A day in the life...

Someone asked me what is it that I do all day, since I never seem to have the time to do anything outside of a pretty tight schedule. I've started to ponder this even more because of how exhausted I seem to be at the end of each day. So, I thought I'd record what I did yesterday, Thursday, May 21, 2015. Here we go.

6:35am wake up and help get Charlie ready for school

8:15am Charlie to school

8:30-12:30pm

Starbucks!
Picardy work -- lots to catch up on.

Kickstarter updates

Sound clips edited

Contracts update

Website work
Product catch-up

12:30-1:15pm

Lunch and travel to ASW
I know I shouldn't, but I always eat a sandwich on my drive to work.

1:15-1:45pm

Finish Superstition Parts

1:45-4:45pm

Teaching at Austin Soundwaves

4:45pm

Austin Soundwaves faculty meeting

5:45pm
Picardy Meeting and Dinner at La Mancha (YUM)

8:15pm

One-on-one comp "lesson" with Cassie
Mostly reviewing details for her commission with SYS-CMW 2015

9:30-Midnight

Receipts recording (boring)

Organizing content
Reading from Ben Horowitz' book, "The Hard Thing About Hard Things".

SLEEEEEEEEEP.

Austin Soundwaves in Houston!

I know it's not the most important thing in the world, but I was so incredibly proud of how well my students (both band and orchestra) did at the Space City Music Director's Choice competition in Houston.

Mostly I was proud of how well they handled themselves and the fine representation of Austin Soundwaves in front of people they've never met in a venue they've never before performed.

KUDOS!

The best kind of tired

Despite the weekly reminders, it seems that nearly a year has past since my last post. Despite my own pet-peeve-ness toward posts that start off by saying "wow, it's been a while," here I am doing that very thing. It's only a brief mention, just so it doesn't seem like there are several missing posts since May of last year.

I'm tired. Pretty much all the time. Charlie is a bustling 14 month old and our life couldn't be better with him in the center of it all. But boy he's having a hard time sleeping lately. We're hoping that he'll eventually be able to stay in his own crib for most, if not all, of the night, but now is not that time. Any frustrations we have immediately go away when he looks at you and just grins that goofy grin of his.

Goofball, 2.0

Work is great. Like really, really great. I drive to San Antonio twice a week, but despite leaving at 4:15am most mornings and not getting home until 5-6pm, I enjoy it immensely. (My nifty Sleep Cycle app is a huge help, despite it maybe being a placebo.)

If only I actually didn't have to wake-up until 7:30am.

On the days that I don't teach at the University of the Incarnate Word, I'm at Austin Soundwaves, possibly the single most important musical thing I've done thus far in my short career. Beyond making even the smallest impact on these kids, they're just plain wonderful human beings. It's a privilege to work with them everyday and to make such music with them. The stories are never ending and not a single class goes by without something amazing me. Most recently, their performance at a recent concert in downtown Austin just blew me away. I've never heard a group of junior high kids with an average of 2 years playing experience sound the way they sounded with the musicality that they possessed.

An amazing group of kids.

Also, I *think* I'm still a composer. So there's that. And a couple of other projects. Leaves me with exactly 3 hours of sleep or something a week. Or whatever. Who needs it? Weariness is just your body telling you to slow down because you're having too much fun. Right?

Words of New Parenting Wisdom (or not)

It's been almost a month since Jac went back to work, leaving me in charge (as absurd as that may seem) of taking care of Charlie until I head to work in the afternoon and so far, so good.

1) Get over baby bodily fluids. It's inevitable, it'll get on you, the best you can do is minimize the amount and, more importantly, minimize which fluid gets on you.

2) Detailed scheduling is relatively pointless; stick to general blocks of scheduling. It's very possible to accomplish work, but don't get hung up if it's less, more, or none of the time you allot. You're at the mercy of the baby and his sleeping habits, fussiness, diapers, hunger, and general adorableness (REALLY, is it possible NOT to play with him when he's happy and laughing?)

3) You learn to be very productive. An hour may not seem like much before baby, but boy does it sound like a lot afterwards, particularly if it's all to yourself to work. No distractions, no worries about making sure a diaper isn't ready to be changed, no concern over whether he's still asleep or ready for a little second breakfast.

4) Enjoy the time you have. Laugh with him. Be sad with him. Tickle him. Play with him. Watch him when he sleeps peacefully. Listen to music with him. Play the piano with him. Discuss plate discipline with him. Boo the Dodgers with him. Cheer the Niners with him. Celebrate the Kings staying in Sacramento with him. Write him a song. Read him a book. Practice holding a golf club with him. Learn baby signs with him. Talk to him about anything. The moments are precious and these are the memories that you go to sleep with and wake-up to everyday.

Charlie

Ain't he cute?

© asha photo 2013, All Right Reserved

Words Cannot Describe

But they'll be back next year.

CLUTCH Special Event 2013

Another year, another Wind Ensemble concert through CLUTCH. This year's concert featured works by me (Foozle and Song for Charles, written for the birth of our first child, Charles Everett), Russell Podgorsek, Chris Ozley, Lane Harder, Joel Love, and Cassie Shankman. This year's CLUTCH Special Event featured a side-by-side performance with my students at Austin Soundwaves. What a thrill it was for them and for all of us composers! Thanks a million to all the great players in the wind ensemble, to our conductors, to everyone at the Hispanic Alliance for the Performing Arts, and everyone else involved in putting together another great concert. Until next year!