicious. So is Ravel.

Happy Valentine's Day, my friends! I know it's popular nowadays to hate this day, but try to see the good in it anyway--like the chocolate.
Click here for a Garfield randomizer to make your day all that much better.

Everyone hates Valentine's Day and it makes me sad :(

Feb. 14, 2009:
One of these days, I'll get what I've got coming.

Overheard in 2024:
B: "It's been a week, and it still hasn't healed yet."
M: "Maybe you're not WOLVERINE."

Yeah, I'm eating frosting from the can. Just try and stop me. DO IT.

We won! We won our first game! It's lookin' good out there. My two captains are two of the best players in the league (they got 13th and 14th pick for a reason), and league just makes me happy! Weee!!

Warning: the rest of the post is ultimate gibberish, so if you don't understand/don't care, then I suggest you stop reading now.

Personally, I think I played awful today--the fields were wicked muddy, and I tripped twice while trying to defend an endzone huck (luckily my mark didn't catch either of them...to be fair, the second time, I fell right in front of her. That one actually hurt a lot. I'm still feeling it.) I also tripped probably 3 or 4 times while cutting.
My captain threw a full-field huck to me which I probably could have caught if I had read it just a little better. I missed an easy catch--a good throw directly to me. The worst part is that what I just listed was my total offensive contribution to the game. I didn't touch the disc otherwise.

Nevertheless, I had a great time, we won, and I'm now in a great mood. And an added bonus: Tchaik 4 was playing on the way home. What a piece, I'll tell ya, what a piece. There's a reason it's standard rep above all of the other symphonies in the world.

I realized today that I have been playing flute longer than one of my students has been alive.

FYI for the Villains: I booked a flight to go to FL Wed-Sunday of my spring break (that's March 17-21). AND I WANT TO GO TO THE BEACH EVERY DAY.

I've said it once, I'll say it again: Delta is a tool.

Ah, Sunday morning. Ever the highlight of the week :) It's a beautiful day here in Tempe. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and life is good.

I posted this on facebook already, but I like it so much that I want it to reach a wider audience. It's so hopeful, so joyful. It may mean something different to everyone, but to me it says: there is hope. There is good. There is joy. So here's a special Sunday morning treat for you all:

Jonsi

I climbed Flatiron today. It's known as one of the hardest hikes in the area. Before going I was warned that it was very difficult, but my adventurous self wanted to climb it anyway. It's just going to make me stronger, right?
In the end, Flatiron kind of kicked my butt. I had to stop many, many times going up, and my legs felt like jelly almost the entire way down (not to mention that my bladder was holding more liquid than it has ever held before. No joke.). But it was fun. Hiking is always fun when time flies. (what?) And I was right--it IS only going to make me stronger. What with last weekend's tournament and this weekend's hike + pickup tomorrow, I feel like a new and improved person. Intense exercise will do that to ya. :)

Oh, and apparently I was drafted in the first round for league(?). 14th pick overall for the women (which sounds better than it actually is, because most of the best women are captains and ineligible for drafting. But anyway.) I don't really understand it, but it's nice to have what I interpret as a tangible improvement in my playing. You guys shoulda seen me when I first started playing (well, some of you did. and it was almost comical.) I don't get to see this kind of drastic improvement in flute playing anymore, unfortunately. So you gotta celebrate when you can.

I'm inside Paul's house...but where is Paul???

Everybody has many extremely difficult things to deal with in life--everybody. Things that nobody else will ever know about...

It's dangerous to ride your bike around here. The drivers just don't see you. I can't tell you how many times I have avoided getting run over only by being overly cautious. The only way to be sure that a driver sees you is to make eye contact. If you don't make eye contact with a driver about to turn right on red, you do NOT cross the street in front of him.

Phil saw his shadow, but it already feels like spring here. What a BEAUTIFUL Arizona day!!!

Also, I am so excited to be on the 3BK! League starts in a week and I am already bursting with VOTS joy!

My first master's recital is April 17 at 5:00 at Katzin Recital Hall here at ASU in Tempe. Come one, come all!

I finalized my program two weeks ago (I might add one more short piece just for length), but I think it just hit me today how difficult my recital will really be. You know it's bad when the Sancan Sonatine is technically the easiest piece on the program. Some of these pieces are going to need lots and lots and lots of time and work. I hope I can do this.

Also, I somehow ended up with only 20th (or 21st) century works on the program...?

This is going to be the craziest, most unconventional (and possibly the least audience-friendly) recital I have ever given. Course, I've only given four full length recitals up until this point.

April 17th is already too close for my liking.

I have so much to do this week that thinking about it makes me tense and scared.