20 November 2010
It shook out their hearts, the yellow leaves
More opportunities have been presenting themselves and I'm planning to take them on. It's a good feeling. They distract me from my more pressing work, but they also remind me of why I'm in this. The weather has been just beautiful. My bread turned out right (almost) for the first time. I'll be home in just a few days and I cannot wait. It's funny how little it feels like November. I remember that poem I wrote in Mr. Begley's freshman lit class about how I was the only one I knew who liked November. It's true, although I think I could get used to this one.
07 November 2010
New World
This past week was quite busy and hectic, which has proven to be standard for this semester, and for more than a few moments I was quite convinced that I wouldn't make it. But I did. And it turned out to be quite better than anticipated and restored a good bit of my self-confidence.
Monday was the deadline for my DAAD application and through several errors on my end, I realized I was missing key components of the application just a few days before it was due. Thankfully I learned I could have a little more faith in others and a little more faith in myself and I managed to have everything completed in the time. Whew. It felt good to be done with it and good, too, that I put together something that I think is actually viable.
However, because I had been overly ambitious and decided to present a paper for the grad students on Friday, it meant I didn't really get to relax. It wasn't a paper I was particularly excited about. Well, that's not true. It wasn't something I was particularly about presenting. But I think the reception of it was decent and there were good comments and suggestions. I at least didn't puke on anyone.
And then something really exciting happened. The abstract I submitted to a conference on the philosophy of play was accepted. I am more than stoked. Working on my DAAD application really crystallized that this is, in fact, the direction I want to go and the chance to go this conference (in England!) sealed the deal. Well, perhaps that's premature, but for now I'm stoked.
Andrew's birthday isn't until December, but I wanted to get him tickets to the symphony and couldn't pass up the opportunity to see Itzhak Perlman play and conduct, so his birthday present ended up being about a month early. We made a pretty delicious beforehand. I got some tenderloin steaks and made the port sauce for them that I'd used on the roasts for Christmas and New Year's last year. It made me awfully, awfully homesick but it was worth it. We also made some scalloped potatoes and dates stuffed with goat cheese and wrapped in prosciutto. Talk about rich! And, you know, for a light dessert I'd made peanut butter bars that were basically extra-fudgey brownies topped with peanut butter frosting and chocolate ganache. I couldn't handle more than a bite, but Andrew and Sam went to town on them. The symphony itself was quite wonderful. We had good seats and the performance was fantastic. Perlman's playing is so easy and so lovely, plus he was wearing a suit with polka dots on it while also playing and conducting at the same time. And he got a standing ovation at the intermission! I've never seen that before. The second half was Dvorak's "New World Symphony" and most likely one of the best performances I've heard of it. The only thing is that the Mozart was pretty forgettable after the Dvorak, but that's not to say it was bad. Perlman came back on stage thrice at the end. Impressive. My third date with Andrew was to the symphony, where we saw Dvorak's 8th symphony performed, so I was tickled to be coming back to see the 9th. Then we ended up at the bar where we'd had our first date. It was just all around such a pleasant evening and filled with my favorite things and so much fun to spend the evening out with Andrew. I'm pretty sure he liked it, too. And this picture really cracks me up.
Monday was the deadline for my DAAD application and through several errors on my end, I realized I was missing key components of the application just a few days before it was due. Thankfully I learned I could have a little more faith in others and a little more faith in myself and I managed to have everything completed in the time. Whew. It felt good to be done with it and good, too, that I put together something that I think is actually viable.
However, because I had been overly ambitious and decided to present a paper for the grad students on Friday, it meant I didn't really get to relax. It wasn't a paper I was particularly excited about. Well, that's not true. It wasn't something I was particularly about presenting. But I think the reception of it was decent and there were good comments and suggestions. I at least didn't puke on anyone.
And then something really exciting happened. The abstract I submitted to a conference on the philosophy of play was accepted. I am more than stoked. Working on my DAAD application really crystallized that this is, in fact, the direction I want to go and the chance to go this conference (in England!) sealed the deal. Well, perhaps that's premature, but for now I'm stoked.
Andrew's birthday isn't until December, but I wanted to get him tickets to the symphony and couldn't pass up the opportunity to see Itzhak Perlman play and conduct, so his birthday present ended up being about a month early. We made a pretty delicious beforehand. I got some tenderloin steaks and made the port sauce for them that I'd used on the roasts for Christmas and New Year's last year. It made me awfully, awfully homesick but it was worth it. We also made some scalloped potatoes and dates stuffed with goat cheese and wrapped in prosciutto. Talk about rich! And, you know, for a light dessert I'd made peanut butter bars that were basically extra-fudgey brownies topped with peanut butter frosting and chocolate ganache. I couldn't handle more than a bite, but Andrew and Sam went to town on them. The symphony itself was quite wonderful. We had good seats and the performance was fantastic. Perlman's playing is so easy and so lovely, plus he was wearing a suit with polka dots on it while also playing and conducting at the same time. And he got a standing ovation at the intermission! I've never seen that before. The second half was Dvorak's "New World Symphony" and most likely one of the best performances I've heard of it. The only thing is that the Mozart was pretty forgettable after the Dvorak, but that's not to say it was bad. Perlman came back on stage thrice at the end. Impressive. My third date with Andrew was to the symphony, where we saw Dvorak's 8th symphony performed, so I was tickled to be coming back to see the 9th. Then we ended up at the bar where we'd had our first date. It was just all around such a pleasant evening and filled with my favorite things and so much fun to spend the evening out with Andrew. I'm pretty sure he liked it, too. And this picture really cracks me up.
I started listening to Christmas music today. I couldn't help myself. I'm homesick and it's finally cold here and I really love Christmas! I haven't been home since June, so I'm more than a little over eager. Eee! I broke down and bought sourdough starter from King Arthur since mine never quite worked, so I hope to be baking more bread now. November is typically a rough month for school, but if the semester hasn't broken my spirit yet, it doesn't stand a chance now. Here's hoping!
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