by: Raine

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Let’s leave the title that wordpress.com has given me and run with it.

Hello world! I’m Raine and I’m opinionated. I’m a sentient being who makes her living with music and absolutely LOVES being a musician. But that’s not all I am. When asked, “What do you do for a living?” I like to give the snarky remark, “I live.”

I was once an amateur writer who used writing as an emotional outlet. I think I’ll start using it that way again because my writing got cut short when I began upper education happened and acquired all the baggage that comes with it.

“Who am I?” “What will I do with my life?” “Where do I go to grad school?” “Now that I’m in grad school, what happens next?”

Blah, blah, blah.

Now I’m at the point of indifference concerning all those questions. We are living life that is, in reality, quite short. Why spend time mulling and fussing over useless details? I went to school and learned how to think and that’s helping me daily. I like being alive. Period. I’m alive, might as well enjoy it.

I have absolutely no idea what I want to do with my life and, surprisingly, I’m okay with it. I have no issues with taking my time to find out. If our lives were detailed out for us, where would the surprises come from?

So, let me take those surprises and run with them. Let me write about how they have affected me. Let me write about the things that I learn daily. Let me write about the things that PISS ME OFF. Let me write about my current obsessions. (My obsessions usually last about 6 months and then fade into an interest I know I’ll pick up later.)

Current obsessions:

1) Losing weight: I really want to lose some weight and I have a few reasons. Some are trivial…some are legit. I am fit. I walk everyday. Do crunches, pushups, etc. I have strength and tons of energy. But the eating is what’s killing me! I love food. My favorite foods are steak and icecream!!! (Dangerous combination….)

a. I want to be thin and healthy. I want to fit into the clothes I like. I want to feel sexy(er) than I do.

b. This is my trivial reason and please feel free to judge me for it, ’cause I sure would. I like the way celebrities look with toned        bodies, nice clothes and generally the appearance of taking care of themselves. I feel like my weight doesn’t do that for me.

c. I’m a performer. Half of that is image. Go Lisa! Make the image you WANT!

2) Learning languages: I am studying Japanese and learning Korean by watching K-dramas (see obsession #3). I learn Spanish just by living in Miami and review French by watching Asian drama French translations. I love how language can be so different but also serves a fundamental human brain function and acts the same way in the brain across culture, distance, time and anything else that humans use to separate themselves from one another. I love how language affects how people see the world so differently than those who speak another language. I love how language reflects the culture and small phrases reveal how a culture as a whole thinks about things.

3) K-dramas: I can’t help myself. A guilty pleasure that has lasted a long time. I’m working on my sister and my newly married BFF to drag them into my world of self-indulgence, but so far they are resisting. There is something so completely addictive about the K-drama. Call it the tropes used in nearly every drama. Call it the incredibly beautiful actors (both men and women). Call it the fascination with a different culture and language taking story lines to completely different levels than American dramas ever would. I have no idea. Actually, I lie. I know exactly why and I will expound on it further in later posts.

4) Figuring out each cello student: I love how each student presents a new challenge. I was talking to my mother, a psychologist, and I realized how like a therapy session a cello lesson is. I have to make a connection with my student, understand how he functions and learns, discover the best path for information absorption, discern the level of physical capability and then, last but not least, figure out how to deal with the parents. If teaching isn’t the best learning experience in the world, please tell me otherwise.

Now for my quote/joke of the day. It is my favorite music joke. If you don’t get it, blame it on my ineffable nerdiness.

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“What does FACE spell?” “An F major 7 chord.”

End Rant 1. (Not quite a rant, but rather, the prelude for rants to come.)