Pi Girl

I’ve mentioned before how much I love my kids, right? I will suffer through all kinds of experiences that might be considered torture if it were not accompanied by your smiling kid who worked their heart out for your entertainment.

Saturday night, it was Bandtoberfest. All the area marching bands perform and showcase their stuff. It’s not a competition, which is good because not all of the bands compete. I was there for kids in 2 of the schools, and like my dance show experience, of course my kids were in the 2 best bands. And like the dance show, I am really not biased, they really were the best bands on the field.

Really, the biggest difference between the dance show in June and Bandtoberfest is what I had to suffer through. At the dance show, it was the 4-year-old class that couldn’t do much besides stand there and occasionally move their foot. It’s only cute when it’s your kid and I don’t have any 4-year-olds to speak of, so I don’t have to think it’s cute. At Bandtoberfest, it was not the show, it was the freezing cold temperatures. Jason and I were bundled up in many, many layers and it was still too cold. Since my kids were in the last 2 schools to perform, and the show was almost 3 hours long, I was shaking through the performance. Since the Horseheads cheering section pretty much took over the Corning East stadium, I took the opportunity to move alot during the Horseheads show. Since I really was cheering for my kids in the band, I could move more too and warm up my blood.

I told Becky, one of the Horseheads drum majors, that I liked the show so much, I gave them permission to beat Baldwinsville at the State championship show at the Dome in Syracuse. But, I said they could only beat B’ville by less than a point. They stretched my advice a bit and took 2nd place at the Dome, beating B’ville by 1.45 points. Congratulations, Horseheads! Also, congratulations on a fabulous show, Corning West! Um, why aren’t you competing? You could give Horseheads a run for their money.

Sunday, the sun came out and warmed up all the land enough to provide a wonderful day to take the youth group to Iron Kettle Farm for the afternoon. We went on a hay ride, ventured through a corn maze, went through the Spook Barn twice, ate kettle corn and fresh donuts. And took a lot of pictures. We went a little nuts with the camera (over 70 pictures!) so I put together a photo gallery.

Among the more interesting points of the day …. People can get really creative with their pumpkins. There were a ton of displays where the pumpkins were dressed like different characters. Someone has a lot of time on their hands. Also, there were animals to feed. Like the goats who were given free rein on these bridges and walkways that spanned the whole farm, up in the air. If you’ve ever been to the Burnet Park Zoo in Syracuse (or whatever they’re calling it these days), they let the chimpanzees climb around ropes that run around the pedestrian areas. So you look up and there’s a chimp … or in this case, a goat. It was kind of creepy. Unless you’re Jason, who was getting way too many ideas for the goats he seems to think will fit in our tiny backyard.

I am not the kind of person who will try just anything. I certainly advocate that other people should try new things all the time, as long as it’s not me. Occasionally, I’ll break out and try something new, but there’s usually something about it that I can depend on, For example, the first time I went to Crystal Chords, I went knowing there would be a few people I knew there and hey, I like to sing. On the other hand, bungee jumping …. forget it!

Jason will try anything. That includes wanting to attend a feast at a mosque that celebrates Ramadan. Ramadan is the 9th month in the Muslim calendar year and it is a month of fasting and contemplation. You fast while the sun is up and eat when the sun goes down. Usually, there are not feasts associated with it, but the Islamic Association of the Finger Lakes wanted to invite friends in the community to share Ramadan with them and held a dinner that included prayer and food and handing a check to the Red Cross. Jason, working for the Star-Gazette, was one of those invited friends.

I was curious but definitely out of my element. I’m not Muslim, I didn’t want to offend anyone while we were there, so I read the invitation carefully (it was 3 pages long). The instructions were to wear modest clothing, be prepared to take shoes off and women would be given a scarf to wear on their heads.

So, we get to the mosque late (that whole work thing) and creep up to the prayer room. I took my shoes off and dropped them in the pile and started into the room until I realized I didn’t see any scarves. Eek! What to do? Before the panic could really set in, people started getting up. The prayers were over.

On to eating. Jason and I sat down first while we waited to see what happened next. That’s when my boss and his wife walked into the room. This made me feel tons better, because they’re not Muslim either. So, I figured I could learn some lessons by watching them or not look so out place at the very least. Someone standing with my boss invited us to join the dinner line. Which seemed fine until we got to the buffet table and I realized I was in the men’s line! And the womens’ line was through another door, even though it started at the same place on opposite sides of the table. Fortunately, a very nice girl let me budge in front of her.

So I get my food. I have no idea what most of it is, but I’m pretty darn sure most of it is spicy. Another thing I don’t do. Which is crazy because Jason and I are on way opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to “how spicy do you like your food?” He’s the type that 5 alarm “ouch” sauce is not spicy enough whereas for me, mild wings are too spicy sometimes.

I go to sit back down and as I walk along the long set of tables, I realize that only men are sitting at this set where Jason and I sat down before. Oh crap. The women are kind of scattered at other tables and there were a few men there too, but mostly just the families. And there was my boss, sitting at the mens’ table and his wife was sitting with the women across the room. Double crap. I tried to quietly point this out to Jason while I gathered my coat and purse to move, when the man sitting next to my chair told me it was ok to sit down. Apparently, there are no strict rules to separate men and women at meal time (like there is for prayer) but it tends to happen that way so people can socialize with their friends.

Things got a little easy after that. I couldn’t eat most of my dinner because the spices were making me cry. But I was amused that everyone who came to talk to us during the meal all asked if the meal was too spicy for us. Our answer became a little too canned: “Not for Jason!”

A very nice surgeon (he told us several times he was a doctor) told us about Ramadan and the signifigance of the feast we were having. He shared his dessert with us, which was quite delicious.

We then heard a presentation which welcomed all the invited guests (including Mr and Mrs Jason Whong) and then there was the ceremonious handing of the check to the Red Cross and then some prayers.

As extremely out of place as I felt all evening, I also felt very welcomed by everyone at the mosque. There was a lot of love and real sense of family there. I can’t say that I would ever go back again, but if it were to come up, I’ll remember how inviting and welcoming everyone was. And maybe I’ll even get there in time to get a scarf for the prayer times.

Affinity had our first real gig Saturday night. We were the musical backdrop for the cocktail hour of LaFayette’s Columbian Presbyterian Church’s 200th Anniversary celebration. Which means we sang and noone paid attention and just talked over us. It was great! A few people listened, and that doesn’t count Bill and Jason, our ever-devoted husband groupies. Although, I was amused that the church-goers were expecting the lead and bass from Anne and Donna’s old quartet, so we had to do a lot of explaining. I just hope they weren’t too disappointed.

Besides the atmosphere being light and my stress level down, I had a lot of fun. We sounded good, my voice felt on, and when we weren’t in people’s way trying to get to the chocolate fountain, people seemed to enjoy the music. We even taught a tag to the other musical talent of the evening, a guitarist who wrote a song for her father. She also has a great bass voice, so we got her in on the act. I know this kind of gig is not what I’ll have to look forward to in the future, but it was a very positive way to break me into how this all works.

After the show, Jason ate my share of the dinner with Anne, Donna and Bill while Michelle and I took off for a road trip to Watertown to see the Northern Blend Chorus annual show. Unfortunately, we missed most of the show, but we did get into the Afterglow and I got to enjoy all the groups’ performances while I ate some really good wings. The ladies from Northern Blend and Hot Topic (the featured quartet) were so nice and wonderful to be around (and that’s talking about their voices and their friendliness).

It was the kind of night that ended way too early, but it left me extra excited for International in a few short weeks.

Ok, my blog is back up, but because of our way not fabulous server adminstrator and his lack of contact with any of his customers, it will take me a while to get all the data back up. I’ve got some posts ready to go from the last week, which will come sooner than the old stuff.

The good news is that we’re on a better server now. Yea. Oh, and if you were approved for comments before, you will have to be re-approved for comments again. Grr.

**Update - Putting in all these entries (again) is tiring so I’m not moving the comments over. If you would like to leave your comment again, you are more than welcome to … assuming you can remember what you said.

Jason surprised me tonight with tickets to see Quartetto Gelato play at the Clemens Center. I’ll admit, I was not all that thrilled about seeing classical music, but I didn’t have the heart to say no because it was so sweet of Jason to think of a cool date night idea.

Neither of us had any idea what this ensemble was all about, except it was a quartet and they played classical music. Now, don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy and appreciate classical music, but …. I have yet to sit through an instrumental concert without falling asleep. I can do a few songs, but I don’t know, I guess it just doesn’t keep my attention or something. I do the same thing at operas.

Well, I didn’t fall asleep once through this concert. In fact, I almost fell out of my seat and over the balcony a few times, I was so into it.

This quartet consists of a violin, a cello, an oboe and an accordian. And the violinist sings tenor. I think, on their cds, they all switch instruments, but for this concert, those were the only instruments. Before they even came out, I was intrigued. Usually, I think of quartets as being all strings or all brass. An accordian???

But they rocked the house. Each performer was clearly into their music and having a lot of fun on stage playing for us. At least once for each person, I had a “damn!” or a “oh no, s/he didn’t!” moment. Seriously, is there anyone else out there (besides Weird Al, I’m not sure he counts) who can make the accordian cool?

Favorite quote - from the accordian player, who, I think, is German: “English is not my native language, so I don’t like to talk. But I introduce this piece because I like to play fast!”

Favorite player - the oboist. If I were an impressionable 10-year-old again, I would have begged to drop the clarinet and move to the oboe. She did a song, Concerto Sopra Motivi dell’Opera, La Favorita di Donizetti, where she was all over the register. She even broke out the circular breathing and her face turned quite purple a few times. I’ve only seen one person’s face get that color - my junior high band teacher, Mr. Wanzer, whose face would regularly turn that color when either playing his trumpet or yelling at us when we got out of hand.

I also got a refresher course on being a performer in a quartet. Each member added their own personality and style to the music, but knew how to add just the right amount to make the whole sound come together perfectly. Hmmm … what a concept.

Anyway, Jason gets the biggest “you rock” award because tonight’s concert was exactly what I needed to start my mental preparation for Saturday. That’s when Affinity has our first real sing out in LaFayette. My stomach hasn’t decided whether I’m more nervous or excited. So, prayers for my quartet are much appreciated!

If my brother lived in Hollywood and had money, I’m pretty darn sure he’d be Kevin Smith. I recently came to this conclusion after perusing Kevin’s latest video blog documenting the road to making Clerks 2. His monologue about why he’s choosing to call the movie The Passion of the Clerks and why we should all love Jesus was so eerily Jim, it was scary (although I’m sure if Jim was saying this to the kids, he’d clean up the language just a tad).

And for more of your Kevin Smith pleasure, check out his responses to a chat about Clerks 2. It’s long but well worth the read.

I saw that line on my new favorite site - Pink is the New Blog - and I thought it appropriate. Today is the anniversary of the day I married the love of my life.

We didn’t do anything big. The weather did not help much and we made and broke plans several times. We were going to meet up with Mom and Amber at the Apple Festival in LaFayette, but the rain and cold busted that up. While Jason and I kicked around ideas, Mom offered us dinner if we made the hike anyway up to B’ville. So, we had a yummy anniversary dinner at Pier 57.

I was trying to avoid B’ville because Jimmy and I are feuding over a coveted license plate holder, which I am currently in possession of. It’s a “family heirloom” of sorts, because it says “Air National Guard - the Boys from Syracuse.” Thanks to a lawsuit, the 174th can’t call themselves the Boys from Syracuse anymore so the license plate holders are no longer in production. I’ve had the plate holder for the last few months while Mom and Jim were without car, but now they have a vehicle and want it back. I plan to hold out as long as possible. I got away with it today, because Jim and his screwdriver were nowhere in sight. I know I won’t be so lucky next time.

I think the weirdest part about today is how public the anniversary is. We’ve gotten calls and cards from family and friends wishing us a happy day and asking how marriage is treating us. It’s all nice, but Jason and I have been together so long, it seems odd. All of our other “anniversaries” - when we met (10 years in January), the first date, the day we were back on “for real this time” finally, etc - were days we celebrated together, without the fanfare. Now, it’s like the day has been elevated to birthday status. Sure, the marriage was born a year ago, but my life with Jason began way before then.

Of course, I don’t mean to say you can’t wish us a happy anniversary. It certainly brings back happy wedding memories. It also reminds me that there is a wonderful community of people rooting for our happily-ever-after as much as we are. And for that, I am eternally grateful.
Happy anniversary, Jason! I love you forever!

I’ve been inspired. I must meet Trish Sie, who choregographed the dance in this brilliant video for Ok Go’s “A Million Ways.”

The video is very simplistic, but the routine is so complicated and very cool. Best of all, anyone could do it! The guys in the video do not appear to be dancers by any means, but make this dance work. If a musical group wanted to work on their presentation style, they could learn some lessons from Ok Go.

Hmmm …. maybe the Crystal Chords could get Trish to come to little old Corning/Elmira and teach us some moves. Or maybe Affinity could just steal the moves from the video for one of our songs.

It seems that there’s a new game on campus at the old alma mater. According to this Ithacan artcle, the Cupcake Spy Agency(CSA) will take on your problems and solve them. Assuming your problem is a sketchy date or a stolen laptop.

The reporter in this case sent the CSA to spy on his girlfriend. Good thing the girlfriend was clean. And she’ll be able to call in lots of favors for this one.

But there is the creepiness factor. The CSA charges no money and uses resources that are pretty much available to anyone. There’s a fine line between wanting info about someone and wanting info about someone.

Work has me super busy this week, so much so that I’m going through all the shows I DVR’ed all at once and kind of wondering what else I missed while I was away (and I do mean “away” in mind and body).

Anyway, I’m trying not to let my weekend slip away from me completely so occasionally I’ve been getting up from the computer to sleep, tell Kelsey he needs a bath, or watch my dvr’ed stuff. But since I’m on hyper overload with work, mostly I’ve been using tactics to keep me at the computer. Like boogie-ing down to new music from iTunes (got me some Gorillaz, Youth Group, Green Day, Kanye West and Shakira - highly recommend all of the songs I got, by the way, although the Youth Group song is not so much “boogie” music, if that’s what you’re looking for). Or various dashboard versions of Sudoku.

Mostly, I’m just wishing I wasn’t working this weekend so I could have gone to New Beginnings with my kids. I keep looking at the clock, thinking, “ok, what are they doing now?” For example, now at 7:53ish, they are full swing into the Talent Show. The first thing I know the kids will come back to youth group on Monday all excited about is the talent show. They’ll be excited about other stuff too, but the talent show is always first. I know it’s been a long day and they have long since bonded with their new best friends, shared special Christ-filled moments with them and now, they can let out all their craziness and with the talent show. And craziness will ensue, I am sure of it. After watching New Beginnings grow for 11 years, I’m pretty familiar with where the mood is by now. But it’s still fun to watch. Especially for my kids who are there for the first time and so nervous about going and will come home saying, “why was I was so scared, that was fun?”

Ok, break’s over. Time to get back to work.