yesterday in the mail was yet another letter addressed to the dead man who, while alive, resided in my house before i bought it. i get 3 or 4 pieces of mail for him each month. you'd think that some of these groups would get a clue. like the VA... don't they keep track of their members?? it's also clear that president bush doesn't keep a close eye on his contributors because yesterday a signed photograph of the first couple arrived for the dead man in my mailbox.
i was going to post the photo here, but i decided it's really not worth the pixels. basically, it's a photo of both dubya and laura, umcomfortably -yet casually- posed somewhere in texas. the grass is green and his belt buckle is larger than a president's should be. he is squinting a little and both of their signatures are at the bottom, just below their "personal" greeting to the dead man that used to live in my house. upon close inspection it looks like the whole thing was spit out of a mediocre inkjet printer.
along with the photo, of course, is an appeal for money, as well as a brief summary what he'd like to do with the dead man's donation. "make america safe from terrorists" was my favorite bullet point. geah.
look, if you really want to see this thing, i'll post it. otherwise it's headed for the circular file in a few hours.
and no, i'm not freaked out about living in a dead man's house. a republican dead man, though... that's something to worry about. i wonder if that what the tree-through-the-roof was all about... some kind of warning from above to stop funding democratically-supported environmental causes. i wonder what would happen if a republican ghost knew i supported planned parenthood...
after about 10 days' worth of attempts, i finally watched "seabiscuit". that makes 2 horse movies in 2 days. i've never really considered horses before. i mean, i see them and think, "oh, there's a horse" and that's about it. i never really gave them much thought. but after 2 horse movies i now have a desire to get to know one. just to see if that man/beast bond is all it's cracked up to be. i have a hard time imagining it, though.
i remember riding a particularly stubborn horse at girl scout camp about 25 years ago. that left some unpleasantness in my horse-memory-center. i also enountered a few horses at the southfork ranch in dallas, and they seemed a little stand-offish. i guess i just focused my love for animals on cats and moved on.
the most exciting thing that happened yesterday was that i finally, after years of wondering, visited "the house of better lighting": the pine state electric store on washington street, between trinity & markham. i was floored by their selection. when one of the friendly guys approached to ask if i needed help i couldn't stop myself from blurting, "these chandeliers are so much better than home depot's!!" he smiled the sweetest smile i've ever seen on a salesman.
their prices seem very reasonable, too, and they are even willing to negotiate. so, yay! i see some funky-fresh lighting fixtures in my future. i need 2 for the kitchen and one for the dining room... and maybe one or two for the front hall...
finally, i'm sorry to report there were no nelisonisms last night. it was our first rehearsal in the carolina theater (the concert is sunday) and alan actually gave us all a bit of a scare when he suddenly stopped conducting, stepped backward on the podium and held on to the railing for what seemed like dear life. the musicians were all deathly silent until one 2nd violinist meekly said, "alan, can i get you some water?" he said no and slowly got back into position to conduct. it turns out he was just out of breath and taking a quick break, but it still scared us all. alan is easily in his mid-70s and we all worry about how much he exerts himself during these rehearsals. (he later told me, "it's so hard to get them to give me a good run-through of that firebird suite that i feel like i have to beat time twice as hard as usual, and i just had to stop and catch my breath.")
here's to hoping he has a nice, restful week and the musicians present him with a stress-free concert on sunday.
Posted by xta at March 10, 2004 01:34 PM | TrackBack