Monthly Archives: January 2025

Random thoughts

Dark Days Ahead

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I have chosen to focus on my world. Last time, I spent 4 years being stressed out and horrified…this time I plan to keep an eye on the news (which is already both horrifying and exactly what we all thought would happen even as others, including many major media outlets, told us we were fearmongering and overreacting…but I digress…though at least there is the feeling of, yes, I was correct, I was not overreacting…) WHILE focusing on my personal world. Like, how would we be living if there weren’t news?

Of course, this makes me feel guilty that I do have such an insular and privileged life that if I ignore things I can mostly just live my life (for now!) while being concerned for many things. Because living my personal past reproductive age life is easy, but many of my friends are women of child-bearing years or before, many are on the ACA, many are lgbtqia+, many are immigrants…not to mention all the destruction from the fires in CA and how inadequate the federal government response to the next disaster is likely to be.

Focusing on what is right here: teaching started up last week and OH MY GOD IT IS SO COLD OUTSIDE–my phone says it is currently -1 degrees and for my international readers, that’s FAHRENHEIT. I would say I am grateful that I don’t have to go outside today and my students come to me, but I really need to go grocery shopping, ha! I’m grateful I have a giant purple winter coat that keeps me quite warm on days like today, and I’m grateful for my seat heaters. And my amazing radiant heat in the house: radiators are seriously where it’s at and we feel warm and cozy here.

Stay warm and stay informed, but stay calm and collected. We won’t let them ruin our lives: they love “triggering the libs” so the important thing to do is not be “triggered” but that doesn’t mean what they are doing isn’t also real. Gosh, it’s so awful and complicated, isn’t it? How sad that making other people upset is such a main priority! The thing I try to remind myself is that mostly they just want money and power, and again, how sad is that? It really shows me how glad I am about the choices I’ve made in my life about what’s important to me.

Weather

Snowy Days

There was a big storm predicted starting late Saturday night, but first I had things to do. Saturday morning I had signed up for a guided hike of Dresser Island through the Missouri Department of Conservation. Louie had to work, and I figured if I was going to say things like, I enjoy hiking, I needed to do it on my own sometimes too! So, I packed a lunch, bundled up, and headed out to meet the group. It was COLD!

But it was a lot of fun. The hike was about 6 miles, but we made a lot of stops to look at various wildlife and things, and I enjoyed chatting, just walking, and taking pictures.

I would definitely do another event through the MO Department of Conservation: it was well run and FREE!

After that I had my last Christmas gig: an Epiphany concert at a church in Illinois where I play fairly regularly. It was a lot of fun, and it was just starting to sleet as I arrived home.

Sunday morning the snow was coming down fast and furious. Louie still needed to go to work though, so he headed out and I stayed inside all day, enjoying the “snow day” even though I was technically already on vacation again.

Monday morning the snow was done, but there was plenty of digging out to be done around the region. I got out for some shoveling myself.

The neighborhood was a winter wonderland! When I was out shoveling so were many of my neighbors. Some were better at it than I was…in any case I made a good dent and then Louie continued my work when he got home later.

Our outdoor wreaths got a dusting on snow on them, isn’t it pretty?

The cats were waiting by the door while Louie was outside shoveling. They spend most of their time on the radiators this time of year: I don’t blame them!

Some animal tracks in the snow–I’m guessing a bunny?

In any case, I was lucky in that I didn’t have anywhere to go until Tuesday night. I had a rehearsal Tuesday evening and it was almost fun to drive there: some parts were a little scary as the roads were still quite bad (really, only one lane on Skinker each way after 36 hours?) but other parts were fun: such as unplowed side streets when no one is around and you can really feel the Subaru’s all wheel drive! I know I would have been a bit more stuck driving the Corolla or my old Focus, or my old Jetta. In fact, I don’t know how I managed for so many years in Cleveland with a sedan, but then again, they used to clear the roads with a lot more competence than here. But I digress, as always!

I’ve read a few books already, gotten a fair amount of exercise, and mostly put away the Christmas decoration. It’s been a good year so far!

Goals, Hope

Goodbye 2024, Hello 2025

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Happy New Year!!

Interesting facts I added up for 2024:

Books read: 165

Lessons taught at home: 1100

Lessons taught at Wash U: 252

Number of rehearsals, concerts, services, weddings, etc: 233

Seems like a lot, right? No wonder I was busy!!

Highlights from the year 2024:

January:

Some concerts I played were really fun, including one where I had to sightread some late Beethoven quartets

Colonoscopy: not fun, but a rite of passage, and good to have one under my belt so I know what to expect next time (sadly, in three years, so in two years now)

Started planning our summer trip to Sweden and Finland

Played Funny Girl at the Fox

February:

Had friends over for a dinner party

Saw Moby Dick at the Rep, Saw Augustin Hadelich play with the SLSO

Busy with chamber music, yay!

Had a few snow days

March:

Took a trip over Spring Break to Tennessee and met up with my parents in Chattanooga

Some hiking

Played on a concert of the music of Stardew Valley

April:

Hosted Movie Club

Went to Esca for the first time

Went to the Italian Film Festival at Wash U

Saw a concert in a bunker

May:

Saw Yo Yo Ma play with the SLSO

Attended the Parkview Progressive Dinner–so much fun!

Biked over the Chain of Rocks Bridge

Finished my before school job and decided not to return in the fall

Went to New York and Philadelphia on a trip

June:

Finished our trip to Philadelphia

Went to a wedding at the Four Seasons

Got a delicious lemon cake for my birthday

Played in Les Miserables at the Muny

July:

Trip to Chautauqua

Saw a few shows with my friend Marie

August:

Took our trip to Finland and Sweden!

Dinner at Louie

September:

My friend April visited

Played my first concert on Baroque Violin

My parents visited, and we to the neighborhood Oktoberfest party

October:

My friend Michael visited

Took an overnight bike/canoe trip

hosted Movie Club

Went back to Louie for Louie’s birthday

November:

Wine dinner: just three of us were at a table and we all won wine bottles!

Thanksgiving: fun and relaxing, got some sleep, good food, took a hike in Pere Marquette with Michael and Heather, decorated the house

December:

Had some really fun gigs with friends

Cookie party: small but mighty

AND of course hosting my family was a blast!

So then we ended the year at our friend’s house having a small party, wearing pajamas and eating breakfast food. It was great!

Goals, things that I did well, things to improve:

I am not going to jump on the bandwagon and make a ton of goals. My main thought is that I want to be more mindful and serious about getting in better shape. I did a good amount of exercise last year, but I need to do more and I need to get back into strength training. I also need to focus on eating better: more produce, less processed foods. If weight loss happened, that would be fabulous, but I want to focus on feeling good and moving more and being stronger as I get older.

I did a great job this year flossing, and I plan to keep that up. It has definitely become part of my nighttime routine, so that’s good.

Let me be honest about two things that might help you: one is new and one is older. I take anti-anxiety medicine and have for over two years now. I went up a little bit in the spring and I will say, it helps me so much! And then I started some online therapy: I don’t plan to keep it up forever, but it is helping me with some of my problems. Working on my emotional state is very useful and makes me healthier as well. My issues are communication and allowing my negative feelings forward so that I can deal with them rather than bottle them up until the top pops off.

I want to keep reading and read even more: reading a book is better than scrolling, always. I did a good job reading this year, and read some great books. Favorites include: The God of the Woods, Dear Edward, The Ministry of Time, Remarkably Bright Creatures, Sandwich, and James.

I did a good job connecting with people this year. I became closer friends with some people I already knew, which feels like a hard thing to do! And made an effort to make time for friends I already had as well. Time spent on the phone connecting with friends is always a good thing, as well as time spent in person (harder!). I want to keep that up.

Work wise: it did not escape my notice that I did not include many work items on my year highlights even though I spend the vast majority of my time working and thinking about work. I want to continue on the same path I am with being in demand for playing and teaching and continuing to make a schedule that somehow allows for both while not getting completely underwater. It is practically impossible, and I am grateful to my students for being flexible with scheduling when I ask them to.

Elephant in the room: the inauguration and the potential horrible things going on in the country. I have lately chosen the “bury your head in the sand and ignore everything” method, which is working okay for me, but I am not sure how long I can keep that up. I am not sure what I can do, thoughts? I don’t want to let them steal all my joy, that is definitely something I decided shortly after Election Day.

Anyway, that seems like a good place to wrap things up for today’s post. Do you have any goals or thoughts for the new year?