Thursday, March 29, 2012

Dear LA Classic Rock Stations,

It is not necessary to continue playing the Doors. Yes, they were from here. Yes, they were a great band. But I have heard every single Doors song enough to last me for the rest of my life. Give it a rest already. You know what they say: absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Thanks,
Irene

P.S. Except "Peace Frog." I like that one.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Detail: vagary: detail: detail: curse word: detail: non-sequitur.

I spent my morning running around, meeting with people I already met with, sending emails about topics I'd already sent emails about to people who said they would do something but who neglected to inform me that they would be involving other people... who didn't do the something that I asked the first person to do.

Yesterday afternoon, I got an email from an executive who's been working on the Wellness Fair I have been largely responsible for bringing to to my deparment. Does that sentence look right to you? It looks wrong. Anyway, when we were in the inital stages of planning, I met with the guy in charge of the building in which we want to have the fair. It's here at my work location but a bit of a jog up a hill, about a 10 minute walk away. Also in the meeting was a woman from [somewhere else] who has done this many, many times before. In fact, the guy we were meeting with is the guy she works with on her other events, at other departments. They know each other well enough that they hugged before our meeting. So we went over all the things we needed to go over; mainly, that due to possible funky weather in March, she wanted to hold the event inside his building. Not a problem, he said: we can just move all this [junk] out! Can we get parking, she asked? Sure! He said.

It was a great meeting, congenial, fun, eye opening. Then came the email from yesterday afternoon, which said that the cool dude I met before was estimating that in order to move the [junk] from his building, it was going to cost "$4000 to $6000." Apparently this exceeds the budget by about $3000 to $5000.

All fuckin' hell broke loose. Suddenly there were about 5 more loose ends. People were having selective memory loss (though luckily I have a ton of emails to back up any "he said, she said" type situations). People who were supposed to be informed, weren't.

I'm not sure that any of this was my fault. Way back at the beginning of this little adventure, I received permission for all the planning this would require from my boss's boss, and his boss (in writing, in an email). In that email, he instructed the lady who is doing most of the forgetting to help me out. Still, it was really nerve racking, because there was no way we were going to be able to pay that (insane) amount.

This morning, the woman who plans these events and I went up to talk to the first guy again. He explained about talking to the woman who forgot things, and he explained that dollar amount (which, face to face, suddenly was much, much lower). He also said it might be hard because his crew has about 4 jobs already scheduled for the date of our event (which he's known about for about a month; he never mentioned any of this before). He's a sweet man but he likes drama, I think. During our meeting, the woman and I kept giving each other the "panicked" face. Hers is good. I've never seen mine but I can imagine what it looks like. We straightened out what we could straighten out without the higher ups (who were all in the same executive meeting; of course they were), and then I went down to talk to my boss's boss's secretary to see if I could see or talk to him sometime today.

He seems like a nice guy and for a long time I really liked him and had no problem talking to him. But my boss has said a few things that have worried me in the past, and I've done that thing I try not to do, which is to let someone else change the way I feel about somebody, even though my experiences have all been pretty much positive. Now he makes me insanely nervous. I asked his secretary if he might have 10 minutes to talk to me, and she put me on his schedule for 3:30, but when I got back to my desk, he called me within about 15 minutes. I was surprised. I explained everything to him, and apologized for bothering him. He made a few calls and then called me back in about 10 minutes with a solution (we will do whatever it takes, pay whatever it takes, make whatever effort necessary to have this event take place). He sent out an email to all the players, and reminded them that they need to work with me and the other woman to get this thing going, no matter what. I think I'm just going to go back to the original way I felt about him, and let her issues with him be her own baggage. Having nerves with someone like him is acceptable but I have no reason not to trust him, so I'm just going to trust him.

I felt much better afterwards but even more so after I went to Chipotle for a big-ass burrito. Did you know they have brown rice now, and that if you ask them, they will make your burrito with 50% brown and 50% white rice? It's a good day to find that out.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Dumbest, funnest song ever

This morning on my way to work, I heard Van Halen's song "Panama" (it came on right after Missing Person's song "Mental Hopscotch," so you know I was listening to Jack FM), and I had a brilliant idea:

Somebody needs to arrange that song for flute choir. I've had this idea in my head forever that it would be cool to try to set up a (totally goofy) one-man band type thing - a flutist could play bass drum and maybe do some other things with the left foot... but the idea of a full-on flute choir playing "Panama," one of the, let's face it, stupidest songs ever written (what does "Panama!" even refer to? It's a love song? About a girl? About a car? A car called "Panama"? What?! The lyrics make no sense) cracks me up. It could be amazing. I mean, I'm certainly not the biggest Van Halen fan in the world, but their music is fun and silly and I was driving down the 710 when I heard this flute choir thing in my head... I mean, I'm not an arranger or composer, and my skills in that arena are zero, but here are my ideas (I'm getting this in writing in case someone else steals my mojo):

The melody (David Lee Roths's vocals) should be a full-on section -- at least 4 flutists, mostly in unison (though I think his voice is at least doubled, so there are probably some opportunities for some harmonies). They also get that cool "Panama!" part in the middle where the solo is ending.

The bass line is pretty monotonous but bass flutists are, I think, pretty used to that (sorry, guys). They're not all footballs, anyway, there are some eight notes and counting involved. I just looked at this and I have no idea what the weird numbers over the notes mean, but at least they get a solo in bar 74, and there's a little rhythm going on.

The cool part (which I, of course, envision myself playing) is the solo guitar line. Wow! I've never tried to listen and learn a rock and roll guitar line on flute (I can do this with some things but I was better at it when I was younger and had more time to fool around on my flute), but I think it might be really fun. The harmonic sections (if that's even what what he's doing is called? I am not up on my guitar terminology) would be AWESOME. I mean, Eddie is kind of a genius on guitar but I think that stuff is doable? (uh... I think) on flute. It should be a solo, except for the parts that clearly will require a secondary flutist to provide some harmonies, and maybe a little duet in there too.

The rhythm guitar parts could be covered by a couple of other flutists; there are chords and harmonies that would need to be in there, too, to keep it interesting.

But see, here's the best part: the person playing the guitar line could also sit there and play bass drum with their right foot. The bass drum part appears to be mostly one quarter note per beat a lot of the time, and I mean, come on, if you can read music, playing that part shouldn't be too hard... right? AND there's that little bit of double bass drum at the end... that could be TOTALLY RAD. It's not listed on the drum tablature I just looked at (at least, I don't think so), so maybe my ears are mistaken... but come on! You know that would be fun to see.

Wouldn't it?

Monday, March 5, 2012

Dr. Reid

I went to the doctor today, because I have been having a little pain in the breast that I surgery on last year. Oh, I guess I should warn you that this is going to be full of lots of personal details, so if you don't like that, I suggest you go look up stereo equipment on Craigslist. Just a little tip to you, from me.

I was concerned, because I know that what I had last year, can reoccur, especially since my breasts have been really tender lately when Exton nurses. I also know that tenderness can happen before your period starts, but I've only gotten it once since he was born, so how do I know? I got my period in January (the first one since having my baby, almost a full year later), and it was weird (oh, I will spare you the details, fine!). I didn't get it in February. And that time right before I got my surgery was horrible and having an infection sucked. I decided not to mess around, so I called this morning at 7 a.m. and made an appointment with Dr. Reid. Dr. Reid was not my doctor when this all happened last year; I think he would've taken care of me better, but that story is over, and it is what it is.

Dr. Reid is youngish, kind, respectful, funny and handsome, and I like him a lot. Well, I don't know, he's a little goofy, but in a good way, and anyway, in case you haven't noticed, that's kind of my "type." He's very easy to talk to. When I take Ex with me, he is very sweet to him. He asked me if I wanted to have a mammogram, even though the guidelines for mammograms indicates that women don't need to have them until age 50. I've already had one because a few years ago, my OB thought she felt a lump during the breast exam (another thing I guess they don't do anymore); that turned out okay, even though I ended up having to do it twice because the geniuses at Kaiser lost my film. I certainly don't want to have a mammogram while I'm breastfeeding, so he said he'd order it but only if I wean the baby in the next three months, otherwise it's okay to wait. He laughed when I said I didn't think that was going to happen. Honestly, for all their pro-breastfeeding propaganda, I don't think the Kaiser doctors see a lot of women who continue to nurse after the first year. He's cool about it, and way more informed than a lot of doctors, though, so that's fine.

I told him everything I've written here plus the details you have been spared, and then, while he went out to get a female nurse chaperon so he could examine me, I put on some lip gloss. Which is silly and ridiculous but it's what I did, so I guess I'm silly and ridiculous. News flash. The nurse was nice too, and because Dr. Reid is young, and kind, and funny, and respectful and goofy/handsome, halfway through the exam I almost started cracking up like a 15 year old. Except, as a 15 year old I probably had more sense. And my breasts were smaller.  Anyway, he didn't feel anything (except my BOOB, and I of course avoided eye contact with him while this was happening or else I really would have laughed; I talked to the nurse, who laughed at my jokes. Oh yeah, I make jokes during a breast examination, because if you don't, that's when they find a lump. You didn't know that? Well, they were lame jokes, but still) or suspect an infection, so after he left so I could get dressed and then came back again, he gave me a prescription for higher strength Aleve, talked about some other minor things I wanted to talk about (related to my visit, of course), and sent me on my way.

I had my giggle after he finally left for good, though I don't know exactly what it was about the situation that struck me so funny. He told me to call him if I have any symptoms of an infection. I feel better now. I'm glad it was nothing.