How the Universe gave me a burrito and a cold.

For this week's post, I've decided to make a list of lessons I learned, and things the Universe dumped on/gifted me this week.

1. A cold.



















2. Autumn colors.


















3. The ABT Nutcracker with Mikhail Barishnakov (just picture him in tights, or click here.). John says it's too soon for Christmas-related anything, so I secretly got this version of the Nutcracker from the library and watched the first act while he wasn't home. Ultimately, though, he figured it out and looked at me in disgust. Whatever, John. What a scrooge. As Dave said, I love pizza, so why would I only eat it one month out of the year? It's past Halloween. Time for Christmas!
I've been looking at the National Ballet of Canada website to see if we could go see the Nutcracker there, but it's kind of cost prohibitive. The cheapest, worst seats would still cost about $100 and then there's the issue of getting there and parking. If only Toronto were a little closer, or I guess if only London/Western had decent enough ballet to put on their own Nutcracker. That's one thing I really miss about IU - going to see good ballet productions at the music school, especially the Nutcracker.



4. A rejection to a regional theory conference, but also, the motivation to revise my abstract on George Crumb.





















That's the Agnus Dei from the Makrokosmos, a piece I wrote about a while back. This paper is on a song cycle, but it has a fun graphic score like this one. This rejection stung a bit more since I feel like I've been struggling to catch up on work ever since SMT last week, and that's been compounded by getting sick. Meh. Can't win 'em all. I still have a bunch of other conferences to apply to, and my abstract is getting better over time, so maybe I'll get on somewhere else.

And finally (because 5 is a nice round number),
5. Delicious butternut squash black bean enchiladas.

Peeling and chopping butternut squash is such a pain, but so worth it. This recipe takes a little time to put together because you have to roast the squash, but once you've done that, it's pretty simple, and very tasty. Definitely different from the enchiladas I've had in the past, but the flavors work well together. These didn't come out very...photogenic, so no picture. But if you click on the recipe you can see the ones on the original site and they're pretty good.


Here's to next week being a little more cheerful with a little less cold medicine!