Pandemic

How are you? Are you safe and healthy? I hope so.

It’s Day 17 of my self-quarantine. Having Multiple Sclerosis and being on all sorts of medication for it, I have the dreaded “compromised immune system” so I am home. But home is not so bad: I have my husband here, and my cats, and my guitars.

I am catching up on all of the things I’ve wanted to work on: better charts for my students to learn from, books I’ve been meaning to read for years. And practicing, yes, much practicing. I’m finishing compositions that were started so long ago I’m embarrassed to tell you; I’m working on new arrangements for Lioness and I’m editing and writing music for a project involving my quartet Deathblow and my connection to Formula 1 Racing (one of many sports which is on hold at the moment).

I am working on educational videos for my YouTube channel (http://youtube.com/guitarmonaco). If I wasn’t such a perfectionist there would be more of them and more frequently, which is something I strive for. (Less perfection, more sharing, warts and all.)

I’m also going to have a live concert soon as well; stay tuned for more information on that.

These are scary times to be sure. I’d be lying if I said that I never wake up at 3 a.m. and can’t fall back asleep for at least an hour. My dreams are vivid and more like nightmares a lot of the time. I do my best to stay focused on my work but sometimes I just need to stare into space or scroll through all of the Instagram feeds with kittens.

I miss everyone. I’m trying to do as many FaceTime calls and Zoom Meetings as I can, which helps, but people – people need people. As the song says, “People who need people/are the luckiest people in the world.”

We will get through this. And when it’s all said and done, we will continue to wash our hands but we will finally give out big hugs to those we love.

In the meantime, big virtual hugs to all of you. And wash your hands.