Saturday Morning Thoughts

Awake at 5 a.m. with worries about debt, once again. I waited till 6 to turn on the light to read the little book I bought this week about credit card debt. Finally got up and made a cup of tea at 6:40. The book, Credit Card Debt by Alexander Daskaloff, sets out a system of strategies that begin with organizing all credit card data, then systematically reducing the interest load. Oddly enough, I had already begun this process on my own! He is way ahead of my thought processes, though, and I think this is all very well-worthwhile.

Coincidentally, last night I watched an Oprah I had recorded featuring Peter Walsh about eliminating clutter, and how doing so can change your life! Another good path, now that the depression is lifting. Even an hour a day would make a good start on that project. Fortunately, we did quite a bit of that when we put the house on the market in October. Walsh spoke of "the room you don't want anyone to see" - "quick, honey, close the ___ room door so the guests don't see it!" LOL - doesn't everyone have one of those?

The neurologist wants me to repeat the nerve conduction studies to see how the carpal tunnel constriction is progressing (or not!). What an unpleasant test! Still, he says that if one is going to need hand surgery to release the nerve, it should be done before muscle fibers begin to break down. This is a man of few words - my semi-annual consists mainly of hi, how are you, how's the right hand, see you in 6 months. But he did promote this, and it does make sense, I think.

It is a beautiful Florida dawn here now at 7:11 a.m. - pale blue sky with deep purple and pink tinged with orange clouds. In the still morning air I hear the drumming rhythm of a train down the road a mile or so. I do love winter here.

The Captain and I had a conversation last night (that my husband of 9 years). I'd been thinking of how much I appreciate the man he has become. We have grown so much closer in the past 2-3 years. He really knows me know - and I think I know him, too. Since I reached my 20's, I have longed to be "known". I wish my brothers would care enough to try. I know it is too soon to hope for my son wanting to know me. Why do I feel this is self-indulgent, too? Old tapes tell me that it is not important to most people. In my family, it is apparently a woman's job to care enough to learn about someone. That is why I am so fervently grateful for the Captain. Low-maintenance he ain't, but his other qualities make that okay!

Three of my students are coming this morning for a rehearsal with the accompanist, prior to their adjudication next Saturday morning. Each of the girls is singing two art songs and two musical theater songs. It's so much fun to see their growth.

Tying up some loose ends

How on earth did it get to be the 30th of January already?????

Where DOES the time go?

Well, regarding the opera I was rushing off to....(http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/broadcast/hd_events.aspx) was a marvelous experience! I Puritani by Bellini is not a well-know opera, and does not have any arias or ensembles among "opera's greatest hits", but the 6 of us who attended are still raving, and plan to attend Eugene Onegin, The Barber of Seville and Il Trittico planned for the end of each of the next three months.

Here are the 2 negatives I feel deserve attention:

1. Picture quality on the high definition big screen was quite variable.
2. The tech people who ran the "projector" had the volume so high the pitches were distorted, and it required two requests to reduce the volume before it was closer to the sound you would expect to hear at the Met.

However, the positives definitely outweighed the negatives!!!

1. Wonderful odd camera angles - backstage right looking at the audience, for instance, or backstage during intermission as the set was being changed! These are amazing glimpses of the production that one cannot get sitting in the audience!
2. Incredible close-up shots that show detail of costume and facial expressions.
3. The wonderful interview that Renee Fleming did with 36 year old Russion soprano Anna Netrebko (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Netrebko) featured questions that only another singer would know to ask! It provided a wonderfully intimate view of the performance.
4. As an experienced singer/performer I loved the event, but so did audience members who were there for the music or the drama and not for the glimpse it offered into working at the Met.

I highly recommend that you go. Please check the link above for locations, times, and more information.
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I've been depressed for the past three weeks. First Coast Opera (www.firstcoastopera.com) had to cancel the March production of La Boheme, because of debt incurred from our 2006 productions. This is highly discouraging, particularly in view of the fact that the venue was not lost as we supposed from the choral director's attitude over the paperwork for the last production (Babes in Toyland). On the other hand, to have gone ahead would have been so labor intensive, that I don't know if I could have survived it. I have terribly mixed feelings. On the one hand I mourn the loss of what I know would have been a marvelous production, as well as the opportunity to sing Musetta. But I have a overwhelming sense of relief not to have to either shoulder the burden of all those details or find the strength to refuse to do them! Whew....

Adding to my sadness and confusion about the opera company, is my grief and responsibility about the credit card debt we are in. Anthony doesn't often spend money, and in the past year and a half, I have been uncharacteristically "spendthrift-y" (sic). I guess it was my reward for being on the wagon, but whatever the cause, it has dug us a pretty big hole, that will require much discipline and some privation compared with our recent standard of living. Both bearing the responsibility of the debt and living with the reduced circumstances beats me down some.
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I've been teaching a LOT up at the high school. After exploring medical transcription as a source of income ($10-15/per hour), I decided that teaching at $25 a lesson, even with the annoyance and time lost from traveling 20 minutes each way, was the better direction in which to head. I know that that source will dry up from May to September, but I will deal with that when I must.
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On a good note, I'm still doing needlepoint each evening for 2-5 hours, and still just LOVING it. I have several projects going at once and trade off when I need a change. One of my newest projects (unfinished), is of a singing Santa. I love all the neat stitches it requires. I particularly love that plaid scarf. How amazingly clever!

The worrisome detail that I refuse to seriously consider, is that I have had to begin wearing my carpal tunnel brace at night. Yes, I know that needlepoint will aggravate it, as will typing and playing the piano, and carrying heavy loads of books, laptop, etc., all of which I do on a daily basis. I am resorting to prayer along with the brace. :-(

Enough odds and ends for now. I need to teach!