Saturday
morning...well, I got three loads of laundry done this morning at the laundromat. always fun, and what a slice of life. feels good to get caught up with the clothes.
I also started (re-)reading Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. particularly appropriate questions he asks, during this stage of my life journey. the whole "save the world" question. more about that another time, I guess. everyone should read this book, though I expect that our current administration wouldn't understand it. "what's with the gorilla?"...
VSO concert this evening, with rehearsal this afternoon. I suppose I'd better be thinking about some lunch, after I get my clothes put away. have a great day!
my morning
laugh...from a friend on the AWAD forums:
From a letter in the 'Sydney Morning Herald,' Australia:
"If every American who existed in a vegetative state were allowed to die, who would be left to vote for the Republican Party?"
have a great day!
lest we
forget...a couple of bits of news, and a link.
first the news: just so everyone (everyone that reads my blog, that is) is brought up to speed, Marnie and I are separated. it's going on a couple of months now, and that's all I'll say, other than I'm living on my own, in Barre. now that's out, I can share stories about the boys, and whatever. the boys come stay with me usually once a week or so, and they came over for dinner tonight. we had our specialty, spaghetti, and we're getting pretty good at it. we're getting that garlic bread thing down...
anyway, that's that.
now the link:
lest we forget.
have a great day.
a sunny
day...we've been having some beautiful weather here, though the temps have dropped a bit from the 70s we were enjoying earlier in the week. upper 50s today, and that feels good, too. a very blue sky, and lots of buds on the trees. very nice. I'll take it!
tonight is Counterpoint, and Bob has asked me to take the rehearsal, so I should be looking over my music right now... we're preparing for our recording session in May, so we're working on Christmas music, and touching up the Israeli program. that will be an intense weekend, but it will be good. I love that type of singing; very high pressure, and demanding. it fills the need for sport for me.
hope you're having a good day where you are!
a bit
of news...hello! thought I could at least say that, since it's been so long. people ask me how things are going, and that's what I tell them, "they're going." thankfully, I am just about to begin a week of vacation. a very welcome vacation, indeed. I passed in my teaching recertification potfolio this week, and found out yesterday that it had passed. that is a huge load off my shoulders. it happens every seven years, and procrastinator that I am, you can get the idea... so now I just need to save up the funds to pay for my "professional" license... oh well, there's always something. it is, really, a wonderful relief. and since it's done, I can look forward to this vacation, without it hanging over my head. finally.
the Montreal concert with Counterpoint went very well, of course, and we had a beautiful weekend of weather to boot. very nice. now we're preparing for our double recording session in May. two cds worth; the Israeli stuff (in which I did four arrangements), and also a new Christmas cd, which we feel we need. it will be good to have that, when December rolls around. hopefully it will all be ready by then. we're not sure whether Albany Records will pick that one up, along with the Israeli cd, but we're hopeful. I'll let you know!
I've also begun an arrangement of two of my favorite Christmas carols, Noel Nouvelet, and Personent Hodie (On This Day). I don't think it'll be on the cd, though, but if I get it done, we'll do it in December. Bob wants me to keep it at a high school level, so it can go on the Counterpoint Series which is published by Hal Leonard. that would be cool.
ok, I'd better rap things up here, school's almost over. have a wonderful week!
a good
response...got this from a friend on a forum:
NEW LIVING WILL FOR JOHN DOE
I, _________________________ (fill in the blank), being of sound mind and body, do not wish to be kept alive indefinitely by artificial means.
Under no circumstances should my fate be put in the hands of peckerwood politicians who couldn't pass ninth-grade biology if their lives depended on it. If a reasonable amount of time passes and I fail to sit up and ask for a cold beer and the score of the Red Sox game, it should be presumed that I won't ever get better. When such a determination is reached, I hereby instruct my spouse, children, and/or attending physicians to pull the plug, reel in the tubes and call it a day. If they won't do it, go out on the street and get some random passerby or wino to do it.
Under no circumstances shall the members of the Legislature enact a special law to keep me on life-support machinery. I don't care how many fundamentalist votes they're trying to scrounge for their run for the presidency; they should play politics with someone else's life and leave me alone to die in peace. It is my wish that these boneheads mind their own damn business, and pay attention instead to the health, education and future of the millions of Americans who aren't in a permanent coma. It just goes to show you how sick you have to be in this country to get Congress to pay attention to your health care.
I couldn't care less if a hundred thousand religious zealots send e-mails to legislators in which they pretend to care about me or demonstrate outside my hospital with their bleeding Jesuses and sandwiches with Mary's face on them. I don't know these people, and I certainly haven't authorized them to preach and crusade on my behalf. And the Pope should mind his own friggin' business, too.
And if any of my family goes against my wishes and tries to turn my case into a political cause, I hereby promise to come back from the grave and make his or her existence a living hell.______________________________________ Signature
______________________________________ Witness