January
Arledon's wedding. Sent flute away. Blue Man Group. Medieval Times. Food poisoning in Tallahassee. Titusville scrimmage. Started getting involved with PHX-ation (now Spitfire). New Year Fest, played with a women's team for the first time. Phone call from a mean mother made me upset.

February
Played on league with 3BK. Climbed Flatiron. Celebrated Valentine's Day with a boyfriend for only the second time ever. Car got broken into. Learned a lot about Russian music. Winter Olympics in Canada. Struggled with an ongoing issue.

March
Keeping busy all the time. Prof. Amsler was a guest artist at ASU. Hiked South Mountain together and loved it!  Some very painful scrapes from league. Spring break at the beach in Florida. Had a good, controlled 23rd birthday with friends and boyfriend. 83 birthday wishes on facebook.

April
The Easter earthquake. Fire alarm during an exam.  Beach tournament in San Diego, did not have too much fun. Practiced a ton for my recital. Gave my first master's recital! Hung out with my parents in AZ, discovered that I'm pretty terrible at volleyball. Wrote a cool paper about Stravinsky's death. My first VOTS finals.

May
School ended. Two ulti leagues, was on the best team for both. Flew home to surprise mom for Mother's Day.  Struggled to practice at all. Made a few good friends and started to play Settlers nonstop.


June
Trip to Chiricahua with Paul. So much fun! A health condition that scared me for a while. Attempted to wakeboard for the first time. Beat a Zelda game for the first time. Played Risk for the first time. Basically did nothing productive all month.  Mohini tournament in Flagstaff. Yankees vs. D'Backs.  Craig's 25th at Howl at the Moon. Found out that Tville ulti isn't all I thought. Made a friend at the Health Dept.

July
Spent in Florida. Worked at Health Dept. Began to be very, very confused about my future. Consulted some very nice people and have not come to any conclusion. Played a tourney with Poached and Fried, where I literally ran a girl to the ground.  Had a very important ground-breaking conversation. Confusion ensued. Harry Potter World!

August
Started seriously training with Spitfire.  A derpcanyon trip and a Grand Canyon trip. National Flute Convention, where I caught up with some old friends. School started. Decided to captain for fall league.

September
The heat lingered on. Epic road trip is epic. Quartet. Did a clinic at a high school.  Sectionals. Got a little sick.  School and Fall Chickens. 

October
Wrote an 18-page paper. Regionals.  Climbed Brown's Peak and took some pretty cool pictures at the top.  Second round of the concerto competition. Breast Cancer awareness hatter.  Halloween... what did I do? Sit at Paul's house and give out candy.

November 
Rubik's Cube. A fight. Hit in the throat with a disc. Won the AFS flute competition! League finals was a blast and I won a raffle. Thanksgiving at home.

December
Beth's wedding. Wrote a 35-page paper. Mark's visit. School ended with no finals! Visited Craig in LA. Christmas with the family and midnight mass.  Straight A's once again.

Currently 30 degrees warmer here than in Phoenix. I'm in the right place!

A little job opened up at the Health Dept, so I'll be working 9-1 for the next two weeks, starting on Monday.

Derpistan.

8 Etudes and a Fantasy by Elliot Carter... what a ride we are going to take this semester. I honestly don't know if I have played a piece able to rival this one in difficulty. And we haven't even started rehearsing yet!

My grandpa is going ga-ga over this 10-year-old opera singer. I heard her sing and said, "yeah... she's good." He almost started yelling at me. "Good is not the word for her! She's fantastic!"

The truth is, I was upset by his eager praise. Adult musicians do not want to hear about 10-year-old opera singers. I know opera singers who have trained their whole lives, who are by all accounts more deserving of praise than little Jackie and her two years of training, and who cannot find work, let alone fame, for the life of them. Yes, Jackie is a wonderful singer. Yes, she's 10 years old. But is she really better than the professionals? I think not. But maybe all this attention can help everyone; maybe the opera genre will tag along with her arrival into fame.

Firebird... you are hard.

HEY! Christmas 2010. YESSSSS.

Jesus our savior was born. Let's celebrate!

Highlights of my haul this year:

GPS from Paul
Settlers of Catan and a sweet ocarina from Craig
a crap ton of clothes (including the hot red dress I've always wanted), a Yankees visor, a watch, and other items from my parents

YAY PRESENTS

Funniest moment of the day: when the entire Stahl family began clapping and chanting in full protest fashion, "WE WANT PRESENTS! WE WANT PRESENTS! WE WANTS PRESENTS!"

We missed Craig's playing, which usually transforms our dull family gathering into a genuine family piano bar. Next year he'll play for us as a professional.  And, in my wildest dreams, I'll be coming home from Miami...
(what's in Miami, you ask? If things go my way, maybe you'll find out in a few months).

I'm playing flute in my former roommate's wedding, and this is what she told the singers:
"My awesome roomie Ashley Stahl is going to play flute with us, and people's heads will probably explode with awe."

lol

Sigh. It's only a matter of time before the outburst begins for something I didn't do, something I tried to prevent. Life really isn't fair sometimes, you know that?

Everything sounds so much more enjoyable than practice right now, but once I do put the instrument to my lips, what a great feeling it is...

Best running charades category of the night:
Titusvillians inside jokes, including "Steven's talking," "derpistan," "hey, it's me, nick!," "you gotta want it," "gay day tuesday," jarvises are +1 +1," "nao!," and so many others. Gotta love it, guys. Gotta love it.

Thanks for another good one :) You guys are the best.

My favorite Care Bear when I was very young was Funshine Bear. When I got a few years older, my favorite switched to Cheer Bear. Sometimes I still wonder how Funshine Bear is taking it.

Ah, the more I think about it, the more I want it. 'Tis a dangerous thing to have hope.

One of my pet peeves--one of the things that people say which annoys me the most--is when people say things like "welcome to the real world," referencing the difficulties of "real world" compared to the life I am currently living.

Okay, so I don't have a full time job yet--that means I'm not part of the real world? I acknowledge that your life may have its share of difficulties, but does that really mean that my own are any less severe? Remember high school--remember how we were all emotional train wrecks, how we always had school breathing down our backs, how our social lives were of utmost importance? The troubles of a high schooler are not the same as that of an adult, to be sure. But are they any less difficult?

Hurp de derp.


I'm in Florida.

I saw CRAIGGY today!

Sigur Ros makes my life better. Probably more than 3%.

4.0 throughout grad school so far. Can I do it for one more semester for a perfect record? I think I can.

Wow. One more semester of my master's degree left. It seems like just yesterday that I was graduating high school. I look at high school seniors and they seem so young now! Now all my friends are getting married, finding careers, moving away from home... where did all the time go?

I look back and see how much I have grown since I have been here, how much I have learned about myself, about the world, about flute and music and teaching, about ultimate and so much more. Striving to fulfill my highest potential in every area of life.

And it really is amazing, the life I have made for myself in only one and a half years. I don't get homesick anymore. This has become another home to me. Should I be afraid to get too comfortable?

I got a "Best of VOTS" award! Best speed, look here

I think my head almost exploded today when one of my students told me that an old teacher taught her that you need to tighten your embouchure for high notes.

Baha, everyone in FL is complaining about the cold right now and the low of 17 tonight. Here in Tempe, it is a beautiful 77 degrees right now with a low tonight of 50. Suckas!

Sorry to m'peeps, but I've had to make practice a priority lately. I have a two recording sessions for some pretty major things coming up, and practicing is my full-time job right now. It's time to prove to the world that I'm a professional musician.

It's weird skipping parties and saying no to fun things so I can practice. It's like... can't you practice some other time? But the answer is no. If I have planned to go to a party at night and I haven't practiced enough by the time that party rolls around, I cannot go. If I know that I am only going to have a few free hours in a day, I cannot plan to do things in those hours because I know that I need to practice.

This has actually been a pretty busy semester for me, and it really hasn't ended yet. I finished the last of my coursework today--yay!--but the practicing does not end. At least, not until Thursday, when the recordings have been made. Till then... I have to practice. Sorry friends.

I hate the ghost the most when I am writing papers.

Piston flute sonata. I dig it.

Allright guys. This may come as a surprise, but I don't really care who you are, I am not going to travel to Europe or to Canada or even cross-country to go see your flute recital. This especially applies if I have never met you before. So please, just stop inviting me via facebook to your recitals unless they are in places where I live (ie Arizona or Florida). Thank you.

Highs in the 70's and 80's till the day I leave. Acht Stuecke, I am going to miss this weather.

I'm applying to something that requires a resume in PDF format. This makes me wonder if they're making the applicants jump through hoops to see who will actually do it...

Our fears are only what we tell them to be.

(I'm actually not really a fan of the video... I think it draws too much attention away from the music. Just listen.)

Wow. A good day. Watched some t.v., but also got some emailing and cleaning done. Not too much. Then some quality girl time, meeting some cute little ones, a few games of Settlers including an out-of-town friend, and the promise that tomorrow is not going to bring any more stress. Sigh of relief. Break is here!

Christmas playlist on iTunes... GO!
Christmas music makes me happy :)

I'm not going to apologize for doing nothing today. In the past week, I've written 35 pages, gotten up at 5:30, 4:30, and 3:30, recorded a memory project... I could go on but I don't want to bore you. Bottom line, I deserve a day to do nothing. So there.

Last day of school ogh eyeeeeeahhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Phoenix--and CAMELBACK!--made an appearance on the Biggest Loser this past week! Phoenix represent!

Just stapled my entire packet together. I am finished! Not my best work by any means, but it sure will get the job done. Wanna know how many pages I am turning in? It's a disgusting amount. 35 pages. I am turning in 35 pieces of paper for this final.

Yup.

Recorded memorization project...check.

Finished writing the content of my paper. 16 pages of pretty shoddy work, but it'll have to do. Time for an ice cream break, and then it's on to working the citations, the score, and the bibliography. And printing all this crap out.

Then rep project. It's 10:46 PM. Oh graduate school.

Marge: "Bart, don't make fun of grad students. They've just made a terrible life choice"

Don't read this post. It is me venting and it will be boring. Don't say I didn't warn you.

I'm working at a good pace. Got 6 pages done in only about 5 hours of work. Talked about style, background, and form.  Still to tackle: theme/motives, harmonies (not much material there), flute solos, and orchestration. 

Maybe tomorrow won't be so bad. Just don't remind me about the musical examples, which I have to write in STUPID finale notepad, or the citations, or the bibliography page, or the annotated score...or my memorization project tomorrow...or my repertoire assignment, which I probably will not do until an hour before it's due...

Tomorrow won't be so bad. God will provide.

Total exhaustion and 20 pages in 1 and a half day. And a memory project when I haven't been able to practice. Oh, and a rep project. By. Monday.

No. It's not possible. I need clones. CLONES I TELL YOU.

I hate Macs.

Homegirl Beth is getting herself married in two days! I will be in South Carolina for a couple days to be in her wedding. I am SO EXCITED!!! This is one of the best, if not THE best person I know. Other people I know (including you, reader) aren't offended by this statement because they know it's true. She's been a friend to me for years. 12 years, to be exact. If anyone deserves to be happy, it's Beth Kern.