5.24.2005
chaplain and rowing
Last night, I was invited to have dinner with the new Keble chaplain, Rev. Allen Shin. He's actually a Chinese American who was most recently based in New York City. He's a trained opera singer and is a very cool guy. Nice chat with him about Palestrina and the popularity of concert settings of liturgical music. Phenomenal.
Dinner was great - High Table food at plebian prices. Starter was a sliced nectarine on baby greens with prosciutto. Served with a lovely and crisp white wine. Main course was a delicious roulade of lamb in an onion gravy, with roasted new potatoes and a courgette (zucchini) and pepper pseudo-jambalaya type thing. The red wine here was less successfully paired than the starter. Dessert was a mixed berry compote. Mmmm...
Sort of a nice last meal before the hellish experience of waking up at 3:45 AM to go down to the boathouse today. 4:30 outing - crazy early. It was, sadly, the only time we could row, since we are officially the lowest crew that Keble is fielding (two Women's crews, three Men's crews - we're the Men's III) and therefore we get the lowest pick of outing times. Believe it or not, though, it went fantastically. We're being chased by Magdalen III, which really isn't a third boat at all - it's a second boat. They will catch us, no questions asked, but the real challenge is for us to catch the boat in front of us before they do. We're chasing down St. Anne's II, which will be a challenge. We're about even on them, maybe a bit faster. We're really racing the clock to see if we can catch St. Anne's before being caught by Magdalen. Or before St. Anne's catches St. Peter's, which is a terrible crew. But yeah, despite it being a ridiculously early outing, and furthermore, despite it *raining* this morning, we had a terribly productive outing that makes our crew feel much more positive. We're having fun.
Tonight we've got a Sinfonietta concert: Gluck, Stravinsky, and a new piece by Tim Ewers. To be honest, I've skipped almost all of the rehearsals, so I have no idea what's going on. I'll be sight-reading the Gluck at the dress rehearsal today. :)
Anyway, it's off to breakfast and then to class. I understand this is the last week of classes at the P. school - I wish all of my former students best of luck on their examinations, and all of my former colleagues the best of luck on grading said examinations. My heart goes out to you all.
Dinner was great - High Table food at plebian prices. Starter was a sliced nectarine on baby greens with prosciutto. Served with a lovely and crisp white wine. Main course was a delicious roulade of lamb in an onion gravy, with roasted new potatoes and a courgette (zucchini) and pepper pseudo-jambalaya type thing. The red wine here was less successfully paired than the starter. Dessert was a mixed berry compote. Mmmm...
Sort of a nice last meal before the hellish experience of waking up at 3:45 AM to go down to the boathouse today. 4:30 outing - crazy early. It was, sadly, the only time we could row, since we are officially the lowest crew that Keble is fielding (two Women's crews, three Men's crews - we're the Men's III) and therefore we get the lowest pick of outing times. Believe it or not, though, it went fantastically. We're being chased by Magdalen III, which really isn't a third boat at all - it's a second boat. They will catch us, no questions asked, but the real challenge is for us to catch the boat in front of us before they do. We're chasing down St. Anne's II, which will be a challenge. We're about even on them, maybe a bit faster. We're really racing the clock to see if we can catch St. Anne's before being caught by Magdalen. Or before St. Anne's catches St. Peter's, which is a terrible crew. But yeah, despite it being a ridiculously early outing, and furthermore, despite it *raining* this morning, we had a terribly productive outing that makes our crew feel much more positive. We're having fun.
Tonight we've got a Sinfonietta concert: Gluck, Stravinsky, and a new piece by Tim Ewers. To be honest, I've skipped almost all of the rehearsals, so I have no idea what's going on. I'll be sight-reading the Gluck at the dress rehearsal today. :)
Anyway, it's off to breakfast and then to class. I understand this is the last week of classes at the P. school - I wish all of my former students best of luck on their examinations, and all of my former colleagues the best of luck on grading said examinations. My heart goes out to you all.
