Things I have managed to do regularly (if with varying success):
1. Work out every Sunday for the past three weeks
2. Practice every day/make reeds every day for the past week even when I was so tired I fell asleep mid-reed making session (hence the...varying success part of this equation)
Things I have not managed to do regularly:
1. Be on time to ANY of my jobs. In my defense, I also wasn't more than 5 minutes late, but I'd been doing so well! Why am I so bad at convincing myself that I do NOT in fact have 5 more minutes to lie in bed?
2. Write more than one blog post a week
3. Read every day. Or even every other day. Or even every other other day.
I mean...on the upside my priorities are actually on point with this one? (Although I should proooobably get to work on time.) But it would be NICE if I was able to do all of the above. I am pretty proud of myself about the practicing and working out. I have a hard time motivating myself when I don't actually have anything to practice for. BUT I have an audition I'm applying for in September and another one in October, so I can't let myself slack on practicing. (Although I may allow myself Mondays off...falling asleep in the middle of a reed making session is probably a good indicator that 12 hour work days on your feet + concentration on oboe stuff is just...not compatible haha. I might see if I can make that a score study day though...)
And the working out is actually also important for auditions, and it just happens to be fortuitous that I started this before I knew about the auditions. It might not be an apparent connection, but when you're a wind player, cardio is kind of an important part of the job. I'd gotten away with not working out for it for a number of years because I was on swim team and then I worked in a restaurant with four floors so I didn't need it...but it's become apparent over the past few years that my breath support is not nearly what it was, and I can't afford to have that become a problem for me. So now I just need to convince myself to get cardio in at least TWICE a week (baby steps here!). It's hard because I feel suuuuuper self conscious working out when there are people around. That's part of the reason I can work out on Sundays - I work at the gym so I can work out before or after close. But weekdays we open super early in the morning and close super late at night so....that's not going to fly. So I'm going to have to get over this somehow.
Honestly, that's all my past couple weeks have been - working, working out, and practicing. And it's likely all my next two months are going to be too, just add in a few melt downs (that will exponentially get more frequent the closer I get to the audition dates). I would say hey, remember what I was like when I was prepping for my recital? And then I remembered - OH WAIT. You stopped posting! So don't be surprised if I drop off the face of the earth for a few months. I'm hoping I won't need to - if all I'm doing is working and practicing, I might burn out and I can't afford to do that. I need to be fresh for the auditions, so I'm going to need something to help me chill out. If only blogging weren't so bloody time consuming! It's probably my most priceless commodity at the moment! So...we'll see.
Christina has Reflections, or, WHOOOOO IS THIS GIRL I SEEEE?
Annie talks about feeling her age in the blogging community.
Yash has some suggestions for reluctant readers: TV SHOW SUPPLEMENTS AND COMPLEMENTS. (These selections - of which there are many, are AWESOME. SO AWESOME. Like there are even things in here I never would have thought of combining and they're so perfect and now I just want to watch and read all fo these things at the same time.)
Cuddlebuggerys Buzz Worthy News from July 6th is particularly buzz worthy.
Kelley is creating a tarot deck with YA characters. Up first? Tarot of YA Lit | 1: The Magician
Specific Books and Authors
Why you won't find Katie on social media - Whatever you might think about Katie's book Hello, I Love You, it doesn't excuse what happened this past week. I would also like to say that I've been following Katie's blog for at least a year now, maybe longer and I don't for a second think that the views of the MC in her books mirror her own views. I haven't read the book, but I get the idea that her MC is very intolerant. Katie loves K-pop and K-dramas, so I know she doesn't look down on them or consider them lesser things. Just sayin. I actually started following her because of her love for said things. So I'm very sad that I won't be seeing her presence on the internet anymore. And do we really need to say that attacking an author on a public forum en mass is not cool? If you have a problem with the author's writing, I'm not saying stay silent - just keep it in your own space. Write a review on Goodreads or your blog, or post a review on Amazon/Barnes and Nobles. And if you think it's important that the author sees why it's problematic, by all means contact them - maybe you'll even be able to write differently in their next book (or if it's not published yet to change it in that book)! Just do it privately. And preferably constructively.
Kim talks about Game of Thrones: On Fandoms and Criticism (and crossing the line).
Author Brewer Announces Gender Transition - I recently went to check and see of Zac's book was out yet (I knew it was coming out at some point in 2015) and I was pleasantly surprised to see his name was already changed on his books and that his author name all his books linked to was listed as Zac! (Sadly, no the book I'm waiting for is not out yet)
Gillian has a Literary PSA: So You Want to Read Tamora Pierce
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