Tuesday, August 25, 2009

The Lion King

Yes, I definitely went to see the Lion King. It was very much amazing. So amazing that after it was over, I didn't even want to talk about it, because I was still going over everything in my mind.

I could definitely go see it again. It was so hard to try to concentrate on the actual show when you're being bombarded by all those amazing costumes.

Anyways, I've got most of my preparations for another school year finished. I should probably go out and buy myself a couple dozen more pencils...but I've got my classes organized, I've emailed my teacher to settle lesson times, I'm still looking for an accompanist, I've rented a locker (a big one, I'm pretty sure), I've bought my textbooks and given my old textbooks to Bound and Copied to be sold. So I'm feeling pretty good.

And Mia is on her way back, with a new seat strap and hand rest. Now all that's left is to make more reeds for the coming year.

Now I think I'll turn to the dreaded goals. I'm generally not a fan of making specific goals. I've tried to make them in the past, and I always feel really bad when I can't complete them as perfectly as I wanted to.

So I'm going to make a deal with myself. I'm going to list these...goals, for lack of a better term...that I want to keep in mind for this school year. I'm not going to beat myself up if I can't go through with them perfectly, and I'm going to keep in mind that even making a little progress, even if imperfect, is better than making absolutely no progress because of being too afraid of failure.

Clear as mud? Good.

File, save.

So, here are things and ideas that I want to keep in mind for the coming year.

Blogging, in more quantity and quality. I don't think I blog nearly enough, and when I do, it's usually not about much. I hope to fix that at least a little.

Try to cut back on the procrastinating. I know I say this every year and I'm going to say it again this year. Of course, the fact that I can get 80% on a paper when I do it the day / day before it's due doesn't exactly encourage me to change my style, but even so. I'm going to put in the effort.

Practice more. Again, I say this every year too. But I really do need to spend more time in the practice room. I do like practicing...it just seems like the process to get to the point where one can begin practicing takes a lot of time and effort. So, enough of using that as an excuse, because it's a lame one.

Make more reeds. I'd like to be able to have a few working reeds, rather than using one until it's literally ruining my sound, then work furiously on a new one, use that until it ruins my sound, work furiously on a new one...etc. I've tried setting aside time in my practice to work on reeds, but either I practice first and then am too tired and frustrated to work on reeds, or I work on reeds first, which makes me too tired and frustrated to practice. So I'm thinking of splitting them up. Maybe designating a certain day of the week to be my reed working day. Then I can fully concentrate on my playing for the rest of the week, and then put all my attention on reeds that one day. Obviously I'll still work on reeds other days if the occasion calls, but still. I'll see how this method works out for me.

Put more effort into my non music courses. I really need to stop thinking that they're like options in high school and I can just screw around. I still need those electives for my degree, so they really do matter. And believe it or not, they do affect my GPA, which I've heard it's nice to have higher rather than lower.

I don't dare make any more, because then I'll be overloaded with goals, and won't be able to do anything with any of them and...well, then we go back into the whole despair and failure issue, and I'm just not going back there.

And of course I'll always try to remain optimistic, but I know that school will get to me, and there will be days that will make me wonder if a degree is really as necessary as I think, and whether I can just live my days happily as an usher, or a waitress, and never have to study again. But we'll deal with those days when we get there.

But I think that's it for me. I keep wondering if I should have a special sign off saying for the end of my blogs. Any thoughts? Suggestions?

And the effort put into that last poll was quite disappointing. Four votes? That's almost enough to make me stop doing them. Maybe I'll just have fish, like my brother's blog...

~Calminaiel~

"I freaked out. 2of3 freaked out. 3of3 said "Yay! I get band aids!""

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