Sunday, July 30, 2006

asked and answered.....

friend of mine from the opera chorus: so why is it every tv in this town is tuned to Fox News?

MK: well, it is the top rated news channel in the country.

I can't believe these words came out of my mouth..... and the person sitting next to me cursed under his breath. but i've also lately been thinking there's a conspiracy of some sort with Fox giving tv's to offices under the condition they stay on FNC.

anyway, they had a "volunteer appreciation" shindig for the living opera tonight. it was nice to see some people again. i had fun, even if i did have to bite my tongue a few times. ;D

Saturday, July 29, 2006

for those of you who ask for ideas for care packages......

see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and especially here.

puppy games....

"here i come!" Posted by Picasa


so last night i was looking for the squeeky firehose. I look under the bed and Roxie runs to the other side so she can slide to me from over there. we did this several times, I look under bed, Roxie scoots from the other side, very fun.

Friday, July 28, 2006

we all like the bed, maybe a little too well.

cats and pillows Posted by Picasa


I swear maggie and carlos were tag teaming my pillow last night, every time i woke up it was a different kitty. still there's nothing as relaxing as a warm furball purring in your ear.

be sure to catch this week's carnival of the cats at The Scratching Post.

okay

what does this: Posted by Picasa


have to do with this story?

sure the first pic is of the subject of the story you go to if you click the picture, but the horse? and Tony Snow? I have no idea. Or am i the only one that got the impression they would have something to do with that headline?

Thursday, July 27, 2006

tonight's dinner!?

Healthy Choice Mesquite Chicken Barbecue:

another winner....the potatoes were particularly good, although they were in the same section as the chicken so i didn't catch the garlic butter. the chicken was kind of an odd consistency, but that seems to be a common thing in frozen dinners. not so much chicken breast as chicken breast shaped. none of it came out chewy though, which is always a good thing. yeah, i'm not picky.

tonight's cave in? beer. (the summer ale, to be exact)

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

just saw this on tv....

it's fun to try to guess what's going to pop up next.

fun stuff.....

Gail is starting a fitness log, which is cool. myself? i'm a little embarassed about what i eat, and would i change that just to feel better? probably not. see, there's that whole, "i can't cook" thing. though i had been thinking about posting what i have for dinner.... little frozen dinner reviews, if you will. I swear, i don't know what i ate last time rto was deployed, i don't remember eating so many frozen things. this go round i'm thinking these are healthier than the ramen/mac & cheese/hot dog/pizza rotation. soooooo, tonight's dinner:


Turkey Medallions with Mushroom Gravy:
this was tasty i would probably eat it again some time. The turkey was very tender and moist (except for the small bits that crispy-fied in the microwave, but i'm assuming that's a problem specific to me) oh and there were green beans with red pepper "accents" yeah, whatever. they were like fresh (okay, not out of a can) green beans, which i don't care for(cause usually they have a strong dirt flavor or bitterness, to me), but these weren't bad. maybe it was the gravy. Carlos and Roxie both approve of the gravy, i had to keep them both at bay while i ate.

and then i went and blew any goodness with one of these. though, beleive it or don't, this box has been here since before rto deployed.

so here's a pic of the plants that are coming for me..... Posted by Picasa

*sigh*

i think i'm just generally hitting an angry stretch. i mean, yeah, who'da thunk? rto's gone, just wrapped up a show, really nebulous future thing going on here. i keep trying to convince myself i really am easy going about things, no really, i am! but i'm back to yelling at the tv and radio, but can't bring myself to shut them off. plan all kinds of ranty posts and then think, "no, that's not me, i'm nice and polite" and i wouldn't want to deal with any kind of negative response. so perhaps i should shift to pure cat blogging. bwa haha ha haaaaa. could just be sleep deprivation. i think there's a lot of that going around.

maggie katzen, old woman....

i was offered yente. which, uh, concerns me. i commented at gail's and i'm sure i've probably covered it here about community theater and how it skews heavily to teens, but c'mon! i'll probably ruminate on this further over the next couple days. having a read through thursday.

oh and in other fun news. we'd planned the florida trip in such a way as i could sing at my parents' church sunday morning.... turns out it's already spoken for by some other out o' towner. >: (

things could get ugly here soon.

Saturday, July 22, 2006

browsing keepsake needle arts

and i came across this book. interesting.... Posted by Picasa


book description:

Bring a three-dimensional garden to life using stumpwork, canvas work, beading and ribbon work. Owen Davies and Gill Holdsworth 's book has step-by-step directions for flowers, topiaries, hedges, walls, paths and water features for 16th and 17th-century-inspired gardens.
Hardcover, 128 pages.


is there really a demand for this?

I've become such a slacker....

DMN actually reviewed Don Pasquale..... not the most flattering, but it seemed to be a step up from last year. i went hunting for last year's review on my blog. man, i used to write more. i suppose there's just nothing that interesting going on when rto is gone. yeah, that's it. we went out after the show last night. i've decided we have to start a swear jar for anytime the "opera that shall not be named" gets mentioned, cause it's been a nightly occurence so far. seems some of us have been scarred for life. anyway, two more performances to go. this season has just gone much smoother than last year. it wasn't without it's panic moments, but they were just handled better. sooooo, the review:

OPERA REVIEW: Singing charms in 'Don Pasquale'

12:00 AM CDT on Friday, July 21, 2006

By SCOTT CANTRELL / The Dallas Morning News

RICHARDSON – Opera is the most labor-intensive of the performing arts, calling for set designers, carpenters and electricians, costumers and wigmakers as well as singers and orchestra musicians and rehearsal pianists and what have you. So when someone proposes a "community" opera company, on the cheap, beware.

But there's a place for such outfits: to explore smaller-scale repertory and give young singers performance opportunities. On those counts, the Living Opera, a Richardson-based community opera company in its second season, holds promise.

The company's Don Pasquale, which opened Thursday evening at the Eisemann Center's Countrywide Theater, had an impressive lineup of voices. (The same cast sings in a repeat performance Saturday; a different cast sings tonight and Sunday.) Although lacking a real pit, the intimate theater proved acoustically admirable.

The star of the show, hands down, was Abla Hamza's firecracker of a Norina. Hers is a genuinely beautiful soprano, warm, liquescent and nimble, and she played the conniving faux ingénue to the hilt.

Nathan Myers was awfully young for Dr. Malatesta, but he compensated with a feisty stage presence and a bright, well-focused baritone. Dramatically, Rick Novak was a nondescript Ernesto, and his upper notes were sometimes a bit frayed and under pitch. But he sang expressively and turned some lovely phrases.

In the title role, Jeremy Paul Milner supplied a rich baritone. But much of the evening he seemed to exist in a parallel rhythmic universe, lagging as much as a whole measure behind the orchestra. The role includes a brisk patter number, but, well, his doesn't seem to be an allegro voice. And his impersonation of an old man wasn't very convincing.

Accompaniment was supplied by a small salon-orchestra complement: two violins, cello, bass, flute, oboe, clarinet, two bassoons, timpani and guitar. Apart from some early disagreements over Donizetti's dotted rhythms, conductor Keith Chambers got secure playing. But his one-size-fits-all beat wasn't very helpful, and a couple of his tempos were beyond the singers' skills. The small chorus had fine women, OK men.

This is billed as a "Wild, Wild West!" production, but the basic décor of Pasquale's salon looks like middlebrow Highland Park, ca. 1960. There's a quasi-Western sofa, but also (!) a Danish modern dining set. Only in the last act did I figure out that the strange piece of furniture in front of the fireplace was a highboy desk, turned the wrong way. Moving the second scene to a frontier saloon seemed pretty pointless.

The stage director is Michael Chadwick, the company's co-founder and artistic director. He also played a falling-down-drunk Notary, the most misguided characterization in a production that seemed incompletely thought-through.

There's potential here. I'd like to see what the company might do with another stage director.

E-mail scantrell@dallasnews.com

Repeats at 7:30 tonight and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at Countrywide Theater, Eisemann Center, 2351 Performance Drive, Richardson. $15 to $35. 972-744-4650, www.thelivingopera.org.

Friday, July 21, 2006

lots o' lizards

wrong side of the window Posted by Picasa


seems like they've had a lizard a day this week. Maggie is usually the one that gets them. she burbles a lot when she's hunting.

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

I'm working as slow as i can!!!!

yeah, my nickname at work is Speedy Gonzales. i'm really trying.... it's just i don't feel like goofing off that much since i'm not a "real" employee, ya know? something about permanance makes people lazy.

Friday, July 14, 2006

The quintessential dog pic

Roxie Posted by Picasa


Glowing eyes: check
tongue: check
odd camera angle: check

better than "Hulk, Smash!"

maggie yawn Posted by Picasa

bored, bored, bored

i'm just gonna take a nap Posted by Picasa


*honk-shu*

is it really Friday?

wow another long stretch of not posting.... okay, long for me, maybe. yes, things are sooo exciting here. Don Pasquale opens Thursday, if you're in the area please come see it.

it's now official that i'll be visiting Florida for a week in August. not sure what i'll do while i'm there, yet. rumors of pottery painting with dad. (seems he has quite the knack for it) maybe try to visit the Morikami ,but it will be August, so maybe not the whole walk o' the garden. and probably lots of shopping. k, now i'll go post some kitty pics.

Monday, July 10, 2006

I swear there should be a test

for people over a certain age to be allowed to use the internet.

that is all.

not a great picture....

but some of you seemed so amused with yesterday's pic.... Posted by Picasa


this one was actually taken just before it.

35 minutes today.....

any day now, i'm going to start wasting away...... *taps foot, looks at watch*

Sunday, July 09, 2006

must have been dinner time....

view from my lap Posted by Picasa


or more accurately, view of my lap with a cat in the way.

Friday, July 07, 2006

David Bowie and Mick Jagger....

singing "Dancing in the Street" uh, what were they smoking?

so what brought this on you ask? found out yesterday that we get The Tube music network. nothing but music videos. good thing rto is gone because he hates "watching music" *sigh* anyway, they're running a very interesting mix o' stuff, a bit 80's heavy maybe, not that there's anything wrong with that.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

kitty karma....

Laurence Simon often makes Kitty Karma posts. What is kitty karma?

Kitty Karma is where your kitty cat (or kittycats, in my case) gets extra attention and affection to balance out the horror or misery inflicted on felines less fortunate than them.


so, on the way to work today i watched a kitty get run over. He was on the George Bush Tollway. I don't know why, and I don't know if anyone stopped for him, I was seriously considering circling back around for him, but there wasn't really anything i could do for him. so my kitties get extra hugs tonight.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

I have no idea what they're saying....

but this cracked me up. someday, when i'm really bored again, i may try this with maggie and carlos.

apparently it's too smart for me......

worst.popcorn.ever. Posted by Picasa


Just popped up the last bag of this annoying crap. I think there were at least two bags we couldn't eat because they burned. See, I got spoiled by the other brands that cooperated with the popcorn button on the microwave. It's magic! I love it! but will stuff work with it? no. it's like it had a sensor that knew you weren't giving it your undivided attention so it would then blacken itself. not a single bag popped that didn't have some bits overcooked. good riddance!

Happy Birthday USA!!

I've been hanging on to this bit I heard last week on WBAP. seems the audio isn't up yet. but anyway, while talking to George W he mentioned that he'd talked to Clinton recently and asked him "what do you get a 230 year old country for it's birthday?" and Clinton's answer was ".... a 210 year old country".

The Kitties

Make an appearance in today's Ask the Cats.

Monday, July 03, 2006

if I didn't know better i'd think it was all some elaborately staged hoax....

my sister shows up on line last night and starts chatting with me. Tells me Eddie!!! has gone missing. they went out of town a couple days and he disappeared while they were gone. says they had just put flyers up all over the neighborhood. then, EEEEE HE'S BACK!!!!! HE JUST SHOWED UP!!!! sure, sure. ;D anyhoo, glad he made it back, and apparently no worse for wear, well, except being stinky. he got a bath. (favorite quote she related, her boyfriend is bathing the cat, "you will smell like Strawberries!" ....it would probably be even funnier if you knew him....)

Sunday, July 02, 2006

I'd really like to know....

who signed me up for the National Association of Negro Musicians Newsletter.

Library update...

Made a push this weekend to get everything in.... i think there may be a few scores and music things to add, but all the major bookshelves are in. whee! so current tally is.... 1465. also this doesn't include rto's army manuals..... I don't feel like doing that much work. ;p

Saturday, July 01, 2006

When organists attack....

so, I'm singing for a cousin's wedding in August. I'd met with them a couple weeks ago to talk about what music they wanted. since then they've met the organist. so I got a call tonight letting me know that things are changing. no big, mom had given me a heads up on this a few days ago and the things i'll be singing now are pretty standard. so one song was turned down because it was secular, and the other, if i've been told the right thing... because the organist just doesn't like it. so let me throw out another fun phrase, Sacred Monsters, my understanding of this is it's someone that's very talented and very difficult to get along with, but people put up with them because of their talent. that's what popped into my head as my cousin repeats, "but he's a realllly good musician"

Variation on a theme

there are some things I just can't get enough of. Posted by Picasa


Carlos and RTO are a couple of them. In this instance I think Carlos is probably saying, "so when are you going to feed me pinky?" cause that's usually when he gets really friendly, feedin' time.

update: be sure to catch the Carnival of the Cats at Watermark this week.