A while ago, I decided that I wanted to start playing my clarinet again.  I haven't really played for about 10 years.  Once I graduated high school, I developed other interests, plus I never really thought of myself as being that great at it.  Although I day dreamed about being a professional musician, my practical side always won over with the "you're just not good enough" routine, and of course I almost always listen to my practical side.  Still, I know I have at least a bit of talent.  While I was in high school, there was only one other clarinetist who was better than me, but that was only partly due to his seniority.  Once he graduated, I held first chair in everything, and I was happy.  ^_^  When I was in 9th grade, the first year you can audition for Honors Band, I was accepted and he was not.  Granted, I didn't win a 1st Clarinet part, but I did win a spot playing 2nd Clarinet, and I was perfectly content with that.  It's funny (or maybe sad), but I still have parts of the song we had to play for auditions memorized.  If I picked up my clarinet right now, I could play the first few bars of the song (it was Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, Rondo if you wondered).

So anyway, back to present-day... because I hadn't played in so long, my clarinet was a bit out-of-shape.  So a few months ago I finally got around to getting it looked at so that the old cork and pads could be replaced and it could just get a general cleaning.  And today I just finally got around to picking it back up again to play.  XD  It's a little weird, because in my mind I know what my abilities are and what it should sound like when I play, but in reality I'm so out of practice that I can barely play a few scales before my lips are tired.  It's a bit disheartening, but I really want to stick with it.  I figure if I can just play a few scales every day, holding the notes to strengthen my lips, then eventually I'll be able to play like I did before.  My boss is a part of a county concert band that plays all over, including at Disney World, so perhaps if I can get myself back into it all, I may join.  Although knowing me, I'll probably never do that, since I tend to be extremely shy about things like that.  But we'll see.

.... or hardly working?  I have to say wholeheartedly, hardly working, though not through any real fault of my own.  My job is data entry.  The data I enter comes from traffic citations.  When the officers stop writing tickets, or just slow down for whatever reason, I have less to enter, thus I run out of work to do.  *le sigh*  It doesn't help that there are currently 3 of us doing this job, as the woman who trained me to help her is retiring at the end of September, so we need to be sure that her replacement is well-trained before she leaves.  Fun!  So this entire past week, I've been scrambling looking for other things to do around the office.  Not much fun, but at least it still pays the bills.  I'm grateful that I have a job, at least, which is better than some.

I didn't mean for this to become depressing, but oh well.  It's late, and now actually 30 minutes past my bedtime.  I wish I could stay up and listen to all of Barack Obama's speech, which Shaun is currently watching and I am listening to, but that won't be happening otherwise I will be a Zombie-Becky tomorrow.  Zombie-Becky.... rrraaaaaaaahhhhhhhh.......

Originally the concept for the blog was going to be that I would bake pies, take pictures of them and post picture + recipe here for all to enjoy. But now I have embarked upon a low-carb diet so I don't forsee any pies being baked in the near future. That means you have the pleasure of reading whatever else I come up with... usually just tidbits of daily events, but at other times perhaps some things which are a bit more thought-provoking. Time will tell.

Well, it's taken me a few days, but I've finally managed to get this thing up and running.  I've customized like crazy, and for now at least I'm satisfied.  Let the blogging begin!

oh no, a flogging!!   (you had to be there...)