Jen Merrill's Blog, page 28

I’d give up but then I wouldn’t be writing this

Unless I get a time machine, a full-time home-educator, a live-in maid, or another dozen hours a day, this is very likely my last NaBloPoMo. I can’t take the ratio of crap to non-crap here this month.

This? Falls square into the crap category.

Mindfulness through music

Want to live in the moment? Play an instrument. But not just play an instrument, play in a high-quality ensemble on that instrument. And then play wicked hard music in that high-quality ensemble on that instrument. You cannot help but stay 100% in the moment then.

Tom and I had our concert this afternoon. There were a few moments this morning when the band wasn’t sure if there would even be a concert, because of the unseasonably wild weather. But the show went on, and the two hours went by in...

Taking time

Sometimes you just need to some take time and hide, despite what is sitting in front of you demanding to be done. You need to do it because the alternative is hearing your blood pumping through your ears, or screaming to loosen the lump in your throat, or just running away.

Today I went and crashed in my bedroom with the door closed and the lights off, something I should probably do on a more regular basis.

There’s nothing particularly wrong, just an overwhelming sense of “I’m not doing it righ...

Seth Godin, please stop using the word gifted

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Words matter. Words may be a clunky method of exchanging thoughts and ideas with others, but it’s the best and most efficient manner of sharing. It is too easy to be careless with the words we use. This is especially true when sharing ideas or thoughts or nebulous concepts. So we must take even more care then, because words matter.

Back in February Seth Godin wrote a post reinforcing stereotypes about giftedness; I, and...

Holidays in 3…2…

Just in case you haven’t checked out a calendar anytime recently, it’s mid-November.

Thanksgiving and Hanukkah are two weeks from today.

Christmas is forty days off.

Now you know. And are probably freaking out.

Just don’t kill the messenger, m’kay?

The pain of NaBloPoMo

Towards the end of October I started looking ahead to the hell that is NaBloPoMo. And though I’ve participated in this particular flavor of insanity several times before, I naively thought, “Oh, I have plenty of time and plenty of ideas. I’m not going to write anything ahead of time. Keep the purity of daily writing that way. It’ll be ok, I’ll be juuuust fiiiiine.”

Apparently I was batshit crazy.

This is the sixth or seventh or eleventy billionth time I’ve done NaBloPoMo, and every year about t...

StarTalk, knocking boots, and parenting

We are huge StarTalk fans in this house. Huge. Neil deGrasse Tyson has managed to make science fun and entertaining, accessible to the masses, and juuust the right length for a day of errands with the boys. We rarely listen to anything other than podcasts when I drive, because I get veto power as the driver, and the boys are more likely to come to a quick podcast agreement than to be forced to listen to whatever world music I feel like listening to that day. StarTalk is the podcast of choice...

Pinterest and the myth of holiday perfection

I lurves me some Pinterest. I’ve been on the site a long time; I can’t remember how long, but it was back when they were only allowing a few people in at a time and needed an invite. I scored one and never looked back. It’s purty pictures and the absolute best way to enjoy coffee on a Saturday morning. Or curled up in bed at night. Or killing time in a waiting room. I’m really not on there all that often, but I love it to death when I am.

But it has a crappy dark side, and it’s the same dark s...

Five thoughts on the weekend

1. I’m really tired of driving.

2. Two conferences in one weekend is not the best plan.

3. Whatever they’re feeding flute students in this area alarms me. In a good way. I heard some impressive playing today.

4. I’m going to end up writing a flute method book because I can’t find what I want and I’m picky.

5. Please don’t make me drive anymore.

The weekend where my life interests converge

It’s been a crazy busy weekend for me. For the last few days I’ve been at the NAGC conference, and this afternoon I co-presented a roundtable on homeschooling gifted kids. This was my third gifted conference this year, and I am both exhilarated and exhausted. But it’s awesome to see friends there and be recognized by others. I’m already starting to plan for next year’s conferences and what kind of presentations I could do.

But I’m also a flutist. And tomorrow I’m going to hit the last day of t...