The
last quarter of 2013 was filled to the max, and I felt completely drained by
the time we left for New Zealand. What
with singing in Palo Alto, auditioning for the San Francisco Opera, doing my
final art project (a truly horrible painting in the style of Bay Area
Figurative Painters), hosting my multigenerational and multifaceted family (love you guys!) over Thanksgiving, and dealing with my
injured red car, I felt very fragile by the time we made it to Auckland. But when we returned, on December 31, I was completely
rejuvenated by two very happy weeks with my daughter and the infusion of
sunlight over long days down under, and I was ready to tackle the new year with
new vigor.
It took only about five days to become completely unhinged again, as I
contemplated what courses I would take for the spring semester and what groups
I might audition for. Though I had
auditioned for L’elisir d’amour with West Bay Opera in mid-December, I was not
offered a slot. Being Jane, I quickly
filled in my dance card, only to be asked if I would in fact like to participate
as one of the sopranos had opted out. But it was too late, and I was back to square
one, opening up the possibility of my singing with two of the choral groups at
College of Marin – Marin Oratorio and Opera Workshop, each of which meets only
one evening a week.
That
“settled”, at least provisionally, I returned to the question of what courses
to take this semester. The next in the
sequence of Music theory and Ear Training is a no-brainer, despite how
difficult they are, as I try to be a better musician. But what about art? Should I take 3D art, painting, fiber
sculpture? Or what about trying to delve
deeper into architecture?
A little digression is in order! Three
summers ago, responding to a furlough for faculty at University of California,
and anticipating that I might want to start a second career after retirement, I
took a summer architecture program at UC Berkeley called InArch. I think the “In” stands for “intensive” and
indeed it was. The 8-week program is
designed for people who have a bachelor’s degree in a field other than
architecture, but who are considering applying for a Masters of Architecture, a
3-year degree program. Well, an M Arch
wasn’t even on my radar screen at the time, but it has been ever since.
With
that in mind, I went to speak with the head of the architecture program at City
College of San Francisco to discuss what the courses actually involved and what
he recommends. I, of course, got very
enthusiastic about all of this and went to the first session of the freehand
drawing class, which lies within the architecture department. The teacher is a complete kook, and he had me
in stitches for half the class. I
finally came to my senses when I realized that the College of Marin and City College
of San Francisco were on different calendars and I was having enough trouble
grappling with a manageable schedule.
Meanwhile,
I had committed myself to finishing the transcript of an interview I had
completed seven months earlier for PLoS
Genetics and quickly needed to read Brilliant Blunders for our Institute
for Human Genetics book club. All of
this reminded me of the book projects that I had tossed aside after the debacle
with a literary agent who enthusiastically took me on as a client and then did
nothing.
To
put is mildly, decisions are not my strong suit, and with all of these
obsessions – not necessarily productive, mind you – swirling around, I was
quickly confused and exhausted. Perhaps
luckily, I caught a mild cold that slowed me down, and on Saturday morning I
retreated to my small home in Point Reyes Station to read, to reflect, to
write, and to simply “be”.
It
is amazing how time slows down here. I
am off the communications grid completely – no TV, internet, or phone (not even
cellphone service) – and when I am alone I can completely relax and focus. I keep a little piece of paper on the end
table here with a Chinese proverb: If
you stand in one place long enough, the world comes to you. Ah, so!
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