Insights from the shower

I had a realization in the shower the other day - and where better to get clarity, with all that water sluicing off you, taking away dirt and sleep and making everything citrusy and fresh again (I'm a bit of a water fetishist)

Anyways, I had an insight - I don't multitask well. I'm more of a drill deep kind of girl. Even when I was PTA president and there was a lot on, things went in a linear fashion and didn't conflict with each other, and if there were conflicts, you could say, hey, there's something already in that spot, find another...

But now I'm in 4 distinct groups, none of which need to intersect, and all seem to be booking the same day for very important events, and I feel torn and discombobulated. I can't say, hey there's a conflict, change the date, as I am the only one with the conflict. Instead I have to make choices, and each one is a delicate weighing of scales, and leaves no one, least of all me, satisfied.

The thing that is easiest and quickest to jettison is personal life. I had the opportunity to go to London this w/e - DH is going for work, we could just sneak into his room and for the cost of a plane tix have a very pleasant stay, catch up with dearly beloved friends. But so many things are going on here, that I honestly felt I couldn't go, and in the end declined.

What sort of life is that, where you turn down trips to London to go to the Taste of Tribeca on Saturday (I'm a member of the Taste board and it's an event I sincerely love), and three other meetings on Thursday (board member for 2 of them, steering committee member for another), and one on Wednesday (community board member) It's really just ridiculous.

I have one husband, one child, and clearly can only take on one in depth commitment at a time...

Thought for the Day

“You don't get harmony when everybody sings the same note.”*

I guess I'm really feeling pulled in a lot of different directions right now, and striving for harmony, especially with issues around an organization I just joined. I have to say that is a very helpful notion - if we all just agreed, it would be stagnant. Lots of decent people are trying to bring different ideas to the table, all with the fear that if we don't find harmony, things will change. It will all be sound and fury, signifying nothing.

I know what the answer is - things are changing all the time. Noise is part of the melody, we can't all sing the same note, and indeed we ourselves change range as age and other life matters impress upon us. However I still feel anxious. I value this entity and the thought of it changing/going is sad...




*said by someone called Doug Floyd who may or may not be a good person to follow, but I liked this quote.

catching up

I've got so many new stories to tell and I never even finished Vegas!



So La Reve - beautiful but not as good as Love, and then DH told me that it wasn't a Cirque show, but a copy, and somehow you could tell - the edges weren't as crisp... However the high dives and some of the visuals were breathtaking, it just wasn't as cohesive as Love.

In the meantime we also went and saw West Side Story (back in Manhattan now) DH loves it and I'm very familiar with the music but realized I'd never seen it on stage, I'd only ever seen the movie.



It was a very weird experience, because it is a piece I love, but I thought it was such a bad interpretation, the lovers were unbelivable, I didn't care about them at all (even though Maria had pipes, no question there) and the all the male parts were uniformly dreadful. No energy, no bite, no sense of them being 3 dimensional people with back story, just flat. The women were better and the dance numbers better still but I was frankly bored.

I sat and wriggled and looked at the audience - and the audience - loved it! Clapped and whistled and cheered. I felt so out of sync. And yet, as we walked out, no one was talking about the show. It was like they focused on it for 2 hours and then forgot it as they walked out the door, already on to the next thing. But they applauded and stood (I refused. Really, I didn't enjoy it at all.) But I don't get it when I'm so not with the audience. What were they cheering? What did they connect to that I couldn't see? So odd experience on all counts.

DH and DS are still listening daily to the CD of Love that we bought at the Vegas show and DH is raving about the orchestrations etc... so that show is definitely lingering.

This week I've been suffering terribly from hayfever and both prescription medication and over the counter stuff is not helping, and then I remembered that I have an air filter that I use every year, sitting and waiting for this season - sometimes it's so hard to be an adult and remember how to look after yourself!