Happy Mother's Day!

So, I know I said I was going to write a while ago... But I got busy. I have been trying to get going on a management essay. It is 2000 words and 25% of my final grade and is due a week from tomorrow. It's not getting off to a very good start though. I have spent most of today staring at a computer screen reading about corporate social responsibility. My eyes and my brain hurt and I feel like I haven't gotten anything done. On top of that is the fact that I'm bored senseless by this topic and haven't gotten to practice today, which makes me grumpy.

Okay... The complaining part of this post is officially over. On Friday, reed class was taken by Elsa Lam, former principal clarinetist of the China Philharmonic. I think I've only mentioned it about a million times. It turns out that she also played with the Kalamazoo Orchestra, strangely enough. She was very helpful. Natalie described her as "brutally honest." I didn't think she was that brutal, just honest. I think Natalie might be a bit surprised if she does grad school in the States. Or maybe I'm just desensitized from my years with Ilya. She bombarded me with about a million exercises to do. There was one point, though, that I totally missed because she had taken my clarinet and was describing how something needs to be like golf. She had my clarinet by the bell and was swinging it like a golf club. I wanted to snatch it out of her hands and hold it close so that it would be safe. I, apparently, was making a face because the entire class was laughing at me. Overall she was very good. She actually related her comments to music in general, rather than just to the piece that I was playing, which is much more helpful in the long run. She said that I play like a typical American but complimented my playing overall, so I taking that as a win.

Yesterday, I meant to get work done but my whole day went away somewhere. I don't even know what happened to it. I did get in a good practice session, which makes up for the lack of one today. In the evening, we went to Ponsonby which is a section of Auckland, about 10 minutes away by bus. We went to this club called the Grange, which was having it's 3rd birthday, and watched rugby for a bit. I marvel at that games. The guys who play it are ridiculous. The whole thing is so violent. And they don't stop the clock every two seconds like in American football, so the players are pretty much running for an hour straight. It's crazy. You would have to be so fit to play rugby. Anywho... We walked around Ponsonby for a while but not for too long because all the shops were already closed and it was kind of cold. I would like to go back for an afternoon sometime and do some shopping. It is a really cute little area.

Today, like I said, I worked most of the day. But, I took a break this afternoon to go to a recital of the NZ Trio. It's a piano trio that resides at the University of Auckland. They were very good but played a lot of contemporary music, which I'm not always into. I can't really give you very much more than that because I kept fading out. I wasn't "listening actively" as my teachers would say. I again contribute that to the staring at a computer for hours on end thing. But it was still an enjoyable experience.

Tomorrow is my first rehearsal with the woodwind quintet. I have not managed to get in touch with Fin to get the music off him so I hope that he thinks to bring it to choir tomorrow so that I don't show up to rehearsal looking like a dope without any music. My first ASO rehearsal is also this week, on Wednesday. And sometime this week, I might be participating in an experiment being run my the economics department at uni. They pay you for it! That would be awesome. That's about it.

Happy mother's day to all those moms out there! Way to conquer the child-raising process!
Peace.