OMB

Oh, my Blog! How I’ve neglected you! Forgive me, kthx.

An Average Day

What I should be doing:

1) Cleaning

2) Practicing

3) Cleaning

4) Grocery shopping

5) Cleaning

6) Creating Lesson Plans

7) Cleaning

8) Researching Server 2008

9) Cleaning

10) Cleaning my car

11) Laundry

 

What I’m actually doing:

1) _______________ Fill in the blank

Anticipate

Sunday Scribblings gives us the writing prompt:

#174 – Anticipate

What are you looking forward to, for better or worse?

Remember that song by Carly Simon? Anticipation? The ketchup ad?

I found this on YouTube the other day. It’s a wonderful take on the old song. Carly’s children, Ben and Sally, sing and play with her. Listen to the whole tune if you have the time. Come back later and enjoy it again. It’s just that good. I love that James and Carly perform with their children. I love the mix of music and family. It’s one of my core values! I’m blessed to belong to a family of very talented musicians, artists, gardeners and writers. Music is something we all enjoy and appreciate.

I love good music. I love tight harmonies. I love live music and acoustic music. I guess this is why I last weekend was so wonderful. The University of Pennsylvania radio station, WXPN-FM,  hosts a live music event every year. It has become the highlight of my summer. It starts on a Friday night at 5:00 PM and goes until 9:00 PM or so on Sunday evening – more than 25 hours of great, live music. You can bring in coolers with food and non-alcoholic beverages although you can purchase all kinds of food and beverages, as well as craft items and clothing. The cost for this festival – $30, if you’re a member of the radio station. 30 bucks for 3 days of the best live music you’ll ever hear in one weekend! And the best thing about the weekend is that because it’s so affordable, you can go with family and friends and share the experience of hearing old favorites and finding new favorites.

So thinking of live music and Carly Simon got me to thinking of another Simon sister, Lucy Simon, Carly’s older sister who is also a songwriter and composer. In fact, she composed the score of the Broadway musical, The Secret Garden. This is what I’ve been anticipating lately:

 

Rehearsals began at the end of June. This was the first blocking rehearsal for this scene and the quality isn’t great because I used my Crackberry. I can’t wait until we open in September. It will be fun to go back and compare this scene to the final product!

I am really blessed to be able to do so many things that I enjoy. I’m praying that I never get so old or grumpy that these joys become a burden. Shows are a lot of work and a huge time commitment. The relationships that are formed make the teamwork and creativity that are required easier to handle. Many times over the course of the last few weeks, I’ve regretted having to leave my family and friends to go to a rehearsal. I haven’t been down the shore once this summer. I’m not sure if I’ll have an opportunity to get down there between rehearsal schedules for two shows, a wedding and my full-time job (even though we’re on summer hours right now).

Still, I’m looking forward to the next few months. I’ll post updates as we make progress.

Where In the World?

Sunday Scribblings gave us this writing prompt:

#173 – Where in the World?

Have you ever stood still and scratched your head and said, ‘Where in the world?’ Is there somewhere in the world you would love to go? Are you looking for someone or something or a place that makes sense to you? Where in the world are you?

It should be an easy prompt to cover but lately I haven’t had the time or energy to put a coherent sentence together. Usually I’m walking around asking, “Where in the world did I put (fill in the blank).” That’s because I have a serious organization problem. Normally there wouldn’t be an issue with finding something but I’m starting to realize that there isn’t room in my brain to hold anything other than the most important stuff like name, phone number and address.

The first blank to be filled in would have to be apostrophe. Where in the world is the apostrophe on my keyboard because, gosh darn it, I type a semicolon more often than not. I just never seem to make it over far enough to type an apostrophe. I don;t know how to type properly. I type with two or four fingers and a thumb so that might be why I miss the apostrophe. Do you know how many times you use apostrophes in a paragraph?  It’s pretty often. I left the semicolon typo up there in the third sentence of this paragraph so you could see that I’m not making it up. I’ve corrected all the others.

The next blank would be that piece of music. My sister is now busting into hysterical laughter because she’s heard this question more often than any one human should have to hear it.  I’m sure her children have asked this question many times. I’m pretty sure that’s what makes her laugh. I can’t remember the last time she heard me ask the question. She’s probably asked the question herself many times. See – it’s a popular question in this neighborhood.

The next blank would be my mind. Honestly, there’s not much to it. It shouldn;t be hard to keep track of. For heaven’s sake. it’s probably where I left that piece of music because it sure as heck isn;t where it;s supposed to be.

 

Vision

A couple of months ago something happened that caused some hurt and sadness. I was seeing an event for what it was – under par, less than wonderful, possibly adequate. I felt that my involvement in the project justified my opinion. Nevertheless, I was shocked when someone close to me expressed their opinion more bluntly than I was able to accept. It was clearly an example of “It’s ok for me to recognize this failure but don’t you dare say anything about my baby.”

This week I found myself involved in a situation that is even more laughable than the previous situation. With an entirely different set of people and circumstances, I feel like I’m in a remake of The Emperor’s New Clothes. Each time I replay the scene, I have to pinch myself and wonder if I was the only person in the room who saw what I saw.

I shake my head and puzzle over the pain I’ve caused myself. Clearly, I am running into this brick wall because my “Spidey” senses are tingling to their own drummer. I did speak up. I did express my opinion. Perhaps, in an effort to be diplomatic, I neglected to paint the entire picture. My diplomacy has not stopped me from looking at the situation, imagining the potential ridicule and waiting for all of the collective jaws to drop.

There are times in my life when those same “Spidey” senses tell me to run and not look back, but like a person who has just witnessed a horrible accident, I can’t turn away.

I am going to keep my eyes open and see what the future brings. I’m a person who can admit when I’m wrong and I’m hoping the outcome of this situation will give me the opportunity to do so. In the meantime, I’m staying away from blunt objects and rubbing my eyes more often.