You and me must never part…

Makee dada.

Last night I had dinner with an old friend that I hadn’t see in like 6 or more years. Kevin.

It was like only days had passed.

We are both kind of hyper talkers and have similar senses of humor, so we were laughing and jabbering nonstop.

We had to catch each other up on all our doings, our jobs, our families, everything.

It was a jam-packed 3+ hour dinner! But a really good dinner.

It made me remember how much missed hanging out with Kevin (aka my sexless husband).

Oh, and in case you were wondering about the Color Purple reference, Kev and I quote it all the time. Usually with a “Nettieeeeeeee! Celie!” shout.

Or last night when I got in his car and immediately said “Mama! Buni samo dini Mamaaaaa!”

Yeah. That’s how we roll.

Drum Corps Update

Well– I’m in Indy still, so I won’t be at rehearsal tonight. Which I’m kind of glad about.

This year has been sort of a goat fuck.

Weather has (again) been a challenge. But at least I have come to expect that and can prepare for the shittiness.

The shittiness I can’t prepare for involves our staff and organization in general.

I think I expressed my frustration earlier at the lack of preparedness being exhibited going into this season. It’s like everything was adrift.

Schedules and locations were not finalized or in limbo. The leadership team wasn’t set until late. We didn’t get music very early and we’re STILL waiting on a final version of our closer. Membership is low. People are blowing off rehearsals.

Commitment just isn’t there. On any level.

Half our staff has basically evaporated– they all seem to be helping Junior corps. And seeing this lack of commitment makes the horn line members not care.

And then the staff that IS present yells at the horns that are ALSO present for being slackers and not practicing enough and fucking too much up.

And THEN we’re told that the music is basically taking a back seat to design this year, and focus is percussive, not brass.

It’s been very disheartening. It’s like we’re being set up to fail at every turn.

Everything just has a real shoddy feel this year, which is exactly the opposite feel from past years. And we have just about run out of time to turn the ship around.

Case in point: two weeks ago we got a version of our closing tune. Which was an extensive rewrite of the first version we only received the week prior. Only it was fraught with errors and fucked up rhythms/time signatures.

Normally all the music is out in march and fully memorized by now.

Yet this year we still haven’t received a final version of our closer– and we are supposed to play this tune in a parade.

Next fucking week.

I haven’t even begun to memorize this piece BECAUSE WE DON’T EVEN HAVE ACCURATE MUSIC FOR IT!

Things are circling the drain rapidly and I don’t know what I can do about it. I’m not sure there is anything I can do.

The only thing I know for sure is that this will be my last year marching. And if things don’t change, my career is going to end on a downer.

Gary, Indiana

Gary, Indiana… Not Louisiana, Paris, France, New York or Rome!

Actually, not even Gary– I’m in Indianapolis. For work. Although on the taxi ride from the airport it smelled vaguely like Gary.

It’s a conference thingy. Today was a light day– orientation, and I sat in on a committee meeting. It was… Interesting.

It’s basically a bunch of middle aged white dudes (with a sprinkling of Asians and Indians) sitting around debating proposed alterations to international testing standard.

It’s the quintessence of bureaucracy. Which, if you know me at all, makes me lose my fucking mind!

I nearly lost my shit after the room spent 30 minutes debating whether to change a definition for how to properly measure % elongation in low ductility materials.

Yeah. Excitement plus.

There are good parts about attending this conference. First, I’m not in the office for 4 days. Second, is the hotel.

I’m staying at the JW Marriott in downtown Indy. It’s a big, curved, glass monstrosity and I’m on the 20th floor. Corner room too.

Here’s my view:

Thank god work is picking up the tab!

Now, if only I could meet a hot, single gay conferencee….

CB gone CrayCray

Hey kiddos-

Sorry for no comix this week. And next week will probably be a bust too. Work decided to get bonkers busy ( right when my coworker was out of the office).

Then this weekend is drum corps camp.

And then on Sunday I leave from corps camp and catch a flight to Indianapolis for work- where I’ll be for 4 days.

So this is a bit of a busy time.

Thank goodness I come back to one day in the office then have a 3 day weekend.

Totes looking forward to it.

Gotta Love Statistics

You’re welcome.

And Then There’s… LAWD!

So, some artist dude (John Currin) painted Bea Arthur nude.

The painting is going up for auction at Christie’s and expected to fetch a couple million bucks.

And here I just gave you a peek for free. Because who doesn’t want to see them golden “girls”?

****motorboat****

Minnesota, You So Crazy!

On May first we had some snow and were under a winter storm warning. There is still ice on the lakes which fucked up the first day of open fishing this past weekend.

In fact, there was an ice tsunami on Lake Mille Lacs this past weekend, where wind drove ice up the shore and into people’s homes:

Yesterday it was 35 F when I got up to go to work, so I chose not to ride my bike.

But today?

Yup, we’re just gonna skip over those pesky 80′s and jump right into the 90′s.

I’m not really complaining– I love the heat! And it was a gorgeous bike ride to work this morning. No jacket required.

Weather, you so Cray Cray!

Oh, and in other news the Minnesota Senate passed the gay marriage bill yesterday and today the governor will sign it into law, thus making it legal for same sex couples to wed in the North Star State.

Good Weekend

It’s amazing how nice it is to have a free weekend with nothing really planned. I tend to get lots done.

After weeks of shitty marching weather, my horn was looking iffy. So I gave it a bath, cleaned, oiled, and polished it.

I also worked out (did a 5 mile run) and biked a little.

I hit the farmer’s market and did some balcony planting:

I also spent Sunday doing some drum corps field lining/touch up painting. Which gave me an excuse to march through my show a few times to the mp3′s.

I also washed my baby, Vince:

I also painted the front door of my cuckoo clock a dark red. Red doors on houses are a nice touch, don’t you think?

I also may or may not have “gotten some” this weekend.

*whistling innocently*

I sure do love drum corps free weekends!

Li’l B*Hole Comix (4 Mom)

Hello Mothers!

Comix. Time. Now.

First– from a couple weeks ago, the winner: pjwyckoff! Yaaaaaaay!

And now for a collection Thel would be proud of (that’s the Family Circus mom….)

And finally, it’s your turn again. What is Jeffy shouting which is making his mother cringe? Put your answer in the comment section…..

Whooooaa, we’re halfway there…

So evidently there was some big gay marriage law dust up thingy today in Minnesota.

The House voted on and passed a bill that would allow same sexy marriage. And the vote really wasn’t even that close (70-something to 50-something).

Kind of a big step, really.

Especially when you consider the fact that a few months back, we voted down a constitutional amendment that would’ve prohibited gay marriage here.

Naturally all the Bachmann supporters are in an absolute dither about it all.

I guess the bill goes to the Senate on Monday– and if it passes there, it’s a done deal. The democratic governor will definitely sign it into law.

This would make Minnesota #12 to allow for gay marriagy stuff– that’s almost one quarter of the US!

Personally, I’m not counting my chickens. Not that I have any chickens, gay or otherwise. I’m fairly “divorced” from this issue, all things considered.

Not that I don’t think gays should have equal rights- because I do. I just know this won’t impact me whatsoever.

Given the state of the institution, I’m not a big believer in “marriage”. I have no plans to get married anytime soon. And ain’t nobody linin’ up to get hitched ta me, that’s fer damn sure.

But still– it would be a nice victory for teh gayz. And it’ll really chap some conservative snatches along the way.

Which is really the nicest wedding gift of all.