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Practice makes better, perfection is an unhealthy goal
When I first started playing dulcimer my obsession drive me to practice five fours a day. I made very rapid strides, and people would be shocked to discover I’d only been playing a year. They were still shocked and impressed when it was two years, then three, but after ten years I lost that effect; I was expected to be good after a decade ( Read more... ) -
Legacies
Scott Hutchinson of Frightened Rabbit committed suicide last week. He was always very open about his struggles in his music and I’ll always be grateful I saw him in concert ( Read more... ) -
So these are my forties. Huh.
I’ve read recently about the U-curve in happiness that hits a nadir around 46 before rapidly climbing after folks hit fifty, and I’ve noticed it in myself (https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/may/05/ ( Read more... ) -
Recap of one of my favourite tours yet
Last week I mentioned on social media that this most-recent Italy tour was one of my favourites since the first, and that I was excited to know that I could still be learning new things after so many tours over the past twelve years ( Read more... ) -
Planning and packing
In a little over a week I’m heading to Italy, from which I’ll go directly to Texas for the Sherwood Forest Faire. This makes packing...interesting ( Read more... ) -
My recent reading habits
In the past two months I’ve read Madison and Jefferson, by Bernstein and Isenberg; The Templars: The Secret History Revealed, by Barbara Frale (whose discovery of a mislabeled trial transcript involving the heads of the order was revelatory of both the practices and the contemporary misconceptions about the order); Sicily: An Island at the ( Read more... ) -
Catching Folks Up
Sometimes I turn around and realize it’s been three months since I last posted on my blog. I have a very active social media presence between Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, each of which has its strengths, but I’ve missed the luxury of being able to more fully explore my thoughts ( Read more... ) -
Intuition and Rationality
I am an INFJ on the Myers-Briggs scale, although the I and the P are both very much on the cusps between Introversion and Extraversion and between Perception and Judging. The middle two, however, are very much a part of my personality, so much so that they've become part of my identity ( Read more... ) -
Italy summer 2017 recap and busking evaluation
I've wrapped up the Italy leg of the tour and I'm off to Croatia ( Read more... ) -
Opportunity knocks
I'm a big believer in the power of luck. I've made many decisions over the years, creative and professional, but the biggest have often been leaps of opportunity. Last night I made another one ( Read more... )