oh yeah, forgot to tell you about my summer (#4)

Finally getting back to ND in June, I had the privilege of hosting my buddy Andrew on his way up to Alaska. What an amazing beard. We had a great time hanging at the lake: sailing (nearly tipped!), diving and relaxing.

oh yeah, forgot to tell you about my summer (#3)

The end of May, I went to Cleveland, OH for an Art Song Festival. Only ten singer pianist teams were chosen, and my singer friend and I felt fortunate to be among such talented teams. We were among the youngest, and many of the teams were finishing doctoral programs at schools such as Julliard, New England Conservatory, and other big time schools. It was a great experience. I got to meet a lot of cool people.

Karen Crow, the singer I accompanied. She did her undergrad at Lee.

Mischa, myself and Yegor. These guys were from NY. They were probably the best team there.

oh yeah, forgot to tell you about my summer (#2)

I graduated!

oh yeah, forgot to tell you about my summer (#1)

I think I've posted about this place before, but this water hole was one of my favorites in TN. We took a last hurrah trip up here the day before graduation. The water was still a bit cold, but it was still real swell.

Andrew has such a sweet beard. I feel cool just sitting next to him.

The group.

Here's me gliding down the falls. (notice the gentle and epic flow of my golden locks).


So fierce.


Joel taking an ice bath.
A little yoga by the falls.

And finally, the cliff we jumped from.

the Lone Wolf still hunts at Dusk (a.k.a. Joel finds good things on Craigslist)

Here are my friends: Josh (roomate/bass player), John (truck friend) and Jordan (plays timpani most often) and on the ground is the newest member of our family. She's not paying rent, but we don't mind.

I found a free piano on Craigslist (Chattanooga) and brought it home with the help of my friends and a pickup truck. It had been entirely upholstered with this awful orange/brown vinyl, so the first thing we did when we got it to the house was cut off most of the upholstery. We also had to saw the (non-functioning/decorative) left leg off so that our second couch (the blue one) would fit under it. Don't worry, it fully reclines still. That's Josh's (my roomate's) head in the mirror. We may try to replace the mirror with some wood. It's a bit hokey. But, we like our piano and it really gives our pad a dignified air. It needs to be tuned, but we have a music faculty who owns the equipment necessary. We are excited...

A close up of the (cleaned) keys and exposed wood that was underneath the orange/rust vinyl upholstery. Apparently they sanded down some of the wood to allow the vinyl to lay better when wrapped.

this is is a photo of our back patio. The wood came from a neighbor who cut down an 80 year old Red Oak and let us have some pieces (She said we can take all we want... we know how that goes) The broken Chiminea comes from Andrew Moles (one of Michael's old roomates.) He bought it 6 years ago and we just re-po'ed it from an old friend's house. Totally awesome.

more to come.....