music, therapy, and me

I have not written much lately. No reasons why, just not really in the mood to sit and write about music, therapy, or me in the past week or so. What I have been doing instead is reading books - all sorts of mindless books that just keep my brain occupied but do not really add too much to my knowledge. I will go to the library today because I am at the end of my most recent book. It is a good time to introduce new reading materials into my environment. Lately, I have been watching lots of book journaling content creators. I am not interested in making my own book journal (too much like the book reports that I hated all through school), but I enjoy watching people decorate theirs. I am also making some book journals, but I will not be using them. I find the book journal videos to be simultaneously pretty and ridiculous, but I am drawn to them over and over again. I wonder if I would be more inclined to read music therapy journal articles or texts if I was more into book journaling - mak...

The past week has been rough, all. Not just the immense issues with our current leadership in this country, but also on a personal level. I had the flu last week - three days of high temperature and a nasty cough that is lingering. It was not the best time, but I am hoping that is over. Turns out, many people at work had the flu last week. It wasn't just me who was out. Last week was a lost week. I am exhausted right now. I am not really looking forward to going to work, but I will. I am still coughing quite a bit, which frustrates me because it makes it difficult to sing and make music. I am not entirely sure what I am going to do with my students this week. Last week's strategies will not work because we had a day off this week (darn Monday holidays). At the same time, having a week of country of the month videos would be good for my breathing and cough situation. I will probably just do the country of the month videos so I can rest a bit more. I finished the presentations fo...

I had an insomnia night last night. Now, usually I am a good sleeper. In the past couple of years, my sleep schedule has been shifting, mainly due to hot flashes, but I usually sleep for a long time, then get up to use the bathroom and cool down, and then I fall back to sleep. Last night was one of my rare exceptions. Last night, I slept from about 8:30 until 10:30. I woke up and went to use the bathroom and that was it! My body no longer wanted me to actually sleep, even though I was tired as all get out. I think I dozed a bit between 2 and 3:47, but I am not sure. My eyes were gritty and wanted to close, but my mind was alert and ready to go. I avoided my usual inability to think around 4am on these days somehow, and I am still pretty alert. I know that I will be crashing this afternoon after things are done in my music therapy clinic. I may just plan on reading my current music therapy book and working on my visual aid system for the prep time that I have on Monday afternoons. I nee...

Today is the last day I have to go to work for our Extended School Year session. After today, we have 10 days off before we go back to work for the 2021-2022 school year. If I survive having to call off going to the lake (I chickened out yesterday), I will take the 10 days to pack and sort and sleep, all in the coolness of my house. I do not plan on leaving to do much - just grocery pick up. I will be a hermit until I go back to work. Work is tense these days. There are lots of things being revealed about our former administrators that are not flattering to them and that directly affect us. It will be interesting to see what changes in the next couple of months. To top it all off, we are in the midst of the hottest days of the summer (so far), and tempers are short because we are all hot. So, cue the tense attitudes! Anyway. I, as always, have lots of aspirations for this break, but I know that I will not get them finished. I will be pushing myself to sort, donate, recycle, and box ite...

I am on vacation right now, but music therapy thoughts are starting to intrude into  my days, so I am embracing it and just moving into thinking about my music therapy future. I am sitting at my father' computer battling old batteries that are causing the keyboard to stutter and omit letters while adding others and am wondering what is happening with this cobbled together computer box. Of course, my mom has moved where she keeps all the batteries, so I can't find replacements without talking to her, so I will just keep working on this keyboard until it stops completely. The computer has been turned on a handful of times since Dad died, so things aren't working as well as they have been. Dad also messed lots of things up during his decline, so we cannot access everything that he has going on in this box. WRITE YOUR PASSWORDS DOWN, PEOPLE! Anyway, my time here has been seasoned with some tears, lots of swimming, and the reason for this particular post - some shopping at novel...

I did it. I signed up for the virtual AMTA conference this fall. It's been about two years since I went to an AMTA conference due to many reasons - primarily disinterest. I am slowing down on my CMTE pursuits, so my professional development monies can be used for the AMTA conference these days. I just realized that this conference will interfere with my intern's graduation, so I will have to do a bit of juggling to get things going, but I should be able to take the day after the conference to make up for the possible day that I will miss due to checking my intern out of her internship. I cannot miss that event for anything!! My next intern will not start until January so no conflict there. I am looking for community and inspiration in how I do music therapy. This year has been isolating in many ways, and I feel like I sometimes get into my little ruts. I have no idea what is going on in the world of music therapy. I am okay with that because most of what I have been part of bef...

I am not a fan of summer. Never have been, probably never will be, ESPECIALLY as I live in a humid environment which wreaks havoc on my breathing. My mom likes to tell a story of me as a toddler. Mom asked if I wanted to take a walk (we lived in Temple, Texas at the time). I looked outside the window and said, "Nope, sun's out." I have never really been all that fond of summer. I am currently almost as medicated as I can possibly be for this humid environment. Allergy medications? Check. Inhaler? Check. Nebulizer? Not yet - can't nebulize and drive, so I have to wait until I get to work to do that medicating. Through it all, I am having to sing in a mask in a room that is not being well air conditioned (though the bathrooms and the closet [yep, THAT closet] are plenty cold. This has been an interesting week of music therapy with challenges that are pretty unique to me. Another music therapist would not have these same struggles - that's for sure. So, I am struggli...

I start back to work on Thursday this week which means that I have three more days of my first summer break to enjoy and work through. I figured out which houses would be for which note on the staff yesterday, so my planning for my Notation Neighborhood is progressing...slowly. I still have a sink full of dishes - need to get that taken care of immediately! Be right back... Things weren't as bad as I thought they would be with the whole dish situation - I had used almost all of the forks that I owned, but silverware was the only full section of the washer. Things are being washed now, so that chore is off the list. There are smaller things left to do, but the big one - those dishes are started. The end of break always comes too soon. I don't think I would feel that way if I had the entire summer off, but I have never had that experience, so I cannot say for certain. Anyway, I'm in the same old pattern of complaining, and I do not want to be in that sort of mood, so I am goi...

Welcome to day two of this new year. I am preparing myself for a day of training and being trained as my faculty friends and I return to our school year today. I wonder what will happen next year when January 1 is on a Friday. Will we have one or two of these ridiculous inservice days next year, or will we just dive back into teaching?? I wonder. ANYWAY. I am trying really hard to get excited about the second half of this school year, but I am finding it difficult at the moment. I arrived home from a visit home yesterday - is that sentence confusing?? I arrived at about 3pm my time, which is significantly earlier than I usually arrive home from this type of trip, and I was greeted by the cat. I then went through a bit of a routine and then fell asleep around 7:30pm. The cat woke me up very early and did not allow me to get back to sleep, so I've been up for a long time now. It is currently 5:17am, and I have unpacked the materials that I want to take to work with me today, am...