Sigh.

It’s already been a typical summer week. Lots of students missing, some that I knew about, some that I didn’t know about. It’s not that I even have much more time, because the lessons are spread out, it’s that I’m more bored waiting around and have less money coming in.

Summer is always stressful like that. Will I meet my budget projections…will all of my students quit and never return.

I had a new student yesterday though, who was really fun to teach. I’ve lost a few lately, including a few that I’m really sad about who are moving too far away to continue with me. But I’m trying to stay positive!

I found out that I can take a private lesson at the Retreat for Violin Teachers that I’m going to in July (at Indiana University). At first I thought, I don’t need lessons, then I thought, woo hoo, lesson! And there’s a masterclass, which gave me similar feelings of disgust, dread, and then possible elation. We’ll see how it all goes. In any case, I’m working on the Bach C Major Sonata (unaccompanied) for a recital in the fall and my goal is to have it all memorized and performance ready BEFORE our trip in August. The recital is in early October, which means that if I have it ready then, I’ll take 3 weeks off and then get it all back in time for the recital. Now the Retreat is giving me extra incentive to get at least the fugue fully memorized by then. It’s possible. I’m having a lot of fun practicing it. It’s one of the more difficult pieces I’ve playing recently but I feel like I’m getting a handle on it. (I also fear that if I don’t show a proper fear and respect the piece will attack me.)

Somehow I am running two races this weekend. One is a 5k on Saturday for Domestic Violence Prevention. The other is a mud run on Sunday. I must be crazy!

We’ve been trying to get rid of some things at the house. Mostly cat stuff, it feels like. It’s amazing how many cat supplies one accumulates over the years. We’re keeping the cat carriers and maybe a few litter boxes, but getting rid of everything else. (You never know when somebody will have an emergency kitty that needs a home…the fatness fell into my life that way and I assume my next cat will too, but not yet.) It’s sad.

Things are different without cats. In some ways, it’s nice. You can shut doors without worrying about whether a cat has snuck in. You can leave something on the floor without worrying whether a cat will pee on it. No cats are around to steal your ponytail holders or knock your glasses on the floor from the nightstand. No cats getting in the way while you are reading or trying to use the computer.

But they are missed. No snuggles from a tiny warm creature, who acts like she doesn’t care. Sigh.

Anyway, there’s plenty of blogging to look for: still have to tell you about the Grand Canyon trip and I will, I promise, there are just so many pictures to deal with…and we took an epic hike up and around Bell Mountain.

But for now, I must go for a run, do laundry, practice, and teach. How is your summer going so far?

Am I a bad person if I prefer the cashews? I like to pick out the other nuts first so that all that is left is the cashews. I’m a firm believer in saving the best for last.

I feel like I’ve spent hours trying to organize my teaching schedule for this month. It’s probably only been around an hour (which is actually still a lot, in my opinion). I’m missing some lessons and other people are missing and I’m trying to fit in as many lessons as possible on those days I can teach. I’m starting to get ridiculously excited about our upcoming trip to the Grand Canyon, but before that I have a lot to do…as always!

I am a planner, as I’ve said. And I have students that already know exactly which days this summer they want lessons and they are on the calendar. I have other students who don’t even know what they are doing yet, and think I’m crazy (this is me extrapolating) for trying to get them to pin something down that is over a month away. This is one of the challenges of being an independent music teacher: you spend a lot of time scheduling and collecting money and herding cats. (Not literally). I couldn’t do this job as well as I do if I weren’t a planner, but I also have to be able to work well with people who don’t or aren’t able to plan as far ahead. It’s a challenge!

Sometimes I blog while doing other things—I almost forgot I was blogging right now because I got distracted by my email. I tried the whole “check email less often” for about three hours one day and realized it just didn’t work for me. I like people knowing I am quickly reachable by email because it’s a better record of conversations than texting (longer, more searchable, can archive but find again later) and I definitely don’t want people feeling like they have to call in order to do something that can be done via email. Texting is fine too, for last minute things and for quick questions, but for longer conversations and for groups, I think email is easier and clearer. Plus I can type (on the computer) far faster than I can type on my phone. Call me old-fashioned.

Anyway, I’m just rambling. Random thoughts. Does this still count as creating content? (Inside blogger joke). I went for a run this morning. The weather is amazing this week—60’s and low 70’s with sun. May is shaping up to be all right!

Can you believe it’s May already? What does May mean to you? For me May is the last month of school (this matters when you teach school children, even though I’m self employed and aren’t tied to a school schedule exactly) so that means recitals, missed lessons, lots of rescheduling…and USUALLY hot weather.

Not today though. I went for a run this morning wearing shorts and a long sleeve shirt! It was around 60 degrees, which is honestly beautiful weather for running—but strange for May. At least in my recollection. Then again, maybe it’s perfectly normal. In any case, it was a nice day for a run, and I’m glad I got it in before any rain.

So, the weekend was a busy one—I actually had some rehearsals and a performance, plus a cocktail hour. It was a lot of driving to Illinois and around, but I suppose there’ s a good sense of accomplishment Honestly, it’s nice to play with people rather than simply being at home practicing and teaching, so I’m always really glad to have work!

The storms on Saturday were pretty amazing—there was a complete double rainbow. My view from the car wasn’t as nice…but it was still pretty gorgeous. Unfortunately this view meant we were driving directly into the storm!

Let’s see: just a bunch of random stuff. Saturday night Louie and I ate dinner at Sapporo 2  and then went to the second show at Jazz at the Bistro to see a saxophone player named Melissa Aldana. Dinner was really good—we split a few things including Bibimbap with Sashimi, which was unique and delicious. The show was good—the crowd was pretty chill and quiet (I was exhausted so maybe everybody else was too) but Melissa played well. She looked a bit like April from Parks and Rec and had a unique weirdness about her, but it only added to the charm and the fun of the show. I’d definitely see her play again!

Other happenings mostly include hanging out with and taking care of these ridiculous pets.

The next two weeks are pretty busy, and then it’s a week of family and hiking in Phoenix, Sedona, and the Grand Canyon. I can’t believe I’m really looking forward to camping, but I am. We are staying with my sister for a few days, camping for a few days (reread this blog post to see what I daydream about some days), another few days with Leslie (and my NIECE) and then home. This coming weekend Louie and I are planning a big hike in order to “train”.

I’m one of those people who loves planning. I love grand, elaborate plans, excitement, and breaks from routine. It’s part of why the freelance life appeals to me—every day can be different! But teaching can be much the same: every Monday might be the same. So it can get me down a little bit, and I think the past few months have been a bit of slog for me. Nothing against ANY of my students, but it’s more when you put it all together. I think I’ve been doing a bit more complaining here than I should, and I need to embrace things as they are, and I do indeed realize how lucky I am . 

(Lucky that is, if you like the smell of cat urine and enjoy giving twice-daily insulin shots to a cat )

And with that, I’m off. Things to do before I start teaching, as always! Looking forward to a good week.

How many colds do you get a year? I think I usually get two, one around NOW and one in October. I turn into a whiny mess, sometimes going around the house uttering, why me? I thought I had gotten away with a mild cold over the Easter weekend, but I was mistaken and by Saturday evening last I had a horrible sore throat. That night I slept very poorly, kept waking up drenched in sweat, even had dreams about running with sweat poring down my face! Anyway, that nixed our ideas of going south to hike at Pickle Springs and Hawn State Park (soon!) and instead I spent the day at home…but had enough energy to do my taxes. Yay.

So that’s where we are. Still recovering, feeling kinda lousy, trying to soldier through as best as I can, while having at least finished my taxes (and I overpaid, which means I overestimated my income last year, but whatever, still winning in some way!)

I haven’t taken too many pictures lately, so this will be a text only post. There are now TWO dogs at the house (yay, Mackenzie’s brother from the same litter Banjo is here) and things are a bit crazy in that sense!

On a personal note, I’ve decided to do some volunteering, or at least, signed up for a training session at the Clowder House. It’s a place where cats live, lots and lots of them, after their owners can no longer take of them (there is a charge for this service) and I’ll learn more about it in a few weeks.

Professionally it seems I will be joining the board of a local music teachers association. I’ve had a little more time on my hands during the day that I wanted, and I find if I practice more than 2 hours it can be counterproductive, so when I got an email about looking for people to serve, I responded. It’s that easy, I guess! I am looking forward to some new challenges and experiences with my volunteer positions. Of course I’m always looking for more work, but it is harder to fill my daytime hours than my afternoon/evening and weekend hours…always my complaint. Then again, I suppose other people have the opposite problem? I never know!

This weekend I am, assuming I feel slightly better, running the Go St Louis 7K race. I had been signed up for the half (I got a discount registration quite some time ago) but dropped down when I found myself more interested in hiking on the weekends than doing long runs. So a 7K seems perfect, and it’s a course I haven’t run before—it goes across several bridges and should be a lot of fun.

In any case, that’s pretty much it for now. I thought I’d just pop in in case you guys thought I forgot about you

Oh, and we got takeout Friday night from Lona’s Li’l Eats in Fox Park, YUMMY, so much vegetarian goodness (and was a gift certificate from a student, excellent) and leftovers the next day two. Thursday night we went to Publico for the second time—it was delicious and we split an entire fish, which was quite fun, but it is pricey and less filling than you’d think, plus so many dishes have meat. I am really becoming one of those people, aren’t I? (It took becoming a 95 percent pescatarian to understand how being on a restrictive diet feels, sometimes you want CHOICES, not just limitations and one dish to choose from…and sometimes you wonder if people could cook with less meat if they gave it a bit more effort. This is not a criticism of Publico so much as a criticism of MOST restaurants in St Louis.)

Anyway. Not going to lecture, because I still eat meat on occasion. But just thinking out loud!

I voted again this morning. We here in St Louis had another election today, only a few weeks after the primaries. Civic duty starts to feel like a real job sometimes!

I feel like time is just flying by. I’ve probably said that before. We all say it. It seems like it was just Thanksgiving, and now it’s nearly spring break! (As a self-employed violin teacher, technically there isn’t a spring break, but since I teach kids and have a boyfriend who is on an academic calendar, there is a spring break.)

I guess it’s part of aging. We all feel it, we all see it. The years go by so much faster as we get older.

In any case, it means (to me at least) that my time is MORE valuable, that I must guard it and use it wisely, and plan properly. Though I read yesterday that planning fun activities takes away the fun. I don’t know if I agree with that, but maybe it’s because I mostly plan fun activities! It’s interesting though, and I wonder, how does one make time for fun activities to happen spontaneously without planning for them? (Help!)

I got a keyboard! I got it from a colleague for a good price. It’s good enough for my needs at this time, which are mostly to accompany my students in their lessons. We’ve had a lot of fun the past two days playing with it, and I’m so happy I reached out to my facebook friends about this. I posted on facebook about wanting to borrow or buy a keyboard and got many wonderful responses. The power of social media! In any case, though I’d love a real piano at some point, it just isn’t practical at this time, both in terms of space and maintenance costs (in order to accompany my students it would need to be in tune and in good condition at all times). And though I’ll probably upgrade to a larger keyboard at some point, again, this one is just perfect for now. I found a copy of Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier and have been working through those—I read a blog where the author plays one each day or week or something, and it sounded fun, until you get to the third one which is in C sharp major and my brain might have literally exploded.

This week has been pretty relaxing. I’ve spent hours practicing both violin and keyboard, and have been able to stay on top of my to do list pretty well. Yesterday Louie and I popped into the Art Museum during the day for lunch and to see some art, and it was a really nice diversion. Sometimes I feel stressed out trying to relax during the day (if that makes sense…it’s hard to relax, even when you know you have enough time to do so) but I think doing that sort of thing could be really nice in the future. The lunch was nice too, and we split a cupcake from Jilly’s Bakery.

I love looking at the decorative furniture, vases, platters, lamps and such at the Art Museum. Wouldn’t this stained glass look nice in my home?

Anyway, today is a light (ish) teaching day, and then I have two days off. Tomorrow I’ll be running the St Patrick’s Day Race downtown with my friend April (shout out! do I have to say my friend April, I’ve mentioned her enough here that I probably don’t, but whatever, in case you say, huh, who’s that?) and then Louie and I have a short list of things to do around the house (donate some more junk, make a staircase out of cardboard boxes for Chloe) and maybe we’ll see a movie or something crazy like that.  Suggestions? Didn’t we just have a weekend? Or did I work three straight weeks? I can’t even remember anymore…