Music and Harmony

So I was listening to a new song on the radio.  It's called "Cough Syrup" by Young the Giant.  The first two lines establish the melody of the song.  I'm someone who is very used to harmonizing with music, frequently singing along with the radio, in harmony notes, rather than the melody.  So, that's what I was doing in my head, and out loud.  Imagine my surprise when the 3rd and 4th line of the song was the harmony notes instead of the melody notes.  It kind of surprised me a bit.  I like the song, find it catchy.  It's now on my iPhone.  Still, I feel like I'm not sure how to harmonize along with the song.  Do I go back and sing the notes from line 1 and 2 when I'm with lines 3 and 4?  And vice versa?  I end up getting so wrapped up in the notes that I completely lose the words.  So I honestly have no idea what the song is about.

And, of course, the music nerd in me appreciates this picture.  Looking at it first, I was trying to figure out what was up with it, aside from the changed key signature and time signature.  I thought i needed to note that the time signature was off on the red notes.  Then I realized I just needed to read the tune of the red notes.  I almost printed it out and sat at my piano, until I thought about it.  Then I felt gratified that I know how to sight read (vocally) music.  Not that I can sing that high at all, which is why I resisted at first.  I still should probably sit down and figure out what the tune is in the black, but I'm lazy.

Food Obsessions

Do you ever get hung up on a specific food, so that you eat it over and over until you're incredibly tired of it?  I'm starting to do that.  For a while, I had a serious sushi addiction.  I'd eat it once a week for lunch (which gets expensive, I might add).  I've moved off of that, and have moved on to a Thai food addiction.  Again, I eat it once a week (much cheaper than sushi). 

I find that I'll eat the same entree whenever I go out to eat, instead of moving around.  I get a favorite, and I stick with it.  I guess if I'm at a place where I don't have a favorite, I'll eat something from different parts of the menu.  But if I find something that I seriously like, I'll just keep ordering it ad nauseum.

Case in point:  When we were in college, we used to eat out at this restaurant in Moore, OK, called Las Fajitas.  I always thought the name was super cheesy, but really enjoyed the food.  We ate there often enough (and it was 30 minutes from campus, so we had to make a trek to get there) that the waitstaff only had to ask us what we wanted to drink, as we ordered the exact same food, all the time.  If you're interested, it's their beef chimichangas.  I drool just thinking about them.  We've moved away, but whenever we go back to visit my family, we eat there.  And, yes, we order the same thing.  The waitstaff no longer knows us (it's been 16 years after all), but that's fine. 

My husband has always had food issues, and eats this way, but I'm realizing that I have it too, to some extent.  That's not to say that I can't eat other foods, or that I don't.  I do.  It's just that when I find a new favorite, I tend to stick with it for a long while.  After that, though, I'll move around, ordering new things.  It might take a couple of years, but I do it.

But I'm still ordering beef chimichangas when I go home.

Politically Incorrect

So, posting this is probably horribly politically incorrect.  However, I'm not so sure that it should be so. 

On an internet forum that I frequent, someone has breast cancer.  It has metasticized, and she is dying.  She, herself, is a blogger, and seems to have a large following.  I feel bad for her that she's dying, and her blog is for her to do with what she wishes.   But I feel like I can't criticize it, because she's dying.  Somehow, if I do, it makes me seem heartless and cruel.  And, really, I don't read her blog, but did check on it a time or two to see how she's doing.

My opinion of her, as a person, is rather 'meh'.  I just never saw us being friends, even before she was ill, but saying so now, makes me seem, again, heartless and cruel - like I have to be friends with all sick people.  In the past, she has always been about image, even above comfort.  She was constantly bragging on her (tiny) physical size (due to weight), the size of her boobs, etc.  Even now, while ill to the point of death, she posts about her size/weight going in to the hospital, instead of just saying that she had gained X% or X pounds of water weight due to her illness.  She didn't care that tanning herself leathery could give her skin cancer, and was always snarky to people who gave any well-meaning advice that she ought to avoid it.  But I read an older post on her blog today, where she puts down people who try to offer comfort to her, due to her diagnosis.  She has these 'snarky me' replies, when the comments that people make are not rude - yeah, some might be misguided, but that is mainly due to the problem of 'what do you say to a person who is dying?' issue.  Her first post, right off, is being snarky to people who ask "is there anything I can do?"  Instead, she says that people should offer to come over and clean her bathroom - just show up.  In reality, if someone just showed up, at their convenience, say - in the middle of a family visit, or during dinner time - she would be angry that they didn't clear it first, even though that was her advice.  People who make that sort of offer really want to help, but don't know what kind of help you need, so they leave it open ended for you to fill in the blank.  For some reason, it really bothers me that she'd put down someone who was offering help, especially while insisting that she needs it, but doesn't want to express it because "'who would actually ask anyone for help?  Would you?'"  She talks about being treated normally, like she weren't ill.  But her posts make me believe that if she were treated like a healthy person (i.e. work ability), she'd be upset because she should be granted some leeway due to her illness.

I find it all a double standard.  But she is forgiven the snarkiness because, hey, she's dying.  But if I were to express such a thing in response to her blog, or on that internet forum, I'm not forgiven because, HEY, she's dying.  Even now, by posting it here, I court censure.  We do share some of the same readers, because of that common forum.  I'm just trying to point out the dichotomy in political correctness.  It all has to be one-sided.  It occurs elsewhere, in society, that one side must do all the compromising, or mea culpas, when the other side just gets to complain about being oppressed. 

Is it wrong of me to speak out about the double standard?  Is it wrong that I am not allowed to feel anger over something just because that person is dying?  I guess it could be construed as a lack of compassion.  However, I'm incredibly compassionate about the person being ill, but that doesn't necessarily negate that person's actions.  It's not like you get a free pass because you're dying.  Heck, I'll give you some personal leeway, but when you're advocating that everyone is heartless for making soothing comments, or attempts to cheer you up, or bolster your feelings, you've gone over the line.

Maybe it's just me.

Wow, Time Flies

So, moving into a new house takes up more time than you'd think.  We still haven't completely finished moving out of the old house.  One of our friends called it a really nice storage shed.  :)  Most of the stuff just needs to get sorted and tossed.  I found a home for some of the kitchen things, which is good.  I'll box that up on Wednesday and give it away.

So far this year, I've been continuing to direct the children's choir at church.  I'm trying to figure out how to exit doing that.  It just takes up a lot of my time, and makes things more stressful for me at Christmas.  The adult choir (which I'm a member of - and alto section leader) always takes a lot of time at Christmas, with multiple performances outside of church, as well as additional rehearsals outside of regular rehearsal time.   The children have a play that they do every year, and I have to direct them in their singing, as well as pick out the music.  Trying to get the performance to fit in with adult choir's schedule can get rather hectic.  For instance, in 2 weeks, the adult choir will perform at another church from 3-4:30, and the kids have their performance at 6.  I have to be there at 5, so I'll be rushing from one to another.  I had planned on not doing the adult performance, but am getting bullied into doing it.  The choir usually sings 2-3 songs at that performance, and then all of the local choirs perform the Hallelujah Chorus (from the Messiah) together en masse.  The choir director has given me permission to bail after our group is done.  Yeah, that's going to be noticeable.  However, there are a couple of others who have gotten roped into helping the children, so they'll have to leave with me, so it won't just be me.

On top of the concerts, and the play, the kids are going to be in the Christmas parade.  I'll have to be on the wagon with them, as they are singing, and since I direct, I'm being told that I need to be there.  My son will also be marching in the parade with the high school band.  I kinda want to watch him go, instead of being elsewhere in the parade.  I wasn't asked if I wanted to do the parade, I was just told that we were doing it.  I'm still a tiny bit miffed about this one.  I told the main Sunday school teacher that I was thinking about giving up directing the kids and was affectionately told I wasn't allowed to.

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My blue hair is gone.  We've switched it to red.  Having fun with it.  I like it.  I was ready for a change.  We'll see how long the red streaks last.  I think it's more socially acceptable than the blue was.  And now my husband has to stop calling me his "blue haired old lady."

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Had an interesting interaction with my 19 year old niece.  She's now pregnant.  She got fired from her job, and she and her boyfriend got evicted from their apartment and had to move in with her dad.  She's been a total bitch for the last 5 years, and she and I had it out on Facebook, as that's the only interaction.  What's funny is that she gave a bitchy response to what was me actually trying to give her help.  Par for the course with her.  On top of all the crap that she said to me (saying that we were mean, because we teased her - blonde and short jokes- so she stayed away from all family events because of that - it had nothing to do with the fact that she would just go off in her bedroom at 14 and have sex with her boyfriend while the rest of us were in the other room),  she had the gall to tell me that she didn't want to be around our son, because he was backwards enough, socially, that no one wanted to be around him.  It had nothing to do with the fact that he's autistic, and, according to her, is due to our "bad parenting."  She also had the nerve to say this where he could see it.    I'm hoping that she grows up with this baby.  Otherwise, it's in for a very sucky life.

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I've decided that the Kindle Fire doesn't currently call to me.  I don't like the fact that the home screen pulls up everything that you've looked at, or website that you've visited, for easier access.  Say I went to a more 'adult' website on the Fire.  There's no way to delete that from the home page.  If someone else looks at your Fire, you have no privacy.  That right there is a no go for me.  Until they fix that, I'm not doing it.  The iPad doesn't do that to you, but I don't need one of those to the tune of $600 or more (plus the monthly fee).  I already have an iPhone, and this would be an additional charge.  I wouldn't get rid of my Kindle, so it's just one more gadget.  Yeah, they're cool to play with, and play games on, but I just don't see it being a gadget that is worth that cost to me.  I love my Kindle.  It's seen better days, as I currently have the 2nd generation.  I've definitely gotten my money's worth out of it.  I've asked for the Kindle Touch for Christmas.  I have a feeling it's already on order from my husband.


Speaking of Christmas - my house is decorated.  At least, the inside is.  I'm rather excited by that fact.  Last year, it was only a week or 2 before Christmas that I got things put up.  This year, with the new house, there was the space.  I also took the week off work, so I had the time to pull things out and not feel rushed.  Our local schools get the whole week off, and it was my flex week, so with the holiday, I only had to take 3 vacation days and got to take 9 days off work.  I was lazy for part of the week, reading my kindle almost constantly.  I did catch up on some TV viewing.

Speaking of TV viewing, we had to get a new satellite receiver for the bedroom, as our DirecTiVo died.  Since we have HD in the living room, we decided to go ahead and upgrade our bedroom TV and get an HD receiver for it.  My husband has been spending more time in the bedroom, watching that TV as of late.  It's a little bit bigger than the old one, and is much easier to watch.  He's been watching DVD's of old Twilight Zone episodes.  Every time he says he's going to the bedroom to watch Twilight Zone, I hear, "I'm going to the bedroom to watch Twilight."  It takes a second for the Zone to click in my head.  He is SO not a Twilight fan, so it just jars me whenever he says it.  I guess that's a bit of a commentary on the popularity of Twilight these days that I just expect to hear that, instead of Twilight Zone.

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I'm still playing a lot of World of Warcraft.  I'm just kind of biding my time until the new patch comes out.  Right now, I'm farming reputation, which is about as exciting as it sounds.  My alt characters don't have the gear to raid, so I'm not doing any raiding with them at the moment.  My main character raids, but it's only 1 night a week now, instead of 2, until the new raids come out.  The friends I used to hang out with all the time have stepped away from the game, due to their new jobs (3 of them to be exact), so I'm kind of lonely when I log in.  I like the social aspect of it.  I guess it's time to make more online friends in that game.  Some of my other internet gaming friends are switching over to Star Wars: the Old Republic, but I don't know if I want to add another MMO to my gaming.  I haven't played WoW long enough to get sick of it yet (been playing about a year and a half, and I haven't even switched factions yet), so I'm not yet ready to completely give it up.  At least with the amount of time I've spent away from it, it just proves that I'm not addicted.  :)

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Things that have not changed:

Still a procrastinator.
Still overweight.
Still playing softball, but I might back off on this one come spring.
Still an avid reader
Still singing a lot - my trio is doing a performance in May, and then one the following year, so I still have to practice for that.

Beyond that, my life is kind of boring.   Oooh, I did get a second monitor, so now I have a dual monitor setup for my PC.  Yes, I'm just that geeky.  :)

TAXES DONE!

That was relatively painless.  I guess things were a little easier this year.  For some reason, it went much faster this year.  We're also getting back more money this year than the previous year - almost double.  Yay!  I think it will have paid for our new furniture.  :)

Procrastination - again

No big surprise about me being a procrastinator.  I'm currently downloading and installing the software to do my taxes.  Yes, I've put it off until now.  I also need to balance my checkbook and pay the bills.  But those aren't fun things to do, so they keep getting put off.  Now I understand why my son doesn't like to take a shower.  It takes him away from doing fun things, like watch TV and play video games.  At least I can get him to do his homework first thing when he gets home from school.

We're also planning on moving some things today, so I've got to get some things accomplished.

I'm Free! I'm Free!

No, I'm not getting divorced.  :)

I haven't blogged about it (at least that I can remember), and this could be part of why I haven't blogged much lately.  I have a coworker who has been diagnosed bipolar.  Shortly after she came to work in my office (and prior to diagnosis), she asked me a question.  It was a very pointed, personal question, and seemingly came out of the blue.  She asked me if I was a swinger.  I was confused as to what would have led her to that conclusion.  I told her that, yes, I was (if you want to call it that), but wondered how she came upon the idea to ask me. Turns out, she had looked at some pictures on Facebook of a group convention that I went to.  She then searched that site about me (although my username is not my real name there) and found me.  Then, she either read through MANY postings, or clicked on my blog link here (I'm guessing the latter).  So, in effect, she admitted to stalking me online.  I admitted the truth because I don't have anything to hide (and hiding it could cause me to lose my job), and pretty much moved on.

Over time, she has become more unstable.  She had asked me if I felt she was, that I should tell her.  So I did.  That got me a complaint from her to HR, accusing me, essentially, of harassment (even though I had been her staunchest defender to others who had issues working with her).  I was cleared of wrongdoing today, which makes me rather happy.  She also told me that she is leaving in a couple of weeks.  I wish her well (and if she's reading this - it's true).  Still, it takes a load off my chest.  I don't have to deal with the stress of tiptoeing around her, being careful of my words (especially now that she went to HR).  I feel a little bit guilty that I was smiling (small smile) with the news. 

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In other news - I've become a World of Warcraft addict.  Yes, it's true.  I have a Night Elf Druid (Balance/Resto) and a Dwarf Mage (Frost/Arcane).  I'm leveling up my mage at the moment and am having an absolute blast.  I've been playing with a friend in the guild, and he wants to do PvP with our toons that are at the same level. I agreed to do it, but I really want to level up the mage more.  I'm enjoying it too much.  I have a feeling I'm going to have to level up another toon just so I can continue goofing around with her (although I found out last week that you can turn off leveling up, xp wise, so I may just do that). 

Playing WoW takes up a lot of my time, but I find it more fun than just reading the internet.  I've pretty much stepped away from everything/anything hotwife related.  I haven't played in that way in a couple of years, and I find that I don't miss it.  I know my husband does, and he can still play.  I've never had as strong a libido as he does, so I've always told him that he can go play, but he'd rather both of us play.  He had an opportunity the other day (kid and I were in D.C. on a school trip), but it fell through before they could get too far.  We'll see how things go on that front.

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I guess that's all I'm going to impart on that front.  Gotta go log into WoW.  If you're on the Feathermoon server, I'm agmystere/agmyst.  Send me a whisper.

Dang I'm lazy

It's amazing how much work it is to clean up a house.  I think we're borderline hoarders.  Realistically, it's just pure laziness, which amounts to piles of stuff that we need to go through and toss.  Once we get in the mood, we actually get rid of stuff, but, being lazy, it just piles up.

So, this means that we still aren't moved into our new home yet.  We were waiting on new furniture because we did not want to move a mattress that we just had to throw away a few weeks later.  The new house has a dining room table, new sofa, and mattresses in it.  It's got a bed frame (without mattress) and some miscellaneous odds and ends.  Most of my books have migrated over, but the bookshelves have not.

What am I doing today to move?  Nothing.  I've got softball practice.  What did I do yesterday?  Nothing, except clean out some stuff in the refrigerator.

Dang I'm lazy.