All posts by hannahviolin

I am a violinist. I also enjoy running, working out, reading, and hanging with my friends and cat.
Random thoughts

Nearly Halloween

I have been busy in my free time! I started a cross stitch project for Thanksgiving and I realized it’s much more time consuming than I thought, and now I’m struggling to put in the hours needed to finish in time. I’m not sure if I will, but I am making the effort. I’m even cutting down on my reading. It’s fun, and that’s what matters.

My legs are healing, though slowly. I went on my first run since falling and I felt fine, although I was very aware of the ground and probably got a crick in my neck from looking down too much, ha!

This weekend is Louie’s birthday and we have a few things planned. I don’t have much work this weekend—honestly I should have turned down the wedding I’m playing yesterday in order to spend more time with Louie on his birthday, but he has work anyway, so I don’t feel bad about it…I just regret that I’m giving up what could have been a full day off. I find myself saying yes to all gigs I’m available for whether or not I actually need to do them…then again, it’s hard to decide you don’t need to do a gig for budget reasons when your pay is so variable and heavily seasonal. I just accepted another gig for December—I was shocked it fit into my schedule and since it did, I said yes. That’s my motto for the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, if it fits it sits, or something like that. And then I said no to a Christmas Day job and a couple right after that because I have family coming, so I think I’m managing to balance okay. Did I mention Louie has work to do anyway and I might as well make the money?

The good thing is that Saturday looks rainy, and that’s the day I have work, and Sunday looks nice and that’s the day I don’t, so I think it is lucky! Today is bleary as well, and I guess the good thing is is that fall is finally here.

We’ve been watching the Handmaid’s Tale. I’d seen Season 1 awhile back but was hesitant to start Season 2. I realized there’s also a Season 3 now (do I really need to capitalize Season, probably not) which means we’ll have more to watch. I am not finding it quite as difficult as I was: there are a few more ridiculous things in this season that don’t make sense and bring you out of the story a bit more, but the other thing is that I’m not watching it worrying about what might happen, I am watching it thinking about how our country was FOUNDED on slavery and white men thinking they were superior and had dominion over everybody else, and that is the exact premise of this show, and it ALREADY HAPPENED. So instead of thinking, this could happen, I’m thinking, this DID happen and how dare anybody FORGET that and think that this is unique, only because what, a white woman is enslaved? We can be better than that.

I’ve got teaching now, so I’m going to run and hit publish. Friday is a busy day!

Random thoughts, Running

Running Fall

I had quite the day on Saturday! I was out for a run, and really enjoying it. The weather was cool but sunny, perfect for outdoor exertion, and I was feeling good—really pushing myself on speed because my legs were feeling refreshed. I was about a mile from home, when I found myself falling…I guess I tripped on the sidewalk somehow, and landed part on the sidewalk and part in the grass. As I was falling I was thinking about how I had to play two Hello Dolly shows that day and I think I was trying to save my hands and wrists from getting hurt.

I sat there for a bit, first deciding if I could get right back up (no) and then deciding how badly I’d hurt myself. I decided nothing was broken or sprained and just some scrapes (pretty bad on the left outside leg), and then I remembered I had my phone, so I was considering getting a ride share back home. Louie was at work all day, so I didn’t have any help available there. I even saw somebody and just sort of smiled and they kept going, and I was also feeling a bit embarrassed and wondering how long I could sit there, and how I was supposed to wipe up the blood (use my shirt?), and that’s when a nice man approached me to ask if I needed help. I would have been a little more apprehensive except he was also with his wife and he was taking great care to seem not frightening, and I ended up first getting some napkins from them to dab off some of the blood, and then getting a ride back home—first I said it was only 2 or 3 blocks away, partly because I wasn’t sure I wanted a ride with a stranger, but also because I wanted to be self-sufficient. It was about a mile away, which isn’t bad in the car of course, but would have been a long walk (I think I would have called an uber or something, and I figured, well that’s a stranger too). Anyway, I got back and tried to figure out how to clean myself up and get bandaged. It didn’t seem super gross at the time, but that night when I got home and needed to change everything out it grossed me out more—I had a lot of “road rash” on the left leg and…well, this is why I’m not a doctor! (for starters).

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As I was sitting there trying to figure out the best way to stand up I did take a picture of my legs. I see here that I was sitting in the grass by the sidewalk…

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I landed a little on my hand. This was a good injury for violin in that it didn’t affect my ability to play at all!

My legs still hurt a bit, but things are starting to scab over. I’m tired of having large bandages on, but that’s how things go. People say you never regret a run, but I kind of wish I’d just relaxed Saturday morning instead!

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In other news, we finished the Hello Dolly run. I also finished an easy cross stitch project—I found the black cloth a bit difficult to work with though. I’ve started on a more challenging, Thanksgiving themed one next. I ended up having about 3 hours to stitch yesterday due to a bunch of students being sick, and it was nice. I barely made a dent in the project though, which means that it will take a long time. That’s fine with me, no rush.

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I ended up finishing the back by folding in the cloth, sewing it together and adding a piece of felt. I’m turning into a weird super crafty person.

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Muriel likes sitting on the printer too I guess. Lately she hangs out quite a lot on top of the router in my living room (it’s warm and maybe she feels the waves, ha) but I liked this printer cat pose. (Yes, that’s a guitar next to the printer. We still have a fair amount of organizing and decluttering to do.)

Well, that’s it for now. I’ve got some errands to run before a fairly light day of teaching (well deserved light day, if you ask me). Tonight we are trying a new restaurant down the street called Taco Circus.

Random thoughts

I believe that Autumn is here!

Today is a bleary overcast day…it’s perfect! Unfortunately I’m stuck in the pit playing two shows today and can’t be inside looking out the window and appreciating it.

Yesterday was supposed to be a few things that it wasn’t. I did manage to get some good rest and “self-care” in and then had some stomach issues plaguing me the rest of the day. I took this morning off as well to make sure any lingering effects were gone, and I’m feeling pretty well back to normal. I’m sure you wanted to know that (then again, maybe you do!)

This weekend is incredibly busy as we finish off the second week of Hello Dolly. I’m glad that next week will have some earlier evenings and some breathing room…I’ve been managing to take some time for things that I enjoy, but I haven’t been able to spend much time with Louie or other friends, and that’s always something that gets pushed aside when work is really busy (as evenings and weekends are when many people are free to hang out). I also miss having a dinner where you cook something and then sit down and eat it off of a plate! Okay, I know, it’s only been about two weeks, and it’s been a fun show (I always wake up with tunes in my head) and I’m just saying…I’m a bit tired is all.

It’s not as if my schedule is totally free after this—as we head into prime season things are heating up. I don’t have any particularly noteworthy events happenings, but there’s opera, random concerts, more weddings, and then we get into the Christmas season. I also have various student events. You know, the usual. Running around, feeling a bit stressed, making it all work somehow. As one does. I know it’ll all work out and I like to think that with experience I get better at it, but I’m not always sure.

This isn’t a terribly interesting blog post, I know. Life is often just a series of mundane events, isn’t it? And if a blog reflects life, perhaps many of the blog entries would be mundane. Paying bills, cleaning, trying to stay organized (my music collection is always out of control, for instance), laundry, meal planning and cooking, exercising, returning emails, phone calls, preparing for the next event, invoicing students, etc. The list goes on and on!

Book wise I’ve been reading Deborah Crombie’s books. I’ve finished the Outlander Books but want to re-read them as well (and I’m hoping to start the TV show when I have a little more time, ha!). I have been watching Succession and I’m up to date on it, great show! Maybe it’s intended to make us all feel glad we don’t have the issues of the super-rich Winking smile . What are you reading and watching lately?

Deep Thoughts

Pumpkin Spice

I don’t mind the pumpkin spice thing. I enjoy the spices involved. That’s the thing though, they ARE spices, not pumpkin. The spices you use to make pumpkin pie! Which evidently if it comes from a can isn’t actually pumpkin, but is squash…and as if there’s a big problem with that? I’m just beyond caring about these things. I like pumpkin pie. Maybe I’ll make one soon. I even have a little can of something called “Pumpkin pie spice”. I won’t be angry to learn it isn’t full of pumpkin pie.

It’s easy to get worked up about things these days, isn’t it? And there’s plenty of important and terrible things to get worked up about. I feel like instead though often people get worked up about little things, like pumpkin spice lattes or straws, that aren’t as important in the big picture. I went out to dinner last night at a place that didn’t provide straws for their drinks except by request. Great! Sometimes I don’t actually need three straws per meal. They did provide unlimited paper napkins though, and also my drink was so full of ice that with every sip the ice uncomfortably hurt my nose. Not a huge problem, no, and I definitely could have asked for a straw but I didn’t. I don’t eat meat for environmental reasons (though I do eat seafood, which is probably not great) and I don’t have children…my personal impact on the world is less than many. It’s hard to know what to do, isn’t it? I know what NOT to do: vote for people who don’t care about the climate or who think man-made climate change isn’t real. But I don’t know what actually to do. Was it worth my annoying drink? Should restaurants use less ice in their drinks?? And I’m not going to carry around a straw…I know I probably should, and I should carry a small container for leftovers when eating out. It’s hard to do all the right things…and many of the wrong things…and then still feel like nothing matters.

That’s not why I sat down to write, but I think a lot of us feel the same: we aren’t sure what to do. We recycle, then evidently we are recycling wrong. We want to buy local, but we can’t find what we need and we don’t have the time. So we use Amazon, oh, and look, you can have everything shipped all at once on one day, great! and then oops, they decide to ship it all separately anyway, so each item is individually packaged. That’s okay, you’ll recycle the boxes, besides the cat loves them…and we just constantly feel like we are failing. I know we are just failing in our impact on the world, and I feel helpless to stop it. Maybe I need a support group!

So, lately I’ve been pretty darn busy with work. I’m playing a broadway which started last week and goes through this week, so that means I’m burning the candle at both ends. I had a variety of early morning activities last week as well, and a few later this week. My teaching load isn’t too bad generally, but I have three mornings I have to get up early to teach. It isn’t bad, and I know many people get up early for various jobs and then work out before as well, but how many of them then work until 10:15 pm? Would you believe some people think musicians and artists are lazy? (Well, to be fair, some are, but not the working ones). Monday was great because one of my colleges was on fall break so I got to sleep in a bit, go  for a long run, and then catch up on all the home and work related things I hadn’t been able to do for about 5 days. I also had time to read and do a bit of crafting and talk with my sister Leslie and niece over facetime.

I’ve been working on a few projects with cross stitch and needle felting lately. I got a needle felting project last Christmas as a gift from Leslie and had been avoiding it because I didn’t know how. I finally dived in a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it. I am planning a few more things after I finish making all the hedgehogs. I am trying to spend my random bits of free time during the day more productively than simply scrolling on my phone. I find I’ll have 15 minutes here or 30 minutes there and I would like to have more hobbies than simply “read” (which I adore and is my favorite thing). I have spent time in the past by practicing, but sometimes I don’t want to do that either or my body needs a break. We’ll see how this hobby lasts…I am often picking up and dropping new hobbies but in the meantime, I’m enjoying myself, and stabbing a small hedgehog all over with needles is rather satisfying.

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Since I’m used to working on things on a slow scale, that didn’t take very long at all: two weeks maybe? But I thought it was funny enough to start with. I’m doing a Halloween stitch right now, and have two more on order, one for Thanksgiving and one for Christmas. I’ve been getting kits from Etsy for now.

I do feel like I mostly come here on the blog to sort of clear my head and complain about random things. The truth is that right now I’m feeling pretty good about my life and how things are going. I don’t have too many things I want to change overall, and I feel good about the direction my career and finances are going: I am teaching fun students, many of whom have been with me for years. I’m playing interesting jobs with many colleagues who I genuinely like, and though I’d love to have more time off, my schedule right now works with Louie’s schedule as he is also very busy during the school year. So down the road I will look to downsize and to cut back, but right now I’m working hard, saving money, and staying organized.

And can you believe it’s October already? The Arch Cup is almost here for my students…I was a little hard on one of them yesterday and feel a bit bad about that. Louie’s birthday is at the end of the month and we have some fun stuff planned, and then it’s Halloween and all. I love fall and (honestly) pumpkin stuff and so I’m happy.

Random thoughts

Tuesday Thoughts

Often, Tuesday is my day to catch up on emails and errands and such. Since Monday is a very busy day (basically I teach from 9:15 am to 7:45 pm, and that includes some driving) I have a bunch of emails left to respond to on Tuesday. I got most of them done pretty quickly this morning. Wednesday is another good catch-up day, and then Thursday and Friday are very busy teaching days again, most weeks. This semester I have a couple “every-other-week” students so that means every other week is slightly busier.

Last week I had a little free time, and I’ve been mostly reading during my free time. I had a few craft projects I had been avoiding so I thought, well, why not. I made a little felt hedgehog and started a needlepoint project.

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It was nice to do something different! I’m farther along now on the needlepoint, but I already had that picture and didn’t want to get up, find the project, and take another. I spend too much time scrolling my phone when I have a short break, instead of doing something more productive. I try to keep magazines with me while I’m off teaching so I have something longer to read, but sometimes something more mindless is better. We’ll see how this goes.

The other thing I’ve been doing is making one meal over the weekend to have for lunch about 3 times during the week. This past weekend’s was fantastic! I made this recipe for red curry lentil stew with butternut squash and kale. My only “beef” is that the recipe says 5 minutes prep time…what’s with recipes underestimating the prep so much? It took me about 30 minutes to prep…probably that was longer than it should have, but there’s no way one can gather all the ingredients and chop everything in 5 minutes. Blue Apron does a similar thing: they will advertise that their recipe takes 30 to 40 minutes, and I’ll look at it and notice that one step requires preheating an oven to 450 then roasting something for 30 minutes, which is already MORE than 30 minutes. Or they’ll say 20 to 30 minutes, but then tell you to cook one thing for 12 minutes and then follow that with another 10 minutes of cooking, which adds up to more than 20 off the bat, not counting prep! I’m aware that recipes always take longer than they say, but it doesn’t mean I’m happy about it. Nonetheless, I am happy with that recipe, which I put over rice, and also added the entire bag of kale I’d purchased which might have been double what the recipe called for.

This is the last calm week for awhile. I’m looking forward to this weekend as well, which contains a DAY OFF. (You all know how I love my days off). Next week is a crazy mess of work so I’m trying to embrace today by catching up on busy-work and find time for relaxation as well. After this I plan to go for a run, then maybe do a load of laundry and make arrangements to go to see the Symphony this weekend (we subscribe but I always end up having to move our tickets to different dates, which is easy to do but requires a phone call, and I’m close enough to being a millennial that I try to avoid phone calls) and also figure out if I need to do anything to prep dinner tonight. I’m also considering making banana bread (we have several frozen overripe bananas…it happens so quickly) and of course, practicing.

How is your week going?

Random thoughts

The weeks just keep on happening

I guess it’s almost fall now. It seems like summer was a long time ago, yet it’s not quite fall, so that doesn’t even make sense.

This week was a busy one. I felt like many of my students were tired and grumpy and that made my job a bit harder and now I’m tired (and a bit grumpy too, to be honest.) We are in the full swing of things and worried about preparing for things like the Arch Cup and various recitals, so that means I have to bug people about practicing (gosh they hate that the most, can’t they just be GOOD at violin) and that means more grumpiness.

I was reading something the other day complaining about people using the phrase “adulting” and how it’s a way of avoiding responsibility. I might disagree. It’s a way of trying to feel like an adult: when we were kids we thought adults knew everything! And now as adults, it often (even now) still feels like we are acting, and doing things like paying bills, going to the BMV, taking care of insurance and banking things, etc., feels like acting and like playing a part. At least to me! Maybe our parents (and I speak to all of you) actually felt like adults, but maybe they also just felt like they were making it up as they went along and that they were pretending to be real adults, perhaps unlike those other people. Hence, adulting. Also it encompasses all those annoying tasks you never knew existed when you were a kid…we thought adulthood was ice cream for breakfast and getting to control the remote, and while it IS also those things, it’s mostly paying taxes, comparing insurance rates, meal planning, and vacuuming.

I often go through the week thinking, oh, I should blog about this or that. Or, I should start a podcast! There are a lot of people doing podcasts, or mini blogs about how to have success as a freelance musician. I often wonder…1) should I do this or 2) are they really giving any helpful information. On the one hand, I often feel like I have no idea what I’m doing, I’m a failure, and I’ve done everything wrong…alternately I am fairly successful and blessed (#blessed) in my career and I’ve done a lot of things well and been pretty lucky. The truth is likely somewhere in the middle and that I would have some valuable information to give to those just starting out, but I’m not sure that my life looks like the picture of success those just starting out want to see. I live in a modest house in a modest neighborhood. I drive a modest car. I work a lot. Most of the work I do has fairly low visibility, and isn’t always as musical satisfying as I would have thought when I was younger, but I do enjoy many of my colleagues, and many of my students. I don’t travel the country or the world playing music, I don’t have students winning competitions…but I do travel in my own vacations, and I have students doing really cool stuff, not always in music, but I feel honored that I get to spend time with some of these cool people. But it’s not the sort of thing that gets you written up in alumni magazines or on podcasts about “success in the music world.” It’s just in the ditch daily work like many people do all the time.

There’s nothing glamorous about my life, generally, and I just work a lot of hours. Maybe that’s the true lesson I have to offer: that a musician can just work and make a living, and not everybody will become famous, but it doesn’t mean that a life in music isn’t possible?

Deep Friday morning thoughts Winking smile Okay, I’m off to teach 3 students at the college, then back for 4 more (and 2 are already done for today) so…it’s a normal day.