I'm impressed, tangleweeds, and good luck, and keep it up

Cathy

That's not a depressing post at all. You ARE doing a great job. and again. A really great job! The first month without cigarettes is definitly hard, and many many people give up and start smoking again. I am thrilled that you are not one of them, and I am sitting here cheering for you.

I think you have a good approach and you have an understanding of that your body is missing the nicotine, and not really behaving as you would like it too. Hang in there, you are right in that it will become easier and that your brain will learn how to how to apprechiate piano and other enjoyments again with time. BTW, are you getting you sense of smell (olfaction?) back? I have heard many smokers who have been happy about suddenly sensing a lot of scents that they didn't notice before they quit smoking.

Happy to hear that you are sight-reading a lot. That's not bad at all, and will definitly benifit your playing in a long time perspective. I have a feeling that your enjoyment of piano will be coming back little by little. One day you will simply notice a detail in your technique that you feel an urge to improve, or notice a section in a piece that is so beautiful or fun that you just have to work on it. In the mean time I think you are doing the right thing in rewarding any piano time at all.

If you want to motivate yourself a little extra with piano, maybe you could set a date for something that you really need to prepare? For example decide to prepare and memorize some christmas song songs for Christmas, set a time to bring your keyboard and go busking, or find someone to play a duett with. If you don't feel like it, it's perfectly ok. Just some suggestions if you want to give yourself some extra motivation for working on stuff. Having a deadline, and someone to share the music with could be helpful for awakening some inspiration.

Good work Tangleweeds. Keep it up.

Basia,
...........

???????????

Not sure if it my English that is lacking, if you don't connect busking with pianos, or if you have doubts about how fun and entertaining it is?...

Busking on Wikipedia

Tangleweeds was mentioning having access to a keyboard, so that would be portable enough to bring along for some street performance.

Edit: Ok, I was maybe not entirely serious, but the idea in general is excellent!

Here in Cincinnati at the moment, we have pianos out on the streets!!!
http://www.streetpianos.com/
for the general idea and
http://www.streetpianos.com/cincinnati2010/pianos/music-hall
for pics and video of one of them!
Please look on the artist's website to find out if your city is scheduled for an installation, and if not, inquire about it. It's a great idea!
Busking is possible with these pianos, although being donated, they tend not to be wonderful instruments. And, of course, depending on your city's regulations, you can take a battery operated keyboard out.

Thanks for the wiki link. I followed it to another page on Joshua Bell, and one of the references was this article on Bell busking in Washington DC as an experiment.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html

The experiment: would anyone stop to listen to a world renowned violinist perform some of the greatest masterpieces on a $3 million Stradivarius in a subway station during morning rush hour?

Only a few people stopped, and only one recognized him. I wouldn't have recognized him, but I would like to think I would have stopped.

--headslap-- oh, of course.

I must live under a rock, never heard the term used before.

I've always loved that Joshua Bell story -- it reminds me to pause to appreciate the world around me as I go about my business.

JimF, I have no idea about how common the term might be. I picked it up over at violinist.com, maybe even in connection with the Bell story.

Tangleweeds & BenPiano, I am not really surprised over the Bell story. It is quite reasonable that we pay attention to the most important things in our environment. When walking through the subway, it is much more important to make sure we don't trip or bump into other people and to make sure we get to the right train. Especially, during rush hours. I guess our brain cannot take in so much information at a time.

I completely agree with Tangleweeds that we should try to take the time to appreciate things...

(BTW, if you now swedish, read "When the beauty came to the village" by Nils Ferlin. It's about noone appreciating beauty or laughter since they are so busy working and doing serious stuff.)

There was actually a piano busker in Boulder, CO, a couple of years ago - she had an upright out in their pedestrian area And someone here on PW one time asked about pianos that might work for busking and got advice on how to make an upright "portable." I haven't done it with a keyboard yet, tho I've used a battery operated 76-key keyboard for playing outside with Roaring Jelly. I think it'd be fun

I wasn't really surprised at the Joshua Bell story, either, given the venue. People stop more often on the plaza here in Santa Fe. More of the people are on vacation, or out on their lunch hour, and have time to linger some.

But I agree with tangleweeds, it's good to be reminded that we have more opportunities than we often use to take a moment to not be so "busy" and enjoy a busker, or a shop window, or a fresh bakery smell

Cathy

I quit smoking six times. There was always an excuse to start smoking again. The last time (34 years ago) I used cigars to quit smoking. I would only smoke one when the craving was intense. That lasted about six months. After 34 years I think I can safely say I have kicked the habit... I wish you well with your battle. It sounds as if the hard part is close to being done, but watch out for those traps. For me, they were usually when I was out having the most fun. Good luck!