La Bene Vita

Sunday

O.M.G... I hurt today. I discovered that whipped cream stains.

I bet most of you sicko readers already knew that.

So, after the pie tossing, we had two very sticky teachers, a sidewalk, a stone wall, and a set of windows to hose down. But we didn't have a hose. So we hauled bucket after bucket of hot, soapy water from the utility sink in the back of the school and dumped them all over the mess (with the exception of the teachers, for whom we found it much more efficient to transport the mess to the utility sink.) The soapy water alone didn't remove the whipped cream from the surfaces, so we got the broom out and scrubbed. For like an hour. It's still not completely gone, but I don't give a poop because (did I mention?) I hurt.

Yesterday was a blast. We didn't have a huge crowd - maybe 30 or 40 people - but it was fun. We had given out tickets instead of stickers as incentives for the past month or so, so some kids had more tickets than others. My favorite moment happened when one little three-year-old preschool girl, Palak, didn't have a ticket, but wanted to throw again. I asked if anyone else had a ticket they would be willing to give to the little girl, and six-year-old Zoe stepped forward and offered her last ticket (when I know some of the older kids had a pocketful.)

My second-favorite moment also included little Palak and her three-year-old friend Soorya. After the student performances, I opened the floor for anyone else who had not had the chance to perform, or who would like to perform another song. The two preschool children wanted to play drums! So we beat 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4 and 1-2-3-1-2-3 on the kit, which they LOVED, and of course the audience went wild. Then little Soorya wanted to sing "Itsy-Bitsy Spider" into the microphone, which was fantastic!!! and Palak wanted to play piano, so we played the Racing Car song from preschool class together. Why is this significant? (1) the audience ate it up, and (2) those kids will be MTMS students for LIFE now. By the time they're teenagers they'll be singing and acting; playing piano, drums, guitar, bass, violin, cello; and playing in at least one studio band. Mark my words. Because they've just tasted stardom. Because they'll never know anything but comfortable confidence in front of an audience. And because I plan to still be open and thriving by the time that decade passes us by.

Reach 300 students at MTMS   by 12/31/11.
In case anyone is wondering how this number works... this is the number of private students who come in for music lessons every week. So right now, we shuffle about 190 people through our teachers' doors every week for one-on-one instruction. This does not include classes, samplers, or summer camps, which add another 15-30 on any given week. We are lining up a couple of volunteers to help us through the September ramp-up.

Reading: One book per week.
Oh, good grief. I worked from 8:30-8:30 yesterday, and the last hour or so involved scrubbing whipped cream off of the sidewalk and the walls and windows of the school (without a hose, which meant we had to haul bucket after bucket from the utility room.) I came home and passed out last night, and there was no reading involved. But I've pulled out an unread trilogy from my unread collection, and "Dragon's Blood" by Jane Yolen is now sitting next to me, just waiting for a broking binding.

It's so shiny. I almost hate to read it.

Writing:
(1) Blog at MT.com   by the end of Wednesday: No.
(2) 30 minutes of daily freestyle writing: No.

Count points:
No freaking clue. I've eaten graduation cake, ice cream, a cheeseburger, a Pop-Tart, and sushi in the last two days. And Raisin Bran. And probably some other stuff, too.

Now, if you'll 'scuse me, I believe we're off to get a puppy.