Friday-Wind Ensemble Concert

Well, friday started out pretty okay...and ended pretty okay. Okay, better than okay. Although, really, it is not over yet as I have things I am GOING TO DO before going to bed. As in finish that listening assignment. As in plan my Sunbeams One lesson. As in email my MYC Moonbeams One families to let them know about whether we can start the class at 7:00pm next week instead of 6pm. As in...probably a few other things.

This week, known as reading week is not going to be a kick-back-and-relax week. SOME students will be doing that, but I have way too much to do! And, I kind of volunteered to do a bit...

Tomorrow:
9:15-Sunrise class
10:15-Sunshine One class
11:15 or thereabouts...get driven to G's funeral.
Sometime in the afternoon-bus home...study for philosophy or do SOMETHING on the way.
Again, sometime in the afternoon-PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!!!!! Phone my Sunbeams One families to confirm everything.
8:00 symphony concert...actually listening to one instead of playing one!
10:30ish...arrive home, work on something, like writing those papers for first semester.

Sunday:
Church, then going to a family friends' place in a small city about 1.5 hours from our city. Needless to say, I don't think that I will manage to get much work done on sunday.

Monday:
6:20, get up
7:00, bus to University
8:30-12:45-help out with auditions (friendly face, guide, etc etc)
4:30-teach Sunbeams One class (moved from saturday)
Evening...work on that humongous pile of work.

Tuesday
10:15-cardiologist appointment...find out echocardiogram results.
Sometime in the afternoon-meet with my Philosophy professor, also rehearse with my guitarist. Also work on that mountain of work, and practice, practice, practice.
6-7-rehearsal with my accompanist in prep for Music Festival.

Wednesday
Level 2 training seminar during the daytime
Mountains of work during the evening

Thursday...repeat procedure, plus teaching.

Friday...level 2 training seminar finishes.

Saturday...teach my 3 classes...mountains of work.

Sunday...mountains of work.

Somewhere in there, I hope to get a flute lesson in as well.

Overall, my week includes the following tasks:

Preparation for midterm philosophy exam, which is the first day back (Feb 27th). This involves going through 7 long articles and understanding several different philosophers in preparation for comparing them.

Creating a presentation on Leonard Bernstein for Philosophy of Music, in response to one of his lectures at Harvard University titled "The Unanswered Question"

Practising like crazy for Music Festival which is coming up exceedingly fast.

Finishing-finally-that paper for Research Methods

Getting started on that paper for Opera History...hopefully getting a good percentage of that done as well.

Level 2 MYC training seminar (a highlight!)

In terms of tuesday...I both want to, and do not want to know, the results of my echocardiogram. One concern of mine is that it is 'nothing', which leaves me with "if not heart valves, then what?" Of course, asthma is still on the table-I do that test on March 14th. Some days I really say "Oh, it can't be anything, it's just me thinking I have things wrong." But I think back to how my heart went so suddenly into crazy tachycardia-not gradually, but VERY quickly into that tachycardia, and how intense that exhaustion was. How the coughing was, although coughing can also be a stress reaction. Of course, stress can make everything worse.

Today, despite having a midterm that kind of wiped me out, even though it really wasn't that bad, was a good day. I had a really hard time getting up to go to Philosophy after my break in between 20th century and Philosophy (about an hour). Once in Philosophy, it got a bit better. And after Philosophy was over, my friend K. B and I went out to lunch/dinner/something at one of the nicer dining establishments on campus (meaning not Pizza Pizza, Subway, or Tim Horton's! This dining establishment actually has a number of good vegetarian options, so I got a Mediterranean wrap and a cup of honey lemon tea, which was quite nice. And it was nice to sit down OUTSIDE of the faculty with a friend/colleague and get to know her a bit better. Because, although we have known each other for a number of years, we really don't know each other that well yet. It's sometimes what happens when you are a flute player, and they are a viola player. Although we share some very different views-she is atheist, I am most definitely not!-it doesn't mean that we cannot be friends and have some good conversations.

Best part was the concert in the evening...4 wonderful works were played by the Wind Ensemble

Overture to Candide by Leonard Bernstein
On the Town: Three Dance Episodes by Leonard Bernstein
Selections from Wozzeck by Alban Berg, arranged by our conductor-we even had a soprano and tenor to sing! (Wozzeck is an opera from 1921...)
Bootlegger's Tarantella by John Estacio

One of our flute instructors is so sweet, she emailed us telling us how great we sounded tonight-it was very touching :) Did I mention I love our flute faculty?

All right, to work again. Despite the fact that my eyes are closing behind the computer screen, I MUST get some work done,and then set up my studio for tomorrow. I know that tomorrow will have some of it's challenges, but also joy points. Such is life.