The Week in Review

This post is definitely long overdue. It's been a busy week. I'll sum it up as best as I can:

Colin's recital was excellent. I didn't listen to half of his first piece at all because I was just drinking in his sound (another symptom, I believe, of playing with 10-12 year olds a lot). Very nice.

Thank you James for the hospitality...if your potatoes haven't killed you yet.

Colin and I grilled steak and potatoes on Friday night. Mmmm. Colin, and anyone else looking to improve the flavor of their barbecue, that seasoning we used can be found at this website http://www.carlsgourmet.com/. The site is down now but a least you can see the logo. This seasoning is great on any food you want to cook that once had a pulse.

Going to the Bistro and playing with Jeremy, Adam, and Sean was really exciting for me. I've been doing all of my improv lately with play-along recordings. There's absolutely no substitute for the real thing. I think my improv is making progress, but I realized (yet again) that I have such a long way to go with that. Playing with those Aebersolds all of the time can be tricky since it's always the same comping. You get too comfortable. I played a few tunes I thought I knew real well at the Bistro, and had a lot of trouble with them. Let it be another lesson to never get complacent with my playing. Sometimes complacency can sneak in undetected. Sucks.

Hung out at the Hastings house with Colin, Nimmsy, Vern, the head of the Heyer household, ...and Jake. Lots of fun. Watched a little Conan, but mostly just talked. It was incredibly fun. It's been a while since I laughed that much in such a short period of time.

Thank you to Colin for the hospitality...even if my whole body was sore from sleeping on your futon for the next two days and the next morning I had to walk back down stairs after my morning deuce to get a roll of toilet paper. I can't believe you keep your toilet paper in the living room!

Spent Saturday afternoon playing golf with my buddy Adam. We each hit a few incredible shots amongst a lot of bad ones, but for the first round of the year it was pretty good. I feel like I'm pretty much picking up where I left off last fall, so hopefully I can make some improvements this year.

Sunday was all about lying around and getting some minor yard work done. It was a beautiful day.

Didn't have to work on Monday since it was the day after Easter. Yyyyeeeeaaaa, Jesus!

Finished out the rest of my half week and am learning that knowing you're going to grad school has a very bad effect on your focus at work. We have a concert next week, and that is keeping my focus in check. May might be difficult though. Oh well, it's a good problem to have I guess.

That's the low down on a busy and very fulfilling week, musically and personally.

I've been replacing my usual diet of CNN in the morning with classical recordings. It occurred to me that when I watch CNN I do not feel informed, but rather agitated with the lack of good, quality coverage. There's just so much fluff I can't stand it anymore. Beginning my day with music has made for a much more peaceful start to the day. Plus, I'll become familiar with more repertoire.