You'd think I'd have learned by now...
So I was supposed to have the draft of the first song for our Zoom musical for theatre camp done on Friday. As of Friday, I had two lines. As of Saturday, I had three lines, and I wasn't sold on the third line. I finally got the lead-in and the first verses posted to the share on Sunday. I'd feel worse about this, but it is now done, I like it, and I finally figured out why I wasn't making any progress.
Waaaay back in 2014 when I was doing the Insane Writing Project, I would usually mock up the day's effort in prose (a sentence or two per stanza) and then translate it to verse and enjoy the alchemy of restraint, which occurs when you come across an absolutely magnificent rhyme or a yummy synonym that transforms the piece into something surprising. But what allows that is having set a course to begin with. If you're not on a clear path, there's no way you can know when to step off it.
So why, I ask myself, did I think I could just come up with a song with a dramatic purpose and motivation without bothering to write out what was supposed to be at the core of the song? Because I was a silly, silly past-me, that's why. So on Sunday, I sat down and wrote the core of not just the song, but the purpose of the whole freaking musical. I tightened it as much as I could and tried to make every sentence carry a lot of weight. And lo and behold: the lyrics decided to be a rection to the core statement, along with direction and development. Boom.
The group is meeting tomorrow night, and I'm so pleased I managed to fulfill what I promised to do. And I am looking forward to getting the kids involved, though I don't know how active I'm going to be able to be since I suspect most camp activities are going to be during the workday when I'm, y'know, working. Though working from home does allow me a bit more flexibility than I used to have. We shall see!
Let's see. A fair amount is going on this week. Tomorrow begins my first big in-depth training on the new [university] systems. I've taken several introductory courses that ranged from helpful to useless, so hopefully the in-depth training will be more consistently effective. Tonight, RV has called a section leader meeting for to go over this weekend's Pentecost musical offerings and also to touch on what's happening after this week. According to the schedule, Heavenly Choir will be on summer hiatus after this weekend. However, since we're doing virtual church until the diocese puts forth safety guidelines for in-person worship, I don't know if there's going to be any desire to keep having the section leaders continue chanting bits and/or leading hymns. If so, I'm happy to help. If not, I will enjoy having a bit more time to work on other stuff. Such as the four varied and incipient projects ProChoir surveyed us about. I can do all of them, but I'm sure we'll be divvied up by project, and I'm curious which, if any, I'll be called upon to do. They all have their attractions, and mostly, it'll just be wonderful to do make more music happen and have more cool stuff to share.
And speaking of music, our household desktop comptuer has two functioning speakers for the first time since... ? Let's just say the old speakers were attached to the computer Mr. 42 had at university. They both worked for a good long while, but one of them has been nonfunctional for pretty much the whole time I've been working from home, and unfortunately, they run in serial, and it's the one with the power input that that doesn't work, and it makes this deeply annoying low-grade buzzing sound. It is SO NICE to have stereo again and to have banished the buzzing! I've been listening to Bach and Handel by some of my favorite interpreters, and it's just wonderful. So thank you, Logitech, for making exactly what I needed. Also for the built-in headphone jack so I don't have to pull the CPU out of its nook to access the audio output on the back every time I switch to headphones. Squee!
And now, the story of today's walkies in case you are under the impression that my life is all about successfully being creative and finding ways to make music. We ran out of dog food last week, so I emergency-bought dog food and treats at Local Pet Store, BUT I forgot to restock on poo bags. So this weekend, we ran out of those. Thankfully, we retain poo-appropriate plastic bags from produce and other food items, so we have enough to hold us over until the fancy biodegradable bags Mr. 42 ordered arrive. However, I forgot to bring one on mid-day walkies, and I found myself watching Clara doing her business and realizing I had no bag for it. Thankfully, Clara's chosen spot was right at the edge of our condo complex, which borders a vacant lot beneath high-tension power lines. I lpoked around in the nearby bushes and managed to find a broken piece of board and a sturdy stick, so I used the stick to roll the poo on to the board and fling it over the bushes into the vacant lot. It took three flings of varying vigor, but I did manage to get it all somewhere that nobody should step in it (it's fenced off on all sides but ours, where it is hedged off). I then hurried the dogs to the other side of the complex where there's a poo bag dispenser to stock up in case Hildy felt compelled to make an offering of her own, but there turned out to be no need. At least now I have a bag already tied to the leash handle for evening walkies!
And in silly things that solarwind sent me, here is Leo, a Canterbury Cathedral cat, disappearing under the Dean's cassock during a recording of morning prayers. And here are some astoundingly bad (and rude-looking) logos that have been made less so by a graphic designer.
And one last bit of wonderful news: if America's Got Talent is a thing you can tolerate, I advise you to watch tonight's season premiere, as an organization I love and support, Voices of Our City Choir, will be appearing. VoOCC's singers are unsheltered folks living in San Diego, and they (until COVID-19) meet weekly for lunch and rehearsal. Through singing, community, and connecting homeless singers with available resources, VoOCC has helped get dozens of folks get off the streets and into housing, and they are amazing. This is the biggest stage they've ever been on (and they sang with the San Diego Symphony last summer!), and they're also doing a membership drive right now, so I threw some bucks their way. I'm so proud of them and hope they do well!
Right. 30 more minutes of answering work emails and then possibly moving books around and keeping the doggos from barking out the window until it's time for evening walkies.
Smooches to All!
Mun42
Waaaay back in 2014 when I was doing the Insane Writing Project, I would usually mock up the day's effort in prose (a sentence or two per stanza) and then translate it to verse and enjoy the alchemy of restraint, which occurs when you come across an absolutely magnificent rhyme or a yummy synonym that transforms the piece into something surprising. But what allows that is having set a course to begin with. If you're not on a clear path, there's no way you can know when to step off it.
So why, I ask myself, did I think I could just come up with a song with a dramatic purpose and motivation without bothering to write out what was supposed to be at the core of the song? Because I was a silly, silly past-me, that's why. So on Sunday, I sat down and wrote the core of not just the song, but the purpose of the whole freaking musical. I tightened it as much as I could and tried to make every sentence carry a lot of weight. And lo and behold: the lyrics decided to be a rection to the core statement, along with direction and development. Boom.
The group is meeting tomorrow night, and I'm so pleased I managed to fulfill what I promised to do. And I am looking forward to getting the kids involved, though I don't know how active I'm going to be able to be since I suspect most camp activities are going to be during the workday when I'm, y'know, working. Though working from home does allow me a bit more flexibility than I used to have. We shall see!
Let's see. A fair amount is going on this week. Tomorrow begins my first big in-depth training on the new [university] systems. I've taken several introductory courses that ranged from helpful to useless, so hopefully the in-depth training will be more consistently effective. Tonight, RV has called a section leader meeting for to go over this weekend's Pentecost musical offerings and also to touch on what's happening after this week. According to the schedule, Heavenly Choir will be on summer hiatus after this weekend. However, since we're doing virtual church until the diocese puts forth safety guidelines for in-person worship, I don't know if there's going to be any desire to keep having the section leaders continue chanting bits and/or leading hymns. If so, I'm happy to help. If not, I will enjoy having a bit more time to work on other stuff. Such as the four varied and incipient projects ProChoir surveyed us about. I can do all of them, but I'm sure we'll be divvied up by project, and I'm curious which, if any, I'll be called upon to do. They all have their attractions, and mostly, it'll just be wonderful to do make more music happen and have more cool stuff to share.
And speaking of music, our household desktop comptuer has two functioning speakers for the first time since... ? Let's just say the old speakers were attached to the computer Mr. 42 had at university. They both worked for a good long while, but one of them has been nonfunctional for pretty much the whole time I've been working from home, and unfortunately, they run in serial, and it's the one with the power input that that doesn't work, and it makes this deeply annoying low-grade buzzing sound. It is SO NICE to have stereo again and to have banished the buzzing! I've been listening to Bach and Handel by some of my favorite interpreters, and it's just wonderful. So thank you, Logitech, for making exactly what I needed. Also for the built-in headphone jack so I don't have to pull the CPU out of its nook to access the audio output on the back every time I switch to headphones. Squee!
And now, the story of today's walkies in case you are under the impression that my life is all about successfully being creative and finding ways to make music. We ran out of dog food last week, so I emergency-bought dog food and treats at Local Pet Store, BUT I forgot to restock on poo bags. So this weekend, we ran out of those. Thankfully, we retain poo-appropriate plastic bags from produce and other food items, so we have enough to hold us over until the fancy biodegradable bags Mr. 42 ordered arrive. However, I forgot to bring one on mid-day walkies, and I found myself watching Clara doing her business and realizing I had no bag for it. Thankfully, Clara's chosen spot was right at the edge of our condo complex, which borders a vacant lot beneath high-tension power lines. I lpoked around in the nearby bushes and managed to find a broken piece of board and a sturdy stick, so I used the stick to roll the poo on to the board and fling it over the bushes into the vacant lot. It took three flings of varying vigor, but I did manage to get it all somewhere that nobody should step in it (it's fenced off on all sides but ours, where it is hedged off). I then hurried the dogs to the other side of the complex where there's a poo bag dispenser to stock up in case Hildy felt compelled to make an offering of her own, but there turned out to be no need. At least now I have a bag already tied to the leash handle for evening walkies!
And in silly things that solarwind sent me, here is Leo, a Canterbury Cathedral cat, disappearing under the Dean's cassock during a recording of morning prayers. And here are some astoundingly bad (and rude-looking) logos that have been made less so by a graphic designer.
And one last bit of wonderful news: if America's Got Talent is a thing you can tolerate, I advise you to watch tonight's season premiere, as an organization I love and support, Voices of Our City Choir, will be appearing. VoOCC's singers are unsheltered folks living in San Diego, and they (until COVID-19) meet weekly for lunch and rehearsal. Through singing, community, and connecting homeless singers with available resources, VoOCC has helped get dozens of folks get off the streets and into housing, and they are amazing. This is the biggest stage they've ever been on (and they sang with the San Diego Symphony last summer!), and they're also doing a membership drive right now, so I threw some bucks their way. I'm so proud of them and hope they do well!
Right. 30 more minutes of answering work emails and then possibly moving books around and keeping the doggos from barking out the window until it's time for evening walkies.
Smooches to All!
Mun42