50 Followers!!

Wow! Whoopie! Huzzuh even! I have fifty followers of my blog. How awesome is that?! I am very excited. Next stop: 250,000. Or maybe 51. Thank you for choosing to fly the boring skies of Life and Such.

Got the Beatles Book! Yay! I think I am going to look at Taxman first. I am very excited about that as well.

Is incessantly wanting to check your email and phone for texts and messages the same as waiting by the phone was back when I was a teenager? Not that I ever did that. I never had a phone to wait by in my teenage years. I was at Andover from 14 to 18 and we had no phones in our rooms. If you wanted to see someone, you went to their dorm and saw them. Or hid in the bushes near their dorm and hoped to catch a glimpse of them...just kidding. I don't have good stalking techniques - oh, well, come to think of it, my stalking techniques have never been good. I would make a terrible hunter. I think I would be a decent gatherer, though...And yes, it is exactly like waiting by the phone - except that I have two devices that never ring - the computer and the, er, phone.

Maybe it is I who shouldn't be allowed in the kitchen. A friend posted on Facebook that there was early corn at the grocery store. Mom adores corn on the cob, so I got three ears for dinner last night. Dinner consisted of home made shrimp eggrolls, broccoli and corn. I steam my broccoli and corn, generally. Last night was no exception. Except that I forgot to put water in the corn pan. Eeek! We all survived - I think the pan even survived. I will look today - the corn actually got cooked somehow. Just from the heat, I guess. Not quite as good as steamed corn, but beggars (and losers) can't be choosers. 

I did, at one point, plan to get a lot done today - pay bills, move stuff around, etc. But it is looking like that isn't going to happen. Woke up early, futzed around a bit - did my daily challenge etc - then went back to sleep for a while. Suddenly, it is lunch time! And later I go into The Smith for the rest of the day. Sigh. Best laid plans, etc.

Rocking on!

Got another music book - and this is exactly what I was looking for. It is still PVG but the arrangements just seem better. And there are a lot of the classic songs. Yay! I just tried Money and the base rhythm is there. How cool is that? I think the tally is four down, one to go!

I have started the moving/sorting/cleaning process a bit earlier than I thought I would. Yessterday I unpacked three boxes of books and culled out about a third of them to sell. Not including the Britannica set I have - including lots of Books of the Year. Don't really know what to do with those. Any suggestions? At least it was a start. I hope and plan to do a little bit each day so that I can redistribute two large piles of stuff. There are three large piles of stuff that came from North Carolina (not including the stuff that got squirreled away in the basement and in the attic already) Two out of three isn't bad, right? Maybe when Karl comes, he can help me a bit. Probably not. Whenever he comes, he has his hands still full with his kids (three under the age of 6) and his wife. And mom of course, which is why he comes. We shall, of course, see.

Speaking of whom, he asked to do a home evaluation for the possibility of keeping mom here after she progresses into the last stage of Alzheimer's. I already know that keeping someone here is doable, since we have had other people here who were in various states of decay. So, I'm not sure what he is really after. One of the nurses from the place where we get our aides came and asked me what he was looking for. I tried to explain, but don't think I did it very well. I hope he wasn't looking for the official thingie - that costs money and is only good for six months. Mom could be six months away from the third stage - she could be two and a half years from the third stage. Who the heck knows?

One big task to accomplish today. I can do it! Get to the County Assessor's office and apply for mom's STAR exemption - reduction in taxes. Mom is awake and needs to sign some papers before I head off into the, er, well, it is mid day so sunset or sunrise don't really apply here. Hmm...

Delayed Gratification and The other thing

What is the opposite of gratification? Oh, right, dissatisfaction.

Mind games I play with myself include delaying stuff just because I can. Will power perhaps? In any case, it gets me through the day, playing these games with myself. Heck, I don't have any one else to play them with. Things like - I can do x if I do y first. Or If I do three of z then I can do a. Or I can't do such and so until this or that time unless something extraordinary happens. I do try to always leave myself and out. I mean, who am I beating up, besides myself? I like to be good to me whenever I can be.

I did finally get one of the other music books. I think it was delivered to someone else and they dropped it on the porch for me. It was one of the Pink Floyd books. And it is, sadly, terrible. It is a PVG book - which doesn't do me much good, I don't think. We shall see. I have only flipped through it a few times and not tried to play anything. The music in it is not my favorite Pink Floyd music - it is largely from The Wall. Sigh. I hope the other one comes and that there are more interesting pieces in there. I mean, what is a Pink Floyd book without Money or Time? Or some of the greats from earlier albums? Hmm?

Speaking of piano, I am making some progress on the second movement of The Moonlight Sonata. Not a lot, but the first few parts are beginning to sound like music. There is hope.

Just a quick foreshadowing - moving May.

Felt Like Saturday and a few epiphanies for good measure

Now why would it feel like Saturday? Maybe because I have to work on the real Saturday? Hmm. But I did get a few things accomplished, despite the Saturday feel of the day.

I called the realtor that my friend Ted had spoken with about working to sell the house in North Carolina. No word from her back, yet.

Speaking of no word, most of the music that I ordered hasn't arrived. The second copy of Rhapsody in Blue did arrive and though it is easier, it still is really hard. I think I will have to wait a bit before delving into it more deeply. Instead, I am working on the second movement of the Moonlight Sonata. And I am thinking of working on the third at some point. Eeek.

I also paid the last bill of the month. Yay. Speaking of which, the city assessors office called and reminded us that we needed to get some paperwork in to apply for money off mom's taxes! How awesome are they and is that? I will try to do that Monday, or at the latest, Tuesday. I neglected to make copies of the tax stuff that Karl did for us. Sigh.

Not much else of note transpired yesterday. This morning I had a bit of a nightmare about working at the Smith. There was a party being prepared and I was hanging out with everyone when I a) missed the person I was currently enamored of and then not much later (in dream time) b) realized that I was late for working at the Smith. The last part of the dream was spent trying to find my black clothing and not being able to. Eeek!

I had a minor epiphany this morning about relationships. I wouldn't mind being the first person that someone else thinks about in the morning and the last person they think about at night. Other than themselves of course. And their blood kin or adopted kin. Or there best friends who might be going through difficult or exciting times. Or their neighbor. Or their goldfish that died four months ago...I know, it is a lot to ask, but it would be nice...

Another small epiphany - about dinner at home for mom when I am not around. I actually had two thoughts. One was that I could order food and have it delivered. There are some difficulties here - but nothing that couldn't be overcome. And the second was I could make something cold and leave it in the fridge for her. I am leaning towards that option for this evening. We shall see.

In rereading the above text, I realized something else that happened. I fell for a TV infomercial. I bought a little drain snake thing that was supposed to grab hair out of my drain. Right. Luckily I didn't pay what was asked on the TV. I found it for $.09 plus a lot of shipping (still cheaper than anywhere else I could find). So, although it doesn't seem to function as advertised (what a surprise), I am not out a whole large chunk of change. Yay!

Rhap Music

As you may (or may not) recall, I moved my stuff from NC to NY. And in that stuff was an electric piano I bought with my well deserved gains from working at Macromedia. Over the years (since 2000) I haven't played it as much as I would have liked. Recently, I set it up in the office in the back of the house next to the xBox. I am now playing a little bit - sometimes quite a little bit - every day. Yay!

Someplace and sometime, I got in my noggin the idea that I would like to learn around 10 piano pieces that I could play with confidence. I was thinking a variety would be nice. The first piece that I have is a piece that I learned (mostly) when I was in 8th grade - goodness that was a while ago - I guess I was 12 or 13 which makes it 40ish years - eeeek - Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin. I am getting better. Picking the other 9 or so hasn't gotten very far, though I do have some ideas.

When I got my "thank you" note from the High School production of Hairspray, I ordered some music from Amazon - Pink Floyd, The Beatles and a copy of Rhapsody in Blue for Piano only. Oh. My. Goodness. This version couldn't have been written with a pianist in mind! There are a few 10 note spreads in the left hand. Eeek! And at a couple of points, it looks like it is necessary to have a second pianist play for awhile. Not helpful. So I ordered another one - that one was arranged by the person who taught Gershwin how to play the piano. Hopefully it will be a little more playable. I need a couple of other pieces - probably a couple of easy-ish classical pieces. We shall, of course, see.

I got nothing done, really, Monday. I had such high hopes and great plans. Instead, the new aide came - I think she is growing on mom - not like a fungus - as in mom is liking her better than she did at first. The aide cleaned mom's bathroom and then helped her to plant the amaryllis that Juliet gave me for Christmas. We are going to see if we can make it work! Yay plants! (This is meant insincerely - I kill plants for a living.) (Ok, I don't - but I do have a black thumb of death where house plants are concerned...)

I did go to the bank and the grocery store. That's productive, right!

More Bills

Where do they all come from? Goodness gracious. I would like a life without bills, please. Money sucks. And what does money really represent anyway?

That will be my distasteful task of the day! Yippee! I am looking forward to it being done with. Then I can get on with the rest of my exciting day. Playing, puttering and piano-ing. I put my electric piano - one of my best and favoritest purchases from when I was actually flush (meaning having considerable quantities of disposable income) back in the beginning of the century - in the back office, right next to my xBox. I feel I am more motivated to play/practice/learn because the piano is right there.

I took lessons a long time ago - I think for about four years - and like many a kid, was reluctant to practice. My piano teacher took it all in stride, though. I eventually learned to play a bit and memorized a few pieces of pieces. I still remember and can play (mostly) the first part of Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag. Yes, I got hooked on ragtime after watching The Sting. I could play a lot of the music that was used in that film, once upon a time. Now, I can barely struggle through the beginning of Maple Leaf. But I sense some improvement. My goal is to have a repertoire of maybe 10 pieces that I can play without recourse to sheet music. And to be better at "faking." Ok, maybe not better, since I can't do it at all just yet. But someday...

On the theatre front - I heard back from one of the many letters I put out with some good information - she just had forgotten to reply to my message. (Sadly, my thank you note hasn't found its way to her yet - her mailbox is full...) I had, though, already grabbed the bull by the horns and went directly to the horses mouth. (Hmm, weird looking animal that conjures up...) Which is what I did with the second theatre bit as well. We communicated a bit and set up an appointment to meet, only for me to find that mom's dentist and eye doctor appointments interfered with both days that had been offered. Which is ok. I am in no tearing hurry on that project.

Any suggestions on what to read next? I am about to finish the last Rachel Morgan book. Boo!