Mental Health Day

Have you ever had one of those days when you just needed a Mental Health Day away from work?

You know, one of those days when you wake up in the morning and just can't imagine going, no matter what? Possibly you've got some errands you really want to run, or some work to do around the house, too. All of which suggests that you might feel SO much better if you just spend the day doing things mainly for yourself.

Things like hanging out with the pup. And organizing some paperwork. And watching random TV (like "Dr. Who" on BBC America or "Gilmore Girls" on ABC Family). And possibly... just possibly... buying the first Christmas gift of the season. And maybe even going out and treating yourself to really bad (and, yet, totally craveable) food.

Really? You haven't?

Nah. Me, neither.

That Pre-Monday Feeling

Why is it that Sunday nights - even though for most of us they are the culmination of a couple of days of relaxation away from work - seem to result in high stress?

I spent Friday night at a concert. I was incredibly productive, yesterday, running a whole bunch of errands, doing some editing, and having a friend over for dinner last night. Today I spent about 6 hours editing, picked up one of the Scotland-travelling friends from the airport and took her home, then came home and had dinner of leftovers from yesterday's dinner (which was still quite good, except for the whole "almost inhaling some of the fried rice" thing).

And, yet, after having a mostly restful weekend I'm having kind of heartburn-y stress feelings. Yes, those feelings could be because of the leftover Chinese food with the fried rice I almost sucked into my lungs, but I suspect there's something more insidious than that. I suspect there's a bit of not wanting to go to work involved. And of not entirely looking forward to another week of Christopher being overseas.

Here's to next weekend - 4 days off, and Christopher home on Saturday night. (But... yeah... I'm popping some Pepto, just in case.)

Idina Menzel in Concert

I had intended to write about something completely different tonight. It was going to nicely tie-in to the whole "Friday Food" theme. And then I went to see Idina Menzel in concert with the Minnesota Orchestra.

I want to say that it wasn't my favorite concert ever. But it was just so good that I suspect I'll remember it for a lot longer than most concerts I've been to. Or, more correctly, she was just so good. She had such an earnestness about her that as an audience member I just had to love her. I had to go along for the ride with her stories, and enjoy the laughter of the patter as well as the tears in the songs.

I've seen performers who were great with the audience patter, but had no personality during songs (have any of you ever seen James Naughton in concert? Great voice. Wonderful patter between songs. NO personality when singing them.). And I've seen some who can, at times, over-emote because they don't have a cast and props to work with (love Bernadette Peters, but she's not subtle). And... yeah... I kind of feared for that a few times tonight, too. But so much of what went on around all of that was just so, well, so good.

She performed "No Day But Today" from Rent and asked the audience to sing the "echos" at the end. She did "Funny Girl" and "Don't Rain on My Parade" from Funny Girl. She did "I'm Not That Girl" from Wicked, and a blended "Love for Sale" and "Roxanne." She did "Poker Face" - the Lady Gaga song she performed not long ago on Glee. And, yeah, she got me to tear up (and start to reach for Christopher's hand, until I remembered he wasn't there) with "Look to the Rainbow" from Finian's Rainbow.

But what kept me going was all the other stuff she did. She spent time talking to Sarah Hicks (the conductor), talking about her clothes and asking where she was from - and really seeming to care. She fussed with a pin that was sticking in her side that she had apparently forgotten to pull out of the dress when it came back from the dry cleaners. And she actively included the ASL sign language interpreter (a guy by the name of Stephen) in her performance - even though he may have been happier being left out.

I realize that we probably could have had another 20 minutes of music if she hadn't talked to these people. But she talked about how this was the first time she'd ever had an interpreter on stage for a concert - and that it was so much fun to watch him. And she openly apologized to him when she was telling a story about breastfeeding her son and he had to sign that. (She also stopped in midsong during "Poker Face" to watch him do the gesture for "muffin" - no, not the baked goods kind.)

Early on, she stopped between songs to pose for pictures. And toward the end of the evening she actually shushed some audience members who wanted to cheer for her while she was making a serious point. She said that her agent had told her that she could play a venue like Orchestra Hall - with an orchestra behind her - and pack it. And that she hadn't believed him until she walked on stage. Part of me realizes that that whole thing could have been staged, but it just felt too real.

She wrapped up the evening with an amazing a capella "For Good" (which she did with no microphone) and "Defying Gravity" from Wicked. Then wrapped it all up in a bow with "Tomorrow" from Annie, which she said was for her dad in the audience (and was part of a story she had told in the first few minutes of the show).

I might just have to put her on my list of fantasy dinner guests. And I won't even make her be the entertainment. (Unless she wants to be.)

The "Over the River and Through the Woods" Season

It dawned on me this evening while I was taking the pooch for a walk that we have once again come to the time of year when we all start going "over the river and through the woods" to houses of all different kinds of relatives and friends.

And, although I'm not really ready for that time of year to be upon me, I have to admit that I love that it's almost here.

I love that two out of the three big holidays that come up in the next 6 or 7 weeks have nothing to do with anything other than being together. Sure, Thanksgiving is also a day for stuffing yourself with food, but mainly it's about being together. And New Year's Eve is supposedly about toasting in the new year, but it's really about being with people to enjoy and reflect, too.

Christmas... well... as much as it's about getting together with family and friends there can - at times - also cause stress and anxiety because of the forced joyfulness of it. And there's the gift giving which can be difficult for some people. And the day is mythic in the amount of pressure that is built into it. Which is probably why I like Advent (those 4 weeks before Christmas which each get their own candle on the wreath) better than the day, itself. But that's a whole different blog post.

I've started seeing the "home for the holidays" commercials showing up on TV. Part of me wants to be frustrated that they're already on, but with Thanksgiving next week, I'm willing to give some latitude. Especially since some of them are really well done. After all, everyone wants to have the next great Folger's "Peter Comes Home" commercial. (Oh, go ahead. Watch it again and get misty-eyed. It's okay.)

Here's to the season of reflection and reconnection. After all, ready or not, here it comes - over the river and through the woods.

What the...? Wednesday

I have had enough moments in the past week that fit the "What the...?" mold that I figured I'd share a few and make this a nicely alliterative posting.

- What the heck are people thinking when they park so that there is about half a car-length open behind them, and another half a car-length in front of them? Why do they not move one way or the other to give room for another full car? I know that this isn't always the fault of the "obvious" car (perhaps the car was properly parked and the people around it moved), but when the person is parked in the middle of a section of curb which is basically two car-lengths long, that's an issue.

- What do you call it when you get 4 things in a row correct? With three you can make a sports allusion with "trifecta" or "hat trick." But what is it with four?

- What makes otherwise mostly rational people become mean, belligerent, threatening, and all-around jerk-y when they're corresponding online? At work in the past week we've had two types of people - the ones who actually treat us like people, and the ones who don't seem to know how. Someone actually threatened to blackball us with all of the writers she knows because she felt that our customer service was bad and that we weren't being responsive enough. The problem with that assertion? She had received an email about 6 weeks earlier that she had never responded to. When that was pointed out, and an apology for any possible mis-givings was offered, she still acted like it was our fault. Whatever happened to the gracious apology?

- What is it about mid-level celebrities (ie local newscasters) that makes them feel like they ought to be acknowledged and/or fawned over?

- How do you get into a voicemail system without a password? And why does a voicemail system which is only accessible from home need a password, anyway?

And, finally...

- What the hell am I doing up at 11 o'clock at night on a day when the pooch got me up at 5:30 in the morning?

Well, at least I have an easy answer to that last one. G'night y'all.

Travel Tuesday, Or Not

It is, indeed, Travel Tuesday. But, as you may have noticed, I'm not travelling at the moment. Christopher is travelling with friends (currently in a castle in the UK), but I'm here at home taking care of the pup since I have no vacation time.

Which means that the most travelling I do is walking around the block twice a day, and driving back and forth to work. And although the morning misty skies have been pretty the past few days, it's not exactly the most thrilling situation where travel is concerned.

Sure. Last weekend I drove over to Saint Paul (on the really nasty early-storm roads). But that's been about it, lately.

So I've been letting my mind wander, again.

Earlier today I was contemplating a weekend jaunt to San Francisco for an evening all about ecology and sustainability. Or questing off to become an English tutor somewhere far away.

This evening I tried to imagine hanging out in Los Angeles at a pee-wee soccer game or two. And I just spent about 20 minutes between Baltimore and New York.

Now I'm back at home. On the couch with a pooped pup trying to get me to give up on the work I need to do and go to bed.

I suspect my mind will wander more places before the day wraps up. Perhaps as far as a castle in Scotland.

First Snow of the Season

They've been predicting the first snowfall of the season for a while, now. We've known it was coming this weekend. We've even known that we could easily get 6 inches of snow in our area.

Last year, we got our first major snow in October. And there was snow on the ground pretty much constantly all the way through to March. So we started late this year - but hopefully it won't stick around an extra month in the spring.

I grew up in South Dakota, so I knew about snow before I moved out here from Baltimore a few years ago. Even though I admit I had really gotten used to Baltimore snows - which are usually mixed with rain and melt away within a few days. And, on major snow days (basically anything more than an inch), everything shuts down. It's great.

Out here, though, I've gotten mostly back into the swing of snow. I know that nothing closes due to snow. I know that people drive like maniacs while driving through inches of freezing precip (these are the same people who drive 10 miles per hour if it drizzles and it's 70 degrees out). And I know that shovelling is one of the things that goes with living in a house.

As you may have noticed, Christopher is currently away. So today - after getting glared at by the dog for making her go outside to go to the bathroom in the snow - I ran some errands (I swear I wasn't driving maniacally) and then came home to clear the sidewalks and driveway.

The first snow of the year is typically kind of a fun one to shovel. It's usually just a couple of inches, and it moves pretty quickly. Yeah, not today.

Today's snow is HEAVY. It's wet. It's pulling down tree branches around town - and I even saw a full tree down in one neighborhood. The snow is falling off the trees in clumps the size of snowballs. I cleared off all of the shrubs in the yard, but I fear some of them may have permanent damage.

Then I headed to the garage to start up the snow blower. It started on the first try, and did well enough as I cleared half of the driveway and about 20% of the sidewalk. Then the thicker snow on the next section of the driveway and sidewalk started to plug the blower's spout. And I started to have to shake it out ever foot or so.

I eventually - after a few choice words which I'm glad no one was around to hear - gave up on the snow blower and moved to the shovel. It took me another half hour to clear the sidewalks, and I was soaked from the inside out and the outside in by the time I was done.

Even if some of it melts this week, I think I'll be feeling this first snow for a while.