Da Bears....

Everyone's gone Bears wild!

Even me, who doesn't know a first down from a hoe down..... But what the hell, our city deserves to have some fun... My personal favorite, aside from the lighted buildings above (thanks, Chicago Tribune!) are the themed drinks the Four Seasons are offering.... such as.... "Rex on the Beach"

Hahahahaha.

Do Not Mock The Reiki Master

I have my first reiki massage this evening. I didn't do it on purpose. Well, okay, I did - I signed up for massage therapy at the venerable Skokie Park District (I pass their hypnotic orange neon sign every day on my way to and from work) with a guy named Phillip (reminding me of the great exchange on Will and Grace: Guy: "My name is Filip." Grace: "Hello, Phillip." Guy: "No, Filip, with an F." Grace: "I'm sorry, what did I say?" Guy: "Phillip. With a PH." Makes me laugh every time.). I just really want someone to loosen up the massive knots in my shoulders, with more pressure than I have to do it myself (and more time to devote to my muscular tension than just a few minutes). But I got a call from old Phil yesterday asking if we could make the appointment about 15 minutes later. He described it as "reiki-ssage" for he is a Reiki Master. I googled reiki, and it sounds very mystical. The Reiki Master channels the reiki energy into your pain and does some kind of healing of the chi. Riiiiight. Still I am keeping an open mind. I don't have to do all of my therapy sessions with the Reiki Master. And I will have to try hard not to giggle like I do during yoga, sitting there and chanting "om" - if you mess with the Reiki Master, he can like, put a hex on my chi, or something. don't want that.

still sick...

i'm still sick. i HATE being sick. i am a complete hypochondriac, and if things don't get better with the use of over the counter medications or weird symptoms present themselves, naturally, i hit WebMD with a vengeance and freak myself out with all the things that could possibly be wrong with me.

what i think is wrong this time is my tmj. stress (now i wonder why i'd be stressed? oh, right. "leadership transitions," doing the work of 5 people, etc etc) makes me clench my jaw in my sleep. i also tend to carry stress in my neck and shoulders and as a result, i have a knot in my right shoulder muscle the size of cleveland. the most irritating symptom i've encountered through this is dizziness/vertigo, whatever you want to call it. oye, what a pain. it's the weirdest thing and nothing seems to help it, which kicks my hypochondriac tendencies into overdrive.

went to the dentist yesterday and i've never been so happy to see that man in my life. usually i hate going to the dentist. i always wonder why people decide to become dentists. you're looking in people's mouths all day, smelling their stink breath, making them bleed and cry, lecture them about flossing etc. no one is happy to see you, ever. it's a tough job. i am glad my dentists (a family business - father and sons) are willing to do it.

anywho. got the splint fixed and the jaw pain is better. yesterday, i had a flash of brilliance - a massage to ease my sore and painful muscles.

well, helloooooo. i don't know why i hadn't thought of that sooner. i tried to be all medical about it, contacting my health club to see if their massage therapist is still on staff (nope). i went to the skokie park district and signed myself up for 5 sessions with a guy called phillip (with a ph). but they don't start until later in the week, and i was desperate for some kind of comfort. so i booked myself for a massage today at a place called "heavenly massage."

yes, i had my doubts on going to a place that sounded like a porno parlor, but it really is a very nice little spa right in my neighborhood. my deep tissue massage lasted an hour and is, i think, the nicest thing i've ever done for myself in my life so far. i highly recommend it to anyone.

stay tuned to the health report for further developments in my life....

hopefully, this week will be better than last week - it will start off on a bright note - we are seeing Turandot at Lyric tomorrow night!

california dreamin'

I saw Mahagonny many many years ago at Lyric Opera of Chicago. I didn't like it, I didn't understand it. I remember only two things about it:

1. Catherine Malfitano was in it (which I am sure contributed to my dislike of it. I'm just not a fan of hers...)

2. Every so often, a polar bear wandered around the stage. Not a real one, of course, a guy in a polar bear costume. He would come in for a few scenes and leave. For no apparent reason. My friend and opera buddy cara tried to tell me that it was a reference to a 'bear' economy, but i feel that is a bit of a stretch. I also want to say at one point he was on skis.... but I could just be making that up. It was a while ago...

All that being said, I would happily, happily go to Los Angeles if I had the money and the days off to see these two in a john doyle production of this opera.

In Latte, Veritas

starbucks has, for a while (i guess) been putting pithy words of wisdom on their cups so that the average coffee drinker can be enlightened when they are enjoying their caffeinated beverages. and so, this morning, as i am enjoying my cinnamon dolce latte(to which i am seriously addicted), i can also ponder this thought, brought to me by Dr. Laura:

"Many people search blindly for the 'meaning of life.' What they don't understand is that life does not have meaning through mere existence or acquisition or fun. The meaning of life is inherent in the connections we make to others through honor and obligation."

Is it February yet??

24 more days until I get to have a vacation!! Thinking about seeing the DIVINE RENEE FLEMING and having some adventures with friends puts me in a real New York State of Mind....

talk amongst yourselves

Too busy wallowing in illness to say anything interesting. So in the meantime, enjoy this blast from the past... and celebrate the fact that i was able to insert it!

awwwww, yeahhhhh!!

Da Bears 39
Da Saints 14

Superbowl 41, Baby!!!!!

one to go....

GO

BEARS

!!!!!

the sunday horoscope...

Sagittarius:
Today is a 7. Recent developments cause you to reconsider. This is a good thing. The decision you reach next is better than the one you made before.

the hypochondriac drama queen

I have not fallen into a blogging black hole, I am here. I've just been swamped with the usual - work, thesis, work, bears vs. seahawks.... all the usual stuff.

Then last Sunday, enter my new superhero alter ego, Dizzy Grrl. One minute I'd be fine, the next, overcome by vertigo (and NOT the chirpy U2 ditty that currently serves as my ring tone). This went on a few days. I got a massive headache on Monday (but really, I was planning our retreat this week,writing an unprecedented half dozen proposals, doing client work, etc etc etc.) but chalked it up to stress. When the headaches kept getting worse and the dizziness intensified (to the point where everything was an adventure! work! retreat! and especially... driving!) I decided to....

TAKE A SICK DAY ON FRIDAY.

this should tell you how badly i was feeling. usually, i haul my sorry self into the office come rain or shine, in sickness and health etc. But i decided to go to the doctor instead.

i remember now, taking sick days off from school was actually kind of fun. you didn't have to worry about anything that day, you could just lay around in bed, watch oprah, get taken to the doctor, eat soup, whatever. it sucks now. i had to take my own dizzy self to the doctor, get my own medicine, etc. and there was none of that, don't worry about work, you're sick, just relax. i was checking my work email to see what i was missing. i stopped because my kitty jumped on my chair and made it impossible for me to sit and type.

oh- so anyway - i don't have a brain tumor or anything, just a sinus infection. i got many lovely drugs that will hopefully start working any second now.

now, if you will excuse me, i have some work to do....

my heart's a flutter....

BRILLIANT NEWS from Playbill.com. Must see if I can get to this when I am in NYC this month. If not, will just have to drag myself back there again. It's tough, but you gotta do what you gotta do.... but Michael, what's with the porn star moustache?

new year's resolutions

i like to make resolutions. keeping them is something else, of course, but i think i've actually been pretty good about that, too, if a little late. one of my resolutions of old was to take voice lessons, and i've done that (need to get back to it, especially if i am going to be called upon to perform at work functions), learn to knit (check), and once, notably, to remove a pair of boots from under my desk at work. doesn't sound like a big job, does it? but it took me years to bring them home from under there. they moved cubicles with me and everything.

i read an article by ellen degeneres - she suggests writing resolutions in lemon juice on parchment paper, readable only if you hold a candle up to the paper, so you can feel like a pirate. maybe later. for now, i will just broadcast these resolutions to the world.....

1. Finish the !@&#(#@!** thesis. Be more persistent w/deadbeat advisor and make him be useful to me. It is, after all, his job.

2. Join some kind of gym and work out more than once a week.

3. Spend less time at Starbucks. Otherwise, I will become VERY finnie-esque and that gym membership will be very handy indeed.

4. Follow my own damn bliss. New job? Possibly. More travel? Most likely.

5. Learn to knit more than long rectangles. I can do scarves. But I've only got one head. I'd like to learn how to purl, and how to do more exciting stitches and make some more interesting things.

Yeah, that's all I've got right now.

memories of 2006

lyric opera internship and brushes with royalty at the wine auction. manon at the met. coffee with alison. meeting mim and iris. backstage at the met in our 'living room'. fourth of july in manhattan. getting diva lessons from my own personal doyennes of fabulosity (you know who you are). sweeney todd in april. and july. and september. sondheim soiree and slumber spectacular. goodbye edge, hello gypsy, and shout out to safe hondas. a get well care package from renee fleming. meeting the patti. heidi's birthday fondue. no more part time slave labor at archiver's. cinnamon dolce lattes. being a commuter. 'graduating' from columbia. front row seats at the closing night of sweeney. bringing my grandmother backstage at ravinia to meet renee. max brenner's chocolate cafe. the grant park south underground parking garage. high level office teasing. scrap manias. sundays in central parkwith friends (and sometimes spills). the renee fleming reality tour. picnics on the lawn at ravinia in 'our spot'. mocha marble macchiatos. my group. knitting. scrapping. writing my thesis (or at least trying to). goodbye gs. gypsy and gypsy and gypsy. making new friends. keeping clients happy. this blog. hot hot summer and mild winter. renee's lyric opera concert. patti's jcc concert. tea and sympathy. patti. audra. bernadette. monday memo mad libs. breathing the same air as stephen sondheim twice. stage door madness. magic in the making. work work and more work. pink razor phone. saying goodbye to uncle tony and diane. pyramid tea bags. singing at the holiday party. white elephant gift exchange. spending time with family. you tube. surfing the net. i am sure there's more....

happy new year.

Hazelnuts Unite!!!!

Tonight.... Sister Hazel at Chicago's House of Blues. I can't recall the last time I was even AT the House of Blues (a little scary), or the last time I saw SH. I do love them, though - it was for them that I went on the Rock Boat 3 times, and this blog is named for a song of theirs off the album "Lift." So it will be fun to see them again. I will have to get back into the rock show mentality - doors: 7:30. Opening act: 9:00. Sister Hazel 10:30. Last night, I was in bed at 10:30.... but anyway....

Thought for the Day... Watch this Space...

Leave you? Leave you?
How could I leave you?
How could I go it alone?
Could I wave the years away
With a quick goodbye?
How do you wipe tears away
When your eyes are dry?

Oh, leave you? Leave you?
How could I leave you?
Sweetheart, I have to confess:
Could I leave you?
Yes.
Will I leave you?
Will I leave you?
Guess!

(Stephen Sondheim, Follies)

merry christmas

i remember when i was growing up, i couldn't wait until christmas. it was always the best time of year. this year, though, it has managed to sneak up on me. though the holiday cards were made around halloween, i didn't manage to send them until last weekend and in some cases, early to mid week last week (i much prefer making the cards to sending them). the same thing happened in our company - but on a larger scale. things happened that took our minds off sending the cards, nobody wanted to sign them, or do anything with them, really, so it was up to me and a few others in the office. they got out on thursday, i think.

i had a few gifts bought, but was still trolling the store aisles as late as yesterday. one of the gifts i'd bought for one friend in particular i found less than inspiring, so i scrapped the whole idea and got her something entirely different (yesterday). and we finished the actual wrapping of the presents yesterday, too (and i know my mom was still wrapping this morning). for whatever reason, the holiday does not mean as much this year as it used to. what's with the holiday apathy??? oh, i really don't know.

holiday shopping isn't even fun any more - for once in my life, i think i am shopped out. there are just people everywhere, and everyone is RUDE, even the store workers themselves. yesterday, i saw this gorgeous shirt in a store window, and went to find it in the shop. i couldn't find it anywhere, so i asked a sales associate if they had it, or if she could get it out of the window for me. she gave me a total hard time about it, and pretty much refused to get it out of the window (something to do with how it was hanging, i guess). so i left. but here's the thing that gets me - she would rather have me leave and lose a sale completely than try and actually like be helpful and I don't know, do her job?? she didn't offer any other kind of help - like offer to check the back, or say something like, that one is sold out, but we've got it in blue (because they did). Nope. Hello? What happened to 'the customer is always right' and 'give the lady what she wants'??? I guess not. So they lost a sale, and now I am going to think things like, well, gosh, there's a bitchy sales chick in the New York & Company in Golf Mill Shopping Center in Niles, so I don't think I want to shop there any more. i've worked in retail in the holidays, i know what people are like, so i try and be nice when i am a customer and cut them some slack. but i always tried to actually be helpful to people when they were looking for things, or offer alternatives or something, so that they bought something (because i would have bought something).... but i went somewhere else and bought things instead, and nobody really cares any more, anyway. apathy everywhere.

but anyway. there are nicer things to think about, for instance: i finished knitting my first scarf! it is beautiful and i wore it out today. hooray! i have also discovered several cute little knitting stores, and even though i am totally intimidated, and can only do scarves at the moment, i always go in and buy some gorgeous yarn. i've got so much yarn, and so many needles, it's crazy.

AND - tonight i am off with the family to a christmas eve party given by some friends of my parents. that should be fun..... tomorrow it is over the river and thru the woods to grandmother's house for christmas day... tuesday it's after christmas shopping (because i will be DONE with the family togetherness thing) and wednesday it's back to work.

merry christmas, everyone!

Public Embarassment

You didn't think I would forget to post about the holiday party, did you? Ah, enforced jolity with the co-workers, always a good time. We needed the time to bond and unwind together, given certain sudden changes we've been seeing around here.

We had a luncheon, complete with party planning committee. Our party had an agenda. (Item #1 - FUN!) Seriously. Planned activities included a showcase of talent among our staff (mostly the junior staff, interestingly enough...) I was roped into singing. I agreed out of guilt, based primarily on the following conversation:

Colleague - Hey K, do you wanna sing with Coworker?
Me - Ummmm, NO! (running by on the way to the bathroom)
Now, keep in mind, I'd just been on a 2 hour conference call, it was past lunch time, I was starving, needed caffeine and use of the bathroom. I was still in my little depressing conference call world, and thus the response was a bit more sharp than I would have intended it to be. So I went back, massive bottle of soda in hand and said I was sorry, hadn't had caffeine or food, etc etc, was very cranky and did she mean sing NOW? NO, was the response, at the party tomorrow!
I didn't really want to, but I agreed b/c had sounded like such a beeeyotch before. I get so nervous, with people watching me, I just start shaking. Stage fright. Very bad. Did I really want to get up in front of all these people and have them think I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket? Not especially....

We agreed to sing Winter Wonderland and all went well, I guess. No one, and this is important, said anything at the time... Other entertainment included salsa dance lessons and some Irish drumming. We also had a white elephant gift exchange which was fun.... although entirely missing the point of the true white elephant (unlike last year's exchange among my friends, one of whom contributed to the exchange a photo frame with a picture of her ex boyfriend in it.). This was only to our benefit though - who wants crappy gifts?? I got some chocolate and a starbucks card, the perfect gift!

Ok, so fast forward to today - one of my esteemed colleagues took pictures of all this, which she forwarded around to THE WHOLE STAFF. One of the pictures is called 'singing finger' which showed me singing and holding a page with the words on it (helpful, not because i needed the words, but because i could look at them, rather than out at the crowd, all of whom were staring at me. I guess my Inner Diva was out to lunch that day...) - I guess I was holding it weirdly and one of my fingers - guess which one - (Go ahead, guess!) is visible, so it looks like i am flipping off the staff. Good one. Very smooth move. I had no idea I was doing it. I just wanted to get through the !@#$($ song. She sent around some other pictures, too, but not as bad as that. Am hiding in mortification under my desk.

(And, for the record. Yes, there is a picture. No, you don't get to see it).

Do I Hear A Waltz?

Last night, mom and I went to Lyric to see Die Fledermaus. Now, this is what I've been waiting for them to do all season.

Gorgeous sets? Check.
Amazing ensemble cast of singers and actors? Check! Check! Check!
Crazy talented dancers doing elaborate dance numbers including the famed waltzes? Check.
No parking hassles because I decided to spring for valet?? Check!

From the moment the overture started and those familiar strains started to play, I knew it was going to be great. It was as light and frothy and sparkling as the 'king champagne' they sing about. It was also really funny - the titles helped my understanding, of course since I do not speak deutsch, but the cast was very expressive and funny themselves, in their voices of courses, but also in their body language. Rosalinde was playbed by the talented coloratura Andrea Rost, Gabriel by the hunky Bo Skovhus, and the tenor Bonaventura Bottone (gotta love that name) - but it was the soprano playing the chamber maid, Marlis Petersen, who absolutely stole the show. The opera clocked in at 3 and a half hours, but it flew by like the titular fledermaus. Definitely my favorite of the season so far...

Happy, Happy Birthday

It's my mom's birthday!
Let's all sing!


Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday dear Stephanie!

Happy birthday to you!

Here's to many many more!