Category Archives: Diary

Bits

Just a quick note today; I’ve been up to my freshly-auburned head in stuff to do. Thank goodness the show’s over next week! I also learned at orchestra last night that there’s no rehearsal next Wednesday, as it’s March break and the high school we rehearse in will be closed. As much as I adore orchestra, it’s an attractive concept: every night off for one full week. Glorious!

I missed two weeks of orchestra due to one of my trademark migraines the first week and then the Vinyl Cafe show the next, so I haven’t touched my cello in three weeks. I’m rather proud of how well I did. I sight-read L’Arlesienne Suite by Bizet (ugh – mostly tenor clef) and Schubert’s Fourth Symphony, (“The Tragic” – in E flat again, sigh). I dreaded going while I was at work all day, but I enjoyed myself immensely when I got there. I have to keep reminding myself that I joined the chamber orchestra to make sure that I played at least once a week. I feel simultaneously impressed with how I keep up and ashamed of myself: if I can hold my own (barely, but I do) with little to no practice outside rehearsal, how good would I be if I practiced for at least an hour a day like I used to?

If I had my druthers, I’d read a lot, write a lot, and play my cello at least three hours a day. I’d also sit in the park. Now, if I could just get someone to pay me for doing all of that so my moggies could be kept in the style to which they have become accustomed (i.e., in kibble), I’d have it made!

Meh

As the morose tone of the last couple of posts has probably indicated, I’m in an anti-social phase. I had a dear friend’s baby shower to go to today which I was dreading a bit; I don’t fit in very well at all-female events. Anyway, it was just fine; turns out half the people there were hockey fans and we had the TV on watching the Canadians whup them American asses but good in the Olympic men’s hockey final while she opened her gifts. We even sang the national anthem and got all choked up when the flags were raised. I got a terrific photo (on someone else’s camera, alas) of the expecting mother opening a sweet card, surrounded by cheering women with their arms flung up into the air, half out of their seats.

My husband did the Trading Spaces test; he’s Genevieve. This surprises me not at all. Go run barefoot in a field, darling.

Live Radio, Movies, and Theatre

The Vinyl Cafe show last night was terrific – not as good, in my opinion, as the one taped in NDG two years ago, but hey, it’s Stuart McLean – he’s always good. Listen two Saturdays from now (that would be, um, March 2nd) to hear the fabulous Montreal show broadcast on CBC Radio 2 at 10 am, and Sunday March 3rd at noon on CBC Radio 1. Stuart grew up in Montreal; why doesn’t he come back more often? This is only the second show he’s done here, in all the eight years he’s been hosting the Vinyl Cafe. He went to school with my dentist, I discovered a few years ago. The things you hear in a dentist’s chair! (Ah, it’s such a small island, after all…)

The news is in, and it ain’t good. The movie adaptation of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Alan Moore’s phenomenal graphic novel, is going ahead… and they’re ruining it. Check out The Last Comic Site’s rant on the topic and mourn with me, my friends.

The Canadian women’s Olympic curling team lost last night in the semi-final round to Great Britain. Now they’ll play for the bronze. Seems a pity when they’ve demonstrated that they’re obviously the strongest team in attendance. And how about the Canadian men’s hockey team? Way to pull up your socks, gents!

The Gondoliers is opening tonight – wish I was enjoying myself just a teensy bit more. I’m getting rather frustrated with the chorus’ apparent lack of dedication to the project. Ah well; the magic of theatre means the audience will never know. It’s a truly terrific show, and light years beyond what the society has pulled off before. Our new stage director, Corey Castle, is gods-sent, and I adore him. I just hope we haven’t frightened him off…

Curling!

I came home after a twelve-hour rehearsal on Saturday to catch the last three ends of the women’s Olympic curling – once again, Kelley Law’s rink took out the competition (a little bit of curling humour there) and now goes right to the medal round! The Canadian women are undefeated, having played twice on Saturday and winning both draws. They get a well-deserved day off today before playing Switzerland, the fourth-place team from the round robin, tomorrow. Way to go, Kelley! I saw the end of the draw and considered dragging myself into the office to post the breaking news to the blog, but thought the better of my ability to express myself with anything close to eloquence after Hell Day, and dragged myself off to bed instead. We even remembered to turn the alarm off this time.

The men’s Olympic curling team is also in first place with six wins and only one loss. They’re currently playing Norway at this very moment. The score stands at 8-3 for Canada; Norway just did a nice gentle take-out with their final stone to lie two in the sixth end.

So, as always happens a few days before the show opens, I start feeling fed up with the music and start looking ahead to next year’s production. In this case, I can’t stop humming The Gondoliers, so in a desperate attempt to save myself from madness we listened to a recording of The Yeomen of the Guard this morning. I’m so hooked. Every year around this time I become a dual G&S/curling junkie. My life narrows down to the Brier, the Tournament of Hearts, and Lakeshore Light Opera. This year’s Olympics are an extra bonus. I love my life.