My adventures for the week have been very rewarding and gratifying.  Monday, I went to a board meeting of which I have not been since January 🙁 Everyone was happy to see me and inquired about my well-being and progress.  Slow but sure and gimping along but progressing however little.  After the meeting, C,L, and I went to dinner and had a nice, engaging conversation that entailed a lot of topics not the least of was some possibilities about my next great adventure.  One VERY PROMISING possibility will depend upon my current manager.  Since I seem to see her less and less frequently, I left her a message informing her of the possibility.  I just pray that she makes a decision that will be beneficial to both of us.  I told her I will not pursue anything until I am as close to 100% as possible.

Today, I went to my first voice lesson in three months.  I was immediately bombarded by two adorable boys.  One who kept regaling me with jokes typical of a three or four year old.  By the time the 6 year old was read to whoop me at Battleship, it was time to begin my lesson.  I did AMAZINGLY well for sitting in a chair… of course, I tried to sit with correct posture.  But I narrowed my recital choices to two.  One requires a female to join me.  K informed me that there are a few of her other students who would be up to the challenge but she hesitated to have a teenager perform the number with a 30 something.  So, she allowed me to try finding a guest performer.  Very fun piece while just a bit challenging.  I can think of a few ladies I would enjoy performing with.

So… while still gimping along, the two days venturing around helped immensely!  Being with great friends and doing what I love to do definitely helped!  Just learning to accept the fact that it is a talent which I need to begin to share more and more.  One of the many gifts I have been told that I possess which can only come from Above.  Thank Him for that!

PLUS… as an added plus, I got to catch up with a GREAT friend from my WM days.  Via facebook on which I found her a few weeks ago.  Go to chat a bit, discuss lots of things including the dismissal of our former boss which seems to be interesting yet surprising all at once.

I’m have a lot of things flowing through my brain this evening. Instead of what I was going to write about, I have to say just a little bit about a sad little grey donkey.

If you’ve read Milne’s Pooh stories, you know that Eeyore is a sad little donkey. It always seems that there is a dark cloud hanging over his head. He had nobody to remember him on his birthday, until he said something about it. He lost his tail. He was bounced into a river. And he didn’t have a house during a snowstorm.

Only Eeyore could see the benefit of a broken balloon, the fact that there wasn’t a earthquake during the snowstorm. But in all this, he was very happy to have his tail back. A useful item just made for swishing about.

May you find good in all things, optimism during dark times, and have something to swish around just for fun.

Seriously, how many different groups  must we listen to in order to determine what is the best film of all time?  We already have the periodic AFI specials.  Tonight we had another group telling us which was supposed (I believe) to take the popular vote into account.  One of several genres I caught was “Best Musical.”  Of course, I had to comment on that one.  I took umbrage with the five choices and their placement.  Now we have “Best Kiss?”  OH< PLEASE!  Back to the topic at hand…

Best Musical:

• West Side Story (1961) I don’t believe that there has ever been a more celebrated movie musical… winner of 10 Academy Awards.  The Romeo and Juliet story told amidst the backdrop of gang infested New York City.  Elvis was offered the lead role of Tony; however, turned it down because he thought it would tarnish his image if he were associated with a film that dealt with violence.  Fascinating, since one of his earliest films, King Creole, dealt with just that.  I, personally would have placed this one higher.
• Singin’ in the Rain (1952) Classic, CLASSIC, CLASSIC! Gene Kelly dancing and singing with a 103º temperature while being drenched by a mixture of water and milk (because water alone did not show up well enough).  My favorite scene, Donald O’Connor’s “Make Em’ Laugh” song and dance.
• The Wizard of Oz (1939) WHAT!!!!  Totally missed out on this one! Especially when you look at the next two.  One tidbit I was not aware of:  at times, Judy Garland could not stand working with Toto because his breath was so awful.  Help me out, Taylhis… have you heard THAT one?!
• Grease (1978) While I do enjoy a viewing from time to time, this one gets on my nerves.  Maybe it is from all the times my siblings and I were allowed to stay up past our bedtimes to watch it on a school night… maybe it was the drama of a certain community theatre’s production.  Definitely voted too high… should have been #5 at best.  Well… at least the horrendous Dirty Dancing was not in the top 5.  I guess there are some who consider it a musical.
• The Sound of Music (1965) The most profitable movie musical of all time.  With inflation taken into account, it has made over $1 billion placing it third all time behind Gone with the Wind and the original Star Wars. I would have a hard time deciding between this and Oz as the top musical.  Both are personal favorites.

At least they got the “Top Action Film” correct.  Raiders of the Lost Ark.  No bloody Indiana Jones and the… placed before the title.  When did they add that, anyway?  I dunno… would anyone be game for a fifth installment?  Harrison Ford would be if the story was right.  Just do away with Indy’s son.

I’m not sure if it was the 60º+ weather of the past weekend (sure felt good) or just the idea of a little return to normalcy (whatever that is) but I have decided that this week I am going to set out on a few of the things I have been missing out on.  Last Friday, I ventured out to get my first refill on my meds.  A 90 day fill up… I guess I really am going to be on it for A LONG TIME, but it is for the best.

Later this afternoon, I am going to attend my first FCF board meeting since this all began (back in January… I refuse to miss more than 2).  I am so excited to be able to get back and help get one of my favorite shows rolling along.  I have finally come to the conclusion that thinking too much about auditioning for either The Wizard of Oz OR Annie (at another area theater) needs to take a backseat until I am 100% ready to go.  Even then, I really want to focus on what lies ahead after I reach that goal.  Still thinking about what that is going to be.

Thursday,  I am going to my first voice lesson since January.  K informed me that I picked the perfect time to do so.  Her students are preparing for their annual recital and she was hoping that I would be back on my feet ready to go by then.  I will pass along the details once I am confident that I will be strong enough to participate.  God and everyone else knows I want to be but I am still being a bit realistic.  It has nothing to do with my vocal ability; hopefully, my physical ability will be there as well.

AND FRIDAY…. MY FIRST GAME NIGHT SINCE JANUARY! I  cannot wait until I see some of my friends whom I have not seen since the start of 2011.  Even those I have seen since.  Hopefully, I can convince a little buddy of mine that I do not live in the hospital.  😀

Goal setting and pushing forward just a bit surely will not impede my progress.  After all… the doctor wanted me to go back to work the day after I was released from the hospital.

And in all this time,  I forgot to wish my fellow Tangenteers a HAPPY THIRD BIRTHDAY!  It has been a very fun and at times thought-provoking adventure and I truly enjoy continuing to get to know some of my best friends even better through their life experiences and thoughts!  And WELCOME TO SPRING… it HAS been a long winter.

On an early spring day, I decided to host an apartment warming. There would be good food, good friends, wonderful conversation and maybe a game or two. All went as planned and a wonderful evening evolved. It was on that evening I met a very special person. When we were introduced, I received a quick, shy smile and a quick chaste hug. After that evening we became friends, started dating, got engaged and finally married. Our marriage lasted almost 20 years, until the time of her death. In the years that followed, I found that the seeds that marriage planted were far flung and all inclusive in my life. And to think, it all started with a smile.

I thought about writing a story of our life together. That is a story worth telling, but I have a feeling the audience would be limited. I think a better story, would be the story of the life lessons we learned along the way. Things that would and do impact most people along their lives. I found through the years that the things we hold dear and important in our lives are usually shared ideals with others. to be continued….

As I was reading the newspaper this morning, I found that some universal changes will be made in the Catholic church (which will be fully integrated by November at the beginning of Advent, the season when we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ).  As an area priest noted, these changes will not be as dramatic as those that took place in the late 1960s.  Most of these new changes will be seen in the responses spoken after blessings and some of the words spoken in prayers.  From what I gather, these changes are meant to reflect the translation from Latin.

I have noticed a lot of word changes in our hymnals.  Our organist has two humongous binders which are held together by duct tape that must date back 20 years.  For every season, we get new song books and sure enough there are a handful of songs which have words changed.  Most are little things such as a “man” changed to “all.”

OLD:

We are the light of the world.  May our light shine before man.

NEW:

We are the light of the world.  May our light shine before all.

May not seem like much, but we must follow what is in the new book or the congregation might choose to not join in song… those who do choose to join 😉  BRAINSTORM!   Why not have a screen in front of the church display the words?  Not sure if I have ever seen a Catholic church use audio/visuals in quite this way but I often find that the book gets in the way at times… esp. when I lead which is why I like to memorize the pieces as much as possible.  WAIT! The church we visited when we spent the weekend visiting my oldest brother while he was in college used such a display.

By the way… i know that no one is infallible, but the local newspaper has made two big goofs in the last week.  Last week, our sectional champion boys’ basketball team was honored with a picture of LAST YEAR’S TEAM.  The caption was for the current team but the photo included players who graduated last year.  Today’s paper included a photo of the interior of “Sacred Heart Church” when it was clearly “St. Mary’s.”  Unless of course, the churches are identical in every way.  I’m sure I have been inside Sacred Heart at least once but that was 20 something years ago.

I’ve been building up to writing a bit more on the blog. One by one, post by post there will be a story evolving. This is for me, it is for my family and I will share with my friends Things I’ve thought about over the past few years, but never put to written word. I’m open to all comments on this project, as it deals with the things I’ve found to be important in life.

This first post will eventually form an introduction, chapters will follow. Things will be added, subtracted. Until I deem this to be a “finished project” Posts will be edited and changed. This is life, this is love and this is a smile.

I will start with a look back and end with a look forward, time will be filled.

Ok, I understand that I don’t know all the ins and outs of iTunes yet, but why isn’t it easier to unsync from one computer and then sync to another.

The syncing part is very easy. Unfortunately, I was not on my computer when I first installed the software needed to run the iPad. When I got back on to run a software update (that was quick), my iPad automatically synced itself with my daughter’s computer.

Now I want to move that information to my desktop. Ooops, the iPad is already synced with another computer.. OK, go back to that one and unsync.. I did not see an option to do that.

NOOO! I have to transfer the stuff to the new computer, and then take the iPad back to Mfg default, and then re-install my purchased/free apps. Hmm. That doesn’t copy some PDFs I had placed in the iTunes on the laptop. Why not? I can understand licensing issues. You don’t want to have stuff accessible on multiple computers. I get that. But why not have s command to de-sync the mobile device, and then allow the data on that device to be synced with another computer.

Oh well, I’m just glad I found this out before I got too much stuff on the iPad. More of a nuisance than any real problem. Hmmm, I guess this may be the only apple device I get…..

In past  summers, Hubby and I have been lucky enough to have all 4 kids watched by Grandma for an entire week.  This gave us time for some kid-free fun together with just us, as well as time to catch up on necessities like work and sleep.  For the past two summers, we’ve made a trek  down to Cincinnati for some FUN.  We’ve been going to King’s Island, an amusement park in the suburb of Mason.  Their VIP tours are quite reasonable, considering all the benefits you get (your own personal park guide for the day, all you can eat for lunch, and front of the line ride access, to name just a few!).  We’ve been making a weekend of it, going to the world-class Cincy Zoo one day, followed by a VIP tour at King’s Island the next.

I was on their site today, and I saw this cute little teaser video starring Don Helbig, the public relations manager at King’s Island: the same guy who meets us by the awesome 5-minute long wooden coaster The Beast for our backstage tour, which is also included in the VIP ticket.  Having ridden King’s Island’s wooden coaster The Racer over a whopping 12,000 times and holding the Guinness record for coaster riding, Don is fascinating to talk to.  He made this video to unveil King’s Island’s new 2011 attraction – or so I thought.

So after seeing the video, I did a bit of internet searching, and it didn’t take me long to find the attraction being unveiled on March 18; here is your sneak peak:

The Windseeker is a swing ride, but it’s going to suspend riders 301 feet above the ground, swinging at speeds over 30 mph!!  Even though I have not been enjoying the height of the coasters in the past few years, I would try this!!  Thing is, we won’t be making it to King’s Island this summer because buying a ticket to enter the park would be a waste of money for me this year – I am due with my 5th child in the fall!  I’m not too broken up about missing the new ride or any of my old favorites; after all, I’d rather have a baby than a trip to King’s Island a million times over, but for the record, I would try this ride!!

We’re going to have to find something equally fun and pregnant-lady-in-the-summer-friendly to do this summer, but it might be a challenge – everything I can think of involves being outdoors and also lots of walking.  Not only that, but since there are now 4 kids, Grandma wants to split their vacations with her into shifts during the Grandma week, meaning Hubby and I are down to zero kidless days.  Oh well, there is plenty of time for that in about 20 years, right?!?

Last week saw yet another delay in the Spider-Man musical opening.  Not only another delay but a new creative team was brought in to take control of the astronomical catastrophy (ok… I had to leave that… I honestly thought it was a -y and not catastrophe… this coming from someone who misspelled p-a-j-a-m-a-s in the 6th grade spelling bee 😉 ).  Nine years in the making and in previews for months!  I’ll say it again… sometimes it is best to leave things in the mediums they were meant to be.  Comic books, cartoons, live action television (remember that?), movies… live theatre (?).  By the time this mess is ever (IF ever) straightened out, it might be Spectacular to look at but will it mean anything beyond the $65 million dollar+ price tag?  In any case, opening night has been pushed back to sometime in the next decade (or is it this summer).

In other theatre news, Daniel Radcliffe is in previews for his singing and dancing debut in the 50th anniversary revival of the Frank Loesser classic, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.  The show itself may be extremely dated but I was fortunate enough to see the last Broadway revival in the mid 1990s.  It was a fun show that I could see being done in community theatres in my neck of the woods.  Perhaps by the time the rights become available again, these theatres will not be so turned off from staging musicals more than once every two years or so 😉

Why would a 21 year old straight from completing one of the most lucrative film franchises in history, choose such an undertaking?  As I understand it, the former boy wizard wanted a real challenge.  No dance experience, little vocal training, so maybe it was the name (KIDDING… I’d rather see a 50 year old revival than a NEW show that has been stuck in a rut for half a year with no end in sight no matter the premise).  Break a leg, Dan!