Le sigh...

Let's just say that Valentine's Day was a good day...

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More Mozart

It's February and we're only two months into the Mozart year and not quite one month past Mozart's 250th birthday. There's still 10 more months of celebrations and concerts to go!

This weekend I am performing with the Stillwater Chamber Singers in the Mozart Coronation Mass, and in two weeks Steph and I will be lecturing on the life and work of Mozart in a master class for an OSU voice studio. In April we're looking forward to the DVD release of the film in which we are both featured subjects, Mozartballs, and still more airings and film festivals.

I love it! As far as I'm concerned, one can never have too much Mozart! The only thing that would make it better is if I could spend the entire Mozart year in Austria!

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Disappointment and getting tagged

I just read where Sasha Cohen fell twice in her free skate program and had to settle for the silver. I won't ruin any of the rest of it for those of you who were planning to watch tonight, but I won't get to watch because I have rehearsals for the Mozart Coronation Mass from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m.

Steph tagged me so I have to answer these questions. I have to admit, this is one of the more interesting ones.

1. Black and White or Color; how do you prefer your movies?
   It all depends on the movie! I don't think that I could watch It's a Wonderful Life in color, but what would The Wizard of Oz have been without that beautiful burst of color when Dorothy emerged from her house into the technicolor land of Oz?!
   
   
2. What is the one single subject that bores you to near-death?
   Sports...I'm not a sports fan. I like to watch some of the events in the Olympics, but when it comes to basketball, football, etc. I could really care less. That's probably due to the days of when I was married to an absolute sports fanatic and was literally a sports widow. Let's put it this way, on our first wedding anniversary, my then husband decided that he would rather watch the NCAA basketball tournament on TV rather than spending the evening making love to his young wife.
   
   
3. MP3s, CDs, Tapes or Records: what is your favorite medium for prerecorded music?
   I've not heard enough MP3s to make a decision about them. I like CD's because they're so clear and they don't scratch like records did. But I do miss the acoustics of vinyl.
   
   
4. You are handed one first class trip plane ticket to anywhere in the world and ten million dollars cash. All of this is yours provided that you leave and not tell anyone where you are going ... Ever. This includes family, friends, everyone. Would you take the money and ticket and run?
   I'd do it for sure! I would take the money and leave Steph $250,000 in cash and a note saying, "You know where I am. Follow me!" Steph would know that I went to Vienna and would meet up with me at the Cafe Diglas at 3:00pm a few days later! Then Steph would tell everyone where we are. No rules say that friends or family can't find you and tell everyone else!
   
   
5. Seriously, what do you consider the world's most pressing issue now?
   I would have to agree with Steph and Lynn on this one--Education. Without Education we can't even begin to touch the rest of the problems.
   
   
6. How would you rectify the world's most pressing issue?
   I would begin by being better educated myself and then passing my knowledge on to the people with whom I come in contact.
   
   
7. You are given the chance to go back and change one thing in your life; what would that be?
   Wow! That's a hard one because I believe that everything that happens to a person in life, happens for a reason. I've made some bad choices, that's for sure, but they are all a part of who I am now. I would probably go back to my senior year in high school. I would be more persistent with my parents concerning my desire to have a career as an opera singer and I would pursue that more insistently.
   
   
8. You are given the chance to go back and change one event in world history, what would that be?
   I would have the first assassination attempt of Hitler be successful.
   
   
9. A night at the opera, or a night at the Grand Ole' Opry—Which do you choose?
   I think that answer is pretty obvious! Duh!
   
   
10. What is the one great unsolved crime of all time you'd like to solve?
    The late 19th century London "Jack the Ripper" murders.
    
    
11. One famous author can come to dinner with you. Who would that be, and what would you serve for the meal?
    It would be Ralf Waldo Emerson. I love his transcendentalist philosophies and ideals. I would serve a very simple meal consisting of a herb roasted chicken and stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn bread, and cherry pie for dessert.
    
    
12. You discover that John Lennon was right, that there is no hell below us, and above us there is only sky—what's the first immoral thing you might do to celebrate this fact?
    I like what Steph said and completely agree: I wouldn't do anything any differently. My morality isn't based on reward and punishment, not in the way the question means. I don't believe in heaven and hell in the usual sense; I believe we create them and carry them around with us every day of our lives...and beyond.
    

I tag Liz, Lauren, and aka_monty.

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It can't be

About this time fourteen years ago, I began to suspect that I was in labor. I was about four days overdue and so I decided to go out and walk around the shopping mall, mainly to ease my boredom and anxiety. At about two in the afternoon, I felt some slight twinges in my lower back that felt like mild menstrual cramps so I decided to call my nurse-midwife and see if she could get me in to be checked. When I went in, she discovered that I was nearly six centimeters dilated and had me immediately admitted to the hospital. About five hours and an emergency cesarean later, my son, Nathan, was brought into the world--all nine pounds and 5 ounces of him! Today he's a handsome, blonde-haired blue-eyed, strapping, 14-year-old boy who loves skateboarding and hanging out with his buds. They certainly aren't babies very long.

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I'm not sure that Oklahoma is ready for this one

Last night, at my daughter, Lauren's request, we went together to see Brokeback Mountain, a film directed by Ang Lee and starring Heath Ledger as Ennis Del Mar and Jake Gyllenhaal as Jack Twist, two young cowboys who meet one another when they are hired to tend sheep for the summer on Brokeback Mountain in the Wyoming wilderness.

Of course the draw for this film is the fact that it is the story of how these two cowboys fell in love with one another and the impact that it had on them and on their families. The story begins in 1963, in an era when homosexuality was still believed to be a mental disorder and when "stemming the rose" was a term used for gay male intercourse, when "queer" was still a derogatory term, and several years before the Stonewall Riots of 1969, which brought gay and lesbian issues to the forefront in this country. The entire plot spans over two decades of an illicit homosexual relationship between Ennis and Jack, who both struggle with their feelings for one another outwardly and inwardly, as well as fight the societal taboos present within their times and their tough, rugged, cowboy culture.

I found the film riveting, touching, thought-provoking, intense, and disturbing. I have to admit that some of the explicit gay male sex disturbed me, but not in the revolting sense. It was more in the sense that as a woman I view sex from an entirely different perspective than a man. And the way two men approach sex is much different than the way two women, or even a man and a woman approach it. It took me a little by surprise. I could also feel the tension in the audience during these scenes--gay sex is not something which the general Oklahoma audience is used to seeing, and perhaps they were not prepared for the film to be quite so honest in it's portrayal of the sexual aspect of the relationship. There were also some subtle nuances in the film that I'm sure were lost on the audience. Like for example, the scene where Ennis makes love to his wife and in the midst of their love-making, flips her over onto her front, in an attempt to pretend that he was making love to a man, more specifically, to Jack.

I highly recommend this film. This is an important one, folks. However, be forewarned that it holds nothing back. If you go, go expecting to be shocked, to be disturbed, to be challenged, and perhaps even revolted. But go with an open mind and an open heart, for only then will you be able to see past the "shock and awe", to the important message contained within

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We're pinching ourselves now

Yesterday evening we received this from Thomas Wallner. It's the label that will be on the DVD copies of the film to be released in April! Yes, we're freaking out! This is an absolute dream come true! Only in our wildest dreams...

(That's Steph!)

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Where are your roots?

My dad is a genealogy fanatic and has traced our family's ancestry all the way back to 12th century Scotland, to the family of Robert the Bruce, as well as Drum Castle. William Shakespeare wrote of the murder of one of my ancestors, King Duncan, in his tragic play, MacBeth, and Mary, Queen of Scots, first cousin of Queen Elizabeth I of England, is one of the stars of my ancestral line.

Steph says that my Scottish roots are very evident. I have the Scottish determination and tenacity, as well as that infamous Scot temper. My Scottish ancestry is even evident in my looks--my large frame and skull, (I can't wear women's glasses! They're too small.), and my large, wide-set blue eyes are all giveaways to my heritage. Although my dad and my late mother have both traveled to the home of my ancestors and have seen Drum and Bonshaw castles, located near Aberdeen, I have yet to travel there and see them for myself. It is one of my fondest dreams to do so and my hope is that it will be in the not-too far off future.

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Caring for the infirm

On Thursday afternoon, Steph was diagnosed with a bad case of bacterial conjunctivitis, (pink eye) that had spread from the right eye into the left. she was given a bottle of antibiotic drops and told that she should be feeling better in 48 hours. Well, it's been nearly that, and Steph isn't feeling any better. So today I'm applying the TLC by force treatment and demanding that she remain in bed, eat properly, take meds on time, use the warm compresses as instructed, and stay away from long hours at the computer screen.

Since Steph nearly died from two separate bouts with peritonitis over twenty years ago, he/she is highly susceptible to any bacterial infection and highly resistant to antibiotics. So when Steph gets a bacterial infection of any kind, it's major. I'm not messing around with this!

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I admit it, I'm hooked

Last season I got hooked on a reality television show called Project Runway on Bravo. Despite the fact that I was really pissed off by the winner, Jay McCarroll, I couldn't wait to see what season two would bring to the mix. I have to admit that I've not been disappointed.

Last night's show was a really fascinating one! The contestants had to design a garden party dress made from plant material. I didn't know how they were going to pull this one off, but they really did come up with some interesting, and beautiful designs. My favorite one, designed by Clohe, didn't win, but she did get to stay in the competition. Out was Andre, whose dress was said to look like "a doormat".

The competition will heat up as more designers are eliminated until they get to the final three. These three designers will get to design a collection to show at New York's big fashion week. The winner of that competition will win $100,000 to start a line of their own, an apprenticeship with the Banana Republic design team, a new car, and lots of publicity. My predictions for the final three are Daniel V., Santino, and Chole. Out of those three, I predict that Daniel V. will be the winner.

So how many of you are hooked on Project Runway? If you're a regular watcher, who do you predict will be in the final three? Who will be the winner?

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