However, this week is going decently fast, as weeks tend to do. This morning I was pretty lazy but thus far I have at least washed and dried a load of laundry (fascinating!) and practiced. I also ate half of a grapefruit and it was delicious. (That wasn’t all I ate.)

I woke up feeling really stressed out, but things are better now. Sometimes I get stressed out when I have to send emails that are basically just me sticking up for myself. Sigh. Everything turned out great, because all of us women ARE told that we need to stick up for ourselves more and stop using vocal fry and saying “sorry” and “just” and then our lives will be great just like the men’s lives. I do find, however, that when I stand firm that people tend to respect that, so maybe some of the articles are correct. And the rest should stop telling women how to act more like men and consider that maybe, just maybe, we like the world that we exist in and want the whole world to be like our world, and why should we have to change when men don’t have to? But I digress. As usual. Sorry.

All that being said, I am often afraid to stick up for myself, for fear of making people angry. And when I do, and it turns out well, I feel like a real person, a real adult. And then I think, hey, gimme another 37 years (that’s my age, FYI) and I’ll have this whole adult thing DOWN.

Wednesday is my lighter teaching day this fall. I have only 4 hours of students and there’s even a 30 minute break in that segment, so that’s mostly why I was lazy today. I was tired and needed a day to relax a bit. I’m on my third cup of coffee and it’s simply fantastic. I wrote just fantastic first but then edited it since we ladies aren’t supposed to say just anymore. (I’m assuming we still need to be pretty and smile in public though, right?)

This is where ordinarily I would insert a cat picture! But I don’t have any available to me that you haven’t already seen.

Oh whew, there we go! Old cat pictures that you’ve forgotten that you’ve seen!

So, tonight I am going to make tacos. I have tofu, sweet potatoes, onions, and queso fresco, plus Trader Joe’s Green Salsa. I can turn that into something delicious enough, I’m sure. Taco Wednesday!

I had a million thoughts when I sat down to blog, and I still do, but most of them are even more boring and unsuitable than what I’ve already typed! It’s a hard balance between writing enough that my blog feels somewhat personal, and sharing too much (for a variety of reasons.)

Practicing wise, I’ve been working on: Beethoven Opus 59 #1, Bach Partita no. 1 for Solo Violin, and a variety of Etudes, including Gavinies and some stuff I’m going through to review for my students. I also practice scales regularly enough—I have a system where I play all the 3 octave scales in a row, going up chromatically, and then all the arpeggios (Flesch) going around the circle of 5ths. I learned to do this at CIM while studying with Linda Cerone, and it’s a valuable skill. If I ever have students advanced enough I will make them do the same! After performing last Saturday night one of the guests asked me how much I practice each day. I’m ashamed sometimes to admit that it’s often closer to an hour than it is any more than that…some days none at all, other days closer to two hours, but that’s where I’ve been for some time. In the past years I’ve practiced much more, (and also much less), and I find that this is a good amount generally for where I am and the amount of repertoire I need to be learning. If I have more performances/pieces to learn at once I make the time for more practicing, but for general maintenance and only a few performances coming up, 1-2 hours is plenty. How about the rest of you? If you are a professional or semi-professional musician reading this, how much do you practice these days?

And on THAT incredibly boring note about practicing, I shall go. I need to practice a bit more before my first student!