music

Rodeo Closing

Tonight, we said goodbye to RodeoHouston until next year. We hung in the wine garden, meandered and looked at school art in Center, hung in a couple clubs to have drinks and watch the rodeo, went into the Stadium to watch more of the rodeo and then Luke Bryan’s concert – including his current dad-bod – in great seats, ate some grilled meats and a funnel cake using our discounted food cards, had drinks and danced in one of the clubs, and then wandered around in the crisp and cool air after they closed down the club and kicked out everyone – and I still managed to be gifted a couple extra drink tickets that I never got to use, which was exciting!

My man danced with me – real dancing – and it was spectacular. It was spectacular.

He also danced with my friend who was with us. And he danced with this other lady. Her friend came up and asked us if she could borrow my man, not for herself but for her friend, just for one song. I told him it was a polka, and he then accepted the request – he could do polka decently enough for the task. I told the lady it was a polka and that it was just triple steps the whole time. They succeeded in dancing together. While they danced, the original lady who’d made the request explained to us that her friend had wanted to dance at least once. However, she was worried about guys grinding on her and humping her. So, her friend had said they just need to get a respectable guy. ‘He looks like a respectable guy and like he knows what he’s doing out here,’ she said about my man. ‘As long as she doesn’t get her ass smacked and tits grabbed, she’s good,’ she said about her friend. Fair enough, ma’am. Fair enough. 😛

Anyway, so, we had a great night. We used the rest of our drink tickets. We used a couple extra drink tickets that were given to us. We got to have a small adventure, the three of us (and my mom and stepdad earlier in the day, until we went into the stadium – they’d stayed in the club to watch the whole rodeo before going home). And it was really great.

Thank you, God. Thank you. Please, continue to keep us safe. In your name, we pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Date Night

Date night went well. Crazy traffic for both of us to get to the rodeo. I was way late to get to the sign-ups, and he was way late to show up for the actual thing, but we both made it onto the last fire truck for the Grand Entry, he with only two minutes to spare before we drove off, and it was awesome. He had never been in the Grand Entry before, and the final fire truck gets the whole head of the horseback folks following it out of the stadium. So, it was like we were seeing the big entrance setup as we were leaving the stadium, flags and fancy and all, up close and personal. It was great.

Then, we chatted with some folks before going to sit to watch some of the rodeo events up close (as close as you can for that). He, not realizing that the line doubled back on itself, wanted us to take the escalator, which we never do. As we were on the final portion of that line, we cross paths with his mom and her husband. So, we stepped aside to wait for them, and then chatted with them on the escalator a bit. Then they continued to the next escalator for their club level tickets, and we went down into our seats.

He had been worried about meeting up with them at the rodeo tonight, because he didn’t know how to end the time with them in order to continue our date night. However, this way made it simple and easy, and they were the ones who ditched us, anyway(!). Ha! It’s always silly and wonderful when things just work out like that.

Then, when we didn’t have seats anymore, and a lady had been kind of nasty to my man for being in her seat – remember that volunteers are allowed to sit in any open seats until the ticket-holder arrives to the seats – so we opted to walk over to the club we both like to watch the concert.

On the way, we passed a cinnamon roll stand that was closing up shop. There are two massive cinnamon rolls just sitting there. So, I told my man to ask about them. The owner of the stall told us to take them, as they were the last and leftovers. He told us to heat them up, and they’d be ‘real good’.

My man couldn’t wait, though. When there wasn’t a microwave at our headquarters nearby, he slowly downed his roll. I asked when we got up to the club, and then patiently waited. After about ten minutes, the door volunteer came and snatched up my cinnamon roll paper boat. She brought it back a minute later, nice and hot.

I shared it with my man. 🙂 (I offered some to the lady first, and she declined with gratitude.) We both enjoyed it very much.

And then we enjoyed the concert. Kenny Chesney performs happy – he was in a great mood, and it was fun and infectious. And his voice sounds great. He also looks great. It was awesome, and I am grateful we had the lovely night together.

We both got home safely, and I just now sleep. Much to do in the morning to prep for a friend of mine to stay with us tomorrow night. That whole use-the-guest-room-for-storage idea that started when we cleared out my apartment recently has been backfiring this week. Got a lot to deal with in a hurry. I’ve accomplished much already, but there’s plenty more to go, in addition to sorting out all the changes and tidying in the rest of the house, and having to leave by noon-thirty for my afternoon shift… whoof! That’s a lot to manage! But I can do it. My man had the morning shift, so I’m hoping he’ll be able to get our sink installed before my friend arrives (like before me) tomorrow night. I have faith in him. ❤

Thank you, God. Amen.

P.S. I love grilled cheese sandwiches, too, Mr. Chesney. I love them, too. Mmmmm…

Post-a-day 2023

Not-so cool

Last night, we went to a Halloween party. There was much alcohol drinking and some cigarette smoking. Music was not very loud, but people were somewhat loud. The space wast crowded, except in narrower passageways on occasion.

I had a decent time. I’m glad we went, as it was an important event for my man’s family. We also both looked awesome, both in terms of outfits and in terms of fitness and overall adorable-ness.

However, I typically prefer staying home over going to such events. I felt so fancy, going to a party and on a Saturday night… like all the normal people, I passively thought.

Coincidentally, the story I did in Duolingo tonight was all about how these two girls stayed home every Friday evening and watched their favorite television show, instead of ever going out anymore. When their flatmate walks out in a party dress and says she’s going out dancing, they decide to go with her. The one who declared they were going with her finds at the club that it is too dark, the music is too loud, it is too crowded, and her feet start hurting rather quickly into the night.

As I read the story, I couldn’t help but notice that, aside from the feet part, I usually experience the same things whenever I have to go out to things. Though, as in her case, no one else ever seems to care.

What was funny with the story itself was that, as this girl is commenting on these things, and declares that she wants to go home already, she asks, ‘Am I the only one who isn’t cool anymore?’, for they had said earlier that the cool thing to do was to go out on Friday nights. Her friend replies, ‘Don’t worry – you weren’t ever cool in the first place.’

And, somehow, I found immense delight in that statement. Perhaps it reminded me of me and my best friend, and how we always are honest with things, and how we find it comical when our honesty, to an outsider, could sound terribly mean, but that it is very much not a big deal to us. Also, though, she and I never really were considered “cool”, anyway. We were fun and smart and goofy and weird and kind and sweet and reliable and all sorts of good stuff. People got along with us rather easily, and enjoyed our presence, of course. But we just weren’t exactly ever cool. She was even student body president in high school. She got closer than I did to cool, but she still wasn’t cool. So, we would have definitely had a conversation like the one in this Duolingo story tonight, my best friend and I. And that was a good feeling.

Anyway, I absolutely could relate to the story in all levels, and I loved that ending to the story, somehow, in a very personal way. It was awesome. Thank you, God. Amen.

Post-a-day 2022

Bluebell and Ice Cream

Bluebell and Ice Cream (also properly titled, but not necessarily known as “Bluebell and Pizza) for year number eight was a success. My man went with me, and we rushed over after the cool opera showcase – it was very cool, by the way – that ended at 9pm. We arrived around 9:30, but the party was still in swing, so we had some somewhat melty but cold Bluebell ice cream sandwiches and ice cream, talked with people, and let the dog a bunch. As we were leaving, we ended up with the host, checking out all the furniture she had made in her recent woodworking endeavors, and also playing on and checking the tuning of the piano she recently inherited (though doesn’t yet know how to play). My man, of course, spent the piano time roughhousing with the dog, having a grand ole time that contrasted to the previous ‘people time’ of the party itself. I could totally relate.

Anyway, it was a great evening, and I enjoyed that I enjoyed being social like that.

Thank you, God, for such a blessing as ease in such a setting, and especially for the joy of it all and the extra blessing of balance as we got the two-on-two time with the host and her dog afterward. Thank you. Amen.

P.S. I ran into a buddy from high school at the opera thing – had given him some extra tickets we’d had – and another buddy from high school and college who is an awesome musician, though on the spectrum, so is often a tad over the top or odd in social settings. However, the irony was that the former was a touch awkward and the latter was quite comfortable and fun tonight! It was silly, yet good. I was glad to see and be with them both. And it was especially lovely to have the extra-long hug the musician gave me – he always hugs me when he sees me, though he doesn’t seem to touch most people. He still talked to me while facing a slightly other direction, as though looking for someone ‘somewhere over there’, and he talked in the same upper class British cadence without the accent, as he always does, but it was surprisingly comforting to be in such an unchanged and familiar situation that brought up so many positive memories and feelings. And he told me how I can now watch the opera that he wrote and had performed! Looking forward to watching it on a television soon!

Post-a-day 2022

Claim to fame?

I ran into my second cousin at Costco yesterday. She informed me that one of our great-great-somethings wrote a song for Elvis, she thought….

Naturally, I looked it up. And, wow, she is correct! I’m not certain of who specifically the woman was, but I think it was a great-great-aunt. My dad’s mother’s aunt, I think. But it might have been her cousin. Actually, her cousin makes more sense, based in lifetime… hmm… Well, I sent it to my dad just now, and I’m hoping he’ll be able to tell me where she was in the family! Super cool to learn, nonetheless.

“Heartbreak Hotel,” co-wrote by someone in my bloodline. Way cool. Haha

Post-a-day 2022

What would you do-oo-oo…

… for a Klondike bar?!

William Isaly created the Klondike bar back in 1922. That’s a hundred years ago. One-double-zero. Years. He named them after the Klondike river up in the Yukon (in Canada), supposedly because he wanted the name to elicit a sense of cooler-than-cold cold. They were a local item for years and years, sold in Ohio and Pennsylvania, and originally six for $1.49. Eventually, they turned massive, though.

And they’re still famous today.

What is one big part of that fame, you wonder? In my opinion, it was the branding. Sure, they’re delicious. But why do we have some in our freezer right now? Because my man started whistling the jingle the other day, and we haven’t been able to stop thinking about them since. What’s more, they’re a blast to eat, because I feel so snooty and fancy every time I open one up with that fancy foil wrapper. Mr. Isaly knew what he was doing, wrapping them in foil. And Mr. Whoever-it-was was the same when he added the jingle in 1982. Thank you, both!

And thank you, God for such a silly and delicious treat! Amen.

Post-a-day 2022

Talk about a blast…

This evening and tonight were awesome. Sure, the cooking started and ended much later than they were scheduled to happen. However, the enjoyment of one another’s company initially was awesome, and the merriment had after dessert was spectacular. We ended up calling my man’s grandmother for her birthday after my mom and stepdad left. Today was her 91st birthday, you see. My man has been learning to play the piano, and we had gone through “Happy Birthday”, with him playing the top melody and my playing the bottom’s chords.

But get this: All of my instruments are at his house now. So…, we pulled out the xylophone and recorder for my brother and my sister-in-law to play, and my step-sister, who actually is a singer, sang with all of our playing.

I tell you truthfully, it was absurd. It sounded and felt like a little kids’ beginner band performance. But how else could it have been when the person leading the main melody on piano not only counted off wrong but played all weird timing throughout the entire piece(!)???!!! So, on his, “One, two, three,” my brother came in on the three for the pick-up notes on the xylophone – correctly so. But my man didn’t start his pick-up notes until the next beat(!!). So, it was a rocky start. But he then kept holding notes longer than usual all over the place, messing with all of us. So, that was terrible, right? Well, we also had my sister-in-law playing on the recorder, which was actually not an easy instrument for her – though she is not very musically inclined in the first place. She topped it off, sounding just like the little kid on clarinet whose reed squeaks on all the main held notes at the beginning and end of each phrase.

was

spectacular.

Truly.

And then we played “Heart and Soul” on the xylophone, my brother and I, even though there weren’t quite enough notes on the small xylophone for us to play the whole thing, even with us inverted, melody down low and chords up top.

And then we had an awesome time in general, just goofing around and hanging out, enjoying being ourselves together.

Thank you, God, for this amazing night. Please, grant us all beautiful and effective sleep and rest tonight, that we awaken ready and able to pursue your will fully tomorrow morning. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2022

Oh, joy! I sing to thee!

And the piano progress continues! Tonight, he asked me to show him something new or else something to do differently with that four-chord progression (CGAmG). So, we talked about sheet music! He had played clarinet back in school, so he still somewhat remembered how to read treble clef, though he didn’t even know how I knew it was treble clef… 😛 Nonetheless, he may or may not have ever used bass clef, but he learned the notes in it on the piano tonight!

Note: He is not a fan of having to hit middle C with the left hand. Too far up, he says. Wait until he gets into music that actually has a load of ledger lines up in the middle! 😛

I pulled up easy “Ode to Joy” sheet music for him and showed him how to go through one clef at a time, and then how to start to put it all together slowly, but surely. And he played for an hour+ tonight, working on that piece and taking a mental test a bit to play around with the four chords for about five minute somewhere near the end. He’s doing an awesome job, and it really seems like he really likes it. I am so excited both for the now and for the future with this!

Thank you, God, for this wonderful blessing of a man and of music. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2022

And so it happens that he plays piano now. I heard him playing around with some keys as I exited the shower tonight. I asked him why he stopped once he had, and he smiled in slight embarrassment, and said because he hadn’t known what he was doing. I got him back over to the piano, and I explained some basics, and then showed him the basic C-G-Am-G chord progression and how to play with key strokes and rhythms within it – all white keys!! – and set him loose. He was practically fighting me at first, suggesting that he would be terrible and his hands are too clumsy and blah, blah, blah… Now, he has been going for almost half an hour, and it could be music he’s reading for all I can hear. He’s doing an amazing job already, and I’m thoroughly enjoying listening to him play, not simply because he’s the one doing it, but because it is actually enjoyable music and playing. Thank you, God.

We certainly shall have a house filled with love and music. Thank you, God, for such a wonderful blessing. Amen.

Update: He played for over 45 minutes, and I think he only stopped, because he was just so darn sleepy from a very long week this week and day today.

Post-a-day 2022

Bedtime

Lying on the bed, we listen to “You’ve got a lover” by Shake Russell. It was not planned. I was just looking for a YouTube version to send to someone who loved it when we had sung it the other day. But I listened to the whole thing after sending it to her. We listened. And it was a beautiful bedtime meditation. Thank you, Shake Russell. And thank you, God, for such amazing creativity and talent and artistry and work to be shared with the world and with us specifically. Amen. Amen. Amen. Praise be to God. And thanks be to Shake. Amen.

Now, go listen to it yourself: “You’ve got a lover”

Post-a-day 2022