Monthly Archives: October 2013

Almost…

It’s almost here. Showtime/Gotime!

Last rehearsal tonight, before opening on Saturday. Maybe a pick-up rehearsal tomorrow…we won’t know until 10 p.m.

Just checking in on my fiends, making sure you know what tomorrow is. YAY! TGIFinkday.

All right, I must fly. Yes, I’m going in to school late this morning — it’s parent/teacher conference weekend, and we all got to sleep in a bit, since conferences go until 7:30 tonight. I won’t be there, but…yeah. :-D

Have a goody!

Go time

Aaaaand we’re off to the circus.

Production week has arrived, and poop gets real. Welcome, butterflies. Welcome, insanity. Welcome, Subway with Stoney every night. :P

Yesterday was a total thumbs-up. Had a great rehearsal with my pit orchestra, then got to spend some fun quality time with Lars and the Fabulous Mr. A., who ran the square footage of my main floor and ate granola and played with toys like it was his job. Adorable child.

Only thing missing was the Js, but hopefully we can score a visit with them this coming Friday night — the only night I have “off” until next Monday.

OK, enough about me, me, me. So, what do you think about me?

Kidding. I gotta git. Production week waits for no rat. Hugs to you, my fiends.

J’aime le théâtre!

Missing you.

I don’t think I’ve gone five days without a post in the entire almost-six years we’ve been together, you and I.

You can be sure that when I go this long without writing, something else really huge is horning in. Of course, that would be Fiddler on the Roof. It was a week of uncertainty and disappointment, ended yesterday by hope and enthusiasm, on the part of both the actors and the directors. Huzzah. They might be pulling something together here.

Truth be told, I’d rather just stay home, watch the Browns, and visit with the grandsons, but there is much to do yet before I crash early tonight. Orchestra rehearsal at school, cooking for the week of late-night rehearsals, entering grades, reading six Beethoven essays, getting the program ready to go to print, doing last-minute stuff before opening next Saturday…it never ends.

But I’m doing all these tasks with a renewed sense of encouragement. We may all survive this yet…

Happy Sunday! I’ve missed you.

So they say…

I think this needs to be my profile picture for a while.

…that school choirs are a “luxury” — something that many school districts are pulling out in favor of piling on more academic courses so we can beat Japan. I mean Finland. I mean China.

This article has made the rounds lately, and I’m glad. I’ve always held the belief that school choir (although church choirs are definitely not excluded in this study) provides my otherwise stressed-out students with just a few moments of joy in their day. The “three Rs” people don’t seem to get that a child’s brain is also attached to a soul; that more than one process must be practiced and honed in order to educate the “whole child.” Things like art, music, PE and other “non-academic” electives fill that void. It’s just that nowadays, people who know the least are having the most influence on how even those subjects are taught — or if they’re taught.

Strange days.

But back to the article. Interesting research, and fun to read. Something that actually “proves” the value of singing with others: how about that?

I especially loved the first comment (the one about Congress…haha).

Are we having a good morning? Or is it too early to tell? B here, unfortunately. At least the wheels didn’t fall off at rehearsal last night.

But hey, there’s always tonight… :-D

FO

Je me souviens

And I’ll bet some of you remember, too.

Yesterday — and I’ve forgotten how I got there — I ended up on some blog site where a woman shared her memories of growing up in the 1960s. I thought I’d never see the day when I’d say, “Those were simpler, happy times,” but there you go. They were. Mavis and I have tons of great memories of going to church, singing with our friends, shopping with Mother (especially at F.W. Woolworth’s candy counter, where we were allowed, if we were very good, to get a quarter-pound of the chocolates of our choice), winter ice skating, and summers at Brown Deer Pond.

But today, this post is about FOOD, dude! Does anyone else remember…

We drank this by the gallon

 

Burger Chef & Jeff!

Burger Chef & Jeff!

 

These were extra-special treats, because Mother let us eat them on TV trays in the den. Whoa, camel.

These were extra-special treats, because Mother let us eat them on TV trays in the den. Whoa, camel.

 

Mother and Grandma Johnson made these all the time. Yummy.

Mother and Grandma Johnson made these all the time. Yummy.

 

Think kettle corn. And no, Mother never let us buy any, so I had to beg it off friends at school.

Think kettle corn. And no, Mother never let us buy any, so I had to beg it off friends at school.

 

On the rare occasions when Mother bought it, it was like Christmas.

On the rare occasions when we were allowed to buy it, it was like Christmas.

 

The waiting was the hardest part.

The waiting was the hardest part.

 

I loved the beef kind; Mavis liked the chicken.

I loved the beef kind; Mavis liked the chicken.

 

Food was so awesomely bad for you back then, but nobody really knew that, or noticed, or cared, or whatever.

You know the drill: pony up with some food memories of your own. Find a link to it somewhere if you want to, and we’ll all see if we remember it.

As for now, the orchestra cuts won’t edit themselves. Over ‘n out.