summer break

Wow, I finally have some on my hands (maybe a little too much time), so I may as well update.

Year 1 is over. It totally flew by, probably because I'm on the quarter system. Each quarter is ten weeks long, so we do three terms in the length of two semesters (and take summer quarter off). I like that time goes by faster, but when it gets to the end of the term, I always wish I had more time to write papers. I think ten weeks just isn't enough time to do justice to topics like African rhythms or Bartok's Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion. Oh well, I guess that's what theses and dissertations are for.

My impression of grad school so far: lots of reading, lots of waxing intellectual (or not) over rounds of beer, lots of writing papers. And lots of stupid jokes that nobody outside the field would understand. I think that pretty much sums it up.

Lots has happened over the past year, and I've changed a lot. I think I'll leave it at that.

Next year should be pretty cool. I'm living with a couple of roommates now, which is more fun, and my rent is much cheaper. Also, I'm in a WAY nicer neighborhood (no more crazies) and I'm a lot closer to school and everything else. I got a TA-ship for next year - only for one quarter, but that's better than no quarters. I'm excited to teach.

Now I'm in summer mode, which is strange. I've never spent a summer away from home. That makes it sound like I'm lonely, but that's not the case. I love it here - there are plenty of things to do, and I've got some good friends here. If the weather would just cooperate, it would be really nice. The only thing that kind of sucks right now is that I need to get a second job or something, because I feel kind of like a lazy bum.

Speaking of jobs, I just got one! I'll be working with a wedding photography studio. I'm not actually employed by the studio - their photographers all work on a contract basis. So it's like working gigs, not a regular job. That suits me just fine. I have five weddings lined up so far this summer. I did a test shoot with them (so I basically shadowed a couple of their photographers) and it was so much fun. Everyone is always so happy at weddings. The only thing I'm worried about is how my ankle will hold up. Wedding photography = lots of time spent on your feet. You can't really take regular breaks because you might miss something. I'll always be working with one or two other photographers, and I think I'll just have to tell them that I need to sit every now and then and take a break. It's embarrassing in this field to need to take time out, and I'm hoping I don't get harangued by any bridezillas for not taking photos 100% of the time I'm there. But in the end it's my paycheck, and I'm not the only photographer there, so I'm just going to have to take some breaks if I'm feeling too sore.

Speaking of my ankle, it looks like I won't be having surgery this summer after all. I went to the ankle doc today because my cortisone injection wore off. Did I mention I had another injection? I don't remember. Okay let me back up. I've been going to the doc fairly regularly since February or so because my ankle pain suddenly got a lot worse. He's had me trying lots of things - anti-inflammatories (which irritate my stomach so I had to give them up), an ankle brace, custom insoles, a cortisone injection, etc. I had a cortisone injection previously (maybe November) in the joint between my heel and my ankle bone. I didn't feel any difference from that one. So a couple of months ago my doc gave me another injection, this one in the joint between my ankle bone and shin bone. I told him I just needed something to get me through spring quarter, since I would be on my feet a lot playing percussion. This time the injection seemed to do the trick - it was far from perfect, but I could stand long enough to do what I needed to do.

So anyway, the injection wore off, which they have a tendency to do after a couple of months or so. I went back to see him today, and he said the clinic will do injections no more than three times a year, since they can be damaging to ligaments and cartilage. I have to wait a couple more months before I can have another. In the meantime, he told me there's nothing I can really do since we've already tried everything. He said that if he did surgery, it would make that joint feel better, and I would basically feel the way I did after the injection. Other parts of the ankle will still hurt, but most of the pain from that joint should go away for a while. The problem is that it's a huge surgery with a very long recovery time. He told me that for three months I wouldn't be able to drive, and I probably wouldn't feel up to doing anything other than basic daily activities. It would probably take me a year to fully recover. He said that since I'm relatively active now (though not nearly as active as I would like to be!), I should wait until the recovery period doesn't sound any worse than what I'm already experiencing.

It's nice to hear that surgery would probably make me feel better, but it's disheartening to know that I just have to wait until I'm completely miserable with pain. It's hard to accept that the joint probably isn't going to feel any better until I can get another injection in two months, and that probably won't last very long. It's also frustrating because I feel like I'm missing out on so much. I'm only 25, and there are so many things I can't do because of my ankle. Or I can do things, but then I can't walk the next day because I'm too stiff and sore. It could be worse, but I would love to just be able to go for a run or something. Or take wedding photos and not worry about anything other than taking the best photos I can.

Anyway, before this turns into a Debbie Downer post, I'll switch topics. If you've read any of my recent posts, you've probably seen something about the marimba piece "Tribeca Sunflower" that I was working on. It was written by Julie Spencer (who is very cool - check her out). There are two versions: a solo (which I performed in April) and a quartet (which I performed a couple of weeks ago with some of my fellow UW Percussion Ensemble members). The quartet version basically uses the solo part as the backbone, and the other marimbas have melodies and solos over it. Here's the recording from our concert:



P.S. let me know if that works - Ubuntu is telling me I need to download the plugin. I'll do it later...