Easter Break

Well, Easter break is here! I know, I know -- I just had a break. But breaks are good, particularly when you've got a lot of things to do. I have papers due, as usual, and I've had lots of other stuff to take care of as well.

Among the more exciting things I've been doing is playing my violin in the Easter cantata "He's Alive!" at my church. It was great! The rehearsals were long and arduous (and a little too frequent for my tastes) but the performances (all four of them) were awesome. We had some really excited people at the last service, which made it fun. And as near as I can tell, about 65-70 people accepted Christ!!!

Now I have another "gig" -- a Mozart trio (Missa Brevis), which I'll be playing at a church in the city next Sunday. A friend of mine played 'cello at the church and his mum called up the day after the performance to ask if I was interested in playing the Mozart trio with them.

Hah, that reminds me of Paul Bettany's quote about learning to play the 'cello for Master and Commander: "Oh, it's a ghastly instrument. And no, I won't play you a tune -- it sounds like I'm trying to climb into a squirrel" (From Tom McGregor's The Making of Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, The Official Guide to the Major Motion Picture).

I have no idea what that means except that obviously Mr Bettany didn't like learning the 'cello. I don't know why he wouldn't, except that learning any stringed instrument is difficult.

Which reminds me of Mr Russell Crowe's quote about learning to play the violin: "It was the hardest [bleep!] thing I've ever done. I practised 27 hours a week and ended up at the level of a decent seven-year-old." (I read this on a website but can't remember which one. Sorry!)

LOL! Very funny. I can sympathise with Mr C on that one. I've never ever practised 27 hours a week though. (Is that possible??)

On a different note...re-enacting starts in couple of months! Huzzah! I can't wait. Except I did want to lose a little more weight before squeezing myself back into the corset again. And will somebody please lend me a sledgehammer so I can smash the bleedin' scale?! It said I had lost six pounds as of two days ago, and then today I was up four pounds. You cannot convince me that I have gained four pounds in two days, particularly since I have not eaten all that much for the past several days! I have been eating little besides organic granola bars since Sunday, and the scale tells me I have gained weight??? I think not. Something is amiss.

Oh, wait...I am a miss! Ha, ha, ha! Oh, dear. There I go with the puns again. This blog is looking more and more like a stream-of-consciousness piece than anything else. What was I saying a minute ago? Oh yes, re-enacting. Ah, how I love the sound of a fife-and-drum corps at 5.30 in the morning...well, I love the sound of a fife-and-drum corps, but not at 5.30 in the morning. And I love almost everything else about re-enacting, except the bugs. I even love the smell of the campfires. Smoke -- woodsmoke!! -- is my favourite scent. I don't like the smells of other kinds of smoke. Particularly the kind that erupts from under the hood of one's car.

This is what happened to me today as I was driving home from an appointment. I noticed my car growling at me and wondered what was up with that. Then I noticed, when I stopped at a light, that my car was smoking!! When did it take up that nasty habit? I wondered, then I snapped out of my TOFOG-induced haze (I've had nothing but that playing in my car since February) and said aloud, "Is that coming from my car??? ACK!" As soon as I could, I pulled the car over and turned it off, nervously expecting to see the paint peeling off my hood and the car bursting into flame. I used my cell to call my oldies and they came rushing to the rescue, as usual. The lovely little vehicle got examined thoroughly, then my father drove the car home. Did it reinforce the reason for my panicked call? No! It acted perfectly fine!

This has happened before. My car acts up with me driving it, then purrs like a docile kitten when someone else drives it. I'm starting to think it doesn't like me. Or...dare I say it...perhaps it has gotten tired of hearing "Nowhere" repeated over and over and over and over and over again on the way to school? That's it -- it's putting up a protest. I've figured it out. My car doesn't like TOFOG!

Well, I do. So there.