A blue day -the good kind

Getting all that stuff out on the last blog DID help a bit, and I think I've moved out of self-pity mode for the time being. I've also changed the song on my homepage to "Salva Me," a different song by Libera (the words to this one are mostly in Latin, but being a music geek I know what they're saying and it's more applicable than the vague poetry of the previous one).
Today was one of the nicer kinds of blue days, where the depressing gray, soggy clouds of yesterday were blown away by the wind and left behind some clear space of blue sky, the cheerful kind that reflects off of windows and puddles and makes the pale sunlight seem to smile. The air was cold and brisk, a welcome thing after teaching some Dance-Dance-Revolution in a dark gym with a double-sized class (team-teaching has its pros and cons!) that smelled of sock feet, and getting all warmed up. It was a pretty good day, with the exception of 5th grade and choir, which often make me feel blue in the negative sense. I'm disappointed because choir used to be what I looked forward to most with the kids, because they wanted to be there and we could really make progress fast on some beautiful/fun music. But last year's 5th graders are gone and I now have an uneven group: some 4th graders who are focused and experienced because they were in choir last year and are ready for a challenge, and then a large group of newbies who need to be babysat, coaxed, and given The Look just in order to make it through a rehearsal. I feel like I am losing the kids who are the best singers, because they have to wait for everyone else to get their act together and follow their example. Progress is also very slow, and I am getting worried about how many songs we will actually be able to do passably for a performance...I hope that once I get practice CDs to them, things will get better.
Well, after kid choir chaos, it was a relief to go to my own choir rehearsal and sing some Mozart, with lots of high notes and fast runs. Singing is a salvation from everyday drudgery for me, a way to bring some energy and beauty back into life even though I am tired, and it is something that is mine and I can excel at. It used to be that gymnastics was the thing that was mine, that I could enjoy being a perfectionist at, then it was organ, now singing is the one thing I have left in my body that I can still use and perfect artistically on a regular basis.
The best part of today was getting home and finding my birthday gift to myself in the mailbox: several CDs I had ordered from Amazon. I got the Libera CD yesterday, a nice meditative and ethereal kind of mood music (still awaiting one more CD of similiar taste), and now I have the contrasting bright and happy music to pick me up: a Bhangra music collection (a real upper!), and two Baroque recorder CDs (Vivaldi concertos and Telemann sonatas/fantasias, in case you were curious). I wish I had an iPod so that I could listen to these during my work break tomorrow, just close my eyes and escape into another, happier place for awhile. But I don't have an iPod, so I guess I'll listen in the car and while I'm at home. Maybe some of this music will get stuck in my head, and it will be my own personal soundtrack while I work. That would be a nice change from having the DDR music stuck in my head!
Finally, here I am in bed with my computer, blogging a bit and getting ready to watch a bit of Law and Order SVU, with, of all things, a blue drink to keep me company and help unwind some of the stress.
Thank goodness for the power of music and blue skies to bring me some hope and happiness in the midst of these gray days!