I survived!!!!

I survived the crazy week of jury, exam and essay due in the same three-day space. Actually, the jury went quite well-the best out of the three I've done. When I came into the university that morning, I was pretty nervous, but as I talked with some of my flautist friends, and then warmed up on my own and then with my accompanist, I gradually calmed down, and ended up playing quite well-the best performance I've given out of the four I've done of the Schubert Arpeggione Sonata. Katherine Hoover's Winter Spirits wasn't quite as good, but I'd only been working on it for a month or so. What got me was that I missed the end flourish-all that came out was fu-fufluff. Not what I was hoping for! The Hindemith flute sonata was a good ending to the program, although at one point near the end I hit a hesitation because I thought I saw one of the jury members waving their hand to stop me-I guess they were turning a page or something, but it distracted me for a second. The Bach E major sonata also went pretty well, although we ended up cutting out the fourth movement. Now I just wait for the comments to be available at the office, perhaps by tuesday, and see whether I have become a performance major or will be becoming a history major.

My vietnam war course exam went about the same as the midterm did, so I expect I'll get a similar mark (A) on it, but not sure exactly how the essay went...I ended up submitting it at 11:57 on friday evening, and just realized that I forgot the bibliography page...fortunately, it was done Chicago style, so the books are listed in the footnotes, AND everyone else was using the exact same books. Still, I think it only right that I submit a bibliography page by email and apologize for forgetting it. The Magic Flute Opera that I went to on friday evening went longer than I thought, and I was in a rush to submit it when I got back at 11:40. Part of the issue is that the internet on my laptop is not working, so I had to turn on two computers, transfer it to my USB drive, and then email it from my dad's computer. One of my tasks now that everything's finished is to take my laptop in for cleaning and hopefully getting some things straightened out!

It's a good feeling to be finished, but strange at the same time. I am desperately not wanting to enter into the depression/exhaustion collapse that happened to me last year after exams and things ended. I ended up not picking up my flute for close to three months after the Syrinx Flute Festival in May, and in late April, May and until work started in June, I was staying up atrociously late, then waking up late (not like me), not doing much except watching tv and doing things on my computer...it just wasn't great at all. I don't want to enter into that state this year...I have things to do, and I want to keep practicing-both instruments-and going to the gym, things like that. Fortunately, there are things to keep me busy too! My orchestra concert is tomorrow evening-3rd and 4th movements of Tchaikovsky 4th symphony, and a piece by Estacio called Frenergy-and the Wind Ensemble is still rehearsing for the Wind Ensemble trip that starts next wensday. And then, when I get back from that trip, I have less than 24 hours at home before my dad and I leave on our own trip. Fortunately, I have lots of socks and things like that so I won't have to worry about doing too much laundry.

The past couple of weeks, I couldn't knit or crochet because I needed my hands to be in complete top form for the stress of the jury, practicing, and then the exam studying and writing. PLUS one of the baby blankets that I'm crocheting is addictive, and I would end up spending waaaaay too much time during my 'breaks' on it, so I had to put it aside for the most part. Now that everything's over though...knitting and crocheting are back in full swing :) I'll have to post pictures of the blankets for Project Linus before I send them off!

I made some red tea a little while ago, and it's probably cool now. So I think I'll sign off here. Here's hoping for better weather this week-we had a teaser day of 15 degrees C on tuesday last week (when I had to be inside all day studying because it was too windy to study outside) but then it turned cold-it was -8 the next morning, and since then, we got about 5 inches of wet snow on friday, and then more on saturday. It's mostly gone again now, but I want my April weather back again! And not too much more precipitation because of the flood situation.