I realize my blogging has been a bit clogged recently, but in my pitiful defense, my schedule has been so full, that I have started to wonder if my life is not simply a whirlwind of cities, halls, people, crowded airplanes, and perpetual jet lag. My original (well-meaning, and yet ludicrously optimistic) plan was to do a blog post after every city on this recent US tour, but given the fact that I have been traveling for two months straight, living out of suitcases and hotel rooms with practicing, rehearsals,  with no “downtime” at home, this has proven to be an unachievable task for me. So here it is, my ultra-condensed, overdue, and over-generalized cliffs notes version of the past two months (sorry!).

This trip has been a very “pianistic” one - a strange phrase to be coming from a pianist, I know. Pianists tend to live quite isolated lives, not only from other instrumentalists, but also from one another. But this time, I was surrounded by pianists. In Hawaii, I had a wonderful time performing a two-piano recital in my hometown with a close pianist friend from New York, and in San Francisco, besides performing a recital,  I also shared a performance with two fine pianists who are professors at the San Francisco conservatory. I also managed to fit in a masterclass at the conservatory (in their beautiful new facilities!), which I enjoyed tremendously.Another personal highlight was my chance to spend some time with Kristi, an old high school buddy whom I hadn’t seen in YEARS, and her boyfriend Anthony (be sure to check out his work on Flock, a very cool social web browser!!). If there’s one thing you can take away from this post, it’s how chaotic the past few weeks have been, so of course, I actually forgot to take a picture with her while I was there, so Kris, ever organized, was kind enough to send me a pic - aren’t they cute?



So, after a uniquely relaxed California time in which I indulged in the kindness and generosity of too many people to name, gorged on great sushi (yay!),  and imbibed a little too much while reminiscing nostalgically with Kris and Anthony, I was off to Chicago, by way of battling the first bitter blizzard of the season. After an insufferable delay in Cleveland (during which I inhaled massive amounts of Starbucks at the kiosk located near the gate…), my flight was the last one allowed to land in O’Hare, and I managed to arrive at my hotel at around two in the morning. Early the next morning, slightly dazed and bleary-eyed, I was delighted to have the unique experience of performing on a beautiful Fazioli, lovingly cared for and maintained by the lovely Thomas Zoells of Pianoforte Chicago. Peter Whorf was my charming host on WFMT-FM (a wonderful station, that does such extraordinary work for classical music in Chicago), and in the midst of such cold and challenging weather, a very warm time was had by all.

I headed back to Hawaii to spend my first Christmas there with my family in years, and to fit in some teaching at my school. How could I not have a wonderful time with faces and smiles like these? What a fulfilling way to end 2006 - children are the best!





Christmas in Hawaii

You can check out more pics from my trip here.