My psuedoaunt had surgery yesterday to repair a section of her duodenum that had a small ulcer. the ulcer was miniscule enough that many doctors would've wanted to leave it alone and heal it with medications, but it incresed in size since it was detected a month ago and treated, and her history of bleed-outs made her doctor want to operate. She handled the surgery well and is already home. She'll have an RN or MD with her for the next week because there are plenty of both in the family.

I had a blast touring California's answer to Bourbon Street in a wheelchair on Halloween night. There's usually at least one party with a live band. This year their were two live bands. We listened for long enough to detrmine which band was better, then found a nice spot near the better band. I brought ten dozen cookies to share, which got us a bona fide invitation onto the property and into the party where the better band was performing.

I'm getting better and will be back at practice on Monday. Thanks to skype and the modern convenience of many professors posting their lectures online, I'm not behind at all on my lecture notes. I was able to practice my both instruments for a few hours yesterday and today. My piano recital is in two weeks. I have all my pieces thoroughly nailed and memorized. Now it's simply a matter of practicing enough to keep my fingers loose.

My chief rival -- the guy who wanted my recital slot because he had foolishly scheduled his recital for December, and the professor we shared at the time thought it was my obligation to give him my november slot because my pieces were already memorized -- has his recital on Friday, November 6. It's probably safe for me to practice on campus at any time now. If my rival hears something that I'm playing and decides to change his own program, it will hurt him far more than it would hurt me, as only a complete fool would think he could perfect a new piece of sufficient complexity to be used in a senior recital in less than a week. I think both of us were fools to have remained with the professor I had and he still has for as long as we did, but I at least cut my losses and found a new professor.

Other than practicing, I'm resting this weekend. I will return to the dorms Monday night. I'm keeping a low profile and keeping my activities to a minumom until my recital is a finished deal on November 15, after which I will celebrate in a big way. I still have finals and my early February violin recital with which to deal, but I'm not terribly concerned about either. I've worked hard up to this point and am confident that I will handle both with ease. I am holding off on snowboarding during Christmas vacation just to prevent anything disastrous, i.e. a broken arm, before my violin recital. Assuming everything goes as planned, I'll take a week off right after my recital to snowboard. My pseudorelatives are traveling to Utah at that time, and they've invited me to come with them. I've decided to take them up on their offer.

This blog is ended. Go now in peace to love and serve the Lord and to practice, but not too much, asone can overpractice, with results that are often counterproductive.