Why do I always forget, when I cook chicken, to take the trash with the stuff the chicken came in out to the trash can that very night? Ugh. I've got a couple of "Clean Cotton" scented candles burning and they seem to be taking care of it. Or maybe I just have a more sensitive nose than many people.

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I think the hardest part of learning to play the piano is going to be psychological. I admit, I was disappointed when she didn't move me up to a new piece in the "performance" book - still stuck on the "bowdlerized*" Mozart. I was getting off tempo and wasn't paying enough attention to the crescendos and other markings like that.

(*Not really "bowdlerized" but that's how I think of it - a simplified version. Though given Mozart's reputed sense of humor, perhaps some of his work has been ACTUALLY bowdlerized, at least in instances where it's going to be used with children)

I am having to remind myself that I have been at this one week - less, actually, as my first lesson was on Thursday. And she seemed surprised at how proficient I had become with the scales and the finger exercises.

I once had a colleague comment that I was probably the kind of person that too many things came too easy to, because I got frustrated with myself fast when something didn't come easy. He is right.

I am not tremendously good at being patient with myself.

I will be happy when my actual piano gets here; I'm going to experiment with practicing in shorter chunks but more frequently during the day to see if that works better. I also may be able to practice earlier in the day when I'm less tired. At least some days. It probably isn't the greatest having to wait until 4 pm to practice (I don't feel comfortable doing it when there are lots of other people in the church, and it's kind of creepy going down there early early in the morning while it's still dark out.)

(I am frantically trying to stuff down the little demon in my head that is saying, "See? See? You DON'T actually have any musical talent. You can play the notes but you can't play the MUSIC. That beautiful piano will be totally wasted on you." Yes, I know it's totally irrational but I still do it to myself.)

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I pulled out a LONG stalled project and restarted it. Being able to "read" your knitting is a good thing. This was the (formerly) Clandestine Knitting Project. It's a pattern designed by TChem, called Suppliers of Angst to Crowned Heads for More than Four Centuries (Ravelry link where you can buy the pattern. But I test-knit so I got mine free, neener neener)

(Can I also say: I know she's busy but I wish she'd update more?)

I miss lace when I'm not working on it. This is a fairly logical pattern so it's easy to keep track of. (And to find where I was even though I had mislaid the particular row-counter I was using).

The only drawback is the the yarn I'm using is just slightly thicker than sewing thread so it takes a long time to make much headway on it. I think I just finished the fifth of nine repeats (for the first half alone, then I have a second half to make).

But patience, patience. On both this and the piano.

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Sometimes I wonder if Leonard Kleinrock (and others) ever fathomed that their lifetime of research would culminate in pages of cat macros?


more animals

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I just found out what MAY have happened a couple years back when I got the mystery package containing some stuff I didn't order.

My mom sent a package of piano practice books to me today and the person at the post office said if it was JUST books, they could be sent cheaply as "bound printed matter." But - she warned - the PO periodically will open a box to verify.

So that is very likely what happened - my Folio box and someone else's box were both being inspected at the same time, and got jumbled up. I'm just glad I got all the books I had ordered, but I suppose Folio would have made it right if one was missing.