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 アケオメコトヨロ！！！

What would we do without New Years?

I found myself mulling over the usual New Year's rituals this past week. The resolutions to lose weight, gain knowledge, treat others the way I'd like to be treated, treat myself better, eat less treats, etc. While considering which of these bowling pins of expectation I would hurl myself into this year, I thought about how nice it is even just to have this point of reflection. 

In a way Humans are just a collection of cycles. Breaths, blood circulation, blinking of the eyes. So it's only natural that we go macro with the whole concept, and highlight the trend in everything around us. 

I estimate that I've got about 18 New Years under my belt, at which I made conscious note of my existential circumstance. That makes me an adult on the subject, if just barely legal. Every time this time of year comes around, I find myself desiring similar things as the last. Don't worry, I won't list them, as they are usually just the garden variety, stock Hallmark card list of vanilla resolutions. If I ever needed an exhibit in defense of my normalcy, I could simply present my New Year's resolutions for the past two decades, and it would be the end of any dispute. Nothing to be ashamed of, if a bit unimaginative. 

That being said, I find it quite nice that once a year I can be fully reminded of these mundane, yet sturdy plans. It's like when you fly with the cape in Super Mario Bros. 3. Each year is like a little wind in your sail that helps you coast along. Why not once a month or week? It could only be helpful, right?

Good luck and all the best in 2015!

Post Audition Fallout...Post

Not quite a month after the 3rd horn audition for the LA Phil, I'm finding myself in the grips of what I've been calling a "post-audition fallout". It's a phase that everyone I talk to understands immediately. Oddly, there's not much talk on the subject. 

If you've ever "properly" dedicated yourself to an audition, and lost, the you know exactly what I'm going to describe. It's really important that you've lost, though. In fact, if you haven't ever lost an audition, stop reading this and never talk to me again. You are not human, and I loathe thee. 

Three months is the longest I've ever intensely dedicated myself to any one audition. Yet, because of the time of year, it flashed by faster than I wanted it to. The whole time I was practicing in between rehearsals (trying to practice bits and pieces of excerpts, unrecognizably so as not to be noticed and categorized as "that guy") and shaping each day around the time I could spend shedding the list. I even played the list down for six different people. Meanwhile there was the regular work I had to do. 

Anyway, that happened. And, after three months of living and breathing self-criticism, I went to LA. No dice. "No dice" was the text I must have sent to two dozen people who asked about how it went that day. At least Disney Hall is near Eggslut. Thus began the slow beginning of the month of poorly timed post-audition fallout. 

Fortunately for all of us, my schedule doesn't really allow me to let go as much as had in mind. And I do think that the best way to get over these things is to move ahead. So it's good that I'm looking down the barrel of a 2015 that is a fear-laden mixtape of French Horn misery. No guts, no glory right?

I recently read an article that The Guardian had posted about how Olympians deal with failure. It sucked because they just ended up championing failure as a gateway to success. Ok, maybe they're right, but I wasn't in the mood at all. 

With that in mind, I will say that I am generally looking forward to playing these days. That's good, right? And it's nice when it's Christmas time in the city, silver bells and all. Ps, if you read this and have any input on how you bounce back from this sort of thing, feel free to let me know. Otherwise I'll just have to let time take its course! Maybe some presents will help...

Happy Holidays

We're entering peak office holiday party season. So in order to show you how not to behave at this year's big bash, we gathered some of New York's best comedians and set them loose in the wild of our own offices.