Rejoicing with the Truth

*yawn* So sleepy! I got home last night and found that while the fan was going and air was coming out of the vents, it wasn't cool air. The downstairs was still at right what it should be (it was only 84 F yesterday), but the sewing room upstairs was 94.  So I called someone I know, got a recommendation for someone else fairly close to me, and set it up for him to come later in the evening. I opened some windows, cracked open the garage door, and turned on the ceiling fans, while I ate downstairs and got back to work on the sheer dress.  The main part of the house warmed up about 2 degrees, but the upstairs fell to 86 by the time the repair man arrived after 9.  He was a great guy; retired from my company just over 10 years ago, and super nice. I followed him around and held the flashlight, both inside and out. Eventually he replaced a wire outside and that did it! It was still almost 11 by the time we were done.  So it was a late night, and needless to say I did not wash and set my hair. ;)


In other news, I will be an aunt very shortly. :) My sister-in-law Sarah was due on Sunday, however... no Baby Bruno or Brunette* yet!

* Facetious name by Bro. No. 2 and Heather. Not sure how Bro. No. 1 and Sarah feel about that!


In Hello Dolly news, Monday night's rehearsal went really well.  We've worked on 4 songs, in 2 or 3 rehearsals, and they're sounding very good. Beginning to memorize, and definitely working on facial animation and expression. One of the assistant directors (white-haired professor lady - a sort of director emeritus - I'll call her D.E.) singled out two people who were doing it right - and I was the first one she pointed two. That makes me happy! It's all due to my mom. Early in my dancing "career", probably when I was about 10, she showed me how to make sure my hands were under control and, more importantly, that I was smiling big. I learned that lesson well, so when I got into choir as a senior, it was second nature to put on that smile and project "I'm having FUN!" in front of an audience.  It's both easier and harder to do it when singing than dancing, but I'm glad I'm doing it right!

On another note, me and the other highest-voice lady were successfully able to sustain the D flat note at the end of one of the songs. And then the musical director decided they weren't needed!  In the past that would have bothered me, because I love high notes and this particular director is notorious for arbitrarily leaving them off or minimizing them. But Dolly has plenty of other high notes just in these four songs, so I'm happy. And I know now that I CAN hit and hold a D flat in concert, which is most of the battle.


I don't think I mentioned that I'm getting my first crown on Friday. I've got fairly healthy teeth - yellow, but strong and healthy - but this is a big cavity in my first adult molar. I got it when I was little, and I think before my family had dental insurance. It has already been replaced once (with silver, so that was a long time ago as well), and now other parts of the tooth have started to chip away around it. So it's time. The plan is to head to Dallas after that and try to find fur for the court dress. That might be interesting. :p

1. Singing a fun piece from the cantata for the special music during the service. I'm firmly in the camp that [almost] any song can be improved by being sped up, so I tend to approve of quick-tempo songs. This was definitely one such.

2. Lunch (at Whataburger!) with the parents, Bro. No. 1 & ladylilac12, and another friend from church.

3. Talking to Bro. No. 2 on the phone. It was a good conversation. I'm so excited for when he and H. arrive in town on the 26th!

4. Finishing one part of H's presents. I'm not sure yet if this is for her birthday (the 23rd) or for Christmas.

5. Discovering that I think I really LIKE embroidery.  I had a blast doing the embroidery on Taylor's mitts, and then I just did my initials on something else. My initials! In backstitch! That's all! But it was SO FUN.  Like, actively fun.  Moreso than knitting or crochet, or even regular handstitching. I moderately enjoy non-fiddly handsewing, but it doesn't give me the "This is fun!" rush I've gotten from the embroidery.  As a result, the 18th Century Embroidery Techniques book is on my wishlist. :)

This one from seawasp. 


1) What author do you own the most books by? Not sure. With the weekend's acquisitions, I have 32 Saint books, so that's probably the highest.  The Agatha Christie and Nancy Drew collections surpass that, but both are jointly owned by my mother and I. And the majority of the Louis L'Amours are Nathan's.

2) What book do you own the most copies of? With far too little space for the books, I don't like having multiple copies of many things unless there's a reason for a particular edition. I have duplicates of some Austens and Sherlock Holmes, but I think the winner is Bibles, with five. In length-of-ownership order, I have the Living Bible I was given for Christmas in... 1989, I think; the NIV I got for Xmas in 1992 or 1993; a slimmer NIV, this time from the church, upon my high school graduation in 2001; an 1855 pocket-sized KJV I bought on ebay while in college to use for 1860s reenacting, and which I often carry to church because it's the smallest; and the NIV study Bible given to me by Mr. and Mrs. Klob when I graduated from college in 2005.

3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions? Nope. Sometimes I try to avoid it in my writing, but only when it doesn't sound too contrived.

4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with? Oh, I love Richard Diamond, but that's hardly a secret; and he is a radio character, not a book character. There's plenty of others I could love, but none come to mind right now when I want them.

5) What book have you read the most times in your life? Err.  I never keep count. The Bible, Ben-Hur, Alistair MacLean's Where Eagles Dare and The Golden Rendezvous, Rifles for Watie, maybe Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime and The Man in the Brown Suit; probably lots more. I love to re-read.

6) What was your favourite book when you were ten years old? Nothing stands out; probably a Nancy Drew. I read all of Mom's before I was 8, and I added to the collection for years.  I also loved The Black Stallion; it's one of the earliest books I remember reading, certainly before first grade.  I would have read it to death except that I never owned it.

7) What is the worst book you’ve read in the past year? Not sure. Probably the book I stumbled across on Project Gutenberg that ends unhappily, with the central character going rather nuts - after the reader's been suckered into really really rooting for him and the woman. I loathe books wherein the main character(s) really, truly are insane.

8) What is the best book you’ve read in the past year? Impossible to say. Thanks to Project Gutenberg and Google Books, it's a choice among hundreds.

9) If you could force everyone you know to read one book, what would it be? I can't think of one. People tend to hate what they are forced to do. I sure do!

10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for Literature? Not a clue.

11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie? There was something I was thinking about recently, but I'm dashed if I can think of it now... I would love to see the Lensman books made into good movies, but there's No Way In The Universe that's going to be done acceptably.

12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie? There's an ocean of drivel that should never be given the shred of dignity conferred by movie release. And then there's the Lensman books, as I just mentioned; honestly, I would cringe if I heard they were being filmed, because they wouldn't be right.

13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character. I don't remember my dreams. This phenomenon has long been a cause for passing puzzlement and frustration.

14) What is the most lowbrow book you’ve read as an adult? I have no pretense to any brow. This question and all its implications annoys me.

15) What is the most difficult book you’ve ever read? Maybe the textbook for discrete mathematics, although I don't remember a thing about it. It's more likely the first programming text I had, since it hopelessly confounded me for the first fourteen minutes and put me to sleep within the fifteenth.

16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you’ve seen? Neither The Tempest nor King Lear is obscure, methinks.

17) Do you prefer the French or the Russians? As authors, neither. Judging from what I've read, French, for the sake of Victor Hugo and Jules Verne.

18) Roth or Updike?  Who?

19) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers? Who?

20) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer? Shakespeare. I haven't read enough Milton to know for sure, though.

21) Austen or Eliot? Austen.

22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading? The biggest gap would probably be the so-called "Lost Generation" writers, both American and British. I have little-to-zero interest in the worldview of those writers or the content of their writings, and no plans to ever close that "gap" in my reading.  I'm not embarrassed about this gap.  I do wish I had read more 19th-century literature back when I had more time and less tired brain cells, but it's still a strength in my reading and I'm planning to continue.

23) What is your favourite novel? Another impossible question. I'd probably have a list of 50, even if I limited favorite authors to one book. The ones I've read multiple times are there.

24) Play? The translation of Molière's Tartuffe, or The Hypocrite in my high school lit book is hilarious and made of awesome. (So is Wishbone's version of The Hypochondriac!)  I want to find out which translator did it and get Tartuffe, and others if possible, by him.

25) Poem? Not sure. Maybe If.

26) Essay? Either "On Faerie Stories" or one of C. S. Lewis's writing ones, such as "On Writing for Children" or "On Science Fiction."

27) Short story? I have no idea. There are way too many to tell, especially considering the SF ones.

28) Work of non-fiction?  The Bible. Aside from that, Costume in Detail. I've pored over the drawings in that book for years, and it still never fails to fascinate me.

29) Who is your favourite writer? I can't pick one. Alastair MacLean is waay up there.

30) Who is the most overrated writer alive today? No idea. I read little that was published in the last 10, 20, or 30 years.  I'd take a stab at Stephanie Meyer, but for all the raving I haven't heard anyone actually building up her writing.  (I don't seek out such discussion, though.)

31) What is your desert island book? Swiss Family Robinson.

32) And… what are you reading right now? LJ, with forays to Wikipedia (drama on the Lost Generation talk page, ahoy!), Amazon, and my tags list, to garner links.