The past week has been anticipatory in many respects. The pieces for becoming a Registered Piano Technician are beginning to fall into place. Yet until the lessons from the Randy Potter School start showing up there will be no way to track progress to the next career. So for now there's reading, dreaming and putting out good intentions.
Nonetheless, the week had several red letter moments.
Arthur Reblitz' book Piano Servicing, Tuning, and Rebuilding arrived. So I've started doing what reading I can in the absence of Zelda (the lease for the cottage where she resides doesn't begin until November 1st). Some of the theory part is familiar territory, but bears repeating. The mechanical information is all new -- and will, undoubtedly, only begin to make sense at the point I have tools and some pianos to work with.
Even before I move in with Zelda I'm pretty sure I can remedy the needy piano situation. The local community college has three practice rooms with Baldwin consoles that currently are painful to play. I'm pretty sure I can cut a deal with the faculty there to tune them gratis. The same is true of my church, which has a nice 7' grand suffering from constant changes of humidity and heat -- no air conditioning in the sanctuary during the week.
Very importantly, on Wednesday September 16 I made my leap of faith. I sent the major downpayment to the Randy Potter School of Piano Technology. Hopefully, the first course installments and the basic tools will show up within the next two weeks.
On that same day two other important things happened that will, I believe, help ground me over the next few months.
My friend Stephen was visiting that day from Palm Springs. He's already an accomplished yoga master in the Bikram practice. Recently, he decided to make his own leap of faith and become certified in the Shakti (hopefully, that's correct) school -- a gentler type of yoga practice. So, like me he's taking time out to re-school himself here in Florida where there's a well-regarded school. In addition to having one of the best days off I've had in months while he was visiting, he also taught me some basic postures to help start my day. I'm spending twenty minutes each morning with the postures. In just the four days since he returned to Miami, I can already tell a huge difference. I'm more limber and, well, I'm starting out each day with what I can only term a calm state of mind.
The second non-piano, but grounding, event was Ranger came into my life on Wednesday. He'll be Zelda's roommate when we finally get to move into the cottage in November.
Ranger is his own little miracle. He's a Maine coon cat who was found by the roadside in February, starving, covered in scabs and hardly a hair left on his body. Rather than put him down some incredible person at the shelter in Marathon decided he deserved a second chance. They brought him back from the brink over a seven month period and put him up for adoption. Somehow word got out that I had once had a Maine coon cat and several people conspired that this kitty should become my charge. The adoption was made formal on Wednesday. He spent the first two hours hiding under and inbetween the mattress of the day bed. But after those few hours of "what now" he realized he's got a cool place to live and a very loving companion / food source. It's all I can do to keep from tripping on him. He's almost more like a dog in that he follows me everywhere in the house, sits on my lap the moment I'm seated and sleeps on my feet at night. I think we're going to be very good for each other.
It's all happening very quickly -- cottage, Zelda, the yoga practice, making the first steps to the new career with reading and the downpayment -- and, of course, Zelda's new roommate Ranger.
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