If I were a Dead Russian Composer, I would be Pyotr Chaikovsky. I AM the Real Chaikovsky! Considered by most Westerners to be the greatest Russian composer of all, most late 19th Century Russians think I'm actually too Westernized in my musical tendencies. Despite this criticism, as well as the flak I had to take for my preference of Y-chromosomes, my ballets "The Nutcracker" and "Swan Lake" are upheld as among the greatest and most popular pieces of all time. Who would you be? Dead Russian Composer Personality Test

In other news, I learned about two exciting, upcoming musical ensembles that have changed my world forever.

1. The Vegetable Orchestra: an "orchestra" composed of instruments made out of only vegetables (carrot flutes, etc.). They play techno and token orchestral pieces (like marches or themes from symphonies). After each concert, the audience is invited to eat freshly made soup created from the instruments used in the concert.

2. Thai Elephant Orchestra: an ensemble of rescued elephants who were trained to play percussion instruments (gong, xylo, marimba, etc). They currently have two CD's available.

So April brought many showers (we won't get into that), but May is looking much brighter. Minus juries, recitals, and auditions of course.

Just performed M-Ozart Quartet with a new lovely bunch of stroboe quartet. And I actually enjoyed performing... huh.

Highlights of the last month include eating at a Brazilian restaurant, finding a mother duck and nine ducklings, and studying with Alex Klein + Walters.

Oboe Party at Jessica's yesterday. We enjoyed watching a video of Walters back in the day, homemade baked goods, beverages provided by Carolyn, and an interesting game of truth or dare. No one's bellybutton will ever be safe again.

Studying for Greek myth midterm. Funny note: my Greek teacher is the son of Dave's clarinet teacher. Now why this took me over six months to figure out, I don't know.

Friday:
-Celebrated St. Patrick's Day by going clubbing with Dave and friends. Amazing, loved it. Don't think I could do it every weekend and would definitely never go single, but it was fun. Like prom, only better music, less social pressure, and cheaper. And there were still pretty dresses.
-Went back to Dominque's apartment for a birthday party. Passed out almost instantly and then woke up confused by my location. I think I must have been really tired.

Saturday:
-Practiced in the dungeons and went to a recital... the Brahms Trio brought back fond of Tuesday afternoons
-Went to Applebee's and Tim's apartment. Watched Monty Python (Meaning of Life) and hung out with Dave/Tim/Chris/Greg.
-Tim (some of you know him as Hitler) serenaded me with a harp, singing Jewel. Ha! I found a straight male who plays harp! Take that!

Sunday:
-Snuck into a dining hall
-Fell asleep in the parking lot of a Wendy's


All-in-all, a very un-Malia weekend.

So there's a rumor circulating about in the Con claiming that I am engaged. Nice.

So my dad bought a 1960s white slug bug off of Ebay since he used to own one in college. Turns out, this isn't just any old slug bug... it's Don Drysdale's slug bug (a famous baseball player, my dad is buying it from his widow). The director of the original movie "The Love Bug" (Herbie) was a big fan of Drysdale. The car in the movie was modeled after that slugbug, with Drysdale's jersey number (53) painted on the side.

MY DADDY OWNS THE ORIGINAL HERBIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My apologies for the February 8th / 9th entry. I was bitter because of the news of Caldwell's death. I truly am sorry.

Here is a picture of the Eiffel Tower that we built in his memory out of his coffee cup collection (1,990 cups). The woman in white on the left is Mrs. Caldwell and this is the entry way to their legendary house. There's a pond and floor tiles that glow lime green in this room.

As I was exploring his house, I kept following old men with khaki pants and blue shirts because I was convinced that one of them would be Caldwell. I could just imagine him turning around... and he would nod at me and the world would be right again.

I came upon a room that I had never been in before and discovered a huge collection of Waterhouse prints. Apparently, Caldwell loved his work as much as I do. Learning that we shared the same taste in art was such an incredible healing experience; from that moment on, I knew that I would always have a little piece of Caldwell with me for the rest of my life.




And much thanks to Dave who skipped school to come and stay with me during this rough time. :)

Greetings from Arizona. January and it's almost eighty degrees and not a single cloud in the sky. Go figure.

I have never met people who eat so little in my entire life. These people eat like birds... not only birds, but extremely healthy ones. For example, one day our menu looked something like this: one piece of toast, half an apple, a small salad, and a cup of vegetable/chicken stew. It's good eating, just very limited.

We watched a movie called Baraka. It has no dialogue and no plot really, but it's excellent photography set to interesting music. Go see it; it's the best thing ever.

Visited Osman today. It was awesome.

Got an email from Martin:
"Oh, and bring a bathing suit. Unless you don't want to sit in the best spa ever."

California, how I missed thee.

Highlights:
-2nd Christmas with Dave and my family (two Christmasses in one year!)
-Church with Dave (no, really. It was a lot of fun to have all of the old ladies ask me how long I had been engaged for. And maybe I just like playing duets)
-Letters From a Nut
-Adventures on a Slippery Pier (yeah, there was this huge wave that knocked me off the pier and then I was saved by a passing pelican...)
-Vegan Food with Ginni, Sam, Aya
-Rubio's with Amanda
-King Kong with Faris and Pratt (although I did get a serious migraine from the movie)
-Shopping Cart Ride through an underground parking lot
-Sum's New Years' Party, Chronicles with Sum, Jamba with Sum... I think maybe just Sum in general...
-Spending quality time with the family. :)