Quote Challenge

I don't know if Bob was challenging me, either, but I can't resist doing these....

10 Quotes that stick in mind...


1. "Dear Lord: well, here we are again..." My grandmother, running out of ideas for saying grace a few Thankgsivings ago.

2. "Now I'm gonna stand up for everybody! The conductor, the ushers... everybody's gonna get a standing O!" My mom, after being yelled at by the old biddys behind us at the oepra for giving Elaine Alvarez a standing ovation at La Boheme (apparently we were blocking their view).

3. Some explanation is needed first - last Thanksgiving, when I was working in Evanston, our Regional Manager was unceremoniously (and unexpectedly) let go. There one day, gone the next. We were all upset about it, and our CEO came around to each person to see how we were doing, and presumably rally us behind his leadership. He asked how I was doing, and I said I was surprised. Rather than say anything comforting or helpful, in any way, what he said was, "Yeah, well. Life goes on!"

4. "That girl was brought up right!" the partner of the aforementioned Regional Manager, after I'd given them both some chocolates and a card as a thank you for their Domingo tickets.

5. "Don't be alarmed..." At our building in Evanston, we'd always get a warning when the window washers were coming, so that we wouldn't be "alarmed" when we saw them dropping out of the sky to clean our windows. I still email Karen when I see window washers, telling her how "alarmed" I am.

6. "No stress, guys, only love." This guy Dom, from my undergraduate education classes, before we had to present a group project. He was always saying stuff like that, and I thought he was just a very zen kind of guy. Then I learned that he just smoked a lot of pot.

7. "Why don't you do me a favor and come backstage afterwards, so we can talk about it?" Renee Fleming, to me, the first time I met her. We'd asked her what we should look out for in Alcina, and she invited us backstage. You're the best, Renee. The. Best.

8. "Did you see me smiling at you?" Another one from Renee Fleming. In Baltimore a few years ago, we were in the 4th row, and she saw us and smiled. Backstage, she asked if we'd seen her seeing us. Of course we had, and we were thrilled!

9. "I'm gonna sign by the beer." Mano Felciano at the Sweeney Todd stage door, signing my explosion book. The whole cast had nice things to say to me about the book I'd made (Alex Gemignani even stopped, mid-cell phone conversation to sign it for me). Mano (and I think Alex) signed by the little beer bottle stickers I'd added to the book (because you know, it's all so clear, that everybody goes down well with beer....) Patti also said nice things to me about the book, but I was in such a dither about meeting her, I forgot the exact words. I do remember though, she asked me what I was going to do with the signed item...

10. "Remember the 6 p's of ping pong! Ping, pong, ping, pong, ping. And sometimes pong." My friends on the Rock Boat. Those were the days, listening to rock 'n' roll and playing drunken ping pong.