OK, so it turns out all of that grad school stuff is due earlier than I expected. I originally thought I had until sometime next semester, early-ish, you know? Nope - everything has to be postmarked no later than December 1st! That means 4 extremely solid pieces of music that I have to write and edit, find players for, distribute to players, organize rehearsals, record, put together into a portfolio complete with a resume, letters of recommendation, transcripts, GRE scores, essays/papers, and not to mention fill out the applications themselves, each of which cost around $100. The GRE costs $150 - and I'm taking it on November 4th. I just signed up for it about a week and a half ago. That's my prep time, and so far I've gotten maybe half an hour to study.

Additionally, I'm now working on preparing the 3rd movement of the Mendelssohn trio (we're performing the 1st movement this coming Monday) and that's not easy task. Not to mention accompaniments for a friend's junior recital, my own senior recital music (about an hour's worth), and the solo piano piece I'm including in my portfolio. I actually just got out of a rehearsal with my guitarist friend for the piece I'm writing for guitar & harpsichord for my portfolio. The other two are a string quartet (might drop and do an electronic piece) and a piece for winds and percussion.

The church job is going well, and I now have two new students I teach on Wednesdays, and I may be getting an additional teaching job at a music store that would cover Friday nights and Saturday late morning/early afternoon.

Also, I'm having to go spend some time with my grandparents as they're doing very poorly. My grandmother probably only has about 6 months left, if that

Well, I'm averaging 1-2 meals a day, which isn't too bad, several shots of espresso per day (in the form of lattes), and sleep varies from 2-6 hours. I try to avoid all nighters as much as possible.

I <3 my tiny desk Zen garden.

Not much of any non-musical writing going on lately - I'm having a hard enough time just getting my German homework done with all of this crazy grad school stuff going on.

That's my update, I have to run for now. Miss and love you guys!