Busy bee

34 of my amazing students played/sang in our two recitals on Sunday.  The first featured 16 different piano players and came off quite well, which is commendable considering the kids were 13, 11 and all the rest 8 and under! The second recital was enjoyable, I'm told, but entirely too long (just shy of 2 hours) and I will be figuring out a way to combat that in the future.  There were 18 kids, but it was all instruments and switching between instruments takes a great deal of time, because each player requires a different setup. In the future I will probably have 3 recitals and put like instruments back to back, as boring as that makes it.  Anyway, I was slightly less pleased with the performers at the second recital, but overall, the day went very well.  I wish I had pictures. I never have time to take any, but there is a DVD on the way, and hopefully some people will forward some to me (hint-hint!)

This volcano in Iceland, which has sent an ash cloud all over Europe, almost put a damper on my trip to London. I was very worried for a few days, but now flights have recommenced and barring any further eruptions, I should be okay to depart on Monday at 4:30pm.  I would be beyond disappointed if I didn't get to go. Yes, I would get my money back on the flight and can cancel my hotel without penalty, and I would lose the theatre tickets unless I could sell them, but the play closes the night before I leave and I would not get to see it if I rescheduled for later.

I'm incredibly anxious to do my research in England about where Jack comes from, and incorporate it into the book, because it's the last thing I have to do in order to start looking for an agent/publisher. That activity will begin when I return from my trip.  I have started on the second book and am about 77 pages into the first edit (out of about 235 pages). But I am in a section of that book that takes place in England as well, so that will take shape after my trip.

When I get back from England, my mom will be staying at my apartment (she gets off her ship in Long Beach next week and will come to my place to stay for a bit before she goes home to MN) and she has a new, pretty serious boyfriend who I am anxious to meet!  It will be very good to see her, as this last cruise was "Around the World" and she can really only call us in US ports, and she wasn't in any, so I've only talked to her on the phone once since December.

On the 9th, I got to play in a studio orchestra at Capitol Records for the day, on a film score for "With Great Power", which is a documentary about Stan Lee (the guy who created Spider-Man). It was a 100 piece orchestra, and it was very exciting!  This is a pic from that day.

On Easter, I went to San Diego to visit my oldest friend Barbie Virkus Smith and her husband Ben and kids, Greta & Wyatt. I haven't seen them since the kids were 3 or 4 and they're now 8 and 7. We went swimming in Mission Beach when I got there, then went back to their hotel (Catamaran) and spent the afternoon poolside, then went out to dinner. While we were at the pool, the 7.2 earthquake that hit Mexicali that day shook us up for about 45 seconds. It was the strongest earthquake I've ever felt and they live in MN, so it was their first earthquake. Ben was particularly freaked out, because he was in the hotel room on the 9th floor when it hit. We could see the building moving back and forth. Anyway, it was a great day with dear old friends and gave us lots to talk about!  Greta & Wyatt are two of the nicest, best kids I've ever met!

I continue to swim at the Y every weekday. I like swimming very much, but it has done nothing at all for my weight. I weigh exactly the same as when I started, even with the increase in vegetables and cutting sugar out of my diet. I don't get it.  Maybe the pituitary tumor is back.  I have no way of knowing, since I will not be eligible for health insurance until 2014.

Time to go to work.