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 |   The Good Life. |
I am a professional musician  , worship leader , small business owner , songwriter , aspiring author and freelance nonfiction writer with a chemical engineering degree . But that's just my resume. My profile of qualifications is only one of the ways in which I am unique. Here I chronicle my personal and professional goals and my efforts to achieve them. Occasionally I fail. Mostly, I take daily baby steps toward all my long-term goals. Much like the stories I pen, the songs I compose, and the businesses I run, I am always a work in progress. ![Merit Badge in Music
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To a dear friend whose talent for writing music is sensational. May you have a fabulous New Year, (((Brandi)))!!! *^*Kiss*^*
Big hugs,
Sherri *^*Heart*^*](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/genre-Music-1050.gif) ![Merit Badge in Organization
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I don't know how you do it, but I assume there's magic involved *^*Bigsmile*^* I have really enjoyed this month of planning and preparation for NaNoWriMo and I love how organized it all is. Thank you for hosting a great challenge and for your dedication to helping so many of us prepare with confidence and trepidation for National Novel Writing Month (known to sane folks as 'November' *^*Laugh*^*) at your [Link To Item #1474311]](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/general-Organization-1150.gif) ![Merit Badge in Leadership
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For your hard work, commitment, talent and innovation in running the October NaNoWriMo Preparation each year, which helps many of us get our scattered thoughts together for November's novel-writing. And also because this badge has ducks on it.](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/general-Leadership.gif) |
| Monday! Time to make a new weekly to-do list: 1. Smack self in the head for missing 750 Words yesterday. Don't know what happened there. I had plenty of time, remembered several times during the day, even had it open on the screen, but continued to procrastinate. I finished reading a really awesome book, played a video game, and made a rough recording of my newest song. Each time, I looked at that blank 750 Words screen and thought, I'll get it in a little bit. Then my computer froze, and instead of rebooting, I shut down and went to bed. Oops. So I finished the three-book series called "The Mark of the Lion" by Francine Rivers. I've never read Christian fiction before, but it was fascinating to read what life was like during the Roman era, around 100 AD. I never liked history class, but always loved historical fiction. BALANCE Work goals Blog at MT.com : Pending.Year-end closeout: In progress. Sign-in process for students: Done.  Netbook and monitor coming from Amazon, along with new lobby tables and some other things.Writing goals Performance Evaluations: Pending. Church goals 9:30 Bulletin: Pending. 11:15 Bulletin: Pending. Family goals Create photo keepsake from Abby's State Meet photos: Photos uploading to Shutterfly. Hang prints in the bedroom: Pending. BODY Health goals Weight: Yes. I indeed have weight. Exercise: No. Yesterday's points: 60 points. And I will never, ever eat at Pizzeria Uno again. One slice of pizza has 16 points! ONE SLICE! GROWTH Business Growth Reach 400 students at MTMS by 12/31/12: 243.I need to send out promo emails, because this is the last week for the promo! I want to fill up the samplers, because we always get enrollments out of those, and I missed all the other advertising venues. Sampler Promo email: Pending. "This Week" ad: Pending. Other weekly ad: Pending. I can't remember the name of the publication. Music Log Yesterday, I practiced: "100 Times" [ASR] and a Vanessa Carlton song that doesn't translate well to guitar.Yesterday, I listened to: "A Thousand Miles" by Vanessa Carlton This week, I performed at: Pending. Songwriting progress: A poor-quality recording of 100 Times . This week, I'd like to record one of higher quality. |
| BALANCE Work goals: Blog at MT.com : Done.Year-end closeout: In progress. Sign-in process for students: Done. Netbook and monitor coming from Amazon.Writing goals Town Money Saver ad: Done. Performance Evaluations: Pending.  Church goals 9:30 Bulletin: Done! 11:15 Bulletin: Done! Family goals I watched a whole entire movie (The King's Speech) without touching my laptop. Go me. And there may have been snuggling.  It turns out that a computer-free lap is an inviting lap. *note to self* On a related note: Excellent movie.BODY Health goals Weight: 174.8. Exercise: None. Yesterday's points: I lost track at the Mexican place Friday and Uno's Pizza yesterday. Eating out = not goof for tracking food. Unless you plan ahead and pick your meal off the online nutrition chart instead of the menu. Which I didn't.GROWTH Business Growth Reach 400 students at MTMS by 12/31/12: 243.Music Log Yesterday, I practiced: My setlist on Friday (at Patron) and a new song at praise band practice (piano.) Yesterday, I listened to: Nothing. This week, I performed at: {xlink:http://www.senorpatron.com} Songwriting progress: Nothing. |
| So my to-do list for the week is something of a bust: No evaluations, no work on the master song list (and I play at Senor Patron in like an hour), and I still haven't prepared all the way for 11:15 worship Sunday morning. BALANCE Work goals: Blog at MT.com : Done. And plugged at FB, LI, Twitter, G+ and Pinterest. So that's something.Year-end closeout: In progress. Sign-in process for students: Have a netbook and big-screen monitor in an Amazon cart. Just waiting to get Amazon gift cards at Giant Eagle so I can hit the gas pump on the FuelPerks discount, baby. I've been showing off the "Now in Lessons / Next in Lessons" screen to customers on my laptop, and they're all digging it. One customer compared it to the screens at the airport. Writing goals Town Money Saver ad: Done. Performance Evaluations: and hanging over my head. I want to finish by the end of the month so I can justify giving bonuses to my two overachievers. (Keith half-jokingly commented that I'll never make any money if I keep giving it away.  )Church goals 9:30 Bulletin: Done! 11:15 Bulletin: Pending new lyrics sheets. Family goals Started more laundry, "rebooted" the dishwasher (Storm Machine  -ism) and spent over an hour talking to Keith last night about work woes. I could tell he was really distracted, so I asked him about it, and he sort of unloaded. It was nice to be his sounding board. It will be even nicer to get him a better job - for instance, professional golfer or beer taster - when I'm ridiculously wealthy off of a dozen schools and a thriving performance career. I forgot to put that on my 2012 goals, so it may have to wait until 2013, but the seeds are planted and wheels are turning.  BODY Health goals Weight: 175, even after I unloaded the ship.  Hoping it was the Chipotle (on both counts.)Exercise: Yesterday, yes. Today, no. It's below freezing with a couple inches of snow on the ground, and I'm afraid of slipping and breaking my fingers. I should insure those puppies for professional purposes, kinda like J-Lo insured her ass. Yesterday's points: 34, including 12 points of cookies and 12 points at Chipotle. GROWTH Business Growth Reach 400 students at MTMS by 12/31/12: 243, and has anyone noticed that we've exploded in the last week? I noticed. In related news, Chris and I examined the business plan yesterday and discovered that - YAY! - I can afford to give myself my full "owner salary" raise (see yesterday's post.)  This should propel me closer to my new 2013 goal.Music Log Yesterday, I practiced: The Scarlatti - a bunch. I'm getting really fast, and it sounds so cool! My fingers need more exercise. (And insurance, if I didn't mention.) Yesterday, I listened to: Nothing. This week, I performed at: Pending Senor Patron today.Songwriting progress: Nothing. So maybe I accomplished a couple things this week, including reading several times per day. Just none of the things I set out to do as of Monday. Stupid evaluations. I always used to put those off at Abbott, too. Why?? They're not that hard. |
| My Yahoo calendar worked for a week. Then I stopped using it. And promptly forgot a church meeting Monday night. What I really need is a personal assistant. The first half of this week, unexplained lethargy ruled. Then sometime yesterday morning, I suddenly found my giveashit again.  No idea where it went. It may have gone into hiding over the beating I took missing the church meeting. BALANCE Work goals: Blog at MT.com : Pending... and due today! This will be my 750 Words entry.Year-end closeout: In progress. Chris and I looked at the P&L and balance sheet today. That was fun. *drools over all the nerdy calculations and data reporting* Sign-in process for students: I Googled customer sign-in kiosks, but no "easy" solution jumped out at me. Still, there are options. In related news, I've started an Amazon cart that includes eight netbooks, two large-screen monitors, a couple new lobby tables, and ten groovy Circle of Fifths mousepads (that's nerdy music theory stuff.) Let's check the scores (tee-hee... "scores"): NERD: 2 (3, if you count the music pun) COOL KIDS: 0 Writing goals Town Money Saver ad: Done. Performance Evaluations: Scheduled all week. Haven't touched them. I briefly thought about them. Once. Church goals 9:30 Bulletin: Done! 11:15 Bulletin: In progress. I need to find time to go to church and hole-punch new songs for the congregation binders. I suppose I could just start by printing them here at work. Family goals Been gradually putting the laundry away. BODY Health goals Weight: 171.8 Exercise: A Facebook friend sent me a YouTube video of couch exercises. Yesterday's points: 26 GROWTH Business Growth Reach 400 students at MTMS by 12/31/12: 243... with good news! Chris and I discovered that we had the volume targets wrong, and I get a double raise at 250!!! AND the receptionist gets to go to full-time hours! Summary: I get MORE money to do LESS work. Music Log Yesterday, I practiced: Nothing. Yesterday, I listened to: The Power of Your Name by Lincoln Brewster. This week, I performed at: Pending. Songwriting progress: Nothing. Keith and I decided we're ready to be old and retired, so we can justify going to Florida for January and February every year. Am I old yet? |
| BALANCE Work goals: Blog at MT.com : Pending.Year-end closeout: In progress. I never called my (mom)accountant Sunday, and she's slammed again, so not sure where I am with this or what I need to do. We still have some loose ends to tie up. Most pressing: I need to issues W2s and 1099s before the end of the month. Sign-in process for students: Pending lobby screen and actual sign-in process. I decided I wanna play with the cool kids and have a customer sign-in touch-screen kiosk. Somebody find me one of those. Writing goals Town Money Saver ad: Done. I also downloaded the latest version of Paint Shop Pro so I can play with more graphic design. I haven't fiddled with the software yet, but it's sitting open on my desktop in that "I swear I'm gonna do this" state, like about seven other windows I have open and "Pending" today. Half of which are touch-screen kiosk vendors.Performance Evaluations: Scheduled today, Wed, Fri, Sat. Haven't touched them. But 750Words.com is open in a web browser window. I'm kickin' it today. Look at how much I'm thinking about doing! zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz... Church goals 9:30 Bulletin: In progress... or, exactly where I left them yesterday. Also open in my web browser. Okay, to be perfectly honest, I opened it right before typing that previous sentence. But now it really IS open! Yay. 11:15 Bulletin: Pending. I'm having trouble finding energy for this, because the service is just not taking off. Why bother? Family goals Piles and piles of folded laundry sit all over the house. I should put that away. BODY Health goals Weight: Fairly sure I haven't lost anything. Exercise: I need an aerobics video or something. Anything good on YouTube? LINKS, PLEASE! Yesterday's points: 32 GROWTH Business Growth Reach 400 students at MTMS by 12/31/12: 237.5Music Log Yesterday, I practiced: Nothing. Yesterday, I listened to: Nothing. This week, I performed at: Pending. Songwriting progress: Nothing. I have to sub again tonight. And tomorrow. I think that's part of my lethargy. Strange, because we signed up like four students on Saturday and five yesterday, plus we launched a completely-full preschool class on Saturday. Business is looking up. But I feel tired. Keith and I decided we're ready to be old and retired, so we can justify going to Florida for January and February every year. Am I old yet? |
| Happy MLK Day. OMGosh, we need a MLK Day song! I'll get right on that. BALANCE Work goals: Blog at MT.com : Pending. Scheduled at 750 Words Thursday.Year-end closeout: In progress. I've got this mostly done, and it seems I may have made a profit in 2011. Sign-in process for students: Completed "Now in Lessons" and "Next in Lessons" screen. Now need to figure out how to display it, and eventually, how people will sign in at the lobby and computer lab. The idea is to have a record of where a student is in the building at any given time. But more urgent was the "Now in Lessons" display, because moving the lab to the back means we don't have a computer lab attendant shepherding students to the right place (lab or lesson room) as they walk in the door. So parents walk in with their kids and sit down, and sometimes get forgotten until they speak up. The "Now in Lessons" display is supposed to tell people in the lobby, "You're supposed to go here now." Town Money Saver ad: Due by tomorrow morning. I gotta get better at planning ahead. Website: Unplanned goal. I spent a good chunk of my morning today updating my website. A lot of photos, copy and information were really outdated. I love tinkering with it. Writing goals Performance Evaluations: 9 to go and planned for 750 Words Tue, Wed, Fri, Sat. I also need to compile statistics, so I'll try to plan that during work hours. Nothing else this week. I need to finish those evaluations. Church goals 9:30 Bulletin: In progress. 11:15 Bulletin: Pending. Family goals I did laundry yesterday so Keith could go to his Mom's house and shrink-wrap the windows, which is apparently all the rage in Ohio. Like mulching. Except in winter instead of summer. BODY Health goals Weight: ? Exercise: No. Stupid winter. Yesterday's points: 29.5 GROWTH Business Growth Reach 400 students at MTMS by 12/31/12: 234Music Log Yesterday, I practiced: at church. Yesterday, I listened to: nothing yet. Planned for this week: So You Would Come, The Power of Your Name, I Lift My Hands, and Jesus Bring the Rain. All these are for worship, if that's not obvious. This week, I performed at: church yesterday. Senor Patron pending this Friday. Not sure what day I'm going to pick up at the Polaris location, or when that will start. I'm not rushing it, because I'm feeling kinda busy lately. But I love to perform and don't do it enough. Songwriting progress: None scheduled this week. Instead, I plan to spend the week cleaning up my master song list (which includes all my originals) and making it Kindle-ready. I want to try using my Kindle for lyrics and chords instead of a binder. Then I'll refresh on all my originals so I can play them at Senor Patron (I haven't played originals there yet.) And there's always that MLK Day inspiration. Comment if it's been done before (links, please!) Peace. |
| BALANCE Work goals: Blog at MT.com : Done. Year-end closeout: In progress. Sign-in process for students: Completed "Now in Lessons" and "Next in Lessons" display. Now need to figure out how people will sign in. Judge Ohio Idol videos: Done. Writing goals Performance Evaluations: 6 down, 9 to go and a bit stalled. Character Inventory: I soooo blew this off. Set one song to music: Done. "100 Times" [ASR]Church goals None. Family goals None. BODY Health goals Weight: ? Exercise: No. I think we need Plan B. Yesterday's points: 28 GROWTH Business Growth Reach 400 students at MTMS by 12/31/12: 238Music Log Yesterday, I practiced: Actually, no practice since Senor Patron on Friday. I had to sub all day Saturday again. Been doing that a LOT. Yesterday, I listened to: Nope. This week, I performed at: Senor Patron, and they asked me to play at a second location. Apparently Friday lunch biz has picked up. Songwriting progress: Done. and practicing. |
| BALANCE Work goals: Blog at MT.com : Done. Year-end closeout: In progress. Sign-in process for students: In progress - the lobby display works! Now I just need a computer and monitor. Judge Ohio Idol videos: Done. Writing goals Performance Evaluations: 6 down, 9 to go and a bit stalled. Character Inventory: I soooo blew this off. Set one song to music: Done. "100 Times" [ASR]Church goals None. Family goals None. BODY Health goals Weight: ? Exercise: No!! Snowed in. Yesterday's points: 35, including Mexican chips & margarita. Not bad. GROWTH Business Growth Reach 400 students at MTMS by 12/31/12: 233.5Music Log Yesterday, I practiced: Piano: Scarlatti's Sonata in Dm; Guitar: "100 Times" [ASR]Yesterday, I listened to: Nope. This week, I performed at: Senor Patron, and they asked me to play at a second location. Apparently Friday lunch biz has picked up. Songwriting progress: Done. and practicing. |
| BALANCE Work goals: Blog at MT.com : Done. Year-end closeout: In progress. Sign-in process for students: In progress with the help of a code-savvy customer. Judge Ohio Idol videos: Done. Writing goals Performance Evaluations: 6 down, 9 to go, with statistics to gather and 750 Words to write yet today. I plan on using the words to write two more evaluations, but right now, I'm thinking of playing a video game instead. Character Inventory: Scheduled today... but I can't decide if I feel like it. Set one song to music: Done. "100 Times" [ASR]Church goals None. In fact, sometimes I wonder if I'm not close to done with that job. I'm not nearly as enthusiastic as I used to be, and I hate to think it's becoming a chore. At eleven years, it's the longest-running position I've ever with any employer, ever, and my employment history would show that I can't hang with a job more than a few years without getting bored. I like variety. I can't leave yet, but the seeds are there. Family goals None. *shrug* Went to the grocery store yesterday, and I suppose I could do some laundry today. They need to make disposable clothes like they make disposable plates and flatware.BODY Health goals Weight: 174.8 Exercise: No!! Good grief, we got dumped on with snow overnight. Yesterday's points: 28... pretty damn good! GROWTH Business Growth Reach 400 students at MTMS by 12/31/12: 233.5Music Log Yesterday, I practiced: Piano: Scarlatti's Sonata in Dm; Guitar: "100 Times" [ASR]Yesterday, I listened to: Nope. This week, I performed at: Pending. Songwriting progress: Pending. |
| BALANCE Work goals: Blog at MT.com : Done. Year-end closeout: In progress and sort of stalled. Sign-in process for students: In progress but had another breakthrough! Judge Ohio Idol videos: Done. Writing goals Performance Evaluations: 6 down, 9 to go, but have some statistical data to collect. Character Inventory: Scheduled tomorrow. Set one song to music: Done. "100 Times" [ASR]BODY Health goals Weight: 174.8 Exercise: No.  Couldn't get Keith out of bed, and I'm apparently slacker who won't do it myself.Yesterday's points: 30 Don't know if y'all know this, but I'm in a competition with two other ladies, and my failure stick to my points and exercise is going to cost me $50. All I think about is food! GROWTH Business Growth Reach 400 students at MTMS by 12/31/12: 233.5Music Log Yesterday, I practiced: Piano: Scarlatti's Sonata in Dm and Bach's Minuet in G. Yesterday, I listened to: Nada, and still haven't scheduled it. This week, I performed at: Pending. Songwriting progress: Pending. |
| I keep thinking about my three words for 2012. I'd like to keep them at the center of my goals. So I revamped my template. BALANCE Work goals: Blog at MT.com : Scheduled tomorrow morning.Year-end closeout: In progress. Sign-in process for students: In progress, with new ideas. Judge Ohio Idol videos: Done. Writing goals Performance Evaluations: Wrote two more this morning. 6 down, 10 to go. Character Inventory: Scheduled Friday. Set one song to music: Scheduled today, but I actually did this yesterday! Today, I tweaked and added a small instrumental interlude. I think it's done: "100 Times" [ASR]Church goals <BLANK>, and... Family goals <BLANK> ...which makes me wonder if I've really achieved balance. I did go out for Mexican with Keith last night, which helps me Family goal but hinders my Body goals. Conflicts like that are why balance is so difficult to achieve. If' I'm going to focus on balance, I need church and family goals. BODY Weight: 174.4. Not good. Probably the salt talking. Exercise: Yes. Yesterday's points: I lost count. GROWTH Reach 400 students at MTMS by 12/31/12: 231.5Music Log Yesterday, I practiced: Scarlatti Sonata in Dm. Yesterday, I listened to: Nothing. I'm not taking this goal seriously because it's not in my SCHEDULE. Duh. I'll fix that. This week, I performed at: Pending. Songwriting progress: Pending. |
| Health goals Weight: 173.8 Exercise: Yep! I keep hoping the running part will get easier. Yesterday's points: 35 (1) Coffee Weekly writing goals Performance Evaluations: Wrote two more today. 4 down, 12 to go. I'm starting to see that I need to compile data, like what percentage of class students converted to private lessons; how many recitals and events the teacher attended; percentage of teacher's students who've performed at recitals and events; and compare those numbers with overall school numbers. Accountability! I  data.Character Inventory: Scheduled Friday. Set one song to music: Scheduled tomorrow. Weekly work goals Reach 400 students at MTMS by 12/31/12: 231.5Blog at MT.com : Scheduled Thursday.Year-end closeout: In progress and mostly delegated. Sign-in process for students: In progress, and I worked on this last night some, even though it wasn't scheduled. It is WICKED COOL. Now I just need to figure out how to make Google Docs auto refresh so it continually recalculates the current time (like every 60 seconds.) Judge Ohio Idol videos: Scheduled today, but since Chris (the office manager) is still sick (strep throat!), I'll be doing it at the front desk at MTMS. Which means I might get interrupted with walk-ins and phone calls. Music Log Yesterday, I practiced: Scarlatti Sonata in Dm. I'm getting closer to allegro. (FYI, allegro = fast)Yesterday, I listened to: Nothing. This week, I performed at: Pending. Songwriting progress: Pending. Ad hoc goals Back up hard drive: Complete! It's been beeping more and more often, which makes me nervous. I'm convinced my laptop, whose warranty expired in August of 2011, will die any day now. |
| I'm very trusting, which makes me very open. But I also fully expect that my competitors read this blog (Hi, Molly!) in addition to keeping close tabs on my Tweets, Facebook updates and of course the school website. I mean, if my competitors had personal blogs where they aired out their griefs, goals and student counts, I would probably read that. Websites and social media advertising are obvious fodder for scrutiny - only a stupid businessperson would fail to regularly analyze the market. It's all public information, like my blog, since I've chosen to publish it publicly, which makes it all legal spying and not in violation of anti-trust laws. It does crack me up that they (she) could never admit to the spying. (Although, just to prove my trusting and honest nature, I'll admit that I spy on all of your websites and social media sites. Because I'm not a stupid businessperson.) This is just my way of telling any competitors who happen to be reading this blog post that I don't care if they know my student volume numbers. I offer the information willingly, along with our pricing (which, unlike just about every competitor I can find, we publish in detail for our customers on our website), our lesson format, and the number of recitals and performance events we host. I guess I'm having a cynical day. *shrug* Health goals Weight: I forgot to check. Exercise: Yes, after taking the weekend off. Yesterday's points: 39-ish. Weekly writing goals Performance Evaluations: In progress: 1 down, 15 to go. Scheduled all week during 750Words.com entries. Character Inventory: In progress. Scheduled Tuesday. Set one song to music: Scheduled Wednesday. Weekly work goals Reach 400 students at MTMS by 12/31/12: 231.5Blog at MT.com : Scheduled Thursday morning.Year-end closeout: In progress and mostly delegated. Sign-in process for students: In progress and not scheduled. Judge Ohio Idol videos: Scheduled Friday. Music Log Yesterday, I practiced: "Wade in the Water" before worship, then performed it. It fairly well rocked. Yesterday, I listened to: Nada. This week, I performed at: Pending. Songwriting progress: Pending. I'm having a low energy day, which may explain my Monday morning cynicism. Last week - Friday night - I had to get up at 2am and drive to the boonies to rescue a friend who'd been picked up for DUI and was hanging at the police station. Yesterday - Sunday - my boyfriend's mom fell and hit her head and had to be taken to the hospital. Today, Chris, the office manager, is sick, and I had to come into work this morning. And to top things off, I haven't been getting to sleep at a decent hour (my own fault) because I've been sucked into a good book. My whole schedule has been screwed up since Friday. I'm not sure why I bother to schedule things. Maybe I should go back to old-fashioned to-do lists. Yahoo Calendar has a decent one. It tells you, "Good job!" when you check one off and it moves it to a "Done" list. I'll take all the encouragement I can get, LOL.Balance. Body. Growth. My goals for 2012. Balance. Body. Growth. |
| Remember the book I started reading like two weeks ago, A Voice in the Wind ? I complained that the opening fall of Jerusalem scene was confusing and slow? Well, it got good. I finished it yesterday, reading for maybe four or five solid hours to get through to the end. I'll read the next one, because she's a good storyteller. But she's a chronic head-hopper, and it's confusing as hell. She's also a word show-off - meaning that she overuses certain big, impressive words unnecessarily, and she uses the same ones over and over, making it sound like she has a handful of big words in her arsenal with which to impress. And it's not like the whole book is written at a high reading level; rather, random passages sound like mini graduate theses. In my opinion, these passages slow down the narrative drive. Other than that, her plot, setting and characters are outstanding. I was shocked at the ending, and I thought for sure the problems with the main antagonist would be resolved by the end, but they weren't, which was very real. It was an unsatisfying ending, leaving me wanting to get started right away on the next book. Health goals Weight: 174.8 Exercise: Not yesterday, due to the 2am drunk friend rescuing. Hopefully today. Yesterday's points: 28 I didn't count again yesterday, but my estimate wasn't bad. I was too busy to eat, otherwise I would have slept more. And when I finally did go to bed (around 7pm), I ended up reading in bed 'til 10. Still, I feel much better today and look forward to my Sunday afternoon relaxation (after chores, of course.) Weekly writing goals Profile 43 Characters: Done. Rewrite one short story: Done: "The Butterfly Stone" [13+] Character Inventory: In progress. Review 1 hour: Done. Revise one song: Done. (e:thumbsup} Weekly work goals Reach 400 students at MTMS by 12/31/12: ? It's Sunday. I'll check tomorrow.Blog at MT.com : Done. Year-end closeout: In progress. Sign-in process for students: In progress. Judge Ohio Idol videos: PENDING and NEEDS TO BE SCHEDULED. Music Log Yesterday, I practiced: "Wade in the Water" on organ Yesterday, I listened to: Wade in the Water - a whole bunch. This week, I performed at: Senor Patron. Songwriting progress: I worked on "100 Times" [ASR] and "In Muted Light of Softening Day" [E]Except for my growing list of work goals, I did pretty good this week. I'll publish a new goals llist tomorrow morning, and it will probably have more work goals and less writing goals. |
| We set goals with the best of intentions, and then life interferes. I forgot my laptop charger at work on Thursday, along with my guitar and amp, which I needed to play lunch at Senor Patron. So instead of working on writing goals Friday morning on my juiceless computer, I drove to work (half hour from home) in the morning, grabbed the gear and charger, headed back to Senor Patron (five minutes from home.) After having already driven to Gahanna once, I decided not to go back to work. So I wrote in the afternoon. Then last night, I had to go pick up a drunk friend at 2:00 in the morning and didn't get back to bed until 4:00. Needless to say, I didn't wake up at 5:00 to write and exercise before work today. And yesterday was pretty much a bust. I did, however, work on songwriting yesterday, per my schedule. Just not at the right time. Health goals Weight: ? Exercise: No. Yesterday's points: ? Weekly writing goals Profile 43 Characters: Done. Rewrite one short story: Done: "The Butterfly Stone" [13+] Character Inventory: In progress. Review 1 hour: Done. Revise one song: I actually revised two. Weekly work goals Reach 400 students at MTMS by 12/31/12: 229.5Blog at MT.com : Done. Year-end closeout: In progress. Sign-in process for students: In progress. Judge Ohio Idol videos: PENDING and NEEDS TO BE SCHEDULED. Music Log Yesterday, I practiced: I played at Senor Patron and broke out some of the old repertoire I haven't played since Potbelly. Yesterday, I listened to: Um... nothing. This week, I performed at: Senor Patron. Songwriting progress: I worked on "100 Times" [ASR] and "In Muted Light of Softening Day" [E] |
| Health goals Weight: 174.2 Exercise: Yep! Yesterday's points: 30 Weekly writing goals Profile 43 Characters: Mystic and Wisdom. I converted one weekly morning 750Words assignment to a MT.com blog post , and then proceeded to write the post directly in Wordpress. At least I blogged! Now I have to write at 750Words as well. Perhaps more character development. I didn't get far with either Mystic or Wisdom.Rewrite one short story: Done: "The Butterfly Stone" [13+]  Which, I realized when I went through the reviews, has been edited several times. Now it's utterly brilliant, haha. Or, at a minimum, I remembered the character enough to profile her and write the background story. I might also continue the story, since many reviews said they wanted to know what happens to the unnamed servant at the end. So maybe I should profile him at some point.Character Inventory: In progress. My written works are EVERYWHERE... laptop, old hard drives, WDC, Evernote, old pen-and-paper notebooks. I've tried to consolidate. It only seems to get worse, because I can't decide where to put everything. Review 1 hour: Done. Revise one song: Tomorrow. Weekly work goals Reach 400 students at MTMS by 12/31/12: 229.0Blog at MT.com : Done! Year-end closeout: In progress. Sign-in process for students: In progress. Judge Ohio Idol videos: PENDING and NEEDS TO BE SCHEDULED. Music Log Yesterday, I practiced: Scarlatti's Sonata in D minor for piano again. I got through the whole piece. Now to master it. Yesterday, I listened to: Scarlatti's Sonata in D minor... about seven different sonatas. That dude loved Dm, because he had a slew of sonatas in key. I read somewhere that he wrote 555 total sonatas for keyboard. Can't for the life of me find the one I'm learning. This week, I performed at: Tomorrow at Senor Patron. Songwriting progress: Tomorrow. |
| Health goals Weight: 173.8 Exercise: Yes. OMG it's cold outside. Yesterday's points: 40 Weekly writing goals Profile 4 Characters: Not yet. Rewrite one short story: In progress. Character Inventory: In progress. Review 1 hour: Done. Revise one song: scheduled Fri My schedule is all out of whack today, because I carpooled with Keith and came to work early. As soon as Chris, the office manager, arrived, we started talking business. I've gotten nothing else done except yesterday's music practice time. So I still have 750 Words (profile Wisdom) and edit a short story (The Butterfly Stone) on my agenda. Since Wisdom appears in Poor Witch, I thought she was a good choice for my first character project. Weekly work goals Reach 400 students at MTMS by 12/31/12: 227. Less than I'd like, but - as I have to remind myself - more than I planned when I originally opened my doors. By a lot. *repeats to convince self*Blog at MT.com : PENDING.Year-end closeout: In progress, mostly by delegation. Sign-in process for students: In progress. Judge Ohio Idol videos: PENDING Music Log Yesterday, I practiced: Sonata in Dm (Scarlatti) for piano and Purcell's "When I am laid in earth" from "Dido and Aeneas" for voice. Talk about a depressing song! Technically this happened this morning, so I need to practice again later today. Yesterday, I listened to: Purcell's "When I am laid in earth" This week, I performed at: Pending, but a local nursing home just booked me for every other month through the end of the year. Songwriting progress: Pending. |
| Health goals Weight: ? Exercise: Yes, in 17 degree weather, yikes. Yesterday's points: 34, still too high but better. Weekly writing goals Profile 4 Characters: I started a background story this morning, but I realized I needed to do a pseudo-"Prep" first. The character was Mystic, the cat from Poor Witch. I couldn't find his voice, because I couldn't remember Mildred's well enough, and I couldn't remember Aunt and Mother's names, and I was weak on the setting... annoying. Bottom line, I needed to research before writing. So I'm revising my 750 Words task on my calendar: Prep first, write second. Rewrite one short story: scheduled Wed Review 1 hour: scheduled Thu today, because I moved grocery shopping to Thursdays. But I already got distracted by Facebook, though I've managed to stay away from email this morning. I also overslept. So I'm behind on my writing goals today. I may only get a half hour of reviewing in, and I get less FB time later today. Revise one song: scheduled Fri Weekly work goals Reach 400 students at MTMS by 12/31/12: 229.5. We're stuck. Blog at MT.com :Year-end closeout: PENDING (tax payments/filings; W2s/1099s; accounting fixes - Dec payroll, bonus, other earnings, inventory; and close books.) Sign-in process for students: In progress. Judge Ohio Idol videos: PENDING Tidy up post-remodel: Done! Music Log Yesterday, I practiced: Wade in the Water on guitar Yesterday, I listened to: Wade in the Water by Eva Cassidy. I am taking awesome song suggestions for tomorrow!This week, I performed at: Pending. Songwriting progress: Pending. |
| THREE WORDS THAT DEFINE ME IN 2012: 1. Balance: * Allocate time to work/family/writing/etc and stick to the schedule * Strengthen relationships * Music performance once per week * Be more focused leading worship 2. Body: * Eat healthier and keep track of points * Exercise daily * Reach a body weight of 145 pounds by 12/31/12 3. Growth: * Practice difficult music every day * Grow the business to 400 students * Grow my repertoire of original music * Grow my portfolio of in-progress and complete written works For scheduling: Outlooks, Yahoo Calendar or Excel? Health goals Weight: 175 Exercise: Yesterday, yes. Today, pending. Yesterday's points: 39. Way too high, but at least I kept track. Better today. Writing goals Profile 4 Characters: Scheduled mornings at 750 Words. Rewrite one short story: Scheduled Wed. Review 1 hour: Scheduled Thu. Revise one song: Scheduled Fri. Every Monday, I'll establish this list. Throughout the week, I'll report on progress against the list. Work goals Reach 400 students at MTMS by 12/31/12: 230.5Blog at MT.com : Pending.Year-end closeout: PENDING (tax payments/filings; W2s/1099s; accounting fixes - Dec payroll, bonus, other earnings, inventory; and close books.) Tidy up post-remodel: Scheduled today. It's almost ready. Sign-in process for students: In progress. Judge Ohio Idol videos: Pending. The first two goals are fixed. I'll continue to keep a daily log of our current student load for future statistical purposes, and I'd like to go back to blogging once per week. The rest of the goals will be established on Monday. As you see above, I did schedule this list for the week... but I've already broken my Balance rule, because I logged in and did some work (on "Sign-in process") while creating this list. Then I logged back out! Go me. Church goals I almost hate to publish goals here, because it won't change much. It's more critical that I stick to allocated time on my schedule. Music Log Yesterday, I practiced: Nothing! And I was at the studio! Yesterday, I listened to: Saturday, I listened George Thoroughgood "One Bourbon One Scotch One Beer." To clarify this goal, it doesn't count if I listen to a song while writing or doing something distracting. I'm supposed to listen to the song. I noticed the guitar strum pattern in Bourbon. This week, I performed at: None yet, scheduled Friday at Senor Patron. Songwriting progress: None yet. Here I'll keep track of my daily and weekly music-related goals. Each day, I'd like to practice a difficult piece - on voice or any instrument - and listen to one new song for inspiration and ideas. I'm always taking suggestions! Drop your links in the comment box. Ad hoc goals I allocated time for non-MTMS email (mostly church and personal); Yahoo articles; Facebook; Pinterest, etc. The goal is to stick to the schedule! |
| Welcome to 2012. Make yourself comfortable, because you're going to be here awhile. 2012 Resolutions: 1. Eat healthier 2. Exercise daily 3. Strengthen relationships with family and friends 4. Allocate time for work / family / writing / leisure and stick to it 5. Practice difficult music every day 6. Grow my business from 230 students to 400 students by year-end 7. Perform at least once a week 8. Write and perform new original music 9. Be more focused while leading worship This list isn't my style. I normally quantify my goals - after all, without numbers or frequencies, how do I know if I've achieved the goals? At the end of 2012, how will I know I ate healthier or strengthened my relationships? But it's a start, and it's centered around my desire for better balance. The next iteration of the list will be coming in the form of tomorrow's blog template. In the meantime, nurse your hangovers, make your own resolutions, and go to church if you're the church-going sort, since it's Sunday and all. Peace. ...on earth, or just in your own life. |
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Aw, thanks, 