Doin' Work

Since I have about 4376795642356472139 things happening in my life right now, I thought it was a good time to add one more and dust off the ol' blog.

The title of this post has been my mantra for the last year or so.

When I took a music business course in grad school, the professor chose to focus on financial management rather than music business, and I've been a better person for it ever since. A book I read back in 2008 called The Richest Man in Babylon was one of the course materials, and for whatever reason, one phrase stuck out to me more in 2012 than it did back then: Make hard work your best friend.

The demands of the leave replacement job in Oregon forced me to learn to work better under pressure, react to unexpected situations, and become acclimated to a completely different way of music education. It ultimately instilled me with a tremendous amount of confidence in my ability to teach anywhere, at any level, under any circumstance. It was also the first professional experience in my specialty area. So, when I returned to New York, I had a much more impressive résumé, and interviews became cake for me, since I knew I could answer whatever questions were being thrown my way.

So last week I started my third leave replacement job since then, with previous stops in Westbury and Locust Valley. The current position is Orchestra Director of two elementary schools in Elmont. I'm much more optimistic about the long term prospects of this job, but I won't say more until there's more to say. It's been another baptism by fire, but I'm managing it quite well so far.

I also work at a music store, maintain a private studio, perform in an orchestra, play in a rock band called Make This Life, I'm training for a half marathon in May while fundraising for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and I also try to have a social life.

Currently I'm looking for ways to simplify things. But the truth is, these are all things that make me happy and these are all things that were missing from my life until recently. Most importantly, they keep the gears turning. For whatever reason, idleness is poison to me.

My short term successes are nothing compared to my long term goals. But I can see the path to my long term goals more clearly now after putting in the work, one day at a time.

Liver Detox, or, the Idiotic Things Mike Will Do To Maintain A Healthy Lifestyle

***Post created in 2012***

So after some procrastination, I began a five day liver detox on Monday, September 17th. It involves drinking blended drinks with fruit juice, garlic, ginger, and olive oil, and drinking tea with all sorts of fun herbs and roots in it. I also elected to give up alcohol, meat, and dairy for the week. Here's the breakdown:

Day 1: After seeping the tea in water overnight, I blended my first juice drink. It recommends using fresh squeezed juice but I cheated a bit and used a 100% juice blend of apple, grape, and plant stuff. It wasn't pretty. Also, I had no garlic and ginger, but I didn't want to delay things any longer. After drinking the new concoction, I felt good, and it was actually pretty filling. Next came the tea, which was surprisingly good (having cinnamon, cardamom, and other spices in it doesn't hurt). I add formula to that and finally, take another formula which I tried to drop right into my mouth. This formula has habanero pepper in it. This was a bad idea. I decide to dilute the formula with water after the first time.

I repeat drinking the tea and the formula all day. In the meantime, I had two meals, one at lunch and one after class around 8:30 pm. I felt like I didn't eat enough but I also felt full all day.

Day 2: The preparation becomes a little more intuitive, and I'm starting to feel the effects of putting good, natural things in my body: more energy, more alertness, feeling more full even though I'm eating less. I eat out for lunch for the first time and I order a veggie burrito, no sour cream. I have no class this day so it's even easier to maintain a steady schedule with all of the healthy junk I'm shoving down my throat.

Day 3: Preparation now feels routine, and I'm adding more garlic and olive oil to the juice blend, as per instructions. About halfway through the juice blend, I get some serious nausea. I wait a few minutes and it goes away, I drink more juice blend and it comes back, I wait and it goes away. I play this game until the drink is gone, but I keep a close eye on my stomach for the rest of the day. Who would have thought my Italian stomach would react to garlic and oil that way?

The rest of the day goes well, if not totally on schedule.

Day 4: The nausea is still there, but more manageable. Maybe I've just learned to pace myself better.

Day 5: I feel "cleansed". I have more energy and I eat smaller portions and less often. My skin is clear for several weeks even after I stop taking the antibiotic I was on.

I highly recommend a liver detox, as long as your schedule allows you to do it correctly. I would also recommend doing a bowel detox/colon cleanse first, based on what I've read and my own experience.

Good luck, and stay healthy.