Month: November 2022

Opera

It’s just so dramatic… Of course they both died at the end, to be forever in their love through death, as they sacrificed themselves to save her husband, whom she never really liked or loved, but who was going to die rather than reveal her secret to the world.

And of course the show used real fire for the bonfire-beacon on the stage and threw real massive buckets of water onto the stage to show the tide crashing into the cave where the two lovers were now ball-and-chained to die by drowning with the tide rising. Very cool effect from each.

And of course we both snoozed for st least part of the show – how can one not with such lulling music in a dark space with a cozy chair, holding the hand of one one loves?

I just love opera.

Post-a-day 2022

Sometimes…

Sometimes, life just feels really sucky.

And that’s completely okay. Truly, it is. Just allow it to be exactly as it is, and embrace it for itself. Treat it exactly the same as moments of awesomeness and joy, and they are all merely sort of life and can teach us something at every step… even when they suck.

You can do this, Banana… truly, you can.

Post-a-day 2022

Brain stuff

Do you ever get to the end of a day, just before bed, and go to think back on how the day went and all, but you can’t recall what you actually did that day? Sure, you remember the most recent stuff. But the whole first half is definitely a total blank, as well as half of the later stuff.

This seems to happen to me often. As with all the other times, I have to go in reverse for my day – start with the most recent thing, and move backwards from there. Then, eventually, I get to how it all started. But, boy, does it feel silly! And it takes actual focus on remembering things step-by-step in reverse. I can’t just ask my brain, “Hey, what did we do today?” It has no clue. It tells me to do the filing work and figure it all out…

Of course, now I can remember what I did today – it was a lot and it was great. But it took real effort just now to get there, and I still don’t have all of it (I know this, because little pieces still keep popping up into my mind, and I realize that I’d left that out so far…). Nuts, right??

Anyway, that’s how my brain works. That’s why I like having social media as my personal photo album – the photos remind me of the awesome things I’ve done and places I’ve been. Nuts, but that’s how it is, you know?

Post-a-day 2022

I want to ride my bicycle

I want to ride my biiiike.

The ride was a success this morning, despite my bike’s falling (I stayed on my feet, through the fall, though), my mom not even noticing and thereby leaving us behind for 2/3 of the first half, my man fooling around with tricks and other stress-inducing and higher-risk activities rather constantly, and the path being terribly marked (only mile markers 1-5, 12, and 13 were up… marking the kilometers…, and there was almost no signage at all on the way back, leaving loads of people to have to double back and find the way on sorts that varied from the way out…, and the police crossing-guards all disappeared, too). Also, it was cold almost the entire time(!!!). That was a surprise. I purposely didn’t bring the extra layers beyond a long-sleeve and a short rain jacket this time because of the forecasted temperature elevation shortly after we were starting the ride. But it worked out okay by the end, with a little bit of sun shining beautifully for the after-party.

Of course, I had to rush to an outdoor training thing up north afterward, and we ended up standing in the shade for hours, despite the whole rest of the place being in blazing sunlight (which is why I’d left all seaters and jackets in the car, yet again). So, I never fully warmed up all day. And that’s probably why I just took an absurdly hot and long shower… it was over 82° in the bathroom when I finished showering, and it felt great. (Remember that I typically prefer cooler temperatures. I just also want to be dressed appropriately for those temperatures, and I wasn’t today.)

Anyway, good day, all in all. I love my man. I love God. I love my mom. I love my life. I love today. Thank you, God. Amen.

P.S. He swears he’s watching the baseball game right now…, but that absurdly loud snoring coming from the curled up man on the sofa begs to differ. 😂

P.P.S. I woke him up for the ninth inning, because I knew he’d want to witness that live. Certainly glad I did! Congratulations, gentlemen. Well played.

Post-a-day 2022

I can ride my bike

… with handlebars, thank you very much.

And, tomorrow, I shall. It will be the Houston Park-to-Port bicycle ride from a main park in the city, Hermann Park, to the Port of Houston. It will be a great event, and I am stoked to be doing it both with my mom, again, and my man, for the first time. Yay!

Thank you, God. Please, keep us safe and able all throughout tomorrow. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2022

Distractions? Oder Directions?

*oder – (German) or

These beautiful and wonderful things keep coming up. I am grateful for each and every one of them. However, they have rather kept me from pursuing the main goal I had to pursue, now that my teaching position has ended: coding. I had set myself up for this path toward coding, and the main resource has been delayed, and I haven’t reached out yet to the secondary resource, because I’ve been so busy managing the tutoring that’s come up, along with the part-time job work and the other part-time job work and the tidying and catching up on things at home…

Have these things been coming up because they are distractions, requiring me to prove my dedication and desire to pursue this goal of coding right now? Or are they actually directions from God and the Universe, answering my prayers for clear guidance, showing me that diving fully into the coding is not what they need me to do right now?

God, help me to follow your will fully. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2022

Stepping out

Sometimes, it’s really hard for me to go out, to go to new places or just typical could-be-dirty-type places. Sometimes, it’s not very big of a deal. Tonight, I was excited about the idea of going to one place – a clean place in my mind. Then, the excitement transferred to a new idea of watching the baseball game somewhere nearby over drinks, instead of and after the meeting with drinks farther away. As we got into details of where this other place would be, I started to struggle a bit. It became something that I wanted to do for my man, much more so than for myself or for us to have fun. I found pleasure in the idea mostly out of his desire to go out and do something, to be somewhere that isn’t home, doing something relaxing and enjoyable.

So, I asked my brother if he and his wife were interested, and they almost immediately joined the plan. I made it clear that finding a place was on them, though without being rude or mean. My man recommended two spots, and my brother picked one. Once my man finished with his meeting across town, we headed to join my brother and sister-in-law at the selected patio bar place. I was only a little scared about it all, and it proved to be very reasonable a place, with clean amenities, even at night (I’d been there once during the day already). I enjoyed my time there with my family, and I’m glad we went. Hopefully, my man and my brother both got the relaxation and bit of fun and variation they likely both were needing tonight, my man especially.

God, grant them both blessed refreshing sleep tonight, please, that they be best prepared to pursue and fulfill your will in their lives tomorrow. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2022

Pretty Woman

We saw, again, La Traviata at the opera tonight. It was done well, of course. The music was spectacular. Supposedly, when it first released, Verdi said, when the opera was rather a flop, ‘It was either my opera or the singers – only time will tell.’ It is now one of the most renowned and loved operas of all time. Time told.

It is also part of Día de Muertos today – today is All Saints’ Day and tomorrow is All Souls’ Day. My mom and I wore our respective Día de Muertos skirts. And, last-minute, she used spare fabric from when she made my skirt a few years ago, and she made a bow tie for my lovely man to wear to the opera with us tonight. He wore blue pants that went quite well with the mixed coloring of the calaveras on the fabric, and he looked stunning.

He also fell asleep off and on for most of the show, but neither of us holds that against him. For one thing, opera music can be so lulling and soothing, relaxing – it’s not that hard to fall asleep in a dark, cool theatre with opera music playing, as she and I have definitely had our fair share of it ourselves. For another, he was exhausted going into it. Even still, he enjoyed it all with us, naps included. (Opera naps really are quite satisfying, somehow. I think it is due to the wonderful music that is still stimulating the ears and brain while the body rests.)

Post-a-day 2022

Happy Halloween

And now, we step into the true holidays of the season: All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, also known more popularly as Día de Muertos (a misleading singular name for a two-day celebration/event).

May we all take the time to appreciate specifically the roles the lives of those who have already passed have played to affect our own lives positively. Amen.

Post-a-day 2022