The New Coffee Room

I remember you, Brenda! Nice to "see" you again.

Hi!

Wow, hadn't been to TNCR in years; didn't realize it had moved!

In fact, I think it's been what, like 14 years or something since I was last active?

What have I missed in the last 14 years? Can someone catch me up?

It's been nice seeing a lot of you on Facebook, but I miss the rest of you! Just had a fun jog through memory lane with the search function at the old site. Remembering some of our members who have passed away. This place brings up such a mix of emotions and memories.

I've... changed quite a bit in the past 14 years. So, I thought I'd give you a quick run down of where I'm at, in case you're curious. Put a checkmark next to everything you predicted, and tally your score at the end?

1. I'm a girl. (Who knew?) I go back Samantha or Shuli now. But I'll still answer to PJ.

2. I'm a mom. (When I joined this place back in 2004, I was a junior in high school!)

3. I've been married for almost 10 years.

4. I have my PhD in historical musicology.

5. I'm an in-demand Yiddish teacher, currently flooded with so many new students thanks to stay-at-home orders that I don't know how to get it all done.

6. I write a blog about the music theory of Disney music.

7. I like Brussels sprouts.

8. I know that Brussels sprouts is capitalized.

9. I have cancer. A super rare, but also super benign, form of skin cancer called pagetoid reticulosis. Had radiation, used topical creams, and it's almost completely gone now. Yay!

10. I still play the piano, but not as much as I used to. Currently working on some Bach preludes and Frozen 2 songs. Most of my piano-playing these days involves composing/improvising.

11. I'm a composer and poet! People like my stuff. It's kind of wild. I've been approached twice by a publisher who wants my poems. Still wrapping my mind around that.

12. I have a website, www.CreativeShuli.com, where you can hear some of my music, read some of my poems, read part of my dissertation, and see a bit more of what I've been up to.

I probably won't spend much time around here... so overwhelmingly busy these days.

But I wanted to at least pop my head in and say hello!

(Hello!)

And I'm curious to hear how you all have been, in nutshells.