Man, I have to go to bed. But first...

Tonight I went to hear the Baltimore Symphony. It's sad to say that this is only the second time I've been since I've been in Baltimore. And to be honest, I wasn't all that excited about the first time I went. But this is the first season with BSO's new conductor, Marin Alsop, and I had heard good things. And the BSO did not disappoint. They played Jennifer Higdon's Fanfare Ritmico, Elgar's Cello Concerto with Alisa Weilerstein as the solo cellist, and Dvorák's Ninth Symphony. I was glad to see that the hall was fuller than the last time, and there must have been newcomers in the audience because there was enthusiastic applause between the movements. I think that's a great sign. One of the highlights of the evening came after the concert, when Maestra Alsop, Ms. Weilerstein, and the conductor for the first piece on the program, Rei Hotoda, sat down for a Q&A with a sizable chunk of the audience. A lot of people wanted to talk about women in music, given that Maestra Alsop is the first woman conductor of a major American orchestra. Maestra Alsop really impressed me as someone who cares deeply about music and and does everything she can to make classical music accessible, welcoming, and enjoyable to the entire community. The classical music world needs as many people like her as they can get.

I did have call today in the psychiatric ER. The theme of the day: people coming off a cocaine high get very depressed and suicidal. But some of them just want to get admitted so after a few days without cocaine they can leave the hospital and get high on a smaller and cheaper amount of cocaine. It was kind of funny how easy it was to see right through one of the patients. Despite claiming to be suicidal and depressed, he sure acted irritable and defensive, especially when we brought up cocaine use. And of course just as we were walking out of the room, out of nowhere he claimed to be homicidal. Sorry, buddy: try better next time. I can see how psychiatrists can get jaded. But I'm glad I'm learning to pick out the liars and the fakers. It's hard because the whole therapeutic relationship is based on trust, and you have to assume initially that the patient is telling the truth. But there are clues that tell you that something's not right: inconsistencies in the story, symptoms that don't make sense, even just a gut feeling. So watch out world--I have my eye on you.