... Because on the radio they're talking about autism. Autism was the hip, new, diagnosis in the late 90s and in severe cases it's certainly a real thing but it's been romanticized because a lot of successful techies (which are a tiny, tiny portion of people in tech which is a very underpaid field) have been thought to be "on the spectrum".
My theory: There's tons of sub-clinical autism out there and there's always been. It's not been our modern world, or pthalates, or anything like that, it's that it's been noticed recently and made a "thing".
In the past there were finishing and charm schools, being taught to bow and curtsy from little-kid time, and all sorts of rituals that gave people a framework to work within to socialize, find a partner, raise their kids, etc. Being a bit "odd" wasn't so odd, and what mattered was being a good citizen and provider.
Along with getting rid of penmanship classes (which I feel was a big mistake) a lot of the "charm" and "manners" training was gotten rid of in favor of letting kids be "natural" and "creative" and thus, the "odd" kids really stood out. Bring on the diagnoses and the medication. Thomas Edison, called a "nervous little question-box" when he was little, wasn't drugged, he was home-schooled or really home-self-schooled.
I got 15 things listed last night and was getting sleepy and not enthusiastic to concentrate super well, so I did octave exercises before bed.
That might be a good way to go, a good practice session during the day when I'm at least theoretically more awake and able to concentrate, and then octaves or long tones before bed to build up tone and endurance.
In any case I have *got* to get up to speed and get out there busking this season. OK so the season starts in June, I can live with that. I made 2 grand last season so maybe I can try to match that. I sure can't live on 2 grand a year, but the idea is to be ready to jump into going out busking daily if/when I'm not working for Ken any more.
I got up at 10:30 which is about right given I went to bed at 2:30. I spent far too long having coffee, and another coffee, along with some baker's chocolate and butter, then chewed gum and did a practice session.
I think the octaves exercise on the headjoint is great for warming up and should be done, but I think I'm going to not lean on it so much because in regular playing, right now it's a big problem that while playing, the flute rotates a little in my hands and my tone goes to shit. "It's no good if your tone's shit" - James Galway, probably.
So I've got to get that worked out, because when it's right I get a really nice tone and I'd like to have that all the time.
I've really got to get up to speed on this thing. The mail man came by today and dropped off a letter, from the water company. Since I'm kind of nosy I opened it up and we owe them just under $200 and half of that is over 90 days due. Is Ken that broke? I sent him an email about it and if it's needed I can go and pay them, I've done it before and Ken just paid me back. What makes me think this might be needed is, the letter's dated the 4th and it's the 17th.
I need to prepare my life boat for if(when) the Titanic goes down. Maybe Ken's that "skint". Maybe he's just been forgetful. Maybe there's some screw-up with his payment system, like he got a new card and the old one on file "aged off". I've had that happen with my debit card. Had my ID expire too and the gals at the bank told me about it and I got a new one.
In any case, in my experience when things blow up they blow up fast.
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