I’m about to embark on that journey as choir director of a Greek Orthodox Church.  The music for the Divine Liturgy is going to be restructured to reflect the true byzantine tradition that it should.  What a wonderful journey into the past, keeping a culture alive within the walls of the Church.  A true escape for a while on Sunday morning to lose oneself in the beauty and spirituality of the Divine Liturgy.

Then I picked up an email from a friend about how no one really knows Obama.  So many of us never heard of him.  And I am from Chicago…lived there still when he was supposedly running for the Senate.  I don’t remember ever seeing his name on a ballot or voting for him or anything!  There are only two candidates for a senate seat…one republican and one democrat.  So it’s not like there were so many I couldn’t remember who I voted for, or any odd names such as “Barack Obama.”  I would have remembered a name like that.

The email I received asked many important questions about Obama…namely, why nobody he supposedly went to school with knows anything about him.  If he were at Columbia University, nobody there remembers him.  People in his classes (supposedly his classes) didn’t know the guy…can’t remember anybody like him.  And we all know all of his records are sealed…birth certificate, class records and grades, etc.  Why?  And that’s a BIG why?  Everybody who runs for office is raked over the coals.  But Obama?  Nothing!  Why?

This email pointed out how as soon as Tiger Woods’ extra-marital affairs news hit the media, every woman from here to Timbuktu got in front of the camera to say they were yet another girlfriend of his.  Boy, that was easy.  But we can’t even know if Obama had a girlfriend before Michelle, how he and Michelle met, the name of his best man?  Stuff that is very much “out there” except for him, it seems.

There is just so much mystery surrounding this guy that I am still shocked that he ever could be elected President.  No vetting process for the highest office in the land?  Are we Americans collectively nuts?

I am doing my part in November of this year to be sure I know exactly WHO the next President is…I mean his background.  We really don’t know who Barack Obama is and that is shameful.  And this weekend, I am also going to an open house of the Masonic Temple where I live!

Which brings me to…talking on the cell phone in public whilst walking on the street or shopping in the store or riding the T, etc., is just plain low-class!  Now I don’t mean to be a snob but really!  Talking all the time in public to basically an inanimate object whilst the rest of us are privy to “too much information” is just…low-class.  What did we all do before cell phones were invented?  We talked to EACH OTHER and not a little “ear-tag.”  We made decisions by ourselves!  What a concept!  This really bugs me at the store.  People call to ask questions about pasta, whether or not they need vinegar, etc.  We spend our lives teaching our children to make decisions and then they grow up, go to the store and can’t manage…they have to call home!  Huh?!  Make that decision.  The rest of the household will just have to live with it.  We did!  And me and my brother and sister turned out to be “ok” humans.  Good God!

We seem to have forgotten manners with the technology now in our lives.  Those little black or colored things stuck in our ears or now in our hands whilst we text people…they are more important than even thanking someone for holding the door open for you!  That’s disturbing.  I have a cell phone and do a modicum of texting as well.  But anyone who really knows me knows to NEVER call me in the car…I just don’t want to talk while I’m driving unless the person is IN the car with me.  I can’t handle a steering wheel and a cell phone at the same time and I don’t think I should have to.  Plus, I DO want to be incommunicado at certain times.  I don’t think I should have to be available every minute of the day.

Everything we have in our lives has a measure of importance but none of them is more important than the human contact.  Maybe if we keep that uppermost in our minds our collective manners will improve.

This also applies to hiring proper musicians to perform proper music jobs.  I have always said that there are no shortcuts to making music.  You either do it well or do it badly.  There is never an in-between.  Music that is sort-of good just isn’t good…it’s bad.  Music is like that.  It’s either made well or made horribly.  To make good music means that a person must be proficient in the art of playing or singing and have good sense about their own abilities as a performer.  Not every pianist can play everything or even accompany singers.  It’s how you’re made physically and mentally.   If you are a big-banger, you might take on those Beethoven piano concertos.  But if you have a lighter touch at the piano and can make it sound brilliant and watery, you are probably more geared toward Chopin.  And singers, well, you can’t sing it all folks.  And it’s never advisable anyway.  If you are a “big” singer with expansive singing traits, you probably will sing operatic arias very well.  If you are a very strict musician and don’t do well with the “long and involved cadenza” mindset, you probably will sing cantatas, oratorio, and art songs better…smaller art forms and stricter rules.

This affects Choir Directors as well but in a different sense.  A Choir Director or Music Director of a music establishment (orchestra or church choir, etc.) not only has to have all of the above but vision as well.  These people need to be able to transform a group of performing musicians, either professional or amateur, into an entity all its own.  The sum of all the parts has to be bigger than the individuals.  For anyone who thinks this is easy, think again.  It takes musical expertise, ability to “hear” what this group can become, and the knowledge to choose the music that this group can perform and excel.  Plus, it takes a different kind of communication…conducting, which is pantomime meant to communicate with the group.  AND, it takes nerves of steele since the person is now dealing with personalities of all different shapes and sizes, and egos.

There is also the “student” phenomenon, which is when a student (usually college) starts getting somewhat proficient in their musical studies but over-exceeds their worth without what we call in the music world, “paying their dues.”  Yes, I have come upon numerous young people who think they are very hot stuff before they even have their first degree!  As a former teacher of mine, and former employer as well, used to say…”you can’t have the attitude without the work!”  Boy we heard that one around the school a lot!

And then there’s the group that has studied a bit of music for a little bit of time and think they know what the pro’s know and well, they’re just idiots.

So there you have it, some thoughts on making music well.  And now I’m going to watch The Lord of the Rings, Fellowship of the Ring, a movie definitely made well!  I love when stuff is made well.  Stay tuned for more from Eve!

Then Techforward wanted to send me a gift card.  My plan was to pay down my original bill with Dell.  You can’t do that with a gift card.  They told me they could only send me a check if I bought something else.  I told them I did!  Then they told me they couldn’t send a check since they already started processing the gift card it would be “too confusing” to reverse that and issue a check.  What kind of people are we talking about here?  Too confusing?

So now, in a nutshell, I am still paying on a device I no longer have, I owe Dell more money, and I have three gift cards I can’t use.  That is how this deal went south.

Now, I feel Dell should never force people to buy anything they don’t want or issue gift cards people don’t want.  And I have been emailing with them a long time now.  And guess what?  Dell won’t budge.

I teach private students.  I’ve been doing this 25 years.  I have had to be flexible so many times I can’t count already.  And every time I am flexible with a student it usually means I lose money.  I am not asking Dell to do anything for thier client (me) that I would not do for mine.  In fact I’m asking them to do less.  I am asking them to cash in those three gift cards and issue me a check so that I can pay down my bill with them, with absolutely no loss of money on their part.  They won’t budge.

Well, I’m not done yet.  I am not counting on them being noble but miracles do happen.  One thing I know is that Dell is out of the computer picture for me for some time.  I actually like apples…maybe an Apple the next time?  After all, I wouldn’t want to confuse anyone!

Update as of December, 2011…this situation actually DID work out!  I ended up taking a customer service manager’s advice and returned the new laptop, and bought it again!  ha!  He combined all three gift cards into one and I was able to buy my laptop “again” using the combined cards.  So it all did work out and I am happy, even though it was a pain to return all of this and start over.  So I guess the moral of the story is to stick to your guns, as long as you’re being honest, and a situation CAN work in your favor.

So what does this say about my parents?  Conscientious people.  Period.  Really cared about someone else including their kid (me) so that I had the lessons with the teacher that was recommended and who I wanted to study with.  Consistency breeds success.  That works in business too by the way!  Imagine moving your child from school to school every 3 years!  Think they’ll learn anything?  Maybe.  Not the same as with consistent study in the same place.

I don’t expect everyone to be a professional musician but I do expect people to be reasonable and actually think.  I’ve been teaching for 25 years and I have to say, I’m rather tired of it at this level.  I would honestly give my eye-teeth for 5 serious students that would study, evolve into good musicians and make me proud.  But the attitude people have now is just not worth my time most of the time.

So there!  All of you guilty parties have succeeded in frustrating your private music teacher into quitting!  Let’s see if I actually do.  Have to stay tuned to my blog!

I am currently taking a 6-lesson online course in Intuitive Healing and raising my own energetic level around me to do exactly what I am talking about above.  When we raise our energetic vibrational field around us we can manifest what we want and quickly.  Now of course, this sounds easier than it actually is.  ha!  Do I know that!  But once you start this journey you get bound and determined to change your life and how you think/feel period!  I noticed that after only 2 lessons, when I get nervous or fearful of not having enough money or mortgage or whatever, I feel even worse than I did before I started this course.  It’s like I’ve already lifted myself and to come down to those previous places is a huge fall!  It’s a wonderful exercise in listening to one’s own body and thoughts.  What do I really want in life and how can I get it and prosper no matter what the fools in federal government are doing or what the hyper-media is spewing?!  We can bypass that stuff in our lives and tap into ourselves to bring out and manifest our own desires and prosperity. 

This is not junk science.  We are spiritual beings in a physical body not the other way around.  We always have been.  What we need to do is personally regroup and tap into this for answers to our own life’s questions.  And I think with what is going on in the world today, we are all primed and ready for a new approach to personal happiness and prosperity.  I have taken my personal steps to make life work better for me.  I encourage anyone reading my blog to do the same.  Google “intuitive healing” or “meditation” for starters and you’ll be amazed at the ton of information that comes up to help you.  Don’t wait for the government to turn things around.  Do it for yourself.  You’ll be glad you did!

If you have more body than can be comfortably crammed into a strapless dress, please pick another style.  This goes for brides, bridesmaids and mothers.  All three of you!  Don’t forget that while you are busy getting married at the altar, we are looking at your back.  What and how much would you like us to see?  Think about that!  Long and hard!  And don’t forget those “tan lines.”  Nothing looks worse than a strapless dress with”phanton” straps due to a bathing suit while tanning.  Fill them in with self-tanner or something…fix that!  Remember, your photographer is hanging around as well taking those permanent pictures.

I have also begun to see the trend of street-length bridesmaid dresses.  Ok…that works too!  Well, how short though?  Here we go again.  If you have great legs, 20 inches above your knee might work.  If you don’t have great legs or they are a bit substantial, knee-length is as short as you dare…remember that photograher and that wedding album.  It’s permanent!

Mothers can be offenders as well although not as often.  Perhaps wedding-dress-wisdom comes with age?  Except one wedding I played, where the mother of the groom was quite substantial and decided to wear an off-the-shoulder beautiful Grecian style gown.  Well, when it takes forever for the dress to make it from the “off-the-shoulder” to the other side of the body…not good.  Way too much viewing going on.  I’m sorry to keep on about that photographer and how permanent this all is but…

Then there was the tall, willowy bride who wore a slim, willowy gown…and had absolutely no upper body fat!  And, she wore a strapless gown, which not only made her look sunken and emaciated but bent over as well.  This I blame on the sales associate in the bridal store.  Someone needed to tell this bride that she needed a different kind of style with more “shoulders” etc. to offset her slim-ness and to make her look more balanced and less emaciated…more built up.

This is your wedding day girls!  Think about it!  This particular day won’t happen again!  You can’t shop for a dress thinking “anything goes.”  Look at Kate Middleton (Prince William’s bride).  She was a bit constricted by protocol but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  Her dress turned out extraordinary, and of course it fit her to a T.  Now you don’t have to be the Duchess of Cambridge to get a good-fitting, flattering dress for yourself…one that can make you LOOK like a duchess.  You need “body smarts.”  And those sales associates need the cojones to tell the brides what doesn’t look good. 

I just assisted at a recent wedding (the “froo-froo” lady) and saw some fine dressing indeed!  The bride’s mom wore a simple, understated and elegant dress in a pale green, a color that suited her blonde hair just perfectly.  The groom’s mom was a bit challenging as she was a bit substantial.  She pulled it off…a flowing, summery jacket-dress in sea green and sea blue, with a sea blue wide-rimmed straw hat.  What a babe!  I couldn’t get over how fabulous she looked.  The bride was equally well-dressed…a spaghetti strap dress with a bodice of sequins and jewels, and a beautiful flowing bottom that had just enough train to follow her without getting caught around corners etc.  She fit into her dress perfectly and was just stunning!  Sooo, it CAN be done!

Whether you agree with me or not, I don’t care.  How do you like that?  ha!  I’ve seen enough in my life…literally!  This is your wedding day.  Brides, bridesmaids and mothers…please think long and hard about how you want to look on those oh-so-permanent pictures.  Don’t try to fit into a style that doesn’t work for you no matter how popular it is and don’t let a sales associate try to do it to you either.  You know how you look…and what looks good on you.  Use your low-gut-feeling and get the proper dress for your special day.  You’ll be happy you did especially when you reminisce years later looking at your pictures.  And if you did because you read my blog, then I’m happy to have helped!