Summer 2010 - can kiss it!

Where have I been and what happened to summer?

My summer started out with a bang with the previously blogged performances with long lost friends and locals I don’t see nearly often enough. Then August came and there were no blogs of summer adventure, no tales of travel, no pictures of me in exotic places. Oh there were plans for summer 2010, yes, there were plans. So, what happened? Well the universe intervened. First up, the a/c in the car went out. Not a big deal unless you live in South Georgia and your summer plan includes travel in a said car. So, I put my beloved Mrs. Ticklefeather in the shop and $804.00 later, I can store meat in my car. The $804.00 put quite a kink in my travels. Now I couldn’t afford my plane ticket to Colorado or even hotels and gas to drive to New York even though once I got there lodging would be gratis. I accepted my fate and decided to stay close to home. I had just endured the expense of a move and a summer to unpack closets and organize a house wouldn’t be too bad right? Ah, the universe is not done with me yet. I jumped in my car to meet Julian – the newest addition to the family of very close friends. He was adorable – worth the trip and it meant too, that I could stop at IKEA and Trader Joes on the way home. The topper of the trip was to see the Braves in action against Milwaukee. Car packed and headed toward the stadium, the clouds open up and drop much needed rain on the city of Atlanta. Hmmm, no baseball. Spirit dampened, but not broken, I head the car towards home and decide to shop along the way or pull over and hike at a state park. Safely out of the Atlanta traffic, I stop for gas. Ready to hit the road I turn the key and hear the sickening sound of a car that is not going to start. I grab my jumper cables and immediately – in true Southern hospitality – several people offer a jump. I accept one offer and the car starts right away. I drive away trying to keep my spirit of adventure, but with the thought of stopping is the nagging feeling that if I do – the car won’t start. So…I head toward home and don’t stop the whole way. I get home, tired and annoyed, but hoping to salvage the summer in some way. The next morning I drive to the battery store and get the battery tested. Yup – it’s a dud. I buy a new battery - $100. Okay – new a/c, new battery, car is ready for the rest of summer even if all I do is drive to the park to run. I have a nice dinner, bemoan my summer for a few minutes and don’t give it another thought. I arise the next morning to face whatever adventures I may find and I see that my car has a flat tire. I finish my coffee and gird my loins and set out to put on the spare. An hour later I have the tire off – thanks to some final internet advice to just kick the tire – uhm – ok. I am skeptical but it works and the getting the spare on takes no time at all. It is still early and not a hot day by Savannah standards so I load the flat tire in the car and head to the tire store with the plan to run home and await the call that the car is fixed. I get to tire store and am apparently the billionth person in line waiting to leave my car. An hour later my paper work is complete and I am set to run. Of course NOW it is 11:30 and officially hot. I decide to ignore this and run home anyway. 50 minutes later I am home, hotter than I thought possible and then the call comes from the tire store. There is hole in the sidewall of my tire – I need a new one. Another $100 down the drain. Definitely the universe is telling me to stick close to home. FINE. I accept my fate begrudgingly. Now $1000 out of pocket I am too poor to even enjoy the city. I decide that I will just run every day and make the best of it. The summer whiles away and I get emails and pictures from friends who are traveling the globe and having untold adventures. Hmmpff. Now I am feeling sorry for myself. I stress eat and undo the good the running was doing. Now I am back where I started at the beginning of summer – showing no signs of all the physical work I did the past few months. I decide to get back to the running –more rigorous this time. I am doing well. I clock further and faster times every day. I am getting ready to start the new school year. The only thing left to do is go to the dentist. I have my cleaning and am told I am an excellent flosser – I beam with pride. My gums are in excellent condition, very little receding for my age, hmm, I guess that is a compliment. I am thinking I am going to get off scot free at the dentist. Then the dentist asks if I grind my teeth. I say, no. You look athletic (nice) do you lift weights – some small weights - not serious lifting. (now I wondering what the questions are for). The dentist then says “hmmm, interesting.” I think “interesting?” really, this is about the most boring conversation ever. Then he says well – it could be the age of these fillings, but you have severe cracks in your molars. I think okay, what does that mean? Before I can ask – he informs me that he recommends capping them. This is the best option. If I wait for them to break it would mean root canals or worse, pulling the teeth and then needing false teeth? ACKK! I have good teeth! I am a good flosser! These fillings all came when I got my braces off and had 8 cavities. I haven’t had one since and that was way back in high school. I take a deep breath. I pay for my cleaning. I get the print out of the estimate for the 8 crowns he wants to do – 10 if you count in the two that aren’t necessary, but cosmetic – to replace crowns from a fall I took as a pre-teen and busted my front teeth. So now I sit working on syllabi, preparing for school to start again. I have a summer vacation of car repairs and now I face a school year, with no dental insurance, wondering how I am going come up with $10,000.00 for dental work. Let this be a lesson to all of you who are jealous of teachers for having summers off. Am I better off for having had 6 weeks off? I can’t wait to get off this crazy roller coaster summer of 2010!!!! Bring on the exhaustion and overwork of the school year…at least I know how to handle that. And universe – GO PICK ON SOMEONE ELSE!

Night of Opera

I sang with an awesome bunch of friends last night - here are some clips of some of the songs

When I am Laid - from Dido and Aeneas
Ah quel diner - from Perichole
Ah perdona - from Clemenza di Tito
Crudel perche finora - from Marriage of Figaro

Video from Reunion

This the song that has gotten stuck in my head the most from the weekend reunion

20 years!

This weekend brought about a 20 year reunion with my college chamber choir. 20 years ago we toured Eastern Europe just after the fall of the iron curtain. It was a life changing event for all of us and though most of us have lost touch over the years, we fell back into our friendships with the ease of a worn pair of jeans. We spent 2 days rehearsing songs we took on tour, some well remembered, others not so much. On Sunday afternoon we put on a concert of the songs we deemed polished enough for public performance. Considering the gap of 20 years the concert was pretty darned good. Many parents and friends were in the audience along with many kids watching their parents sing for maybe the first time ever. It was truly an exhausting and memorable weekend. I sincerely hope it is not another 20 years before I see all of these wonderful friends again.

New Place - it will soon also be filled with boxes!

Moving

My sister and I are leaving a house we love, but it is growing too small and the owner wants to sell it. We love our neighbors and hated the idea of moving. We did some detective work on an empty house in our neighbor hood - literally three doors down from our current place - and we discovered that the owner was very interested - excited even - to rent to us. Awesome. We get to stay in our neighborhood and we don't need to rent a moving van. We also have about a month to get stuff moved over. All of these things are great. We have just started the packing process and I am already HATING the sight of the boxes. Unfortunately, we don't have a room in which to store the boxes so the walls are literally closing in on us. Eventually, it will all be worth it, but at the moment I am feeling anxious...I think it is my claustrophobia kicking in. Will post some pics when things begin to get moving. I am going to try to talk my sister into letting me get some stuff moved over this weekend. I could definitely get some bookshelves moved over and the dining room would be an easy move. The rest of the weekend plan includes a 5K - weather permitting - to support the robotics camp at Georgia Tech - good times.

Racing a Plenty

Racing a Plenty
Originally uploaded by lyricalmezzo

I ran another 5K this morning - one benefiting the local Ronald McDonald house. It was a nice course mostly flat with two passes over an overpass so a bit of a challenge with two uphill climbs - the second of which was about 1/2 mile from the finish line. I felt good about my time - 29:29 and when I got home I went to put my number with the other pile of numbers I have. I thought it was an impressive pile and I know there are at least 3 missing...so I took a shot of them. Unfortunately I haven't kept great track of my times, but last week I started posting the times on the back of the numbers - maybe this will keep me motivated to get faster and faster. Next week I will run my 3rd race of the month and it is a flat course, so I am hoping for a good finish. Hopefully the pollen count will be down by then. It was very high this morning - I had pollen on my clothes when I got home from the race!
Since finishing the race this morning I have planted my basil for the season, and am going to try growing leaks in a big container - we shall see how that goes. Last year my tomatoes did terribly so I don't know if I am going to try again. I had beautiful leafy plants, but no fruit...I may just stick with the herbs this year.
I am thinking of going out and enjoying even more of this beautiful weather today - sunny and high of 73...just about perfect!
Happy Spring everyone!