And So It Begins

I don't post a whole lot in this personal blog of mine anymore. Between trying to revive the "Digressions" blog concept, trying my hand at a new "tech for the rest of us" blog with the "Reluctant Geek" blog, and of course, starting school again for the first time in ten years, I haven't had a whole lot of time to just sit down and gab about recent events. Nevertheless, every now and then, it seems like a good idea to check in.

The idea that first took root in our minds around two years ago has finally come to fruition for both Mindy and I. I mean, has actually happened. Not just "we planned this", or "I got into this program", or "Mindy got a teaching job". While that was all good, I'm actually talking about the process of actually physically doing these things.

I quit my job at American Express after eight years of employment with them. The afternoon I shut my computer down for the last time, I tried to conjure some remorse and regret for leaving the job. I was unsuccessful.

Mindy is now teaching - sort of - for a charter school in a burgeoning town a mere 23 miles northeast of Boulder. Because the school board in that district purposely dragged their feet, and made it as hard as possible for the new school, they won't be able to officially open until next fall. It's a little disappointing for her, but the school is honoring their contracts this year, so, instead of officially teaching, they will try to be more of a tutoring, home-school helping presence this year.



After a week of preliminary exams and a final audition for ensemble placement, I have finally started work on my Masters of Music Performance degree at CU Boulder, with my increasingly trusty bassoon. For those who care, I passed three out of the four preliminary exams I took, including the aural and written theory exams, and post 1600 music history. The only one I failed was the pre 1600 music history exam. This is not a big surprise to me, as I have about as much interest in early music as I have with ear wax. I know they're both useful in some way, but I really could care less about either. Sorry to all you early music enthusiasts. Nothing personal, just not my cup of tea.

I had my first rehearsal for the Wind Symphony this afternoon. Man, it feels good to be back in a seriously great ensemble, again. My first bassoon lesson is tomorrow, at which I'm to bring a list of all the repertoire I've worked on in my serious bassooning lifetime. That list should be fun to put together.

And that's that. Mindy and I are doing what we want to do again. Feels good.

I'm going to post this without even proofreading it. Apologies for any errors in this text. I'll try to post here every now and then, but you are warned that it probably won't be often. Please check my other blogs for some hopefully entertaining reading!