Happy Pagan Death Candy Scary Day!

Did you know that palm trees are the opposite of Halloween?
(as usual - click for larger versions)



By carving a palm tree into a pumpkin, I have created a rift in the space-time continuum. We're all doomed.



If I stare long enough into the rift I think I see the Red Sea being parted... oh, wait, that's just me doing a canon ball at the old cottage. My bad.



This what happens when you let an over achieving ed student near a creative outlet (that involves) knives after she's finished her last exam (which was math).



Same deal. We're praying that her sanity will be restored.



Back row (l-r) by: Tashley, Chelsea, Michelle, Chelsea
Front row (l-r) by: Shawna, Tashley, Me, Alyssa, Chelsea



What a bunch of spooky over achievers. Boo!

This Isn't Right

Here is what I came back to last night (some pics taken last night, some this morning - all of them gross):









There are limbs and whole trees down all over the city. Cars have been smashed by falling debris. My one roommate said that the snow was touching the bottom of the car as she drove down our street to get to work. It's a mess. It's not creationally normative to have snow on the ground before Halloween. I'm glad that its supposed to get up to 15C here tomorrow. Take that snow!

From The Inside

Shhh, don't tell. I may have snapped a couple shots at Monday night's rehearsal with the orchestra.





I may or may not have been sitting behind the percussion section.

Further Proof That I Serve A Loving God

I'm heading to Hamilton tonight to attend a gala dinner (it's a gala day for me), and then I'm staying over night with one of the couples attending the event. In the morning I will go to the chiropractor (whom I miss so dearly).

I am happy to announce that by doing these little things, I should miss this:


Yup, that says 10cm of snow. At time of publishing Hamilton is not expected to get any precipitation during the same period. So I will go to Hamilton, let it snow, and then come back to London after the yuck is done. And all this planned weeeeeks in advance.

Thank you Jesus.

I Know There Is A Connection

When I saw this...

toothpastefordinner.com

It made me think of a few men I know. But it also made me think of this.

For Halloween Week

I took this picture of Leah



She took this picture of me.

So You're Leaving The Wolf With The Lambs?

A couple of my roommates went to Costco this week. Among many things, their trip yielded the classic Monster Mix bucket of candy. I say classic because a friend's mother buys her one every year to share with her friends. So the bucket of candy has been a staple at Pony Villa (and dorms before that). Anyway, it came out that I might be the only one home on Hallowe'en night.

Let's break this down - everyone else gone, me alone with an entire bucket of candy, the expectation that at the end of the night the bucket will be empty. Hmmmm.

I wonder how this will all play out.... wonder indeed.

I Think It Was A Good Day

I spent some time at home on the weekend. I got pretty tired (for various reasons) and decided it wouldn't be safe for me to drive all the way back to London on Sunday night. Therefore I thought I would get a good jump after breakfast on Monday morning and be back to London just after lunch. That was a pipe dream.

The following are my facebook status updates that I made via my cell (with some commentary):

Laura is on the side of the 401 with a flat tire, although she is capable of changing said tire, she is glad to have caa. 10:51

-I'm just driving along and the car starts to handle all crazy and there is a bad bad noise coming from the back. I pull over and swear. Then I call CAA. Then I wait for CAA. Then CAA comes and puts the spare on and inflates it for me. Then I make phone calls to Dad and L.Bo for advice on where the heck to go and get this tire repaired. I end up at Northumberland Tire. They say its gonna be 45min or so. Alors, I take off on foot to kill the time.

Laura stly) replacement. Hurray! 12:01

-this was supposed to read "Laura is eating chinese buffet by herself in port hope. She was just informed that the tire cannot be fixed and she is waiting for them to put on a (likely costly) replacement. Hurray!" I had decided lunch was in order and a 6.50$ chinese lunch buffet is ok with me.

Laura gives up on trying to update this from her cell. Grrr. 12:03

-I was pretty frustrated that I had taken the time to put that whole long update up and it didn't work. though I think it may have worked over the mobile network because I got a text from L.bo saying that I was killing her. she felt sad that she was working and couldn't come and have 6.50$ chinese buffet with me.

Laura is killing Lesley, possibly slowly and with her song. 12:06

-so I thought I'd let everyone know that I was killing L.bo

Laura just watched some woman named Doris get surprised for her birthday at the aforementioned chinese place. 12:18

-yup, just as I was heading back to the buffet Doris and a couple of friends walked in and she spied a very long table full of more of her friends and very quietly and sporadically they started going "uh, surprise." "surprise Doris" "happy birthday Doris" I was pretty amused. And I was just killing time while I was waiting for N-Tire to put the newbie on my car.

Laura cannot do anything simple. Sigh. 12:42

-while I was in the bathroom my Dad called. he had just remembered that before I got the car, he and Mom had put new tires on it and they might be under warranty. but the warranty would be with Canadian Tire, which I was not at and which there is none in Port Hope. this frustrated me to know at this point. so I called Dad and said that it was too late for this tire as a new one was being put on, but I was glad to know for future tire 'incidents'. I got back to N-tire and the spare was still on my car. what? growl. they hadn't had time to find a suitable replacement. so I took that opportunity to check my glove box for anything that mentioned tire warranty. found it, called dad. after some discussion dad called cobourg CT for me and they said to bring the tire in. I got my tire back from N-tire and slowly headed to the 'burg.

Laura is on her way to cobourg canadian tire, frick. 13:00

-I was obviously thrilled to be back tracking and likely eating another hour of time. if I didn't leave cobourg by 3pm then I wouldn't be making it to London by 7 for rehearsal (because of traffic) and would just go back to my parents.

Laura was really wishing she would get an unsecured wireless signal at CT. that wish is going unfulfilled. 13:17

-I pulled out my laptop and thought I might get some work done while waiting for my 'free' replacement tire to be put on. this work would not be involving the internet

Laura has a new tire and is ready to take off across toronto (into traffic). Oh look, its raining. Fun. 13:51

-after about a million phone calls, a bunch of hours spent waiting on the 401, in port hope, and in cobourg, I was finally able to start heading westward again

Laura is back in London, thinking about supper and getting ready for rehearsal. 17:07

-traffic was nice, I made good time and I made it back with a bit of space to breath and have supper before choir rehearsal.

So I think that was a pretty stellar day and was in no way frustrating or a waste of an entire day. Cough.

Logan & Leah

Leah...



...has a little brother.

Logan Hunter born Thursday, October 16. 8lbs, 2oz.

Maybe I really love these kids.

Look Out World

Maybe Kim is the greatest friend ever. Maybe last night she bought me Enchanted!!!!!

Something You're Going To Want To Do

On November the 1st and 8th, I'm singing with Chorus London in some pretty fantastic concerts.

The concerts are basically the same actually - or at least the music being sung is the same - Orff's Carmina Burana - you can see the first/last movement here - and Ruth Watson Henderson's Voices of Earth. Both concerts will have Chorus London and the Amadeus Choir and a children's choir, along with orchestra.

On Novemeber 1 the concert happens in London at Centennial Hall. On Novermber 8 the concert happens in Toronto at York Minster Park Baptist Church.

A few of the differences will be: the childrens choirs will be different for each city, and I believe the pianists will be different as well. We were told a few weeks ago that Ruth Watson Henderson herself will be one of the pianists for the Toronto date.

I think these will be very hot concerts - 200 voices, amazing music, orchestra, hmmm yes. I'd never heard all of Carmina Burana before I entered the ensemble and it is one crazy b!tch goddess of a piece of music - the rhythm is crazy at times, it's sung in medieval Latin and German. There are even some yiddish words thrown in for good measure. The translations of the lyrics are pretty crazy too. Some highlights:

"If the world were all mine from the sea up to the Rhine, this I would willingly forgo to have the queen of England lie in my arms."

"Some gamble, some drink, some live without discretion. From those who spend their time in gambling, some are stripped bare, some win clothes, some are dressed in sacks; there no-one fears death, but for the wine they throw dice."

"May God grant, may the gods grant, what I have set myself to do, and that is, to unlock the bonds of her virginity."

Voices of Earth draws its lyrics from the Canticles of the Sun and poetry by Archibald Lampman. One of my favourite parts of singing it is the way the two choirs are written. There are many times when one choir is kind of singing the back up vox for the other choir. Sometimes this means that the lyrics get a little skewed. At one point our choir gets to sing "oo-ooooooo grass." And at another "a pool, a pooool, cool." Or another favourite "with joy for Captain fancy at the helm." I want to meet Capt. Fancy.

The V.O.E (as I've taken to calling it in my head because I don't have anyone to talk to such choral matters about) is something you'll want to take in for a variety of reasons

1. it's Canadian - the composer and the poetry (Archie L is from Morpeth, ON)
2. it's rarely performed due to the whole 2 choir, plus childrens choir, plus orchestra/double piano thing
3. you can't just go out and buy a cd of it - there are no commercial recordings available
4. it was written in 1991 - which means you can't be sick of it yet
5. it is a big challenge to sing - from the unfamiliarity with it, to the fact that it changes time signatures about 1,538 times, or the insane rhythms, or maybe the sharp text painting
   

Basically you need to come to this concert and you have 2 chances to do it. I've linked both choir's websites in the post - and you can get tickets from the 'home' choir for each date. I have a small mitt full of tickets for the London date. Let me know if you want one/some/all/a punch in the face.

Oh, yeah, siiiiigh and one last reason why you may want to come to this concert.... double sigh... this, cough, will... ugh... be (I can do this), my first, siiiiiiiiiigh, concert as... deep breath... a soprano (of the 2nd variety). There, I said it. So you'd better come.

(ps - if you call for tix in London, mention my name - i'm required to sell a certain number)

Vote, Vote, Vote...

...unless you are a felon, 'cause felons can't vote.

I watch this every election day.

Also, ever since I became a laptop owner I spend my election nights with television coverage on and my laptop on my lap, checking the ridings of family, friends and roommates. I make a nice drink and I make popcorn and other snacks. Ohhh, its a good time.

Me = nerd.

This Is True

Up is to down as palm trees are to Halloween.

Now You Tell Me

toothpastefordinner.com

Today Was Kind Of Hard

There was a woman named Betty who had been in Chorus London for over 20 years. She 'retired' from the choir a few years ago. She passed away a couple of weeks ago after a battle with cancer. One of her wishes was that the choir would sing at her memorial.

The memorial was this morning. We were to sing Rutter's "The Lord Bless You And Keep You" and do parts on the 2 hymns that were sung. Easy right?

Wrong.

It may have been a little soon for me to do another funeral - and this one contained one of the hymns that we sang at Grandma Stewart's funeral and 2 of the Psalms, including the one I read. So I had all of that hitting me. The service was also in a funeral home chapel and the last time I was in one of those was after my friend Crystal was killed. So I had bits of that swirling around too.

I started to cry during one of the prayers and I'm sure there were a few people wondering how exactly I had been so touched at a memorial service for someone I had never met. But yeah, it put me in a bit of a funk for the rest of the day and really emphasized to me how much I miss my Grandma.

Waking Up To A Dead Tongue

Chorus London has an upcoming concert and we will be performing Orff's Carmina Burana. This is pretty exciting as its one of those pieces that you should just sing in your lifetime.

Carmina Burana is in a mix of Latin, German and a few yiddish words, all of a medieval persuasion. Our rehearsals are for 2.5 hours once a week and I have the piece on my computer. The leaves me with bits of the work floating around my head. Thusly I have been waking up random Latin phrases from the piece running loudly through my brain.

This is not a new phenominon for me, it happened all the time in my days as an RUC concert choir memeber. All the time. But, when these phrases went looping through my head I could easily walk through the halls of the school, sing them and have the phrase continued by some pour sap who was suffering from the same fate. I think I liked having the company in that "misery."

Now I'm sure that other Chorus London members are having the same thing happen to them. But I only see them once a week and they are all (well mostly) real adults and I don't think they would react well if I walked into our rehearsal hall and looked at one of them and started bellowing "NAZAZA! NAZAZA! NAZAZA!"

I miss interacting on a daily basis with other choir members and hashing out our Latin, German, Rutter-an, Handel-ian, etc tune cooties together.

CMO

Current Musical Obsession:

3 songs from the Enchanted soundtrack - "True Love's Kiss", "Happy Working Song", and "That's How You Know"

Concert Dress

I'm going to Stratford after church today to see The Music Man. I thought I'd wear a dress, I also thought I might wear some "flesh coloured" pantyhose. Thusly I went to the drawer that would contain such a beast. The drawer, except for a couple pairs of tights, contains only black, concert dress related hosen of various sizes and heights.

I've been singing in choirs for too long.

Schwesterlein

Alles Gute zum zwanzigster Geburtstag mein Schwesterlein

Eg elska tig

That's How You Know

So I'm sitting here working away and listening to music and this song comes on and all of a sudden I realize that the song is totally about love languages. It talks about words and time and touch and all kinds of good things. And I think it gives some solid advice on letting those around us know that they are loved.

Thus I give you the lyrics for "That's How You Know" from the movie Enchanted:

(as sung by Amy Adams playing Giselle and other parts of the cast)

Giselle:
How does she know you love her?
How does she know she's yours?

Man:
How does she know that you love her?

Giselle:
How do you show her you love her?

Both:
How does she know that you really, really, truly love her?
How does she know that you love her?
How do you show her you love her?
How does she know that you really, really, truly love her?

Giselle:
It's not enough to take the one you love for granted
You must remind her, or she'll be inclined to say...
"How do I know he loves me?"
(How does she know that you love her?
How do you show her you love her?)
"How do I know he's mine?"
(How does she know that you really, really, truly love her?)

Well does he leave a little note to tell you you are on his mind?
Send you yellow flowers when the sky is grey? Heyy!
He'll find a new way to show you, a little bit everyday
That's how you know, that's how you know!
He's your love...

Man:
You've got to show her you need her
Don't treat her like a mind reader
Each day do something to need her
To believe you love her

Giselle:
Everybody wants to live happily ever after
Everybody wants to know their true love is true...
How do you know he loves you?
(How does she know that you love her?
How do you show her you need her?)
How do you know he's yours?
(How does she know that you really, really, truely-)

Well does he take you out dancin' just so he can hold you close?
Dedicate a song with words in
Just for you? Ohhh!

All:
He'll find his own way to tell you
With the little things he'll do
That's how you know
That's how you know!

Giselle:
He's your love
He's your love...

That's how you know
(la la la la la la la la)
He loves you
(la la la la la la la la)
That's how you know
(la la la la la la la la)
It's true
(la la la la la)

Because he'll wear your favorite color
Just so he can match your eyes
Rent a private picnic
By the fires glow-oohh!

All:
His heart will be yours forever
Something everyday will show
That's how you know
(That's how you know)
That's how you know
(That's how you know)
That's how you know
(That's how you know)
That's how you know
(That's how you know)
That's how you know
(That's how you know)
That's how you know
(That's how you know)
That's how you know!

Giselle:
He's your love...

Man:
That's how she knows that you love her
That's how you show her you love her

Giselle:
That's how you know...
That's how you know...
He's your love...