music, therapy, and me

So, I am going to go with it. I was thinking that it was time to get back to writing a bit more about my ideas of the future and of music therapy. The cat, of course, stepped all over the number pad of the computer and now I am going to write something about 5/4 time. That works. Here we go... CHAPTER SOMETHING OR ANOTHER - PUT INTO SOME OF THE "CLASS" OVERVIEW SECTIONS "5/4 time," Persephone was muttering to herself, "What can I include in 5/4 time??" Persephone turned to her music database and started searching for songs that she could learn for her Repertoire class. She had been assigned the meter 5/4 in class on Monday and had to find a list of songs suitable for her clinical population of older adults by the next Monday. She had to find the sheet music, practice transposition, and learn the melodies to present to her small group cohort later. The good part about this project was that they were all sharing their lists so she would end up with song reco...

I took an unplanned personal day yesterday because I found that there was a leak in the upstairs that flooded my hallway. I spent yesterday navigating the world of wet/dry vacuuming and moving things around so the guy could come in for 3 minutes and say that there was water damage. At least this guy mentioned that he would arrange to have the damage fixed - the guy who supposedly "fixed" this issue 16 months ago never even came into the apartment to see the damage. We will see if the promised dry wall guys ever show up, but at least it was acknowledged that there was damage from something that I had no power over. Today, though, is a planned day off. It's on the calendar (for some strange reason we get a random day off in both October and April), so it is an official 3-day weekend for me!! Of course, I have some plans. I have an online intern interview this afternoon and three videos to make and upload before the end of the day. So, what am I doing?? I am sitting in front...

Okay. I am a bit overwhelmed right now and trying very hard to keep myself contained, but I am a bit excited and humbled and just plain old scared that I am not worthy of all sorts of things right now. What has me in such a tizzy?? My favorite blogger in the world just followed me on Twitter! SQUEEEEEE! (See, here's where the fangirling starts and won't stop for a long time to come, I am afraid!) My favorite blogger is a woman named Jenny Lawson who is The Bloggess. Not only is she a wonderful blogger, she is also an artist, author, and small business owner, and she now follows ME on twitter! I admire her for so many reasons, and she decided to follow me! Of course, she follows over 49 thousand twitter accounts, but I may show up on her enormous feed every once in a while! That's pretty awesome! If you haven't heard of Jenny Lawson, may I introduce her? She owns Nowhere Bookshop in San Antonio, Texas (a place on my bucket list to visit just because I like her SO much!...

I get half a day off this week, disguised as a full day off because I worked an additional half day last week and will be doing the rest of the half day as a 12-hour day this week. I am not really looking forward to it, but it is a necessary thing, I guess. It was easier when I had my church job on Wednesday evenings and worked the extra hours during the entire week rather than having to sit through mindless and irrelevant meetings with the faculty. Alas, that is no longer the case since my Thursday evening job has turned into a video interaction, so I don't even have that obligation to keep me safe from the mindlessness. Oh well. During this four and a half day work week, I am going to be working on a new series of videos reserved completely for my co-workers' use. Since I cannot expand my services into individual sessions due to COVID restrictions and the schedule that I have for groups, I am facing lots of time just sitting being paid for doing nothing. This does not sit wel...

I had to work during much of my only day that doesn't include work (usually). I was engaged in things that I enjoy - learning about video editing and making videos - but it was still a work day for me. This is one of the things that I am trying to avoid doing with the incorporation of my desired evening routine, but, as these things often end up, I am at the mercy of others to complete my tasks. I had just finished sending out the YouTube link for my Sunday School video (my newest task as "Music Director" - I'm curious as to how this happened, but I'm still getting paid, so I am fine with it) when the other person who was asked to read sent me her files. I had to send out panicked "Don't use that link" emails and then re-do the project. A task that took 3 hours initially ended up taking 6 hours in total with my slow uploading situation (I think I may need a new modem). I had a bit of time for self-care, but not as much as I need for my own ability to...

This has been a "meh" kind of week. I had a 12 hour day on Wednesday (which NEVER end up being 12 hours for anyone other than me because of my need to be earlier than ANYONE ELSE) which always shake me up emotionally and physically. I get overtired and end up sick EVERY TIME! This also coincided with corn harvest season which magnifies my allergies exponentially, so I am tired and sneezing through my heavy duty medications. Add in some almost summer like temperatures, and this girl was not entirely happy with her surroundings. All setting events for me, but interestingly, I was not pulled down by all of this in the past week. There are times when this type of incident stacking just cause me to fold, but not right now. This has led to some introspection. Why am I okay with these things right now when all of these things happening two months ago would have sent me to my bed?? I have no clear answers, but I am glad that I am doing better at the moment. That brings me to today...

I've been dabbling in a bit of fiction writing lately - only when the mood strikes and as a way to try to make sense of the types of things that are happening around us all. My protagonist is Persephone. She is a music therapy student in the year 2049 and things look a bit different form the way things look now. (If you are interested in reading all of my meanderings, search for Persephone in the search function on this blog - it will bring up my little bits of fancy.) I have started to work on this project a bit more formally - I've outlined it and identified places where I need more information - and I am finding that this project is helping me to figure out things that I want for our profession. Also, it is a way of controlling bits of systems and ideas that I have no control over in real life. In my universe, music therapy students go for master's level study before entering the work force. All prerequisites are done in undergraduate training. I get to name all the cour...

My word for this year is "Evolve." I selected the word at the end of last year as a way to focus my energies on the things I think are really important to me - learning, growth, and enjoyment of life. I have done pretty well with this word as a guide, especially considering what has been happening in this 2020 year, so I am continuing to make it a focus for myself. This word has led me to do some things that I would have been scared to do if I didn't have this inspiration prodding me along. Now, many of these things did not work out the way I thought they would (again, 2020), but I put myself out there and tried to grow!! I feel like I am doing my part to keep this word a part of my focus. I have been thinking about my professional evolution lately. I feel a bit stagnant in how I am doing my job lately. I feel like I am wasting time, and that is a feeling that I do not like in myself. I need a professional goal and something to challenge me while I'm at work. Now, don...

Things are getting done. I am pleased to see that my to-do list is shrinking a bit as things are being crossed off and other things are being placed on the list.  I managed to finish my first Sunday School video yesterday (the BIG task I was putting off due to my feelings that I might fail...). There are things that need to improve, but I think it wasn't all that bad for a first attempt and for making something up from scratch. We will see if anyone actually looks at it. I already have ideas for the next round. I have one big thing on my list for today - finish my sing about mini edition for January 2021. It gets released tomorrow, so I need to finish it up. That is added to today's list along with laundry and dishes and getting more done in the craft room. My goal is to get enough of the room picked up so I can start up my robot vacuum, Huey, and get him going again.  I like lists, mainly because (I think) I am a visual person. I enjoy seeing my to-dos getting smaller and th...

Oh, it is happening again. I am staring at my screen, avoiding a task that I have to get done here but that I am scared to do. It is something that I've been dreaming about for a couple of weeks now, but I have to get it done. It is due tomorrow, so the time crunch is on now. It has to be finished by this evening so I can upload it all. Have I even opened it up yet?? Nope. I have been taking every excuse I can to avoid sitting down and just doing this! It is time to get over my fear of failure and get going! A friend of mine posted a quote from Aaron Sorkin that struck a chord with me in my current state - “You call it procrastinating. I call it thinking.” – Aaron Sorkin. There comes a time, though, when thinking is taken over by fear - at least in my case. I think some of my procrastination is definitely affected by fear. I don't want to produce a substandard product, so I don't even want to try. My emotional brain is fully behind this fear. It lives in the space between w...

Can you believe it?? The last quarter of this strange year started yesterday, and I've been sitting down with my various journals to plan out some goals and tasks that I want to accomplish. I did not do a good job on those goals in quarter three, but my energy is getting higher (the way it does once summer and the heat and humidity change into different patterns), so I thought it was time to reestablish my thoughts towards evolving into new patterns and practices. I am a planner and a bullet journaler. As I have been delving into the world of "how to be a bullet journaler," I have discovered that what I do is more a combination of bullet journaling as originally designed by Ryder Carroll and decorative planning which tends to be colorful and artistic. I am firmly between those two systems. I do not draw much in my calendars and my books, but I do like using colors and stickers to decorate my to-do lists a bit more than the original guy did. I use a set pattern for my ...

This is my "questioning" face A question was posted on one of my social media feeds that concerned intern training and the number of hours that interns "should" be doing certain tasks. The person who posted asked for recommendations for how much time interns should be engaging in a number of tasks, and the question just set me back on my heels for a bit. I've been thinking about this ever since I saw the question initially. When I first applied to be an internship director, The National Association for Music Therapy (yep, I am THAT old) asked for a breakdown of how many hours an intern would be engaged in clinical contact, planning for sessions, training, and other topics. We had to make an estimate of how many hours interns would spend during their 1040 hours with us on each of these tasks. When I was asked to be on the AMTA Association Internship Approval Committee, I asked why we were doing that structure. A group of like-minded internship directors agreed th...