O.k. so this is probably the most lame thing I did in San Antonio/Austin...
While we were waiting to board the plane we ran into Bobby Flay. I didn't feel like having a SmackDown, so I just grabbed a quick photo and let it go. FYI: This man talked on his phone for over an hour. Straight. His poor wife just sat there, waiting for him to get off the phone, which he never did. Maybe it was a call from Anthony Bourdain. But I doubt it. I don't think they're friends. One call after another; that man walked into first class heading for Newark with a cell phone lodged deeply into his ear canal.
On second thought it wasn't the most lame thing I did. The most lame thing I did was goof up my knee. (get it...lame!) I have bum knees. They crunch when I bend them and snap and pop if I sit a bit then stand. It was a cool parlour trick there for a while, but then the kids just got freaked out about it so I had to stop focusing attention to the noise. Too much walking or too much cold makes them ache, and sometimes they pop out of joint. Usually walking a bit sets them back into place or just resting will do the trick.
Not so much this time out. The walking messed me up and it was really cold; but then I heard a loud pop and I haven't been able to walk correctly since. Hot baths helped ease the pain, and so have heat wraps. Thor is making me put ice packs on it and the doc has prescribed heavy duty Motrin. I went yesterday to take x-rays. This morning was a visit with the actual Dr. who saw nothing extraordinary on the film however was shocked and a little disgusted (by the look on his face) by the sound my knees make when they bend (kind of like twisting bubble wrap). After hearing my knees he said he was pretty much done with me and shot me a referral to an orthopedist. No diagnosis, no guessing on this guys' part, he wants nothing to do with me. Just the horrified look I usually get when someone hears my knees. Yippy.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Celebrity Sighting
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Womanhood. Enjoy to the end!
This was my weekend! We wanted it to be really special for the gals here! As one of our performers (Michelle) pointed out, we wanted the women to feel "set apart" from the world for a few moments, to feel needed, appreciated, loved and to celebrate the Relief Society birthday with a bang! Our dear performers did not disappoint! They embellished!
Womanhood, Enjoy to the End!
Ann Bailey, Michelle Walters, and Melanie Renstrom graciously traveled to our little hamlet in the desert and gave over 700 women, from 4 different stakes a terrific, inspiring, and at times hilarious show! It was so much fun to prepare for this event. It was over a year in the making, but we did it!
These women got together -much by fate and the hand of God- over 13 years ago. Together they decided to take a lighthearted and much needed musical roadshow to the women of the world to say "Enjoy!" Enjoy your life! Feel loved! Know you belong!
This program has a bit of everything. From the fast paced mommy numbers to the slower more moving song choices about enduring love and hope. Personal insights brought many to tears as we laughed together, and cried together, knowing not one of us is alone in our circumstances. We have each other and we have a loving Father in heaven. We all share a purpose that is more than just our 70 or 80 years on the planet. We all have the love of Jesus Christ. We are fortunate to have the Priesthood and programs that were designed by a Father who knows His daughters and wants them to be happy. We are blessed by friends, family and life circumstances. We have each other in times of trouble and joy.
If you would like these women to come to your area, their criteria is simple and FREE! Pop on over to their website and check it out. They were well worth the effort and time! ENJOY!
Friday, March 14, 2008
Latest Project
O.k. So I'm writing this after a long day, 9:30 and I am just walking in the door.
Here's the gig: We're expecting approximately 700+ women for a inspirational musical presentation, 2 90-minute performances, Friday night and Saturday morning. We have a professional trio of women who sing, dance and perform who are willing to come on their dime and do this for us FOR FREE!
WE are very excited to say the least. So for the last year or so we have planned and prepped and tomorrow is the first big day.
This morning I went shopping with an other gal for the dinners and lunches we are providing. We're making crescents filled with home made chicken salad with grapes, celery, craisins, and poppy seeds. A side dish of "frog eye" salad, chips, celery and carrot sticks, a bottle of water and a double chocolate brownie. All home made from scratch. I prepped the celery today, and the other gal prepped the grapes.
Tonight we met down at the building. We put up a false ceiling and wall drapes of chiffon, a platform stage, and 400 chairs covered with chair drapes that go to the floor, and came home to collapse until tomorrow.
Tomorrow (which, when you read this will be today) we'll meet and begin cooking. Broil chicken, chop, blend, mix, fill... and feed 400 women! Once the performance begins I will be taking photos of the event.
On Saturday we'll do it all over again, then tear down, and drive our performers to the airport.
Sunday, if all goes well and I am still alive, I'll post photos.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Celebrity Sighting!
Hey! Lookie over there! I see a celebrity! Me! I'm a guest poster (or is the poser???) at Mormon Mommy Wars today! Check me out!
Monday, May 16, 2005
A rose for Lilly...
Lillian Disney had two particular favorites in life, roses and Royal Delft porcelain. Frank Gehry decided to combine the two to create this tribute as a gift from her grand and great grandchildren.
Iron bars were reinforced to shape the petals of this rose. Wire mesh was filled with concrete and then waterproofed. Thousands of Royal Delft vases and tiles were broken on site and applied to the petals by an eight member team of artisans led by Tomas Oshinski. The mosaic pattern we see today is beautiful sitting amongst the flowering trees and plants basking in the rooftop sun.
Walt Disney Concert Hall, L.A.
Designed by Frank Gehry, it is the newest structure in the : The Music Center. In 1987 Walt Disney's widow, Lillian, donated $50 million to create this hall. It took 16 years to come to fruition. This hall is now the home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. Also housed within the complex is the Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theatre (REDCAT).
The hall contains 12,500 pieces of primary steel, which weigh over 11,000 tons.
Over 30,000 architectural drawings were used to produce the concert hall.
A 750,000-lb. crane was needed to erect the steel support structure.
300 tons of bolts and welds were used.
18,00 cubic yards of concrete were poured, including two roof slabs 15 inched thick.
8 skylights were designed with glass three inches thick to keep the interior naturally bright.
"Tree trunk" columns are made of Douglas fir and serve as supports and air conditioning, lighting, and supports in the lobby. This wood is used throughout the hall because of its aesthetic similarity to the wood used in musical instruments.
The outside of the building is stainless steel. Originally it was left polished and shining like a mirror. Now, only a few places on the building are still reflective. The bright California sun shone so brightly, neighboring buildings were being heated from the WDCH. Air conditioning units were being over run and still unable to cool the surrounding buildings. Eventually the steel was brushed to decrease the reflection. I can tell you, sitting on the rooftop patio, you can still feel the heat from the building!
Melinda Taylor designed the rooftop garden that covers nearly one acre! The plants and full sized trees were placed in specially designed planters to create the illusion that they are growing naturally our of the ground, but keep the building secure and free of root systems. The trees and plants were placed in the same sun facing direction as they were in their original locations, insuring fresh and colourful blooms and blossoms year round. The bumble bees were very happy about this yesterday as they danced from one tree to another and in and around all the flower beds! From the 34 foot high vantage point you can see across the L. A. basin. Yesterday we saw Dodger Stadium!
The REDCAT is home to cutting edge experimental theatre, music, and performance art. Additionally there is a 3, 000 sqft exhibition space and multipurpose cafe.
The lobby of the WDMC is open daily for tours and walk throughs. There is terrific shop with museum quality art and gifts in all price ranges. (I saw a nice metal mesh purse. If anyone is interested, I prefer the silver bag with the ruffle edge and stone closure. A tad over $650.00.) There is a "nice" bistro on site and also a cafeteria type eatery within the lobby.
Artists' Wing!
I have to tell you there is really little to compare to the feeling you get when you see your child entering the "Artists'" entrance to a concert hall. Especially with out police being summoned afterward! (Don't ask)
Yup! There she is! My #5. She has been greatly greatly blessed and she has worked at developing what Heavenly Father has given her. Yesterday was one of the huge moments that will be in her life. She was pretty happy (stoked as they used to say) and about two feet off the ground. We did the whole Kodak moment thing out in front. I had her pose just about every way I could without attracting a crowd. (um, well enough of a crowd to, again, include law enforcement.) I am a mom. A huge fat crazy enormously proud mom. She has worked so hard for this and it was paying off!
Last night was terrific. She had several solos and when the set was over applause broke out and the conductor turned and bowed. He left the stage and the applause continued. He reenters and points to my #5 and gestures for her to stand. (AUGH!!!!) At that point, she rises and the crowd increased the volume of applause and whoops, I was crazy inside! My little girl was getting her ovation and the crowd was recognizing her good performance. It was so great! The rest of the night went very well and they had a standing ovation at the end of the performance. An encore was had and I think by the sounds of the gallery crowd, they wanted one more encore. The conductor had the orchestra rise on five different occasions at the end and finally he called it a night and went back stage. I think he was as proud of them as any mom in the audience. Whoo -hoo!
Sunday, April 10, 2005
Amazing Saturday!
Claremont Young Musicians Orchestra
I went to a concert today that was meant for very young children, there were children from age 2 through adult; but was certainly suitable for the enjoyment of adults. The musicians themselves were between the ages of 12 and 18. The following was their program today:
Overture to "Russian and Ludmilla" ..............Glinka
The Swan....................................................Saint Saens
Scheherazade (4th movement)....Rimsky-Korsakov
Festive Overture.....................................Shostakovich
Symphony in D Minor (1st movement)..........Franck
West Side Story.............................................Bernstein
Malambo from the ballet "Estancia".........Ginastera
(note that all of the pieces are as written by the composer and have not been arranged - these kids mean business!)
This children's program included a "Wizard" who chatted about the story lines in the music, or lack thereof, with the conductor Roger Samuel. This was humorous throughout and there were even segments of the program that included a small group of audience members to "act out" Scheherazade, and all were to "help out" in Malambo by clapping in syncopation with the orchestra at conducted intervals. My particular favorite was the running gag between a confused but charming violinist and the Wizard during the West Side Story number. I have been to this concert every year for the past 4 years and am always surprised at how well they can entertain a 2 year old as well as impress the musically educated adults in the room. These kids are phenomenal!
At the conclusion of the program small music boxes were handed out to every child in attendance. Did I mention that this concert was free? The folks on the board for the CYMO are primarily interested in keeping "symphonic music alive" and "ensuring the cultural future of our youth." They hold auditions every summer and rehearse every Monday evening for 3, 31/2 hours. 90+ kids from all over Southern California are in the orchestra, some traveling 2 hours to attend rehearsals. That's dedication!
During their season they also perform with guest musicians, some from the LA Phil - and others, guests conductors and attend a "retreat" where they are educated and trained by professional musicians specific to their instrument.
These young musicians are talented to the level that they are asked each year to do the sound check for the Los Angeles Philharmonic (both at the Hollywood Bowl and now over at Disney Hall). They have toured Europe, have c.d.s of their performances and are currently looking forward to their May 15th concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles (home of the LA Phil). This is an invitation by the LA Phil and quite and honor as they are the only youth invited to participate. This will be the only concert where one has need of purchasing a ticket*. But with the other 5 concerts they provide throughout the season, they suggest you arrive early and stand in line for a free admission ticket, as they are ALWAYS a full SRO audience. Pretty impressive for a bunch of kids.
Their concerts are held on the following dates, if you have the time- I suggest you give them a try. They are not your typical teen aged group of musicians.
*Sunday, May 15, 2005, 7:30 p.m. CYMO at Walt Disney Concert Hall - LA
Program includes: Dmitri Shostakovich: Festive Overture, Johannes Brahms: Double Concerto, Cesar Franck: Symphony in d minor, Alberto Ginastera: Estancia Suite - with Bing Wang, Associate Concertmaster and Brent Samuel, Cello both from the LA Phil.
Tickets $24, $27, $31, $36 @ www.laphil.com or call LA Phil @ (323)850-2000 or contact CYMO @(909) 624-3614
Sunday, June 12, 2005, 7:00 p.m. CYMO Season Finale Concert at Bridges Hall of Music -
Pomona College, The Claremont Colleges, Claremont (CYMO @ 909-624-3614 for info)
Free Tickets! Stand by line suggests you be there no later than 6:30 to receive your ticket. Doors open at 6:30.
S'mee suggests you get there and stand in line no later than 6:00 because if you are too far back in line they run out of tickets every time! Trust S'mee - get there early and then sit in the balcony middle for the best sound!
Friday, April 08, 2005
PALM reading: "good life line!"
I love my life! #1 for days such as these when I finally wake up without a stupid migraine that robs me of my days and nights.
#2 you ask? For times like this morning when, while waiting for the light to change, I saw Fidel Castro driving the cream coloured '78 Ford pick-up right behind me! Yup, right there- long beard, mustache, Green fatigues - complete with snappy little Army hat. The only thing missing was the cigar. I assume this is because he is vacationing here in my town and understands the restrictions on Cuban Cigars, that and Californians frown on smokers; especially in public places. All in all it was a pretty cool celebrity sighting!
#3 would be a dreamy sighting of another kind: 450 450! thread count PIMA cotton sheet sets at (get this) $56.00!!! WAH-HOO! Also, a terrific little SEGO PALM in a 5 gallon planter for a mere $14.99! (she comes up to my mid-thigh!) CRAZINESS has ensued and S'mee is de de de liri o-us! All this and those sweet little SPA TOWELS - In a very lovely shade of "fog on the beach just before noon" blue! 3@ $9.49 - u-huh!
#4 would be the wonderful guy who says, "Just get me a tub of red licorice and you can get the other stuff too."
My life is good. SWEET!
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Mister Rogers
Every once in a while you come across a post, or a comment that makes you sit up and reread it. The following is one that did that for me. Following the passing of Mr. Rogers, a thread began on
MetaFilter, analyzing the personality of Fred Rogers. Some of the comments were nostalgic, some were cynical, some were a comment, not only on Mr. Rogers, but our society.
There are some misspellings, and some terms and words that I don't approve of, but all in all, I believe that "Pastabagel" has said something important.
You know, it's quite a strange thing. The single most common adjective applied to Mister Rogers in this and other thread is the word 'creepy'?
I think I know why he strikes people as creepy. It's because his isn't at all 'cool'. There is no cynicism, no irony, no condescension in him at all. He is not simply unhip, he is ahip. And this is what people calling him creepy are picking up on.
We are conditioned to traffic in cool. You have to look cool, not look nice or distinguished or presentable, but cool. But it's all so generic. Everyone seems to have the same new haircut that no one 5 years ago had. We all have the same cynical politics.
Something about the counterculture from the 60's is still with us but it has been co-opted into a form of synchronized periodic obsolescence and mockery of that which came before. There is something fundamentally anti-intellectual about this, but I can't quite articulate it. There some element of arrogance there. Like everyone is perpetually 18.
Cool is America's code, and I really do think this is an American problem, because cool is propagated mainly though mass media, and there is no greater media saturated culture on earth than America's. Will I look cool wearing this? Will I sound cool saying this, or reading this or doing this. We're committing mass murder in other parts of the world because somebody figured out how to make violence cool and tough-talk politics cool, and then they combined the too. Swagger is cool. Cowboys and fighter jets and JDAMs and war porn are cool. So that's what we have. We are the Kingdom of Whatever.
Of course he hated ad-libbing on camera, because ad-libbing on camera is inexcusably lazy. It's what you do so you don't have to write or rehearse. Actors and comedians and musicians improvise as a way of living within a moment that is in some way artificial. A method actor may improvise because he is trying to become the character, but he isn't the character to begin with. A Jazz musician improvises because while the structure and the changes are the same, and the audience is familiar with them, the particular moment of performance is not, and that has it's own emotional context.
Mister Rogers was the same guy, so why improvise? The show wasn't about his character, it was about the kids, os you have to work out ahead of time how best to communicate with the child viewers. Everything was planned.
He talks slowly not because kids are dumb but because as studies have shown, children's brains are considerably more active than adults', and they need time to return to the original thought communicated to them after branching off in multitudinous directions.
The puppets? Puppets are good because they are considerably smaller than the human actors around them, and thus kids perceive them as safe. They look like toys. Contrast this with a giant seven foot all yellow bird, and ask yourself which inspired more nightmares.
The show is glacially paced and had the same structure with the same things happening in the same order because children respond to structure and routine is a source of comfort, particularly in children whose lives were anything but predictable.
Maybe that's what cool is - withdrawing from the context of one's life into an artificial one, in which the cool perceives itself to be somehow outside of reality, looking in and commenting on it. But this isn't insight, it's not reflecting on the world. It's standing at the edge of the world sniping into it.
Mister Rogers isn't creepy. CSI with is gruesome bloody corpses every Thursday at promptly 9:14 EST is creepy. Thirty million people looking at that and snaking on chips while they watch is creepy.
Listening to some rapper sing about his genitals and sexual conquests is creepy. Approach crowds of people and talk to them about the aroused state of your genitals, and watch how quickly you end up in a squad car. But somehow it's ok on TV because...why exactly?
Watching a war unfold on television in near real time is beyond creepy. It is obscene. You watch people screaming over their dead loved ones, and then you turn it off and go have dinner, or go to bed? No empathy, no revulsion. What the hell kind of civilization is this?
You know, I watched some 9-11 footage on youtube the other day (because I'm a masochist, apparently), and it occured to me that in the 6 years since it happened, I've never once heard anyone say "I'm sorry for those people who are so consumed by hate for people they've never met and places they've never been. What can we do to lift that burden from them?"
Because that isn't cool. That's being a pussy (or a fag if you are on FreeRepublic). There's no posture to be struck there, no pose. It's something that has to be done in earnest, and that's what's been lacking in the American culture.
Think about the Pope, entering the cell to confront his assassin. He forgave him, we all know that. But can you imagine the conversation? Can you imagine either someone being so perceptive that they can reach into a perfect stranger and expose their soul, or someone whose personality is so shallow that their emotions or ideologies are so shallow that any attempt to probe their depth displaces them entirely?
Mr. Rogers may have been the last earnest man.
posted by Pastabagel, on June 1,2007 at Metafilter
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