After a Long Hiatus...

I have decided, in light of New Year's resolutions being made everywhere, or should I say broken, as we are already a week into the new year with plenty of time for slipping and failing to have happened, to start writing more regularly in my blog.

There are a couple reasons I stopped:
1) My life is boring now.
2) I'm afraid to accept the fact that my life is boring by writing about it.

But, after hearing different people say they've stopped by my unattended little weblog and have wondered where the new posts are, and with my own desire to start writing again, I will indeed try to sit down and type an update a bit more often. Feel free to leave comments, too, as they help me know that someone is indeed reading. I promise to respond to every comment from now on, too!

So what's been going on in these last few months since I've made the move from ever-exciting Berlin back to...well, less-exciting Smalltown, Iowa?
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1). I've been playing in the local symphony.

After returning home in mid-Sept. (originally planned for end of Sept.) to play 3rd oboe as a substitute in the local symphony (from which the check helped pay my flight), and in a matter of strange but fateful events, I was asked to play the following concert on principal oboe in October. After that I was asked to play the November concert, plus all the December concerts, including 'The Nutcracker', all principal oboe.

Now, how long will this last? I really don't know. But after our last Christmas concert the assistant conductor asked if I'd be here this year, and I said as far as I knew, I would. (Read: No full-time job yet anywhere else yet!) The personnel manager also has given me first part for 'Peter and the Wolf' for our concert in February. I assume there will be an audition at some point for principal chair, as it is a union orchestra. But since the main conductor is always off conducting around the world, I don't think anyone is sure of anything yet.

I am happy and feel truly blessed to have been offered this position, if not officially. It's been excellent to play again on a semi-regular basis (orchestral playing in Berlin came way too seldom). It's also been a great chance to not only meet many of the other local musicians, teachers, some of whom I did know from growing up in the area, but also to play with them.

And what an encouraging group of people with positive attitudes! It's quite different from the cut-throat feel of the orchestras I played with in Berlin, with the exception of the projects I did with some of the orchestras outside the conservatory. While it is perhaps not as musically challenging or demanding as in Berlin because the level isn't as high, this experience is really helping me to build my confidence in playing back up, not to mention having the chance to play some great literature.

Along with this has come the opportunity for a series of school concerts. Some of us woodwinds will be playing our parts of 'Peter and the Wolf' as well as little solo/duo excerpts demonstrating our instruments. Those concerts will be happening soon. I'm looking forward to it!
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2). I flew to Florida in October for an audition with the Fl. Symphony.

After much contemplation about potentially throwing yet more money out the window for a fruitless audition, I decided to go ahead and use my carefully- collected frequent flyer miles from all those international flights to purchase a ticket and try my luck one final time in an audition for which I would have to spend a lot of money. It ended up only working out, both with frequent flyer seats available and audition dates, to fly out on a Saturday and fly back on the following Tuesday. The audition was on Monday, so that meant Sunday was free for some sight-seeing/beach dwelling.

I got into Tampa quite late Saturday night and picked up my rental car (a really cool Dodge Caliber...who thought a "grocery getter" could be so hip?). After turning on the air conditioner to battle the unfamiliar muggy conditions, I drove from Tampa into St. Petersburg to my nice little hotel. Oh wait, did I write hotel? I mean, motel. And not that nice. Certainly not like the deceiving picture from their internet site, anyway.

I found my room by stepping over the puddles of green ooze leaking down the side of the building onto the sidewalk from the air conditioner boxes, put the key in the lock and pushed open the door. I turned on the half-glowing fluorescent light to reveal a dirty little trap of a room with stained carpet, high ceilings perfect for bats to hang from, and a gross bed with a comforter that looked like it hadn't been washed since the late 70s. I took a deep breath and surrendered myself to my new home for the next 3 days, just making sure to keep my shower shoes on at all times.

Just then I was jolted by the sounds of a very loud voices ripe for a party right outside my door, leading to the ominous, dark parking lot which seemed perfect for drug dealing. I heard what sounded like a group of trouble-hungry guys and a cackling girl escort and didn't even want to begin to imagine what they would do to me if they broke down my dead-bolted door in a drunken (or drugged-up) fit of rage or simply a mean joke. I played it safe by pulling the desk chair in front of the door so it would at least act as a tripping device for the one who decided to break and enter.

Luckily the party didn't last all night, and my runaway imagination and I slept fine in my gigantic, icky bed, where I woke up to a much happier looking, sunny Florida. After breakfast, I asked the hotel clerk if I would be allowed to practice in the breakfast room where I proceeded to prepare for my audition and make sure my reeds were in working order. After that I grabbed my beach things, my map, and headed out for a day of exploration and relaxation.

I drove an hour along the coastal villages en route from St. Petersburg to Clearwater Beach. I was definitely in America, as marketers didn't miss a beat advertising all the surf shops, Mexican and shrimp restaurants all along the way. It was also a continuous blur of pastels as all the buildings I passed were either pale peach, pale pink, or pale green. Definitely a sweet haven for a retired couple wearing matching pastel cotton shirts and straw hats. The massive condos blocked the view of the water most of the way, but by the time I made it to Clearwater, grabbed a sandwich from Subway, and found a parking spot in a public lot, the view was unmistakable. And breathtaking.

I had flown from rainy, cool Iowa to this paradise. I was going to sit on the beach without a beach towel (I didn't want the extra bulk in my baggage), in my 6-yr. old bikini (who cares - when do I ever use it anyway?), with my sandwich (I hope no one noticed all the seagulls which have seemed to all flock around me eyeing my grilled chicken sub and cawing loudly), and admire the gorgeous blue waves. Who cares if I was sitting by myself among the masses of other beach-goers? This was truly a vacation.

No sooner had I finished my sandwich when a public beach chair with an umbrella freed up and I ran to stake my claim. I settled in to my new nest and couldn't believe what I was experiencing. The last time I sat on a beach was....I guess in Florida after my senior year of high school on our band trip. And before that a family trip to visit relatives in California at the age of 16. So, here I was, going to enjoy my time, not thinking about the audition the next day in the slightest. And I did, until the beach clean-up crew rudely interrupted my daydreaming by stealing my chair and umbrella to throw into the back of their big truck for the evening.

I gathered my few belongings and headed back to my car, sandy but fulfilled. As I drove back into St. Petersburg, admiring the sunset, I decided to pull off at a state park to relish in the evening a little more. I found a little path, complete with a little bridge and an exotic bird resting on the edge, but the path stopped short, offering only some coarse grass to continue around the pond.

I finally made my way through a Mexican children's birthday party at the neighboring picnic shelter, complete with two huge blow up jumping tents and a loud generator, over to the swinging bench near the water I'd been eyeing. How glorious to smell the evening air. Wait. Is that a "Beware of crocodiles" sign right in front of me? Are all those little air bubbles in the water coming from a reptile I don't necessarily want to see up close? I decided not to find out and headed back to the car, wondering if the Mexican parents had been concerned about the safety of their kids or if it was simply like a petting zoo experience for them.

Needless to say, the next day I had my audition, which actually went quite well. Not perfect, but a far cry from the auditions preceding it. Of course, I didn't advance to the next round just as I had predicted, so I spent the rest of my day walking along the promenade along Tampa Bay in downtown St. Petersburg and exploring the quaint downtown business district before flying home on Tuesday.

An experience, I must say. And worlds apart from the traveling I'd been used to living in Europe. I do admit, I was a little nervous about navigating around in a rental car and a map by myself as opposed to reading a train or bus schedule. Or staying in some remote motel as opposed to a bustling youth hostel or at friends' places I've been lucky enough to have around Germany. But it all worked out well and I'm happy to say the the car and I were both returned home in one piece, with no scratches.

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Current Event: Have you seen THIS in the news? This is a friend of mine, Sarah, from church youth group in high school and her husband, Darren! I just saw Sarah and Darren over Christmas and again last weekend. I can't believe this happened to them! They've even made national news, being interviewed on Good Morning America, etc. Thank God they are safe!