On Saturday, Eric and I took Ivy, Olivia and Mike to see GUSTER at the Berkeley Community Theatre and we had a great time. Olivia got to take a picture with opening act Tristan Prettyman. Mike and I now have an inside joke (hard to describe, but it involves punching your own eye.) (Told you it was an inside joke.) And we all discovered that even if you hate one of the opening acts (Nada Surf, in this case) it is possible to have a terrific time at a concert by merely PRETENDING to have a terrific time. We were feeling kind of bad, because many of the folks around us were really into Nada Surf and we were just sitting there all blah. So we decided to get play along. We were jumping around, line dancing (don't ask), screaming and requesting songs. By the time the set ended, we had worked ourselves into Nada Surf frenzy and completely bonded with our seatmates. I think this is something to think about in other areas of life also...it is possible to go from having a crappy time to having the the time of your life by basically forcing yourself to behave as if you are having a great time.
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense, Siobhan.
Guster was as terrific as we hoped. I'm sure you've never heard of Guster, that's okay. They are one of those groups that never quite seems to make it big. If you've ever heard a song of theirs on the radio, it would probably be "The Fa Fa Song" and I realize that title doesn't exactly scream "must-hear music."
Anyway, these guys are awesome musicians and I'm always fascinated by the percussionist, who plays most of the instruments without drum sticks. Even the snares and cymbals. It's cool, though I imagine he's pretty bloody by the end of the show.
During the show, my family seized the opportunity to mock my birth defect. (I know, you weren't aware of my birth defect. That's because I am a proud person who demands to be treated just like everyone else. Still the tragic truth is....I cannot hold up three fingers. My attempts to do so make me look like an arthritic crone. I can hold up four fingers. Two's not a problem. But three...well, it's kinda sad to see. It's not like it affects my everyday life or anything, but when it comes to a song that features a line like "four-three-two-one" and the whole audience flashes their digits, I am at a definite disadvantage. It also hindered my cheerleading abilities, which were so lame to begin with that I really couldn't afford to have them further hindered.)
After the show we drove Mike home to Walnut Creek and I guess it must've been pretty late because we spent most of the drive giggling about Eric and I moving to Rossmoor and gumming wieners. It was hilarious at the time, I swear.
In sharp contrast to my wonderful times with my delightful family, my life at work has turned to shit and it appears that most of the trouble is totally my fault. Starting with last Sunday, when I did the big no-no, every City Clerk's worst nightmare, and forgot to post a City Council meeting. Just to make the whole thing more embarrassing, this was a meeting where the Council was to interview candidates to be my potential new boss. I'm sure they're really looking forward to working with me. So THAT was a big pile of crap I stepped in. I had to rush down to work and post another meeting for 24 hours hence to take the place of the meeting I forgot to post.
Come in Monday morning, find out that while I posted the upcoming meeting with the correct code section reference, I used the wrong title description. grrr. Luckily no one noticed that, or they were just kind enough not to mention it. The fact that the numbers on the agenda went 1,2,3,5...that WAS noticed.
Tuesday morning I have to post another meeting for Thursday, which I do. Except that I post it for the wrong time. At least this time there's plenty of time to correct the error. By now, I am feeling really incompetent. It's like everything I touch turns to garbage.
Tuesday afternoon we have a little situation regarding a former Councilmember, an appeal and a fee that may or may not be required to file said appeal. I am tasked with creating a paper trail of our appeal fees history. I get lucky and find reference to a 2000 City Council meeting where our master fee schedule was approved (as an aside, my city has basically NO electronic records. So all this research is done the old fashioned way.) Anyway... so.... aha! a resolution that should help me follow the trail. Go into our scary old fireproof room where we keep all the city records (but no longer keep the bones of an actual corpse uncovered during a sewer plant project) to pull the resolution. It's gone. MY ORIGINAL FREAKING RESOLUTION IS GONE.
Fast forward to me crying on the floor of the storage room. What the hell is going on? Why can't I do anything right? I'm feeling very humbled, because just days earlier I was thinking "hey, I'm starting to get the hang of this City Clerk stuff. This is cool." Currently, I can't even count to five properly.
Fast forward to the City Council meeting. 10 minutes before the meeting starts, our friendly local librarian strolls in. I think "hmm. wonder why Maya is here? She doesn't normally come to our meetings. I wonder which agenda item she's interested in?"
Gee, I don't know Siobhan. Could it possibly be that she is receiving a proclamation that evening? A proclamation that I was supposed to write and prepare for the meeting.
You betcha.
So this hasn't been the best week of my life. I don't know what's up with me. I'm thinking that maybe I can blame it on pre-menopause? Stress? Not enough sleep? I don't know, but I sure hate feeling like an idiot all the time.
At least the resolution mystery is revealed to not be my error. I only found this out last night, at the Council meeting, when someone turns up with a photocopy of the original resolution. I grab this person and say "where did you get this?" Apparently it was emailed to the individual by a fellow staff member. A fellow staff member who could possibly have a somewhat biased view of the former councilmember who filed the appeal. A fellow staff member who I asked DIRECTLY IF THEY HAD SEEN THE ORIGINAL AND THEY DENIED ALL KNOWLEDGE.
Not that I'm bitter.
On a lighter note, I've been spending a lot of time on youtube. The stuff you can find on there! Like the entire Captain EO film (of course it's not in 3-d like it was at Disneyland once upon a time), and the opening credits for the 1970's PBS show "Zoom". (write Zoom, Z- double o-m, Box 3-5-0, Boston Mass, 0-2-1-3-4...Send it to Zoom!"
It's great fun. Olivia somehow stumbled across a series of videos featuring a young girl named Nia. Nia's mother has posted maybe 20 or so videos of her little darling singing. The kid is only 4 years old (2 in some videos) but her mother is apparently hell-bent on making little Nia sing wildly inappropriate songs for the camera. The funny thing is, the kid actually might have some talent. It's hard to tell with a toddler, but she seems to have a decent tonal memory and can carry a tune anyway. And she's certainly not shy.
I have this image of poor little Nia, trapped in her home with her crazy mother who makes her stand in front of closet doors, clutching a pretend microphone and crooning "Give it to me baby" by Rick James, or even weirder "Strange Fruit" by Billie Holliday.
Anyway, if you get a chance, visit the link below and check Nia out. The link is 4 year old Nia singing "Piece of My Heart" by Janis Joplin. Although it isn't her best vocal performance, there's a moment starting about 3 minutes and 50 seconds that's fascinating. Make sure you watch it until 4 minutes and 25 seconds. It's worth it, I swear.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfM4sGIsoc4
While you're there, check out some other Nia clips. The Billie Holliday one is truly bizarre.
1 comment:
Vonnie - All I can say is that I think you are awesome. Love ya!
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