Today is the first day ...

Friday was my last day at my full-time desk job. As I've told anyone who cared to listen (and some who probably didn't), it's both scary and exciting.

My biggest fear is that I won't be disciplined enough to make the most of it and will spiral into slothfulness. But the desk job had gotten to the point of being intolerable for a lot of reasons; the status quo was not tenable, so there was no choice but to move on.

It's exciting because I now have the freedom to pursue my interests without the draining 10 hours or so per day I had to spend being at work and commuting. I have lots of ideas for how to construct my days and plan to experiment finding the right balance.

I have plenty of constructive activities that will keep me busy, some even remunerative, so I'm hopeful things will shake out appropriately. My first big project will be getting the Schumann cello concerto in shape. Taking on this piece was ambitious, to say the least. Many cellists have fallen on the rocks of this thing -- but hey, it's not boring! So August is going to be Schumann month. Stay tuned ...