Finals week indeed!

Henry wasn't kidding when he said that this past week has been like finals week -- in fact, for me it was like some sort of nightmarish finals week unlike any I ever actually experienced in college (I tended to be the nerdy kind of kid who did everything way in advance....).

Apart from having to deal with last minute logistic issues such as those Henry and Sabina mentioned, I also discovered that my clarinet had a crack in it, which meant spending an unscheduled half-day at my clarinet guy's place choosing a new one. The good news is that I was able to get one of Buffet's relatively new "Green Line" clarinets -- made of 95% wood dust bound together with some sort of carbon filament. The result is a very nice sounding clarinet that has many of the acoustic qualities of wood, since it IS wood, but none of the torque and warping issues associated with having a wood grain. This is a huge boon for those of us who live in drastically dry winter climates. I think I'll take my poor cracked instrument with me to Hawaii, where the lovely humidity will allow the crack to close and I'll have something good to play on over the winter.

I guess that's what you'd call a silver lining.

Anyway, apart from that, there were also a couple of dead hard drives and missing class handouts to contend with, but I'll be leaving for Hudson Valley in an hour or so, and all is well.

See you all on Sunday!