Skip to main content

Well, It's Been a Year

OK. Not quite a year. But almost a year.

Since I've posted anything on this blog, that is.

It's been a little less than a year since I've played George. And Thuddy. And Xan the Grand.

My job swallowed me. I'm still somewhere in the bowels of it. Development season, with its 60-hour weeks, it coming to an end, and support season, with its 60-hour weeks, is beginning. One of the major differences between the two seasons: during development season, we work until the work is done; during support season, we show up at a pre-scheduled arrival time, take a required one-hour lunch break, and don't leave until a pre-scheduled departure time.

Here are my hours for support season (now through April 15):

Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Tuesday: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Friday: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Saturday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The hours are long, but we're forced to take lunch breaks. I don't think I took a single lunch/piano break during development season. I worked 12 hours some days, and I haven't had a Saturday off since early October.

It's a fun job, but it does cut into my non-work life.

Anyway, I'm taking my music books to work with me today. Going to force myself to take a lunch break, even though the support season schedule hasn't yet been instituted for this year.

My left pinky has been hurting for several weeks now--enough that I'm going to the doctor about it next week. I hope it doesn't have too much of an effect on the joy of playing piano.

More later. Gotta get ready for work.

Comments

Anonymous said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

Popular posts from this blog

The Rusty Lock and Key

I'm in a room. There's a door in front of me. On the other side of that door is a whole world of adventure and imagination and joy and delight, but for the moment, I'm locked in this gray little room. The door itself has a lock that is all rusted. I've tried to open it in the past, but I've never gotten very far. Sometimes I try to scrape the rust off the lock. I also have a rusty old key that I occasionally try to polish. Each time, after I've made a little progress, I'll put it into the keyhole in hopes of opening the door. It turns a half a millimeter or so, but the brief excitement at my progress dies quickly when I realize, once again, it's not going to open the lock. I set the old key aside, and from there I can forget about the door, the lock, and the world outside, for months—years, even. But then something happens—I hear birdsong, or I catch a glimpse of color—and I pick up the key and start picking away at the stubborn rust. That dark little ro

Just adding a picture for now

I may be posting to this blog soon, for the first time in many years. For now, though, I just need to post this picture so that I can link it to a post on the Piano Forums. It's of a very dusty and unused piano that I may be getting for free. I've never heard of Campbell & Young (at least, that's what I think this says). I've heard of Kohler & Campbell, and I've heard of Young Chang ... did the two merge? So many questions, and Google has been no help.

The Key is Turning

About three weeks ago (has it only been three weeks?), I posted The Rusty Lock and Key , about how there seems to be a locked door between where I am and where I want to be with regards to the piano. I wrote with a sense of hope, but, at the same time, I knew it would take time for me to break out of that dark little room. And it would take dedication and perseverance—two things I’ve been lacking. Yes, it would be a while before the key started to turn. Months, most likely. Or years. Well. It’s been three weeks, and the key is starting to turn. I’m not there yet, but I have a whole new sense of hope. This is due to several things: Quentin – This is the guy I’ll be meeting monthly for jazz piano lessons. We’ve only met once so far, but he gave me some valuable exercises that I’ve been doing assiduously every morning before work. The Mark Levine Book  – I’ve had this book for years and never got past the third chapter because I couldn’t understand it. I went ahead and skipped that chapte