the pattyo

So we have our new car! It’s a nice little Honda Civic. We didn’t wind up with a hybrid this time, but I think this car will be good for my long drives to UCI and other places. It’s an automatic; my right knee really despises the clutch when I’m in traffic, so this is a good thing. It’s weird to think we just spent more than I’ll earn for the entire run of Les Mis, though. Money—it is a weird thing.

And while we do have this nice new car sitting in our garage, I’m not driving it to San Francisco at this point. The parking garage where we all leave our cars is this tiny little place. The attendants usually park our cars for us, and they squeeze them so closely together we sometimes can’t even get into them and have to request that they come down to move them for us. (They often have to push our side mirrors in before the park them too, so that they don’t get broken.) So I think I prefer to take the old Mazda so I won’t mind as much if the car gets scratched. I’d hate for the first scratches to occur while doing Les Mis.

Hmmm … thinking … thinking …

Our first scratches on the Mazda happened when I drove the car up to San Francisco to play Beauty and the Beast (my first Best of Broadway gig). How about that?
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(where I exercise), gas was $2.39. Driving home 1 1/2 hours later, when I planned on filling the tank, the same two stations were now charging $2.41.

Sigh.
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… and the winning car looks to be the Honda Civic! I know I’d talked about a different car quite a bit, but the little hybrid dream will be put on hold for the time being; we don’t have time for waiting lists and the Prius, from all we’ve been told, is close to a 6 month waiting period. But next time … I’m sure we’ll make it work next time! The Civic is a very nice car, and will suit us (mostly me I believe) perfectly.

So yippee for how quickly this was able to happen. (And many thanks to Dan who does the whole car salesman/money thing much better than I.)
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• you’re not ugly, but you need this…
• All’s fair in love and war.
• celebrities import this from japan, you don’t need to
• PLEASE LET ME KNOW YOUR ACCEPTANCE
• Rolex ?
• spermatazoa to 500 percent
• T0p hOt pick in the right sect0r at the right time
• Top Quality Rolex & LV replicas ….
• Trading a|ert f0r significant sharehO|der va|ue

Most of these arrived multiple times and yes, the typos were in the original messages. Now mind you, I’m not including the more risqué sounding subject headers. (Sorry!) I get so many of this a day it’s astounding. So many messages, so little time.
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We are car shopping. A week ago I never would have thought we would be car shopping already. But our Mazda has an awful lot of miles on it, so it’s not a bad idea. Add to that the fact that Brandon will be living in Seattle for a bit over a month, and the timing was right; he can borrow the Mazda for August, and when he returns it Jameson can learn to drive it too.

Besides, what’s money anyway … correct?

So we are looking at Civics and Corollas. QUICK … send me your opinions! This is happening quickly and we may even buy the new car tonight. You never know.

We aren’t looking for a fancier car, just something that will get me to and from work, be comfortable (and, I hope, a bit quieter than the Mazda, but one can only do so much with such a small vehicle), and won’t put us so in debt that I have to become president of some place like Apple (although I wouldn’t argue if they wanted to have an Oboe In Residence position!) in order to cover the cost.

Okay, working in a new job isn’t even something we talked about. I just added it. For fun.

But doesn’t the Apple Oboist idea sound wonderful?
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Today has been a day of total non-activity.

I was planning on church, but while I half-woke several times I wasn’t fully awake. Then, I did finally get out of bed, but had an atrocious earache. Of course it went away somewhat quickly once I took Tylenol, but it was too late for me to get to church.

So I’ve been very lazy and slow. I’ve read a bit of Anne Lamott’s latest book, Plan B, Further Thoughts on Faith, and I enjoy what she writes even while I am in a much different place than she in so many ways. Sometimes things she writes are so incredibly true, but are things I’m not willing to admit to even myself, much less the world. So I’m grateful for her daring. At the same time, she complains about her looks which drives me nuts because I see her face on the book jacket and I think, “Just shut up, will you?! If I only looked like you I’d be fine with that!” Of course maybe her picture is more flattering than her “norm”, but still … I just want to meet her face to face and say, “See me? What the heck are you complaining about?” But then I realize others will probably gripe to me about the same thing; I often complain about my looks or weight and I think — no, I know — it bugs them. I guess I should try to remember this whenever I want to open my big mouth and whine about the face God gave me, or the weight I’ve recently gained (which is my own fault, not God’s). But I won’t remember. Because that’s just the way I am; self-absorbed little-big-old-but-acting-like-a child-me. :-)

But anyway, I have taken today totally off from music even while this little voice in my big head keeps saying, “You know you’d better make reeds and practice and check out your pesky oboe.” I think the more reasonable side is suggesting a day off is a good thing. Or maybe it’s the lying side. But I’m choosing to trust it is the reasonable side. For now. Mostly I’ve been a wee bit down and I know it’s just that 8 stressful shows a week can really be exhausting.

23 down. 32 to go.

The Giants lost today. 16-0. Ouch. My batting average with the Big Scary Oboe Solo™ is much, much higher. I make much less.

Isn’t it good that I’m not a resentful or envious person? I think so.
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I picked up my new glasses yesterday. I’d finally had it with not being able to read my music, so I ordered a pair of music glasses as well as the regular ones. What a HUGE difference! Suddenly those notes on the page are in focus. How ’bout that? My computer is easier to work with as well. I’m so thankful that I could get these. (The expense was yucky, of course, but at least I have Les Mis. So far it seems that each week the money I earned gets spent at about the same time as the check comes in. Such is life.)

Now it’s time to pack for my overnight stay in SF: having two doubles in a row yet again, and this weekend is also “Gay Pride Weekend” up there so it’ll be crowded and, most likely, a total mess right where we have to drive in tomorrow. I decided it was just easier to stay up there and not get home at 12:30 AM only to turn around again in less than 12 hours to go back up and deal with the typically unruly crowds. I can’t have this mini-vacation every week (that would really eat in to my income), but one or two times just makes life less stressful. Less stress is a good thing.

Today is:

Take Your Dog To Work Day
and
Celebration of the Senses Day

Can you imagine what might happen if every pit musician brought a dog to work? Heh. Funny to think about!

I’ll celebrate some senses, though. Certainly my ears will get a lovely little celebration, and my taste buds should be happy little campers since I’ll be going out to eat somewhere up in SF. I usually go with colleagues and the all choose great places to eat.
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Yesterday was “Stupid Guy Thing Day” … but since I know no stupid guys we didn’t observe the day.

Today is “Let it Go Day” and, believe me, I need this day. Badly!

1) My oboe is misbehaving.
2) The cat Jameson is feeding escaped the house and won’t come out from underneath the shed.
3) My email is messed up.
4) Our server seems to be acting up … or I guess it’s something to do with the phone line. But whatever it is, it is frustrating! I never know if I can retrieve mail or post here as it depends upon the “mood” of the “stuff” that makes it all work.

So oh well. Stress. I’ll live.
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… while Brandon, Jameson and I were walking in downtown Willow Glen:

“Oh yeah, and I’m having a girl.”

It was just funny the way the woman, who was perfectly pregnant*, said those words on her cell phone. It was as if she said, “Let’s see, could you pick up some milk and eggs. And, oh yeah, I’m having a girl.”

We all laughed when we got far enough away that she wouldn’t hear us.

*”perfectly pregnant”: the woman had that kind of “basketball belly” and the rest of her looked so darn normal it was disgusting. Now when I was pregnant my entire BODY was pregnant, from the tips of my toes to my round face. But no, I’m not envious … not at all! :-)
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British farmers are up in arms. They want the term “couch potato” to be nixed. They are requesting that it be removed from the OED. They think “couch slouch” would be better. Potatoes have been getting a bad rap. Isn’t that sad. I know I was moved to tears when I heard the story.

Read about it here.

Poem to the Oxford English Dictionary Powers that Be

Poor potatoes, so abused,
when the truth is they are used
for healthy reasons and, no doubt,
couch potato should be out.
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