Spring Break Brain Dump

Over this past week I have thought a lot about WISE and switching my project. Ms Gergley said I should do a half hour write, which I like to think of as a brain dump. I was at the beach with my parents this past week, so I went back and forth between super analyzing everything I should be doing for my project and completely avoiding thinking about it so I could enjoy the sun and clear my mind. Even though I've gotten a little behind I think it was a really good think to take a step back and then reevaluate what I want to do. I still think that switching projects is a really good idea because I should be really psyched about my project and carpentry is just not doing it for me. So if I start there with a clean slate and imagine I never thought about doing a music project, in what direction would I go? Some ideas of general things I want to do in life to get me started: gardening, training on my bike (perhaps to do the AIDS ride), become a lifeguard, become an EMT basic, do more childcare with babies and toddlers, learn how to waitress, learn how to sail, play more music (improve piano and guitar skills), start a business, start a charity, do international missions trips or any type of service trip, do more kayaking, make a cookbook, train another guiding eyes dog (just to name a few). You can tell I clearly lack ambition in life, right? So some of these things are really too big to do as a WISE project. Becoming an EMT takes lots of time and money. Doing service trips also take time and money. I suppose time and money make the world go 'round, but only if you let them. Well here I am, about three quarters of the way through WISE and I have some really valuable time left and although sometimes it feels like I have to limit myself a lot, I know that I really do have a huge opportunity in front of me. So after all this brainstorming and thinking I have concluded this: I must do all these things in my life because making this brainstorm list got me so excited ( I better live to be 300 or else get ready to multitask), and I still want to pursue a project in music for the rest of my time.  My mother is a music teacher and my father a performer for as long as I can remember. Music has always been a part of my life and I think that's why I initially strayed from the idea as a project. I have already taken countless voice lessons, learned guitar and piano, and performed on stage more times than I can remember, so I felt like maybe I should really get out of my comfort zone more. What I realized though is that I can do something I love and push it to a new level in order to get out of my comfort zone. For instance, even though I've performed so much, sometimes when I have a solo in the choir concert or something (especially if I feel I don't know it as well as I should) my lips start to shake and I get crazy stage freight even though I've done it a million times!  Maybe a goal of my project could be to take a next step towards being super confident while performing. For instance maybe if I were to decide on playing the mandolin I could learn some cool songs and sign up for a performance slot at the Ithaca festival! I don't even know if that's possible, but just an example of a step that would take this project far from ordinary for me. The thought of that terrifies me a little, so I think that's a good sign. Now the question is: what should I play? I either want to learn mandolin or banjo, so here is a list of things I need to find out in order to proceed.
-pros and cons to both
-does Hickey's rent either and how much?
-Who could I contact in the community that could give me a basic lesson?

I also want to see if I can get a hold of Sam Kelling. He was in WISE two years ago I believe and I am pretty sure he played banjo for his project. He was a friend of my brother's so I'm hoping I can find a way to reach him and perhaps he can give me some ideas from his project.
In summary, the great thing about a brain dump is that it's a string of disjointed thoughts so I don't even need to summarize it because it wouldn't be logical! Lovely.