So today is Giving Tuesday. Which I think is a pretty silly name…just as ridiculous as Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday. First off, small businesses should have Black Friday too—it’s like saying Friendsgiving to mean Thanksgiving with friends…Thanksgiving should already be about friends! And Black Friday can be a shopping day for all kinds of stores…and then Cyber Monday? I think there were probably a few years when people had better internet connections at work than at home and that’s why they shopped on Monday? Or alternately (my pet theory) nobody actually works at work—they just pretend they do in order to cover all their internet time? But really. So that brings us, logically and clearly, to Giving Tuesday. I think giving to charities and nonprofits is great, and we should do that, throughout the year, at the end of the year, really whenever you have “extra” money. But that money you are wasting on buying gifts for friends and family members who don’t need anything…that could ALSO be given to nonprofits. People are constantly complaining about how much junk they have, how much simpler they want their lives to be…are these the same or different people who run out to the stores on Black Friday to get great deals on a bunch of junk nobody needs?

TL: DR version: Holidays are stupid. Give money to nonprofits.

So the week is going well. I put “write a blog post” in my calendar for this time so I thought I’d just sit down and do that. I told you guys in my last post that I was experimenting with scheduling tasks that I do, and this is day 2 of that. So I made a few different colors of calendars in Google Calendar (my organizer of choice) and added things like “Important Paperwork”, “Cleaning”, “Practice Violin”, “Run/Shower” and “Write a Blog Post.” I thought maybe I’ll be able to get a handle on where my time goes better this way too, and be more productive, and as a result (hopefully) have more meaningful downtime, where I’m not fretting over what I should be doing, because I either already did that, or it’s on the calendar. Between that and a very detailed “to-do list” on my phone, this is the time for organization. I could have waited until January, but there’s no time like the present, is there?  I figure better to start right away and by the new year I’ll have more of an idea how much time I really need to schedule for things and I’ll just be a supreme organizational machine!

The more students I have the more work it takes to keep everything running, and while if you’d asked me 10 years ago if I’d want to be a full-time violin teacher I’d have said no, it looks more and more like that’s where I’m ending up. The money in teaching is better and more regular than freelancing, especially here in St Louis, and while I enjoy playing gigs and weddings and will always continue to do so, I am happy to have the bulk of my income from teaching. I also love performing, and will always do that as well. Of course, that makes it sound like I have several full-time jobs, but as I’m really considering myself a full-time violin teacher, it’s that job (small business!) with additonal work here and there, rather than more evenly divided.

That probably doesn’t even make any sense, but I never promised you that this blog post would. In any case, I have some emails to return before I teach, and while I’d love to put them off, I know not replying will stress me out, so I’m off to do that. You might be seeing more regular blog posts if I stick with this organization thing, though no guarantees on quality. Practice may or may not make perfect!

I read somewhere, somebody, complaining that millennials aren’t properly grown up, and that they even use the word “adult” as a verb, as in “I don’t want to adult.”

I’m not a millennial, I’m evidently Gen X (though I don’t recall that I was growing, I recall being Gen Y growing up, but now I’m Gen X and Gen Y has been renamed, so whatever) and…it gets old hearing people complain about young folks. I think every generation has worked hard, and for those of us entering the workplace post-9-11 it has been exceptionally hard. And yet constantly we are being told how lazy we are and how we just expect everything to be given to us, and all I see are people working really hard.

Most of the time when people make the “adulting” joke it’s about stuff like dealing with financial paperwork or insurance issues, perhaps renewing a driver’s license, or more complicated things like dealing with sick parents or a pet. Does anybody look forward to those things?

For me lately, it’s the sick pet thing…Chloe has been picking at her fur and skin again, and the other day had a horrible spot on her side. We put the cone back on for the foreseeable future, and took her to the vet. We aren’t certain yet the source of her issues, but I hope we can figure it out soon. She doesn’t pee in the litter boxes anymore, either…sigh. Having older cats is tough, but I hope we can figure out what’s going on.

This week has been going by in a blur. The fall has been busy, tiring, and pretty hard. Things are generally good, but just that there’s been so much to deal with!  Once Louie finishes school and starts working I think everything will be a little easier…at least his schedule might be easier, and that stress will be lifted.  I tend to pick up his stress and also have my own (keeping my schedule intact and keeping up to date on my students is a constant stress, not to mention performing, and then all the around the house stuff, plus dealing with a sick kitty.)

I’m happy that November is here. I’m not really into Halloween like some people are, and frankly I’m glad it’s over. It was starting to annoy me. (I know, I know…I sound old and cranky!) But Thanksgiving, well that’s a holiday I can get on board with. And this weekend I am traveling to a wedding in Phoenix and though it’s ALSO adding to my stress (early travel! how to pack to avoid checking a bag! playing violin at the wedding!) it should be a lot of fun and I can’t wait to see Leslie and my niece. Next weekend ALSO has a few fun activities planned, and then I’ll be visiting family for Thanksgiving, so this month is full of good stuff…hopefully. And not that the every day isn’t nice, but October felt like I was working all the time, and I’m looking forward to having some downtime this month. Fingers crossed!

I do feel like my blog posts this fall have been whiny…sorry to make you read it if that’s the case (maybe they have always been like this?) I think I have to work harder on choosing what to stress over and what to let go…or I have too much on my plate?  It’s not that I’m too busy even, but just that it’s hard to feel like I’m on top of things. I guess having 38 students means there are always a few things to take care of. I really should do what people suggest and have a set time to deal with emails and non-time urgent things. Maybe I’ll start ONLY dealing with those to-do’s in the morning, and spend a certain amount of time, and then move on with my life. Music lessons are rarely a life-or-death situation, but sometimes rescheduling feels like it.

I sometimes read my old blog posts and think that I write worse today than I used to. I wonder if that’s true or if I am more critical of myself in the present day than in retrospect. Thoughts?

Well, hello there! It’s been a busy weekend, and I’m just now getting a moment to sit down and collect my thoughts.

There’s been a lot going on in my life lately, and most of it good. Louie (who has been going back to school since I’ve known him) got offered a full-time job the other day and he accepted. He starts in December. I am very excited, both for him and for us. He’s worked really hard to get where he is now, and I think the next chapter is going to be really interesting and even a bit fun.

Friday morning I had a few errands to run, and I ended up doing a few things at the bank that will be helpful for my violin teaching business. I felt like such an adult, having a long meeting with a bank associate. A couple of times she told me to check with my accountant, and that made me giggle, since my accountant is a computer program. I also got a flu shot and a library card (to check out books on my kindle, woo-hoo!) so it was just a full day of activity. I would like to say, I think it’s funny when you do errands in the morning and people often assume you have the day off. Why, sure, I have the day off, until 4 pm when I teach and then have rehearsal until 10 pm. So it’s kind of a half day, plus a couple hours of practicing! I think I’d think it was a half day of work if I worked from 8 to 5 too, as that gives your whole evening free Maybe I have a problem.

I mostly worked through the weekend—teaching and a wedding on Saturday, and a double rehearsal day for Winter Opera yesterday. We did have a little fun on Saturday night and went to the Symphony and then out with another couple we ran into at the concert. The concert was pretty good, though sparsely attended. I think people who don’t regularly attend arts events are really missing out, especially here in St Louis. Then again, there are so many events that perhaps it’s hard to keep up.  On any given weekend I will have 2 to 3 concerts in mind that I know would be really interesting to attend, but often I don’t make it to any of them…I also get invites and see advertising for tons of great looking concerts on weekday evenings..there is just so much going on culturally that there is no excuse for people not to get out there and see it. Many events are free too. I guess seeing so many empty seats at the symphony (to me it seemed like a lot, maybe I’m wrong) made me think about what people do for entertainment. It can be hard to get off the couch sometimes, because watching TV on the couch is so easy and relaxing and comfortable, but I’m glad we went out Saturday night, and every time I attend a live performance I’m glad I went.

That’s all for now! Time to run, finish some laundry, grocery shop, practice, teach, and run a sectional with the orchestra at Washington University. Busy day and busy week ahead!

I don’t think my title is totally grammatically correct…

I texted April earlier today that I feel like all I do is work. This month has been a lot of work, and running, and some hanging out with Louie, but mostly we just watch TV because we are too exhausted to do anything else, or it’s just too late anyway. I don’t even feel like I’m that busy, except when I’m trying to figure out when to get things done. I’m used to teaching 38 students and practicing 1-3 hours a day, and running, and doing mostly everything around the house because Louie is too busy (hopefully that is changing soon because I don’t actually do everything so lots of things aren’t getting done.)

But! So, I went for a run this morning, (20 minutes without walking) and what is with the weather? It’s still summer outside—it was 80 degrees by midday. Is this the future? Global warming? I don’t really care for it. I’m ready for those cooler temperatures to stay for awhile. I bought new purple running leggings that I really want to wear, but I can’t wear pants to exercise unless it’s near or below freezing.

For my opera class (taking a class at EdX on opera) I just listened to the recording of Ave Maria done by Alessandro Moreschi, a castrati born in 1858 and who made the recording in 1903. It made me sad on so many levels. What people did in order to make their voices like that. And then thinking about everybody who made the recording, and how they are all long dead…and what will happen to all of our videos and recordings from now? And that it was socially acceptable to have castrati, and now it absolutely isn’t, and that you can’t do that to a child who can’t make that decision…it’s fascinating, but tragic really. And who had the idea first, to do that to a person in order to keep their voice from changing??

I got to see my brother-in-law, Peter, this week. He was in town for a “job interview” (he’s a musician as well, so it was an audition, but it’s the same idea, only with more work, more money paid out of pocket, and well, more personal devastation afterwards.) I’m really looking forward to visiting Phoenix in a few weeks and seeing the whole family…my niece just had her first birthday. She’s getting so old, soon she will be a real person!

I’ve been battling a cold all week. I feel mostly okay, except I’ve got a slight cough, congestion, and just TIRED. I’ve been trying to rest but it’s hard, and I haven’t wanted to miss any paid work so I’ve been forging ahead. I do feel like this evening I’m starting to feel more like myself, but (sigh) between Louie and I we’ve been sick for nearly two weeks and I’m pretty much over it. I want to be back to normal and be able to sleep on my side or even better, my stomach! (I can’t breathe well enough yet, so it’s been back sleeping for DAYS.)

I helped out at a nearby high school with a little after school “audition prep”. I was really doing a favor for Eliana, but I had a great time. I’m thinking maybe that’s how I can “give back.” I always feel like I need to be volunteering, since that’s what people do, but I realized today that the best use of my skills would be to volunteer and occasionally help with a sectional or something for a school. There are plenty of benefits for me too, of course, from networking and recruiting, to simply feeling like I have skills to offer that are top of the line and invaluable…not second rate, not “not in the symphony” or “following direction from an orchestra director” but teaching the way I know how and teaching the students to be their best selves. I know I can’t let other people’s opinions bother me, but it’s just hard when you don’t feel respected and appreciated. Today I feel like I AM respected and appreciated.

And on that note. Dinner time! Tonight is a bag salad from Schnuck’s, roasted yellow squash with parmesan, and mushroom ravioli from Trader Joe’s. Yummy!