Hooray for me and cool opportunity for you

I’m sure you will join me in rejoicing the fact that Michael and I both passed our written driver’s exam in Italian. This was a truly huge accomplishment. On the day we took the exam, many mother tongue speakers did not do so well. I plan to milk this achievement for a good long time. […]

I can do it myself

For a person who likes teamwork as much as I do I have a strong streak of rugged individualism. What a curious contradiction. I get enormous satisfaction out of replacing my own leaky faucets, and turning old routers into wireless bridges. The incredible internet has the instructions for anything you’d ever want to learn. I […]

Don’t Sweat It

It has been viciously hot here recently. It’s like all that solar energy just saps my own reserves and makes me good for nothing. I’m not yet wishing for winter but I’m surprised to find myself grateful that it’s only 30C/90F today. Never imagined saying that. The expression “turn up the heat” implies making something […]

Judge your progress, not yourself

Judge your progress, not yourself

Yesterday I was down in the dumps and angry at myself for my lack of progress. I could have been still coasting from another well-received musical event over the weekend, but instead I felt miserable and just kept wallowing in shame because I wasn’t where I thought I should be. My number one goal this […]