bear

Masking was up at Summersings last night - still under half of attendees in a full house, but nearly all of us volunteers were masked up. One of them commented to me, "I may not like masking, but there is a lot of covid running around out there right now, why not take this basic precaution so that my extroverted ass can keep hanging out with people in person?"

Me, afterwards: "DAMMIT I MISSED MY CHANCE TO MAKE THE FAC EAS PUN WITH ANOTHER CHOIRISTER. And we're even doing the Mozart Requiem tonight!" Admittedly, I'm only about to start my second full season with this choir, still sussing out who is amenable to saucy sweary puns and who do I need to at least keep things PG for.

(Mozart went well; it helped that most of us had sung it before. The Lauridsen Lux Aeterna was new-to-me and lovely and I hope I get a chance to sing it in a more rehearsed context next time.)

*

Seeing Noah Lyles win his 100m dash a couple of days ago, then watching him end up in 3rd place on his 200m sprint this morning, not only barely making it across the finish line, but witnessing him collapse. "I wonder if he's having an asthma attack; I know he's mentioned having asthma in the past." Watching the (unmasked!) medics working on him while he was breathing hard, being taken away in a wheelchair. Hearing him announce, now masked up, a couple of hours later that he'd tested positive for COVID a couple of days ago? And how quiet everyone on the broadcast is being about dozens of athletes' unexpected withdrawals from events, especially the highest-profile names of people expected to medal? Or those who, like Lyles, tested positive and competed anyway? (40 positive COVID tests from the Australians alone?! But at least someone's counting there, what about the other countries?)

Feeling like the house of cards is going to collapse any day now.

happy birthday, cretak and kazulrw!

tonight at summersings: mozart's requiem! $4 to listen, $8 to sing along, bring a fan and a water bottle. i didn't have time to bake this weekend, but there will be snackies, regardless. old south church, 645 boylston st, doors at 7. bitty and bubblebabble and hyounpark and perhaps luminaepona will be there - will you? :)

object lesson of the weekend #1: oh dear GOD, i'd missed kayaking. this is something i need to be doing far, far more often. (even on the rumored pollution of the charles? maybe some of the lakes around here do boating and rent kayaks?)

object lesson of the weekend #2: yours truly is out of shape. like, limp-as-udon arm muscles out of shape. this is not helpful when one is moving this month. this is not helpful in general. you have 5lb weights sitting in your living room. it's time you use them. (any of you ladies who do free weights recommend any particular routine or series of exercises for strengthening arms in particular? time to put the humiliation to work so i can be paddling up in front next year - after eleven years of doing it every summer, i certainly have the knowledge of how to do so, just not the endurance to do it for four hours, which is the humiliating part.)

before that, zuania had her graduation party friday; hooray for yummy indian food! and salsa dancing afterwards. introvert h seems to be holding up okay as i run him through the social gauntlets of my friends :) sorry honey, they haze because they love!

question of all y'all: updating my calendar for the remainder of the summer and the fall, and: is there anything i need to be saving the date for? birthday parties, housewarmings, concerts, the like?

and finally, goodbye, dancing apple. you were the face of news for many, but my favorite memory of you will always be you bopping around onstage in a gigantic apple costume at the zumbyes concert.