The First Cut

It's amazing I can even string 2 sentences together. Since Wednesday afternoon, I have attended 12 rounds of the competition--that's 39 hours of music by 30 pianists, only 3 hours of which I missed due to what little work I still have.

Yesterday afternoon I was seated next to a woman whose girth threatened to overflow around the armrest. I'm not small myself and we spent the next 3 1/2 hours trying not to invade each other's Personal Space Bubbles. I'm glad I didn't miss the round as it included three of the eight semi-finalists later picked by the judges, but I came home feeling as if I had spent the afternoon in the middle seat of a packed airplane.

Sometimes you've just gotta take a break. Since the competition is being broadcast live over the radio, I decided to listen at home to the first half of last night's round. WCLV's reception is so sucky it won't come in on any of our radios (except the car), but fortunately you can listen to it via streaming audio online. I blissfully stretched out on the couch, drinking a cherry coke while I listened, then took the five-minute walk to the theater after intermission.

When I got home, I finished picking my eight semifinalists so I could later see if I agreed with the judges' picks. I knew it would take at least 45 minutes before the announcement broadcast, so I settled in the office. The minutes crept by. 11:15 pm and we still hadn't heard.

Paul offered to make dinner and bring it up to me so I wouldn't have to leave the computer and miss the announcement! Of course I told him how sweet I thought that was. He just said it was nothing millions of wives of TV sports fans don't do every Sunday.

Minutes later we heard the announcement live, and four of my picks made it. On to the semi-finals today!