I have been put back into my place.

For the last year or so, I have begun to believe my own press. Meteoric rise, cinderella-boy, blah blah. Taking 2nd at Richmond just reinforced it.

I just took 5th of 6 in open grade Scottish fiddle at the Southern Maryland Celtic Festival. First, I was unhappy with my own performance, especially with the nervous wavering I should be long over (when sober, I've long been past it tipsy), and the intonation in F-major.

But even if I had played to the best of my abilities, without error, the best I could have done was 4th of 6, and that's debatable. The competition was just far too good. Props to them, they're all excellent fiddlers. However, this reminds me of how much of an intermediate player I really am, and how any delusions of being advanced in my skills are very premature.

In the end, I wandered the festival for ten minutes after the fiddle competition was over, and when I couldn't find the CAPD guys to hang out with, I went home to take a nap.

I have slacked off for the last six months, allowed myself too many distractions. It's time to get back to basics, back to my strict practice regimen, back on that meteoric rise. I may compete a couple more times this year, but this is not my year to make a name for myself, I can tell that already.