Medford. Nice place. Been back three weeks now. Lots of dancing, music, reading. At the end of last summer I read Dune and liked it very much. I've started on the other books in that series and am through to the fifth book. They are not quite as impressive as the first was, but I'm enjoying them nonetheless.

I've been playing a decent amount of music lately, mostly guitar and piano. I've also been trying to play the fiddle some, and while I enjoy it I find it very frustrating. It should not frustrate me that I am unable to pick up the instrument and immediately play perfectly, but somehow it does. It would be nice to have a pure lead instrument that I could play; lead on the guitar hurts my wrists and lead on the piano or accordion always feels like it's lacking a bass. Playing in tune and bowing are the hardest parts, which I guess makes a lot of sense coming from a guitar background.

In line with my general goal of getting more practice at playing contra guitar I played in the open band at MIT in mid May. It was much fun, and I think I will try and sit in with Apple Crisp when they play the MIT dance in mid June (soonish!).

As for dancing, I've been dancing nearly every Monday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday since I got back. Fun, really. And there was the dawn dance a week ago. Going to contras since has them they all seeming so short. But still fun; I have to worry less at a normal dance about conserving energy.