30 Days of Nug...
Day 17
Something that you’re proud of
- Finishing 8th Grade AMEB Piano Practical
- Completing 4th Grade AMEB Music Theory
- 91.60 VCE ENTER score
- Getting into The University of Melbourne
- My taste in music
- I’m now able to let go of my pride and allow myself to be teachable
I think that last one is probably the most important of all of these things.
Galatians 6:14 (NIV)
May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
Philippians 3:3-4 (NIV)
For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh — though I myself have reasons for such confidence.
2 Corinthians 10:8 (NIV)
So even if I boast somewhat freely about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than tearing you down, I will not be ashamed of it.
GUESSWHATGUESSWHATGUESSWHAT?!!?!?!!
I GOT A CERTIFICATE OF CREDIT FOR MY GRADE EIGHT PIANO EXAM. THE LAST GRADE OF PIANO BEFORE UNI LEVELS. OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG I’M A HAPPY, ECSTATIC, FLOPPER!!!
I JUST TEXTED MANDY AND PHILLIP AND THEN RANG MY GRANDPARENTS :D I AM THEIR FIRST GRANDCHILD TO FINISH THEIR WHOLE ENTIRE MUSIC SCHOOLING :D :D :D :D :D :D :D OMG FREAKOUT
So I got my results for my AMEB Grade 5 exam results back today
Okay then, I’m not going to be expecting much - I’m pretty sure fucked up the Haydn really bad, and to a certain extent both my list C pieces AND my list D and ugh I just put me out of my-
THAT’S
THAT’S A FUCKING A
A FUCKING ‘A’
THAT’S ‘HONOURS’ ACCORDING TO THE SHEET
OH SWEET JESUS LORD I
I'm doing my letters in Speech and Drama, and this is my controversial issue talk
Controversial Issue- The Perfection Deception
We live in a competitive age, where everything from our career to our kitchen skills is under the microscope. Is our push to be perfect driving us over the edge?
I have a perfect friend- let’s call her R. She’s one of those women who wear Chanel as if it’s just something she’s just pulled out of her wardrobe. She has that luminous skin that appears to bear no tale of time, less still foundation. Her hair has a spontaneous bounce, her husband is something substantial in the business world, and her homemade pasta is talked of in hushed tones. After having a child she snapped back into her jeans as if pregnancy was as demanding as digesting a large lunch. R’s home is a celestial white. Needless to say, I can’t stand her.
There’s something endlessly irritating about women with perfect lives, isn’t there?
But this push for Perfectionism has become the mark of our culture. Everywhere you look, there are people (women predominantly) who are polishing and burnishing, upgrading, competing and shining up their world, turning it into a trophy life.
A snapshot of modern Australia shows many of us in thrall to the soaring expectations of perfectionism- a function of a culture where image is all. Consider the adolescent girls who want to be thinner or the Australian women who spend thousands each ear on their credit cards emulating their favourite celebrity’s style.
We’ve all done it. Yes, even me. I too straighten towels if friends are coming over or…
Last week I spent hours attempting those adorable cupcakes Donna Hay makes in her sleep, only to throw them away because they didn’t match the picture.
Perfection seems to have infiltrated our lives, leaving us feeling vaguely inadequate. It’s hard not to, given the high achievers around us. Look at how we devour the “perfect lives” of celebrities, pictured in their perfect homes with their gorgeous new babies and shiny Gagganau coffee machines.
Even grocery stores look like art galleries, the produce camera-ready.
Many of us are caught up in this perfectionist trap. Why do we often see our lives as half empty, rather than half full?
The World Health Organisation estimates that by 2020, mental illness will be the second leading cause of Death and Disability- much of it stress induces illness in people desperate to keep up.
Novelist W Somerset Maugham remarked that “Perfection has one grave defect: it is apt to be dull.” Or as someone on the web put it, “You can get straight A’s and still flunk life.” I must remember to share this with R when I next pop over for coffee.
What do you think?
the australian music examinations board just sent out an email which included that einstein quote about being willing to make mistakes and i want to be like “ummm guys?”
i am excited you are at least pretending to take this stance but it seems somewhat at odds with your policy/institutional structure/overall mode of being.
talking to a friend about the conservatory system the other week and what he said is best—every classical music organization has an entire department devoted to seeming relevant and growing younger audiences, but it never seems to occur to anyone that eliminating sadism and masochism as core values would be a good start.
trying to work out how to be a better teacher in this regard—i try to be v. relaxed & make things fun but the reality is violin is a hard instrument to learn! and it seems to attract a bunch of extremely high-strung, perfectionist, type-A little kids. alternatively, it attracts yuppie parents who are forcing their son to learn an instrument that he truly detests because it gets him out of the house and because ~culture~ when in reality the kid could be v. talented drummer.
i don’t want to be an ~inspirational teacher~ or anything, although the day a student told me that i was like miss honey from matilda was basically the best day of my life. i just want kids to feel relaxed & confident & excited about making sound which is exactly what i want for myself, too, and that shouldn’t be so hard to come by, right, why is it hard to come by?
