We’ve been watching Manifest lately, which I don’t recommend, actually. But now we’re sucked in and we want to see how it ends, and it’s taking forever since we’ve only been averaging 5 episodes a week. There’s a saying they keep saying about “all good things” so that’s where I got my title from.
I’ve been doing a lot of things on the weekends, and I’m already worn out! I got asked for this and that, and each time I want to do it for various reasons (enjoy colleagues, good money, love the music director, etc.) and as a result my weekend I just had was really busy. We did have some fun though: dinner out on Friday night and a symphony concert on Saturday night (yes, we are going three weeks in a row). The concert was really nice, and we ran into friends and went out after the show as well, which felt very “before times” (except that we were at a patio, the place was not super crowded and our friends barely made the cutoff for ordering food at a restaurant that used to be really “late-night”friendly.)
Looking out onto a pond from under a tent: last weekend’s wedding location.
But nonetheless, things are going well. The weather is starting to be really nice, not too humid, cooler, etc. I spent this morning digging up a garden bed of irises: we got a new back porch and now one of the flower beds doesn’t make sense anymore. (If you want some irises and are local, let me know.) I’m not sure if I’ll replant some or not, for now they are just spread out on the remnants of a garden bed.
The new stairs! Our friend Jim did them and they are gorgeous.
I’ve played a couple weddings and have a few more in October. I have enjoyed playing some things, especially one where I got to improv a bit more (catholic masses are fun for this reason) and I do enjoy focusing on sound quality as I play. I also played the same piece at two funerals, Arvo Part’s Spiegel Im Spiegel, and I found that oddly coincidental, is this piece really hot right now or something?
Kitties!
I guess that’s it for now. How is your week going? Are you slightly less tired that I am?
We are going to a concert tonight! It’s Kishi Bashi with the Symphony and we are excited. The Symphony is requiring either proof of vaccination or a negative test, so I feel like this is going to be okay. I believe they are at lower capacity and have spaced people apart, though we’ll see when we get there…
My fall schedule is shaping up really well. I managed to group my college students onto two different days, and I have most of my mornings free after my early classes which is great for doing work. I don’t have any days that are full from dawn to night, which is something I haven’t managed in the past. I miss seeing my students at Lindenwood, but something had to give, and that was my farthest drive. My early morning job is doing well so far, one week down, many more weeks to go, but I’m enjoying seeing and working with colleagues.
Our friend Jim is working on the back of our house, redoing an old wooden deck that needed serious replacement. I’m thrilled to be able to use the back door again safely when he is done. I’ll share pictures as well, then.
It’s been busy though, getting the year started, staying up on emails, billing, scheduling, etc. I have been trying to really limit my business work to during the week, though of course that’s impossible (well, it’s impossible for me, because if a student contacts me over the weekend and I can respond quickly, I usually do…why add it to a list of things to do later if I can do it right away?).
Anyway, just thought I’d pop in and do a quick check in. I’ve got some more things to do on the computer before setting off to teach college students again. Changing my system this fall will (I hope) save time and admin work in the long run, but until then it’s added a lot of work just getting it all set up. Every time I get something figured out, it seems like something new pops up.
Hopefully the weather turns out nice on Sunday as I’ve got the day off and would love to go for a hike somewhere. Right now the forecast looks good but it keeps changing.
I thought I’d just pop in so you all knew I remembered I had a blog. I know blogging is dead and all, yet I still read blogs and have a blog, so it’s probably sort of like classical music in that sense.
College started up, and I have several wonderful new students as well as my returning students. I absolutely adore some of the students I teach and I’m looking forward to a great semester. I’m sorry I had to leave some students at the other school I’d taught at for 4 1/2 years, but my schedule is much more manageable without that job…it’s hard to quit things, isn’t it? In any case, it was super weird and a bit emotional returning to my studio there for the first time since before the pandemic: I distinctly remember leaving and being excited for Spring Break and visiting my friend April in Atlanta, and then…never returning.
My early morning school job officially starts up next week, and while I’m a little nervous about the early mornings, especially as the days get shorter (it’s so hard to wake up and drive to work in the dark, for instance), I’m excited to get back to it. My overall schedule is easier than it was last year, even with actually commuting to my college job, and I think it’ll be a good semester.
Wednesday night: My parents stopped by overnight on their way home from a road trip. They were here for about 12 hours total as they wanted to get back on the road and get home. They ended up having some car trouble along the way home and the part their car needed might have been a year long wait or more, so they ended up buying a new car, which seems a bit crazy, yet, they didn’t have any better options at that point. We were able to admire their new car and chat a bit.
The weekend was fun: pizza and wine with friends on Friday night, and then most of the day Saturday and Sunday I spent at a Suzuki Workshop (Suzuki Principles in Action) in person at SIUE (in Edwardsville). It was a good learning opportunity, a course about HOW to teach, not what to teach, and I learned quite a bit. I have a follow-up assignment to do over the next two months, which involves recording myself as well as answering some questions/short essays. I’ve spent most of the pandemic trying to further improve and educate myself as a teacher, and it’s been really fun, learning. The more I know, the more confidence I have that I’m doing the best I can for my students.
Sunday night I cooked this: Skillet Shrimp and Orzo. I really liked it! I had been getting tired of cooking before I made it, but I think sometimes when I’m tired I just don’t want to cook, not that cooking is in itself tiring. I made myself put together a meal plan for the next two weeks.
And then yesterday was off, Labor Day! We were going to go for a hike, but ended up getting lazy and just hanging out around the house more. I sort of regret that I didn’t get out and about, but it was a bit hotter than originally predicted and I’m just so ready for fall weather. I think I was run down from the workshop in addition to just not wanting to deal with people or hot weather. It was a nice relaxing day and I didn’t work at all, other than a couple tiny things.
I do belong to two unions, and have mixed feelings about my union membership (one union is great, has gotten me raises, the other…not so much) but firmly believe that collective bargaining is on average, a good thing, and that workers make the world work and deserve way more than they and we actually get.
I haven’t mentioned books in awhile, so let me end with some books I’ve read recently:
Books I’ve loved: The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré, People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry, Golden Girl by Elin Hilderbrand, The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley, The Jetsetters by Amanda Eyre Ward
Books I’ve liked: The Nobodies Album by Carolyn Parkhurst, The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave , Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge, House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
Nonfiction I enjoyed/learned from: The Pandemic Century by Mark Honigsbaum, A Mighty Long Way: My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School by Carlotta Walls Lanier
