It’s the last week of GHP, and boy are my arms tired. This place will wear you out, both physically and emotionally.

Remember this list?

• Write two or three more songs for Day in the Moonlight.
• Revamp “Sir Christémas” to include tabor and crotales along with organ.
• Revamp my old handbell arrangment of “Come, Jeannette, Isabela” for the Welcome Christmas competition. It dawned on me to try to reverse the instrumentation: rather than handbell choir and soprano solo, turn the handbells into wordless voices and the soprano into French horn, the required accompaniment this year. It could work.
• Take another look at IV. Lento. Since my work with Craig, I’ve actually had a couple of insights. So far it’s all mental. Let’s see if I can turn them into reality.
• Take a poke at my suite for double bass.

Let’s see what I accomplished during the last five weeks. I poked at the double bass suite, knocking out a trivial Fanfare without an ending. (I also got the first 20 measures of the Trio for Piano, Trombone, and Alto Sax written, but that’s a bonus. And I’m almost finished with the two-piano arrangement of “Milky Way.”)

That’s it. That’s all I’ve managed to do. And you will have noticed that I certainly haven’t blogged this summer, unlike last summer when I was in the final throes of my 365 project. It’s been an odd summer.

It hasn’t been a bad summer by any means. The kids have been sweet and productive, the faculty has been great, and even VSU hasn’t been too unsupportive. There have been some amazing moments: the foreign language Cabaret, the choral concert, a couple of the chamber pieces. The kids attending my period dance seminars have been eager and adept. I’ve had friends around me. I’ve lost anywhere from seven to nine pounds, depending on the day.

But on the creative front, it’s been a bust. I don’t know why I’m going through such a dry spell. Part of it is time and energy: at 1:30 in the afternoon, I somehow can’t manage to get my brain to kick in to produce anything. I’m a morning person, or a late night person.

I am excited about the future. The Lichtenbergian/Lacunians are kicking around an all-male production of Coriolanus, and that’s the first script I’ve been eager to do in years. I’ve also discovered, via Jobie, a new way of doing theatre that I’m excited about sharing and exploring once I get back home.

I also think that once I’m back home and settled in, all the creativity/work involved in getting Coriolanus on the boards will jumpstart all my other projects. The two choral works are due in August, so I’ll have a deadline to work against. All this is to the good.

This is completely rambling. Sorry about that. It’s been that kind of summer.

UPDATE: At breakfast just now, one of the students came up to the table and asked one of the teachers to take a picture of him with me. A gentle reminder from the universe that you don’t always get to assign the meaning to your life.