the pattyo

***News for Today

Kelsey has blonde hair.

Dan is skiing. (It’s nearly April, go figure!)

I am actually going to SCU to teach this morning.

Jameson has a jazz band festival today at my Alma Mater (SJSU).

***News for Tomorrow

Brandon will come for a short visit tomorrow, and it also happens to be Kelsey’s 19th birthday! We still aren’t sure if we’ll have a dinner tomorrow or if we’ll wait until Saturday. I have two rehearsals tomorrow so it might be a bit crazy to try and put a dinner between the two if we are cooking. (But, well, there is Taiwan restaurant! Hmmm.)
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***I’m Sure It’s Just Me!

Take your animal to Petsmart and you can have its picture taken with the Easter Bunny.

Yep. That’s right. And I’m sure I’m the only one who doesn’t understand why someone would do this. It probably has something to do with not having an animal.

Right?

So maybe someone will explain it to me. Soon.

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***And So It Arrives

Yes. Today the mailbox contained a check from SCU. How about that? Guess I’ll be working there this quarter after all!
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***Update on SCU
(see below if you don’t know what this means)

Still no paycheck. I began the Winter quarter on January 14. I taught the required 9 lessons. I had to sign a contract that stated my obligations. It also stated that I would be paid. I fulfilled my end of the agreement. SCU has not fulfilled theirs. At this point I don’t have a clue where I’ll be on Wednesday morning, and I’m very frustrated.

Sigh.

***And Now We Are Four

Kelsey is home! She actually came in a bit earlier than expected yesterday, which was great! We began her visit with a yummy dinner at Sushi Kazoo. I’ll be very busy next week, but I’m hoping we’ll at least get to spend a bit of time together. While UCI and UCLA are on Spring break, as is DeAnza, I’ll be going back to SCU and UCSC. (Well, SCU is still iffy; I won’t be returning if they don’t pay me for last quarter. I think the mailbox will tell me my future this afternoon.)

Hmmm … here’s something for you, Kelsey:

Home is the girl’s prison and the woman’s workhouse.
-George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman

Tee hee! Welcome Home!
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***Ooooh Pullquotes!

Dan just fixed things up for me (I haven’t a clue how he did it, nor do I care … just so long as it works!), and now I can do pullquotes. Isn’t that cool? I think so! It means that if I have something very important that I want to catch your eye. I can do that!

I can even write something totally foolish and have that catch your eye instead.

I can even write something totally foolish and have that catch your eye instead.

I just have to be sure not to over use them. Just like I have to be careful to not overuse exclamation points.

And chocolate!

***My Schedule

I look at my calendar and I wonder how I’m going to do all that I have to do. So many students. Rehearals and performances. Picking up Jameson.

And then I begin getting the messages.

Students cancel. A lot. And suddenly I have more time on my hands. This is good and bad, of course. I like the time, but I hate seeing my students miss so many lessons. I like the time, but I miss the income.

Ah well.

***What Kelsey is doing

Right now? I’m guessing she is either sitting in her classroom, getting ready to take her final at 8:00, or she is right outside the door of the classroom. I see her SN on IM (don’t know what I’m writing about? SN is screen name and IM is Instant Message or Messenger (can’t remember!).

After the final she’ll get a ride to the airport where she’ll sit for longer than I’m sure she’d like and finally fly home. Yay Kelsey!

Oh … and message to Kelsey in case you check my site … you can always see if they’ll take you on an earlier flight if you’d like. I could pick you up if you got in around 3:00 or a bit after. I see one that leaves at 1:50. You could always give that a go!
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***Kelsey Comes Home Tomorrow!

’nuff said!

***Yet More

I am getting more spam from what appear to be Christian groups. So what’s going on? I really don’t get it!

And then a Christian friend of mine was having a disagreement with a “Christian” on a weblist, and the person responded saying, basically, that he/she was glad that my friend would be burning in hell. Saying it with a ton of exclamation points as well.

Hmmm. What IS going on?

***Meanwhile
in my little world … I finally was able to go to AVAC two days in a row. It’s been a long time coming; my schedule simply hasn’t allowed for it. I thought I might even make it three days, but it turns out that I have to get to my rehearsal a bit early tomorrow. The piece I’m playing is so darn hard I need to get together with the other oboist and the soloist (double bass) to try and figure the part out. In fact, I think I’ll go practice some more right now. I’m not sure I can get through this work!
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***SPAM

I’m receiving Christian spam now.

Okay, okay, I realize that the word Christian isn’t an adjective. Or at least I’d like it not to be! But really … can these guys who send these out get a CLUE? I bounced one message back (I can do that with my sometimes glitchy but otherwise okay Apple Mail program). It couldn’t be bounced, meaning that whoever sent it was using a false address, if I understand this stuff correctly.

Yeah. Lying Christians.

Don’tcha just love it?
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***Home

So here I am … with lots to do. The house needs a bit ‘o cleaning (understatement!). I need to practice both oboe and EH. I have bell choir soon. And I probably need to cook dinner too!

It’s difficult to get back into the swing of things. (sigh)

I’m so glad I was able to go on my little vacation. I had such a wonderful and relaxing time. It’s nice that Brandon & Kelsey put up with a bit of mom in their life, too!

The one thing I didn’t do while I was there was to take advantage of the exercise equipment at the hotels. Sadly, I won’t have time to go today either, and this week is awfully full. Oh well. Next week I hope to get back to my schedule, although each week something new pops up and makes it extremely difficult. (This week I have San Jose Chamber Orchestra and next week I have both Opera San Jose AND Symphony Silicon Valley. Yikes!)

***More About Yesterday

I had a nice lunch with Brandon before I left LA for San Jose. He suggested a place he really likes … a place with “atmosphere” to be sure. What I might call a “burger joint”. Complete with a slightly curt guy taking our order and serving us. Then I drove Brandon to a record store and he picked out a few records. After that it was right back to his apartment (he had things to do), and I did the ride home.

Driving home went fairly quickly, even with one overturned car on I-5 that slowed things down for a wee bit.
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***Yesterday

Kelsey and I went to see “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (the title, by the way, is from a poem by Alexander Pope, which I’m now going to have to look up!). I thought it was great, and I’m certainly going to have to see it again!

We hung out, then, in my room for a while.

Later, we went to the Symphony concert. The orchestra is very good: not professional quality, to be sure, but good! Stephen Tucker provided tickets for us and I was able to meet him after. He seems like a great guy …. and he told Kelsey that if she ever needs anything to see him because he just might be able to help. I thought that was quite kind of him. OH … and he said he’s meeting with people on Monday and will get Caitlyn a music scholarship! No “ifs” … said he would!

***Today

I’m meeting with Brandon somewhere between 11 and 12 (I’m learning that with traffic it’s best to be flexible!). I’m not sure what we’ll do — possibly just lunch, but if he needs anything that requires transportation he may as well take advantage of this opportunity.

Then it’s home I go!

***Irvine
is a funny place; it feels as if it’s spread over a large bit of land. No mountains can be seen. There are tall buildings and I can see them from a good distance away. Trees are small. Everything looks new. The movie theater complex we went to looked nearly brand new, as does everything, and there were a good number of eating establishments right across the street (Kelsey and I went to California Pizza Kitchen there after our concert last night). But where are the people? I rarely see people around! It’s almost eery.

But it’s very, very clean. I don’t see any sign of homelessness. There are a ton of gated communities. Everything looks carefully landscaped.

Maybe I just needed to drive around more to find reality. I wonder. Because it all felt a bit dream-like.
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***Free Access … Hmmmm …

So I’m sitting in the Starbuck’s at the hotel … and now I have wireless access for free. I guess I could have avoided playing $20 for the weekend and just come down here. Oh well! Didn’t know.

***Update for Yesterday

I found out at about 7:00 last night that there was a sushi bar in the hotel! I should have investigated ealier I guess. So I called Kelsey and asked if she’d like to join me. Even though she’d already eaten how could she turn down sushi?! So I told her I’d be at UCI in 10 minutes (I was) and we came back here to have a little sushi and then she was able to see my nice view too. The man who was running the bar was great … he gave me a free sample of some sort of fish (I want to say it was something like “Cho”?) and said it was something like $30 a pound (am I getting that right, Kelsey?).

***Trying to Top Kelsey’s Dreams

For some reason the minute I decided to sleep the 17th floor thing hit me; Yikes! I’m awfully high up. And then I felt as if the building was tilting. I was a bit nauseous …l guess from thinking of being so far up off the ground. Later on (a dream?) I thought we had an earthquake. The building was doing what it was supposed to do, but I still didn’t enjoy the ride!

***Other Goings-on At the Hotel

There’s a Christian Women’s Conference here this weekend. Women make a lot of noise. (Dan will attest to that, due to a couple of restaurant experiences we’ve had!) I think they make more noise than men … or at least the noise is harder on the ears! Anyway, they are all happy women. Noisy, happy women. They don’t acknowledge me until I acknowledge them. I guess my being alone makes them not know what to do — they all travel in groups, it seems.

There’s another conference … some sort of Jewish men thing. I haven’t seen any men here, though. I just see the listing on their daily schedule.

Of course there are your wedding receptions and other groups as well. But of course none of this interests anyone, I’m sure!

***Today

Looks like Kelsey and I will see a movie, and this evening we hear the UCI orchestra. Lookingn forward to it!

I did check out the fitness room here … TINY room! … but what I can’t figure out is what I would do with my belonging while I worked out, and the room isn’t all that welcoming. I’m still debating on that one.

***Meanwhile …
I’m sitting here wondering why I don’t see Dan on IChat at all! Hiking? Ignoring your wife? Having fun with your son? What?!
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