My mother told me to live every day like it's an adventure

... and last night I did.
So much going on in the last couple of days. Instead of trying to process it all in silence, I'm reeling in the hometown loquaciousness of Garrison Keillor. Ah, how I loved seeing him in San Francisco.
And how I'm craving Powdermilk Buscuits.





Keep your friends close and your enemies as far away as you can. If you can, turn your enemies into friends- life is lighter when there's less weight to carry around.
This week I decided that making money actually was an important thing. I have some opportunities that I'd like to post about but I do not want to get anyone's hopes up, nor do I expect anything great out of these possibilities. However, "opportunity is not a lengthy visitor." I am going to keep telling myself that. Thank you, Cinderella.
This weekend fellow Fredonian Josh came to town to audition for MM:Trumpet Performance. Through him I rediscovered my adoration for this little pocket of America. From the red rock mountains to the crazy night life of Mill Avenue... despite my previous verbal flagellation of this area I really do enjoy it here. Phoenix is such a unique area. Diverse yet bountiful in culture. Even if the landscape is vast and the speed is slow. Great weather, good music and terrific FREE FROZEN YOGURT!
He had a great audition so after opera rehearsal we hit the town. Brief Tempe bar crawl... after Big Bang wouldn't let us in and the bouncer had to check Josh's FOUR different IDs...

An Irish pub on Mill, Monkey Pants with delicious free popcorn, Four Peaks and Jack in the Box.

Here's a smattering of photos caught on my iPhone.

We also had a very intense conversation about the importance of musical perfection and discipline. People will tell people like us, "you work too hard" or "you beat yourself up too much." If not for this furvour that we feel we would not accomplish all that we set out to do. In order to touch people through music you need to have a thorough understanding of you and it yourself. Like Thea Wheeler says, "strive for artistic perfection with the understanding that you will never ever achieve it." To this day it is the most profound statement I can ever recall ever learning. If you think it is good enough, then you have already accepted defeat. I wish more people, particularly singers, would feel this way about their art

It was nice to have a fellow spirit validate my beliefs about that.
Uffda... I forgot how delicious Raj IPA was. I am glad I gave it up as a nightly affair. Josh is still sleeping on the couch.