We have one more rehearsal before our next concert. I'm so not prepared. The music our director picked is *&^%$# hard. I can play some pieces straight through, a few others have bumpy spots and more where I just try to hit the first note in each measure. It's a good thing our first chair alto sax guy, Wade, is massively talented and can carry the section when necessary.
Anyway, there's one movement in Four Scottish Dances* where the saxes are burdened with five flats in the key signature. Not to get too technical here, but we altos rarely see more than two flats, if any.
Me: "I have such a hard time thinking in flats. I'm much better with sharps."
Wade: "That's natural."
*rimshot*
Yeah, yeah, that might be a bit esoteric.
Anyway, we then switch abruptly into six sharps. There are only seven notes, so as long as I remember 'everything but B is sharp', I can do pretty well. Except it's fast. I had better get to practicing.
*The music has been transcribed for band - no strings.
Salsa for dinner
with black bean tortilla chips
tomatoes, ole'!
(Cocina = Kitchen en Espanol)
All this running is most likely doing irreparable harm to my left hip and my right calf feels like it has been stabbed. But - today I'm wearing a suit I haven't been able to wear in a while because the skirt had been too tight! Now it's loose!
Pain? What pain? Pffft. I'll suffer even more if I can make it into that other suit I adore and haven't worn in a year...
Actually, I ran three miles this morning and felt far better than I did on Saturday, when I felt like my body was made of bricks. It was kind of fun, in a running in the cold and dark kind of way. Which means I'm starting to become delusional.
Not too much soreness, except for when I got out of my car after driving to work. That's when the hip really kills me. Trust me, I'm working on stretcing and other therapy, but I'll just have to suck it up until the race 2/29-3/1.
In the meantime, I'll be pulling out more clothes and seeing what else I can wear before the training is over and I regress into slackerness.
I'm just going to repost from last week and see if I can add anything to it. Ha. Fat chance of me getting anything done this week so I'll just post this and feel shame. Cranky said having a social life is a bit of an excuse, but since that's not going to change (my social calendar abhors a vacuum) I need to figure out how to actually accomplish things this year.
So here goes:
1. Get landscaper crew to cut back shrubbery so termite crew can get to foundation. - This was a disaster. They also cut my cable which had to be repaired. Plus, I ended up having to tear the shrubbery out myself, alone, in the rain. There's a country song in there somewhere.
2. Start shoveling out back room. - After ripping out shrubbery, no inclination to do this whatsoever.
3. Let's keep the resume item on the list until I get it done. - Maybe I'll add "landscapery" to my CV.
4. Send out thank-you notes from Bday - apparently I did this on Monday
5. Clear off kitchen table - and the chairs. Must get better filing system! - One of the chairs is cleaned off. w00t!
6. Try one new recipe which requires usage of some unused dish/appliance. One of my big goals is to use everything I have - or get rid of what I will never need. - I haven't even gone grocery shopping in two weeks. I did acquire a BBQ grill some renters left at a neighbor's unit (neighbor giving it away, I didn't steal it). Like I need more cooking stuff - giving it to Lovely Co-Worker Justin.
7. Finish reading Frankenstein. I know, I have to put my reading on the list. I enjoy it, I just don't give myself a chance to sit down and do it. - After all my yardwork, I curled up on the couch with Elvis last night and knocked out some chapters.
8. 6-mile run - My body hates me. I could barely make three miles. Ugh.
Tomorrow night is the only night I don't have anything going on until Saturday, which is pretty quiet. I may or may not head out to the party tent Friday night for the FBR Open. Then I'm off to the Super Bowl on Sunday. I'll wave to everyone - be sure to look for me! I'll be the one selling programs!
I have been a bad 'hoodie lately. Sorry if anyone took it personal that I haven't been paying attention to all y'all. This week has been more jammed packed than usual so I actually had to get off the intrawebs and get things done.
I guess I had better check and see what my to-do list for this week was supposed to be. I'm pretty sure none of it has been done, unless I did it on Monday.
I think I mentioned the termite situation - I have them, I shelled out $800 to get them eradicated. In order for the crew to take care of things, some shrubbery needed to be cut back and the aloe garden in my patio needed to be yanked. Fine.
The management company told the landscapers to trim back my shrubbery, which they did, along with my cable line. Gah. So I had to have that fixed yesterday so I could watch Michigan State trounce Michigan today in Basketball. Go State!
But, the shrubbery was right up against the wall, which meant it had to be yanked. Since rain was forecasted, I decided to wait until today to pull it up myself. Yesterday I yanked out every aloe plant in my patio, along with a tree-full of leaves. I filled up six large lawn bags with crap. Now my patio looks nice and clean. Yay!
Today I spent two hours pulling up the shrubbery in the rain. It wasn't as hard as it could have been and was actually pretty fun to do. There was at least a half foot layer of dead leaves and whatnot under the vines. Now, I believe there is a place for all of God's creatures, but I'm not giving a free ride to all the creepy crawly ones anymore. It was a veritable buffet table for scorpions out there.
So anyhoo, it's raining steady (thanks, SoCal) and should be for the next few days. Normally, this would be really great for us. However, this is the week of the big drunkfest - aka the FBR Open (formerly Phoenix Open) golf tournament and the Super Bowl. Thousands of people will be descending upon the Valley of the Sun to hang out in the rain. Sorry about that, everybody.
I'll be at the Super Bowl next week - w00t! The volunteer meeting is this Thursday so I'll have more details then. The newspaper was running a big story on all the parties and profiled some college chicks who are being paid to go to parties to stand around and look hot. Nice.
Oh - and the best thing that happened this weekend was a phone call from the lovely BrownAmazon. She's coming out to enjoy all that is my adopted home, including a trip up to the Canyon with a stop in Sedona for some tourist trinkets. Okay, maybe not that last one. I'm pretty sure she can make it out of here without buying a howling coyote with a bandana around it's neck. I think I can also work it so she only eats Mexican food while she's here. :-D
See you around!
Just a word about my new avatar, since I now will be probably be confused with our dear Little Miao.
If you don't see it at first - take a second look. It's not in Chinese, it just looks like it is.
From the artis Xu Bing and one of his projects. He had his word art exhibit at the Arizona Museum for Youth recently. I sat down at a computer, typed in my name, and this is what came out.
I gave a copy of this to MomH and she's working on a quilted wallhanging for me. My nieces were curious about it and she asked them what it said. They protested that they couldn't read Chinese. Mom told them to look again. So they did and they realized it was actually my name.
Today was full of fun and excitement. woot.
First, I pulled Elvis out from under bed to go back to the vet for another glucose curve. Fortunately for me and due to poor planning on his part, he was on top of a garment bag with a handy handle. I swiftly pulled him out and deposited him in hs carrier. But what is this? Mom didn't shut it quite tight enough and out pops a sneaky looking cat. We wrestled a bit and off we went.
I dropped him off and returned home to wait for the refrigerator delivery and pick-up guys. Delivery guy calls - he'll be by between 12 and 2:00 p.m. Fine. I call the charity pick-up. "He'll call you within 30 minutes of showing up." Guess I can't really plan around that, now can I?
So I knuckle down, get some work done. Pick-up Guy calls, and 15 minutes later - my fridge is gone. That 30 minutes is a pretty tight window of time.
It's 11:00 so I dash off to the post office and the library. I arrive home at 11:45 - and find a note on my door that Delivery Guy was here at 11:38. WTF? I call the number on the note and get the dispatcher. I calmly tell him the situation, he calls Delivery Guy and then I'm told he'll come back, but I'll be the last one. Fine. As long as it comes today.
Delivery Guy says I was told he would be there between 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. Now, I know I've been spacey lately, but there is a big pronunciation difference been "noon" and "eleven". I think I would have had that right.
After I put the jug of milk and jar of non-expired mustard in their new home, I call the vet. Elvis is ready to go.
Fairly good news - Elv doesn't have to come back in for at least four weeks and he seems to be a bit more stable. The vet also said "Elvis is such a great cat. We enjoyed having him back there. He was watching everything that was going on. We would all say hi when we walked by."
Awww. I was such a proud cat momma. Yay!
Elvis couldn't wait to get home. I mean - he literally couldn't wait.
I only live five minutes away. That was three minutes too far.
Elvis started yowling and making crazy noises never heard before. He starts to circle in his case, looking more and more panicked. Was he scared? He was fine a second ago. Is he having a reaction?
I finally and immediately understood. "NO! Elvis! We're almost home! Just wait until we get home! PLLLEEEEZZZEE!"
I'm watching the road and speeding up when I hear it before I see it. PSSSSSSST!!!!!!!!
Oh noes! He turned to point his rear to the front of the car and let loose with a great mighty torrent of cat piss. Then another shot, just to make sure he got it all out.
He settled back in for the rest of the short ride home and was fine again.
We arrived home, I let him out and promptly took a ream of paper towels to the front seat and then to his carrier, followed by a cat-odor remover spray. I checked not too long ago and the spray isn't working. Well, Elvis' spray is working as potently as a cat's will. Ugh.
I'm hoping he just HAD to go, as he does go a lot in his current condition. I can only hope that and not because he's mad at me. He was his old happy self as soon as we got home, so I would think he'd still be pissy if he was peeved. (heh)
Instead of being snarly, he's hasn't let me out of his sight. I guess he can't be too mad. Right?
And I am soooo looking forward to my commute tomorrow. @_@
The helicopter incident last night went without, well, incident. After checking all the doors and window for the umpteenth time, I went to bed. Luckily, I have an air purifier that helps block out exterior noise. Sometimes it's good to be oblivious. "LALALALA I can't hear police helicopters overhead LALALALA".
Of course, no word of anything in the paper or on the news this morning. The joy of living in the big city.
Drude's tale in the comments from my last post reminded me of a story the H family told me when I was home in Michigan. Last summer, the state police blocked access to their road during a pursuit. The cops were all over our property on motorcycles until they gave up because the person they were chasing went where they couldn't go. The area went from lockdown to "we give up" just like that.
The kicker is, they didn't catch the guy but they wouldn't tell my family what they wanted him for. Eventually they found out the guy was late on child support or something like that. Creepy stuff.
There are three - count 'em THREE - police helicopters circling my neighborhood. At first I thought perhaps it was just Boeing's military helicopter division testing out some birds. That happens a lot and is pretty cool.
But... as I was chilling on the couch with Elvis, I realized there was more than one chopper and they weren't going away. Then I heard some sirens, faint, but I heard them. I got up to close the blinds on the patio door when I saw one helicopter, then another, and then another, the last one sending its beam down my street.
I'm sure there's nothing to be alarmed about. o_O
First and foremost - a big heartfelt thanks to everyone for all the birthday wishes. It meant so very much to me! (((HUGS)))
I have the day off, which means I should be able to get a wicked amount of things done today. Especially since my glacially slow home computing system discourages any internet browsing - so don't expect to see me around the 'hood much until I get back to work tomorrow. :-P
That said, I've been putting off any productivity so far today by practicing the piano. Sure, it's a decent use of my time and it's fun, but it's not on the list.
I hadn't practiced in months because I had too much clutter covering it up. Once I start using a surface area as a dump site for things I need to put away, I keep piling it on. My recent house cleaning escapades led to the rediscovery of the keys and thus to my inspiration to practice once again.
One of my co-workers is a retired college music professor and an accomplished pianist. She told me that I need to make my favorite piece my "Karaoke Song". She told me that in Japan, people pick one song and then take lessons, perfecting their ability to sing their one song of choice. No matter what else you may want to sing (or play), you will always have that one song in your pocket to pull out when you need it.
This morning, on my way to do something more important, I sat down at the bench and knocked out countless versions of Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring." There's a section that always gets me finger-tied, so I spend extra time on the same 16 measures. Over and over and over.
Luckily, Elvis enjoys the piano, no matter how poorly I play. He often joins me on the bench, but he doesn't try to play. Bummer, then he could be doing duets with the internet darling, Nora the Piano Playing Cat. (I'd link to it, but it would take forever and my 'puter would asplode, I'm sure.)
Okay, enough of me prattling on. I didn't get much done last week. Saturday was a waste because my neighbors and I met with Termite Guy to head off infestation. I already have them in my place. Yay. Always fun to use up most of your home improvement budget in the first month of the year on a surprise cost. Okay, it's not that much of a surprise, but it, say it with me folks - isn't on the list.
Hmm - I'll have to start with this week because I can't get the strikethrough function to shut off after my last line from last week's list. Grrr.
This week:
1. Get landscaper crew to cut back shrubbery so termite crew can get to foundation.
2. Start shoveling out back room
3. Let's keep the resume item on the list until I get it done
4. Send out thank-you notes from Bday
5. Clear off kitchen table - and the chairs. Must get better filing system!
6. Try one new recipe which requires usage of some unused dish/appliance. One of my big goals is to use everything I have - or get rid of what I will never need.
7. Finish reading Frankenstein. I know, I have to put my reading on the list. I enjoy it, I just don't give myself a chance to sit down and do it.
8. 6-mile run
Last week:
1. Mail package of stuff to the H family - At least the package is ready to go...
2. 5-mile run3. Update resume - I've been meaning to do this for a year now. Not that I have an intention of leaving my current job, but everyone should have one ready to go.
4. Use Borders GC and finally buy Rob Gifford's book about China - I need to read his book before I can be his official stalker girlfriend, after all.
5. Start shoveling out back/guest/store room
6. Figure out what I need to do to have an official will for Arizona - I have a referral to an estate lawyer, but that might be overkill since I'm leaving everything to Elvis.
7. Check out German language CDs from library to brush up before trip in May
