When the living is easy...
This summer has been pretty, um, involved for me and my little family so far. I work an average of 42 hours a week between three different jobs. We're expecting our second child any day now, Scarlett Estelle. My boy, Ender (short for Elias Anders) is three years old and very fun, he's into Legos, (the little ones!) We make airplanes and spaceships. All in all, when I'm home I prefer to be with my family, and have found little time for composing. The main project that I have due this summer is a dance collaboration project I'm working on with a dancer/choreographer from BYU. I have the music for it running around in my head, I've just got to write it down. Let me set a goal to do it by the end of July.
I'll also have a daughter by then too, so we'll see how it goes!
So far this summer we have managed to do some fun things, sleeping out in our yard in a tent, visiting my family for a reunion, having a number of fun little outings, such as to the pool or up the canyon to Bridal Veil Falls, or up the mountain to look out over the city. We've also been quite diligent in our workout, going to the gym at least four mornings a week.
The plan is to greatly simplify life by fall. I am leaving one job, so that outside of campus I will only work at a music store on Saturdays. Weekdays I'll be teaching two classes on campus (two sections of dictation classes) which provides the best money I can hope to make at any job right now. I'll also have 15 hours a week at the music lab, which I can weave around my school schedule. This should free up all my evenings and in general give me more time to compose. Plus, working at the lab is more a matter of maintenance and helping people in with questions, hopefully leaving me with some time for homework. Oh, and being, you know, a composer!
So for now the summer days are long and go by quickly, weeks swimming away not in leisure but nonetheless pleasantly, without the stresses and deadlines of school.
Have I ever mentioned that I am the organist for our LDS ward? I find it very satisfying and invigorating. I'm still not exactly sure what all the stops do, so sometimes its an adventure when I chose to pull some for the last verse of a hymn...
