Rounding third base; or, stitches on the home stretch

Senioritis? Again?

It's hard to stay motivated these days, and I'm not sure if it can even be properly termed "senioritis," but what I do know is that I am in the second week of my last quarter of school, ever, and that thought is almost incomprehensible. I've been in school for longer than I can remember. Even during my gap year between college and grad school, I attended classes at a university. So the prospect of being done with academia is . . . strange.

My horoscope today--I don't necessarily believe in them, but I check it in the morning via a free app I downloaded to my phone, mostly because reading something first thing after waking up helps me gain coherence a little more quickly--says,

You are about to close a chapter--some aspect of your life that was difficult is coming to a close. Despite the challenges you faced and the hurt or sadness you experienced during this phase, you came away with a wealth of insight. As you end this part of your story, you will feel a sense of relief. Soon, you will also feel a sense of anticipation and excitement, because you are about to turn the page to a whole new and vey wonderful chapter. With what you've learned, you have the power to transform the rest of your life into a magical journey. Use discretion in the choices you make.

Difficult? Definitely. The strange thing is, my course load now is significantly lighter than it has been for as long as I can remember. I'm ticking the last few graduation requirements off my list, and they're easy ones. This morning, I learned that I had passed the French language exam required by my Masters program--one less thing. I am giving my Masters voice recital on April 16--just over a week. What remains, then, is

1) preparing 10 mini-lectures about various topics relating to music
2) piano proficiency exam (to do: gain fluency in 4-octave double-handed scales)
3) opera workshop performance (after which I will hop a plane home to go to a wedding the next day)

And that's it. Clearly I'm having some trouble staying motivated.

Unrelated, but no less irritating: I wonder what it says about our society or the state of the arts or whatever that the music we are most exposed to is either heavily auto-tuned (see: Rebecca Black, Glee, most pop music) or completely out-of-tune (see: the Truvia commercial I just watched). As a musician, I wonder, do other people just not notice things like this, or do they just not care?