Today marks the beginning of finals week at Cornell. Rob has been teaching a "physics for engineers" class this semester (he and 1 other are assisting the class' main lecturer by running the lab sections and writing and grading all the homework, quizzes and exams) and is rather busy this week getting his questions for the exam ready and making sure all 420-some-odd students make it to the field house for the final tonight. While he's away at school I've been hanging around his apartment practicing, thinking about whipping up a batch of oatmeal carmelitas (mmmmm!) and nursing a bout of debilitating cramps. I might have considered a neighborhood stroll--Rob's complex is tucked back into a cute and walkable woodsy area (its appearance reminds me of summer-camp dormitory) offering spare but lovely winter vistas and an occasional deer sighting--but the relatively high temps we had yesterday that brought us a mild rain instead of snow have been replaced by a bone-piercing chill that is more typical of December in this region.
I found out this morning that I was one of 6 players who made it into Charlie's trumpet excerpt class for winter quarter. A week ago we had our second quarterly "pool audition" and though I had diligently prepared as much as I was able, the audition excerpts (which included a crazy high note in Strauss' "Der Rosenkavalier" and the gigue from Bach's Orchestral Suite: a picc part with a fair number of high Fs) were quite challenging for me. After playing what I felt was a decent, but far from stellar audition, I'd pretty much resigned myself to the idea that I'd miss out on excerpt class this quarter. With the news of my acceptance, I'll soon be gearing up for another busy semester with a lot of new rep to tackle.
Ok...the thought of fresh carmelitas is now simply impossible to resist! Maybe I'll be back in a little while to share my favorite cookie recipe with you.
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