Only Me?

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 1 or fewer people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

I guess my parents were closet oboe or bassoon players.

What Does Your Instrument Say About You

I have a kid that works for me that graduated from high school and is getting ready to leave for college in about 2 weeks. The school he is going to was very high on my list when I was his age. Knowing why I was interested in it and knowing some of his interest including the fact that he has attended a camp for strings at this school, I never thought to ask him about his major. The other night when he was my closing cashier, I asked him about what he was planning on majoring and his response was biology - yes I was shocked since I had assumed music. Silly me;)
So as the evening progressed, we talked about the various activities he could do while at school. He plays cello now but has expressed an interest in trying out some different instruments. (of course I encourage that simply because you cannot march a cello)

He told me during our conversation that he thought he would like try playing the trumpet. I almost choked and while I do not want to discourage him from expanding his musical horizons, I was unable to prevent myself from letting him know that he did not have a "trumpet" personality. He smiled and asked my why. Fortunately, he has played in the orchestra and agrees that are certain types of personalities that play certain types of instruments. I explained that trumpet players have a very inflated sense of their worth and ability. Even the worst trumpet player in a band tends to think that they are better than the best players in any other section of the band. They project a certain aura - I am a trumpet player and therefore I am better than you and in case you do not recognize that obvious fact, I will remind you by only playing forte. If the music calls for any other dynamic marking in their, then the composer must have been mistaken simply because the trumpet and therefore me are the most important part of the ensemble. This is not the instrument for the shy and quiet or anyone with doubts about themselves or their abilities. You must be in your face confident for this instrument.

I suggested that he try out the saxophone because the musicians that gravitate toward this instrument tend to have a healthy self esteem while seeming to be a little quirky and are some of the more truly talented musicians in the band. (besides they are woodwinds which make them truly important. Not just in their own minds) Saxophone players in my experience tend to be a little quirky but more concerned about the overall sound of then ensemble and do not have the need to prove their importance.

The drummers tend to be hyper. They know what a good time is and they aren't afraid to be the life if the party. If there is not a party around you can guarantee that there will be where they are. When loud trouble starts in the group, they are the root of it.

The trombone players seem to be that group that never seems to fit in any where and truly would like to be a trumpet player but they do not have the confidence that is necessary to pull off an instrument quite that boldly. A well played trombone is great to listen to but too often there is a huge learning curve to reach that point.

French horns tend to be a little like saxophones. They are somewhat quirky but have a quiet confidence in themselves and their place within the group. However, they tend to be less serious and are not afraid of joining in the fun of stirring something up.

Baritones and tubas tend to be quietly confident people and much like the instrument they play they tend to be the foundation. They are not afraid to push the envelope a little and they do test the boundaries regularly. More intellectually inclined that the drummers they tend to be gravitate toward being sly trouble makers. (The rumble at the bottom) Probably to remind everyone they are there.

Oboe and bassoon players are individuals that seem to be obsessed with proclaiming their individuality by playing the uncommon instruments. They also seem to have issues with competition so choose an instrument that few play so as to limit the competition.

Clarinets and flutes tend to have a healthy dose of confidence. These individuals tend to attack the music placed before them. Despite the the healthy dose of confidence they feel a constant need to remind everyone of how awesome they are and feel the need to compete with the trumpets. Unfortunately neither instrument is capable of out blowing a trumpet. But for endurance you will not find a group better able to outlast the boldly, overly confident trumpet. The worst of this group tends to be better than the best in some other sections. Clarinets and flutes simply because of their music progress more rapidly to more complex type music and truly have a solid reason behind their feeling of superiority.

Now Alan claims that flutes tend to be girly girls; however, I can assure you after having been a flute player for the majority of my life that within the group these "girly" girls are fiercely competitive in a way that is not witnessed in many of the other sections except maybe the clarinets. The is a severe limited ability to tolerate anything less than perfection in anyone. Flutes and clarinets both tend to bring along music other than the group music to warm up with and this music is chosen carefully for its ability to intimidate those around you and showcase that you are more than the group as whole. As my high schools' football team found out before a game, the flute section might be among the most physically combative.

I have left out the strings but then I do not have the experience to identify them completely. From my observation thus far through Meghan. Violin tend to be much like flutes and clarinets with a dose of my instrument is the best. Violas seem to follow the oboe and bassoons for the need to shout their individuality. Cellos seem to fall in close to the saxophones and the bass seem to follow the path of the baritones and tubas.

So readers, please leave comments based on your own observations and experiences.

The Loss of Individual Identity

As a wife and a mother, I have found that my individual identity has become less and less a part of who I am. Up until the the time we moved to Florida, I was Jini and had an identity that was all my own. Once we moved, I began loosing my identity. Alan's job made him very "popular" and everyone in town seemed to know him.

The past couple of years have prompted the final erosion of my individual identity. More and more I am now simply known as Meghan's mom, or aren't you the mother of the little girl that plays violin. It is like the final bastion in motherhood or maybe even the greatest accomplishment of motherhood to cease having an existence outside that of "the mom". I am very proud of everything that Meghan has accomplished; and I am extremely proud of the young lady that has the potential to become. I find it ironic that as females we spend our life trying to find our own identity, only to find that the real satisfaction in our identity comes from being identified through our child and their accomplishments.

Gee another one already?

Well today marked another year on the calendar for me. My family was great. I had a Winnie Pooh cake :) complete with the right number of candles:( How hot that cake was. By the time they had all the candles lit and brought it to the table, several of the candles had melted almost all the way down. Boy was that one HOT cake.

For gifts there were lots of Cherished Teddies and Mary Higgins Clark's new book. This is a traditional birthday gift from husband; he remember in spite my forgetting to put it on my wish list. While the gifts are terrific and I am thankful for family that remembers these occasions, the unexpected in many ways becomes the best gift. I received an email today from my best friend growing up wishing me a happy birthday. We have just been back in touch on a regular basis for the past few months and her email remembering my birthday was so unexpected that a brought a smile to my face. (It also reminded me that she is still older than me:)

Now that we have covered all the great stuff about birthdays, I must say that with every year that goes by they seem to become more reflective and in many ways just another day of the year for the most part. I have had real hard time this year being excited about anything in relation to my birthday.

Mrs. D

I have a customer (Mrs. D to protect her privacy even though I do not think she will stumble upon this site) that calls every so often with all kinds of the things that bother her. It started out concerning a check or charge payment that was made while she was in the hospital. I am not sure what her full story is, but I listen to her ramble on about the ills of the world and her current symptoms. I feel real sorry for her and I take the time to let her talk. I wish I was so saintly as to say I am actually listening ( I don't think she really expects me to)but that would be untruthful. I let her talk and get it out of her system. I have been reprimanded more than I care to think about for taking the time to let her talk ( and some of our older employees that live alone), but I cannot just hang up on her (nor can I walk away from them when they seem to need someone to talk to/at). She seems like she is lonely and seems to content to just have someone to talk at.

I wish the person that fusses about me allowing her to talk would think about the fact someday that might be her or someone in her family. I think about that and hope that if someone close to me needs that outlet that there will be someone there to take the time to even pretend to listen. Mrs. D called me three times today and even though I was very busy, I tried to let her talk. Will I get any kind of pat on the back for trying to be sensitive - well no, but I can take away a feeling of satisfaction that for a few moments I made someone feel better by being there to listen. (okay I pretend to listen) Maybe if we all did that we would make the world a slightly better place.

"Hey Ya'll Watch This"

Happy 4th Of July weekend!!! If ever a holiday begged to be subtitled "Hey ya'll watch this", this is the one. After living in the south most all of my life, I can tell you a holiday that involves explosives, alcohol and hill billys/rednecks has all the ingredients necessary for hilarious, ridiculous, reckless, stupid, and down right funny behaviors to occur.

I do not know what the laws are in your communities concerning fireworks, but where I grew up they were strictly prohibited. If the local law enforcement community discovered a stash before the 4th, it was confiscated and added to the arsenal for the public display. Since you could not get fireworks in the state and had to travel to neighboring states to purchase fireworks ( at least 1 1/2 hours ), it was not a law that was really hard to enforce in our area. I will say that we had some of the best displays I have ever seen. However the best ever title belongs to the fireworks display I saw was while at a band camp in Maryville Tennessee.

Now with that said, imagine my shock when we moved to Florida and some types of fireworks are legal to shoot. What is legal varies from city to city. However, due to the recent fires and the fire danger still being high, our area begged people to attend the public displays and refrain from shooting their own. Apparently the instructions were not explicit enough for the redneck/hill billy's because this year they brought their fireworks with them to the public displays. Before the city started their display, people were setting off fireworks less that 50 ft away from us.

As you can imagine with large groups of people gathered in an area there are lots of opportunities of "Hey ya'll watch this" waiting to happen. Unfortunately none of the possible incident's completely unfolded. But here are just a few of the possible scenarios that we had. There was the family of women that resembled female Sumo wrestlers. The younger one climbed into the back of the family pick up truck and that display was enough to let you know that some people should not wear hip huggers. After being in the back of the truck for a while she apparently decided that was not where she wanted to be and began the very amusing (at least for us) process of attempting to get out of the back. We had visions of her going splat on the pavement. Much to our disappointment, she managed to get out without bodily harm to the truck (or to herself or her hip huggers). Then there was the older "sister" that was sitting on a beach lounger that was sagging precariously. Again another lesson that there are somethings that some types of people should not do. She managed to get through the entire three hours without the seat collapsing with her in it (again much to our disappointment). And last but not least from this group was the mother. She brought along her own fireworks entertainment in the form of some kind of sparkler but not the kind on the stick. In true redneck form she burned up 97.6% of them before it was dark. She also provided us with a fashion don't by wearing a mid riff baring tank top. When she became bored with her fireworks, she went to the car and got a wheel chair out to sit in. That in and of itself was not bad idea but the chair was not designed for someone of her rather large size. The buttons on the back were decidedly stressed even from our distance of approximately 30 feet away. We had visions of dodging popping buttons/rivets at any moment. The next group of note had two girls younger than Meghan. They were setting off a pre - city display of fireworks in the parking lot redneck style. They were around 50 feet away and having a grand time. Some members of that group were more plastered than the group at the bar 200 feet away. Then was the near skateboard/bike collision.

Just a few hours earlier the lawn service truck backed their lawn mower off the the trailer and jump started the truck with it. (In front of the auto parts store) A very true redneck moment.

Now being a southern girl myself, I did my own version of the "Hey ya'll watch this". A couple girls that Meghan knew showed up and sat near us. The girls all started trying to turn cartwheels. Well it felt like a dare and the southern in me could not resist. I showed them up and started turning cartwheels with them in our part of the parking lot. The one little girl was impressed to find that adults knew how to do cartwheels. She tried to get me to do a one handed cart wheel and a front handspring. I managed to avoid that dare and keep the southern in me tightly reined simply because I have a healthy respect for my body or maybe just a real lack of desire to see a hospital again anytime soon as a patient.

While watching and observing all this, I learned that my husband can be almost as catty as a woman. (my mom defends him though and says he was simply being amusing) So the next time he attempts to tell his mom and I we are being catty, I will remind him of his own cattiness might actually make us look more like "kittens".

Also for those of you that want to annoy Alan, the Small World song and Pac Man Fever are not the only ones to use. ( Bryan if you still have a copy of Pac Man Fever I would sure love to have one also.) The theme song from the ice cream truck(Turkey in the Straw) will do the trick nicely as well. The ice cream truck parked behind us for about 2 hours playing the song over and over and over...!!

On the way home, we took fire and Alan was looking for air support as the rednecks continued firing off their personal arsenals. One salvo fired directly over his head. The worse part was all he saw was the glow - he did not get to enjoy the actual display.

The best "Hey ya'll watch this" came from Kelli today - down the street from her they managed to set the displays off spectacularly into the side of a car. Of course that could have had better results besides a huge dent:)

We are gearing up for another simulation of living in Beirut until well after 2 in the morning. Despite pleadings from local officials to please enjoy the public displays of fireworks, the "hill billy's" were still out in force with their own displays and will remain so for the weekend. The catch here was before we became homeowners, we thought all of this was kind of cool (after all we are southerners), but now we are more concerned about our property than the coolness of it all.

Oh and Frank, we all missed you even though you called and we still have your roast beef sandwich waiting for you.

For those of us that are southerners we tend to think that the hill billy and redneck titles are exclusive to us; however, I can assure after living in Florida for 6 years, the terms redneck and hill billy do not know geographical, regional, national or ethnic boundaries.

Hurricane Jeanne 2004

While I enjoy the storms that Mother Nature sends, it does not hurt to remember the fact that she remains a force to be reckoned with as this picture taken 12+ hours after Hurricane Jeanne made landfall in 2004. This is the street we live on - poor dog.

Clouds

Like any place you live there are many great things about the place that make it unique. For me I find the sheer beauty that can be found to awe inspiring. I enjoy the phenomenal sunsets that we see. I understand the sun rises are equally impressive but I am not usually in a good place to witness those. And days off - I am the only truly morning person in this house. The rest of my household thinks mornings are highly overrated and are content to sleep til noon. (anyone that knows my husband well is aware of his penchant for sleeping late. My daughter does not fall that far from the tree. Even the kitten thinks mornings are overrated so needless to say, I see very little of the sun rises. I love the ocean and the way you can feel the different moods of nature by standing on the beach.

This time of year here in "sunny" Florida is not for the faint of heart. ( For the uninitiated, this time of year sunshine tends to be in a liquid form by afternoon) If Mother Nature in all her stormy glory scares you then you might not want to be here. Me - well I find the storms to actually be soothing and awesome to watch. Unless of course that lightening strike is a little too close - I have a healthy respect for the her abilities and power. While I enjoy the storms in all their fury, I can do without another up close experience with hurricanes for a little bit longer.

This of course brings us to the reason for this post and that is to share some pictures of storm clouds that where in the area today when I was at work. They were moving so fast that the most dramatic views had moved before I remembered that I have a camera on my cell phone:) So enjoy the photos and will try to remember to take more as the rainy season progresses here in the "Sunshine" state.

The Wait is Over

Well folks, we finally are up to date. We not only have cable TV again for the first time in 6 years. (Amazingly there are new History Channel episodes. YEAH!!!! Now for me the even better part of all this is the broadband internet connection. They will be back out tomorrow to make some adjustments since the cable is not working very well in the living room. Too bad I have to no more days off until next Tuesday:( But that is another post entirely. While I am in the I hate my job mode, I will wait til I am truly pissed off or more completely pissed on to make that post. I am sure that someone will find it entertaining and make them very thankful for their jobs.