Before Shane left for this work shift I filled up the gas tank of the truck. Well, both tanks. And I thought to myself, I wonder if we can make it to September on less than one of these tanks? I figured it was possible, and vowed to myself that I would start exclusively biking everywhere while Shane is gone. After all, I'll miss the biking once it snows, and it's good for me.
I forgot about one crucial thing, though: the opera and accompanying rehearsals. Oh. Right. The rehearsals, as originally given out to us, were all supposed to be across town (about half an hour by bike) in an area that I wouldn't really feel safe biking. Additionally, while I can bike with my violin, and rather easily since I have backpack straps on the case, I don't like to for one simple reason. This violin was my great-grandfather's. It's precious to me. Even with a hard case, and a padded case over that, I always worry about what would happen to it if I got hit by a car. (Not to mention that I wouldn't be able to play anyway if I was in the hospital, or broke my arm or something.) Even if I just crashed myself, would I damage it? If my violin was damaged beyond repair, I would be devastated for so many reasons. Not only would it be hideously expensive to buy a new one, but family heirlooms like this are functionally irreplaceable. So I hesitate to bike very far with my violin.
I drove to the first rehearsal. And all the way there, the truck protested. It was making a lurching, jerking motion that scared me, and stalled at pretty much every stop. Since it had been driving fine just four days earlier, I wasn't sure what could have gone wrong while it was just sitting in the driveway. And obviously, this wasn't a good thing. I made it to rehearsal, but I didn't want to drive the truck until I could talk over with Shane what had to be done. (When I talked to him later, he told me to just not drive it and he'd look at it when he comes home.) So during the rehearsal's break I talked to a friend who lives not too far away and asked if I could bum a ride from her, explaining what was going on. She said yes, so that's how I got to Friday's rehearsal. However, we're not just doing an opera. We're doing a concert first (on Thursday this week, if anyone wants to come!) and my friend is only in the concert, not the opera. So there was still the question of how to get to the opera-only rehearsals.
Thankfully, the location was switched. The acoustics in the original practice site were pretty awful, so we were moved to a church not too far from my house. A distance I feel confident biking to and from, even with my violin. For the concert, I can get a ride with my friend. As for the opera and its rehearsals next week, I'll probably end up biking. If not, I'll find a ride with another friend who would most likely be willing to give me a lift.
By the way, "La Boheme" makes Mahler's Symphony #4 seem easy. Mahler didn't write easy pieces. I came home from the first concert rehearsal thinking, "I can do this! I'm awesome!" I came home from the first opera rehearsal thinking, "I suck. What made me think I could ever do this?!" It's getting better, but I'm looking forward to the time I have off for Independence Day so that I can practice!
Since I started running with her again last week, I've been trying to take the dog for a run nearly every day. We missed yesterday, which is funny since I got to come home from work early. (I'm staying longer today and Friday, being the only one in town to keep the office open.) But you'd think that with all this exercise I'd be eating more. Nope. In fact, I realized that I eat less when Shane's gone than I do when he's here. It just seems like so much work to cook for myself. The other day, other than fruit, the only things I ate were a couple of grilled cheese sandwiches. Yes, I made scones the other day. But other than that...? It just seems like so much work, and so many dirty dishes (according to the landlord our new dishwasher is on order, hurrah!), just for me. And times when I might stay up for a few minutes chatting with Shane and nibbling on something, I don't. Even when I'm actually hungry in the evenings, I'll think, "Nah, I'll just eat tomorrow." Yes, I realize that lack of appetite like this can be a sign of depression, and while I don't feel as happy when Shane's gone I don't think that's it. I'm just being too lazy with myself and I need to figure out how to start cooking for one. So last night, I actually did. I made a pizza. It was pretty simple to reduce the amount of dough, which usually makes two pizzas, to just one. And I loaded it up with veggies, since I've been eating lots of fruit but not so many vegetables.
Any other ideas on good, summery things to cook for just myself? I love sandwiches, but even I probably have a limit to how many I can eat in a week without getting sick of them.
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