Birthday Party Cookout

We spent today at Bruce's 1st birthday party (Bev & Fred's). There must have been 30-40 people there. Fortunately, the weather stayed gorgeous. Bruce napped during the mid-afternoon (that would explain the partially-devoured birthday cake while we were singing Happy Birthday in the pic above). There were huge amounts of food which we ate constantly for at least 2-3 hours, lots of conversations, and several cute kids under the age of six, none of whom we were responsible for. ;-)

Fred poured a celebratory bottle of Jagermeister into little shot glasses, encouraging me to try it. I've heard of it, but had no idea what it was. Everyone else was chugging theirs and it didn't take me long to figure out why. It tasted mostly like Robitussin cough medicine, with anise and prune flavorings for good measure. Kinda nasty, but even the 1/4 inch or so I consumed gave me a buzz. Paul didn't like it either. One of Fred's friends generously offered to take it off my hands. All in all, a great day.

I've updated karint.com with new pix (see link in 5/28 entry).

Spring Performance

I just performed with Cleveland School of Dance at the Allen Theatre tonight. We were awesome, as usual! (I took a buttload of pics in the studio last Wednesday, just posted at karint.com.)

Paul is at his 25th reunion at Oberlin, so for the first time, didn't get to come to the performance. Whenever he's out of town, I always sleep pretty badly the first night. I couldn't sleep until at least 2 am last night and couldn't sleep past 8 this morning. I wasn't feeling blue or anything, I'm just so used to having him there and hearing his breathing. I should have been feeling draggy all day, but of course wasn't because of the performance buzz--no caffeine necessary.

During the lunch break after warmup class I thought I'd run my pieces on the piano in the theatre. What a rude awakening--it was so out of tune it sounded like one of those church basement pianos little kids are constantly pounding on, or a honky-tonk piano at a bar. Funky! (And not in a good way--more like moldy-leftovers-funky.) And I am pretty used to out of tune pianos. Yeah, it was bad. But I didn't mention it to Gladisa, figuring 1) She had enough to stress about already and 2) When Lawrence came later, he would surely tune it himself, as he has previous years.

When he did come and play it a little bit, he was livid, yelling at all the tech people, "If I were Karin or Larissa, I would refuse to play this piano! How can you not think to check this before now?" and etc. He was especially pissed because he had left his tuning equipment at home, not thinking he would have to use it. (Truthfully, of course I wouldn't have refused to play--I'm not much of a diva.) So he left and came back with the equipment, still fuming. We ended the tech/dress rehearsal an hour early so he would have time to tune it.

I love performance days. There's a lot of downtime, spent mostly chatting with colleagues and some of the moms, eating, reading Newsweek, and visiting various dressing rooms because some of the girls wanted to take a picture with me. You can feel the adrenaline in the air. I took a long, leisurely time to change into my black performance glamour outfit and add a little more makeup.

I spent the whole performance in the stage right wing, watching the other dances from the side view in the glare of the stage lights, feeling so relaxed I was even yawning, doing finger exercises to warm up since both of my pieces were fast and difficult from the get-go. I only felt the adrenaline when actually on stage, just enough to feel a little fluttery with my hands a little sweaty. Fortunately, my focus has improved enough to keep this from causing me to make noticeable mistakes. Maybe someday I'll be able to let go of self-conciousness enough to really get in a "flow state" on stage, but it only happens a few seconds at a time. At least I can see the colors, which gives me something to grab onto.

Larissa and I both played well (on a beautifully tuned piano), and the dancers looked great and like they were having fun. Afterwards there was much hugging, graduating seniors crying, parents and friends congratulating. I went to find Lawrence to tell him how much I appreciate his hard work on our behalf. I just love performing, but I'm also glad it's over so I can take it a little easy for a while.

Articulating my UU Faith

The Faith Articulation Covenant Group that I'm in is leading the service at church tomorrow, and I am one of the people who will talk about my faith for a couple of minutes. It's always been sort of nebulous for me (that's why I joined the group!) so the assignment was a little daunting, but I've finally written it out. Here's what I'm going to say, and afterwards I'll play a piece of music that means a lot to me.

Articulating My UU Faith

I didn't grow up Unitarian Universalist. When I was a child, my family were active members of the Episcopal, then the Lutheran church. We would follow a liturgy, reciting our prayers, creed, and confession of sin from the book. There were Bible readings and communion with homemade bread and real wine. My favorite parts of the service were the Passing of the Peace, a time to greet your neighbor that involved lots of hand-shaking and hugging, and of course, the music. By 5th grade I was singing alto in the adult choir and in the Folk Group. I always felt enriched by the community aspects of church; the fellowship hour, the church camps, the church musicals, the early morning trips to the birthday girl or boy's home where we would serenade them and throw fresh flowers on their bed.

My parents always encouraged us to think and ask questions about anything, including religion. As I became an adolescent, everthing in life seemed to be about hating being told what to do or losing the Power Game in any way. The idea of humility before God seemed so off-putting to me. The prayers we recited didn't make me feel connected to anything, they were just the same words we repeated over and over every week. The 2000-year-old, Middle Eastern, agrarian frame of reference just had no relevance to my life.

Our whole family dropped out when I was about 17, and for the next 15 years the only time I went to church I was getting paid to play the piano. I spent a lot of time out in nature, at the piano, or nurturing a relationship. Sometimes I would have brief moments of feeling fully present and connected to the universe doing these things. But I still felt kind of isolated and missed that sense of community I got from church as a kid. I felt really at home here when I joined this church. Here was a place I could have real conversations and feel part of a group of like-minded people.

For me, my spiritual path is something that grows organically from my experience, as opposed to an external creed or ritual. Nature, love and especially music are my ways of being connected to the universe. Ask me to pray or meditate and I'm not very good at it, but sit me down at a piano and I can reach that "flow state" right away.

Why is This so Funny?

So many things make me laugh. Satire, irony, absurdity, situations, even a good word play. But the kind of thing that gets me laughing until my abs hurt and I've cried off all my eye makeup? More often than not, it tends to good ol' bodily functions. The first time I saw
Farting Preacher Two * with Darcy and Paul, the three of us were howling.

Usually I'm the one laughing until I'm crying, and Paul is laughing more at me than at the farts, poop, barf, etc that set me off. But this time, he actually had to leave the room because his stomach was hurting and he was crying. I have never seen him laugh so hard, which of course set Darcy and me off even more.

The artist who edited this video is a comedic genius. The preacher often pauses and makes funny faces, gestures, etc, providing perfect opportunities for "sound effects." He'll say things like, "I feel something billowing and bellowing out of me," "that was prophetic," "Jesus spoke that through me," "I was meditating," etc., all of which add to the hillarity. As Paul says, "He thinks it's the Holy Spirit, but really it's just farts."

So we may think we're spiritual beings on a different plane from all other animals, but sooner or later some bodily function will bring us down to earth at a most inappropriate time. See, potty humor can be profound!

Here are some more pages, for your enjoyment, that caused me many a belly laugh and nose blowing:

Doodieman
How to poop at work

* There are also Farting Preacher One, Three and Four, but Two is our sentimental favorite. In fact, we watch it periodically for a good laugh at bedtime. Our euphemism collection has been considerably enriched. "Hello!"

Lilacs

I love the scent of lilacs. It reminds me of a May afternoon when I was 17. My boyfriend, who lived on the other side of town and had no car, took 2 buses to bring me a bouquet of lilacs he had picked.

First Gospel Rehearsal

Sunday was my first rehearsal with the Archwood UCC Gospel Choir. (See Audition or Party Game? post.) There were about 5 or 6 really nice people who made up the choir. Andrew, the director, was under the mistaken impression that our first song, "Soon and Very Soon," was in the hymnal. Nope. Did I already know it/ever hear it before in my life? Nope. Luckily, he had the CD and boombox handy. It was pretty easy to learn, although in the key of F# (or Gb) major. No matter how you slice it, that's 6 accidentals in the key signature. Why oh why are none of the songs on this CD in normal keys?! Not that it matters, since obviously I don't have to read any music anyway. Andrew kept stopping and starting the CD as I was rapidly trying to write down chord symbols.

I finally asked him to just let it play through once so I could write down the structure of the song (verses, bridge, etc.) Now he wants me to play the parts. I hadn't been listening for that, so I just made them up. He seems to be sort of disorganized, with the emphasis on fun/spirit over precision. Now that I know that, I can just relax and not stress if a rehearsal doesn't seem that productive. I'm not the director, so it's not my place to fill any vaccuum of leadership I might see.

Evidently they had tried starting the Gospel Choir with the regular pianist at the church, Dorothea, who had a hard time learning the music by ear. So here I am, little Miss Classically-Trained-and-Everything-Else-I've-Learned-is-a-Second-Language-White-Girl-Faking-Gospel, and she's the Black lady! :-D

Sucky work schedules

We were planning to see Verlezza Dance do their spring concert at Tri-C East tonight. The problem was, it started at 8 pm and I didn't get out of work until 7:30, thanks to an extra rehearsal for the spring performance. I almost bought our tickets in advance, but decided not to in case the rehearsal ran late/I felt like the Bitch From Hell due to lack of dinner, etc. In any case, Paul would have had to meet me up at work--we would have had to gun it and maybe been late anyway.

Well, it turned out that he got stuck working late due to a malfunctioning machine and didn't get home until almost 8:00.
:( BOO!

Silver lining #1: thanks to my caution, we're not out the money.
Silver lining #2: I guess we'll "settle" for going out to Mi Pueblo for dinner instead.

Socks

It's funny, the articles of clothing that I most take for granted, socks, can put me in the worst mood when they're worn out/uncomfortable/falling down. I hate shopping for these things--they're utilitarian, (almost) no one sees them, and good ones are expensive. But I finally bit the bullet last week when I put on a favorite pair of socks and could feel the bare kitchen floor right through them. Lo and behold, there were 1" in diameter holes in the bottom of each one. That's it--off to Target I go.

I figured it would be easy to find a few pairs that complement my khakis and blue jeans, pairs that were soft and had extra padding on the bottoms. But I guess now that it's spring, they figure everyone wants to wear these thin little things in pastel colors that are shaped like a tube (no built-in heel). Don't most people walk any distance at all? I could just see them, migrating down into my shoes, causing a lovely blister-inducing crease on the bottoms of both feet in less than 5 minutes.

I finally found the "active wear" sock selections, where the socks have contoured heels, extra padding on the parts where shoes are most likely to rub, and moisture-wicking material. Now we're talking! But I had only 2 "color" choices--white and black. I guess they figure if you buy these, you only use them to work out in, so why should you care what they look like? I bought several pairs of black ones. Black goes with everything, and, I've decided, looks much better than a color that clashes oh-so-slightly with one's outfit.

I've been wearing them every day. I love how they hug my feet and how I never have to yank them up through the day.

I'll put a real post up tomorrow

I was doing so well writing something every day. I got slammed over the weekend and today and now my brain is too dead to come up w/something tonight. Goodnight, all.