So the Splendor has been towed to San Diego. Here’s a nice collection of video links from a variety of sources. Naturally the media has turned this into a “why cruising is unsafe” incident, though no one was hurt. Thank you media for always overreacting to things.
Today I went for another park run. Ugh. Rough run! I’ll blame the near 70 degree temperatures…how can it be so warm and yet these gorgeous fall photos? And how come some days running is so easy and others I struggle so much? Is it just the weather? Maybe I’m tired?
I hope Saturday is cooler than today (it looks to be cooler and no longer rainy!).
Now it’s time for a workout with Mike followed by 8 students at my house and a rehearsal for a program on Sunday. My 8 students at Good Shepherd are postponed until tomorrow due to Veteran’s Day today.
And so I’m too busy…I cannot add another student at my house. I can’t remember ever being that way. Yes, I probably COULD add another student, but seriously I would be exhausted and it would have to be an 8:00 student…which I was tempted tonight while talking to a very nice sounding young man on the phone. Or maybe I should teach on the weekends…but I’m saving some time for some new commitments in the spring, and I can’t. I just can’t. But I feel bad, I feel like maybe I’ve overscheduled myself away from home and I should have focused more on simply adding to my home studio rather than trying to work outside the home. But I can’t change anything now without disappointing a lot of people and I won’t do that. Next year… we’ll see. There are some things I definitely want to do, and I’ll need to remember this. Maybe I can do three days at home next year. Maybe not. Maybe I’ll have to raise my rates… 😉
Here’s a link to cruisecritic’s round up of the days news about the Carnival Splendor (I posted about this yesterday). For those of you new to my blog, I am a big fan of cruising. I’ve been on three cruises, two on Carnival and one on Royal Caribbean. My most recent cruise was over the summer on Carnival Legend.
Seriously, I love cruising. I love being pampered, I love being on the open sea, I love visiting a bunch of ports in one vacation. I love everything about it! Which brings us to today’s THANKS. I am THANKFUL that I have been so lucky to go on wonderful cruises, and that nothing unfortunate has happened on my cruise vacations! I know people that swear they would hate cruising, and point to stories like this as reasons why. However, thousands of people have wonderful, uneventful cruises each year, and I am so very thankful I am one of those people. I hope to go again soon 🙂 I would love to go on a cruise to Alaska next…
Today I had some plans for my classes at Child of God, but when I got there I remembered it was a half day for the kids…which means they were hyper and super excited! I quickly changed gears and decided to play Hangman. You know the rules of Hangman, right? What we do is divide into two teams (ended up being just two on each team, or you can do even one versus two and switch around). One team comes up with a word, phrase, or sentence, and the other team has to guess. The violin part comes in here–before a guess, each person must do something on the violin that I request, i.e. perform a line of a song or execute ten perfect bow circles, that sort of thing. If they accomplish their task (which I want them to do so it is a fun, positive, experience, so I usually give them more than one chance) they get to guess a letter. It worked out really well today as the kids had a great time but they SECRETLY got a lot of practice/work done. I did this for three classes in a round, ages K through 4 and it was great for everyone.
I wanted to link to a great blog entry from Laurie Niles, who runs the site violinist.com. Here is a well-written article about cheap violins. I have a couple of students who play on these “VSO’s” as she refers to them, and they have about 4 times the trouble the other students do. Any new students of mine definitely need to read this!
I realized that I hadn’t posted today’s “What I’m thankful for Today” post yet. (Department of Redundancy Department?)
*ponders day*
I slept in, worked out with Mike (my trainer if you are new), grocery shopped, talked to a friend on the phone, taught ONE student, went to the gym again to run 4 miles, and now I’m winding down. What am I thankful for? Days off work! I’m thankful for relaxing days like today where I have very few commitments on my time. This sort of day allows me to catch up on errands and emails, relax, shop, unwind, get lots of good exercise, practice, whatever I want. I’m very thankful for days off! (My next one isn’t until next Tuesday, so…I’ll be thankful again then but have to come up with something new…)
As a cruise aficionado, I was startled today when I heard the news that the Carnival Splendor had had a fire in the engine room and was stranded off the coast of Ensenada, Mexico. I hope all the people are doing ok–it seems as if no one was hurt but that the power and PLUMBING was out. Sounds like a potential nightmare!
I hadn’t been to my favorite cruising site (cruisecritic.com) in awhile, but naturally I went there to check things out. I’m sure there will be more information after the fact from poor folks who were on the ship. Will it be a small consolation that they get offered a future free cruise? I don’t know how bad a ship like that could get without power or flushing toilets…pretty bad, I imagine!!
