Thinking was for the gloopy ones.

The music school used to be structured as a doucheocracy. This is less and less and less the case.

This morning I met with a student (and his mother) who were half an hour late because they went to the wrong office. The student is a good guy who's been in school seven years already and is beginning to panic. Over the last two weeks he's come to see he's in some real quicksand. I oriented him and told him he should stay in more regular communication with me for the next year or so.

I had a quiet lunch in a loud bar and didn't finish eating what I'd ordered, which is unusual. That, and then I cleared a girl to graduate.

A friend and burgeoning composer of quality stopped in to talk about the inspiration for & process behind the pieces on a CD he asked me to listen to last week, an overview of the music he's written since he was 17 (in 1986), from piano sonatas to abstract retro electronica .

However, we were interrupted by a biology student one or two semesters from graduation (he couldn't be sure which), newly come to the realization that he doesn't want to become a dentist like his older brother. This is true. He said he didn't want to look at people's teeth all day. He was very passionate about it, almost upset. He wants to change his major to piano performance, which if he does, it means he won't graduate for another four years. In a very real way he'll be starting over. He thought he needed to become a great pianist, but he was really just confused. I told him he should finish out his current degree and come back to get a music degree afterward if he still wanted. I told him it would be good for him to finish something.

And I'm listening to Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun.