Friday 24 April 2009

LOL

A few years ago, I was due to give a talk in church. I told my roommate Margaret that I was going to have a secret theme, and see if anyone noticed it. The theme was to be the Sound of Music, and I was going to incorporate as many references as possible, for example, starting sentences with phrases like “I have confidence...” and “A wise woman [the abbess] once said “these walls were not meant to shut out problems. You have to face them. You have to live the life you were born to live.””

Margaret’s response was, “you do know that not everything in life has to be a joke, right?”

OK, so I didn’t go with the theme, but I think I did mention the Sound of Music once, just to Show Her.

Now, last week, my brother’s family talked in church--I wasn’t able to go, so they all gave me a synopsis of their talks, youngest to oldest, and before my brother said anything, my sister-in-law said, “and of course, Mike got up and thought he was a comedian.” He gave me a copy of his talk to read, and it is actually excellent (be obedient! It’s better in the end), but it’s true, there are a lot of laughs there. I told him what Margaret had told me all those years ago, and he had the same reaction as me.

“Huh.”
and then.
“Really?”
and then
“Hahahahaha.”

And then we proceeded to make jokes about it. How bad is it that that phrase itself has become a bit of a giggle to us? Do we D’s use humour as a crutch? Is that a problem?

So today, I was talking to my brother and happened to cry a bit, and apologised for being all emotional in the middle of his Friday and he said “It’s fine, I’m used to it,” and then sniggered and said “I HAVE to remember that not everything in life is a joke,” and then we both laughed and commented on how it probably wasn’t good that we’ve actually had to ponder that concept as rather a novel one.

So my two thoughts on this topic are:
That’s the second time that someone has said “I’m used to it” in regards to me crying this week (I’m really totally fine, just being a bit of a girl), so maybe I need to get a grip on the waterworks. And,
This whole “life isn’t a joke,” thing? I’m not so sure.

I don’t for one second claim to be a comedian, and, like Elizabeth in P&P, I hope I never laugh at what is wise or good, but whims or inconsistencies do divert me, and I laugh at them whenever I can. And there are a whole lot of whims and inconsistencies in all of us, right? So, I get Darcy’s and Margaret’s point, and I don’t want to be the girl whose first object in life is a joke, and secret themes in sacrament talks really isn’t my style, but I do think there are very few occasions that CAN’T be laughed about in some way and aren’t a little better for it.

Amen?

p.s. I should probably just mention here that Margaret is hilarious, tons funnier than I will ever be. She is also wise.

Monday 20 April 2009

Finished!

I’m not sure if that title describes our accomplishment or my emotional state.

For the last few weekends, my Sistrines and I have been recording for our upcoming CD, and we are DONE. Expect me to be dropping lots of unsubtle references to that on here and FB as soon as it’s floggable.

Recording involved being in a smallish room in close contact with twelve other women with no air-conditioning all Friday evening and all Saturday for three weekends straight, singing phrases like “ooh....oh” over and over and over and over and over again and being told that my vowels were wrong. How fun does that sound? And we’ve actually come off pretty easily--Rowan and the band are still recording away.

But it was fun, sorta. At least, rewarding. Our performance standard is going to be raised a notch as a result of the intense repetition. And we managed to avoid catfights and hair-pulling pretty consistently. Sure, my fellow-commuters and I considered having a “no speaking” rule in the car to ward off being sick of each other, and we had sore backs from standing all day long (thank you, yoga stretches), and there were a few times when I wanted to snap my headphones in half and make for the door, and I’m not experiencing any wistfulness for being a real musician, BUT having a group working hard together to get something right is a good feeling. And hearing even the rough version made the perfectionism worthwhile for me. In fact, when we hear the final version, we’ll probably think we weren’t perfectionist ENOUGH. Well, maybe. I’m not suggesting we go back and re-record or anything.

Dinner Convo.

It was a couple of years ago that Gwyneth made some comments about Britons being more civilized than you Yanks, and how we are very refined and talk about much more erudite things at dinner parties than say, work and money. It’s true, I was reminded of that this weekend.

Me: Have you watched DWTS lately? [Aside to teenage niece] There’s a really hot French guy on there.
Sis-in-Law: No, but isn’t the Bachelor chick on there?
Georgie Girl: The one who got...
Me: Dumped! Yes! She’s really good
Mum: What happened?
Me: OK, I’ve never watched this program, but the Bachelor supposedly fell in love with generic leggy brunette and asked her to marry him. Then weeks later he dumps her on TV for another generic leggy brunette..
S-in-L: No, she was a blonde!
Me: Even better. Holly, or something.
G: Molly.
SiL: Isn’t she dating the host of DWTS?
G: Ew, he’s...
Me: Too old. Tom Bergeron? No, don’t think so.
Mum: Holly?
G: Molly.
Me: No, the dumped chick.
SiL: Oh, I think it’s her partner she’s dating.
Me: Tony? No, he’s married.
SiL: Well, she’s dating someone.
Me: And now everyone is all “THAT shows HIM” about the Bachelor, because she’s a good dancer.
Mike: I bet he’s kicking himself. If only he’d realised she could dance.
Me: Exactly.
SiL: We’re going to sign you up for the Bachelorette.
Me: Thanks a LOT.
Mike: What? You could pick from all those great guys.
Me: Yes, I’m sure I’d meet such quality people on a reality show.
SiL: Don’t you want a trip to NZ?

G: And the special OVERNIGHT STAY?
Me: Well, when you put it like that. I do want to go to NZ.
Littlest Niece: But if someone’s going to be my uncle, I want to see what he’s like first.
Me: Sweetie, if that happens, I promise you will meet him first and have a say in it.

Saturday 4 April 2009

You Are the Light

Sometimes, you just have to be there. My friend, colleague, and fellow yoga bunny Kim told me earlier this week about glowga, a special class at Centered City Yoga. Naturally, I said I’d go.

What’s glowga, I hear you scream?

The idea behind it was that we are in a dark place in the universe right now, but light is persistent, and often the light comes from ourselves and others. There is a divine light within that can help us through difficult times.

We kitted ourselves out in shorts and tops--the advice was the more skin, the better. Our yoga instructor handed out glow-in-the-dark body paint and glowing plastic string, and we proceeded to decorate ourselves and each other with swirls and dots and other designs. The paint looked and felt a lot like glue, and didn’t seem to be very glowy, so I was a bit worried that we’d got the wrong bottle. But when the lights went out, it was fantastic! Some people were polka dotted, Kim had a big heart on her thigh and an om on her back, the guy in front of me had one big spiral on his torso, and I was a mishmash of swirls and streaks, with my midriff glowing particularly brightly. We did yoga by the light of each others' bodies, with musicians playing as we moved. About halfway through, our instructor noticed that we were fading, so he turned on the blacklight for us to recharge, and we danced to Staying Alive as our glow brightened.

It was hot and sweaty and we stuck to our mats and flaked glow paint til my mat looked like the milky way, and I got some in my eye during shoulder stand, and I found I have terrible balance in the dark, and then there were strobe lights and we danced again, and then we chanted and sang along to the music, and then did savasana as we were sung to, and our instructor quoted poetry and Leonard Cohen to us, and I loved loved loved every second.

The instructor seemed to enjoy it too, as he says he’s going to do it again. I will be there. You should too. Namaste.