Barb's Burblings

Spring hibernation

Today was one of those days that begged people to go outside and do something. So naturally I...didn't. Hey, I went and played outside last Sunday, which was also gorgeous. And what did that get me? A crappy Monday. So I hid out today. I went outside a few times--to get the newspaper and to go to the laundry room. It was lovely, I admit. I did consider going to a batting cage, which I've been meaning to do for a while. But then decided against it. Maybe some other time.

There's a really nice walking path not far from my apartment that I probably should've explored, but it's hard to get motivated to do that. My iPod is broken, and it's not like I had anyone to wander with. Maybe someday I'll get down there.

But honestly, I had a perfectly nice day in my apartment. And I finally cleaned my bathroom! Yes, my life is just nonstop excitement.

New and different things are scary

For at least the past few years, I've been meaning to get involved with theater again. It's how I made friends when I lived in Montana, and I've always had a blast doing it. Auditioning for something is on my 101 in 1001 list. And after tapping in the Cherry Blossom Parade, I realized that I missed performing.

And yet...every time something pops up, I wuss out. Like, there are auditions coming up next week for a show. And I'm kind of paralyzed at the thought. I can't imagine that the audition could go worse than when I auditioned for shows in high school. There I had to face the people on a daily basis! And really, even doing backstage stuff would be cool.

But I'm freaking out at the thought of it. It's been 10 years (!) since I've done theater. And I really do fear the unknown. New situation! Scary! I'm such a wimp.

So much for fiscal responsibility

Apparently the world didn't like that I had a perfectly lovely weekend. I was feeling a bit down on Saturday, but then I went to the Orioles game. It was a beautiful day, and I had a lovely chat with the guy who sold me a scorecard. Then I watched batting practice, and Freddy Bynum gave me a ball (Yay!) and I had a nice conversation with a father and son who were in from Pittsburgh from the weekend. The game itself went great, even if Brian wasn't playing. On Sunday, Brent, Katie, and I went to Antietam for the day. Gorgeous day, and perfect for driving around and visiting a battlefield. I got the work done I had to do, and all was right with the world.

Then came yesterday. I dropped off my car for its 30,000-mile maintenance. I went in to work, where I spent most of the day in a meeting with my department's board of directors. The meeting itself actually was OK; I think I made a good impression. Anyway, at lunch I talked to the mechanic and it turned out that everything was wrong with my car--tires, fuel injectors, air conditioning. I cried when he told me the total. (And there's still fallout from my October 2005 crash! At least that should be covered by insurance.) And then my body decided to rebel. First it was just a headache. Then my stomach. I wound up going home and curling into the fetal position. And stayed there pretty much all day today.

I'm in a better state at the moment, though I'm still not feeling great. I'm just accepting that hey, I had to spend a bunch of money that I really didn't want to. At least the world is trying to make it up to me a bit. My boyfriend Will Gartshore, who played John Wilkes Booth in Assassins, won the Helen Hayes Award for it. Yay! And this gives me an excuse to post this picture, which I love:

Hee! Booth with KFC!

Also, Butterstick will be staying at the National Zoo until 2009. And Brian hit his first home run of the season yesterday. So, that's all good. Blah blah silver lining blah.

Bob

When I was in high school, I was in a production of Mame. This led to discussions about the names of plantations, and I declared that I would name my plantation Bob. And instead of a name like, "Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside," I would also name a son "Bob." I've been fond of the name ever since.

So naturally I was thrilled to learn about a town in Colorado that voted to name a bridge "Bob." Too cool!

From the Desk of Barb

Dear Orioles Bullpen,

I just wanted to dash off a quick note to say that overall, I've been pretty pleased with you. For the $42 million the team spent on you during the offseason, you're doing a fairly good job. Except for the grand slams you keep giving up. Please stop doing that.

Kisses,
Barb

On classical music and drones

There was an interesting article in yesterday's Post Magazine. The premise involved an absolute top-notch violinist playing at a Metro station. What would happen?

I'm sure I would've walked right by, though I probably would've at least looked at him. I also probably would've thought that it sounded really nice, and was a nice way to start the morning; I certainly had days like that at Farragut North, in reaction to performers there. I'm not familiar with the L'Enfant Plaza Metro station, but Weingarten mentioned that the escalator was long enough that people had a while to listen to it. So I'm not necessarily sure that just because people walked by without stopping to listen means that they're drones.

After watching the video clips, nope, I wouldn't have stopped. I listened, and it sounded good. Quite good, but it wouldn't have made me stop. And I had gotten the feeling from the article that people barely even noticed Bell, which wasn't the case--most people at least glanced at him, it seems.

I assumed that the results would be what they were--there was pretty much no suspense about that for me.

Honestly, the times I've given money to street performers, it's usually because they're playing Beatles songs--and playing them well.

One comment that in the chat about this article really struck a chord (ha!) for me is this, from someone who walked by:

It doesn't bother me that I missed this little bit of beauty. There is beauty everywhere if you know where to look. The most beautiful thing I had seen all day, even if I had noticed Bell playing, was the smiling face of my husband when I came home earlier than expected.

I think that's it. I like classical music, but that's about as far as it goes. It sounds nice, and I can listen to it at work for pleasing background noise. I probably would've walked by Bell, and after reading that and reading some of the reactions, I almost feel pressured to learn more about classical music. But I really don't have any inclination to. I can appreciate other things. And even after watching those clips, I'm not like, "Yes, he is a genius!"

Seriously, this article has made me oddly defensive, even though I realize it isn't really about the ability to appreciate classical music--it's about art in general. I think it's because I think of myself as cultured--even though I know that for me, "culture" means enjoying musical theater and history museums. But because I don't appreciate classical music the way I "should" (ditto a lot of art), I feel like I'm being negatively judged. Like someone's saying, "You think you're cultured, but you're not!"

And I'll shut up now.

I can get some (job) satisfaction

The one big downside to my new job is that I no longer have an office--I'm back in cubeville. Almost everyone has a cube, unlike the last time I worked in a cube, when there were only two of us in cubs. My new job has much more of an "open" layout. Which means that I can hear a lot of people talking a lot of the time.

On the positive side, my boss is pretty flexible, and I noticed that a lot of people had headphones. The other night I went out and bought a nice set and holy crow, has it made a difference! I put on some classical music (or something with words, if I don't have to concentrate too hard on what I'm doing) and it's like I'm in my own world. I love it.

I still don't love that people just walk in and come right up to me without knocking, but...oh well.

Bow before me!

Apparently the key to me winning sports-related Internet competitions is to only participate when I know nothing about the sport. I mean, two straight years I've totally crapped out in my fantasy baseball leagues. (And no, I don't have a team this season, so you can breathe a sigh of relief that you won't have to deal with those entries.) And then I randomly decided to participate in an online board's March Madness tournament. And I totally won! WOO! I rule! So I'd like to thank the University of Florida, and all my teams for giving me boatloads of points in the early rounds--especially VCU for taking out Duke. I got 42 out of 63 correct.

Yessss. I am SO proud of myself. It's sad, really.

Welcome back

It's a beautiful day, and not just because of the sunny skies and temperatures in the upper 70s. It could be rainy and 50 (...like yesterday) and I'd still have the spring in my step that I have today. Why? Because it's Opening Day, baby. I love Opening Day. How can you not? Everyone has a clean slate. I love the early days, when people have batting averages like .750 and ERAs are crazy.

I love the return of baseball. For six months, it's there. At night, there's pretty much always a game on. Even if your game is tanking, it's interesting see the other teams, the superstars. There's almost always some interesting play in a game, a player with a story to tell. It distracts you from your life, gives you other people to focus on--an escape. There's something comforting about the rhythm of it.

It's sad that the Orioles are opening on the road this year, for the first time since 1995. When I head to Camden Yards on Monday, they'll have six games under their belts. Who knows what will happen during that time. Ramon Hernandez is already day-to-day. Hopefully the next surprise will be more pleasant.

There's more to write, a couple of articles for me to discuss. But now...now the Orioles and the Twins are about to take the field. And I could not be happier. The season starts now.

Another Prius bonus!

I got a notice in the mail a while ago that I need to take my car in for an emissions inspection. Which, trust me, is as fun as it sounds. So yesterday I brought my car in to one of the stations. The lines actually weren't too bad (except the line for big SUVs, which was pretty long); I had maybe a couple of cars in front of me. Then one of the guys working there came up to my car and asked if it was a hybrid. I said that it was, and he said that I should back my car out of the line and go into the front office. So I backed out of the line, went into the office, and...found out that I was exempt from inspection. The guy was all, "But the exemption expires in 2009." Who cares? I'm good now! Whee! I didn't even have to pay the $14! It was awesome.

Not quite as awesome and going back outside, getting in my car, and jauntily driving away as everyone in line watched. Heh.