I am taking a break between seasons, which I’ve never been able to really do before because I’ve never really had a season of anything, but things are crazy here and it’s back-to-school time and I’m recovering from another bout of some sort of biological injustice and just need a little bit of a moment to get my metaphorical Trapper Keeper together. Also, my real one. Ok, it’s from Kinokuniya but does have the plastic index separators and a pencil holder that fits right into the metal ring binding, so, I mean, well, it’s designed for grown ups. (I put some stickers on it, though. So.)
I miss back-to-school time. It brought me this keensense of renewal that was most traditionally associated with the exact opposite season; there were new clothes, new school supplies, once every few years a new backpack. I remember my first real JANSPORT. I thought I was James Bond with all those pockets and sections.
And before that was the lunchbox era – machine pressed metal Saturday Morning Cartoon ads with matching liquid containers, which actually used to be made of vacuum glass until the overwhelming amount of legitimate litigation opportunities from thousands of mirrored shards mixed with hot soup prompted innovation over tradition. But those plastic ones never really matched the metal boxes; and usually they had this appliqué - somewhere between a sticker and a fake tattoo, it didn’t immediately scratch off but still wore down week by week, subtlety expressing the erosion of innocence as the school ground relentlessly forward…sigh.
I told anyone who ever got me for a career mentor that the question they should always ask themselves was “what do I want to learn next?” And today was the first day of school here in New York. and I made this deal with my daughter that is she would take these 10 minute drum lessons for 30 days then I would take some difficult lessons too.
So I found this Dweezil Zappa lead guitar course that I had bought three years ago, y’know, in lockdown when the whole world was a possibility circus, but I never really had the time to actually do any of them. So I’m doing that.
Also, I’m in ASL classes; I’m trying desperately to better communicate with all my new colleagues on this big project I’m a part of so that’s happening too.
Also, as previously mentioned I am learning the banjo, so Artistworks offered 75 percent off the Noam Pikelny lessons that I had subscribed to, done twelve of, and then kind of let lapse, so I’m back on that horse. And the drawing lessons. Also 2020. I was investing in my future – actually, the whole idea of a future back then; I was envisioning and using The Secret and girding a whole lot. I was subscribing to hope. A lot.
There’s that giant rubber band exercise thing, which I now know is supposed to be exactly like pilates only where the 1700 dollar reformer machine has been substituted with… giant rubber bands. On top of the space I’m saving, that is a $1600 bargain (can’t let that pass by).
So with the slight of hand practice and deep dive into After Effects, that’s pretty much it. She’s doing the 10 minutes a day of drum practice, and I am setting a good example. That’s what I’m doing. So I should probably add that to the list.
In any case, thanks for your time, and see you next week for Season Two.
Breakin'. (Whew.)