I apologize for being a complete blog slacker! Between moving into a bigger, cheaper apartment in a ritzier area, audition season at work, a full schedule of orchestra gigs, grad school, and ushering (my part time job), I have been SWAMPED.
Here are some updates on my life:
I'm so grateful to be working in education, a field where we're not expected to have any staff layoffs. Even though work has been really busy, I love my job and I am really happy at Juilliard. I feel so lucky not to have to worry about the economy. My boyfriend, Eric, is still looking for a job and his struggle is really difficult to watch. He has a Master's degree and graduated suma cum laude from a prestigious school. He is an intelligent, personable guy with a lot going for him but with no government funding, there seems to be no room for any additional Environmental Scientists. I've got my fingers crossed for him - hopefully things will turn around soon.
A little about my new apartment... it is on 72nd street between 1st and York and I LOVE IT. It's a second floor walk up studio with a separate kitchen in a super cute, very clean building. The super lives accross the hall and keeps the building in top condition. My apartment has new appliances, hardwood floors, a dishwasher, 3 closets, 4 windows and is cheaper than my old studio (for those of you who live in NYC, you know that this is a rare find). My neighborhood is full of yuppies who carry around miniature dogs, leave their kids with the nanny, spend their days getting Botox at the salon, and hold $30,000 bags in their freshly manicured hands. How the heck can I afford to live here? ...I think I'm liking the recession.
As far as grad school goes, it is flying by - I can't believe I'm half way through my second semester already! I have declared my concentration as Arts Management :) So in the spring of 2011 I'll have graduated with a Master of Science in Nonprofit Management with a concentration in Arts Management - what a mouthful!
I start rehearsing for Beethoven's 9th next week and have been squeezing practice time into my already crazy schedule. Hopefully by our performance in May, I'll be owning the 4th horn solo.
My 24th Birthday is right around the corner. I'll be celebrating next weekend in DC - Eric is taking me to the Cherry Blossom Festival and is showing me around the city where he went to college. He's planned a romantic weekend birthday getaway and I can't wait :)
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
Hitting the ground running in '09
So it's been an interesting start to audition season at my job...here is a small selections of stories that will give you a glimpse into my life as an admissions counselor at a music school:
On an evening of auditions last week, a nervous bassoonist pulled up his music stand a bit too quickly and ended up hitting himself in the mouth. In the fight of the musician v. the music stand, the music stand won. The poor out-of-town applicant had to be taken to the hospital. 5 stitches, 2 nervous parents, and an incident report later, he was prepared to attend his audition the next day. What a trooper. (I really hope maintenance found the bloody music stand and cleaned up that mess).
During a busy audition day last weekend, a one-legged bird managed to sneak his way into an audition room. A work-study had to coax him out with a muffin and lock him in another room until we figured out how to get him safely out of the building. Unfortunately, shortly after, he died and maintenance staff had to be called to remove him...which they did...2 days later.
The next day a girl from Korea was rehearsing with her accompanist and somehow managed to drop her cell phone into a piano. After 2 hours, we were still unable to retrieve the phone from under the strings of the Steinway. It took 24 hours and a very skilled piano tuner to remove the phone and return it to the applicant in one piece. (Good thing she didn't leave for Korea earlier!)
Needless to say, it has been an interesting start to audition season. Hopefully this was the extent of the weirdness that will take place during the 2009 audition period.
::crossing my fingers::
On an evening of auditions last week, a nervous bassoonist pulled up his music stand a bit too quickly and ended up hitting himself in the mouth. In the fight of the musician v. the music stand, the music stand won. The poor out-of-town applicant had to be taken to the hospital. 5 stitches, 2 nervous parents, and an incident report later, he was prepared to attend his audition the next day. What a trooper. (I really hope maintenance found the bloody music stand and cleaned up that mess).
During a busy audition day last weekend, a one-legged bird managed to sneak his way into an audition room. A work-study had to coax him out with a muffin and lock him in another room until we figured out how to get him safely out of the building. Unfortunately, shortly after, he died and maintenance staff had to be called to remove him...which they did...2 days later.
The next day a girl from Korea was rehearsing with her accompanist and somehow managed to drop her cell phone into a piano. After 2 hours, we were still unable to retrieve the phone from under the strings of the Steinway. It took 24 hours and a very skilled piano tuner to remove the phone and return it to the applicant in one piece. (Good thing she didn't leave for Korea earlier!)
Needless to say, it has been an interesting start to audition season. Hopefully this was the extent of the weirdness that will take place during the 2009 audition period.
::crossing my fingers::
Saturday, December 20, 2008
It's Christmas time in the City
Christmas is just around the corner and New York is amazing....the huge tree at Rockefeller Center, the amazing store window displays, snow on the ground....it's definitely feeling like the holiday season.
I'm still not done with the semester -just 1 paper, 1 project, and 1 final left to go! I can't believe my last final is on the 23rd fromm 6-10pm. The Grinch definitely stole Christmas this year. Grad school has been a lot more work than I had planned for. Somehow I didn't account for the great volume of work, the long hours in the SPSS lab, the 30 page papers, and the tons of research that comes with a Master's degree. Now that I've gotten it down I'm ready to tackle next semester head on! I've been a little out of touch and overwhelmed lately but hopefully with one less day of classes next semester, things will be less stressful.
There are so many great holiday memories I love to look back on during this time of year.
-dancing around the menorah with my dad singing Hanukkah songs
-opening presents with my brother
-cooking delicious Italian fish dinner with my mom
-the L5 Christmas with my best girlfriends
I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday with their family and that they enjoy their break from work/school/the daily grind.
Merry Christmas!!!!
I'm still not done with the semester -just 1 paper, 1 project, and 1 final left to go! I can't believe my last final is on the 23rd fromm 6-10pm. The Grinch definitely stole Christmas this year. Grad school has been a lot more work than I had planned for. Somehow I didn't account for the great volume of work, the long hours in the SPSS lab, the 30 page papers, and the tons of research that comes with a Master's degree. Now that I've gotten it down I'm ready to tackle next semester head on! I've been a little out of touch and overwhelmed lately but hopefully with one less day of classes next semester, things will be less stressful.
There are so many great holiday memories I love to look back on during this time of year.
-dancing around the menorah with my dad singing Hanukkah songs
-opening presents with my brother
-cooking delicious Italian fish dinner with my mom
-the L5 Christmas with my best girlfriends
I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday with their family and that they enjoy their break from work/school/the daily grind.
Merry Christmas!!!!
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