Category Archives: Random thoughts

Random thoughts, Teaching

Quick recap of week

I’ve been so busy these past few days I’ve just been doing the reverb10 posts.  So what have I been doing?

Well, less working out that in the past, but that’s okay.  I’m still on track, and the holidays are just tough.  I ended up having two days off this week plus I’ve been dealing with leg soreness from Mike-related exercises.

I have done most of my Christmas shopping!  I’ve gotten people some really awesome gifts and I hope they all love them (or at least find them useful.)  I probably spent too much, but it’s fine Smile I just hope my family and Chris are happy with their gifts!

I got a few new decorations for the tree.  I’m really pleased with the tree this year, it just looks really beautiful.  Yesterday one of my students came in, looked at the tree and the presents underneath (I wrap my gifts and set them out), and asked “are any of those for me?”  I had to laugh—I absolutely remember that feeling—you would see gifts and hope (and hope) that one was for you…but I don’t recall ASKING!  Sometimes you would be disappointed, but sometimes you would get that surprise gift you weren’t expecting.  Isn’t it great being a kid??

I had a morning off on Wednesday where my stomach was really acting up.  I think the stress was getting to me a bit…or I had a bit of bug/food poisoning.  Who knows.  I managed to make it through the rest of the week.

I realized I messed up a bit for the weekend—I forgot to forward a memo to my students who are performing on the Metro East Lutheran joint school concert on Sunday.  I guess it’s really impossible to do everything!  I made a list on Wednesday of all the things I needed to do until December 19 (vacation) and have kept up pretty well since then…but it’s hard to keep up with the things you forget to do OR forget to put on the list.  I’m making cookies for my class students this week for mini-parties and we have three performances ahead of us—hopefully they will go smoothly, or at least, well enough!  In the past few months I’ve worked my butt off on these new school jobs and I don’t always feel I get enough back from them to make it worthwhile.  But as always, the kids are wonderful Smile

Today was a workout with Mike and a rehearsal for a choir concert.  It was my first orchestral experience in a long time, and it was quite fun!  The workout was great too—the gym has been expanding and now has a large back room with a new line of treadmills.  The disturbing part of the workout was where a creepy guy from the gym was evidently staring at me while I was doing squats.  Mike was pretty pissed—he had us move to another part of the gym (He didn’t say anything to the guy, but I think he wanted to?  I don’t really know, I kind of missed the whole thing.)  I guess that’s the problem when you lose weight and look awesome when you work out—gross balding creeping guys might stare at you.  Then again, seriously gross balding creeping guys, we women need to work out too.  If that happens again, be sure that me or one of the trainers will report you to gym management for creepy staring!

I haven’t been nearly as flexible as during my Bikram Yoga weeks…maybe I’ll need to attend another class.  I will, I think…plus, it is very warm in the class, and it’s cold outside, good reason, right?

Wish me luck tomorrow—I am planning to do my long run in the morning because Sunday is supposed to be really cold and tomorrow isn’t quite as cold.  I would prefer not to run 8 miles on the treadmill…then again, it might rain tomorrow.  So that’s why I need luck.

Chris and I went to Dressel’s for dinner.  It was wonderful!!  We split the chips with rarebit and I had pasta with a mushroom sauce.  I also had the green goddess salad because I felt guilty about not having enough veggies with my dinner—I love green goddess dressing.  (Is that a St. Louis thing?)

Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed this somewhat random post!  I have a busy weekend ahead of me, but I’m looking forward to some good times and great performances!

Random thoughts

Wisdom #reverb10

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Prompt: Wisdom. What was the wisest decision you made this year, and how did it play out?

Decisions!  We all make decisions every day.  I thought about this one all day—what big decisions did I make this year?  I resigned from ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, a group I had played with for over five years.  I joined the gym and started working with a personal trainer.  I took on several new teaching positions.  I attended a summer institute to continue my Suzuki Violin Teacher Training.

Then there are the smaller, everyday decisions:  what to eat for dinner, where to go out with friends, what social engagements to accept and which to decline, what to wear, how to do my hair, etc.

The thing is, I feel like my wisest decision has already been beat to death on my blog, but yet I can’t come up with a better response.  I even discussed this with Chris over dinner at Dressel’s tonight (a great decision!)—and he said immediately:  well, we joined the gym.  You’ve all heard it already, but it’s true:  joining the gym and signing on to train with Joe is by the wisest decision I made this year.

I will always be glad I made that decision.

How did it play out?  I lost weight, I completely changed the way I eat and look at food, and I now love working out and sweating.  I’ve run several races and am training for another one.  I feel strong and healthy.  I know even if I gain weight indulging over the holidays I will be able to lose it without a problem.

Seriously wise decision.

 

HBBC:  yesterday: 7 f/v: 1 point, today: 1 mile run: 1 point, workout with Mike: 4 points, 7 f/v: 1 point, total for two days: 7 points.  Total for week: 26 points

Random thoughts

Beautifully different…meh #reverb10

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Prompt: Beautifully different. Think about what makes you different and what you do that lights people up. Reflect on all the things that make you different – you’ll find they’re what make you beautiful.

What makes me different?  Different from whom?  I find this an incredibly odd prompt, if for no reason that it isn’t even really open-ended, which has bothered me all day.  In fact, it’s possible that I disagree with the entire premise of this prompt, which makes it incredibly difficult to write.  Great start, huh?

What makes me different?  I am very sarcastic…I have a great sense of humor and love making jokes.  I have a huge smile and I love to laugh.  I’m tall.  Are any of those things different? 

Sometimes I think the things that make me different are actually less than beautiful.  I can be caustic.  I often think too highly of myself and my intelligent and look down on people.  I often feel that my intelligent separates me from other people…and that is hardly a beautiful thought.  I’m moody…I’m a good liar…

Do I seem combative?   I feel combative (is that different?).  That’s two days in a row I’m not doing well with these prompts.  This project is bringing out some very negative feelings in me! 

Random thoughts

Community take two #reverb10

I didn’t sleep very well last night (was suffering from some sort of stomach ailment, which ultimately led to me calling in sick to work this morning) and kept thinking about the community post.

It seems that, firstly, I am not alone in feeling without a community.  There is such an emphasis on “community” in our culture, and for those of us that live our lives on the fringe of society (or feel on the fringe whether or not we actually are) it can be difficult to find a place to fit in.  But what does community actually mean?

from the entry for Community on Wikipedia:

In sociology, the concept of community has led to significant debate, and sociologists are yet to reach agreement on a definition of the term. There were ninety-four discrete definitions of the term by the mid-1950s.

Since I’m feeling a little under the weather this morning, I will consider Wikipedia to be the ultimate source.  So nobody really knows exactly what community means, least of all sociologists, for whom you would think it would be important to know. 

Let’s be inclusive then, rather than exclusive as I was in my previous post.  What communities do I really belong to?

Well, the community of violin teachers.  I even belong to a couple of email lists!  I also belong to a variety of organizations.  Suzuki Association of the Americas, American String Teachers Assocation, that sort of thing.

I’m also a performing violinist and member of the American Federation of Musicians.  I perform in orchestras and also play for weddings—I certainly fit into a variety of groups under those umbrellas.

I belong to a gym.  Often when I go there I run into quite a few people I know-

Online I have a few different places on the internet that are mine, that I check into often, that I post in, and even exchange Christmas cards with some of the people I’ve met.

These are examples of what I thought of last night…

The fact still remains that none of this is INTEGRAL to my life, to my happiness.  These are all little things that combine to make my life more interesting, more complete, but they are all things I could easily do without.  So I haven’t made any more progress, have I?   Winking smile

Am I bothered by my lack of community?  Only since I was prompted to write about it.

Christmas, Random thoughts, Teaching

Another performance done!

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Tonight at Good Shepherd Lutheran School we had the Christmas concert for K-2.  I have three students in that age group, but only 2 elected to perform, both in 2nd grade.

They met me in the practice room where we usually have lessons to get tuned, run through their pieces, and then I asked them to pack up so I could take their violins up to the sanctuary where the concert was being held.  They returned to meet their class.

I got up to the front of the church and unpacked the violins to get set up… and realized one of the girls no longer had her bow.  She also hadn’t zipped up her case, merely velcro-ed it…which I didn’t notice until I got to the church.  (I guess she was nervous, because she certainly wasn’t thinking clearly!).  I went back downstairs but couldn’t find her bow.  I had her play using the other girl’s bow.  I asked her what happened to her bow, and she said, “oh, it’s on the second piano.” (which is an organ that needs to be plugged in, though the practice room has no plugs.  don’t ask).  Okay…why? Why is it on the organ when I asked her to pack up?  Ugh.

Anyway, the girls played very well, and afterwards I found her bow right where she said it was.  Wow.  That story is very confusing, huh?  I am too tired to fix it, but I really wanted to tell it Smile

Suffice it to say, I was proud of their performances!

In other news:

I bought a beautiful tree skirt today for the Christmas tree!  Last year I didn’t have a skirt for the tree, and the year before was just a cheap-o one that looked pretty raunchy by the end.  I was perusing Christmas decorations at Target and I saw one I really liked, so I bought it.  I’ll put up a picture later, it’s too dark now to get a good one.  I also bought a few new ornaments for the tree (it’s nice to get a few new ones each year).

I’ve done a bit of online shopping for gifts over the past week or two—and packages have been arriving at the house!  I did Christmas cards tonight (at least phase one) but tomorrow I hope to do some wrapping and really make the tree look nice.  I may need to buy more Christmas cards—I got some nice ones, but I thought I had some left from last year and it turns out I did not.  Exchanging Christmas cards seems very old-fashioned in today’s “digital age” but I really enjoy the tradition.  I think it’s important to keep that going.

Alright, I’m going to post-date publish this entry and go to bed.  Happy Wednesday, readers!  (I have been rereading the Harry Potter series and am working my way through Goblet of Fire right now.)

HBBC:  dec 7: 7 servings f/v:  1 point, 1 hour workout with Mike: 4 points, 1 mile walk: 1 point, total: 6 points

dec 8:  7 servings f/v: 1 point, 3 mile run : 3 points, total : 4 points

Random thoughts

Lack of community #reverb10

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Prompt: Community. Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010? What community would you like to join, create or more deeply connect with in 2011?

I’ve been struggling with this one all day.  I really don’t have anything to write about—I don’t feel like I have a community nor do I really want one.  I enjoy doing things with other people, but I prefer to hang out with people in a small groups.  I enjoy reading articles and blogs about people doing similar things to what I do, but I don’t feel a real need to connect with them on a more intense level.  I enjoy chatting with people when I go to my various jobs, and I suppose there’s a sense of community there, but often I feel like an outsider.  I’m a 30 something who isn’t married with children.  I am not a home owner, and I’ve lived in various different places in my life.  I don’t like to play team sports and I don’t enjoy crowds. 

Now I’m starting to sound like a sociopath, huh?  But the truth is:  I just really don’t have a community where I belong.  I never really have, though…so I don’t know how that would feel.  I’ve spent most of my life without a community.  I’ve had strong family connections, and many friends.  Maybe that’s the same.  Maybe I’m just not using the right word.

Do I want that to change?  I don’t know. 

Maybe I’ll revisit this topic later.