fraternities

Found on the web:

You will learn early on in college that I Phelta Thi is not really a fraternity...

what the... ???

Yesterday, I dragged Bruce to the gym for some weightlifting. Much to my pleasure, the XM Satellite Radio was set to "obscure '80's songs" or something of that ilk rather than "today's bubblegum pop that makes a ripoff of every single song that's existed and has no originality of its own".

One of the songs that came on was a slower R&B tune from the '80's -- I remember having heard it then, but I couldn't remember the title or artist. And as Bruce sat there doing chest presses. he told me that this particular song reminded him of Strawberry Quik.

???? What the hell ????

Anyway, yes, he had an image of a rotating container of strawberry Quik powder while this song played.

Further reminding me that... I have a unique husband.

count your blessings

whether or not you're religious. Every now and then, I get a reminder.

I'm part of a large internet-based running community -- even though I've been laid up with more chronic injuries than I can count on one hand. One of the frequent posters, about a month ago, was out running a trail race with her friends and suddenly collapsed with a brain aneurysm.

Luckily for Karen, there were paramedics nearby also running the race. Apparently they saved her life. A month later, she's in rehab, finally transfered out of the hospital, and still getting used to the idea of feeding herself, talking, taking care of herself... it's going to be a long recovery, they say.

Also, luckily for Karen, she's a young strong running type. Yet even for someone of her health status, the fact that it took her three weeks to regain strength to say a single word is sobering.

Count your blessings. Enjoy every day you have on this planet. Hug your family and friends.

And for updates on Karen, check our her family's blog:

Karen's Blog

Longing for road trips of old...

We recently finished driving through the West for 2 1/2 weeks. Our time was limited, so we had to drive a bit farther, most days, than we wanted to.

Which brought back memories of my childhood family road trips, where we had nearly unlimited time. If something looked interesting, we'd stay the night. If we were too tired to drive, we'd stay in the middle of nowhere, just to make sure we could get enjoyment out of the trip.

Yet one of my fondest memories comes from a roadtrip of my own that I took a few days after dropping out of grad school, back in 1998. I hopped in my little Toyota and headed north of San Fran on 101. I'd also tossed my guitar into the back seat, just for kicks. Partway up to Mendocino (which ended up being my day's destination) the two-lane highway had one lane closed, and I had to stop for a while, waiting for the other direction to pass. I put the car in park, reached back for the guitar, and started playing -- all while sitting in the driver's seat. I still wonder what people thought, guitar neck sticking out the driver's side window... but heck, we weren't going anywhere for a while.

But that was back when life was more carefree...

166.66666...% increase

I rock. But I don't know how.

I've been teaching a "new" spinning class on Monday nights at the gym. As people get used to having any new class on the schedule, the class slowly grows. Usually.

Before I left town, I'd had three people for each of two weeks -- pretty paltry.

But tonight, I had eight. WOO!

I'm sure I had nothing to do with it. Maybe it was the fact that the gym finally started posting my class on the schedule (claimed they ran out of the proper label for the chart... for three weeks?). Maybe it was something my sub did over the past two weeks.

But in any case... yay! Far less danger of the class being cancelled, which is what I'd feared. And it feels good!

When did "screwing up" become acceptable?

I'm seeing this in all sorts of groups I've been part of: bands, running clubs, etc... where people freely admit they've made mistakes, their friends tell them "it's okay", and life goes on. For instance, I was being driven bananas at a band rehearsal recently, when we had to keep on replaying the same section of a song over and over again due to someone's constant "I lost my place in the music again," said with a coy smile. Why the hell is that okay? And various running clubs I've been part of: the same people will come back week after week confessing that they hadn't run in two weeks and they'd been "bad". Am I supposed to validate your existence every single time?

So I'm not your cop. I'm not the police of your life. But sometimes, these situations affect others -- namely me. I'm focused enough on my music to know where we are -- or at least only lose my place once, learn from that, and keep focused. And if I set running goals that require more than once-weekly running, I'll stick to it and entirely eat the blame if something goes wrong.

But society accepts the "I screwed up; am I still OK?" method far too easily these days. I don't get it. Perhaps it ties in to the Catholic confessional idea, where people go to confessional, say "I'm sorry, I slept with twelve different men this week" and they're told "20 Hail Marys, and don't do it again." What do you bet this same person comes back the following week, saying "well... I tried, but I still slept with 11 men this week"? What kind of punishment has the person received? Not to get into a religious argument over how accepting God is or isn't of sinners, but this takes things to the extreme.

So as things go, if you confess your sins, you're absolved, and life goes on. It just annoys the hell out of me. Why was I raised to be so responsible... life would be so much easier otherwise.

mere paperwork != success, plus education rant.

I'm teaching a nonmajors chemistry class right now. I was totally flummoxed when one of my Running Start students (advanced high school student) asked me why her grade was so low, since she'd turned in all of her homework.

Methinks... dear, you've gotten most of the homework problems wrong. This is why your grade is so low, eh...

And then, our lab tech set me straight. I live in south Snohomish County -- not overcrowded yet, but one of the fastest growing regions of the state. House prices and overdevelopment show it. Unfortunately the schools "can't keep up" (lame excuse, in my opinion)... as a result, students will turn in homework for all of their classes and receive full credit just for turning it in.

!!! What does this tell today's kids? Just by showing up for work and not doing anything, you can keep your job? (Ahem. Pardon me, that was the last place I worked.) In any case, it's the wrong message to send...

Crazy, I tell you... and just plain wrong.

risks.

It's about time I take some risks in life. Most Americans play it safe. I criticize these people, and I don't want to be the pot who calls the kettle black.

A few years back, I realized that the older people I found more interesting were those who'd done a lot with their lives. For instance, my grandfather flew planes over India in WWII, he was a telephone lineman both on the ground and as a manager, he helped found a city in the '50's, he was the mayor of said city for a while... lots of variety. In any case, I decided that I wanted to be one of these people -- 20-30 years from now, others will be flocking to hear my stories. (Yeah, right. But it's a goal.)

Last year was a big blow for me, with all of my health issues... namely the daily migraines for months at a time. I'm not letting that stop me this year.

So, here's the list of goals for this year (which I meant to write up after New Year's Eve, but new job and all, yada yada):
*Perform my original music for the public. DONE, and I have a few more slots lined up.
*Record my original music to sell/give away. Just bought the last pieces of recording equipment (I think) today. Recorded one rough draft of a track.
*Market myself as a one-chick band... have done so to two places. Need to do more.
*Learn to say "buh-bye" to bad musical situations. Done with one of them... read the previous post.
*On another subject... I also started teaching spinning and Pilates classes at my gym, something that was a hurdle for me, something I'd wanted to do for a while. I've been doing 1-2 hours a week for the past month (and gotten a free gym membership, to boot). Getting paid to work out... :D :D
*But perhaps the toughest will be... my 30+-year estranged father lives in Tucson with his wife and daughter. I'll be passing through the area in about a month or so. I'm trying to get up the nerve... to email him, to meet them, whatever. It's taking a *lot* out of me.

If I can conquer that last fear, everything else will seem easy in comparison. And now, it's been made public.

i always thought my first time would be better

Somewhere, I have a t-shirt I bought from one of my many Rush shows. It has a Neil Peart-ism scribbled front and back, which I can't remember exactly for the life of me (bad, bad fan), but something along the lines of "If you want something done right, do it yourself".

Which was exactly how I felt last night.

Most of you know that I've been a budding singer-songwriter for a while, me and my pianner. I've come this close to making recordings/CDs to give to my adoring fans... er, patient friends and family, and I've been stymied every step of the way.

Last night, I shared the stage with a group of musicians (who shall remain nameless) at the Wayward Coffeehouse in Greenwood. One of the group is someone I've played with for a few years; and when I heard this group takes the stage at the coffeehouse every few weeks, I figured, what better place for my music. I don't have enough material to fill a two-hour slot, but I could squeeze a few minutes out of the jazz band's slot, right?

Not to mention that the jazz band was needing a sax sub, indefinitely. And I hardly ever get to play my horns. I decided to join up for the short term.

So, two weeks ago, I played with them at the Wayward in a slight fit of disorganization, but I'm kind of anal about being organized for the public -- so maybe it was just me.

Last night was the public debut of my original music. I'd played for friends in my house, I'd played for friends at their houses, but never for the absolute public. I had a few friends planted in the audience.

But disorganization and good performances are mutually exclusive, and I could kick myself for not giving this more weight. We started out shuffling the schedule because one girl forgot her music and had to have it retrieved in Redmond; mildly annoying, but no biggie. A few songs later, and I was ready to roll. The band cleared out of the seating area, leaving me at my keyboard, and the band leader constantly adjusting the mic.

As I played the opening verse of This Time, I thought the amp/speakers were peaking out -- I sounded fuzzy even for me. I kept going, but shouldn't have. If I could hear it from behind the speakers, what was the audience hearing? I looked over at Bruce, and he made a face indicating that it was bad. I slipped an under the breath "can you fix it" in between sung words.

But the musicians in the main band were totally oblivious. They had "no idea" what was wrong, and were apparently just so awestruck that I could play and sing at the same time. How can you not notice, and call yourself a musician?

In any case, toward the end of my song, the leader of the group adjusted the soundboard as I played. And kept adjusting. More and more. I chose the first song to be a dramatic entrance, and that was totally destroyed by the sound issues. I played a bunch of random stuff, she kept turning the dials. The audience sat there, waiting for us to get things together.

Thing is, I thought everything had been sound-checked. I was told that it had been. Heck, I saw them testing it all! My keyboard and mic were going to be used at another point during the gig by someone else, and checking had been taken care of. So I was told.

The rest of my little performance went off without a hitch. I was barely nervous... felt my hands shaking a bit on the keyboard, but not much. Had some brief inter-song commentary, but I minimized that -- especially since there was a big gap between my first two songs, trying to work on the sound. But I had a lot of ground to make up, after that first song.

And I did it. My first time performing my original songs publicly. I was told they were "good" and that my performance was good, but I'm sure it could've been much better under other circumstances.

But what should I expect? This is the band where some people have their music in disarray up until the last second, and the leader changes the set list while on stage. This is the band where some people are constantly losing their place, and nearly yelling "where are we?" without covering up the mic -- yes, the audience heard every last piece of that. The disorganized chatting among band members between songs, as if it were a rehearsal. And worst -- none of them recognized that all of this was a problem.

All in all, the most unprofessional gig I've played. I think, in the end, despite the sound problems, my little segment was the most professional of the batch.

Unfortunately for this, as with other things in life, I won't get another chance at a "first time". But next time, I'm not going to rely on others -- I'm going to do it myself. And I can always fake that it's my first time.