Ways in which 2008 has already started out well

* I toasted at midnight with the (very excellent) champagne from my Met debut, surrounded by great musicians and good friends.
* My first “visitor” of the year (and by that I mean phone call) was from a tall, dark, handsome man. (I just learned about that portent for good luck yesterday…)
* I watched the Hansel & Gretel hi-def broadcast from the Met Green Room, sharing tales of New Year’s Eve adventures with LW.
* For New Year’s dinner I cooked a traditional Southern meal of black-eyed peas with collards (and rice and cornbread) for the Brooklyn Birds and EN.
* The Bulldogs are solidly trouncing Hawaii. (Sorry, guys, I know U of H was the emotional favorite, but come on. Get an offensive line!!)
* I just watched bits of Il Trittico on Great Performances and relived that fabulous experience.
* Tomorrow I’m back in the pit for more Macbeth with that fantastic orchestra and Mo. Levine.
* The rest of the week is full of concerts (flute & viola at IcoMusic and Ljova et al at Joe’s Pub), workshops, meetings (possibly the Bhakti Project ’09 program?!), and hopefully the Chamber Music America conference over the weekend. Add a couple of auditions, and it seems we are back in the saddle.

I thoroughly expect the rest of the year to be as awesome!