Knitanon

OK, Now It's Worth Reading

I have a perfectionist complex-thingy and live with a detailed and (at times) quite prolific blogger. When I started this blog she was my role model and the standard for my posts. I soon began putting off posting, thinking I had nothing worthwhile to say or that if I couldn't put out something entertaining and filled with photos & links, I should just wait until I could. Look at the dates of my last ten posts (do I even have ten?) to see how well that worked out.
So I have decided to treat my blog much as Garrison Keillor once described his letters to friends: as a gift, to be composed and sent when one has something to say regardless of its importance or length. Now that I am (I hope) over this little mental block, I'll post more often. Maybe some of the posts will even be worth reading.
And now for the update:

- Sang at my cousin Bethany's wedding in Washington State in August. Cannonball run late-night drive up & back in a weekend (1200+ miles), flat tire at 4 am in the middle of nowhere, MBW's first speeding ticket since her teens, and lots of new relatives (Bethany is number two of seven siblings ages 7 to 25). Her older sister Kathryn will marry Bethany's husband's older brother in May 2006. Can you say "double first cousins?" Stay tuned for more of that...
- Started my new job as a middle school music teacher - in my neighborhood, no less. In five years of teaching before this I never thought that I'd like teaching 11-14-year-olds, but it has turned into my favorite job ever. We just had our winter concert (with 190 kids - band, choir, and orchestra - all out in full view of the audience) and received lots of parent compliments. Many of my colleagues observed that the kids and I have a good rapport and that they like playing for me. As long as it keeps them exploring music, I'll take it.
- Had a birthday in September, same day as my sister Sarah (no we're not twins). 31.
-Married Nathania Apple in October. I could gush, but her blog has a much more detailed description and Juanita has even more pics. Let's just say I'm happy again.
-Started my pilot session of The Music Playhouse, an early-childhood music program. I'm the City Director for the Bay Area and plan for continued expansion in the next few years.
-MBW and I have been devoting lots of time to The Choral Project, she as Event Director and Volunteer Coordinator, I as Singer/Board Liaison, and both as singers. We recorded a new album, Winter (you can buy it here), and performed a highly successful three-concert series with the San Jose Chamber Orchestra.

"I have no ending for this, so I take a small bow." -George Carlin

On the Road

...and no, I'm not writing on a yards-long scroll, nor am I out here for long.  N & the girls & I are in Sacramento visiting my folks for two days of Christmas cheer.  Correction: N is on the 5:30 AM train back to SJ 'cause she has to work at the shop today.  She doesn't sleep well on trains, she says, because she's afraid she'll miss her stop.  I suggested she sleep comfortably and I'd call to wake her before her destination.

My sister Sarah works at an independent coffee place called Rio Java & took K1 to work with her this morning - at 4:00.  Pretty early for a ten-year-old, but she really wanted to go.  I picked her up on the way back from the train station and met Sarah's boss, who invited K1 to come see her horses later today.  If you read N's blog, you know that K1 is nutty about riding.  She just about flipped when told that there are forty-plus horses there.  Hopefully it will stop raining long enough to see some of them - don't know how much indoor space there is.

Dad took Monday & Tuesday off to stay home with us so we're headed out to breakfast soon.  My update summary really is coming!  If you're reading this, you're probably used to waiting for me.  <sigh>

Brushes with Fame

As I’ve grown older, I have become less in awe of famous people. They are just people, after all, and whenever I’ve had the opportunity to meet (or, more often, serve) someone I’ve seen on TV or whose albums I have purchased, I try to treat them as I would anybody else. Thursday night I served a quartet who came in to my hotel restaurant just before the kitchen closed. Two men, two women, none under forty, they were having a good time and just wanted to unwind with a drink. They ordered one round, stayed for an hour or so, treated me kindly, and tipped generously but not extravagantly. Later as I was closing out their check, the name on the room-charge ticket was familiar but I was too tired to look more into it.
The next morning I hopped online to figure it out and, sure enough, it turned out to have been two rock singers: Geoff Tate and Ronnie James Dio. Queensryche.com said they’d just wrapped recording vocals on Operation: Mindcrime II and that RJD was Dr. X on the album. It was one of the few times that I wish I had recognized a celebrity because I wanted to do what so many people do in that situation: tell them how much their music meant to me in a difficult period in my life, congratulate them on continued success and wish them the best on their new project.
But I’m glad I didn’t. They were having a quiet time with friends, discussing whatever and didn’t need Yet Another Fan barging into their evening with stuff they’ve heard before. So I'll do it here instead: Geoff, RJD, thanks for doing what you do.

album cover and RJD/Geoff Tate photos from Queensryche.com