Oklahoma Revised

Mom and I went to Arena Stage yesterday and saw Oklahoma. It was really great. The singing and dancing were wonderful.

The new building they've built to house the "Arena" is wonderful, also. It contains 3stages and is quite spaceous. I do think it was a mistake not to provide more packing, because I don't think there is a garage nearby. But, then again, what do I know about parking?

The stage we were in was "in-the-round". This was wonderful, because it brought all the action in close, which meant the entire audience had great seats. Also, because of this, the whole play seemed quite intimate - unusual for a musical. Dance choreography for theater in the round must be a bitch, but it worked out fantastic.

I worked in the round twice at UVa, in the workshop stage called the "Black Box". In both plays my costume was men's long white underwear!

Have you got a light?

Last night was Spanish class, and Ivar says that he's giving us a test next Thursday night.(Ay, carrumba!) Although it really makes no difference, since I'm only taking the class for my own benefit. Perhaps it will be a good self evaluation, though. It will be a good motivator to keep me studying this week. And it IS a motivator 1) I don't want to look stupid, and (2) There is one other student in the class. I'm quite competitive, to put it mildly. (Lloyd says he'll never, ever play Parcheesi with me again!) I HAVE to score as well as she does!!

I know I've said this before, but I'll repeat it only because its truth keeps being demonstrated over and over. The Latinos who work here love it that I'm taking Spanish. They seem to enjoy helping me, and laugh at my feeble attempts in great fun. It just builds camaraderie among us, I guess, which is a great help in what is often tense relationship.

The same idea sort of worked the other day with Amharic. I had an Ethiopian caregiver the other day, and Sue (sister Sue) and I used to be good friends with a group of Ethiopian guys . I said "good morning" to her in Amharic, which amazed her, and "lets drink beer now", the only other phrase I know, which amused her.

Besides using Spanish as a tool to enhance relationships, the other thing I enjoyed about the class last night was the trip back and and forth. That may seem strange, but the bus going both directions went through residential neighborhoods, taking a different route going than the one used to come back. It was after dark, and it is almost Christmas, so there were lots of pretty Christmas lights out on the houses.

In the past, David and Ron and Sue2 and I always took a night to drive around and look at the pretty lights in the neighborhoods. I'll never forget that one year. when it was real cold outside, we drove around for a long time with David and me in the front seat and Ron and Sue in the back. David and I kept "oohing" and "awwing", but the other two never said anything. Finally they said, "We can't see anything!" and we looked back and found that, despite their frantic wiping, Sue's and Ron's windows were entirely covered in fog and they couldn't see anything at all. This is probably an example of why Susan has taken to calling herself "Susanella".

Christmas trees yet again

The biggest problem with living in an apartment and having a live Christmas tree is, "What do I do with the tree when Christmas is over?" Generally, we de-decorated (undecorated?) it on New Years day, but then we had a big empty pine tree carcass and we didn't know what to do with it. So we put it on the balcony and ignored it.

One year, when it was still on the balcony in February, David jokingly suggested that we throw it off the balcony to the balcony below. "We can't do that," I replied in mock horror. "That little lady who hosts the Bible study group lives downstairs!"

Susan Craft was there, and said, "No problem. Set it on fire first. They'll just think it's the burning bush!"

Ha, ha!

The situation led me to write the following Christmas carol for our homemade Christmas card. The carol is sung to the tune of "O Christmas Tree".

Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree,
Your branches green delight us.
Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree,
Your branches green delight us.
If only you just wouldn't stay
Out on the balcony 'til May.
Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree,
Your branches green delight us.

Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree,
In March you are a problem.
Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree,
In March you are a problem.
So David says, "Why don't you throw
It to the balcony below?"
Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree,
In March you are a problem.

Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree,
By April you're a danger.
Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree,
By April you're a danger.
"Set it ablaze,* says Susan Craft,
"And soon there will be nothing left."
Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree,
By April you're a danger.

Oh Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
By May we want our balcony.
Oh Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
By May we want our balcony.
So Susan shoves you in a bag
Which to the trash room she then drags,
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
That really was quite easy.


The good news is that we happened to think of actually throwing it away before we resorted to trying one of my more brilliant ideas, which was to cut each branch into tiny pieces and grind it in the garbage disposal. Had we done that, I'd probably still be grinding.

...Your branches green delight up...

The little 2' Christmas tree I bought yesterday actually works out fine in this room. It fits right next to the door and it's something live and Christmasy and green. I think I'll buy some evergreen odor spray or candle or something, to further the tree illusion.

Sue and I have always had a Christmas tree, thanks to David and, later, David and Ron. For a long time I insisted on a live tree, so we made an annual pilgrimage to a Christmas tree lot. We finally found a lot where the salesman cut the bottom off the tree without a hassle, tied the tree up sufficiently, and packed it nicely in the car.

Then we'd get the tree home and face quite a dicey situation as we tried to get the tree in the tree stand. I say "we", but of course I didn't really have a damned thing to do with it. Except for offering multiple unwanted (but brilliant) suggestions, I was no help whatsoever. I wasn't even noticeably disabled way back then in the mid '80s - just useless and opinionated, with an incredibly indulgent and patient best friend.

(pause)

ANYWAY - we'd decorate it, and it was always beautiful and smelled fantastic and Sue and I really enjoyed it all season.

O Christmas Tree

Today I went to the annual Falls Church Christmas Craft Fair they have at the Community Center. All these vendors come in and sell "homemade?" Christmas Crafts. This year they also had the High School Glee Club sing Carols, which was a nice touch.

Back in the "Good Old Days", David's church choir Christmas party, both at Dulin and at CTS, was always the day after this sale. We'd both have to bring a Christmas ornament as a gift for this "gift exchange" game the choirs played the next day, so I always bought us both things that I thought were unique and folksy at this sale. Many of the other choir members, though, brought in classy expensive pieces. David always thought our gifts were fine, I guess.

One year, at Dulin, this real strange, social misfit, who mumbles to himself and wears the same clothes for weeks without end, was in the choir. He once brought a large ceramic owl for his ornament. David said this guy was actually brilliant, and had an important, powerful government job. The Dulin bell choir used to go out in the Christmas season, and play at places like Ballston Mall, and this guy had a small entourage of people from his job that would come wherever we were to hear him play.

Today I didn't need ornaments, but a little 2' tree that has lights on itg and is pre-decorated. It adds a bit of festivity to this dreary room.

Amigos

Taking Spanish is a really cool way to get to know people! I was working on my home work real early this morning and heard the vacuume in the hall, and knew that the woman who vacuumes is a native Spanish speaker. I asked her for help with my homework, and she was real glad to give it, and loves it that I'm taking Spanish. She even vacuumed my room a day ahead of schedule!

Then, on the Metro Access bus, the driver was a fellow I have quite often. He's from Argentina, and was an English teacher to Spanish speaking kids, so he drilled me on vocbulary and phrases all the way home. At least he says he was a teacher. Come to think of it, he also once told me that, as a teen, he was riding a horse bareback real fast across the Argentine grasslands, and he fell off and broke his back in several places, and it was two days before his family found him laying in the field.

True? What do you think? He looked really sad as he told me...

homework

Worked on my Spanish homework all day today, and I STILL didn't finish it. (Of course, it was a week and a half's worth of home work, andd I tried to do it all in one day!) My personal history with doing homework isn't exactly the best.... Sister Sue laughed like a hyena when she found out I was actually paying for and taking a class I didn't need. As a matter of fact, no one was more surprised than I was when, at the end of my college graduation ceremony, they actually had a diploma for me. I wonder what I ended up majoring in??