ISSMA State Qualifiers, Excedrin & Really Great Husbands

For those of you that are (or were) not high school music nerds, ISSMA stands for Indiana State School Music Association...I think. All I know is that they decide who is good and who is not good in high school band and choir in Indiana. Now that we have that out of the way...

My husband's high school wind ensemble competed at Pike High School at ISSMA state concert band qualifiers on Friday night. Ummm...yeah, he is a HS band director...NOT still IN high school - just wanted to clarify that for the readers! He teaches at a relatively small high school and has since 1998. When he started there, he had one concert band with about 20 students. It was bad...worse than bad. He NOW has one concert band, one wind ensemble, a beginning jazz band, and, his pride and joy, the advanced jazz band, appropriately called "10 o'Clock Jazz Band" - his band program numbers about 120 students. Yeah, he rocks.

Anyway, back to state qualifiers. The whole night, I hung out in their homeroom and made Remedies flash cards and read my outline - except for during their performance, of course. And guess what??? His wind ensemble got a GOLD! YAY! This is the epitome of good music education and good conducting and great kids and phenomenal instruction. I can't express how excited and proud I am of my husband and his students - considering his small band played along side bands from Lawrence Central, Lawrence North, and other big ass high schools.

To show my extreme excitement over this accomplishment, I proceeded to be smacked upside the head with the worst migraine I have had in about 2 years. I spent the entire ride home from Indy huddled in a ball on the passenger's side with my head in my hands and my jacket over my eyes to block out the light, bawling like Paula Abdul after Constantine left American Idol. Periodically, I would move my hands from my head to my ears to block out the sound of the windshield wipers. Yeah, it was rough. Really rough. I somehow drove myself home from the high school and swore that I had somehow contracted viral meningitis. I mean, it was bad. Luckily, I made it to my bed, gulped down two Tylenol PM's, put a cold washcloth over my eyes and fell asleep. This morning, I was gently awakened by my Gold-winning hubby who gave me 2 blessed Excedrin Migraine caplets, a big glass of water and a freshly-cold washcloth...and then...I fell back asleep. He periodically checked on me and changed my washcloth.

I love him.

So...I have spent the whole day laying on the couch watching the Gilmore Girls marathon on the ABC Family Channel with said amazingly wonderful, thoughtful, talented, brilliant husband, trying to rest my apparently pissed off brain. And I have done no studying today. And am feeling incredibly guilty about it. But come on...at some point, when the brain says "No more information," it means NO MORE INFORMATION! I will resume the stuffing of information into my tired brain tomorrow. But now, it is time for me to watch Law & Order: SVU until the Tylenol PM kick in.

Y'all have a good night. I know I will.

A couple more random thoughts...

from my finals-stressed, information overloaded and utterly disorganized and uncreative brain:

1. Good news first - we think we sold our house!!! YAY! Pending the inspection and everything, we are good to go! And considering we had an inspection done RIGHT before we put the house on the market, I don't think there will be any problems. SO - hooray for house-selling!

2. The current law school mess. There is a really good analysis of what is going on - if you want to read it - where I have commented, go here. If you want more of a tirade about it, you can go here. Why is it more of a "tirade," you might ask? Well, he uses the word "asshat" which made me laugh :) All I have to say is: Holy balls, people! WTF?! The comments have now gone past polite commentary about one young professor and his students desire for him to have tenure...

• to bashing other well-respected professors, which I think is completely inappropriate (yes, I know about the First Amendment...I took Freedom of Speech, Press, and Religion - from our favorite retiring prof, but I still think it is disrespectful and shows that some of these students have overinflated senses of entitlement)
• to commenting on the brilliance of other professors (which for the most part, I agree - I had a kickass first year lineup of profs - including young tenure wanting prof- and tho' I did not have W as a first year, everyone knows I adore him) -
• NOW to talking about how good said young tenure-wanting professor looks in a SWEATER VEST and comparing said professor to VIN DIESEL. Come on, folks....really? Don't y'all have some finals or some shit. We have resorted to discussing the hotness or lack of hotness of our faculty. Yikes. This can only end badly.

That's it....back to remedies...that is taught by my fave "Kenny Rogers" looking prof. ;)

Paula Abdul = Tammy Faye Bakker

Holy crap! Did anyone else see the end of the American Idol when Constantine was singing his farewell song???? She was bawling like someone kicked her dog!!!! I have never seen anything like it.

As for Constantine's departure, I am surprised. I mean, yeah, it was a really really bad performance. I mean really bad - in fact, his performance of "How You Remind Me" last night was actually waaaay better than the same song on Tuesday. I think if he would have sang more and screamed less, he might have been able to stick around. Because it was really bad on Tuesday. Did I say it was bad? Horrendous.

But what I was even more shocked about was the list of people in the bottom three:

Constantine, A. Feddy, and Vonzell (!!!!).

What? Yeah, she didn't do THAT great Tuesday night, but damn - that girl is good. And so is A. Feddy for that matter! Where was Scott? Holy cow - what is this world coming to? America - you were doing so well when you got rid of Anwar...and now what have you done?

Oh, well.......at least I won't feel the need to shower after every episode due to the extreme filthiness I feel everytime Constantine pouts at me from the TV screen. That's a plus, right?

Now it's time for the breakdown*

Well, of course, I am supposed to be studying, but I just had to write up this week's AI redux...I finally got around to watching last week's as well. Yeah, I am behind, what of it? Don't judge. But I will not bore you with my opinions of last week's ep. Needless to say, I am thrilled that Anwar has finally left the building! YAY! Way to go, America.

As for this week's show, all I can say is that the performances, overall, were subpar. I found myself agreeing with Simon more this week than I have the rest of the season. It was kind of frightening for me. Anyway, here it is, what you have been waiting for (Chuck!), Kelly P's thoughts on AI:

Carrie started the show with "When God Fearin' Women Get the Blues." She looked cute in her little cowboy shirt, but didn't seem to want to move around a lot for fear of getting her stick-straight hair caught in her lipstick. I thought the performance was really pretty good. I liked the song and she seemed really comfortable with it. It was twangy and country and cute. I think I liked it way more than the judges did. And I laughed my ass off when Simon said he didn't understand "this kind of music" - and then chalked it up to the fact that he's English. HA!

I believe next was my FAVORITE PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK: Bo Bice with "I Don't Wanna Be." I agreed with Simon that the Lenny Kravitz sunglasses had to go. But, damn, if that boy can't work a mic stand! He is a very sexy rocker-guy. The song was perfect for him. He had great pitch and great stage presence. HE is the only rocker in this competition. Plus, I LOVE the fact that (being that I am a band director's wife) Bo ALWAYS acknowledges his back-up musicians. That is the sign of a true performer: respect for your accompanists. YAY for Bo - he is back!!!!

My LEAST FAVORITE PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK: HANDS DOWN - Constantine Margoulis with "How You Remind Me." Robin has a similarly scathing review of his performance over at her blog - check it out. It was wretched....just wretched. As Simon said (hee hee), he did a much better job with his more "croon-y" songs - songs that are more legit and less rock 'n' roll and made the point that, when he left his band to be on AI, he went over to the "light side." Right on, Simon! The song sucked. I can't even put into words how truly bad it was. Terrible vocals and not much better performance.

The last three performances were really just kind of okay:

My usual favorite, Vonzell Solomon, performed "I Turn to You," a Christina Aguilera song. Okay, anytime anyone attempts X-tina, I get a little worried. And in Baby V's case, I was right. I thought the whole thing was on shaky grounds, pitch-wise. She looked lovely, as usual, and has amazing stage presence, but I really think she needs to stick with more uptempo songs. Both Randy and Paula thought the performance was just wonderful, but Simon's comment was not near as glowing. He said something to the effect of: It is really loud in here and hard for the judges to hear in the auditorium and that he thinks that the performance was not near as good, vocally, as they thought - i.e. it had pitch issues and seemed to be on the verge of flatness the whole song. And he was right. (Robin agrees with me here as well!) But I still love her, and can't wait to see what she will sing next week.

Anthony Federov sang "I Surrender" which I found out was a Celine Dion song. No idea. It was really pretty. The guy has a lovely voice and is very cute. BUT, Simon nailed it last week when he called him "insipid." Perfect. He is insipid and kind of sickly-sweet. But he really does have a great voice...especially at the top of his range. Very very talented....but I just don't think he is going to be the next American Idol. I don't know.

The show closed with Scott Savol....yep, never the best way to end a show. He sang "Dance with My Father." I think that was the name of the song - a supremely depressing, weepy song about someone's dad who died. Okay, as someone whose dad died, I can appreciate the sentiments of the song....but damn, what a freakin' downer of a song. I think that for next week, to make up for the absolute buzz kill of a song, he should be forced to sing "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go"...just a thought. Oh, and the performance was okay. Kind of boring...kind of sad. But okay.

Bottom three tonight: Scott, Constantine (god I hope so), and Anthony. With Scott hitting the road...b/c I know that the women of America will not vote Constantine off as they think he is hot...or they have a thing with "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"...one of the two.

That's all - KP OUT!


*"Never gonna get it, never gonna get it, never gonna get it, never gonna get it, never gonna get it, never gonna get it, never gonna get it...never get it..." En Vogue

National Poetry Month & Finals Hell

To celebrate National Poetry Month (thank you, E. Spat & THL), as well as the beginning of finals, I give you Shel Silverstein:

(Hey, I never said I was an intellectual.)


"I cannot go to school today"
Said little Peggy Ann McKay.
"I have the measles and the mumps,
A gash, a rash and purple bumps.

My mouth is wet, my throat is dry.
I'm going blind in my right eye.
My tonsils are as big as rocks,
I've counted sixteen chicken pox.

And there's one more - that's seventeen,
And don't you think my face looks green?
My leg is cut, my eyes are blue,
It might be the instamatic flu.

I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke,
I'm sure that my left leg is broke.
My hip hurts when I move my chin,
My belly button's caving in.

My back is wrenched, my ankle's sprained,
My 'pendix pains each time it rains.
My toes are cold, my toes are numb,
I have a sliver in my thumb.

My neck is stiff, my voice is weak,
I hardly whisper when I speak.
My tongue is filling up my mouth,
I think my hair is falling out.

My elbow's bent, my spine ain't straight,
My temperature is one-o-eight.
My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear,
There's a hole inside my ear.

I have a hangnail, and my heart is
...What? What's that? What's that you say?
You say today is .............. Saturday?
G'bye, I'm going out to play!"

GOOD LUCK WITH FINALS, EVERYONE!!!!

fyi

NEW DAVE ATTELL QUOTE ALERT!!!!

Does anyone else...

really love that Cingular Wireless commercial with the "Sweet Melissa" song? With the guy trying to get to his wife before she has the baby???

Does anyone else get all teary-eyed during the scene when he shows up at the hospital???

Just me?

Cool.

THEY DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats & lots of love to Kee Kee & Chuck on passing the bar! Way to go!

To see the rest of the list, go here.

Echoing sentiments...

from Kelly's post yesterday.

GOOD LUCK!!!!!!

To my friends who find out bar results this morning, I am thinking of you...and praying...yep, me...praying. And sweating...and my stomach is a bit sick....but I am praying for you!

Lots of love to you, C & K!

Stolen from Amanda

A really good "The Way I See It" from Starbucks.

As I was preparing for Evidence today, I found this on the back of my venti vanilla latte...

The Way I See It #30:

"The secret of attraction is to love yourself. Attractive people judge neither themselves or others. They are open to gestures of love. They think about love. They think about love, and express their love in every action. They know that love is not a mere sentiment, but the ultimate truth at the heart of the universe."
-- Deepak Chopra, author of The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire and other spiritual guides.

Interesting, no?

A sentence I never thought would come out of my husband's mouth...

but it did last night:

"I would MUCH rather watch 'Gilmore Girls' than 'American Idol!"

Huh?

Beauty still thrives in a place filled with sadness. 

The fence.

Before... 

and after...

"I'll take salpingo-oophorectomies for a thousand, Alex."

And I will make a guess that Kelly is the only one that will know what that heinous word in the title means...

I spent most of Saturday studying medical terminology for my food & drug law final that is a week from Tuesday. I now know what the true medical term is for these very important medical conditions:

the removal of a pair of testes (orchidectomy),
an enema (proctoclysia), and
what this test is to me:
a headache (cephalgia) AND a pain in my ass (rectalgia).

Yep...Kelly P.'s the one they call Dr. Feelgood,
she's the one that makes you feel alright.
she's the one they call Dr. Feelgood...
She's gonna be your Frankenstein!!

Ring the bell, school's back in...

So, I heard "U Can't Touch This" on my way home from class last night.

I knew every word....even the "oh's." Is this wrong?


Yeah. I thought so too.

Just checking.

You're right. It's wrong to destroy literature. It's such fun to read....and Mo-lay really pumps my nads.*

Thanks to E.Spat for the blog chain letter. Now I actually have to think...damn.

1. You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be saved?
First off, I love Fahrenheit 451. I read it in Mrs. Poffenbarger's 8th grade literature class. Yes, that was her name. And, needless to say, she was only there one year. I think the book was a bit controversial for a small town central Illinois junior high school! As someone who has loved to read her WHOLE life (no kidding, I started reading at two), this book scared the shit out of me. Okay, to answer the question. This is easy. No question about it. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. This is probably my all-time favorite novel. I read it every year, and when I was teaching, would suggest it to all of my students!

2. Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?
Yep...two of them. First, from Anne of Green Gables: Gilbert Blythe. It could have been b/c, in the movie version, the actor who played him, Jonathan Crombie, was adorable. He was smart and funny and sweet and I loved him. Second, from Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen, Mr. Darcy. Okay, okay - again, it could be b/c of the movie - I mean, who didn't love Colin Firth's portrayal of this wonderful character.

3. The last book you purchased?
The last book I purchased, besides an Evidence hornbook which should not count, because goodness knows I am NOT reading it for pleasure, was The Daily Show's America the Book: A Citizen's Guide to Democracy. The last audio book I purchased was James Patterson's Honeymoon. (Gimme a break, people, I spend three hours in the car everyday - I need something to keep me awake!)

4. What are you currently reading?
I am currently reading law textbooks, just finished Prep, and am getting ready to start Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason. It is kind of a Da Vinci Code type of book, only better. Here's a blurb about it from Amazon. Of course, this might have to wait until after finals. Damn those pesky tests! EDIT: Kel reminded me that I am also currently reading The Purpose-Driven Life. Duh. Sorry!

5. Five books you would take to a deserted island?
Okay, this is a toughie. Five books...five books....
(1) Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
Duh.
(2) Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
(3) Take the Cannoli by Sarah Vowell
Both of these are books that never get boring. I could read them again and again and still find them freaking high-larious.
(4) The Testament by John Grisham
I know, a Grisham book - seems rather cliche. But, first off, this is my favorite Grisham book and I have read it and listened to it a zillion times. And second, there are some useful tips for what to do if you get stranded somewhere!!!
(5) Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding
Okay, I probably should have picked the Bible, or An Idiot's Guide to be Stranded on a Deserted Island, or something practical, but I could NOT be stuck on a deserted island w/o the original chick lit novel!

From what I understand, I have to pass this on to three people or else I will be doomed forever (thank you, E.Spat), so I choose: Amanda, Robin, and Kelly. Have fun, ladies!!!! :)

*Judd Nelson as "John Bender," The Breakfast Club

Songs from the Year You Were Born... (AI Recap for Chuck!)

was the theme of last night's American Idol. And all it did was make me feel really, really freakin' old. But overall, I was pretty impressed with the performances and agreed with the judges. Here's the recap: (again, in no particular order b/c I am doing it from memory)

Favorite performance of the night (once again): Vonzell Solomon.
Vonzell sang "Let's Hear It For the Boy" by Deniece Williams from 1984. NINETEEN EIGHTY FREAKIN FOUR. This song was perfect for her. She had the look, the sound, the energy. She was ON! I definitely think she may have what it takes to go all the way, even after being in the bottom four last week.

Least Favorite performance of the night: Nadia Turner. Once again, I am ill impressed with Nadia. First off, I couldn't even tell you what the song title was. I remembered that it had something to do with dreaming - b/c that is why she said she picked it - and Crystal Gayle sang it. Yep, I would definitely pick a song that that crazy-ass long haired lady sang. It was unmemorable, and I have to agree with Simon - it was "musical wallpaper."

The others:
A. Feddy sang "Everytime you Go Away" by Paul Brown. And for some reason, I am thinking this song came out in 1985. That is crazy stuff right there!!!! But, he did an excellent job. And although I don't particularly care for how he looks, or his Ellis Island-esque story, the song was perfect for him. I think this performance will keep him out of the bottom three tonight.

I know Robin loves Anwar - but I just can't get into him. He did a song by the lady that did the Psychic Network commercials (I am drawing a blank) called "I'll Never Love this Way Again." Good song, he sounded lovely, and techincally, he is extremely skilled. But once again, all I've got is...ehh. Boring.

Bo picked "Free Bird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd. I expected sheer brilliance from this performance. I mean the song was perfect for him. He looked great...he had the whole "rocker" microphone thing goin'. But vocally, it wasn't as good as I think it could have been. He doesn't sound as strong as he did at the beginning of the competition. But I still thought it was a good performance. I do love Bo.

After introducing the audience to Daryl Hall & John Oates, who just happened to be in the audience last night, Ryan introduced poor Scott Savol who chose a Hall & Oates song as his choice for the evening's performence, "She's Gone." A great song. But Scott had a couple major issues, vocally, with this chart. The verses sounded sharp to me, as if he just couldn't get down enough to hit the low notes...but what he lacked in the verses, he waaay made up for it in the choruses. He truly did an excellent job during those sections of the song. And, both Hall & Oates were extremely pleased with his performance. But the judges were not as impressed. Randy mentioned the pitch problems, but what was so great was, that Scott agreed with Randy - he knew he had a hard time with the verses and admitted it! So, although I think he is going to be in the bottom three again tonight, he made a great effort. Oh, but his blue-jean-baby-queen demin mess has GOT to GO!

Okay, here we go. Constantine sand "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen. Now, based on my prior posts about said favorite rock band, I was none too pleased to see that he was going to attempt to perform this classic song. I mean, that takes serious balls. But........it was damn good. I agree with Randy - showmanship - 10; vocals - 7. HE IS A SHOWMAN! He was perfect! However, he has some serious pitch issues at the end. Which could have just been the sheer difficulty of the song. But he just did an amazing job. He may have pulled ahead of Bo with this performance. And for some reason, I actually thought he looked hot last night. I don't know - I think it was just the song! (I hope. Ick.)

Alright, if you are waiting for my recap of Carrie Underwood's performance of "Love is a Battlefield," I am afraid you won't get it. My husband picked that moment to come into the living room to talk to me. UGH. So, if anyone wants to pick up this recap, I would appreciate it! I saw the clip at the end and thought she looked and sounded great, but that doesn't really get us anywhere, now does it?!!!

So - my predictions for the bottom three: Scott, Nadia, & Anwar.

KELLY P., OUT!!!!!

List of Random Thoughts

1. I have a cold. I think I will blame it on Heidi and her petri-dish niece.

2. I am supposed to be researching fireworks injuries in states that are required (by state law) to report them annually: Massachusetts, Texas, Colorado, New Hampshire, Hawaii, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. Funny thing is, only Massachusetts, Texas, and Hawaii annually report the injuries. In fact, when I spoke to the fire marshal's office in Colorado, the yokel said, "Well, I believe that Bob used to do 'em...but he retired, so we don't do 'em anymore." Oh, good. Blame it on Bob and his retirement. Nice. Very frustrating. But such is the life of a law clerk at a fireworks law firm. (Only 2 more work days left!)

3. Both Crawford v. Washington (and its reconciliation with Ohio v. Roberts) and Daubert make my head hurt. (For those of you that haven't taken evidence, just wait...you WILL get a migraine...I promise.)

4. I have been to Mass two Sundays in a row. I am considering converting. But I have a problem with the whole abortion thing...and the whole birth control thing...and the whole gay marriage thing...........yeah, maybe not.

5. I want some hot pink Chuck Taylors, the new Sarah Vowell book, and a new summer handbag. I hate being a poor law student.

6. I am fascinated with this website. (Thanks to E.Spat at WWFFD for the heads-up). You will be too.