A Little Holiday Music

This would be incredibly difficult to learn and sing.

Worth the four minutes to watch, though. 

Let's everybody sing!!

I just left a link in a comment on Dawn's blog.

I realized I hadn't shared this here... or if I have, I don't remember.

Catchy tune. NSFW. Also not suitable for small humans.
Contains the F word. Liberally sprinkled.

Hope your day is a good one.

 

I'd like to be

Under the sea...
In an octopus's garden
In the shade.

Are you humming along with that song?

I played them the animated version below, but I'd been singing bits and pieces of it all week long. One of the kids said she was singing it all evening on Thursday. It is sorta catchy, don't you think?

I spent a bit of time sweeping up yarn scraps, the yarn we used was rather fuzzy. We'll be making a few more of the  little guys this week, we did not have time to do one with each kid who wanted to make one. It's complicated by only having two tables and not enough seating for everyone. I have 9 chairs (plus mine) for 18 kids. They spend a lot of time playing on the floor. It's not optimum, and if our licensing person were to visit, I'd be written up for  it. But the situation is temporary.

Yep. We're finally moving.

After the last kid went home, we (my assistant and I) loaded the first of the boxes into her van and my car, drove around to the other side of the building and unloaded them into  the classroom we're going to be sharing with the reading specialist.

Sadly, I don't get to have my own classroom after all. They've hired a third K teacher and the formerly empty classroom is going to that class instead. I'd  be lying if I said I were happy about it, but I do understand. The two K teachers each have THIRTY kindergartners. When the new teacher starts, each of them will have twenty instead.

Since I'm still in the music room until we can get moved, I have seen exactly what  it's like to wrangle 30 little people. Holy cow. You could not pay me enough to be a classroom teacher anyway, but trying to deal with 30 five year olds? I'd lose what remains of my sanity inside two hours.

The classroom we'll be sharing isn't perfect, I wish we could use the entire space, but the person who's running things could not have been nicer. I finally went and talked to her because the school just  isn't returning our emails and beyond saying which room we were going to move to has not offered any help or a timeline.

So I took matters into my own hands, talked to the teacher, figured out how we can do the move with the least amount of disruption in her life and we're just doing it.

I'll be going in early on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to finish packing. I'm guessing it won't take all three of those days. I packed quite a lot already.

Eric is taking his day off on Friday to come and put together the new carts I ordered back when I thought I was going to be furnishing my regular space. My employer apparently doesn't have anyone who can do the job. I can't do it, I can't lift and maneuver the big boxes and have no idea how to use the tools needed to build.

I told my manager person that he has not asked for anything, but that I think at a minimum he should be getting a gift card for his efforts. She agreed. I know it will happen, but I hope they're generous. He's a good guy. He's not doing this for the company, he's doing it for me. To 'make my job easier' he says.

I know things will smooth out and I won't be all stressed over it.

In other news, Bob is coming to visit in two weeks. He's staying until the end of the month.
::sigh:::
I am glad he can make it every year, he's not getting younger. I'm glad both the kids and their spousal units will be able to spend some time with him, too. But he gets the Momcave to himself, meaning I won't be painting or crafting much while he's visiting. Guess I'd better get a picture painted tomorrow. Or rather today, since I have stayed up all damn night and it's nearly one AM.

We've all been sick. Started with Eric, who is never ill. He actually took a day off from work. In the entire time I have known him, he probably hasn't missed even two weeks of work due to illness. He just goes and goes.

Four days into his illness, I  came down with it. Sore throat, congestion, fever that would not quit. What a pain in the ass. I had a three day weekend, and was sick all three days. Still sniffling when I went to work on Monday, but the fever had been gone the requisite 24 hours before I did.

Then Mason got sick. It went to his chest and he's STILL coughing a week later. Yesterday morning, Lyssa woke up with it.

So I'm going to disinfect the whole house as I clean things up a bit and we'll hope that Bob stays healthy. He's 86 this year. We don't want him to become ill because he stayed with us!

So that's what's up.
Hope you enjoyed the video.
The kids sure did.

Have A Good Time

Yesterday it was my birthday... I hung one more year on the line...
That link leads to a Paul Simon song on YouTube, in case you're wondering.

I had a nice birthday, despite the ear infection, aching joints, fever and general feeling of crap. My kids made me pictures and cards this morning, the music teacher came out of the music room and played Happy Birthday while everyone sang. I sure was looking forward to my nap this morning, I didn't sleep very well last night.

The nap didn't work out so well, unfortunately. I fell asleep with my mouth closed, but as soon as I'd start to relax, my mouth would drop open and I'd snork myself awake.

::sigh::

I was asked by a couple people why I didn't just stay home from work.
Hollow laugh.
First, because we are (as usual) short staffed and there isn't really anyone available to take my place.

Second, if I stay home ill, I will still be sick but I'll be worrying about my kids, too.

It's Deck the Halls month, and we do an ornament or decoration every single day. Who will do that with them if I am not there? I know where everything is!

I picked up the bug at work, so I'm not particularly worried about being there while I'm not feeling well. In addition, I don't sneeze on people or pick my nose and touch their toys or get into someone's personal space and breathe on them.

So whatever. I Worked. Felt like crap.

We had popcorn to celebrate my birthday. A treat that all the kids can eat. We have one who can't eat gluten. I definitely don't want to leave anyone out, so I work to find something they can all have without setting someone apart or making that person feel funny.
Man, it's nasty windy out there tonight!

We're getting some weather from the tail end of some storm or another.
They've been warning us that it was going to hit.
They predicted 3 PM-ish.
And sure enough, that's what we got.

Gusts up to 70 according to the weather guys, but I don't know. From the number of trees down on my way home, I'd say maybe the wind is stronger than that.

Saw several emergency vehicles going here and there, too.

I took a circuitous route home so that I'd miss most of the stoplights or have to turn right at them in case the power went out. Too many people can't figure out what to do when the light isn't working.

We had several power surges. The lights blinked out more than once. Our cafeteria doesn't have very much natural light, the windows are small and near the door in the corner. So when the power goes out, it's pretty dark.

Every time the lights blinked, Jennifer and a couple others screamed or made some scared noise.

I decided we needed a plan.

I got my own flashlight out of my backpack. Eric made me get a maglite a few years ago, so I always have one if needed. It fits in my pocket, but it's very bright.

So I announced to the kids that, "Here's what we're going to do if the power goes out. Number one, freeze. NO ONE moves. If the lights go out and you're walking, stop. If you're sitting, remain seated. Don't scream or get scared. I have my flashlight," and here I demonstrated, getting it out of my pocket and showing them that it worked, "And I will immediately turn it on. Then I will walk to this table over here."

I placed four flashlights on that table, telling them that we'd have plenty of light if needed, so, "Settle down. It's fine. You don't need to scream. I have this covered."

But Jennifer was freaking out. She finally attached herself to me with an invisible cord about three feet long. Followed me everywhere until her dad came to pick her up. She really was nervous about the lights going off.

I finally purchased a thermometer today. My normal temp is about a degree colder than most people, so the 99.9 that it registers is about two degrees of fever. Assuming that it's calibrated correctly and all that. I just took two aspirin, hoping that once I get into bed and covered up (about thirty seconds from now) I will get warm and the fever will eventually break and I'll sleep well.

Can't hit it...

'Tis the season, I'm sure you've heard.

Most of the local radio stations are playing holiday music 24/7. Once in awhile I turn on the radio in the car on my way to work and catch a tune I like, but about 99% of the stuff they're playing just makes me edgy.

First of all, the announcers never shut the fuck up.
They talk over the introductions to songs, timing it so you can't hear the damn song until the words begin.

I don't like that ANY time of the year, but especially now. Annoying.

I have to wander sideways here a bit for a moment, too. Lately, I've seen a lot of 'celebrities' on CNN and other news. How do I know they're celebrities? Because CNN or whoever said so. I have no idea who these people are, what movies they're in, what music they have put out, or what they're famous for. Not that I care, but you need to know that I have no idea who they are.

And every last one of the singing variety of 'celebrity' releases a holiday album.

Which leads me to the point. A ton of people I've never heard of ruining all my holiday favorites.

Why in the hell doesn't anyone just SING anymore? They shriek, they howl, they warble, they have terrible phrasing, take breaths in the wrong places... it drives me insane to listen to it.

So I don't unless I can't escape it. The cafeteria supervisor in my school listens to her radio in the mornings after the kids leave my program and head for class, and it's all I can do not to 'accidentally' knock the radio off the ledge in the kitchen when she's not there.

They can't hit the notes. That has to be it. That's why they go all over, all around them and never actually hit the note.

I have some stuff I listen to every year. The same stuff. By people who actually could or can sing. One of my personal favorites is The Carpenters album, but I also enjoy Mannheim Steamroller... except when they take a lovely, deep layered tune and then add clash and discordant booming, or speed it up into something almost unrecognizable. That's why I've taken the tunes I like from their CDs and made my own. Nothing I hate on it.

It cracks me up, I have become every old person I giggled at when I was a teen. Can't stand what passes for music most of the time, and now they gotta ruin my holidays??

Bah Humbug!!

I'm a monster.

So I am not up to date on the latest and greatest things to do with a computer. But I do own an MP3 player, and I have figured out how to put songs on it. And how to take them off. And why it's a good idea to put full song titles and organize them before adding to the player.

I used to have Lyssa download songs I wanted from iTunes. Then, she'd have to put them on a CD, which I would put into my computer and then onto my MP3.

Until this week. I discovered that I can download songs from Amazon. And put them directly on my MP3 player.

And I can do it FAST. Because my credit card information is stored, I can find a song, download it, and pay for it in about the time it takes me to blow my nose.

The challenge will be to STOP downloading stuff. Stop searching for old favorites.
Because even at a buck apiece (okay, 99 cents... which they do so you don't feel like you're spending a whole dollar) that stuff adds up.

So I guess that means I've created a monster. Even though it's me.

I'm seriously going to try to limit myself to two a week.
I'm already up to four this week.

Okay, maybe four a week.

Jimi Hendrix sucks

When Eric was in Louisiana, he met a friend of the family who likes to collect music.

She had over 10,000 songs. He likes to listen to new stuff, old stuff, undiscovered stuff... you name it. Some of the things he's found I like, others I totally hate.

On the flashdrive he brought home, there are several selections from Jimi Hendrix.

And they all suck.

I can't believe anyone listened to that shit and LIKED it.
I know that people are still buying his albums. I refuse to call it music.

Eric's been going through a few songs every other day or so and picking out the ones he likes to keep. He plans to delete the rest.

I have heard some I hadn't heard before that I like, but most of it is driving me insane.

Especially Jimi.

Gosh, it would be awful if someone accidentally deleted all that crap from the computer, wouldn't it?

In other, really exciting news... I'm back to the 5 AM mornings today. I have finally finished the dishes (had the apple pie dish from Thanksgiving to wash, the relish tray, the little plastic containers we put all the leftovers in)... and that's it.

That's the news.
Jimi Hendrix sucks and the dishes are done.

Now you know everything.

You're welcome.

Cheap Thrills (the holiday edition)

Here's my cheap thrill for today.

I have a bunch of vinyl records. (It's driving me nuts, but I can't type the word vinyl correctly to save my life! I always have to backspace, I transpose the Y and the L every damn time, making it  'vinly'. Just thought you'd appreciate knowing that.)

I have record albums that have been wandering around the Western USA with me since I was 15 years old. That means I have actual records that were purchased here in Oregon when I was in high school. They traveled to Colorado in 1978, to Louisiana in 1981, to California in 1982 and back to Oregon in 1989. They spent time in the states in between as they followed us around in a U-haul.

A couple years ago, I spent some Christmas/Birthday money to buy a USB turntable to plug into my computer so that I could pull some of the stuff I loved off the vinyl and make some CDs with it.

Last year at Christmastime, I recorded a CD with some favorite Christmas music from a few vinyl albums. Stuff that I've never seen or heard anywhere else but in my own collection.

I recorded the songs into my computer, stored them, and made a CD, then put it away somewhere.

Back in early June, Matt took our computer to a friend's house and did a complete reformat. He saved all our old stuff to an external hard drive, but it's not easy to access it now. Different file names and locations. It's sort of a pain in the ass, really. You have to go through a convoluted process to find something, and if you don't know exactly what you're looking for, you may miss something you wanted and didn't even know you wanted.

So I was searching for the CD this week. All week. Looked in the usual places... the cabinet where most of my CDs are. The flowerpot on top of the dishwasher that's full of pens and markers and the occasional CD. The stack of them that's by the computer in the living room. The stack that's next to the computer in the bedroom. No luck.

I had resigned myself to a tedious, profanity-studded trip through my old computer files in the external hard drive sometime this week. Which would make me pissy. And possibly not even yield the result I wanted.

I started leaning toward the idea of just forgetting the whole damn thing.

And late Tuesday afternoon I was looking for some pom poms for the upcoming great snowman project and I found the CD!


I lost no time in adding it to the music collection on my laptop, (rubbing my hands together and chuckling gleefully the whole time) and then hooking up my MP3 player and putting it on there, too. So the next time I'm awake from three until six AM, I will have something new to listen to.

::sigh::

Now all that remains is to change the ringtone on my cell phone to the single holiday tune I have on it (Sleigh Ride, Boston Pops version) and my Christmas Spirit will finally wake up and start working.

I hope.

Cheap thrills, but mine own.

What cheap thrills do you appreciate during the holidays?

Music, doctors and chairs

I bought an expensive damn MP3 player, hm, must be about two years ago. I had lots of my own kinds of music on it.

Eric didn't have a player of his own and was wishing for some music while doing yard work, so I loaned it to him one day.

He liked it so much that he sort of appropriated it. It didn't matter, I wasn't using it much. He added more music. One day, he found he was running out of room, so I told him to just delete my playlists (they were in the computer anyway) and add whatever he wanted.

I don't know what he did, but when he hooked it up to the computer to get rid of my music, he somehow deleted the drivers and the player would no longer sync.

Or play.

When we plugged it into the computer, it showed the memory being half full, but we couldn't access anything that was on it, and could not clear it. There is no reset button.

::sigh::

So I got this wild idea Thursday to dig it out of the drawer in the desk (don't know why we didn't just throw it away, probably because we NEVER throw anything away...hence the cluttered and crowded house we live in...) but I digress.

I tried hooking it up to my laptop, and this funny window came up asking me if I wanted to format. I clicked yes. And the computer told me that I'd be deleting everything on the player, did I want to continue?

Well, why not? Effing thing doesn't work anyway, right?

So I clicked yes.

And the player cleared!

So I tried adding some music to it.

It works.

I know that's not a big deal to most people, but since everyone in my family has different tastes in music and mostly, I just don't bother listening to anything since no one likes hearing it,  it's a very big deal to me.

And now I have music tucked into my backpack for the next 200 times I'm waiting in a doctor's office.

Also on Thursday, I called to find out the status of the report from my IME. They told me that it had been completed on the 27th (so much for five days... the exam was on the 16th.) and probably mailed on the 28th. So it should be on the desk of my claims adjuster by today or Monday. After that (assuming the compensation insurance agrees with the findings of the comp doctor, the radiologist who read the MRI and my orthopedic surgeon who all agree I need surgery to repair my shoulder), the next step is scheduling the MRI for the surgeon to get a better contrasted view, and then... surgery.

::gulp::

We bought a recliner last weekend. After I stick it outside to air out a bit today, it should be okay. Some sort of potpourri or shampoo smell in it... it's fairly strong, especially when one is hypersensitive to smells during certain times of the month.

Like me. Like now.

When I have been hit with another damn migraine. This one was a real screamer.

One of the ones that makes me incoherent and sick and dizzy and shaky.

By the time this posts on Friday morning, I'll probably be on my 3rd half dose of medication. Expensive stuff.

But my new insurance kicks in on Sunday. And I'll have some prescription coverage.

Things are looking up.

A step in the right direction? A new tax!

I wanted to put this video at the bottom but couldn't get my Blogger to do what I wanted. And is it a coincidence that I'm posting this on my hubby's birthday?

So go listen to it anyway, it came to mind immediately when I saw this new tax code thing. And just by the way, I bought the CD just for this song, but there are several funny ones on it. Worth a listen.

2009 Tax Code

The only thing that the IRS has not taxed yet is the male penis. This is due to the fact that 69% of the time it is hanging around unemployed, 10% of the time it is hard up, 20% of the time it is pissed off and 1% of the time it is in the hole. On top of that, it has two dependents and they are both nuts! HOWEVER, effective January 1st, 200 9, the penis will now be taxed according to size: The brackets are as follows: 10 - 12″ Luxury Tax $ 300.00 8 - 10″ Pole Tax $ 250.00 5 - 8″ Privilege Tax $ 150.00 3 - 5″ Nuisance Tax $ 30.00 Males exceeding 12″ must file capital gains. Anyone under 3″ is eligible for a tax refund. ** PLEASE DO NOT ASK FOR AN EXTENSION **

I'm not singing.

I quit choir a little over a week ago.

I was not looking forward to rehearsals. Instead, I was dragging my feet as I walked out the door. I was getting off work early on Mondays because choir starts at 6:30, but even the idea of getting off work early didn't cheer me up.

I didn't like the music selections this time, but I can deal with that. What I was having a really hard time with is bigger than just songs I hate.

The director is a very nice person. Sweet. She knows who has a new grandchild, who has sick relatives, where people went on their vacations, and shares bits and pieces of her life, too.

She really doesn't direct the way I'm accustomed to, however.

The members of the choir have one volume. As loud as possible. This may be partially due to the volume of the piano. The lady who accompanies the choir plays beautifully. She knows it. So she plays quite loudly.

The sopranos are so overbearing that the rest of the group has to compensate by oversinging. There is no balance. A good choir learns to listen to each other. If you can't hear the other sections, you're too loud. If you want to holler, then be a soloist. You don't belong in a large group if what you really want is to showcase your own talents.

There is very little precision in this group. When sung, most words should end with a clear consonant. If there's an s at the end, a group needs to work hard to avoid the sssssssssssss sound. We're not snakes, we're singers.

Not everyone in the choir can read music. This doesn't have to be a liability. It would be easy to explain to those who feel they must hold a note until it submits that the note should only be held for one count. (or a quarter count or for four beats.) but it's rare for anyone to say so.

Because of the top of the lungs way everything is sung, there are no dynamics. (no soft singing, no buildup to a big finish) No one follows them as they're written. Occasionally, she wants more volume in part of the song, but since everyone is already belting it out so hard it hurts, she doesn't get much more.
Then she looks a little frustrated.

I was frustrated, too.

Every week, I came home hoarse. And I know how to sing. I know better than to overdo it. I still sang too hard. That could be helped, I think with more vocal exercises. More warm ups. The choir warm up consists of one or two songs. Not the vocal exercises that drop your jaw, open up your throat and really get things warm and ready. I had started singing warm ups on my drive over even though people in other cars looked at me strangely, but the two minutes or so it took to get there wasn't long enough to really help.

I didn't want to tell her those things, though. I wouldn't hurt her feelings for anything in the universe.

She really is a very sweet person, and for what it is, the group is not bad. They hold no auditions. No one has to know how to read music. EVERYONE is welcome to come and sing.

The people are very friendly.
The director just doesn't ask a whole lot of them.
I wish she could ask more.

Another problem for me is the ambitious nature of the program. Doing 10 songs is easy... doing them well is not. With only 12-14 rehearsals, there simply isn't time to perfect the music.

So the performance is... not as good as it could be.

I don't have solutions to offer, and I certainly could not do a better job. Which is why I don't own a choir! :)

I'm a singer, not a director.

I told the truth, too... just not all the things I said above.
I told her that I have three commitments every week that take me out of the house in the evenings, and it was too much. I have missed several Girl Scout leader meetings. I'm not managing to keep up with what I need to do. Something has to go, so I am going to stop singing. I said I'd miss everyone, and that I plan to come to the performance in June.

I can't help feeling sad, because I do love to sing and loved the people in the group. They're all so.. nice. Welcoming. I'll miss it.

I just wasn't having fun.
::sigh::

Sing a Song of Hypocrites

Every term of choir, there is at least one song I really don't like. This term is no exception.

We're singing Amazing Grace. Now I understand it's one of the top 100 songs of all time. That many people love it. I do not.

Let me 'splain.

When I was a young person, our family attended church.
All the time.
Alllll the time.

Now for the uninitiated, some pentecostal churches do a whole prayer thing at the end of a service or when someone gets inspired in the middle and can't seem to stop himself (or more rarely, herself.)

There was a guy in our church who would get up and lead a song to get everyone going. Then, after about four repetitions of the song, when everyone was groovin', raising hands, whispering prayers or getting brave and shouting hallelujah instead he'd just stand up there and sort of hum.
The.
Same.
Song.
Over and over and over.

Grease mixed with tears would roll down his face, and he'd haul a big white hankie out of the back pocket of his polyester leisure suit and mop up occasionally. The pianist would continue to play.
The.
Same.
Song.

Can you guess which song that might be?

I later heard he'd been busted for touching his daughters inappropriately.

Ahh, what memories.

I really don't have anything important to say

But I can't let that stop me. I've posted every day since October 23rd, 2007. I really don't have a specific goal, and I'm not trying to do Blog 365 or anything, I am just curious about how long I can keep it going.

I try to write something at about the same time every day, thinking that perhaps if I get into the habit of writing daily, I'll eventually do something with it. But doing something with my writing (as my mom puts it) requires more effort and motivation than I (apparently) have.

Over the weekend, I had bunches of little things that had to be done. I was doing the whole lie-awake-at-night-and-obsess thing.

I did the taxes, I did all the Girl Scout money, I filled out the deposit slips and did the adding machine tapes so I could deposit all those checks, I went out and purchased a couple things for my Girl Scout meeting on Monday and I even remembered that choir was going to start on Monday night.

While I was getting ready for bed on Monday night, my mind was, as usual, zipping along saying, and I did this and I did that... when suddenly I realized what I was doing. My mind was actively searching for something new to obsess over!! I had accomplished the things I meant to do, and needed something to worry about. How weird is that?

I can't just be done. I have to be focused on the next thing.

You don't think I'm some kind of nutcase, do you?

Off to wake up my exercise partner. I think I'll keep my music from yesterday. Matt, bless him, has figured out how I can put my playlists in the order I want. He did comment though, that most people don't really care about the order of their music, and that it must be an 'old person' thing.

I often wonder. Would he be a smartass if his father wasn't one? Obviously he had to get it from Eric.

And. This is the 9th week I have not had a migraine. How strange is that? My usual pattern in the last few years has been a migraine about every two weeks, and of course a bad one every four.

I hope mentioning it hasn't jinxed me.

me me me me me me me

I know you can't hear it, but that's a choir warm-up exercise.
One repeats that in many different keys as part of the whole experience. Scintillating.

It's also because this post is about, well, me.

Monday the 10th of March, choir starts up again. I'm really looking forward to singing. I did not sing during winter term, because I simply don't have time for 4 to 6 performances as well as rehearsals when I'm so busy that time of year.

The Spring term has one concert performance. I can do that.
The singers in the choir are capable of producing a great sound, and many of them are very accomplished singers. I wish the director would demand a little more precision, (can't stand it when a phrase of a song ends in 's' and you hear sssssssssss, for example,) but it's a nice group of people and they occasionally hit it just right and you can feel the music. I get goosebumps.

And speaking of goosebumps, starting April 1st, I will be taking a water aerobics class. It's going to put me an hour past my bedtime on Tuesday and Thursday nights until June 1st, but I think it will be good. I definitely like the no-impact idea, my left heel is pretty sore these days with all the exercising I do.

My good friend Tami has agreed to sign up with me. We're hoping that there will be at least one 400 lb woman in the class, placed there solely to make us feel good, but it's not very likely, is it?

I will have to wear a swimsuit. I do actually own one, but I really have no idea why, since I don't go swimming.

Well, off to wake up my exercise partner. She told me last night that she'd need 45 minutes to get ready today, and that's now.

I have to be at work quite early on Wednesdays, which means all the other things that need to be done also must be done early. I haven't seen the Baroness von Schmelly at Curves lately, so I'm timing it just about right, I think.

Now to decide what I'm going to listen to this morning.

Have a good day.

Well PISS ME OFF!

I went to Tar-zhay yesterday morning and found an MP3 player. I talked to the guy in electronics. He was quite informative, and knew the differences between the players, and the advantages of each.

I ended up with a Sansa. It looks like the picture. Not that I care what it looks like, it will either be in my pocket while I'm exercising or plugged into the little cassette converter thing I bought with it so I could listen in my car.

It sounds great. The earbuds were bothersome, though, so I've kept my old ones. It wasn't difficult to put music into the machine, and I managed to make a playlist of most of the things I love (and what a strange, mixed bag that is!) and order the playlist the way I wanted it.

Then, I plugged in my earbuds to take it for a test drive.
The damn thing put my playlist in alphabetical order!
SHIT!!! WTF is up with that?

I have gone back and looked at settings, I've queried my kids who always seem to know more than I do about stuff like this, and I even read the manual, which I printed out myself. To no avail.

I have sent an email to tech support asking them how to fix it, too.

I guess if all else fails, I can go back into my music and rename all 200+ songs. A. AA. AAA. AAAA. AAAAA. AB ABB ABBB ABBBB... well you get it.

But there has to be something I just don't get... I can't imagine the whole world listens to their music in alphabetical order.

Or do they?

MUSIC please!

My life is sort of noisy. It's not quiet in my home due to jets flying over at certain times, trains on the tracks less than a mile away, televisions, snoring dogs/spouses, cars driving by, occasional sirens, dishwashers... well, I'm sure you have a similar list.

Work is a noisy place, too. We have 39 kids on Wednesdays, and between 34 and 37 all the other days. It's not that they're out of control or misbehaving, they're just having a good time and talking about it. Loudly.

When I drive to work, or come home from work, I don't usually listen to anything. Radio stations drive me bugshit because of the constant advertising, and I don't have a CD player. I do have a cassette deck, and it works, but I don't own many cassettes anymore. Does anyone?

So I crave silence, or at least wish to pick my own sound effects.

I've been exercising at Curves, where they play a constant barrage of, hmm. I really balk at calling it music, because even the songs I liked in their original versions are horrible when they're remade. Whatever you want to call it, it ain't pretty. I find it particularly obnoxious during 'theme' weeks. In the days leading up to July 4, for example, they play a medley of patriotic songs all set to the same beat. The topper for that one is a man chanting the Pledge of Allegiance to a wicked fast beat. I didn't scream and pull out a handful of my own hair, but it was a near thing.

Some time ago, I bought a very small, cheap MP3 player to use when exercising there. I can still hear the voice of the lady telling me to change stations, but my own tunes (all by original artists and hand-picked to suit my mood of the day) mostly drown out the other noise. As an added bonus, people don't really talk to me much while I exercise. Having those ear buds is similar to erecting a wall, although that was not my intention. It's not that I don't like other people, you understand, but I am there to really work. I don't want to chat, I find it a distraction and an interruption.

So last week, it occurred to me that I might like listening to music on the way to work. I brought my little MP3. (I know that listening to earbuds while driving requires a lowered volume. I don't want to wreck or do anything stupid.. in case you were wondering.) As I got out of the car at work, the music died. Dead battery.

This happened three times in the same week. Exercise with my little music buddy, then a drive to work, then the death of music immediately upon arrival.

It finally occurred to me that perhaps it was the battery. Evidently, it's only good for about an hour and a half.

So, tomorrow I am going to go buy myself a present. No, not an iPod. I can't see spending that much money for a toy for me. But I am going to get a better player and load some more of my favorites into it.

I want my own noise.

New Toy

Back in the late 70's and early 80's, I built a collection of music on LPs. I don't know how many I have, but they're taking up quite a bit of space. I never listen to them, since the stereo we have is old, sounds crummy, and is currently covered with a 2 inch layer of dust in a cabinet.

(If I didn't have doors on all the shelves in the living room, I'll bet I'd dust more often.)

I miss hearing some of the stuff I have on record albums.

So, with a bit of my Christmas and Birthday money, I bought this:

http://www.thinkgeek.com/electronics/mp3/90a0/

I am technologically challenged, so I waited until I had a bit of uninterrupted time to do the installation. With the help of the informative little book, complete with screen shots, I was able to plug in various cables in various locations, find the power supply cord, and get the thing running. I successfully pulled three songs from LP to my computer, and can listen to them just by clicking a button or two.

I haven't figured out how to get the music burned on a CD yet. Hoping for a little more uninterrupted time to do so this week.

After I get everything I really wanted on CD, I will sell or give away the LPs. My guess is that I'll give them away, I doubt any of them are worth any money.

It's a lot of fun to listen to the stuff I liked as a teen and a young married person, but it's utterly astounding to look at the dates on some of this stuff. Some of the things I really want to have on CD are 40+ years old.
I suppose since I am also 40+, that makes sense.

White Christmas?

I am a huge fan of Christmas music.

Corny as it is, I know most of the words to all of them and sing them over and over and over during the season. My car does not have a CD player, so I have purchased many cassette versions of the CDs I play at home. Goodwill sells them for 49 cents, so I don't feel all that guilty for the duplication. I drive to work every day during December, singing at the top of my lungs and waving at the other drivers who glance over and laugh at me. :)

I have favorites, and some can make me cry. One of the ones that gets me every time is Karen Carpenter's version of Ave Maria. ::goosebumps::

But I was wandering around on the internet this morning to find the one that someone sends to me almost every year in my email and found it!

White Christmas Go listen. Enjoy. And if you ever find a CD of The Drifters doing Christmas music, will you send it to me, please?

Firefox has a cool feature. It's almost like Google, you just type in a few of the keywords you want in the address field and it searches the internet for you.

Ah. Two posts in one day.

Unpacking Mr. Bauguess

I moved to Colorado during my Junior year of high school.

I figured I'd keep up with the music portion of my education, since music was the only reason I went to school most days.

While living in Butthump,Oregon, I had four music classes. I spent the first half of the day every day in the band/choir room. 2 bands, 2 choirs. One regular class for each, one advanced.

I loved both things quite a bit, but singing was my favorite thing.

Often even a simple song would cause me to be a little tearful because of the harmony and the blend and the sheer joy of being part of it.

I practiced my parts over and over and over, even singing them as I walked home from school.
We'd work on a new song, and I couldn't rest until I had the alto part perfect.

Sometimes I had to hear where my part fit in to get it just right, but within a few rehearsals, I always had it memorized and was exactly note-perfect.

It didn't feel like work at all.

It brought me so much happiness.

If you've ever done it, you understand. If not, I could never describe it adequately. But music was my anchor. The thing that kept me going. My reason.

When I signed up for classes at my new school, signing up for the regular choir was no problem. I was told I had to audition for the advanced choir, though.
I wasn't apprehensive, I had auditioned before.

I went to see the choir teacher, Mr.David Bauguess.

He didn't give me a piece of music to sing.

Instead, he had me stand next to the piano and drew some notes on a staff.

Then, he wanted me to sing do,re, mi on the proper lines and in the proper intervals.

It didn't take long for him to decide that since I could not do that, I was "just not a very good singer". His words. He said he didn't need people who could not sight read immediately, because "otherwise, we won't win at contest. And you don't project your voice, either."

Then, he spun around on the stool and began chatting with a couple students who were standing around. Just like that, he dismissed me.

Bauguess, you asshole, that was really a shitty thing to do. Even if you didn't want me in your choir because winning was so important to you, how much would it have cost you to be decent about it?

To say, "Well, we do a lot of sight singing in this choir, and I don't think you're ready to be in it. Perhaps you could join the sight-singing class after school and sing with us next school year."

How would treating me with respect have diminished you?

You didn't have to be a jerk. Really.

I wasn't planning to make a career in music, you see. I just wanted to sing. And I know I don't have a world-class voice. But I *can* sing. I also know I would have worked very hard for you and brought something special to the group.

But with your callous attitude and arrogance, you caused me hurt.

I wonder how many other times you didn't bother with even a semblance of politeness or respect to the students in your classes.

How many kids missed out on the whole music experience because they were put off by your attitude or dismissed by you because winning was the only thing you cared about?

I ended up in Southern California a few years after graduation.

Joined a community theater group, and sang with them for several years.

They loved my audition.

They gave me several great parts, and I had a wonderful time with them. They were kind people, too.

I have gotten past the experience. Gone on with my life. It's not even that big a deal anymore most of the time.

But you were a real jerk.

If I had been able to better express myself at 17, I would have told you that being kind costs a person nothing. That simple respect is an amazing thing. That the inability to treat people gently is actually a weakness on your part, and that your shitty treatment of me affected me profoundly at a very difficult and awful time in my life. You took away my anchor.

Thanks, dickhead.

**Edited to add***

I googled his name. There's a book/CD about sightsinging that has his name on it. He's retired from teaching and is now a dickhead who tunes pianos.
Funny.

Concert is over