Morning

Well, I'm not in the mood to do my job, yet today, so here I am. As I mentioned last night, I survived my first solo in class and got a decent grade. I sang The Beatles' song, In My Life. The teacher had some nice things to say, and her criticisms seemed fair. She pointed out that there were a few notes too low for me, which there were. More interestingly, she said that I should take my glasses off when I sing. This was interesting because I intended to do just that. I spent my entire Rocky Horror tenure performing with fuzzy vision. Vanity used to keep me squinting at the Karaoke bars in Springfield. I'm used to that. I forgot to take them off when I left my seat. I realized my error when I got down in front of the class, and I reached for them, but then couldn't figure out where to set them (in retrospect, there were two pianos, a speaker box, and a small wooden cabinet within 5 feet of me where I could have put them), so I decided to go with it and leave them on. Now it makes me wonder if she saw me start to reach for them and was perceptive enough to know that I wasn't completely comfortable with them on, or if she just thinks people shouldn't wear glasses when they perform.

Now, I've got six weeks to perfect Somewhere That's Green

Friday Five

Okay, My turn.

1. What was/is your favorite subject in school? Why?

I actually discovered Sociology in High School with a couple of classes that snuck into the "Home Economics" category, on male/female and family interactions. I loved them. It wasn't until I took Intro to Sociology in college years later that I realized what subject heading they should have been under. All those years of thinking I was going to be an English major, when what I really loved was Sociology.

2. Who was your favorite teacher? Why?

Sue Thomas, Honors American Literature, Junior Year. She was actually the teacher of the first class I had my first year back in a stateside school. She was a beatnik, grew up on and around Indian reservations, very cool, very fun, had a great sense of humor and encouraged my creativity.

3. What is your favorite memory of school?

First day of school in Oslo, freshman year. I had met Melissa Ford a few days earlier, so I had someone to sit with on the bus. Then, when the busses were late coming to pick us up after school, she and Christine Manolis and I walked to the local ice cream shop, had wonderful Norwegian soft serve cones, coated in a chocolate powder, then we took the Trykk (light rail) home. Christine and Melissa became my first true friends.

4. What was your favorite recess game?

I hated recess. I was that kid curled up against a tree or the fence, reading a book, avoiding the other kids. Oh, and for all you Dodge Ball fanatics out there, its a cruel, evil, sadistic game and is responsible for years of emotional scarring!

5. What did you hate most about school?

The other kids (grade school through jr high). I actually like the whole going to class, learning aspect. But no kid should have to go through that sort of torment and mental torture at the hands of their peers.

I hate e-Mode

Once upon a time, they had cool tests with cool, insightful results, that you didn't have to pay for. Now, you take a cool test and you get squat, unless you're willing to spend $15 on a full report.

For example, the results of my "What is your Greatest Fear?" test:

T_D, you are most afraid of not belonging

Have you ever noticed that you're more concerned about whether others will love and care for you than many people around you are? Or do you sometimes worry more than you should about being unneeded, unimportant, or even ostracized by those around you? If so, you're not alone. There are many people who share your fear of not belonging.

People who fear not belonging tend to have easy-going personalities and may also be more willing to compromise than most others are. Unfortunately, most manifestations of your fear aren't as positive as this one.

Yeah. I could have told you that. I didn't need to spend 10 minutes taking a test to come up with that kind of surface level analysis!

Sigh. Guess you really can't get anything free anymore. :)