2 years ago today...

...I wrote my first post!

a perfect afternoon

Incredible...

...the first Saturday in a month that I am not hungover! But where did all these red marks come from?!

baby, it's a wild world

One of the perks of being related to a Seneca Park Zoo employee is the occasional free admission.

I haven't been to the zoo in probably, oh, 8 or 10 years. Maybe longer. When I went with my sister yesterday to pick up her paycheck, we decided to spend some time and walk around a bit. The weather was absolutely gorgeous...perfect for taking a stroll through all the exhibits.

We were able to see the new baby baboon, born earlier this month. I couldn't get close enough to capture him clinging to his mother's belly, but maybe if you look carefully you can see his little pink face in this photo. Also, Genny C., the elephant on the right with the longer tusks, is pregnant. (Love the animal babies!) Did you know the gestation period for an elephant is 22 months?! Christ almighty.

pages of success

I came away with some good stuff yesterday, from the used book sale including:

Hardcover
Diary of a Mad Housewife by Sue Kaufman
Ice Palace by Edna Ferber
Lake Wobegon Days by Garrison Keillor
Beulah Land by Lonnie Coleman
The Bouviers by John H. Davis
The Nature of Love by Kahlil Gibran
The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
The Inner Game of Music by Barry Green with W. Timothy Gallwey
Serenissima by Erica Jong
This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy (Inaugural Edition)

Paperback
LBJ and the JFK Conspiracy by Hugh McDonald and Robin Moore
Sophie's Choice by William Styron
The Dance of Anger by Harriet Lerner, Ph.D.

These should keep me busy for a while.

do people think i'm stupid, or just airheaded? i am constantly being told things i already know, as if i haven't a brain or an ounce of common sense. what gives?

Happy Fall

*sniffles*

I'm feeling an ounce better today, probably due to the two little red pills I swallowed earlier. I'm not really sure what they were, but they seem to be effective.

At any rate, my clear sinuses allowed me to venture outside the house for a spell already this morning...bank, post office, and Ticketmaster where Gretch, Lauren, and I purchased our Ani tickets for the December 11th show. Hopefully Tara will be able to go with us, since we bought her a ticket anyway, without her knowing. (If she can't, we'll need a fill-in, if anyone's interested.)

Later this afternoon, the three of us are headed out to the Webster Public Library used book sale: $3.00 for all the books one can shove in a shopping bag. They didn't specify how big a shopping bag, though. Hmm.

oh, and i have also noticed that it's been progressively getting dark a half hour earlier every night. almost. but the last time i noticed it, it was dark at 8 (a few days ago), now it's roughly 7:30 and pitch black out. that reminds me i should bring my laundry inside.

and...tomorrow at approximately 12:31pm, we will welcome autumn.

blah

i feel like poo.

i hope it's merely an ass-kicking case of allergies and not a head-cold. i've been told the ragweed count is high. never have i felt this awful, however, as the result of mold, pollen, or other various airborne spores.

my father was kind enough to offer the following consolation:
Dad: "you know, Heidi, symptoms of dehydration often mimic those of head-colds."
Me: "really?"
Dad: "yeah, and you know, dehydration is often caused by excessive drinking."
Me: "oh, i never do that."

your blue eyes are my words...
-PJ Harvey

Ugh.

Friday 17 September:
Half way to St. Patrick's Day + $3.00 pints of Guinness = very, very bad hangover.

a drivel of nonsense

i don't know what i'm doing
today i am telling myself to slow down and THINK
distance and class; the ignition of thought
to flourish or dwindle?
an indulgence, perhaps

what i really meant to say was this...

Beach Avenue
11pm
steam rises off the road masking the unkown
while we barrel through uncertain territory
but also through familiar quick wit
i missed you
i'm glad you are here; back
we drive for hours
we talk through time
where others have been threatened
by twelve years
will it be again
clandestine

I am a self-professed music junkie.

The last 4 songs heard on WBER:

1. Timebomb - Rancid
2. More Than This - Roxy Music
3. Run - Snow Patrol
4. Somewhere Only We Know - Keane

I LOVE BEING HOME WHERE WE HAVE REAL RADIO!

Birthday Sticky Lips

To celebrate Gretchen's birthday, yesterday evening Dad took us to Sticky Lips for dinner. Even my sister, pseudo-vegetarian, rescinded her 'no pork except bacon' rule and joined me in ordering some amazing pulled pork. I wish I had leftovers, but, with the perfect portion sized dinner, alas I cleaned my plate.
Dan, and the Birthday Girl, who had just shoved an entire piece of pecan pie in her mouth after our mother told her not to do it.

A good example of why some animals eat their young.

like cats and dogs

It has been raining here for the last 24 hours. Everything is wet. My allergies are out of control, and I'm exhausted.

I spent all day yesterday going through choir music, trying to organize the hundreds of pieces of music in to some semblance of order. I decided the only way to do this was to create a database to catalogue my meticulous efforts...title, composer/arranger, part distribution, liturgical season, scripture correspondence, publisher, optional instrumentation, etc. I got about 2/3 of the way through the alphabet, making heroic efforts not the breathe in the dank, mildewy air that damp paper creates. Meanwhile, the piano tuner banged away on the upright in the sanctuary for an hour, adding to my general annoyance with the whole situation.

Today, I will actually transfer my notes from my legal pad into the database. I've always said it's too bad we're not paid for the number of hours it feels like we've worked.

Also, I'll be hunting down this recording to give to my sister for her birthday on Sunday. Anyone heard it yet?

Kerry Country

My old home state has made me proud to be a former Ohioan. Even the Tribe is doing well this season. Come October, though, I'll really miss Cleveland when Case Western hosts the one and only Vice Presidential debate on the 5th.

Scenes from a Labor Day picnic

Brenda and Lauren...who says Mother and Daughter aren't alike?


Gretchen eyeing the meat.


Dad cooked for an army and the army never showed up. Look at all that chicken! (That's Dad, Lauren, and Gretchen...all the boys were at moe.down.)


(Dad, Lauren, Gretch)

playing that organ must count for something

Last night after my staff meeting, I went over to a friends' to check out their new organs. They have both a Roland AT-90S and an Allen MDS-26 with a MIDI Division. It doesn't get much better than that.

Not quite the MDS-26, this is a pic of the Allen 27-stop Renaissance organ. Still a nice instrument.

Though I am a self-taught organist (piano was my main instrument, harpsichord my minor in college), even I can appreciate the phenomenal sampling on the Allen. Unbelievable.

"beauty inspires obsession"

I can't recall where I heard about it, but somewhere along the lines of discussions with friends, someone once mentioned an occupation they'd heard about. Now that I'm looking for additional full-time work, I remembered this conversation, and I'm thinking, that would be the coolest job ever...to spend all day, every day, reading BOOKS and assessing whether or not they would make good movies. I don't know what sort of qualifications one would have to have in order to be hired for such a task, but I'd do it in a second.

This whole concept came to mind a day or two ago, when I watched Girl with a Pearl Earring, after reading the book last month.

Girl with a Pearl Earring - Johannes Vermeer, Dutch, circa 1665

I loved the book, and I loved the movie. Who wouldn't want to do that for a living?

tell me

why am i always so critical of everyone else when i should be focusing on improving myself?