Hi Doc!

Remember me? My last name was once ____________...

Anyway, I thought I'd let you know that you're listed as a reference for me on a couple of job applications. Please don't be shocked when and if they call and you hear things like "bank" or "BOCES" or other clerical work. We live in ________ County, and the economy is so terrible that I'm applying for any job I can get. At the moment I work at Lowe's mixing paint, but the schedule there is so erratic... I'm hoping to find something with a slightly more predictable schedule so I can hope to start a private studio or something.

Gosh, that's embarrassing to tell someone like you. But rest assured, I have applied for every possible teaching job and even teacher's aide job in the local schools (within a 45-minute drive), and gotten summarily rejected or heard nothing from every single one. It's enough to make me lose heart pretty easily. I'm getting to the point where I miss Potsdam desperately, but maybe it's just that feeling that I was smart enough to have the world as my oyster. Out here in the proverbial hinterlands, the only skills I have are confusing people with words longer than 3 syllables.

Why I'm spilling my guts to you I don't really know. I've always admired you, I guess, so it seems fitting. Even though I was such good friends with Dr. _____ while I was at school and I probably should have been closer with my studio professor (whom I found to be a superior musician but a dishonest, unprofessional, and manipulative person), I'm so much more worried that I wasted YOUR time above anyone else's. I hope so hard that you won't find that teaching me was a waste of time for you, or even a waste of around $40,000 for me (total undergrad and grad schools). I keep hoping against hope that Joe and I will move somewhere that will afford me the opportunity to get a doctorate degree and possibly a job that involves MUSIC and not thankless brainless labor that only earns me a steady paycheck and slowly drains away my soul.

Life's not all bad here. I'm madly in love with my husband and we have a funny, beautiful puppy that keeps us smiling every day (not a wiener dog, which I thought was necessary to tell you). But I want certain things back. I want music back. I want respect for my mind back -- no one seems to care about that around here except to laugh and say things like, "you're so smart, what are you doing working at Lowe's?" And it hurts me a little more every time I tell them that I ruined my professional chances as a teacher by making the principal at my first job VERY angry by refusing to back down about a student who was a chronic behavior problem when he specifically directed me to, and that there's really nothing else for me, because people see my resume and assume that once I get hired and something better comes along, I'll plan on leaving. Where the heck did I go wrong, besides sticking to my ideals?

But I hope life is good for you. I hope all your students respect you as much as I do. I hope to hear you play again someday. Thanks for reading.

I can explain my long absence in one word: Oliver.

We got a puppy, and we have been quite busy trying to housebreak him and make him feel at home.  We are enjoying the process, but we are also quite sleep-deprived and exhausted.  Memorial Day weekend is also very busy at work for both me and Joe, and so with caring for Oliver AND work duties, we've been swamped... woof.

Without further ado, here is Oliver the vizsla.  He is amazing.

Oliver

I haven't updated in many moons, probably because I haven't done a lot of writing.  At any rate, here's my life in list form.

I have a job.  I ring up hardware at a hardware store.  I like it.  It's simple, it lets me leave my work at work, and I enjoy the customers, almost all of whom are quite nice.  And I'm learning a lot about home repair.

Joe and I are still waiting for news about our puppy from the breeder.  We're getting kind of nervous, but we're also excited to get it.

The weather is slowly getting warmer and the snow is almost melted.  Soon the woodchucks will be out and I'll see more wildlife.  So far I've seen lots of birds returning: robins, doves, and little black birds so far.  My parakeets love this.  We have not had any mouse invaders in the house yet.

Around Easter, we're going to Cincinnati to replace a faucet in my grandfather's kitchen as a birthday present.  I'm also going to offer to cook them Easter dinner.  I think they'll like that, and it will be tasty and they'll appreciate it.  It's just such a long drive.

Last night a boy of about 12 or 13 ran away from his father at the store across the street from where I work and came into my store.  We had to lock down our store while we looked for him and called the police.  Evidently the boy has a problem with running away and he was quite difficult to the father, the police officer who came, and the store management.  I am still upset over this.  I know that there was something organically wrong with the boy.  My guess is some form of autism, but I'm not completely sure, because I don't know him.  Regardless, it bothers me to no end, because I know it's going to happen again and again and I'm almost positive that it's not going to end well.  This incident sparked nightmares about my brother and all kinds of things like that.  Sigh.

But the weather is gorgeous and some new music just arrived for me to try out.  I can make that worth my while.