Snowbanks, with some rain

The week before Lent started, I posted regarding my determination to be less of a nebbisch (if you're curious, see the January post for what this is all about). Looking at the progress I had made to make better choices, I wrote:
In large, I'm quite satisfied with how I'm doing...
But this is only a start, and it really won't amount to anything if it fades away like snow banks under the rain. This is progress, it's true, but it's provisional--it can (and will) erode so easily, if the new habits of action aren't maintained.

Now, in the midst of the Lenten busyness, with the heights of Holy Week looming ahead (I'm a church musician, so it's the busiest time of year), I have this to report: the snowbanks are still there, but the rain has fallen, too.

This is Not the report I was hoping to give.

I'll try to be clear. In some areas, I continue to progress nicely. The physical exercise continues, and is nearly habitual. Nearly every morning, Monday through Friday, I do about 35 minutes (combined) of cardio and strength stuff, and the progress, albeit slow, is noticeable. Against all my expectations, this is the area that seems to have overcome its initial inertia, and is rolling almost (note the "almost"!) on its own, with little effort to maintain that motion.

The chorus experience is very pleasurable, too. It's unclear to me if this will be a long-term hobby, or is just fun for this semester... but I'm enjoying it now, and, for now, that's enough.

But of course there is a "but." Pianistically, the progress has slowed down: I'm missing days of piano practice, and some of the practice days are merely playing what I've already learned. There's little, if any, learning progress now. So re-focusing is needed. Which is difficult because, as I said, Holy Week is nearly here with all its added rehearsals and music prep. And once Easter is past, Easter 2, 3, 4, (etc.) will need to be planned. And so it goes.

It's a tough time for a musical hobby.

On the other hand, I need to maintain what I've done (the last movement of the Beethoven is nearly there; the Chopin feels like it's much where it was a few weeks ago). So this is the plan: exercise, then 10-15 minutes of piano: some facility work (i.e., scales, Hanon, broken chords) and careful maintenance on the Beethoven and Chopin. I'm not going to expect these to come to completion now (maybe in early April); instead, the goal is to maintain and clean what I've got going now.

And the other "But" is for Hebrew and reading: items that I had started (or intensified) last year, and want to maintain. As Lent started, I decided to use a Lenten self-study resource on The Lord's Prayer. Unfortunately, it was the proverbial straw that, well, you know, and both it, and the Hebrew fell by the wayside with the proverbial camel. I've done very little Hebrew since Ash Wed.

And, although I'm very much enjoying reading Ellis Peters' "Brother Cadfael" mysteries--highly recommended fun reading, with wonderful vocabulary usages--it's not exactly the kind of reading I want to be maintaining over the long term. Where's the depth? The intellectual challenge?

Well, perhaps this isn't the time. Maybe it's too much to expect. Maybe that would be too hard. Or, perhaps those are mere excuses for taking an easy way out. Excuses and easy exits are both Very Nebbischey.

Not what I want to report Next Time, either.

So, as I said before, the snowbanks are standing--the physical exercise is building, the piano is staying level, and only the Hebraic snow pile has significantly diminished--but there's rain during this busiest season.

And I need to either put up my umbrella, or go inside and work like a mensch. 'Cause the nebbische thing is just not what I want to be.