Elgan speaks
...and her words thunder across the land

No turkeys were hurt in the typing of this entry.

Thursday, Nov. 23, 2006
9:29 p.m.
Diaryland is strangely quiet. I suppose most American diarists are in a tryptophan-induced stupor just about now. Well, enjoy. I just hope you left room for the pumpkin pie. After all, isn’t that was Thanksgiving is really all about?

I went to the College’s fall musical offering this evening. My friend Vlad directs the ensembles, and she did pretty well with what she’s got. There was a quartet at first, Vlad on piano and three students: violin, flute and clarinet, who played terribly out of tune. It was painful to listen to. This was followed by a guitar ensemble which was actually pretty good. At least they were in tune, which is a remarkable achievement for however many guitars they were, eight, counting the electric bass, I think. Then we got to hear a couple of pieces played on two pianos, eight hands, which were delightful, and the vocal ensemble, an unevenly matched bunch of singers (four men to about 16 women), but they were so enthusiastic and having so much fun with the music that they really infected the audience with their joie. It was a mercifully short programme, and I’m really glad I went.

Earlier today we went through the M0zart on the risers. This is an incredibly difficult piece and the group is too large and the sopranos (because that is the only section I can really hear, being among them) suck. It was so much worse on Tuesday, but today Herr Doktor Professor moved us around a bit, and the blend is a bit better. It doesn’t help that so many choir members are ill. Half our section is coughing and sniffling. Not good. Then, at one point, my baritone suddenly walks out of the hall holding his nose. At a suitable break in the music I ran after him to see if he was all right. His nose started bleeding spontaneously and took a very long time to stop. The dry season has begun.

That reminds me. This is the 38th anniversary of my first menstruation. Go me. Don’t you think it’s about time I stopped already?

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