Alas, tomorrow, I will be back to judging young individuals on their fitness to be part of a very specific group. We shall see how things go this time ’round. Hopefully, it will go beautifully and smoothly, and we will find some outstanding folks to be part of it all and to bring some wonderful things to the table.
Helping make the world a better place over here, on an individual and global scale! Woohoo! Thank you, God and Universe, for this all. May we continue on such paths with my being your love in the world. In your name, I pray. Amen.
P.S. I can hardly contain my excitement about this soccer game Friday. I even have a tam shirt now to wear, and I am delighted! Ahh! ❤
Man, I Really miss dancing. I miss the experience of simultaneously expressing myself to music while working with another, and of feeling undeniably beautiful and sexy, womanly… Dancing is awesome, and I miss it! And, especially now that I am so wonderfully fit – and that I am no longer afraid to be a woman, to be powerful, to be desirable and sexy, to be noticed and seen – I want to find my new self-expression in dance.
Man… (The idea of this all came up tonight, because one of, I dare say, the world’s top partner dancers is a sort of buddy of mine, and he reached out this weekend to check in with me. We only just talked tonight, and only for a bit, but it was a fun blast from the dance world, though neither of us has been part of it since the first shutdown in early 2020. I would love to dance with him… As it happens, dancing with him always had me feeling my sexiest, he so beautifully honors his partner whenever dancing. Even when I felt un-womanly and not beautiful in general, I felt womanly and beautiful and desirable and wanted whenever dancing with him. [And no, not in a creeper or weird way. Just to be clear here…] I wonder how it would be now, dancing with him, now that I already do feel beautiful and woman and sexy and desirable as a whole…)
I went to the gym for the early Saturday workout today at 7:30. Then I went to meet my mom and a friend to help remove and dispose of the Christmas wreaths that had decorated all the graves at the Houston National Cemetery for US Veterans. It was really neat, and there were loads of people there to help. (I even got to see the spots for an old family friend and my current housemate’s/host’s grandfather.)
Then I had food and goofed around with the baby for a while before finally showering and taking a needed nap before tonight. Then I went to our rodeo committee’s social, collected some tasty barbecue that I’ll eat tomorrow, danced with a friend to live Kevin Fowler music, and then rushed into downtown to attend another live concert – but this one was unknown to me until this morning: Elton John.
There is so much I could say about this man, this master of his art, but I will keep it short here: I grew up with this man already being a legend to me. He was unreachable status, and I never even considered one day attending a concert of his – it just wasn’t going to happen, so my brain didn’t even give itself the time to be sad about it. And then, at the gym this morning, someone invites me to go with her, and she states clearly that she won’t have me pay her for my ticket. She just didn’t want to go alone, and her friend had bailed on the concert. I was absolutely delighted to step in for the drop-out this time(!!!). The concert was fabulous. This man is about to turn 75 (on 25 March). This was his 20th concert in Houston, Texas, the first having been in 1971. He can’t sing really high anymore. He hobbles slightly with his walk. He wore two sparkly suits – one all white with a Long tail and a red snake on the back, and one like his famous red checkered blazer (super sparkly, though) – and then a pink lounge-y kimono with a sparkly butterfly on the back, which he eventually took off to reveal a sparkly red and blue track suit. He changed his glasses twice, but all three pairs had rose-colored lenses. He wore his iconic right pointy earring. He plays piano like on the record albums. His spirit is evident in everything he plays and in every arm thrust and body shake he does. And, get this, he gets up from the piano after every song, (sometimes walks around bowing and encouraging folks to cheer and make noise a bit) shuffles to a little table/stand behind him, spits in a bucket, takes a sip of water, and then shuffles back to the piano and sits back down.
I am extremely grateful for this lovely opportunity, in addition to the beautiful blessing that has been the works and passion and gracious giving and sharing of Elton John’s art. Thank you, Good Sir, for all you do and have done. And thank you, God and Universe, for letting me be part of this glory tonight. May we be blessed with such love often in our lives, and may Sir Elton John truly feel the loving gratitude so much of the world has for him. Amen.
One of my favorite songs ever is “Crocodile Rock”, which he played, of course. But he sang way low for the “la”s, and it was adorable and awesome!Beautiful concert. And all the better for not having massive screens to distract us from just seeing him and listening to the music and the feelings thereby evoked.
P.S. He said that “Your Song” was his first hit in 1972. Is that right, or did I mis-hear him? Perhaps it released in 1970… But, also, that was 50 years ago. FIFTY YEARS, and his music and performances are still amazing. Thank you, Sir!
H: Still want to do something now, or feel like something tomorrow morning? I finish at the gym around 8:45
B: I mean I’m okay with either. I’m just sitting around at home right now with nothing to do
H: Want to go help remove wreaths from military graves tomorrow morning?
H: Houston National Cemetary
B: Sure
B: Also let me just say of all possible suggestions of things to do
B: I would’ve never, in any ordinate amount of time, guessed that
B: You didn’t see it but the double take I did when I read that was cartoonish
……
Yes, that was a real text interaction I had. Isn’t it lovely? Just glorious. 😛
Thank you, Gos and Universe, for such loving absurdity in my life. Amen.
Post-a-day 2022
(Kind of remembered)
Today’s quote of the day? Courtesy of my mother: “Yeah, well, he snozed*, so he loze*…,” followed by and filled with intense laughter from the both of us. (*Rhyming with ‘hosed’ and ‘nose’)
Obviously, she had full intentions of using real words. However, her somewhat passive effort to switch the sentence to a past tense clearly failed, thus her quite literally choking on her own words (through laughter) halfway through the sentence. We could barely breathe, let alone talk, we were laughing so hard. It was glorious.
Opera always has great costuming. The show we saw tonight, however, was a rather bland costuming story, so far as opera goes. However, the program cover reminded me of a Halloween filter I had come across on a Japanese photo app…
And so, we, naturally, had to take a photo together to be in theme for the night…
Gotta love being ridiculous, and opera is certainly ridiculous. Absolutely wonderful, yes, but also ridiculous.
For those who can’t read notes out of words, that’s the opening theme to Downton Abbey, and the ring tone that played from a nearby table at lunch today. A minute or so afterward, the girl behind me was talking across the patio to the woman who, I’d guessed, was the owner of the source of the ring tone. The girl behind me was mentioning hearing Downton Abbey…, I casually joined in on how I’d definitely recognized it, too. They mentioned about a movie, or possibly another one coming out, and then, If you like Downton Abbey, you should check out Outlander! I said that I was reading the books, and they were great but filled with ups and downs with the joys and sadnesses. The ring tone girl agreed. The girls at the table behind me were intrigued. I mentioned that my mom heartily recommends Outlander, too, the show. We had a few more comments and giggles, and then finally turned back to our respective tables fully as my dad sat back down at our table, rejoining me from his bathroom stop.
Three of us had mostly held the conversation among our three tables, though five of us had been involved. It was awesome.
And then, my dad asked what we had been discussing. I gave him a quick recap, and then he said, ‘Oh, I’ve seen it. The movie. It’s good.’
Jaw. Drop.
I hadn’t even known about this Downton Abbey film, and my dad has already seen and liked it?? Haha Ridiculously wonderful.
Thank you, God and Universe, for such a lovely surprise of lunchtime today. May you continue to guide me to be your love in the world through all that I am and all that I do. In your name, I pray. Amen.
Today was the Houston Marathon. Chevron sponsors it now, so, really, it is titled the Chevron Houston Marathon. But I digress. I knew various people doing the half marathon, but I cared most about one family friend who was doing the marathon. This would be his 137th marathon. Last time, I had surprised him near the finish line, cheered him on, and then had lunch with him at one of his favorite restaurants. I aimed to do the same today.
However, I kept checking the tracking system, and he never showed up. Everyone I had been tracking for the half marathon had already finished, and he had yet to begin the race, so far as his tracker chip was concerned. At first, I had expected he might have started late, just because he felt like it, and maybe wanted it a bit warmer. He isn’t going for time, after all; just completion. But, when they were all done and he was nowhere to be found, I had kind of given up on going to see him finish. It didn’t seem he was doing the race after all.
Around noon, I checked my phone one more time, mostly out of habit, but also just in case. To my great surprise – and yet not – he was on there! And not only as having just begun, but at the 18.7 mile marker! I didn’t know what had happened for all the previous checkpoints – perhaps he somehow skipped the mats each time -, but he was certainly on there now. When he hit the next marker, I gauged his timing and got my things cleaned up from cooking, so I could head downtown. I wasn’t sure how traffic or road closures would be, but I had a rough plan that would get me there just in time. Dreadful traffic on the 45S exit changed everything, of course, and I had to change to the backup plan. Turns out, the backup plan should have been the original plan. But, nonetheless, I got to my goal, parked the car, and sprinted to the course.
Long story short, though the tracker estimated that he was not yet to where I was standing, he was just passing out of the intersection as I had arrived to it, ironic as that is. I had a feeling he might have been one of two guys I’d seen over there, but I gave the tracker some faith and waited a couple minutes. However, after two minutes, I was sure that he had to be past me already. Even the tracker said so.
So, I then ran toward the finish line, spirits still high, hopes still up. Alas, I never caught him as I ran alongside the course.
So, I sent him a text. Modern technology is helpful at times, after all.
He called me back, wondering what I was up to, and he was blown away to find out that I was there. We met at an easy point, and I was congratulating him when, suddenly, he tells me that he isn’t finished. ‘What do you mean?’ I ask. Turns out, he is doing the virtual race. He didn’t want to be in massive crowds, so he opted for virtual, started from home when he felt like it, and just joined the course for the last part of the course. However, he ‘finished’ the race at only about 11 miles. He had merely hit pause at the finish line, walked through the convention center, and was wondering what to do with the glass finisher’s mug that had been given to him.
Well, he gave it to me as a present. And he gave me his extra shirt, so he wouldn’t have to carry it for a while. Then he said he’d meet me for lunch in about half an hour.
But, the way he was going and the direction I had parked aligned for a while. So, I ran with him… carrying the glass stein and his extra shirt, of course. Since he was doing the virtual race, and he had turned it back on, we realized that, silly as it may sound, I was running in the virtual marathon with him. Because I was!
And I have the commemorative mug to prove it. ;P
We eventually parted ways, and then met back up for a quick lunch (a quick body charge and phone charge for him!), and he continued on his way home and finishing his marathon.
How silly, right? I knew a good little run would be helpful for me today, what with all the intense muscle soreness that was showing up last night – I seriously had some trouble sleeping, because I was so sore. I hardly expected to end up running a couple miles in the actual marathon. 😛 What a lovely surprise. And I still got to cheer him on while he ran, and multiple times. So, that was really cool. He had always wanted me to run a marathon with him. Now, I kind of have! Haha
Thank you, God and Universe, for the surprising love and joy of today. Thank you. Amen.
My body is extremely sore,
Worn out,
Ground,
Grounded.
But it is also satisfied,
Sated,
Lifted,
And elated,
For it comes from a week
Of releasing what is weak,
Embracing my state
and pursuing my strength,
Letting go of what’s in the way
Of being my best
And fittest
Self.
This week was great
In a really hard way.
Indeed,
I will pass out hard
After a week so hard,
And I will relish
The restoration
Tonight’s and tomorrow’s rest
Will bring.
And I will breathe
Easily,
Freely,
And with increased oxygen.
And,
Next week,
I’ll do it again.
I have done a decent job lately of pursuing my goal of having opera music playing in the evenings at home. I started it with packing the other week, as I found that the constancy of the music helped me feel supported and keep me calm and focused as I went through all the packing and emotional releasing involved with moving. Only one day, for a couple hours or so, did I have one single separate song on loop, a song an acquaintance wrote and played and recorded. It was about goodbyes and ending a long-time relationship, and it felt quite appropriate… until it was not anymore. Then, I moved on to opera and church chant music and the likes.
Anyway, now that I have a temporary home, as i have been doing various tasks yesterday and today, I went ahead and set up the computer and external hard drive, and turned on the music. I have a playlist of it all that is roughly four and a half days long. Currently, I am just playing everything in order, and starting each time wherever I left off the previous time (using play counts as the guide). I have very much enjoyed it. And I have gotten much done today and yesterday. (Thank you, God and Universe, for the support with all of that!) Speaking of which, I’ll go mark them off on my checklist. I somehow only two days ago committed to having my daily task list as its own Note in my phone, using the checkmark feature. It has gone really well so far, and I intend to continue with it. It is extremely helpful for me to have things written down, and I believe it affects my productivity and encouragement immensely. Thus my having accomplished so much yesterday and today, including things I tend to avoid(!). Anyway, I’m off to do that, to read, and to get to sleep. I’m tired and sleepy this evening, and it’s already just after 8:30pm. I have the morning workout tomorrow at 7:30, then work until 3pm. So, I want to be very well rested and up early to prepare what all food I’ll need to bring with me. (That reminds me: I need to ask about the freezer, so I can see about having the Magic Bullet here for smoothies. They work wonders after a morning workout. And for slimming down… which would be helpful right about now… Hmm… Anyway, adding it to the list for tomorrow!)
hannah ananas 