My cold seemed to worsen a bit yesterday. So I had one of those days where I go to print the psalm to proof it and the printer runs out of ink. Practicing was made more difficult because I had concentration problems as well as sheer fatigue. I persisted, but then when I wanted to leave could not find my phone. I looked for about twenty minutes before finding it. I came home and tried to research the final song the person giving the party Saturday requested. As usual all they gave us was a YouTube video of Heart singing a song called “Seasons.” This is problematic because when I started googling I had difficulty with the search terms being so common. Do you know how many songs there are that have “heart” and “seasons” in their title?
Finally I ran down the album by the group Heart (singing on the YouTube) and discovered the song was written by Elton John. Unfortunately, it’s not one that I could find in a downloadable piano/vocal version which would have saved me some time and effort.
The background for this afternoon computer use was twofold in frustration. I had (stupidly) downloaded and upgraded to Windows 8.1. This took forever to install of course. And then although there are some improvements (like a fucking “start” button), it now asks me to log on with the password it insisted I develop every time I boot up the computer. Helpful. Nice.
In addition to this, my internet server, Comcast, was hiccuping and going in and out of service at the very moment I had set aside to do this work.
Hah, hah, hah, he feebly laughed.
Then there was choir rehearsal. I felt the worst I had felt all day but gave a brilliant rehearsal despite the usual holiday craziness, glumness and numbness. It saddens me every year to see people so stressed by fucking Xmas. Unrealistic expectation, unfortunate associations (deaths of important people around this time), and general overall consumer madness all add up to stressed people.
Fuck the duck.
I try not to add to it, but when I went a half hour later than usual, some choristers were pretty unhappy. But we will sound better because of it.
1. Secret Bids Guide Hopi Indians’ Spirits Home – NYTimes.com
Hurray for the Annenberg Foundation for purchasing Hopi artifacts to return to them. Fucking French ruled that the Hopi had no rights to them.
2. F.D.A. Questions Safety of Antibacterial Soaps – NYTimes.com
I’ve wondered about the idea of antibacterial stuff. I like hand soap anyway which is less likely to have the stuff in it.
3. A Transgender Volunteer for the Salvation Army – NYTimes.com
A great story. You know. The Salvation Army whose spokesperson famously said something about gays deserving death.
4. A Hobbyist Challenges Papers on Growth of Dinosaurs – NYTimes.com
I find this sort of exchange interesting to read about.