Barb’s Burblings

I was there on April 4, when the Orioles began their season. It was really good for a couple months. I was there last night, as they packed it in before the final series of the season, in Tampa Bay. It was really bad for a couple months.
Last night was really the ideal kind of game for the situation. I wasn’t really rooting for the Orioles to win, but I didn’t want them to lose. The Yankees needed to win to keep their 1 game lead over Boston, so I wanted the Yankees to win. But I hate seeing the O’s lose. It worked out well. New York scored a lot early in the game, so I could whole-heartedly cheer for the Orioles to come back. It didn’t work; the O’s lost 8-4. And it was sad without Brian playing (who, by the way, won Oriole of the Year for 2005).
It’s hard being an O’s fan. We all hate Angelos. A lot of people say that fans should boycott, but that doesn’t sit well with me. I don’t support Angelos, but I support the guys–Brian and Miggy and Javy and Melvin and the rest. (Well, except Kline, because he sucks.) (And Julio.) (OK, there might be a few more.) The thought of them play to these tiny crowds makes me sad. So, come April 3, when the O’s open the season against the Devil Rays, I’ll try to be there.
Of course I’ll follow the playoffs and such, but the baseball season is over. Right now I’m bucking myself up by reading The Boys of Summer. And with any luck (ha!), maybe there’ll be some interesting developments during the offseason. But…I’m not holding my breath.
Current song in my head:
“Iko Iko” by Zap Mama

The dealership that I got my Prius continues to be sweet. The other day I got a nice card:

Happy anniversary! You and your Toyota Prius have been together for a year now and we want you to enjoy it for a long time to come!

Awww.
Of course, the same day, I got this letter:

Dear Barbara,
As I understand it, your birth date is 11/4/1978, which means that you have a birthday coming up pretty soon…Happy Birthday!
This might be a great time to buy a new life insurance policy.

I was cool with the first paragraph. I’ll accept birthday wishes from anyone, even over a month in advance. But…no. I already have life insurance, which I get billed for on my birthday every year (Happy birthday!). I actually have two policies. But, nice try. Nothing like sales pitches with heart.

HOSC was pretty quiet yesterday, which was nice, because it gave me time to chat with the visitors and the other people working. There was a nice older couple from Australia who were on an extended tour of the United States; they had been here for 5 weeks or so already, and had another 2 to go. Their trip was supposed to culminate at a Sweet Adelines conference…in New Orleans. Whoops. So it quickly was moved…to Detroit. Ouch. Nothing against Detroit, but…dang. I did tell them that the Detroit airport is lovely, with its monorail-esque transportation. That’s my entire firsthard experience with Detroit. So they have that to look forward to. Lucky, lucky them.
I am jealous of the extensive trip. I’d love to tour around Australia for a bit, myself.

So when I was looking to see whether Brian Stokes Mitchell had released a solo album, I saw that he was on a recording of Kiss of the Spider Woman. “Huh,” I thought. “I wonder if he’s on the version I have.” This was harder to ascertain than it should’ve been, because my version is a tape of a friend’s copy (i.e., no cast listing). So I had to listen to clips on Amazon.com and pretty quickly realized that yep, I had the version with him on it. It’s kind of bizarre that I hadn’t noticed it before (though admittedly, I hadn’t listened to it in ages). Mostly because there’s a point in Ragtime and a point in Kiss that his character yells out an anguished “Nooo!” after someone’s death. Same scream. And much better than Anakin’s in Revenge of the Sith. Anyway, I was happy. The more Stokes, the better!

This week has just totally thrown me off. Monday I tutored like normal, but then I had to go to Germantown to meet with the Tutoring Goddess. Then I wound up coming home and working until 12:30 on the Stupid Book That I Hate But Thank God I’m Almost Done With Now. Tuesday I had my book club, which just totally threw me off. Normally I have book club on Thursday, so that just led to confusion. Which wasn’t helped by the fact that I worked from home on Wednesday, and then started tap again, which I haven’t done since…May? June? May, I think. And tonight I started with a new tutoring student. I’m just totally discombobulated. Then on Sunday I have HOSC, which I haven’t done since July. And I should go to the grocery store, as I have practically no food. Ah well.
Argh! No! The commercial that my coworker is in is on tv right now!
Current song in my head:
“Elevation” by U2

Roberts suffers dislocated elbow
He’s undoubtedly out for the season. As you can imagine, I am not pleased. Luckily I was at book club when this happened, so didn’t watch it happen. By the time I turned the game on, they knew he had dislocated the elbow; here’s hoping the ligaments are OK. Poor boy.
OK, now I will try to focus on the “positives”:
1. The season has less than two weeks left, so he isn’t going to miss a LOT of time
2. He’s going out with a .314 average, which isn’t too shabby
3. He went out on a high note, with a 2 RBI triple
4. …
I can’t think of anything else. Oh, Brian.

After the game, the players were not focused on the defeat, but rather on losing a teammate. Third baseman Melvin Mora, whose locker is next to Roberts’, was saddened.
“I don’t know what to say about that situation, especially losing one of the best leadoff hitters in baseball; it’s tough,” Mora said. “There’s a lot going on this year, and this is a big one. You lose Brian Roberts — it’s like losing half the team.”
Roberts finished the season with a .314 batting average, 18 homers and 73 RBIs — all career highs — as he established himself as one of the league’s top second basemen.

My alarm went off this morning and I already felt overwhelmed, and nothing that’s happened since has really helped to alleviate that feeling. This stupid book still sucks and is just getting more confusing (33 figures in one chapter? sure!) and it needs to be done, so guess what I’ll be doing tonight? Oh, besides tutoring, then meeting to prep for another student (a student, I might add, I wasn’t given a choice in taking on; I was basically just told that I’d have him–more money is good, but I’d appreciate a say in the matter, and I don’t particularly like having to tutor two nights a week plus Saturday). Not that I wanted to watch Arrested Development or anything, thanks. And since Goddess of the Tutoring is totally booked tomorrow and Wednesday, I have no choice. Ugh. And tomorrow I have book club and Wednesday I have tap. Both of those are things I enjoy but when the stress level is already really high…I don’t want to deal with it. Or anything. I want to hide in bed. And the coworker who was featured in a local commercial (one of those “people on the street” ones) and has since wandered around the hallways singing that company’s theme isn’t helping. It might be the week of the mental health day.
I know this sucked gramatically, but I don’t care right now. So nyah!

OK, Brian Stokes Mitchell needs to come live in my apartment so he can sing for me whenever I want him to. He was, quite simply, phenomenal. Good Lord. His voice. Sooo good. He closed with “Impossible Dream,” which I’d seen him perform before. (Still awesome.) But seeing him sing “Wheels of a Dream”? “This Nearly Was Mine”? Dreamy. And he seemed pretty tall. And he kissed the hand of the orchestra’s first violin. *swoon* The man needs to put out an album.
In other news, I was quite pleased with myself after yesterday’s company picnic. I played volleyball with some other people and found that my serve is still quite consistent. I never was able to serve overhand, but whenever the coach absolutely had to have the ball go over the net, he called on me. A bunch of us who played yesterday had played in high school or whatnot and we all found ourselves having flashbacks and hearing our coaches yell at us. A good time. Except that since it was hot and muggy and I was exerting myself, I immediately turned bright red. I hate that.
Anyway, this weekend: Homecoming! Whee! And work. Which, not quite “whee.” Oh well.
Current song in my head:
“This Nearly Was Mine” from South Pacific

Q. What is George Bush’s position on Roe vs. Wade?
A. He really doesn’t care how people get out of New Orleans.

You know what you don’t want to read after a bunch of days of being really stressed about your job? An article about how the retirement age is going up. You know, the article with the subhed “Why retirement might be further off than you think.” Thank you, Washington Post Magazine. Like I wasn’t cranky and depressed enough as it is.