Continual State of Becoming

Last night we had one of those moments I'll probably always remember. It was very simple. Right before we got Dylan ready for bed he was playing on the floor with this little drum toy that he loves, Matt was sitting in a chair playing guitar/harmonica, and I was nearly passed out on the couch singing along with Matt and keeping an eye on the baby. Everyone was happy and chill. Dylan was really interested in the harmonica whenever Matt played it.

It's October... not June or August. I dont want it to be 80-something degrees anymore. I don't want to have to use the air conditioning anymore. I don't want to have to fight off mosquitos, ants, and box elder beetles (the bugs all over our house) anymore. I want it to be cold. I'm much happier in cooler weather. We're planning on going to a farm sometime in the next week or so to get our Halloween pumpkins. I don't want to be wearing shorts while doing something Halloween-y. It's just not natural. I remember trick-or-treating when we lived in Colorado and it was snowing, when we were in New York I had to wear my jacket under my costume. That is how October should be.

http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/sarahpalin/a/palinisms.htm

All morning I was trying to think of a name. For some reason I was trying to remember the name of the American composer, who lived in CT, and used to be in the insurance business... then he did all this crazy composing stuff where he would have two marching bands walking towards each other, each playing different music.... what the heck was his name. It drove me nuts all day that I couldn't remember his name. Somehow I figured out that Charles sounded right, but I kept going back to Aaron Copland, which I knew wasn't right. Then a few minutes ago it just hit me... Charles Ives. Ahhhh, i feel so much better now. Of course I have no idea why I was trying to remember his name in the first place. Oh well.

Okay, so haven't really decorated for Halloween. But the outside of my house sure is scary looking right now. I got home from Mom's group today and to my shock there were all these beetles ALL over the front of the house. Like thousands of them. I counted how many were on a window and it was well over 100. Fortunately they aren't on the side or back of the house, but still, it's so creepy. I called Orkin right away, and they can't come out until MONDAY. And I had to bitch at them to get them here that soon (they originally tried giving me next thursday). I'm really hoping by then they'll be gone. But I really hope they don't get into the house some how before then. Of course since I live in a townhouse the bugs are all over the neighbors' houses too, but ours and the other end unit seem to be the worst. I called my piano student to tell them they'd be better off coming in through the back door, but they weren't home so I'm not ...

Today I went to the movies with Matt and my sister, Sarah. We saw Bill Maher's new comedy/documentary Religulous . I thought it was worth seeing. Maher definitely raises some of the same issues/doubts/concerns that I have, and I never got satisfying answers for it either. At the end of the movie he says something along the lines of how certainty in religion can be dangerous, and having doubt makes you humble. I wish I had the exact quote, because I thought it was great. I'd say the movie was funny (it was, I laughed out loud frequently), but at the end the humor morphed into something more serious, and then it was a little scary. The best part was when I bought the tickets. I got carded. I mean, it's a rated R movie, so you have to be 18, but come on, really? I don't look 18?? When the guy saw my ID he was like "oh, oops... you must get carded a lot." Which is pretty true. Except I bought a bottle of wine at Giant last week and for the first time...

http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/listoftheday/97053/25-piano-men-and-women Interesting article, that considering my background, I feel obligated to post. I will agree with what the writer says before he starts listing people... Thelonius Monk should be at the top, but this list just doesn't include jazz pianists, or classical for that matter. Also glad that Billy Joel isn't in the top 10... because he irritates the crap out of me ever since he insulted people who study music, and then immediately stated that he couldn't play the music from his classical album because he's not classically trained (maybe if he had studied music that wouldnt' have been an issue for him.) I admit that I'm not familiar with some of the people on the list, but I'm a Ben Folds fan, mostly because I think he's amazing on the piano. I wish I could play like that. He always sounds like he's having fun without trying. I mean, I have fun, but it definitely doesn't sound...

Ugh, just watched Sarah Palin look like an idiot for 1.5 hours. Then the commentators all RAVED about her debate skills. Ummmm, is it just me? Maybe I'm not as smart as I thought I was... but, did she actually SAY anything? I mean I know she was talking (no matter how hard I tried to block her voice), but everything she said made me think that she was answering a question at a beauty pageant. Lots of big words, smiles, but nothing of substance. It was like watching a magician... you don't notice the trick because of the misdirection. Only in the debate the misdirection was her cutesy "normal people talk" and the trick was that people fell for it. grr. It did look like she was going to pee her pants when the moderator kept asking her questions about her position on gay marriage, that was kinda entertaining. I'm just disappointed that more people didn't call her out afterwards. Oh well.

Today was a rough day. I think I may need to give my Mommy Group a break. The timing just kills Dylan. He pretty much missed all of his naps, skipped a feeding, and was plain MISERABLE by about 3:00. I kept trying to get him to take a nap when we got home, but he just would not have it. Then I started to get cranky myself, so we had to put in a call to Daddy and have him come home early. There's no way I would have made it through my piano lesson with Dylan in the mood he was in. This makes the 3rd week in a row that we've had a really rough Thursday. I keep trying to tell myself that one day of a miserable baby is worth the opportunity for adult interaction for myself, but it's starting to make me miserable as well, so I think we may skip for a while and see if he does better. After I called matt though I took him on a 45 min walk to cool down (and luckily got back in time to prep for my lesson before my student got here), and then Dylan was a lot happier. Matt ...