Oooh! Oooh! Canada just took another point! 9-3 with three ends remaining!
Okay. I’m going back to trying to figure out how to put the code for this comment function in so the Grand Poobah can rest easy. I managed to do it for my web counter, which now works; I’m stunned. Let’s see if we can make it two for two…
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.
Tom Allen of CBC Radio 2�s Music and Company is insidious. He remarked that the show-stopping tenor aria La donna � mobile sounded tricky to sing because you could so easily slip into It�s Howdy Doody Time.
AAAGH!
Now, I dislike Verdi’s La donna � mobile to begin with. Apart from being derogatory towards over half the planet’s population, it ranks up there with the opening movement to Beethoven�s 5th Symphony, Mozart�s Eine kleine Nachtmusik, and Mendelssohn�s Wedding March from A Midsummer Night�s Dream. They�re all overplayed, and as a result I can�t stand them. I can appreciate their genius, the mastery over the medium and all that, but the fact that people never get past them to discover other wonderful examples of symphonic or chamber triumph bothers me. What also rots my socks is that it�s a closed loop � people like them so the music gets played a lot, and because it gets played a lot people assume it�s good and like it.
Sigh.
So now, whenever I hear La donna � mobile, on top of gritting my teeth, I�ll have to think of Howdy Doody. Brr.
A huge hug all around to everyone who came out to honour the birthday boys last night – I know they both appreciated it. Now that the husband’s gone off to work, I get to dig through his presents to see what everyone gave him. I assume you all got the usual, “You didn’t have to get me anything – the only gift I ever ask for is your presence” speech when you passed him his loot? As for the brief preview of The Gondoliers in the form of After Sailing To This Island as performed by the Sisters in Misfortune, myself and Tara; the missing line no one could remember is “Is the populace exacting?”. You’re welcome. I know you were tossing and turning, sleepless all night with the suspense.
Seems that dreadful Valentine’s Day interview might not have aired yesterday. I might have been bumped in favour of some knowledgeable Olympic persons. No great loss. In fact, I’d be thrilled beyond belief if they’ve axed it. Next time, they get told that if one topic is prepped and another replaces it in the interview, they get corrected – on the air.
Now, because I am certain that you’re all squiggly with excitement, the latest curling news! The Canadian team lost to Sweden 6-5, spoiling their perfect undefeated record in the round-robin. Apparently the ice was tricky, and the Swedes picked it up before the Canadians did. It happens. Despite that, it was a really good, tight game. The Canadian women’s team is still 4-0 going into their next game with England.
Seems this blog is getting attention! The Grand Poohbah is scrounging around for a comment function so he can, well, comment, because apparently he’s bursting at the seams. In the interests of his health, I hope he finds one soon.
So after Buffy last night, I flipped through channels looking for my weekly The West Wing fix. What did I get instead? The Mists of Avalon. Part One. Sigh. The severity of mental gear-shifting was almost painful.
I finished Cryptonomicon yesterday. Neal Stephenson really has a problem ending his books, doesn’t he. I mean, don’t get me wrong; I’m all for the “life goes on” feeling in a novel, but sometimes I wish there was a bit more… well… finality.
Just recorded a telephone interview with CJAD, our local talk radio station. Being one of the local Pagan Poster Girls, I get a lot of calls around Friday the 13th and Hallowe’en. And now, evidently, Valentine’s Day. I love the producer; he’s terrific. We talked about the historical and ethical issues surrounding Valentine’s Day and spellcraft, which is terrific, because I hate shallow gag interviews about love potions. There’s a new host that they paired me with though, who asked me my areas of specialty (academia, historical practices) before we started, then proceeded to completely ignore all the pre-production work to ask me, in the interview, how to do a love spell to make Meg Ryan fall in love with him.
You know, it’s people like this who laugh at the concept of magic who really tick me off.
I was as polite as possible while telling him that he was an idiot and it’s a serious topic, but it really burned me up. On top of it all, this happened only a couple of hours after I turned CFCF (a local TV station) down for a TV spot. We’re short-staffed today, and a TV interview takes up a chunk of time and manpower that we simply didn’t have. I told them courteously that we’d be delighted to do an interview at any time, with two days notice so that we could get in an extra staff member to meet their needs. Who wakes up on Valentine’s Day expecting to go on TV and talk about love potions (ugh)?
Well, obviously I should.
Now I hear you all wondering, “Magic? A serious topic?” Heck, yes. That, however, is a topic for another day.
CURRENT READING:
Player of Games, Iain M Banks. Excellent. Nice, smooth read. An author who is obviously right at home with making you feel like you’re wherever his protagonist is.
Or maybe not. Came home last night with a blinding migraine. Music would have been bad. Instead, I chose the intelligent alternative of having a warm vanilla-y bath. Mmm.
Today is Pick On Single (Or Partnered and Unhappy) People and Make Them Feel Guilty Day. I’ve always disliked Valentine’s Day. It either makes you feel you should be with someone (which is far from a necessity to be happy or normal), or if you do make up part of a couple, it makes you feel like you should heap piles of chocolate and flowers on them. What’s wrong with chocolate and flowers the other 364 days of the year? Or, why not (as I did) wash the dishes for your love instead? Or pick them up from work rather than making them take the bus alone? There’s so many better ways to tell them you care.
Speaking of beloveds, it’s my husband’s birthday this weekend (photo courtesy of the Grand Poohbah), and as we will be entangled in twelve solid hours of rehearsal for next week’s show, we’re going out tonight to celebrate. As always, the only present he’s asked for is to see a bunch of people having fun, so a whole whack o’persons will be gathering at the pub for cider and baked Brie. Good fun. A few of us pooled cash and got him the three-DVD set of Toy Story, Toy Story 2, and the extra DVD with all the developmental material on it. He’s an animator by career, so he drools over stuff like this. It’s cute. Personally, I’m taking him to see Stuart McLean & the Vinyl Cafe tour when it hits Theatre Outremont next week; we love Stuart and consider him the nearest thing to a modern bard Canada’s got. (Although Gordon Lightfoot runs a close second.)
Must be off! Must dare the elements and public transport to cog, so that we can buy kitty kibble for the moggies. (Isn’t that the most important reason?)
Oh, you’ve been spoiled. Yesterday was Tuesday, which means my work-at-home day. This was instituted so I could actually get important database maintenance, orders, and bulletin board moderating done without interference from customers. It’s terrific; I get it done in less time with less irritation, with more accuracy and more bright ideas. It also means that I’m at my own computer where I can post whenever a thought wanders into my mind that burns to be expressed. Yesterday in particular I was on the computer from around 10.00 AM until 6.00 PM, so you got a lot of posts. This frequency will certainly not be a regular daily occurance, but watch for Tuesdays being a particularly effusive day.
Today is Wednesday, which means that I go straight from work to orchestra and I won’t be back until eleven-ish tonight. Normally what I’d do is sit down with a cup of herbal tea and watch whatever re-run episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer the VCR recorded earlier in the evening, but as my husband has just begun a new job that involves getting up much earlier than he used to, I have a sneaky suspicion that going to bed earlier will also be in order. And it’s just no fun watching Buffy without him. Maybe I’ll blog instead; I’m sure you’re all dying to know what we rehearse tonight.
