This whole week past 2 weeks become one long La folle journee.

It does happen periodically that I find it hard to hold a sequence of actions for the next few hours in my head, which is an especially  unneeded challenge during pregnancy. To stick to all the commitments, to be able to attend all showings, make all necessary purchases, be able to stick to study schedule and not to miss prenatal yoga classes - every single to-do item gets written down. Every single one. My agenda now looks like a mindmap for some lunatic's confession novel.

The feeling that life's good emerges when I get home after an insane day, which also seems to be desperately unproductive, partially because of a sudden terrible headache that started in the morning and lasted through the day - and despite all efforts, this time none of my pain relief techniques work. And in such a condition, I'd just put Dr. Chill next to me on the sofa in his new room, give him a few books and get my iPad and open mail inbox, and kiss him at the top of his head, saying sorry for being a complete vegetable today and not being able to do anything active with him today. And we would sit on the sofa side by side for some time,  he - looking at his animal or word book, me - trying to pull my brain together and reply to emails while not moving my head too much. This - the feeling of peace and understanding from a little, very close human being. And that life is good.

Once upon a time in music school, right before our chorus rehersal

a few friends of mine and myself started having a chitchat about starting our own band. The chorus classes were neither very informative nor very useful or particularly enjoyed by any of us, the teacher was late, and since we all were about year 4 in school, we were eager to push our music boundaries :)

The recruit dialog went like this:

- So, are you in? 

-Of course I'm in!

- And you?

-Sure!

- Oh, let's invite her too! Hey, we're thinking about having our own band - wanna join?

- Sure!

- Now, let's see who we have... So, we're... five pianists and a dombra player?! Erm... ok....

Looking at these 4 guys yesterday made me think we might have given up too fast :) 

Of course, carrying 5 electric pianos with us on world tours would've been a challenge, but that would've also made us one of a kind! :)

One of the pregnancy paradoxes

is that you get a huge fruit bowl feeling like you're going to pass out if you don't eat every single piece of fruit RIGHT NOW.

                                         maybe one just like that

20 minutes later and only 1/3 way through the bowl you realize you can't have any more. Physically. The bottom of your stomach is somewhere 3 inches above your solar plexus, last bite of mango wouldn't move down the throat; no fruit physically would fit in.

But you still feel like you're going to pass out if you don't finish every single piece of fruit RIGHT NOW!

**** All characters are ficticious. Any resemblence to eating habbits, beahaviour or feelings of real pregnant women is purely coincidental :)   ***

Other people's wisdom.

I've about 1/2 dozen of books waiting to be read. A dozen more in my library "queue". About a dozen free online courses saved.  I lack a lot of good knowledge and skills now. The more I learn the clearer I understand that I know absolutely nothing.  I do not waste time, I pick sources of other people's wisdom carefully and apply it quickly. All that I read and hear will be put to good use.

However, I would eagerly trade all these pieces of information on different areas for ONE good practical course or proven strategy: on how to quickly and easily pass exams. Ideally - on the first time. For one solid piece of mind hack, serious and straight to the point, that would save me a great deal of time and energy.

But of course, there is no such a magic course, lecture or book available within reach. Maybe no one bothered yet to put together and share skills and knowledge on time efficient exams passing in at least 3 different areas within 6-12 months.
Maybe that's the kind of secret knowledge that leverages competitive advantage so much - its a shame to hand it over to those who didn't earn it through blood sweat and tears.
Maybe no such strategy even exists.

I'm thus putting on my list sharing real working approach and techniques I will have developed - once  I succeed in jump starting with all the licensing, certificates, passing all the necessary exams and not killing my whole life in the process. That's official :)

In the uneasy battle of mind over purchasing tickets

to Infected Mushroom or Apocalyptica (same place, 2 days apart!) - Apocalyptica prevailed! You never know when they'll be here again; and during my first pregnancy I missed Rammstein's concert who then got retired   are not even touring US now. Life just got better :)

***And then Dr. Chill Jr. earned an extra generous scoop of grilled chicken on our salad, and I started to remember how mommy-to-be's belly occasionally draws nice random perks and life got even a little bit better.

Of other little steps up this March:

•  I got at least 1 good remote class option for this Fall; 
• read 4 new books; 
• had 3 date nights with Von Zobel. Helga's restaurant is definitely the discovery of the month, a place so great it made us feel nostalgic like hell about Bavaria and try to remember all the Apfelstrudel we ate in Vienna. 
• Registered as, basically, a volunteer for the practical part of my side projects. Found a handful of good education books. Added up the prices and decided to shuffle them into a wishlist for now. 
• Did a little improvement of our backyard's feng shui by chopping down all dry and dead grass, shrubs and bushes. Now, at the end of the month feel very happy I did that as the backyard looks green, not desert yellow and grey.
• As a side effect of the backyard cleaning, Dr. Chill learned to pick up pieces of debris and take them to the trash bags. On his own initiative, yep.And help vacuum and clean the garage. 
• Did a little improvement of our house's feng shui by getting rid of some old meaningless dust collectors, buying 2 new great blankets and washing the spare guest blankets (could be considered a whole separate project). Now I'm craving a green plant with white flowers in our bedroom :)
• Created a new schedule for the next few months and surprisingly, was able to keep pretty close to it for the first 3 days. 

If I had to set one time management goal to set for April though, - or one mind set to keep, or to ask Universe to align stars for - it would be to focus on only studies, work and family. Pregnancy workouts, as well as walk, learn and play time with Dr. Chill would fall under "family" here. I'd dare to even throw in enough sleep into "family", as it's definitely something the baby wants :) The bottom line though would be - to spend less time on running errands, doing work around the house, deal with any unexpected problems as they come up or any issues that consume amount of time disproportionate to the value of the result. Dear Universe, what do you say? You do your part, I do mine?