Music and CatsSaturday, March 05, 2005
Ten things I've done...
...that you probably haven't.
SO... I find that I'm no longer one of those bloggers who doesn't do memes. Melinama has found a couple that I've really enjoyed; "Ten things I've done" is the most recent.
Here are mine:
1. I have cut the tip off my finger and had it reattached.
2. I have had my picture taken with a US First Lady who admired my artwork.
3. I have played fiddle for and taught Breton dancing in Brazil.
4. I have attended a perfomance of a Mozart string quartet in the Salzburg Castle.
5. I have been picked up by a 6'-6" tall, red-headed, kilted bagpiper near the border between Scotland and England.
6. I have helped a homeless family move into affordable housing that I designed.
7. I have ridden fences (checking for breaks, on horseback) on a ranch in Colorado.
8. I have been called God by a Kennedy. (Yes, that branch of the family.)
9. I have driven hundreds of miles on my honeymoon just to see several sets of 1000-year-old reindeer horns.
10. I have twice fallen in love with a man who has subsequently developed cancer.
Of course, there is more to each of these. Would you like to know more about any of them? Let me know...
Update: Reading this list will give you some insight into my #10.
And, since people seem to be interested, here's more about some of my true stories:#1, #2, #4, #8, #10
SO... I find that I'm no longer one of those bloggers who doesn't do memes. Melinama has found a couple that I've really enjoyed; "Ten things I've done" is the most recent.
Here are mine:
1. I have cut the tip off my finger and had it reattached.
2. I have had my picture taken with a US First Lady who admired my artwork.
3. I have played fiddle for and taught Breton dancing in Brazil.
4. I have attended a perfomance of a Mozart string quartet in the Salzburg Castle.
5. I have been picked up by a 6'-6" tall, red-headed, kilted bagpiper near the border between Scotland and England.
6. I have helped a homeless family move into affordable housing that I designed.
7. I have ridden fences (checking for breaks, on horseback) on a ranch in Colorado.
8. I have been called God by a Kennedy. (Yes, that branch of the family.)
9. I have driven hundreds of miles on my honeymoon just to see several sets of 1000-year-old reindeer horns.
10. I have twice fallen in love with a man who has subsequently developed cancer.
Of course, there is more to each of these. Would you like to know more about any of them? Let me know...
Update: Reading this list will give you some insight into my #10.
And, since people seem to be interested, here's more about some of my true stories:#1, #2, #4, #8, #10
When I was a couple of years old, I cut off the fleshy tip of my left ring finger in the hinge of my potty chair. My father put the little fingertip on ice, and rushed my and my finger to the hospital, where the tip and I were reunited. While I continued to grow, the once-severed fingertip stayed the same size. My fingerprint is... distinctive, but not so odd as to have interfered with my violin playing. You have to know what you're looking at to know.
The summer after I finished grad school, I went to Europe for three weeks. Most of that trip, I travelled with a couple of my college roommates. Two of us were in Salzburg for one day and night. As we wandered around the town in late afternoon, my friend Chris noticed a small poster, printed only in German (her father's family is German; she is bilingual), advertising a performance at the castle that night. We didn't have any plans, so we went to the concert. It was held in a grand stone hall, built before Mozart's time, with large windows looking out onto the town below. The sun was setting as the performance by a Viennese string quartet began. I don't remember which of the quartets they played, but it was lovely. I sat, letting the music wash over me, watching the dying light in the sky, thinking 200 years ago, Mozart could've listened to his quartet in this very room, at this time of day, looking out at this view. It was magical.
I had just picked up a set of keys that was lying on the floor in the large lecture hall where one of my psychology classes was held. John-John, who was a couple of years behind me, came rushing down the aisle, saw me holding the keys, and exclaimed, "You found them!" I said, "Oh, they're yours?" and handed them to him. He said, "You're God! Thanks!", then turned and ran back up the aisle and out of the auditorium. That was the only time I ever came in direct contact with him. The other Kennedy moment I remember from college: Jackie O came to see John in a college play that I was also attending. I happened to look back at the door to the theater as she walked in. She stopped in the doorway, pulled a pair of large, dark sunglasses out of her purse, put them on, and walked to her seat. She removed the sunglasses again once she was seated. Can't say as I blame her, really.
