Meditation on the Alto Part of He Shall Purify

I notice I haven't been writing much original work lately; but it's because all of my love is going elsewhere, and not into my craft. Where is my love going, you may ask? To the following (order does not indicate priority or % of love given):

• 89 13-year-olds
• My new choir
• Tuyet
• My personal trainer
• Jamwall
• My family

The 89 13-year olds have been draining much of my energy lately, but since I am not a mom, they are satisfying my mothering needs at the moment. This includes the 3-day "vacation" in Boston. Oh, I forgot to tell you one thing that scared me:

I quit my old choir because the 75-minute drive was spanking all the joy of singing out of me. My new choir rehearses closer to my house, and has a bitchin' lineup of concerts! At this moment I am supposed to be practicing He Shall Purify from The Messiah for tomorrow's rehearsal, but instead I am making peach cobbler and posting some original writing. I shall sing shortly!

I started talking to Tuyet a while back and have befriended her in the last few weeks. She is desperately lonely, adrift in a sea of self-searching, eternally optimistic, and clueless about how to be a woman. We've been IM'ing as I try to give her advice on her spiritual quest.

I've been working out 2x a week with my personal trainer and exercising a few days a week on my own. Consequently, my pants are falling down. Consequently to that, I am getting lots of attention from passers-by. Luckily, I am wearing pantaloons (most of the time).

Jamwall has infected my brain with his sick and errant ways. His depraved and condiment-laden mildly pornographic comments, text messages, and emails have finally won me over. I am his to defile as he wishes. I hear cowbell in my sleep!!! On the more human side, he seems to be quite charming and could even be trained to be lovable. We have decided to have a Caesar Salad contest, in which we perfect our recipes and then put them to the test. I don't know how well romaine holds up to being mailed.

My family has not been getting enough of my attention, because I have been so busy. But birthday season is upon us (2 weeks, people!) which gives us all an opportunity to be together in love and harmony. Also, diapers. And yummy meats, slowly cooked.

I am still wearing my toga, and here are some leftovers for you.

So, all my people, I have been terribly busy! I went to Manhattan this weekend, again ... this time I went to the Jivamukti Yoga School (worth the click just for the nice chant) where Uma Thurman's brother Dechen teaches, and where nobody eats any animal products of any kind, and glares at you if you don't keep mauna in the hallways (which I thought meant singing Billy Idol's version of Mony Mony, but I found out means "silence"), and ostracizes you if you wear your shoes. At Jivamukti, I learned that there are some positions I cannot get my body into, and that if I try, I will pay by having sore muscles for 2 whole days.

In New York, I also learned that some entire blocks can be closed off to foot traffic, because some sort of very important filming is going on. I also learned that the subways do not, in fact, smell like urine as I anticipated.

I've resurfaced just long enough to lay out some warmed-over Friday's Feast for you. I meant to do this Friday, but you don't mind the delay, do you? It's still fresh and tender. Bon apetit!

(click image to visit Friday's Feast)

Feast One Hundred & Thirty Six

Appetizer
Who is your favorite news anchor/reporter? Why?

I don't watch the news, but it used to be Peter Jennings.

Soup
Name 3 foods that are currently in your freezer.

Edamame

Natural casing hot dogs

Skinny Cow ice cream cones

Salad
If you were to have the opportunity to name a new town or city, what would you call it?

Vajayjayville

Main Course
What will most likely be the next book you read?

I abandoned Kite Runner to read A Confederacy of Dunces, so I will most likely return to that.

Dessert
What's the first thing you notice about the opposite gender?

I was going to say eyes, but that's not true. I do a full-body sweep, noting height and overall build in one giant eyeful. Then I leg-wrestle the guy to see if I can beat him. If I can't, I let him tie me to the wall and douse me with a firehose.