Thursday's Shuffle Sampling

"Why Should She Wait" ☙ Marc Broussard ☙ Keep Coming Back
"Girl" ☙ Jim Sturgess ☙ Across the Universe
"She's a Beauty" ☙ The Tubes ☙ The Best of The Tubes
"In Her Eyes" ☙ Josh Groban ☙ Awake
"Endlessly" ☙ Renée Fleming ☙ Dark Hope
"Uncharted" ☙ Sara Bareillles ☙ Kaleidoscope Heart
"Flight Attendent" ☙ Josh Rouse ☙ Eat Pray Love
"Waters Gone By" ☙ Glory Revealed
"Just Around the River Bend" ☙ Pocahontas

Well played, Shuffle.  Well played.

I realize I haven't reeeeally posted about OKC yet.

My apologies.

But I was so FB happy while I was there, it feels like I did!

I will update more in-depth, just not right now.  XD





Also, where does the week go?

To my many adoptive families

Thank you for taking in an almost-24-year-old child in addition to the hoodlums you already had.  You feed me, let me hang out with you, and satiate my screaming ovaries from time to time by letting me care for your children (and give them back when the ovaries are supersaturated). 

Much love and tender affection,

♥K

Michael Murphy's...

...Dueling Pianos.

FTW.

Top night. 

Must sleep.

Will form complete sentences tomorrow.

Maybe.

Maybe Monday.

Yeah... Monday sounds good.

Ya know the Kiss Cam on the jumbotron?

It makes me really happy when the man puts his arm around the object of his affection or cups her face when he kisses her.

If they're an older couple, it makes me even happier.

I want that kind of affection.

I want that kind of kiss on the jumbotron.

In OKC.  Thunder game tonight.  Against the Timberwolves.  111-103

RTR--er, um, well... You get the sentiment.

Audition tomorrow. 

Good night.

Go n-ithe an cat thú is go n-ithe an diabhal an cat.

"Curses in any language should be used with care. The same applies here," the website warns me.


Let it be known I'm not feeling very much like being careful at the moment.

Go n-ithe an cat thú is go n-ithe an diabhal an cat!

"May the cat eat you, and may the cat be eaten by the devil."


I knew I liked the Irish for a reason.

Chances are if you're reading this, I don't want to say this to you.


Well done!  Ü

Moral of the story?

THIS popped up in my CNN gadget on my iGoogle homepage. (Please at least read the title before you finish this post.)  I thought it was kinda funny.

Today was a much better day than I thought it would be (waking up feeling zealous an' all that).

My choir kids helped me remember why I teach (it seems I make a habit of forgetting...).

I saw or communicated with more people who make me smile than I normally do on a day to day basis. 

Now, I need for tomorrow to be as productive as today was goooooood.


Oh, yeah, and the moral of the story?

More frequent exercise and, consequently, sex save lives.

Well, more or less...


ANYWAY, makes me glad I've begun exercising regularly again!

Zealot

I woke up feeling like one this morning.

Only more in the contemporary sense of the word, and on the socialist end of the spectrum.

Charlie Sheen pisses me off.

How dare he ask for a million dollar raise from a $2 million dollar PER EPISODE paycheck, and how DARE we encourage his behavior and give in to him!

What about the people suffering in Japan?
In Honduras, Haiti, New Orleans, all around the world??

How dare we waste our resources in the name of capital gain--in the name of entertainment for money's sake.

I want to feel like I'm a part of some grand, glorious adventure that makes a difference in the world.

Oh, wait.

I have a degree in education and a teaching certificate.

D'oh! [face-palm]

Must channel activist energy into teaching.


But there are people who can't even procure a decent meal, let alone try to gain an education...

Shouldn't I be trying to meet those needs first?

What's the serenity prayer?

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference. 

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

--Reinhold Niebuhr

"Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it..."

Ouch. [face-palm again]

I cannot save and feed the world.

But He can.

Please, Magnificent God, do.

And just because most of the people I see day to day don't appear to be hungry, it doesn't mean that they're not.

Man does not live by bread alone, Kate.  There are indeed people within your current sphere of influence who are hungry.

Feed them.

Please help me to remember...

Here I am...

...a rabbit-hearted girl, frozen in the headlights.


Lots to do, but I'm in a state that renders me incapable of sorting it all out.

I think it's because it's the last day of Spring Break. 

I think it's because I need to eat lunch.

First thing on the To Do List: Eat a sandwich.

Second thing: Finish making To Do List. 



One foot in front of the other...

Beannachtaí ar Lá Fhéile Pádraig

To the day...

10 years in Alabama.

11 years of Heidi Bug Love.

Happy St. Paddy's Day. 

♣

Chronicles of a Mini-break: The Trilogy Comes to an End

Sunday was my aunt's birthday, so we took our time waking up, and my uncle told us that we were going out for breakfast (in addition to the traditional birthday dinner.  Fancy!).  By 11:00, we were seated at Big Boy.  After breakfast we went to the Family Christian Store next door to the restaurant so that my cousins could show me the Solar-Powered Praise Flowers.  We looked around for a little bit while my cousins went straight to the children's section to watch Veggie Tales.




They learned to do the Hopparena.




Another one of my cousins called while we were in the store to see what we were doing and to let me know that she'd picked up her little boy.  We planned to all meet at our aunt's house for a "play date."  I hadn't had a chance to meet the chunk-a-munk, so I was pretty excited.  It turns out he was, too.  Once we got him situated on the floor, he started to talk and talk and taaaaaaaaaalk!  Haha!  And then he'd wave his arms around and coo and laugh!  Ugh, it was fun watching him.  Especially when he'd spread his arms and look at us like, "I do not know?"

I guess you had to be there.

See?  Chunk. A. Munk.  But he's SO cute! And happy?!

After they had to leave, we bummed around, played on the Wii for about 10 minutes, and bummed around some more before going to dinner at Graydon's Crossing.

Usually for my aunt's birthday they go to an Indian restaurant called Bombay Cuisine, but it's a little pricey.  So, my aunt and I worked, honestly, for over a week to decide where to have dinner instead.  But once I got there, we sat down in front of www.urbanspoon.com looking for relatively affordable places we'd never been before and to maybe find some Indian food in the process.  Find it we did.

Graydon's is a pub that also happens to serve Indian food.  We got there and the place has the typical, seat-yourself pub ambiance (Love!).  We get the menus and find that the pub people love their food as much as their ale.

There's a seasonal chef's menu in addition to the regular menu.  The Crouch Clan all ordered as close to their usual Indian entrée as they could. 

I ordered pub food.  A "small plate" they called Irish Envy (Apropos, no?) that had potato pancakes, Irish bacon, and veggies seasoned with Indian spices that were too hot for me.

The pancakes and bacon, though?  DELISH.
***Extra Credit Assignment: Click the link above and look for "Irish Envy" on the menu.  See what drinks they'd pair with it.  One in particular is pretty derned funny.

After dinner, we all drove through McDonald's and had Shamrock Shakes ('twas my first).  Once we got home, we watched Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid with Steve Martin and Carl Reiner, which is hilarious, by the by, and then called it a (successful) day.

Monday brought the return of the daily grind for my family and the return of all my crap into my suitcase.  It was a pleasant first half of the day, though.  I took my time, watched movies with my aunt while I packed, and by the time I was packed and ready, it was about time for us to go pick up my cousins for a farewell lunch at Olga's Kitchen, which is probably my favorite restaurant in the world.

After lunch and piddling around the mall after for a little while, it was time to drop the girls off for WMCAT and to take me to the airport.

4/5 hours later, MolPage welcomed me back to Alabama.



Thus ends my boring story, and now we can get back to whatever it is I usually do.

♥

MI Mini-break Chronicled: Part II

Saturday morning about thirty minutes before my alarm was going to go off, I woke up with butterflies doin' their thing, but since I'm stubborn, I made myself lie there in my cousin's bed (which she so graciously relinquished to me during my stay-- Thanks, Moogan!) until I'd planned to get up.  Then began the task of curling and spraying and twirling and spraying and pinning my hair into submission.  The first hour I was in the main bathroom, but since four other people had to get ready, too, I ended up going to the half bath in the basement to finish.  A little over two hours after getting up, I was practically ready and we were walking out the door.

We "crammed" into the Camry (Ford is holding my aunt's minivan hostage and providing her a Sedan via Enterprise) and began the trip.  I made a slew of CDs for my cousins and brought them with me, so we listened to them to and from Chicago.  It was mostly Disney, so much fun was had by the big kids in the backseat.

It didn't take us as long as I'd thought to get there (the weather was less than friendly through the night, so I figured it'd take us a little longer).  That put me being a little over 2 hours early for my audition.
(Eh he?!)

One of the sweet music administrators gave us a map of the area with lists of restaurants and such so we could go have some lunch and kill some time.  She mentioned there was a really great Cuban place nearby, so we decided to try it.

Good decision.

Cafecito.  Their specialty is pressed sandwiches.  The Crouch girls all got turkey sandwiches, the Crouch boy had some kind of jerk, and what did I get?

Basically a glorified PB&J...BUT!  It was spectacular.
Peanut butter, guava, and plantains on delectable bread, pressed and warm and YUMM.  It was perfect comfort food against the cold and the nerves.

After that, the Crouch Clan headed uptown toward Water Tower Place, and I went into my beloved Fine Arts Building to spend some more time before my audition.

Over the doors leading into the building

I took the old-time elevator up to the 9th floor to peruse the show tunes and standards in the music store, and then worked my way down the stairs.  I finally got to go into the used-book store I've just passed by for the past two years.

It's a treasure trove akin to the library in Beauty and the Beast in the sense that books fill shelves that begin at the floor and end at the ceiling.  And where floorspace would allow, they were piled on top of tables, too.  Everything was organized by topic, and from what I could tell, that was about it as far as organization.  US History.  World History.  European History.  Photography.  Art.  Art History.  Music.  Philosophy.  Psychology.  Music SCORES and libretti.  I mean, O. My. God.  It was beautiful.

And hot.  That's the one thing about old buildings in the North in winter.  Radiators are really good at what they do.  So, I looked a little nutty gazing up at all of this, juggling my purse, my bag of tricks (music), and my wool coat with sweat beading on my forehead.  (Yes, I AM made for a cold, big city! [stamps foot])

When the heat became too much, I decided I'd best walk back to Roosevelt, to cool off outside and then to find a practice room inside.

After powdering my nose and such, I went to the music office to have someone let me into the practice rooms (carefully guarded by lock and key code).  I was scheduled to be second-to-last, but when I got there, I found out several people had been no-shows, so I was very last, and they were ready for me whenever I was ready.  (YES!/O dear, no...)  I double-checked my cadenzas in my aria (because I just had a feeling they were going to ask for it... and did they ever, haha), and after a moment of feeling good, on I went.

I think it went well.  I was too focused on what I was singing/saying/doing to pay attention to much of anything else.  I sang all of the words and pitches.  I'm pretty sure I communicated the stories in both of my pieces-- that's all I could think about, so I think I did it.  But I was SO nervous.  I HAD to focus (probably a little too hard) in order to overcome them (even though I'm fairly certain my left leg had a seizure while I was singing...).  Here's to hoping they didn't notice! 

Anyway, I did it, it's over (all things I was telling myself as I left), and it wasn't horrible, so I went to catch the subway, meet my family and go to the Disney Store.  I had to fight against snow and wind in my face no matter which direction I was walking, but I eventually found my peeps, and then we ALL braved the wind and chill to visit the only antidote to Walt Disney World Withdrawals in the region.

That visit was a HUGE success.

Jessie the Yodelin' Cowgirl came home to live with me.  XD

After that we wandered around trying to find our subway station in such a way that we could avoid having our faces pelted with snow (Gah, I love the North...).  Eventually we did, and we trudged back to the car.

I think we got back to the house around 9:00-9:30-ish.  Kettle corn and macaroni and cheese for my dinner, then shortly after, sleeeeeeeep.

And now I feel like I should end THIS ridiculously long post and continue with Sunday and Monday's adventures tomorrow.  Geesh!  It takes me a long time to chronicle five days...

MI Mini-break Chronicled

Now that I've had the rest of this week to get back into AL life (only to start Spring Break, baha), I'll describe my time in the snowy North.  People seem to respond better to the goings-on of my life than my... inner monologue, I guess.  Ü

Wednesday night (3/2) after church and watching a dress rehearsal of Act I of Children of Eden, I went home, finished packing, and headed for my pal Lindsey's in B'ham around 11:00.  I got there and slept for about five hours before she was a doll and dropped me off at the airport at 5:45.  I checked my bag and TSA checked me for tick-tick-booms and after about fifteen minutes waiting at my gate, I boarded the first plane to Atlanta.  I had a relatively short layover there (but with enough time to eat some breakfast) and then took off for Grand Rapids.  I landed around 11:30, my aunt picked me up, and we went for the first of many scrumptious meals on this trip.  First stop, Schnitz Deli for HUGE sandwiches for lunch with my uncle.  The rest of the day was pretty laid back--running a few errands, hanging around the house, me getting settled, eating a homemade dinner.  After a little while, all of us met up with some long-time friends at a microbrewery, run by another long-time friend who used to tease me mercilessly as a small child, called Schmoz.   We sat around drinking rootbeer and beer, respectively, chit-chatting while my younger cousin, uncle, and I played Spoons--er, Pretzels. 

Pretty much a great day.

Friday, I woke up to no alarm, had a little breakfast, and my aunt and I went to exercise at their community center of choice.  They'd received a couple of free day passes when the family joined and let me use one so I didn't have to pay $7 to use the elliptical for 20 minutes.  Then we went home and got ready to do some more extensive visiting with old friends.  After getting my cousins to their Hub classes, we drove out to Saranac, MI to meet these old friends for lunch at Germaine's. 

Let me clue you in on a few things about Saranac. 

Saranac is where my grandparents raised my mom, aunt, and uncle. 
It's where I spent the first two years of my life (and subsequent Halloweens until we moved). 
It's a village. 
Yep, you read that right.  A village.  It used to have one caution light, but now it's just two 4-way STOP signs.  It's smaller than Montevallo.  No joke, if you blink, you'll miss it.  I love visiting there, but I thank God that my family moved to GR before I had to go to school. 

Lunch was great.  I got my usual (grilled cheese and fries), and I got to visit with some lovely ladies who have known me and mine longer than I have.  After that, my aunt dropped me off at the Starbucks that is now closest to where my old house is to meet up with my best friend from middle school and a little bit of high school.  We had a nice time getting caught up on life, and then she dropped me off back at my aunt & uncle's.  Friday night was another fairly relaxed evening, in preparation for our jaunt to Chicago the next day. 

Since this is already incredibly wordy/lengthy/take your pick, I'll leave off there and begin with Saturday's adventures tomorrow. 

♥

I heart The Bard

I went to see a staged reading of Love's Labour's Lost tonight with MolPage & my Civil Partner.  It was thoroughly enjoyable; talented players, people I like, and Shakespeare.  After much laughter and...innuendo (every so often Lawson and I would look at each other and he'd say, "Penis joke!"), I found a kindred spirit in the Princess (portrayed by the lovely SMC). 
 

Act V, sc. 2 (line 788)

PRINCESS
A time, methinks, too short
To make a world-without-end bargain in.
No, no, my lord, your grace is perjured much,
Full of dear guiltiness; and therefore this:
If for my love, as there is no such cause,
You will do aught, this shall you do for me:
Your oath I will not trust; but go with speed
To some forlorn and naked hermitage,
Remote from all the pleasures of the world;
There stay until the twelve celestial signs
Have brought about the annual reckoning.
If this austere insociable life
Change not your offer made in heat of blood;
If frosts and fasts, hard lodging and thin weeds
Nip not the gaudy blossoms of your love,
But that it bear this trial and last love;
Then, at the expiration of the year,
Come challenge me, challenge me by these deserts,
And, by this virgin palm now kissing thine
I will be thine; and till that instant shut
My woeful self up in a mourning house,
Raining the tears of lamentation
For the remembrance of my father's death.
If this thou do deny, let our hands part,
Neither entitled in the other's heart.

For one who seems so often to poke fun at people in love in his works, I think The Bard understood.
Maybe it was just for a moment, but when he penned this, by Jove...

He got it.

Random Wisdom

When someone sees you for who you really are, even for just a moment, even if it's not someone you expected, don't wish it had been somebody else. Just be glad that somebody actually saw. 

Kate + iPod + Madeleine L'Engle + Window Seat = In-Flight Philosopher

Written last night around 8:00 CDT.
(Much to the chagrin, I'm sure, of the gentleman sitting next to me who was trying to sleep.)

I don't get to fly often, and I fly at night even less.  So, when I do, it's a special treat. To quote another Redheaded Adventuress, whom I aspire to be like, flying at night leaves so much "scope for the imagination."  Flying during the daylight hours has its beauty to be sure--seeing the patchwork quilt of fields side by side or roads carved into the earth in methodical yet beautiful patterns--but flying at night...

If you're at just the right altitude with just enough cloud cover to fog the view below, the city lights peering through the mist look like stars, and if you squint ever so slightly, you can pretend you're flying upside down, even that that you're on a rocket cruising through space.  And the cities scattered in the distance are far-off galaxies.

When the clouds deny visibility below, I still have the Chesire Cat moon smiling at me.  

Or when the sky seems clear and free from the fog and you fly over a well-lit metropolis, it seems to shimmer--either from the electrical currents coursing through it, from the ever flowing traffic, or from the, more likely, cirrus clouds that sneak through the darkness and dim the lights in ripples--like the scales of silverfish.

Between visiting my Home Land, spending time in the only house from my childhood I can, and reading Madeleine L'Engle, I'm remembering what it is to be a child. 

I am ashamed to admit I had forgotten.

I'm still in the process of remembering, and as I ride out the little bit of turbulence on the plane, I hope I will do the same when I reach the ground again with more and more childlike grace.

Sweet home Alabama.  It feels better to be back than I thought it would.  I had to fight back tears a few times yesterday as I made my way.  I love where I grew up, and it hurts to leave.

I told an old friend that it was strange to be in Michigan again, and for such a long period of time.  It was like watching an old movie of someone else's life.  Since I graduated high school, there's been a greater disconnect from my life there and my life here.  There was so much I had forgotten, but as soon as I was back in the environment, there was so much I remembered.  All at once...

If I've been distant for the past few days, Alabama friends, that's why.  I wasn't just 800 miles away, I was ten, fifteen, twenty years away.  I wanted to absorb as much of it again as I could, and that required time and attention. 

I think it may have been harder, too, because this was the first time back after Mamaw passed.  On the plane ride there, I thought about planting flowers with her and my Papaw.  Gardening was such an important part of their lives until the past three or four years.  And when I was very small, I helped them.  I loved when it was time to plant the impatiens and the tulip bulbs... I continued to help them as I got older, but life starts pulling on you from all sides, and tending the garden is no longer a priority.


At this very moment, it is my fervent prayer that someday soon, it becomes one again.



I'll update with more specific details of my visit later, but for now, I needed to express the more nebulous emotional experience.

My Sweet Girl

"Sniffly, sneezy
coughy, wheezy
Allergeezy
That's what pollen does to meezy!"

For the first piece of pollen for the year.

By My Sweet Girl.

She's fun.  Ü

And toooooooooo right.

Michigan tomorrow. (SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!)
I love flying.  I love my family.  I love snow.  Lots of love. 

♥