A long break! (not from cello though!)

I can't believe the last time i wrote was 14th may. ever since I started my dissertation, things have been crazy busy, and I haven't had time to write. I have however had time to practise, and things are going well. I was inspired to post today after reading @Michael_Tuchman's blog, and decided that I would review what I had been doing recently.

Since lesson 7 I have had 2 more lessons. Both of them were lovely, as usual. My cello teacher and I are getting quite friendly, which has made me slightly less apprehensive before I go into lessons.

I am currently playing a few things:

• Every now and again I am playing a few pieces in 4th position. They are easy to play, yet they sound so horrible! Going to keep going back to those.
• I am also playing 2 long pieces (much longer than usual) which I am enjoying, but am finding a struggle to get through the whole thing before my left thumb starts to ache. I also find it difficult to play something wrong and keep going, so have started tackling one line at a time which is helping loads.
  
• I am having real trouble with pieces with complicated key signatures. I can (sort of) do extensions, but I have no idea when I should be doing them. I think the problem there is a fundamental lack of any knowledge of music theory, and it is holding me back.
  

So in my lesson tomorrow I am going to talk to my teacher about what the hell any of those key signatures mean, and ask him to give me a music reading lesson. Until I get that sorted I pretty much can't play anything else in the book, so I really need to figure it out.

I might get a book on music theory too, but not sure what type of thing I need.

Will update after my lesson tomorrow.