Hiatus

I'm going to take a break from this blog thing. I'm not quitting; I just need a little time off. I'll still try to post plenty of pictures, but I think I need a break from the writing stuff. Sometimes what is consuming your mind can't really be written to the blogosphere, and you can't really focus on writing anything else...so...just a hiatus until everything gets back to normal.

My recital went really well; thanks to all your well wishes, and of course a huge thanks to everyone who came! I raised over $700, and had a blast performing. I just need about $500 more to reach my goal, so with maybe one more fundraiser and some begging I should be in good shape. I'll have a DVD of it soon. It'll be too big to post all of it, but I'll try to figure out how to post a part of it on You Tube...

Recital reminder!

Just a quick reminder that my recital is this coming Sunday (the 19th) at 2 PM at the Epworth-Euclid United Methodist Church (located on E. 107th and Chester).

I have SO many great raffle prizes, and the food afterwards promises to be awesome. And of course, with any luck, the flute playing won't be too bad either. :)

Hope to see you there!

I heart structure

But, maybe I'm just a bit too dependent at times.

I need a schedule; if there is a schedule, I follow it...almost to the point of excess...I can't stand to see something on a schedule of stuff I was supposed to do but didn't manage. That's why I can do this musician thing, and that's why I can do this triathlon thing.

Workouts that are scheduled happen a good 95% of the time. Practicing too...if I've made myself times when I'm definitely going to play that stupid piece o' metal, then it happens.

I teach that way too. My students know what to expect...they know exactly what to prepare, and they know exactly what I'm going to ask for...they even know the order that we're going to do things in their lesson. No surprises.

This works well for a lot of students, but not everyone. Some people get bored; hell, I get bored sometimes too. I guess my weird ability is to be able to push through that boredom and do it anyway because it's on the schedule so I have to do it.

I guess what I realized teaching yesterday is that sometimes you have to break out of that tunnel a bit in order to help other people. What works for me won't work for everyone else, and sometimes you really just have to be able to see the light...not even the light on the other side of the tunnel, but the light around the tunnel.

You have to be able to see the other methods of getting across the water...the bridges, the ferrys, even the freaking airplanes. You have to be able to examine all the alternate routes and then figure out which one is best. There might be traffic in the tunnel; there might be turbulence in the air...and so you have to jump on that ferry and get across.

So, I'm going to try to reinvent my teaching a little. Don't get me wrong...I still think structure is the way to go, for the most part. Kids need to understand what they are expected to accomplish. But, certain things will be different. Certain things will stray from that maybe-previously-too-important schedule.

And while I'm at it, maybe I'll try this a little for myself. Of course I'll still get all of my workouts in, but maybe things don't have to be exactly what my little 'to-do IronMan' list says. Maybe, at times, I need to find a different way across the water. Afterall, it's a big lake between here and France...

I'm RIDING in the rain...

50m! It's the furthest I've ever biked...and it was freaking pouring from mile 30 on to the end. Brian got a flat tire around 40 and didn't have a spare tube, so I flagged down a truck driver to get him a ride back. I realized shortly thereafter that not all truck drivers are cool and maybe just grabbing a random one wasn't the smartest thing in the world. But, all ended well and I even made it up the total bitch of a hill at the end of the ride.

I really enjoyed myself riding, which surprised me. I'm not usually a fan of the whole bike thing, honestly. I'm not all that great at it, and it just kind of hurts. But...today was fun. It was fun riding in a pack of people, and it just felt awesome to be outside. Coming back in the rain was even kind of nice, when I was able to ignore the fact that I was hungry and cold. (But I'm not going to complain about that, because no one likes a complainer...)

Backtrack to yesterday...

7m run in the morning (2m warm up with Kurt, and then the 5m St. Malachi Race)...it was a beautiful day outside and I had a nice relaxing run. I was a bandit at the race (breaking the law, breaking the law), and just ran it to get the miles in with people, and to cheer everyone else on. Bryce, Kurt, and Brian all ran kickass races...Bryce won 3rd in his age group, I believe. I ran part of the way with TriSaraTops, who unfortunately had a cramp, but ran a great race anyway (way to work through it, Sara!).

Then, I Sara and I rode from her house into the Rocky River Reservation, getting in about 22 miles. It was a great first outside ride, and it was nice to meet Sara's husband and her adorable pug.

So, it's been a pretty intense training weekend. I did decide something from it though...I'm definitely going to try to start splitting up my 'long' workouts. I know most people have to do both on the weekend because of time constraints, but since I don't...I think I'll try for a long run or bike on Wednesday or Thursday, and then do the other on one of the weekend days. That way my legs (hopefully) won't ever get to the totally depleted point where I have to take it too easy later on. Maybe it won't be the solution, but I'm going to try it for a while and see how it goes...

Oh, cool news! Phil got a road bike! It's a nice intro-level Trek (cool orange color!), and it'll be perfect for keeping me company on parts of my longer rides...and for just going out to enjoy ourselves too. I'm completely ecstatic he's going to start doing something athletic; I think he'll love riding...

That's about it with me. I've got to get some practicing in (recital in a week from today!) before I teach tonight...3 hours and 45 minutes...argh!

Pictures from the weekend to come soon...

Don't do it.

Don't run 5m just a half hour after eating way too much spaghetti and meatballs. Just don't...take my word on it...it's just a bad idea.

But, I did get two 5mile runs in today, which was kind of cool...I've never been a double-runner. I'll do 2 workouts in one day, but running twice? I guess it just never crosses my mind. Once I'm done, I'm done, you know? But, I kind of liked it today. It meant that my trainer time was nixed, but that's alright...this weekend is going to be awesome so I'll ride a lot then, and besides...when a friend offers to drive 20 minutes to run 5m with you...well, you take her up on it...

In other news, I managed to get some work taken care of...wrote my program notes for the recital and created the actual program...and even got some decent practicing in (not enough, but some). So, I'm calming down and the lady in curlers is taking a back burner for now. I'm glad, and I think everyone else is too...

The Range

I really can't stand the range of emotions I feel on a daily basis. I want some stability, just a little freaking bit of time when I don't go back and forth between being pseudo-depressed and obscenely elated.

And why can't I control these extremes? Why can't I say...you have nothing to be upset about...and...just calm down and do the things you need to do. It's like a freaking roller coaster in Curly-Su Land these days and I'm sick of it.

Little things shouldn't set me off, and I shouldn't get overwhelmed when I make a simple to-do list. Okay, being overwhelmed is natural...but being overwhelmed to the point of immobility and then sleeping the afternoon away is not normal or natural and it's got to stop.

So, I'm done with it. As a certain president once said, Return to Normalcy.

[Sidenote: Trivia bit for the day...anyone know whose campaign slogan that was? And, did you know that normalcy wasn't a word beforehand? The word is/was normality. Thanks, Mr. Pfefferkorn for teaching me the little things that really matter...]

So, now I'm going for a run so that I can cross that off my list. Then, I'm going to work on some stuff for my recital (who would have thought a simple fundraiser recital would turn into such an ordeal?)...and then perhaps I'll feel more in control and I'll be able to practice a bit. My problem tends to be that I can't concentrate in the practice room when I have a million other things that I need to take care of running through my head.

I tried keeping a marker board in the practice room to write down the things I needed to do...the idea being that after writing down what I was obsessing about, I could stop thinking about it until after I practiced...and that works, usually...but lately it's just been a whole new level of scatterbrained-ness. 10 minutes of practicing and I'm out of the room doing something else, and then all of a sudden I 'wake up' and realize what I'm doing and get all frustrated and berate myself and go back into my practice room and start to practice and everything is okay for about 10 more minutes and then the ridiculous cycle starts all over. ARGHHHHHHHHHHH!

Okay. Enough. Everyone has these times of inefficiency...right? And maybe it'll be like my practice room marker board...now that I've written it down, I'll be able to get things done without going through a complete range of emotions with every task. Cross your fingers for me, because right now...it's kind of obnoxious to be me, and I'm sorry to say it's probably even more obnoxious to be around me.

Track Workout!

Last night was the first time back at the track since fall...and I'm happy to report that I did pretty well. Despite still being slightly sore from Youngstown, I managed to run 800s in basically the same time I had been running in the fall...not quite as fast (about 5 seconds off), but as a starting place, I was pretty happy with it.

Coach Kurt and Bryce both couldn't come, so I got to lead the workout, which was just kind of funny....

"All right...Number 2...Ready......GO!"

hahahahahahahaha. It's not quite me, somehow...but I did get a kick out of doing it for an evening. Annie, Papa Louie, Michele, and Jeff all showed, and we had a good workout. Afterwards, I went to dinner with Annie, and Albert showed up to join us. It was Annie's birthday, so we enjoyed a nice evening making fun of each other...

I get so tired by 10pm lately. It's kind of lame...I want to be able to stay up and watch a movie with my boyfriend...and I have every intention of doing so. But then I get home and I'm just totally exhausted and it's all I can do to check my email and read a magazine before crashing. Today I don't have an evening activity planned, so hopefully I'll be able to get some 'chill-time' in.

Yesterday I had a rehearsal with Lorenzo (my pianist) for the recital. (It's only a week and a half away--ack!) The rehearsal went pretty well...he's so much fun to play with. I'm lucky he's willing to play with me! It's sometimes hard to find talented, agreeable people in the musician world...

Baruch with her 'I'm a girl!' outfit on (pink bandana and hair clips...she likes it, amazingly. We went on a walk and she was prancing around looking for people to show...

the side view of Baruch!

And finishing her turn on the runway...

Cross Your Fingers...

But, I think the weather may finally be changing for the better...which is DEFINITELY a good thing because I'm due for a 40m bike ride this weekend and the thought of attempting that on a trainer is more than a little nauseating...the forcast is predicting 50 and 60 degree weather this weekend...I've almost forgotten what that feels like!

I guess I don't have that much to say today.

I just wrote this long synopsis of my RPE during the Youngstown Half (thanks, Bolder!), but decided it was a bunch of crap and erased it. So, you're spared my ramblings for today...

Youngstown Half Marathon

Okay, so you know the course is hilly, right? And you know you haven't ran more than 8m at a time since the last half marathon you did...

So why didn't you get out the weekend before and do at least a 10 mile run? Hmmmm...Honestly, I didn't even think about it. It wasn't on my 'schedule', and so it therefore didn't enter my thought process.

The whole 'you haven't done anywhere near this distance in a month' didn't come into my mind until about 5 minutes before the start...that's when I thought...'Damn, you should have gone out for a longer run.'

But! I guess in a way it's kind of cool...it means that a half marathon distance isn't that big of a deal in my brain anymore. I kind of think of it as something I can just 'do' without a problem.

Yeah, so this Youngstown Half Marathon? VERY HILLY! Really, there was only a tiny bit of flat area, and it wasn't all at once...hills the whole time, and they weren't just rolling hills either...we're talking some serious incline here. There was even one turn that
they marked with a big sign saying 'HILL!'. Yeah, I knew it was a hill. The people in front of me weren't 'in front of me'...they were above me. Somehow, I don't think the sign was necessary...

But, I ran it with Janet, and had a great time. We were a good match for each other...she pushed me on the hills, though. I definitely would have slowed down WAY more if it weren't for her...

I ended up finishing just under 2 hours (1:59:34), which I was pretty happy about. At the spring classic next month, I'm going to try to beat my last PR (1:54:08 or something like that), but Youngstown was such a hilly course...I was just happy to get a good Wildflower training run in, and of course it was nice to come in under 2 hours.

Today, I've got to go out for a recovery run...blech, that's going to hurt.

Hope everyone else's races went well this weekend!

Oh, and the sad news of the weekend is that my cousin didn't win Best Actor...but it was still pretty damn cool to see him there.

2 tickets, and I've got the best mom.

I was freaking out about the cost of plane tickets to Nice for this Ironman...I had planned on $500-600, but when I re-priced the ticket a couple of days ago, the cheapest price was $970...mild panic attack insued. I'm just planning on spending some savings on this trip and not worrying about every little penny, but $400 is a lot of money, and it flipped me out.

Then...my mom, out of nowhere, offered me her frequent flyer miles. So, I got the ticket for $89 (had to pay for international taxes). Pretty awesome, eh? Thanks mom, for being so supportive of this crazy thing I'm doing.

Here's the plan...One week in Nice (arriving the Wednesday before the race, so plenty of time to get adjusted to the time change and new environment), then one week in Rome, and then a week and a half visiting my aunt in England. My aunt lives in the country-side of England, but it's just a train ride from London, and a short ferry to Paris. So, I'll have plenty to explore.

I'm so excited. I've been to Europe once before, but I was 13 years old, and admittedly quite obnoxious, and although I have good memories of the trip, I'm definitely looking forward to being able to do this as an adult. It'll be a perfect 'pre-going-back-to-school-for-3-years-to-get-a-Doctorate' escape.

I went to 2 hours and 20 minutes of spinning this morning, and worked my ass off. Every time I was tempted to lower the resistance, I pictured the damn mountain I'm going to have to climb up in Nice and instead raised the intensity.

Maybe such a hardcore workout wasn't a great idea considering the hilly half marathon I'm doing tomorrow, but it's all right...I'm just going to the race to have fun and train on some hills...no PRs expected, which is actually kind of nice. Less pressure that way, and I'll be able to just enjoy the run; I've heard it's beautiful.

So, on to the other ticket...I'm going home for Festival International, finally! Festival International is a huge Francophone (French speaking) festival that goes on every year in Lafayette, LA at the end of April. It's really pretty amazing. French speaking countries from all over the world send dancers, musicians, artists, and chefs and the whole downtown of Lafayette, LA turns into a big extravaganza with SO much to see. I almost prefer it to Mardi Gras, if you can believe that. I've been wanting to go back every year, but it never worked out with school (it was always right before finals). So, since I'm not in school this year, I decided to make sure I could get back. Plus, it happens to be the 20th anniversary of the festival, so it should be extra-extraordinary this time around. I'm flying into New Orleans, which is a semi-pain for my parents (about a 2 hour drive), but I got a decent ticket, and I'm able to stay from Wednesday-Sunday (April 26-30) without missing much teaching-wise. Pretty cool, don't you think?

AND (just one more piece of news)...I found out yesterday that I got a pretty great scholarship from Rutger's. I'm still waiting to hear from Yale, but it's looking increasingly like Rutger's is going to be the more logical choice. I'm not sure how I feel about the whole thing...I'm excited somewhere, but forefront in my emotions is a bit of fear towards having to adjust to something so completely different. But, I've managed before, and so of course I'll manage again. It'll build character, right?

So, with all that going on, and the finalization of my recital (March 19!), I've had a hectic few days. Everything seems to be working out well though, so as soon as we can get some freaking warm weather so I can ride outside (spinning classes and the stupid trainer are getting old), I'll be good to go!

RECITAL PLANNED!

Finally, a date and location!

I'm having a Fundraising/Farewell Recital on Sunday, March 19 at 2 pm at the Epworth Euclid Church (1919 E. 107th St., just off of Chester, near Euclid).

If you're in the Cleveland area, please come! I'm working on a digital video, so perhaps I'll be able to post it for those of you who don't live around here...

I'm going to be playing with an AMAZING pianist...we'll be playing a variety of different music, including Mozart, Poulenc, Dutilleux, and Bozza.

There will be a reception afterwards, courtesy of Chef Phil, and there will also be a raffle to be perused during intermission, with the drawing during the reception. I already have some jewlrey, a 6 month gym membership, and of course the 50/50 cash prize. Any other suggestions for the raffle prizes?

Donations will be accepted at the door ($10/person suggested) and raffle tickets will be sold for $5 each, or 3 for $10.

Come to help prove that 'Concerts Cure Cancer', and be there for my last Cleveland solo performance. Mark your calendars now, and expect many more reminders. Looking forward to seeing you there!

No More Curls...

My hair is straight today, and I don't feel like myself.

I woke up and it wasn't curly...at all. Just straight, and it's because I let it dry in a bun, but still...it threw me off.

It's not just the straight hair...I've been off balance lately because of an unsaid disagreement with a friend. You know that feeling? When your chest hurts and you feel like you're in middle school again?

Well, I'm a little ashamed to say...she took the initiative and brought things up. It definitely wasn't pleasant...but we worked it out. Or, we're in the process of working it out. Things aren't perfect, but nothing is, right? We both got some things said that we'd probably been harboring for too long.

And so I learned some things. For one, it's good to be able to talk things out. I've always been of the persuasion that if you can just overlook things that bother you and not make a big deal out of them, then you'll be the bigger person. But, I realized that sometimes you can criticize without things blowing up...and perhaps both learn from what the other has to say.



So, no more secrets. Liz, thanks for being a great friend. Here's to lots more runs, bike rides, and (more importantly!) coffee shop talks together.

The Tradition of King Cakes

The Mardi Gras season offically begins on the Twelfth Night of Christmas, or January 6th, known to Christians as the Epiphany, or Little Christmas. Since the third century, the Epiphany has been observed as the day the Three Wise Men finally found the infant Jesus. King Cakes; therefore, were initiated to celebrate this holy day and a small baby doll is placed in each cake as a symbol of "Finding the Baby Jesus."

King Cakes are oval shaped and decorated in carnical colors of green, yellow, and purple. As the cake is cut, each person looks to see if his piece contains the small baby. The person who finds the baby brings the King Cake to the next celebration.

Start this tradition in your home, class, or office. No Mardi Gras season is complete without a King Cake from Meche's Donut King. King Cake season ends on Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday.

--from the King Cake box

While writing this, I realized how I grew up in such a Christian based culture. I always knew what King Cake and Mardi Gras symbolized, but it just seemed so much a part of 'the way things were', that I never questioned my taking part in all of the festivities, despite being Jewish. The Mardi Gras celebration is such a part of the culture in southern Louisiana; I'm so glad I got to inherit some of that richness. If you have the chance, go down there some year and experience it...and don't just go to New Orleans. Mardi Gras in New Orleans is a spectacle and it's amazing to see, but the uncommercialized rural areas are even more fantastic. You get to chase a chicken around in costumes; you see policemen and other public officials running around like crazy-men; and the beads...you get SO many of them...

the KING CAKE finally came!!!!

KING CAKE!!!!

Jojo got the baby!

Ta dancing while cutting the cake

Baruch with a Mardi Gras necklace

Ta dancing with King Cake

Baruch asking for some King Cake

You might not be able to see it, but Ta is about to eat a bite with the little baby in it...

Jill

Jojo and my Valentine's Day flowers (they're STILL pretty!)