Huzzah!!!!!

Friday, June 20, 2008

Huzzah of a more personal nature:

After having heard nothing from the powers that be at Philharmonia Baroque, even though all my friends had, I finally found out that I've been offered a gig with them! The auditions were for substitute spots, not for the whole season, but still. I'll be singing their April 2009 concert: Handel's Wicked Queen (Athalia).

Yay!

I was getting frustrated this season that I wasn't singing enough, and that I have had so many unsuccessful auditions. Let's hope that this is the tide turning, and that I'll get more and more!!

I suppose it's good to blog about happy things, sometimes, right? Not just whatever is pissing me off!

Congratulations, Del and Phyllis!

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon got married last evening at San Francisco City Hall. Gavin Newsom himself officiated. These women have been waiting since 1953 to have their relationship validated.
Congratulations!!

Maggie has a very detailed history of their lives and activism up. These women are really inspirational. And to those gender essentialists who think that women are calm and nurturing and never aggressive, here's a little nugget:
"Del would leave her shoes in the middle of the room, and I'd throw them out the window."

hee.

Last night, my mom pointed out that when Gavin Newsom was elected, I really didn't like the idea of him as mayor. He was too much of a rich white boy to really get what San Francisco needed. He seemed like he was pandering to yuppies, and he was voting for incredibly unpopular legislation that San Franciscans hated ("Care not Cash" anyone??).

Then he seemed to get it together and try his hardest to work for the City and for human beings in general. He managed to change my mind very quickly. No, he's not perfect, and there are still major issues in SF. It was really heartening, though, to see the new mayor not only work towards equal rights for all Americans, but also really investigate the issues of violence and poverty that, despite being less visible and sound-bite-y than marriage equality, are just as prescient.

Changing my mind is hard, so good job Gavin.

Dinner Fail

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

So, I like cooking, and am pretty good at it.

Dinner tonight, however, sucked in a major way. First problem: I can't figure out how to cook brown rice so that it's not a gooey, smooshy mess. Every web site I looked at said 2 cups water to 1 cup rice, but based on the results, that can't be right. Most of the sites also said to cook it for about 40 minutes, but after just 20, it was nasty and soft.

HALP!!!

Also, it turns out that "Tasty Bite" Kashmir Spinach with Paneer cheese it totally gross. Spinach curry with paneer is one of my favorite Indian dishes, too, so I was extra disappointed. I knew I shouldn't have tried Indian food from a box.

Next time I'll just walk 1 block to the awesome and cheap curry house.....'Cept that I was trying to save money.

Oh well, now I can do the ever-so-British shrug that goes along with the phrase "Ugh...dodgy curry." If you look vaguely green and sick, your mates will ask first if you had a few too many pints the night before. If it's not that, it must be a dodgy curry.

Weekend tidbits

Saturday, June 7, 2008

The other day, while driving to rehearsal, which is about all I do these days, I listened to the speech that Hillary Clinton gave when it was pretty clear that she would not be getting the nomination. It was the speech that some criticized as not clearly a concession. The NPR analyst had a much more interesting take on it, which was that the speech was a job application essay for the post of Vice-President.
Either way, I noticed myself getting emotional while I listened. My skin got prickly and I had to blink back a few tears. Ever since, I've been trying to figure out why. I had a really, really difficult time trying to decide who to vote for in the primary, and my decision came only after a detailed check list for each candidate yielded one more check to one of them. I would never have declared myself a "Clinton Supporter" or an "Obama Supporter" because I think that they had equally good things to say, and some equally not-as-good-as-they-should-be things to say.
Why was I reacting so strongly, then? I think that one reason may have been that it was a really, really well written and well delivered address. We haven't seen much of that in the last, oh, eight years. Mainly, I think, I was really reacting to the crowd. This was a group of people who unequivocally supported their candidate and wanted to do anything they could to get her elected. They were enthusiastic, supportive, and passionate. I think I was kind of jealous of that. It would be nice to be so into a candidate that you'd cheer your heart out for him or her.
There's probably also some regret that, as Clinton herself said in her concession speech today, we didn't "shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling." Clinton's candidacy has proven that there is still loads and loads of sexism and misogyny in this country. Maybe the upside is that we know exactly who and where it's coming from, so hopefully we can figure out how to dismantle it.

To second (or 4th) what Sybil Vane at Bitch, PhD, Melissa McEwan at Shakesville, and Maggie Jochild at Maggie's Meta Watershed have said: Do not boycott Obama. If Clinton was your candidate, don't skip out just because she's not on the list anymore. It will not help the fight, it will help the opposition and that will be on your hands.