that's me, your jc penney recovery girl

tomorrow I start work at JC Penney picking up the shit people leave in piles in the dressing rooms. Yee-haw. It helps to have a family member in the business.

I took a long hike today, through Los Penasquitos Canyon. I hadn't been there before today, and it was beautiful! I walked three miles in to see the waterfall, ate lunch, and then walked back. So I'm sore, but happy. It was a gorgeous day and it was nice to explore. I will have to go back.

I'm giving a little more time to any major decisions such as moving. It's annoying even to me the way I keep wandering back and forth between yes and no, and I think it needs to simmer on the back burner. If I do stay here, I'm definitely getting an apartment. And I think that I'll make my grad school move in the summer, and get settled in. Moving back to Madison is actually starting to look a little like another sacrifice, kind of like Blue Lake, and I think I would regret giving up some of the coaching that I've been doing. Like I said, back burner. Updates as necessary.

I sent off my McGill ap yesterday, and UM will be sent off tomorrow (well, that's what I said I would do, but now that I'm starting at work I might finish it up at night and send it Saturday). That leaves me with just DePaul and ASU, and then financial aid stuff. Last night I FINALLY got to see Sean, and we chatted over dinner about music stuff. He put a lot of things in perspective for me (he tends to do that a lot). Mostly he told me that I shouldn't feel too bad about "wasting" so much time not practicing as an undergrad, because I shouldn't feel that I have to measure up to everyone else's standard of preparation. That maybe my undergrad years were more a time of social learning and having fun, and the real work begins now that I've matured and understand what needs to be done. I completely agree; right now I'm finally feeling the joy of playing and practicing and I can't wait to get back to work as a grad student. Afterward we played some duets and I ran through a little of the Stevens Sonata for him to hear. All's well in the trombone world.

Song that's been stuck in my head all day: Shrug, by Ani DiFranco
Really good book I just finished: The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood