Looking Forward To

Girl in grade 12.  I'm wearing nail polish.  I point to something on her page of music.

Girl: Oh!  Oh!  Guess what I'm looking forward to most about finishing school?
Me: .. umm...
Girl: I know this is weird.  But - nail polish!  I am so looking forward to wearing nail polish, like, all the time.
Me: I know what you mean. ... You realise you'll probably get sick of it in about a month, right?
Girl: Doesn't matter.  I can't wait.

Existential Angst

...or, audition prep.

One of my grade 12s - who I've taught, like, forever - had an audition on Thursday.  Once she'd played me her pieces in her lesson on Wednesday, I had to decide if I should make her work on them a lot more, or accept where they (and she) were at, and talk brain.  We talked brain.  Part of the conversation went like this:

Me: If you want to work in the arts, be warned - you'll have many years of existential angst.
Girl: ummm?
Me: You know, when you think you should be a lawyer or a doctor, or something that really helps people.
Girl: Well, music helps people.

Yay!  My work is done.  If only more people recognised this fact.
And, as an added bonus, this girl was offered a place in this course straight away.  Very proud teacher.