New Phone, blessings and stuff breaking

I have a new phone. It's a little cheap thing but it will work until I get home. Yesterday just wasn't very fun, and this week (starting friday) has been about stuff breaking. The car got broken, my phone died, my braces went a step beyond cracking, and today my bow decided it was wound too tight and broke. I could get really depressed and out of joint about this, but let's put this in perspective. I am alive, in New Orleans, and unhurt, I have a completely new phone, my braces still work (they're just in three pieces now), and someone has let me borrow a bow for this week. In fact, I am in a wonderful, rather luxurious hotel, and I still have personal transport. My life is good, and I am grateful for it. 
In any case, today was pretty fun, and it's still not over. I got enough sleep that I woke up twenty minutes before my alarm at 6:50am! This afforded me enough time to go to a diner for breakfast. It was wonderful, I had eggs over easy with toast and bacon (they added grits as well, I don't get the point of those), and some hot chocolate with sweetened whipped cream. Restaurants in Vienna didn't sweeten the whipped cream, it drove me nuts. After that, I went of to the Prep School where the Suzuki thing is being held, and classes went pretty smoothly. We had the scariest little boy in one of the lessons we observed, he was quite nearly unteachable. In discussion afterward the blame was placed squarely on the mother, she had two other kids in there as well who were making noise and rushing around, it was chaotic, and she had another person helping her. After him, though, we had very sweet and cooperative kids. 
I love watching our teacher, Ronda Cole, teach. She is very calm and clear, knows how to get through to children, is creative in her explanations, and is just admirable in her technique. She has been teaching for nigh thirty years, and, from what I can tell, is a natural teacher who has thought extensively about her subject. 
The best sentence I've heard here is: "If you think you know what you are doing, you don't know anything." Teaching, much like playing music, is a journey of discovery, and it never ends. 
Right, I guess I'm rambling. I should be off now, there is a faculty dinner that all the teaching students have been invited to. I hear there will be gumbo. 

I don't know why, but I feel like saying:
Best wishes,
Greeny

More proof

Good things come to those who do stuff. Staying home almost never pays off. 
I went to the faculty dinner, and I have no regrets, and many happy feelings. The food was excellent, with gumbo (just spicy enough to open your pores), jambalaya, little crawfish pies, and more normal stuff, like salad, french bread, chicken nuggets (kids present), and oh so many desserts. The conversation was interesting. Oh, and did I mention there was a play-in? Free-style improvisation, heavy on the jazz/country tunes. It is addictive once you get the hang of it. You pick a tune, start with the melody, and then off you go. I was attracted into the living room when they were playing a hymn. They just handed me a violin and said to play. It is so scary at first, but when you start and watch for a while it gets easier. I got a few solos. And you can hand the violin right off to someone else. I thought I heard "How Great Thou Art" once, and said so, but it turned out to be a jazz tune. Then they actually played it, I helped. This is a tradition created to pay for the dinner. A great night, other people left before I did, and I didn't want to leave. 
And the title? This is more proof of a life, one I can be happy in. Maybe I need to move to Louisiana.