(no subject)
This was the first weekend in a while where I was really really busy. So I guess I'll start from the beginning.
On Saturday I ventured down to my mother's to pick up some mail that had been sent to her house for some reason. When I got to Jackson, she wasn't home, so I went to Howell to visit with Dad. It was a pleasant visit. I played with his three cats and watched them try and tear my pea coat apart. Cute. Sat and told him about school, classes, just normal BS. But it was nice. After an hour or so, I called my mother and she was home. So off I went to her place. The whole mom visit took all of five minutes. I came in, she gave me my mail, explained to me how to read a 1099 tax form for my mutual fund that she can no longer pilfer from, and that was it. She was very matter-of-fact, very cold, so I didn't go out of my way to make small talk or anything. So I was in and out.
After that, for some reason I started thinking about my old Math teacher from high school, Mr. DeSalvo. He wasn't just any old Math teacher. He's an awesome jazz piano player (you will never hear me say the word pianist, I hate that word!), who I've performed with back in my younger days. I guess you could say we were close. I used to whine to him about the latest battles with my mother, and he'd bitch to me about his girlfriend and how he could never get a decent gig. I hadn't seen him for two years, before I even moved out of Howell. He lives in Manchester, so I decided to give him a call. He was home, so I went and visited with him. It was good to see him and catch up on things. He's still playing a couple of gigs in the area, still with the girlfriend. (So you don't get the wrong idea, the guy's 56 years old. Older than my dad.) He also knows my Music professor. Mazzaroppi (the professor) and he used to play together a while back. So I chilled with DeSalvo for a while, then it was getting to be "nap time" for him, so I headed out.
That evening I had to attend the Art Deco Trio concert at Brookdale. The second collateral requirement for my oh-so-challenging Music Fundamentals course was to attend a Brookdale concert and write a two page paper on it. Last Monday after class, when I had completed the first collateral requirement (the rhythm thingie), he told me I should attend Saturday's concert which he was one of the performers, so I could get the paper out of the way and concentrate on my other classes. So I did. I showed up there, wearing a ratty Beatles tee-shirt, grungy jeans, no makeup, hair in a messy ponytail, looking like I put no thought whatsoever in how I looked. And wouldn't you know, I ended up running into my old Chorus teacher, Mary Fran Chase. I had a couple nicknames for her back in high school; M.F., the Succubus, Mein Fuhrer. We definitely had a love-hate relationship back then. It was like, yeah I knew my shit and was good at what I did, but I was an anti-social burnout who didn't asscociate with anyone in my music classes. And I don't think she really knew what to make of me. DeSalvo accompanied all our Chorus concerts on the piano, so he was familiar with her trademark mood swings, and he and I would spend many a rehearsal ripping on her during breaks. But at any rate, I went up to her that night and said hello, and she was understandably shocked to see me there, and gave me a huge hug. She introduced me to her family, who I'd actually met like six years ago. She told me she was really happy to see me, and during intermission she made a point to tell me that again as I walked past her during intermission. So I guess, yeah, it was nice. The concert was awesome too. It was actually jazz, and my professor played the double bass. He made sounds come out of that thing that blew my mind. The other two musicians, also faculty, were great, too. Makes me feel good that I'll be learning from people who know their shit.
Sunday I went down to have dinner with Nana. Saw Dad again, and had yet another pleasant visit. I helped Nana with dinner, took out her garbage, and just tidied up for her in general. Afterwards, I drove up to Ramsey to visit my sister. She's having a tough time up there. Her boss cut her hours back a bit, and she's taking on eighteen credits this semester. So naturally she's having a mini-meltdown. And she's anti-social like me, so she doesn't have too many people to talk to up there. Because I'm such a great big sister, I went up and spent some time with her. She was on call with her animal cop job, so I went with her and watched her pick up a husky dog in Hawthorne, real cute looking. It was wearing a tag, and apparantly was from Roselle, which is a bit of a distance from Hawthorne. We took it back to the shelter, and when we got there I got to watch her put an injured Canadian goose down. If I didn't hate geese so much, it probably would have affected me. But those goddamn Canadian geese used to chase me all over my driveway as I was waiting for the school bus! So eh, whatever. The main thing is, I helped Sam feel a little better, having someone to vent and rant and rave to. I got home at about 12:30 last night.
And today, I putzed around, and did my Music paper. I've got that class at six tonight. Now, I'm off to play with my lizards.
On Saturday I ventured down to my mother's to pick up some mail that had been sent to her house for some reason. When I got to Jackson, she wasn't home, so I went to Howell to visit with Dad. It was a pleasant visit. I played with his three cats and watched them try and tear my pea coat apart. Cute. Sat and told him about school, classes, just normal BS. But it was nice. After an hour or so, I called my mother and she was home. So off I went to her place. The whole mom visit took all of five minutes. I came in, she gave me my mail, explained to me how to read a 1099 tax form for my mutual fund that she can no longer pilfer from, and that was it. She was very matter-of-fact, very cold, so I didn't go out of my way to make small talk or anything. So I was in and out.
After that, for some reason I started thinking about my old Math teacher from high school, Mr. DeSalvo. He wasn't just any old Math teacher. He's an awesome jazz piano player (you will never hear me say the word pianist, I hate that word!), who I've performed with back in my younger days. I guess you could say we were close. I used to whine to him about the latest battles with my mother, and he'd bitch to me about his girlfriend and how he could never get a decent gig. I hadn't seen him for two years, before I even moved out of Howell. He lives in Manchester, so I decided to give him a call. He was home, so I went and visited with him. It was good to see him and catch up on things. He's still playing a couple of gigs in the area, still with the girlfriend. (So you don't get the wrong idea, the guy's 56 years old. Older than my dad.) He also knows my Music professor. Mazzaroppi (the professor) and he used to play together a while back. So I chilled with DeSalvo for a while, then it was getting to be "nap time" for him, so I headed out.
That evening I had to attend the Art Deco Trio concert at Brookdale. The second collateral requirement for my oh-so-challenging Music Fundamentals course was to attend a Brookdale concert and write a two page paper on it. Last Monday after class, when I had completed the first collateral requirement (the rhythm thingie), he told me I should attend Saturday's concert which he was one of the performers, so I could get the paper out of the way and concentrate on my other classes. So I did. I showed up there, wearing a ratty Beatles tee-shirt, grungy jeans, no makeup, hair in a messy ponytail, looking like I put no thought whatsoever in how I looked. And wouldn't you know, I ended up running into my old Chorus teacher, Mary Fran Chase. I had a couple nicknames for her back in high school; M.F., the Succubus, Mein Fuhrer. We definitely had a love-hate relationship back then. It was like, yeah I knew my shit and was good at what I did, but I was an anti-social burnout who didn't asscociate with anyone in my music classes. And I don't think she really knew what to make of me. DeSalvo accompanied all our Chorus concerts on the piano, so he was familiar with her trademark mood swings, and he and I would spend many a rehearsal ripping on her during breaks. But at any rate, I went up to her that night and said hello, and she was understandably shocked to see me there, and gave me a huge hug. She introduced me to her family, who I'd actually met like six years ago. She told me she was really happy to see me, and during intermission she made a point to tell me that again as I walked past her during intermission. So I guess, yeah, it was nice. The concert was awesome too. It was actually jazz, and my professor played the double bass. He made sounds come out of that thing that blew my mind. The other two musicians, also faculty, were great, too. Makes me feel good that I'll be learning from people who know their shit.
Sunday I went down to have dinner with Nana. Saw Dad again, and had yet another pleasant visit. I helped Nana with dinner, took out her garbage, and just tidied up for her in general. Afterwards, I drove up to Ramsey to visit my sister. She's having a tough time up there. Her boss cut her hours back a bit, and she's taking on eighteen credits this semester. So naturally she's having a mini-meltdown. And she's anti-social like me, so she doesn't have too many people to talk to up there. Because I'm such a great big sister, I went up and spent some time with her. She was on call with her animal cop job, so I went with her and watched her pick up a husky dog in Hawthorne, real cute looking. It was wearing a tag, and apparantly was from Roselle, which is a bit of a distance from Hawthorne. We took it back to the shelter, and when we got there I got to watch her put an injured Canadian goose down. If I didn't hate geese so much, it probably would have affected me. But those goddamn Canadian geese used to chase me all over my driveway as I was waiting for the school bus! So eh, whatever. The main thing is, I helped Sam feel a little better, having someone to vent and rant and rave to. I got home at about 12:30 last night.
And today, I putzed around, and did my Music paper. I've got that class at six tonight. Now, I'm off to play with my lizards.