ARGHHHH!
I hate when this happens.
Our home server shut itself off. And no amount of button pushing on my part will change that. And The Spouse is in a class all day. And after that he's going to be a complete geek and go to some geekfest and try to hear Wil Wheaton give the key note address at said geekfest. Wil Wheaton is funny. I'm sure The Spouse will have a lovely time. But all this means that he won't be accessible by phone all day and he won't be home until later tonight so I have to live without my email all day.
Why is my Internet working? I don't know. I don't question the gifts the universe bestows upon me.
But you know how I hate to be without my email. On the plus side, it also means I can't open Quicken so I don't have to do any book-keeping today, on this, my superfantastic day off.
Yesterday I officially became a short-timer. Nothing horrible happened. I just really, really don't want to stay at the Little Job. I know the organization does really important work and Judy has assured me that I've made a contribution in my time there but it is such a "can't see the forest for the trees" kind of gig. I work all day and feel like I didn't get anything done because there is always so much more to do. That just isn't a satisfying scenario. I like having something tangible to show for my efforts. I'm selfish like that.
Hey, in really good news, it looks like I dodged a bullet. You may remember that The Child asked to play soccer this year. I've resisted every year of her elementary life for the simple and tres selfish reason that I don't want to spend every weekend of the autumn standing in the rain watching soccer. But I figured I'd toss her a bone this last year so she signed up. Only it appears that there isn't an 8th grade team. Whoo to the hoo! Maybe, if stupid ol' Bad Coach isn't involved, she can play volleyball this year.
On the other hand, she's really more of a music/theater kid than a jock anyway. And the music guy approached me this summer, asking if I'd be willing to have him do some training with her. He's already teaching her guitar and he wants to work on vocal stuff with her, too. I said "sure" because I knew she'd love it. Well, it turns out that his motives aren't entirely unselfish; he wants her to be a cantor for school Masses. How cool is that?
I sang a lot as a kid. My sibs and I had a little singing group and we used to do "special music" at church. ("Special music" was what they called it when anyone outside of the choir performed songs for the congregation"). When we started I was in, like, 4th grade or something so we were all pretty little. We kept it up all through our growing up (how "Sound of Music", right?) and in high school I was in the youth choir at church. Sometimes I had solos. It was always just beyond nerve-making. I did it, but it made me sick-to-my-stomach nervous every single time.
I don't mind singing in front of people. Jamming around a campfire? Fine. Singing karaoke after dinner? Sure. Just don't take me to a karaoke bar. I couldn't get drunk enough to make that work. In a nice, safe setting I'm all over it but I don't sing for strangers anymore.
The Child on the other hand is completely fearless in this regard. She might get the random butterfly right before showtime but put a mike in her hands and she's over it. I think singing for Mass will be superfantastic for her. And I also think that being able to sing well is something that will serve her and bring her joy long after the allure of soccer is past.
Now I have to go pick up my little songbird and do some grocery shopping so that I can enjoy the rest of my day off.
Our home server shut itself off. And no amount of button pushing on my part will change that. And The Spouse is in a class all day. And after that he's going to be a complete geek and go to some geekfest and try to hear Wil Wheaton give the key note address at said geekfest. Wil Wheaton is funny. I'm sure The Spouse will have a lovely time. But all this means that he won't be accessible by phone all day and he won't be home until later tonight so I have to live without my email all day.
Why is my Internet working? I don't know. I don't question the gifts the universe bestows upon me.
But you know how I hate to be without my email. On the plus side, it also means I can't open Quicken so I don't have to do any book-keeping today, on this, my superfantastic day off.
Yesterday I officially became a short-timer. Nothing horrible happened. I just really, really don't want to stay at the Little Job. I know the organization does really important work and Judy has assured me that I've made a contribution in my time there but it is such a "can't see the forest for the trees" kind of gig. I work all day and feel like I didn't get anything done because there is always so much more to do. That just isn't a satisfying scenario. I like having something tangible to show for my efforts. I'm selfish like that.
Hey, in really good news, it looks like I dodged a bullet. You may remember that The Child asked to play soccer this year. I've resisted every year of her elementary life for the simple and tres selfish reason that I don't want to spend every weekend of the autumn standing in the rain watching soccer. But I figured I'd toss her a bone this last year so she signed up. Only it appears that there isn't an 8th grade team. Whoo to the hoo! Maybe, if stupid ol' Bad Coach isn't involved, she can play volleyball this year.
On the other hand, she's really more of a music/theater kid than a jock anyway. And the music guy approached me this summer, asking if I'd be willing to have him do some training with her. He's already teaching her guitar and he wants to work on vocal stuff with her, too. I said "sure" because I knew she'd love it. Well, it turns out that his motives aren't entirely unselfish; he wants her to be a cantor for school Masses. How cool is that?
I sang a lot as a kid. My sibs and I had a little singing group and we used to do "special music" at church. ("Special music" was what they called it when anyone outside of the choir performed songs for the congregation"). When we started I was in, like, 4th grade or something so we were all pretty little. We kept it up all through our growing up (how "Sound of Music", right?) and in high school I was in the youth choir at church. Sometimes I had solos. It was always just beyond nerve-making. I did it, but it made me sick-to-my-stomach nervous every single time.
I don't mind singing in front of people. Jamming around a campfire? Fine. Singing karaoke after dinner? Sure. Just don't take me to a karaoke bar. I couldn't get drunk enough to make that work. In a nice, safe setting I'm all over it but I don't sing for strangers anymore.
The Child on the other hand is completely fearless in this regard. She might get the random butterfly right before showtime but put a mike in her hands and she's over it. I think singing for Mass will be superfantastic for her. And I also think that being able to sing well is something that will serve her and bring her joy long after the allure of soccer is past.
Now I have to go pick up my little songbird and do some grocery shopping so that I can enjoy the rest of my day off.
Labels: musical types, worst mother in the world
cobbled together by Moi at 8:33 AM
16 Comments:
Rember per Thomas Family IS policy, all support requests Must be submitted via Email.
All other requests will be ignored
lol @ Captain VonEric
2ndly, the arts trump soccer any day.
But more importanly, I'm very jealous of the Wil Wheaton geekfest and wish I were among my people today.
Okay, Eric just made me seriously laugh out loud. So...did he solve your problem yet? If not, you could try unplugging the power cord from the server for a minute or so, then plugging it back in again. Sometimes a "circuit breaker" in the power supply needs to reset itself, which it does when you unplug it. And then again, it could be something totally different. :)
And yeah - arts vs. soccer = arts win!
Ha. So terribly amusing. Ha, ha.
Hat & Gina: You know that arts trump soccer. I know arts trump soccer. Miss Thing is not so sure.
When my son was young and said he wanted to play soccer, my response was "You want to be a lawn fairy?"
I've never seen a kid change his mind so fast.
Here via Michele's!
LOL Thumper! I may have to remember that! Thanks for stopping by. Love that Michelle and her little blog parade thingy.
Singing at Mass. Wow what a cool gig. You should be one very proud mama.
Singing at Mass...Auntie thinks that is very cool too!
"all support requests must be submitted via Email"..Eric is an evil genius!
Barishnikov was once declared ,"The world's greatest athlete"...Apropos of nothing.
Mom and Suz, I totally am.
Sling, mmmmm, Russians in tights...what were we talking about?
At the risk of being hissed at, I'm going to disagree -- I think the arts AND sports are important. I've got a piano major who sings like nobody's business, gets her acting on, and is a talented artist; the other two do other things and sports as well. The eldest hates sports (to do, not to watch, Go Hawks).
I wish my parents had encouraged me to at least try sports. I wasn't raised that way, and my eldest had no interest. But it's had a wonderful effect on the other two - the teamwork, the mentoring, responsibility, and it's fun.
Me, I was a singer in those halcyon high school daze. Chamber ensemble, a cappella choir, church choir, traveling church quartet. Oh yeah, big stuff in a small town. In fact, I think you and I have a few church solos in common...
It's true what you say, CB, that much good can come from sports and I know The Child has benefitted from her experiences. But there is, dare I say it, as much a dark side to organized sports -even at the school level - that does not always please me. ANd I think you can learn things about teamwork and competition and being gracious in victory or defeat from being in a choir or a play or something else. Sports isn't the only province where those experiences are available.
I guess what's important to me is that she find the things she's passionate about and goes for them....sports has always been soemthing she's wanted to do and enjoyed well enough but she doesn't ive, sleep and breathe it the way she does other things.
As for the other, I have 2 words for you: Andre Crouch.
OH, and not to mention, CB...It hacks me off considerably that schools always have money to field sports teams but when the budget crunch is on the first things to go are the music teacher and the art department. I guess I put a higher value on those areas precisely because it seems that our culture doesn't value them enough.
But see? No hissing.
Lorraine: right there with you on the funding issue -- that really pisses me off. I think both should be fully funded, and I think that arts and academics should be as rewarded as sports. I mean, when's the last time anybody heard of a pep rally for kicking ass in academics? Do Honors students get cheerleaders? Do we call an assembly for the artists, singers and drama kids? No. For the eldest daughter, we had to pay for a private music academy on Saturdays all the way in Bellevue because the public schools didn't come close to offering the level or type of music she was doing. That level WAS offered in Hungary, the arts and music is so valued there. I didn't want to give that up just because we moved here. (I was fortunate though, that the Ex had not gone into asshole mode yet, and he had the resources to pay for it, and I drove and hung around bellevue every sat. for 3 years -- what about families who don't have those resources? Their kids can play football enough to get an athletic scholarship, but not learn music theory enough to go to a conservatory)
OK, rant over.
And you had to bring Andre into it, didn't you.
1) Learning to sing well will indeed be a joy forever.
2) A little jock action wouldn't hurt. At 36, I'm a lot more sedentary than I'd like to be, and I pretty much got away with not doing anything athletic as a kid because I lacked confidence. I often wish I'd learned to love exercise then, because I sure as sh** hate it now.
3) I'm so with you on that standing in the rain every weekend thing.
i would LOVE to see pics of you and your sister in the "special choir" days.
hey, what if you planted a bug in the child's head that she wants to run track? that way she's getting to play a sport, which is important, and you get to watch track meets... WHICH ARE AWESOME!!!!!
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