summer update

I know I haven't really posted anything for a long time, so I thought I would post an update about everything that has been going on in my life! In no particular order, here are some things I have been thinking about, doing, looking forward to, etc:

Jenna and Joe are moving here in two months! I am beyond excited to have family here in Denton, and it's been 10 years since I lived in the same town as my sister. We have always been close, and I am looking forward to sharing lots of meals, sister time, CSA produce, bike rides, and who knows what else? I think they will really like it here in Denton, and while we may not be living here much longer than a year or two, if we get jobs elsewhere, it is going to be really fun while it lasts.

I'm going to Virginia tomorrow to visit my dad's family! I haven't been out there for three years or so, and although I have seen various relatives at weddings and such, I have been really wanting to get back out there to Virginia. I haven't even seen where my grandparents live since they moved into a retirement community, and one of my biggest regrets is that I have not gotten to know them and my aunts, uncles, and cousins better. My grandparents are getting older, and while we never know how much time we have on this earth, I know that they are probably reaching the end of theirs soon. I hope that while I only have two days there, I can make the most of it by renewing these relationships and spending some quality time with everyone.

My semester and really, my entire year was insanely busy, as I believe I mentioned in my post entitled "busy." But you don't want to hear about that. Now, I am having lots of fun crossing things off to-do lists. As an enthusiastic list-maker, I have worked out a system. I have a master to-do list that has been very neglected, and each week I have been pulling a few things off that along with other tasks for the week, and very neurotically assigning them days on which I will do the tasks. These range from "call Amy," which I have been attempting to do for weeks, to "file sheet music," which has been collecting in a pile since January, to "update vita," (those of you who know what a vita is know why I have been putting this off), to "health ins receipts," which is short for "get those receipts from prescriptions you bought for the past year and figure out if the health insurance will pay for them and then send them off to wherever they need to go." I also have a list of clarinet/career related goals for the summer which involve submitting a program to the clarinet festival in Austin next summer, creating a personal website with sound clips and all, and doing preliminary research for my dissertation. So as you can see, I have more than enough to do this summer and I'm glad to finally have some time to attempt it all. And my lists help give me direction, and it is oh so satisfying to cross things off!

My less-ambitious activities include beating Paper Mario (check) and Zelda: Windwaker (just started), cooking, catching up with friends, drinking, dinner parties, reading whatever I feel like reading, and hopefully going up to lake Ray Roberts a couple times with friends.

In a couple weeks we're also going to Utah for Greg's grandpa's 90th birthday celebration!

My mom and Kate came for a visit last week and it was awesome! We spent a whole day in Fort Worth, a whole day in Dallas, and time in Denton too. We even went to see Bonnie 'Prince' Billy in Dallas where the picture below was taken by the Dallas Observer and put online!



I've been playing in a band in which I wear a ridiculous wig and play amplified bass clarinet. We play classical greatest hits with a twist, and new stuff, and we're nominated for a Dallas Observer music award!



So that's pretty much it. Oh, and it's hot here. Really hot. Just how I like it.