A Joyful Noise
It's been a hard week.
Our finances are in dire straits; our home, schedule, and health haven't entirely recovered from the strains that the Vampire's last production put on them; the heat of last week sapped away what little energy we had left, and I haven't been able to find the source of the steady stream of about 5 flies per day that we've been warring with for the past week.
So I wasn't in a terribly good mood yesterday as I fried up the tortilla on which I was piling scrambled eggs, sausage, veg, cheese, and herbs. I wasn't particularly aware of this until I was in the process of plating up the food and cleaning off the table, simultaneously informing the Vampire that he had to use the ketchup or salsa, because we only had enough barbecue sauce (his condiment of choice) to use on the chicken earmarked for dinner. The Vampire, in his accustomed lawyerly manner, tried to argue the matter out to his short-term advantage.
I've found that I've recently lost the ability to multi-task, and that attempts on the part of others to force me to do so tend to make me irritable. My response in this case was less than friendly. The ensuing discussion was more heated than normal, and left both of us headachy and exhausted.
Not a good start to what we knew would be a relatively stressful day, one which involved: getting the Vampire to a rehearsal, then to a store to pick out the outfit required for the concert (remember the dire finances? stressful...), then back home for washing up and ironing and dressing up, then to the folks' house to pick up their video camera, then discovering that the (required) tie was stained and so back home for another one, then an attempt to pick up the Pirate from work (he wasn't available yet), then drop off the Vampire at the concert site, then back to pick up the Pirate, back again to the concert site... then I couldn't remember if I had locked the folks' deadbolt, so the Pirate had to run back to the folks' house (I *had* locked it, but was in enough of a hurry that I did it on AutoPilot and couldn't bring it to specific memory) and then back to the concert site (must fill gas tank again, stressful...), then make small talk with surrounding concert-goers, listen to concert, head towards home but stop for grocery shopping (stressful...), home after 10:30 pm, eat sandwiches as a late dinner, watch a video to unwind, read a bit to unwind more, fall into bed exhausted at around 1 am.
But... but... the concert. The concert which the Vampire had reluctantly agreed to do for his own good, because he connected his stint in the Boychoir to his years in School - to which he'd attached a good deal of phobia-enhanced dread and anger - and which he was attending purely as an exercise in facing his own fears. The concert which he had been dreading and yet stolidly preparing for musically over the past couple weeks. The concert which he'd made one last attempt to avoid on theoretically financially-concerned basis that very morning...
It was wonderful, it was beautiful, it was uplifting, it was everything a concert should be. And the Vampire faced it with grace and dignity. He triumphed. And he enjoyed himself.
We were incredibly proud of him.
Yeah, it was all worth it.
And tonight we'll have barbecued chicken.
Our finances are in dire straits; our home, schedule, and health haven't entirely recovered from the strains that the Vampire's last production put on them; the heat of last week sapped away what little energy we had left, and I haven't been able to find the source of the steady stream of about 5 flies per day that we've been warring with for the past week.
So I wasn't in a terribly good mood yesterday as I fried up the tortilla on which I was piling scrambled eggs, sausage, veg, cheese, and herbs. I wasn't particularly aware of this until I was in the process of plating up the food and cleaning off the table, simultaneously informing the Vampire that he had to use the ketchup or salsa, because we only had enough barbecue sauce (his condiment of choice) to use on the chicken earmarked for dinner. The Vampire, in his accustomed lawyerly manner, tried to argue the matter out to his short-term advantage.
I've found that I've recently lost the ability to multi-task, and that attempts on the part of others to force me to do so tend to make me irritable. My response in this case was less than friendly. The ensuing discussion was more heated than normal, and left both of us headachy and exhausted.
Not a good start to what we knew would be a relatively stressful day, one which involved: getting the Vampire to a rehearsal, then to a store to pick out the outfit required for the concert (remember the dire finances? stressful...), then back home for washing up and ironing and dressing up, then to the folks' house to pick up their video camera, then discovering that the (required) tie was stained and so back home for another one, then an attempt to pick up the Pirate from work (he wasn't available yet), then drop off the Vampire at the concert site, then back to pick up the Pirate, back again to the concert site... then I couldn't remember if I had locked the folks' deadbolt, so the Pirate had to run back to the folks' house (I *had* locked it, but was in enough of a hurry that I did it on AutoPilot and couldn't bring it to specific memory) and then back to the concert site (must fill gas tank again, stressful...), then make small talk with surrounding concert-goers, listen to concert, head towards home but stop for grocery shopping (stressful...), home after 10:30 pm, eat sandwiches as a late dinner, watch a video to unwind, read a bit to unwind more, fall into bed exhausted at around 1 am.
But... but... the concert. The concert which the Vampire had reluctantly agreed to do for his own good, because he connected his stint in the Boychoir to his years in School - to which he'd attached a good deal of phobia-enhanced dread and anger - and which he was attending purely as an exercise in facing his own fears. The concert which he had been dreading and yet stolidly preparing for musically over the past couple weeks. The concert which he'd made one last attempt to avoid on theoretically financially-concerned basis that very morning...
It was wonderful, it was beautiful, it was uplifting, it was everything a concert should be. And the Vampire faced it with grace and dignity. He triumphed. And he enjoyed himself.
We were incredibly proud of him.
Yeah, it was all worth it.
And tonight we'll have barbecued chicken.
----------------
For those interested, the concert was performed by the Minnesota Boychoir, and the Vampire was invited to sing as a guest Alumni performer. Go hear them sometime, if they are touring in your neighborhood (they'll be in New York shortly)... they kick choral heinie.
For those interested, the concert was performed by the Minnesota Boychoir, and the Vampire was invited to sing as a guest Alumni performer. Go hear them sometime, if they are touring in your neighborhood (they'll be in New York shortly)... they kick choral heinie.
posted by Eileen at 8:17 AM
7 Comments:
Poor you! You need some TLC and a rest very soon. I'm so glad to hear the concert was amazing though. You must be so proud of the Vampire.
That's great to hear that the concert went so well. Not so much so the lengths you've been stretched to lately.
I'm glad to hear that the concert when well! But sheesh, when are YOU going to get some time to relax?!
I really hope you get a chance to put your feet up and relax for a long while.
So glad to hear the concert went well. :)
Sounds like the concert made it worth all that frantic driving. The endorphins produced by stopping all that scrambling and sitting down to listen to music must surely have enhanced the show. 8-D
Would love it if we could listen to MP3s of Bren on your site. Any possibility of doing that on a blog page?
I have no idea of how to get video or audio downloaded onto the blog.
What I do have is either a Quicktime of Bren and his cousin doing a Gollum-Off or Choir Stuff... no solo singing bits, unfortunately.
Any ideas of how I could download a Boychoir or Gollum-off cd or dvd clip onto Blogger?
Great site loved it alot, will come back and visit again.
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