Where is the time going? This week has been jam packed. I suppose some people keep this kind of schedule all the time…I have in previous lives, but I’m not used to being on the go from 7 am until 10:30 pm anymore!

I’m playing with a musical at the Fox Theatre, which is our big theatre in Midtown (between downtown and…Forest Park?) where they host a variety of visiting shows. This week and next week I’m playing with A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, which is hilarious and well worth seeing. The music is good too, but it’s just soooooo funny. I’m in the pit, of course, playing violin, and having a great time.

The rest of the days have been full of teaching, rehearsals, and not as much practicing as I want or need. This is why I don’t normally do this sort of schedule, because it cuts into my practice time, which is valuable and important, and is how I am able to play as well as I like to think that I do. But these weeks happen, and it’ll be well worth it in the end!

I’ve also been having a great time starting to teach my new students at Wash U (as the locals call it, though others might call it Washington University of St Louis). I feel very lucky this month, and am trying to focus on that even while other things are stressing me out and beyond.

Sometimes I think to myself, how will I ever finish blogging about our trip which happened so long ago? I will, I made notes, I want to share and get it down. I’m just in the middle of this stretch of work. And in fact, in order to take 3 weeks off in August…that means I had to and wanted to say yes to every opportunity in September and October. It’s important to say yes as often as you can as a freelance, and it’s also important to my bank accounts to say yes as often as I can!

Today is my 20th straight day of work, though one of those days was only 90 minutes of teaching (practically a day off, but not a day off), and unless something else comes up, I’m working straight until October 9, which will be my first day off after 41 straight days of work. I am tempted to look back at my old calendars and see how this compares historically (I worked like a horse in Cleveland…is that an expression or did my Saturday morning brain make that up?) but what I do know is that I am busier in St Louis than I have been since I moved here in 2008 and that’s good. I might be a little bit of a workaholic

Granted, I just spent 20 minutes blogging about how much I have to do. I have a student coming in a few minutes and wanted to do something while drinking my coffee. We have a matinee and evening show today. I love performing. Teaching is important, and probably what I do that makes a bigger difference in the world, but performing is why I do all of this.

And playing in a pit orchestra is just plain fun.