Erin Cassidy

As you may recall, Crystal Chords qualified for International at the Area 3 contest a few weeks ago. However, we have decided as a chorus to not attend this year. I think this is the first year since 1996 that we opted to not go to International (but obviously, it’s my first since joining in 2004).

I’m a little bummed about the decision. I like competition and it is my favorite part about being a member of Harmony Inc. Well, maybe not the competition so much as the singing and drinking all weekend. I do have my priorities.

However, we will take the time to work on recruiting members and put together a big Christmas show for November or December. When I get more details, I’ll let you all know so you can mark your calendars.

In the meantime, I would still like to go to International. It’s going to be in Appleton, Wisconsin this year. It might be a stretch but I think it would be worth it to go and listen to the quartets and choruses. And then, I’ll still get my singing and drinking in.

This weekend was the first weekend in over a month I didn’t have to go anywhere or do anything. I had already planned to rest up and catch up on much-needed sleep.

I didn’t plan on this being the weekend I got sick. I know I should be so thankful that this is the weekend I got sick and not any of the other weekends when I needed to be on my game. But, really, I was already planning on the rest, I didn’t need that extra kick towards the couch.

So, now I’m all drugged up to stay awake and breathing without coughing up a lung. I feel like I’ve been at work for 3 hours but it’s only been 45 minutes. Oh, today is going to be just fantastic.

So, I’m trying to be a good daughter and wish my mommy dearest mom a happy birthday. But communication is just not what it used to be!

I don’t live in B’ville anymore and I can’t really visit her this weekend. Well, I suppose I could, but I have been out of town the last 4 weekends, 3 of those weekends spent in B’ville I might add. And my grandfather’s burial has been scheduled for May 17 so I need a weekend at home. With no traveling. I’d say I’m not moving from the couch either but I am going to make an exception for helping Desra to move on Saturday. But only because it’s Mother’s Day weekend and she’s about to be a mom herself.

I’d call her on the phone but I know she’ll be way too busy tearing up the town with the math teachers. She probably wouldn’t even know I called if I did. I guess the best I can do is leave her a text on the cell.

I could write her a letter or send one of those Hallmark cards in the mail. But my handwriting sucks and she wouldn’t even know it’s from me. I guess the best I can do is write a message on her Facebook wall.

Maybe I could go the public humiliation route and buy one of those ads in the newspaper. You know, like these cheesy ads:

But who reads the newspaper anymore? I work at one, I know the circulation declines. Besides, she doesn’t even subscribe to the local paper. I guess the best I can so is use this blog in cyberspace to wish her a happy birthday.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

I think the nice warm, sunny weather has seeped into our brains. I spent the day in a fog because that’s what happens after a contest anyway but then all I wanted to do was go outside … which I never did get to, not even for lunch.

But my hellion cat, Tabitha, got out 3 times today to enjoy the nice weather.

The first time was while Jason was taking down the storm windows and going in and out. He forgets that when you slam the screen door, if you don’t catch it, it’s not closed. And bam, there went the cat. I didn’t even notice it until she was well into the backyard.

The second and third times … well, we came home from Wegmans and Jason had gone in through the side door and was on his way to the front door to unlock it for me and the groceries. I told him to let Kelsey out (since that door goes to the backyard). So I hear him calling for Kelsey and then he decides to just leave the door open for him. Except Kelsey is going deaf and didn’t hear him. In the meantime, Tabitha wanted out so she tried to get past Jason. Jason then went after her and brought her to the front porch where I was. In the meantime, Kelsey still hadn’t come to the door so Jason just left the side door open for him, thinking Tabitha would just be distracted by the groceries coming in.

Well, guess what? Kelsey comes running on to the porch to greet me, and Jason goes running after the cat, who had darted back out the side door. Now, Jason is just frustrated with the damn cat Tabitha so he stuffs her in the closet until Kelsey goes out the door. Which he doesn’t until I finally walk him over to the door to show him it’s open and finally close the door so I can let the cat back out.

Now that Tabitha has tasted freedom, she’s all jittery and ready to pounce on anything and everything.

Anyway, in other fun news, Salsarita’s is now open here!!!! Woohoo! Jason saw it was open for lunch and found out they were giving away lunch for free. He tried to hook me up but I was in a meeting so I missed the call. But believe me, when I found out it was open, I told we were definitely heading back for dinner. So we did, and dinner was free too! The place was packed so I hope it sticks around for a while.

Twitter was definitely my new best friend in Canada. And I loved that I could update the best stuff almost in real time so I didn’t forget the good stories. And muuuuuuch less expensive than 50 cent texts to everybody. And, if you missed it or were too scared to figure out another new fangled site, here are the twits all in nice text form. They read newest to oldest so you’ll have to scroll up. Sorry, I love you but not enough to copy and paste 50 separate lines of text.

home and resting about 21 hours ago
stopped at Bon Evans for lunch and gave the car keys to ann. I need a little nap. about 23 hours ago
back in the states now 09:54 AM May 04, 2008
rosemary forgot her passport so the ladies in her car are all dressed in the chorus vests so they’ll look like a quartet at the border. 08:03 AM May 04, 2008
somehow I just woke right up 06:36 AM May 04, 2008
quite drunk and heading to bed. Only ann and jessica are left from the CCs. 12:43 AM May 04, 2008
northern blend has an abba medley. I want an abba medley. 08:48 PM May 03, 2008
so debbie h took a pill before contest thinking it was a blood pressure med but turns out it was ambien. Oops. 05:59 PM May 03, 2008
getting ready for the moonglow. Where’s my glass of wine? 04:23 PM May 03, 2008
harmony falls got most improved 02:03 PM May 03, 2008
6 choruses qualified for international (including us) 02:03 PM May 03, 2008
crystal chords took 4th 02:02 PM May 03, 2008
1 a cappella showcase, 2 northern blend, 3 nfca 02:01 PM May 03, 2008
all ranks stayed the same as last year 02:01 PM May 03, 2008
time to head downstairs for warmups. Crystal chords sing at 1:25. 11:34 AM May 03, 2008
ok my game face is on. And by game face, I mean I look like I’m 5 and got into grandma’s makeup without supervision. 11:33 AM May 03, 2008
my feet are not happy today. I’m just not used to all this walking. Note to self: walk more. After feet rest a bit. 11:03 AM May 03, 2008
man I hate it when the iPhone corrects my spelling. Grr. 10:46 AM May 03, 2008
rehearsal went well although the restroom flooded the floor so melange is running around to FET the word out on plan b. 10:45 AM May 03, 2008
@momcass you need to update in the web box not direct the replies to me for them to show up 08:17 AM May 03, 2008 in reply to momcass
3 monster zits named PMS, not so awesome sleep and performing today have appeared on my chin in one fantastic cluster. 08:04 AM May 03, 2008
breakfast looked gross but wasn’t bad. Ate w/ bev and nancy d who described every medical condition for each pill they took. 06:56 AM May 03, 2008
turning in now. Long day tomorrow. 10:13 PM May 02, 2008
@warplanegirl yes they were 4th 08:46 PM May 02, 2008 in reply to warplanegirl
@descutie sorry about your dad ;( 08:36 PM May 02, 2008 in reply to Descutie
silhouettes is new, lots of potential; they did how deep is the ocean 08:31 PM May 02, 2008
I called the top 3: fusion, audacity, silhouettes 08:30 PM May 02, 2008
6 quarters qualified for international 08:29 PM May 02, 2008
treble in paradise got most improved 08:28 PM May 02, 2008
intermission, barb was great, fusion was awesome, so was audacity. 06:48 PM May 02, 2008
got a sloppy joe that was spicy but good. Time to jet back for the quartet competition. BARB is up first. 05:04 PM May 02, 2008
the gang’s all here and we’ve got dinner reservations at sloppy joe’s. 03:28 PM May 02, 2008
yay, it works! They let us in our rooms too. Not bad at all for a dorm room. 02:44 PM May 02, 2008
about to head back to campus where hopefully I’ll be able to figure out Internet. If it doesn’t work, I guess I’ll be silent til Sunday. 01:38 PM May 02, 2008
can’t get into our rooms until 4. Guess we’ll have to shop! 12:28 PM May 02, 2008
mmmm souvlaki for lunch at the mall. 11:52 AM May 02, 2008
@jbwhong you BETTER take him out. 11:06 AM May 02, 2008 in reply to jbwhong
Internet is sketchy at Humber college. This will be interesting 11:05 AM May 02, 2008
tim horton’s for breakfast then gas and heading for the border 08:13 AM May 02, 2008
awake way too early. This bed suuuiuucks. 06:03 AM May 02, 2008
in niagara falls for the night. Trip was uneventful, yea. 08:50 PM May 01, 2008
dinner then dunkin donuts in dansville 06:51 PM May 01, 2008
packing and pretending not to notice my moping little Kelsey who will miss me as much if not more than @jbwhong 04:17 PM May 01, 2008

Ok, it’s contest weekend! I’m heading to Humber College in Toronto for a fun weekend of singing and drinking. I’m not bringing the laptop and roaming is a tad expensive across the border so I’m going to Twitter my weekend away. You can follow me here and see all the updates you missed, or just refresh my blog page a whole bunch to update the most recent Twitter in this nifty little widget:

So, I’m doing my morning routine thing while getting ready for work and listening to the radio. Then they played Mariah Carey’s latest song while I was doing my makeup and it made me cry! I don’t even like her all that much (ok, I have 2 of her albums from WAAAAY back in the day but those were cassette tapes that have not been converted to cd or my computer).

Anyway, it got me thinking about the last week and a half and how I’ve been all about my grandfather and the funeral and all that. And how this weekend is Area 3 contest and if Affinity were competing, I would not be at all prepared for it.

Oh yeah, I think I forgot to mention that news here. Affinity will not be competing this year. No, we haven’t broken up, we’re still singing and taking gigs and all that fun stuff. But we wanted to take a little break from the pressure of competing and breath while some of us worked on more pressing personal things. Hopefully, we’ll be back next year.

It will be a little weird to only be there for chorus. But I’ll go and have a blast and support the other 2 quartets from the Crystal Chords. And I’ll miss being up on the stage.

But history has taught me that when I pile on way too much, especially in the week or 2 before a big performance, it all goes to hell if I don’t get enough physical and mental rest. So, I’m thankful that I had the time and energy to give to my family during this time of grieving. And now I can go to contest not freaking out about a missed rehearsal or lack of practice time. Which also makes me very thankful.

So, I just signed up for an account with Twitter. It seems like that progressive Internet world is all having fun with it, so of course I want to too. Besides, it’s “research” for my job. Yeah, that’s it.

Anyway, uh, I don’t know anyone on Twitter except for the bloggers I read that I don’t comment on. So, I’m looking for some friends to stalk, I mean, keep in touch with on Twitter. It seems like fun, just posting status updates on yourself, which we all know is the best part of Facebook anyway.

So, check me out and if you have an account, or create an account, let me know what it is and I will “follow” you.

After posting my last entry, Jason and I went to B’ville to for the weekend. And we honored my grandfather by doing what we do best, laugh at our fond memories.

Ask any one of my cousins and we’ll all tell you that our favorite stories are the ones about the many ways my mother found to torture her brother. Seriously, we could listen to same story over and over again about how Mom convinced Uncle Dick that he could fly like Mary Poppins by jumping off the roof with an umbrella. (Clearly, you don’t have to look far to see where I get my evilness from.)

So, Mom, Jim and I sat down to go over the albums of photos to pick out good ones to feature at my grandfather’s memorial service. And we found all kinds of goodies that not even my mother knew existed. Like the press release about the 2nd Purple Heart my grandfather earned during World War II, or the War Record issued to him of all the combat time his unit spent in the War. We scanned in those documents and while we were at it, I asked to scan in the photos I wanted to “bring” home with me. I posted them all in a photo gallery and I think I might try to grab the rest of photos we set aside for the memorial service and scan those next weekend so I can post them too.

Because I know you’re all clamoring for more cutie-patooties photos of me like this one with my mom, my grandfather (left) and my great-grandfather (right):

Thankfully, I did not get my fashion sense from my great-grandfather. I know it was the 70’s and all, but seriously?

I learned this morning that my grandfather died.

Please pray for my family, and make sure you tell your loved ones that you love them.