My Annual YEAR IN REVIEW Last year's can be found at: here
January: Breif revival with Katie failed miserably. Never again. Started final semester at SFCM-- Brahms class, Orchestra, Orchestration German, Grad Class: Composer Biographies, Analysis, NO Chamber music. Conducting. Decided that I won't continue with music perfomance grad school after conservatory
February: School, basketball, ushering at symphony concerts. Subbed for Ben in his Schubert Seminar at Stanford Adult School. Decided I want to be a music history professor.
March: More of same. Also parties, learning drinking limit, some bad flings...Spring break: worked on Fredrich Mann historical boxes. Snowboarding with Tyler.
April: Working mainly on Grad class about composer biographies, finding interest in Schumann. Also getting good at proper analysis. Also preparing for work with real orchestra: big Schumann Paper and conducting my own piece, First Call.
May: Whoops... year is almost over! My recital and jury went really well! Bach, Bach+Moalem, Bloch, Bruch, Moalem quintet and eshet hail. Jury- Bach, Bruch, and Mozart Sinf. concertante with Catilyn. Graduated! Starting thing with Catherine...went to Monterrey and big Sur with her. Moved out of that awful 1963 20th Ave place.
June: Losing interest in Catherine... simultaneously gaining interest in Grace. Helping Jusyna go through divorce. 21st B-day. Finally heard Beethoven's 9th live. Enjoyed 40-mile solo bike trip. 3 Summer Operas Pikova Dama, Cosi, Pearl Fishers. Recital with Ayelet.
July: AMAZING Road trip to Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, Los Angeles. Counselor at Hayward La Honda camp. New Harry Potter book. New website
August: Aish Ha'Torah in NYC-- enthusiasm for Judaism. Counselor at PACO Camp-- seventh year there, love it. Set up wonderful new room back with family in Palo Alto
September: Onslaught of Job offers-- plenty of teaching, orchestra playing jobs. Finally made break-up with Catherine official. Called back to SFSYO.
October: Recital in Synagogues and Jewish organizations. $100/hr leading Junior Congregation during high holidays. Starting weekly Torah lessons with Rabbi. Working hard. Finding out what it takes to do musicology. Talked to professors. Getting to know East Bay. Shakespeare with Leslie.
November: Broke up with Grace. Lots of teaching, coaching. Play viola in Mom's Bat Mitzvas-- fun, rewarding, and lucrative. Students keep growing as reputation spreads. Fidelio amazing. Cool bar hopping party nights. Revising Schumann paper, applying to grad schools in musicology. Flat tire while carpooling with Scott.
December: SFSYO reads my Maoz Tzur variations in rehearsal. SF Chamber Orchestra performs my Septet- Dances of Death-- concert goes very well but recording sounds bad. PACO reunion after awesome PACO concert. Fun chamber music party. ;)
As the end of 2005 my main objective is to get accepted to a full-paying Phd in Musicology program. I am also composing and hoping and keeping my viola technique up, and I find that musically I am much better than I ever was. I feel accomplished because I am making enough to make a living, but I don't have to actually spend anything because I live at home with my wonderful family, with which I get along with reasonably well. My new year's resolution is to stop forgetting little things. Make lists. | 
The story and pictures
Matt Haimovitz scratching away... 
Me, sawing away... Dink Hall has really awfull acoustics. On stage, it sounds pretty good, but in the hall everything becomes dead, flat, dry, colorless... I've heard the SLSQ, Emerson SQ, Eroica Trio, and others on this stage and they all sounded weak. You could tell their playing was great, but the hall was working against them and it's impossible to sound amazing in there. Same with the Don Giovanni played by PACO... first chords sounded weak not because of the orchestra but because of the evil hall. And speaking of evil, here's Manbi Kanivil... 
