jill of all arts

no uni-tasking project update today - wednesdays are my busy days. :)

(thanks bekah for the awesome cartoon.)

monday

8:29pm
installing lightroom.  eating a banana.  got the serial number wrong the first time.  must include "eating bananas while inputting numbers" on my list of inappropriate multi-tasking.  maybe there's something to this ...

9:58pm
well, unitasking has certainly gone well the last hour and a half.  edited a whole folder of photos in lightroom.  of course, that's not really saying anything.  when i get in my photo editing zone, a posse of alien ninjas led by vin diesel could storm the study and i wouldn't notice.

tuesday

6:45am
ugh.  double ugh.  i effectively unitasked sleep last night, and i am now multi-tasking getting up and staring into space.  somehow i managed to roll the covers into a perfect cocoon since joel got up.  if i stayed in my cocoon another 3 hours, i would emerge a lovely, energetic butterfly.  as it is, i think i'm still in the melted caterpillar phase.

8:45am
i've set a timer.  will work on email and nothing but email until it beeps.

9:15am
score for unitasking.  processed entire inbox. (i was deleting emails from last year...)

9:27am
another entry for inappropriate multi-tasking: attempting to blow out a candle while brushing one's teeth.  enough said.

1:27pm
driving.  drinking a latte. talking on speakerphone. checking voicemail transcriptions.  but not listening to the radio or checking email!  maybe i should have been a little less specific at the outset. ok, no eating, drinking, phone-ing of any sort, putting on makeup, going through purse, or changing clothes while driving.  sigh.

4:30pm
practicing piano.  not allowed to get up for any reason.  not even to trim my fingernails, which are a half a millimeter past the point where i like them and are bugging me.  i keep my fingernails very short.  arg.

7:37pm
writing this blog.  did you know that multi-tasking wastes the united states 650 million dollars per year (according to the official statistical institute of random number generation, presumably)?

is it really still monday?  wow, it's been a long day!

i had an epiphany this week, reading a humor book by a.j. jacobs called, "the guinea pig diaries: my life as an experiment".  i'm withholding judgment on the book until i finish it (a.j. has a tendency to toe the line of propriety at times) so don't go out and buy it and blame me when it gets edgy.

anyhoo, his first experiment is called "the unitasker," which is only a little more awful than it sounds.  a whole nightmare-ish month with no multi-tasking.  no reading while eating, no listening to the radio in the shower, no (gulp) stalking facebook while working, no music during homework, no talking on the phone while cleaning/driving/emailing/you name it.
zip.
zilch.
nadda.
... hellish.

and then he starts spouting a bunch of statistics about multi-tasking: the human brain functions poorly while multi-tasking, multi-tasking shortcircuits the pathway from short-term memory to long-term memory, a whole flipping lot of studies have proved that multi-tasking makes us dumber, etc, etc, etc.

so, faced with an ever growing, barely shrinking pile of projects that, no matter how much time i spend on them, never seem to show progress, i'm taking the uni-tasking plunge.

let me rephrase that.  i'm gingerly toeing the uni-tasking puddle.  i will still listen to podcasts while cooking and read on my lunch break.  i will still play my "treadmill" playlist at the gym and brew coffee while helping customers at starbucks.  but, for one week, i will not listen to music, click on firefox, or tidy my desk while working on projects.  i will not listen to the radio or check my email while driving.  (don't look at me like that.  texting is illegal.  checking email is perfectly legal ... i think.)

i am writing this whole blog in one sitting, and i am not going to stand up until it's done.  not even to glance at the very loud cat fight right outside my window.  (i've allowed myself to nervously dart my eyes around the room as part of the detox, but that's it.)

my whole uni-tasking thing was going great until joel called me to the living room a couple minutes ago to show me the beautiful sunset.  failure.

maybe that kind of failure's ok, though.  i'll keep y'all updated. ;)

when is a dirty cup not a dirty cup?  when it's art!

happy weekend!  (and happy birthday to my little brother today.)

in no particular order ...

• i fell at work today.  falling at 23 is less fun than falling at 3, or even 13.
• joel turned 31 on tuesday.  he spent it working and studying.
• why can't all the rooms in my house ever be clean at the same time?
• i got up at 4:30am on tuesday to wake joel up with a vanilla latte from the new espresso machine i got him, and found out that i had bought the wrong type of espresso pods.  the latte was nasty.
• but it's the thought that counts ... right?
• i found the most amazing recipe for banana bread.  i'll post it sometime - seriously, it's worth every bit of those italics.
• squirrel!
• i am about 4 weeks behind on photo projects, thanks to a combination of hand overuse and computer issues. :-(
• just started with a new student who doesn't talk to teachers.  at all.  ever.  i love teaching him.
• this last sunday was endeavor's first service in our new room, and our 1 year celebration.  we've grown from 15 to around 100 (i think - my math might be off).
• i'm memorizing psalm 27 these days.  good times.
• every wednesday we have family night with the guys downstairs and whoever else happens to come.  last night i had just the right amount of soup.  not a spoonful more.
• my little brother turns 22 tomorrow.  that's just weird.  you'd think i'd be used to it now that he's married, but no.
• pumpkin spice candles.  the end.

uh ... make that the week before.  i think.

what is it about fall that always catches me with a messy house?  hm ...
well, speaking of house, it's partly blue now!  half the living room is now a lovely light robin egg (not quite the dusky color in the photo).

of course,one doesn't need to have a clean house to enjoy pretty things like a moth on a window.
thank goodness.

i made this curry for dinner last week. when joel got home the next day, he informed me that 3 classmates had requested the recipe - apparently the smell of the leftovers was good advertisement.

to view it in its pure, unadulterated, vegan, and probably tastier form, go here.

here's my version:

ingredients

• 2-5 cans of chick peas, rinsed and drained
• 2 14 oz cans coconut milk  (note: i would experiment with using less next time - would probably be healthier.)
• some kind of curry paste or powder, to taste
• ground or fresh ginger to taste
• 1 cup or however much you want of some kind of broth.  it calls for vegetable broth, but i had 3 open boxes of chicken broth in the fridge, so my version was decidedly non-vegan.
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/8-1/2 cup soy sauce (to taste)
• 1 or 2 bags frozen mixed veggies (i used a stir-fry mix without mushrooms, thank you very much.)
• however many basil leaves those poor, slug-ridden basil plants can spare, or 1-2 cups
• salt and pepper
• cooked rice

steps
1. pulse chickpeas in a food processor until they resemble very rough bread crumbs.
2. separate coconut cream from the watery part. (note: this is harder than it sounds.  i really don't even know why it's in the recipe, but that's what it says so i did it.)  bring to bubbling in a large pot over medium high heat, then add pulsed chickpeas. cook for 2 mins, stirring, then add curry stuff and ginger.
3. add the rest of the coconut milk and the stock and bring to bubbling. add sugar, soy, and veggies and bring to bubbling again. reduce heat and simmer until veggies are cooked. add more stock if needed. season to taste.
4. add basil and mix well. let basil wilt a bit, but do not overcook. serve over rice.

again, this is not my recipe - merely an adaptation of vegan dad's.  i did, however, discover that it grows some trippy mold when left in a bowl on the counter for 4-5 days.  might be effective in discovering a cure for penicillin.

i love people watching.  sometimes, at the gym or grocery store, i imagine lives and personalities for each person i see.  it's a fun way to pass the time ... ;)

i'm loving this series of shots - "dancers among us" - it sparks my people-watching imagination.

ta ta till next week!

the only thing better than working at starbucks is working at starbucks in the fall.  i love it here.  i've been at our store for about 4 months, just long enough to kinda know two thirds of my customers.  (that doesn't include the large number that i didn't already know - gresham is a small world.)

there's the cool, slightly hippyish guy who gets a decaf mocha - he repairs old vws for a living.  how cool is that?  and little kaylie who spends a lot of time with her grandma at the dog grooming place next door.  iced venti decaf no foam no whip no espresso americano (i.e. ice water) and a big smile. and chuck, who comes in every morning at 5:30 and wakes us up very effectively.

i even like the cleaning, and the dusting.  there's something so refreshing about leaving my computer screen-dominated home businesses and living in the moment for a while.



plus, i steam up a mean foam.

ok, i never claimed to be a technological genius, but still!  in case there's anyone else out there whose head is floating high in the clouds above technological awareness, check this out!
draft.blogger.com

yeah, i didn't link it.  copy and paste.

now, check out the stats button under each of your blogs.  cool, huh?  after spending at least 3 minutes trying to figure out how to install google analytics on my blog and giving up in frustration (ok, maybe it was more like 30 minutes ... ) this is really pretty awesome!  i had a visit from india this week.  i mean, how cool is that?  i don't even know anyone in india!

if you're in india, hi.  i think india's amazingly cool and it's totally one of my top places to visit someday.

i'm heading out to a senior portrait session on a gorgeous late summer day, and these colorful circus wedding shots will be running through my head.

have a great weekend!

subtitled:
"poorly managed diagonal dynamism"

also subtitled:
"a passable example of the freakishly boring rule of thirds"

also subtitled:
"we should have named her 'borg'."

first day of fall piano lessons! i'm so excited about my studio this year ... check out the new setup:

it's definitely a work in progress, but getting there! and no, i'm not taking advice on the paint color any more. it's already purchased. thanks for offering, though...

i'm in love with the kids' corner - an adorable table (bought at a garage sale - and i never go garage sale-ing), baskets of books, and baskets of toys underneath. makes me wish i was 3. sorry the photo's in b/w - the lighting in that corner is terrible.
music/piano pedagogy/lesson resources shelf + monster plant.
for this year's practice incentive i'm using materials from music matters blog, which is a fantastic teaching site! the theme is "climbing the ladder to success".

how it works: students learn and perform pieces to advance up the rungs of the ladder. they also earn "diligence dollars" by meeting practice goals. at this point i changed the plan a little - when natalie did it, the diligence dollars were earned toward the goal of touring a recording studio and recording a piece at the end of the year. i love this idea, but don't currently have enough students to make it work! instead, they can spend their diligence dollars on prizes at the first lesson of every month. some of the prizes are music themed and some aren't, but i think it's an acceptable and fun alternative for a (much) smaller studio.

the fall decorations are from michaels, and the multi-colored pushpins from powell's books. i'm slowly decorating the sides with images of students playing piano.
happy fall!