Notes from a Snowed-In Pueblo

Albuquerque resembles Rochester today! 

If you don’t believe me, ask the (-+) million people who call this area “home” and who have no way of getting anywhere! It makes me grateful for the Chinese New Year food preparation in the refrigerator. We have plenty of food, and all without having made the ubiquitous "French Toast Run."

(Hailing from up north, whenever there was bad weather forecast, people would go to the store and buy bread, eggs, and milk. What exactly were they going to do with all of that?)

I’m enjoying the morning, delving into a pleasure-read, Tsh Oxenreider’s “Notes from a Blue Bike: The Art of Living Intentionally in a Chaotic World.” I’ve been reading this during fringe-minutes this week. One quote from this book really grabbed me:

“It’s hard to slow down when the race has no finish line."

How many artists feel this way? Academics? Entrepreneurs? Newlyweds with big dreams and wild imaginations? People who use the internet at all?

I have fallen prey to this many a time. There are always updates to do. Take, for example, things that I must do or start this week, or there will be negative consequences. These are in no particular order:

1. Practice for upcoming concerts (March 6, 7, 8)

2. Reach out to people high-up in my related industries about opportunities or networking

3. Send out email blasts to potential audience members for early March concerts

4. Two grant proposals and an application for a conducting internship

5. Our taxes 

6. The final claims package against the *most awful movers ever* (and believe you me, when we receive our refund and the case has been completed, they will receive a very interesting online review, along with a file to Better Business Bureau in three states ...

7. Catch up on an ever-growing pile of paper correspondence (thank-you notes).

8. Finish photo editing and posting from three major photography projects 

9. Start the program notes for my faculty recital 

10. Mail Chinese New Year cards (we don’t do Christmas cards, which is a blessing because December is wrought with travel and end-of-semester. February timing works *much* better for us!).

11. Pick up where I left off on my private nutrition / personal finance business and ministry

12. Edit sound and video from three recent concert-projects ...

13. Yuan PhotoYearbook, 2014 (I do a “yearbook” of photos and quotes every year). I gave one to Zheng for Valentines’ Day last year. This year, the photo book may be a birthday gift.

I know by sitting down and making a schedule or action plan, this can all seem more tangible. Most of it this time around, I can’t delegate - or it won’t get done the way I would do it. And also, most of these items fall into the category of “I want to do something better, start something, or build something.” 

To be continued! I have started putting more firm boundaries on myself:

a) Ready for bed by 11PM

b) Up by 7AM 

c) No email-checking during the day [glance once in AM, and then respond after the work day] 

And about the slowing down? A lot of these tasks are process-oriented, yes - with a product in mind, but a lot of it is about the process (practicing, writing, photo-editing). If the process is rushed, the product will suffer. And I hate nothing more than to do things again because they weren't done right the first time. 

(Practicing and exercising are quite the obvious exceptions to this!).

Here’s to new goals, and new boundaries!

Despite the above "list" - I am going to allow myself an “Artists’ Walk” today and photograph the Winter Wonderland. For all of the big snows we got in Rochester, I couldn’t bear to go out and take a walk … and as a result, I have little winter footage with my *amazing* DSLR camera from that time! I'm not going to waste the opportunity here. 

I will take some photos with the iPad right in the house, and leave the real photography for another post.  

Until then, stay warm! 

Wild, part 2

I would be remiss if I didn’t continue my post from almost a week ago. There are other things to write about this week, but I must finish this idea. 

In thinking about the remarks and feedback I got, the underlying statement which I am choosing to read is:

“Please, when you are newly married, or when you decide to get married, don’t get rid of anything that is quintessentially you. Don’t stop traveling, playing, performing, reading, discovering …” 

Of course not. Let’s think about how Zheng and I met …

While traveling, in order to play and perform with one of the top violists in the United States, and while I was over there, I was writing (the single most-populated category on this blog is still China), and discovering an entirely different world.

So you see, my husband and I met while I was simply “doing my thing.” 

(If I could have a dollar for every time I really worried about my romantic life before hitting 30, I could retire tomorrow).

Zheng and I met when I was on the wildest trip of my life. I don’t see things morphing into the barefoot-kitchen-vacuuming-hairbow stage ever, and definitely not soon.

I will now share the sweet story that prompted this subject in the first place. Zheng and I were off most of last Sunday together. We played church together, and then I was free until 7:30 PM. 

After taking a nap, and then starting to prepare dinner, Zheng asked me what I was going to do next.

“READ!” I said with such reverence … 

So I took some tea into our bedroom. The cats followed me in. I started reading on my Kindle, interestingly, “Wild” by Cheryl Strayed. (I highly recommend this book. It’s really beautiful). 

Enter Zheng, with his iPad mini, proceeding to set it up to watch something … meaning make noise, meaning destroy the beautiful reading silence and disturb the sleeping kitties snuggled at my feet.

Absolutely not.

I told him that if was going to snuggle next to me and watch, he had to put earphones on. He protested. 

I assured him that I was serious, and that he could go watch TV out in the den, or else use the headphones. He acquiesced. 

See … I haven’t lost any spark or fire. I’m lucky to have a spouse who understands this. 





 

Discipline

Welcome back to Syracuse! 

Zheng and I pulled in last night to my new "digs" (until the end of January). As much as I love exploring new places, and seeing new people, it is really nice that I don't have to figure out this town or this engagement from scratch. There are some new faces, and the piece is new. But I knew how to drive in, to confirm my reservation before arriving, and even where we would be rehearsing and practicing. (And I also knew where to get great coffee! Cafe Kubal is here!).

Syracuse Opera, it is great to be back, and I am grateful for the opportunity. 

But a word on Cafe Kubal, in relation to myself. I indiscriminately got Pumpkin Spice or Chai Lattes while I was here in the fall. I was working amply, and (I guess) walking a lot, but I was really not thinking of discipline, financially or calorically. In arriving today, I knew the only things I could have were the Americano or the Espresso. I'm a hard-core Nespresso-espresso fan at home, so this isn't much of a hardship. Whole-30 / Paleo forbids milk, syrup, or sugar. 

There are two new "seasonal" flavors on the menu here:

"Orange Gingersnap Latte" and "Mint Mocha"

I won't be off of Whole30 until I'm officially done my engagement here. I'm considering bringing Zheng back as a "date" on closing day, so we can see the show together, and we can also sample the new drinks. (That would mean that I would be willing to drive three hours round-trip for a beverage. And some Piazzola). And as nuts as it is, I would be willing to drive on Sunday the 9th to see the show, more than be willing to "break" the Whole30 while it is going on.

[**please understand the slight facetiousness of my above words. Please also read slight correctly.**]

I wonder, with all of the reading I've done lately, of two camps:

DISCIPLINE: Dave Ramsey, Suze Orman, Whole30, It Starts with Food, The Cloister Life

 - and yes, the whole business of Comps study

PLEASURE: The Devil Wears Prada; Happier at Home; Style, Sex, and Substance

Where is the bliss-line with these issues? While my husband teases my organizational habit of "budgeting" for things in the future (like budgeting some money every month for our upcoming move, or talking last night about the fact that our computers are both crooning swan songs), he can tease me all he wants. We don't have a problem paying rent, and when we had to shed *blood I mean pay for our immigration lawyer, visa fees, and a USCIS civil surgeon*, we were able to do ALL of it, at once, and not go into any debt for it. Tease me all you want. The bliss of being able to do that on a musician's and event planner's budgets is not to be dismissed. 

The fact is, I think there is great joy and bliss in keeping to a disciplined routine. I'm delightedly happy after a great practice session, and as much as it was a pain yesterday to roast a chicken overnight, carve it, pack it up into small bags, and then bring it to Syracuse, I now have beautiful food for the next few days that I don't have to go hunt.

(I'm imagining [with a smile] me running through the streets of Syracuse in a cave-outfit, hunting down a chicken).