Our Town

The New York Times covered little old Bloomington in today's edition! IU premiered "Our Town," a new opera by Ned Rorem based on the play by Thornton Wilder, and the NY Times reviewed it. You can read the review by clicking here.

In conducting class this morning, Chuck got to conduct Beethoven 4 for their guest Mario Venzago, the conductor of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. I talked to Chuck briefly and he said he was really pleased with how he conducted. He also just found out that he was accepted in to a conducting masterclass this summer with David Hoose (orchestra director at Boston University). So he will be in Portland, Oregon, for four days this June.

Lenny update

OK, don't worry Mom, I'm not really putting a donation jar on my desk. I was just kidding.

The concert went fine this weekend, and the lady who runs the orchestra thanked me for how I handled "the situation." I hadn't mentioned anything to her about it, so the flute teacher must have told her (I am glad!). I just thanked her for having me play.

We consulted with Chuck's orthopedic surgeon brother and my dad, and they both said that surgery is not always necessary when ACL injuries happen to people. But we decided that Lenny is still going to go through the surgery - we just don't have an alternative. There's no way he could be as active and happy as he was before without going through it.

The funniest part of the weekend was when I put on my running shoes, and Lenny hobbled over to his water bowl and started drinking, and then stretching his good legs, like he does when he goes running with me. It was kind of sad too. When he tried to put weight on his bad leg so he could stretch his other back leg, he almost fell over!

The really bad news

So it turns out that the worst case scenario has come true. Lenny has torn his anterior cruciate ligament ("ACL") completely in two. This cannot heal on its own and he will have to have surgery to repair it. Apparently it is pretty rare for small dogs like him to have this kind of injury; it much more frequently occurs in large-breed, overweight, older dogs (and NFL players). One of his other tendons is also slightly torn.

The good news about this is that one of the doctors at Bloomington Veterinary Hospital does this type of surgery regularly and can do it right there at BVH. This is going to be much more convenient and significantly less expensive than the other option, which is to bring him to a veterinary orthopedic specialist at Purdue University. Lenny will go in on Tuesday for the operation, and he will have to stay there three days to recover from the anesthesia and surgery.

And I thought he was just being a drama queen!

Lenny actually has been very tough. He doesn't wimper or whine (but he SQUEALS and bites if you try to move his leg in the wrong direction) and he still has lots of energy. Chuck said that he was happily jumping all over the vet tech (on three legs). Chuck couldn't get him out of the car when he brought him home, though. Lenny was lying down in the back seat and wouldn't let Chuck try and pick him up to get him out, and wouldn't get out himself. Chuck actually bribed him with PEOPLE FOOD to get him to come inside. He gladly sat up and let Chuck get him out once a granola bar was involved. Not just little bites of granola bar, though - Lenny held out for a whole granola bar.

I'm thinking about putting a little jar on my desk with Lenny's picture on it, so people can leave their spare change and donate toward his operation fund! It's a good thing that today is payday.

Poor Lenny!

Doggie Daycare didn't go too well for Lenny. Ever since he got home, he's been hobbling around on three paws - he can't put any weight on one of his back legs. The daycare people didn't notice if he got into a scuffle with another dog - I didn't witness anything on the doggie cam the times I looked - and there's no visible cut or injury. But it's two days later and he's no better yet, so he's at the vet today. I did think it was weird that for about the second half of the day, Lenny was just standing completely still on the doggie cam, instead of running around barking his head off like he usually does. So much for playing with the big dogs!

Chuck just called to report that the vet called him after checking out Lenny. (By the way, this is just some random new vet that we've never met, at the same place he always goes.) Something happened to the tendons in his knee. They are going to do X-rays... Apparently tendons may not even show up on the X-rays, but if they are way out of whack the bones will be in the wrong place. Best case scenario (which I think will probably be the case, just from observing Lenny) is that he gets a bandage and doggie Advil and painkillers. Worst case - doggie surgery. Oh boy.

At least his skin still looks good!

The Camerata rehearsals started last night. I didn't have to talk to the whiny girl much - but I was nice and offered to carpool with her. (The most irritating thing was that, despite how much she wanted to play the principal part, she didn't bother to practice the music ahead of time, which was rather obvious.) Rehearsal was fine, except I have a few REALLY HIGH exposed parts on the piccolo that are just painfully loud and very difficult to get out, much less play in tune. I also found a "leak" in my piccolo, so I have to play with special fingerings to make a few notes work. We have rehearsal again tonight and tomorrow afternoon, and then the concert on Sunday.

Crazy dog people

Just to clarify, I didn't create that beautiful artwork below - there are actually people out there who are more crazy about their dog than I am. Lenny is a little spoiled today though - he's at doggie daycare, playing and getting his nails clipped. You can see him live on the DOGGIE CAM - click on the "large dogs" area. He's technically not big enough to be with the big dogs (they're supposed to be 35 pounds and above; Lenny's only 23 pounds) but he has enough of a big dog attitude that he gets to hang out there.

Nothing new

I don't have any big news to report, so I'm just going to post some "lovely" fake art work featuring wire fox terriers.

Ad hoc weekend

We had a busy weekend. Friday night we had a lovely dinner at a Turkish restaurant (I survived!) with our friends Peter and Lissie, both flutists. It was a fun place where you sit on the floor around the table. Saturday was busy for me - three rehearsals! The ad hoc rehearsal went much better than the first one on Thursday night had. The concert was a success on Sunday morning, and the pizza and set up and all of the other little details went very smoothly. There was even a good audience, which is very rare for an ad hoc concert. Chuck did a great job (he got two "Bravo!s" after the Egmont overture) and Jose, the violin soloist, was amazing. We also went to our friend Eliza's viola recital on Saturday afternoon, and then I was off to yet another rehearsal.

Saturday evening I did nothing but watch episodes of Project Runway - Season 1! I finally tracked down the DVDs. So now I'm halfway through that season and I keep getting confused between the characters of the two seasons. I definitely think Season 2 is more interesting. Unfortunately, this week's new episode is going to be a "reunion special" - boring!

Lenny has gone through another shots cycle without needing steroids - he's now made it three whole weeks without needing extra medication! He had an exciting weekend because we had a lot of people in and out of our apartment. He's been improving on "stay down" and keeping his paws off of people when we have guests over. He hasn't actually jumped in the air out of excitement in a while.

One of the people who came over late on Saturday night was our friend Jack (who interviewed with Powell Flutes earlier this year). He called in a panic asking if I had a specific piece of flute music that he needed. He came over to pick it up and rushed over to Kinko's to fax it to someone who was performing it very shortly. When he came back, I asked him who needed the music so urgently. He said, "You probably won't believe me, but..." It was JAMES GALWAY. The most famous flutist on the planet, who happens to be Jack's friend, apparently. Sir James had emailed Jack that he needed this music, and Jack couldn't find it at his house, so he called me. And James Galway played off of my sheet music. That kind of makes me almost famous! Ha!

Pictures from the Olympics!

My mom sent some pictures from their trip to Torino!


This was the view from their hotel room:


Mom and Dad with Mr. Mayor:


Joey Cheek carrying Mom's flag:


Walter's new Italian girlfriend: (Is that Prada she's wearing?)

Breaking Away

Yesterday evening all of the ladies in the office went bowling together, at the IU Memorial Union bowling alley. This was the same bowling alley that features prominently in the 1979 movie, "Breaking Away," but of course looks quite a bit different than it did in the 70s!

Project Runway was a little bit disappointing last night. It was an evening gown challenge, and three out of the four gowns were pretty boring. Santino's was over the top, as usual. It was pretty tense, but my (updated) prediction came true - Santino, Daniel V., and Chloe are on to Fashion Week.

My parents' Olympic visit ends today; they're flying back to Boston.

Something Lenny would do

Terrier victory!

Alright! Rufus the colored bull terrier won Best in Show at the Westminster Kennel Club! We didn't stay up late enough to watch the judging, but heard the good news this morning.

Mom and Dad have a busy day at the Olympics today. They've already been at the Women's Downhill Alpine Skiing, and later they're going to a USA men's hockey game, vs. Latvia. The hockey game will be on USA at 3 p.m. EST, and the women's downhill will be aired during prime time on NBC. Yesterday they got to see the USA women's hockey team beat Finland.

My busy rehearsal schedule starts tonight, immediately after work. I have rehearsal today, tomorrow, 3 rehearsals on Saturday, 2 rehearsals and a performance on Sunday, 2 rehearsals on Monday, 2 concerts on Tuesday, rehearsal on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and then another concert on Sunday. Then I can relax a little bit. Chuck met with the soloist for this weekend's ad hoc concert, Jose, and it seems like their rehearsal went really well. It should be a good concert this weekend.

Happy Valentine's Day

We stayed up late to see if we could see my parents on television last night. Unfortunately, they showed Joey Cheek right AFTER he got the flag from the audience, so we didn't see them. Mom reported today that they met the Mayor of Torino outside of City Hall and got their picture taken with him.

Rufus the bull terrier was the big upset winner last night at Westminster in the Terrier Group. (We were flipping stations back and forth. Lenny wanted to look at the terrier bitches!) A fun doggie fact - the wire fox terrier is the breed that has won the Westminster Kennel Club "Best in Show" the most times.
We just learned that a PetCo store is going in less than a block from our apartment. Lenny and I will be able to walk there! Chuck is afraid that we will soon be buried in squeaky toys.

And in case anyone was wondering, I'm now playing piccolo on the Camerata concert. (I only have to sit next to the annoying girl for one piece.)

Olympics Update!

My mom sent the news from the speed skating rink - USA won the gold! And then the winner, Joey Cheek, skated around the ice with HER AMERICAN FLAG!!

Torino and Terriers

Well, back to normal life again, but not for long.
This weekend I played in one of the conductors' ad hoc concerts, which meant rehearsal Friday night, Saturday morning, and Sunday morning, with the concert at 1 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. I realized that my lips are pretty out of shape! I had a hard time by the end on Sunday. Chuck's first ad hoc concert is this coming Sunday, so it will be the same routine this week as well, except with rehearsal on Thursday night instead of Friday. Plus, I have to worry about feeding the orchestra on Sunday!

My parents made it to Torino and it sounds like they're having a great time. They went to speed-skating today, so we'll be watching for them during primetime. In case you want to watch, they said they were sitting to the left of the big jumbo-tron screen, next to someone with a big Japanese flag. My mom was all excited because there were a lot of Italian dogs wearing doggie coats. Chuck and I watched a lot of Olympics this weekend on TV, and didn't get much done, but relaxed a lot!

The Westminster Kennel Club show is on tonight and tomorrow night. We of course will be cheering again for the wire fox terriers. There's a funny article today called "If Only My Dog Were a Man!" It talks about how people admire the qualities of their pets more than their partners. The best part of the article: "Different dog breeds are also known for particular personality traits. Anyone trying to find the perfect mate by relating the type of dog they have in their lives should take note that German shepherds, Norwegian elkhounds, labrador retrievers and golden retrievers are considered to be very loyal. Boston terriers and French bulldogs have a good sense of humor. Border collies and dobermans are the athletes of the dog world. For intelligence, there’s nothing like a wire fox terrier, while bulldogs and pomeranians make perfect couch-potato companions."

Exciting events

I want to wish my parents safe travels to Torino tomorrow for the XX Olympic Games! They will be attending:
Sunday: Women's Hockey - Russia vs. Canada
Wednesday: Men's Hockey - USA vs. Latvia
Wendesday: Alpine Skiing - Ladies Downhill
All of the hockey games will be televised on the USA network, so hopefully we'll see them on TV in the audience. Mom said she'll be wearing her UNH jersey.

The other exciting event is that Lenny went ten days (and one shot cycle) without needing any steroids! Chuck even admitted the shots might be working, skeptic that he is. So Lenny is still vet-less, but he is rash-less as well!

A career for Lenny?

I think if Lenny would use his skills and powers for good instead of mischief, he could have a great career as an undercover police dog. This cat went undercover and busted a fake veterinarian in New York! If a cat can do it, surely sneaky little Lenny could.

The flute teacher came right as we were closing yesterday and took my music. Still haven't heard anything else from her. A composer did ask me to play on the composition department's upcoming recital, though - in an octet for winds and strings. So at least I'm busy. I've got that, Chuck's ad hoc, an ad hoc this weekend, and a performance of the Bach Magnificat coming up, besides the Camerata concert. All of this in February.

This is a picture backstage at the Columbus IN Philharmonic concert. The manager from the singing group was taking a bunch of pictures. Also pictured with Chuck and me are Nathan, a cellist, and Hennessy, a bassist, and personnel manager for the CIP.

So, my prediction change was just in time. Nick got eliminated last night on Project Runway, even though Santino SHOULD have been eliminated - the sleeve fell off of his outfit on the runway!! Nick was a nice guy, and Santino has a more colorful personality, so I think they kept him around for the ratings.

Update

Well, the flute teacher has 12 minutes to get to the office today as promised to trade music with me for her student. No sign of her yet.

Tonight Project Runway is on!!

Chuck is singing in a concert tonight with the Contemporary Vocal Ensemble. This is one of those long concerts of all modern music.

How stupid is this?

Yesterday was a really crappy day.

The flute professor came in to the office and announced that she had “messed things up.” Thinking that she was having some sort of faculty paperwork problem, I asked her how I could help her. It turns out that one of her doctoral students, who has never been my favorite person to begin with, was rather put off that SHE wasn’t playing principal flute for the Bloomington Camerata concert and I was. So she whined to her teacher, who then came and asked me if I wouldn’t mind playing a different part. I couldn’t believe how unprofessional BOTH of them were. I could care less about playing principal – I don’t need the ego boost – but I was really irritated that they did this, after the music was distributed and I’ve been talking with the orchestra personnel manager and everything else. So regardless of the answer I gave, I think I would end up looking bad. If I made a big fuss about it, I’d be as unprofessional as the two of them, but now it looks to the personnel manager like I was “bumped” for someone else, like I wasn’t good enough to play principal. VERY IRRITATING!!!

Prediction and dilemma

Well, I have to amend my previous prediction about Project Runway. Daniel V. is going to make it to the top three, replacing either Santino or Nick in my prediction (probably Nick). It's down to five designers, and Daniel has immunity this week! So we'll see.

I have looked everywhere in town, and NOBODY has Project Runway Season 1 on DVD, either to rent or even buy! It does exist, because you can buy it from Amazon, but apparently I'm the only lonely Bloomington Project Runway fan.

Chuck had a concert with Columbus this past weekend - and we did not have to go schmooze afterward! Woo-hoo! That was a nice change. He is getting ready for his next concert, next weekend. I am playing in another conductor's ad hoc this weekend. Hopefully we will also get to see "The Barber of Seville" on Saturday evening.

Right now my great debate is whether or not to make a tape for the National Flute Association Young Artist competition. I am really hesitant to do it because it costs a lot of money to enter, and I don't have an accompanist (who I'd have to hire also), and the deadline is March 1st. Which I just realized recently, obviously. I would be up for a good challenge (though I would stress myself out) except for three things:

1) I am playing in several concerts (4) already in February, so I have plenty of "reason" and motivation to practice already.
2) I wanted to take a big step back on work on my flute BASICS (which I have already started doing this year) to improve overall. This competition would be a distraction from that, and I don't want to develop new bad habits while rushing through my "review."
3) There is a really stupid modern piece on the repertoire list that requires singing and playing simultaneously, micro-tones with many different fingerings to learn, and other special techniques. Basically they include this piece to scare people from entering. It's working!

So maybe I am just making excuses, or feeling lazy, but I can't decide what to do. And the more I hesitate, the more time goes by before the tape is due! The problem is that I already bought the sheet music, and a CD with the stupid modern piece (called "ZOOM TUBE") on it. However, if I'm not going to be able to make a decent recording in time, I don't want to dump any more money into this project. Chuck is telling me to go for it, but he doesn't have to learn the stupid micro-tonal fingerings that I will NEVER EVER use again in my life. And I do have until the age of 30 to enter this competition, which takes place every year. AND I could be using this time to work on my basics to prepare for real orchestral auditions later this spring and summer. I guess it sounds like I'm leaning one way right now. It keeps changing! :) I of course will keep you all updated on this pressing, urgent issue.

Sorry for not blogging the last few days - I was not feeling very well Monday and Tuesday and missed a day of work. But I am much better now, and a few good things have happened. The flute professor at IU asked me to sub for her in the Bloomington Camerata orchestra for their next concert! (Principal flute) I am not exactly sure why she didn't ask one of her students, and the only time she has ever come close to hearing me play was last summer in the IU Festival Orchestra. She was playing principal flute, and I was playing fourth flute! Not exactly an ideal audition. Anyway, I am pleased to have a paying gig.

I know that you all think I'm pretty crazy about Lenny, but I just read something that boggled my mind. The fox terrier with the "dog blog" gets his teeth flossed every night! Lenny's lucky to get a bath twice a week. (Though not in his own opinion!)