Ya thunk I'm just a leeetle tah-yaird?

Ch. is wonderful and in exchange for taking over his seventh (no prob - went right back into auto mode from last year, and it's nice to be the one the kids need to be civil to simply because you're a "guest speaker" as it were), he came in out of the blue and let me go home a little early! Hoopla! Of course, no sooner do I get home than I fall dead asleep until twenty 'til four, when it's time to wake (to Julie sitting on my bed and making fun of my various "I'm getting up already" faces - in her defense, she brought me a spoon with chocolate frosting). So eventually I wake, get myself upstairs, and we have cake and ice cream for Dad's birthday, he opens the presents, we take silly pictures, order from the Outback (mmmm, Outback), Jules and I pick up from the Outback (mmmmmmmm! Outback!), and now it's off to Holy Thursday Mass at St. Mike's.

Poor Mom. She's absolutely not dealing well with the whole St. Mary's slowly dying thing. I can't really blame her. Although it seems to me that in a few months it will be resolved one way or another so.... However, apparently the priests from IC aren't being as cordial about this as they might - and that's where the real difficulty stems. It's always in the presentation, isn't it?

In talking to Jules on the way over to Outback (you know), and making up silly "power ballads" from "modern musicals" - about opening the garage door in this instance, as well as a riff on modern Broadway sung to "I Dreamed a Dream" - I mentioned to her that I'm considering going to Juliard in maybe a year or two. It's a thought that popped into my head the other day, although Mom has occasionally asked whether I wouldn't want to look into the grad program at Yale. I mentioned it to Mom and it went over well, surprisingly enough. She's still pulling for Yale - and who knows, perhaps that would be better - however Juliard has the distinct advantage of being in the city, which would cut down on travel costs for going in - which I anticipate doing quite a bit, if I'm to be serious about this whole endeavor. (I keep writing in Britspell....)

Holy Thursday...and how has my Lent been? It started off well - a month of Fridays - but as happens all too frequently, although I keep to my promises and the duties, I frequently let the spirit fall to the side. Gah. Oh, for Austria - where Lent is lived out more, or at least it seems to be. For example, they're always dancing there - but during Advent and Lent they don't dance, and the lack is sorely felt. I hope to make the Triduum more holy. I hope tonight's mass is very good. Seeing The Passion again tomorrow. And then there's always that odd day of waiting in Holy Saturday. Apparently I'm singing on Easter. Not particularly thrilled, but since I haven't been in the spirit of Lent as much as I ought, I can hardly complain about this inconsequential "load." And Kathy always picks very good music. And who knows - it may be the last eleven o'clock mass there...perhaps forever. Lord, bless St. Mary's!

Chivalry week coming up. Quite looking forward to it. I hope I can improve it from last year. All the MSND costumes are still in my car in their box. Must lug it out and up to the attic. "Hey! I've got all these costumes! Let's put on a play!" I've had Wicked in my brain for the past several days - it's beginning to irritate me, as any music no matter how good or bad tends to wear after a weekend.

Oh! And the best news of all! My external hard drive with 250gig memory came TODAY! Glory glory alleluia! It was so funny though. We're there watching Dad open his presents when the UPS guy comes. Mom mentions who's at the door and I get all excited and exclaim, "Oh! It must be my thingy! You know, my thingy! My memory!" Yes, classic stupid lines from Emily's lexicon. But it is mine precious, mine. And the best thing is that it came just as I've been seriously knuckling down to work on Brigadoon. I've completed the first ten minutes or so (excluding the Maggie/Harry dance, of course, which was done far before that), so I'm working now on the dialogue after "MacConnachy Square" through "Waiting for my Dearie." Some pretty good shots in there. The only difficulty is - as ever - not being able to put in ALL the nice seconds. But if you overedit it becomes distracting and doesn't actually add to the piece. Also, it's important to edit on "seams" - natural breaks either vocally or visually. Anywho - must go. God bless, mes cheres!

Mood: Still a bit woozy from this ughy sinusitis. Trying to discern whether it's an illness or allergies or a combo. Blaugh. At least my nose isn't as chapped as yesterday.
Music: Mental Jukebox of "I Will Be Loathing You" from Wicked
What I Hope the Music Becomes: Tantum Ergo!
Where I Wish I Were: Steubie-U. Triduum at Stubie-U. *sniffle*