Home Again, Briefly

I got home late last night, exhausted from long days, not sleeping well while on the road, and dealing with airports. It's definitely summertime--it's been really crowded. I don't know whether to laugh or cry when I watch what people do while going through the airport security lines. There are the people who have to practically undress to go through, the people who get the random selection for the full search and body scan, and people who look completely bewildered at all of the TSA people screaming "take out laptops!" "Take off your shoes!" "Take out liquids!"

What I don't get is when someone forgets to put their less-than-3-ounces-container-of-liquid into a plastic bag and it gets caught, the TSA people will tell them the same-container-of-liquid will be OK if that person puts the same-container-of-liquid-or-gel into a quart size plastic bag and puts it back through the screening machine. I really don't understand the logic there. It's the same container of liquid! Or wonder how many 6.4 ounce tubes of toothpaste get thrown away (would you go out of security again to check your luggage so that you can take that big tube along???)

Well, enough ranting. I had a great lesson today. I've been working on a whole bunch of rhythm exercises, trying to really get steady while playing. I am wearing out my metronone with all of the variations of where I am placing beats. Today during my lesson we started off with the metronome with every eighth note, then kept backing off the metronome until it was only beating the first beat of the measure. Today I was able to hold it steady or at least recover if I was a little off (early or late). Victory! Or at least, progress! It did become clear as I continued playing that I get really unsteady when I cross strings. So my next round of rhythm games will be try to fix that...although it will have to wait until we get back from vacation. More rest for my thumb. The enforced rest from travelling was good for it - it felt fine today.

On an airplane again....and a break from music...and swimming. I always hate what I feel like when I've taken a break. With swimming I feel like I can't swim when I get back in the water. Same with the cello...I know I'll be happy to see it when I get back but who knows whether it will feel great or feel awful????