The Eve of a Performance

Tomorrow is my competition. The days leading up to a performance always become exponentially more difficult for me. I start feeling really prepared, and then I'm not motivated at all to practice. I always feel like taking the day off. I know I have to keep my chops up, but I just want to sit around and eat bonbons. Then I feel a sense of impending doom since I'm not practicing, but I still can't get myself to put my butt on the bench! It's a real problem. Today the feeling is intensified, since my cushy artist bench is in the shop; it is soft and comfortable, but rickety and noisy, so something had to be done. I think I over-did it somewhat yesterday, not in length, but in volume, because my wrists are just a wee-bit sore today, and I have one fingernail that is kind of cutting into my skin. See? I have 100 reasons to stay off my bench this morning. I have a friend who offered to lend me her bench today; I'm going to take her up on it. On the up-side, I sound terrific! I played for my mom over speaker phone last night. She was dumbfounded. She was my first teacher, so she's got to be doubly proud of me. I'm going to play for a couple of friends today, and then I have a lesson. It should be a productive day, but look at me here, blogging, rather than practicing! I wonder how my competitors are spending today? I wonder if there is some biological reason I always want to waste the day before the performance; perhaps there is an advantage to resting up before going into battle? More than likely, I just have a short attention span.