Yuletide Celebration - Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra

I had tickets last night to go and see the Yuletide Celebration at the ISO at 8pm. I have been very excited to see this event because I really enjoyed my last event at the ISO. Before the event we went to dinner at the Hard Rock cafe and enjoyed our $20 burgers. There was no waiting at the restaurant and I was surprised that they were not busier and that we didn't have to wait in line. After we ate we walked to the circle and made a round of the monument and enjoyed the beautiful lites and decorations. There were tons of people milling about and even a wedding party taking pictures on the steps of the monument.

When we got to the front of the ISO there was a pen with two reindeer's that people could look at and pet. I was shocked. I never imagined encountering a reindeer last night. They were very cute and added to the Christmas environment. I took a few pictures of my friend Casey in front of them but I didn't think to get one of me. O well.

The performance was sold out on Saturday night and there were tons of people milling about. There were so many it was hard to walk through the lobby. We chose to get the medium priced seats for this performance and I loved them. They were located in the Orchestra Box Right. They were individual seats that were very comfortable and you didn't have to sit so close to your neighbor. There was also plenty of leg room for the tall patrons...although, as you probably know I usually don't have to worry about leg room.

My overall impression of this performance was bad. They had a women from NY, Ann Hampton Callaway, who was the hostess of the event and the key singer. I DID NOT LIKE HER. She had this superior smirk on her face the entire performance. I just didn't like her demeanor and I felt like she detracted from the orchestra's music. I also wasn't impressed with her voice, it was a very low tone and I just didn't think that it suited the music she was singing. She sang a couple of duets with Daniel Okulitch and they just didn't go together. There was a scene where she was making up a song involving things from Indianapolis that the audience members yelled out from the audience. I didn't find this scene amusing or even entertaining.

There were a couple scenes that I did like. I enjoyed the beginning of the performance where they had a huge cast of singers singing "We Need A Little Christmas". There were beautiful costumes and clever dancing and choreography. I could have used more of these types of numbers and not so much of the "featured" singer. I also enjoyed the closing number of "The First Noel". I think that it was sung well and I enjoyed it.

There was a secondary distraction during the performance. Sitting in front of us were six teenagers who were not at all enjoying the show. The were talking, laughing and passing around a phone and generally distracting me. Why would they pay so much to see this show and not pay attention. Unless their rich parents paid and they just didn't care. I am all for adding cultural events to children and teenagers but they should behave. Sitting right next to us at the show were two little girls about 8 years old and they were great. The teenagers could have taken some pointers.

I plan on attending another event in February and I hope that it is better than this. I would like my money back!

Funeral Arrangements...I am aware that I am being morbid

While I was in the shower this morning I was reflecting upon the two funerals that I have recently attended. The thing that most came to mind was just how awful they were stylistically, and how I hoped that my loved ones would do me better when I was gone. I don’t want there to be a preacher…after all I am an atheist. I don’t want there to be some horrible organ music…gag. I would want it to be something that would reflect me and who I was during my life. So this is my idea of what the perfect funeral service for me.

First of all there would be no church involved…but I guess it would be necessary to have a funeral home. Please stay away from Peinert's in Tontogany Ohio. Do we have to give them all of our family business? I would want it in Indianapolis where most of my friends and close family live. Wendy…you would just have to suck it up and drive here. I would want my IPOD hooked up to the speaker system at the funeral home and have it playing the playlist of the 25 most played songs. This way it reflects the music I really loved at the time I died. If IPODS are antiquated when I die in 2073 when I am 100, then substitute the current trendy music storage system. Odds are that I will own it. I would like a big screen TV set up in the front of the room so when the funeral starts at 4pm (it needs to be in the late afternoon because I wouldn’t want my ghost to have to get up to early) it can begin playing my favorite movie. Currently that movie is Independence Day with Will Smith, but you can substitute in my favorite movie in 2073. I hope it isn’t anything too sappy. I would want there to be popcorn and cokes passed around for the movie portion of the ceremony, perhaps even some goobers.

After the movie is over there should be pizza (pepperoni, onion and black olive…after all it is my funeral and it should be pizza that I liked) and more cokes. Currently I am drinking regular coke…but who knows maybe I will be back on the fake stuff by then. Perhaps that is what killed me, or was it the aluminum in the deodorant? This pizza party should be pretty short as I know everyone is feeling uncomfortable at this point.

The final act should be driving to the cemetery to drop off my casket. I think I want it to be silver with green accents. I would like to be dressed in my favorite outfit…jeans, T-Shirt and sneakers with white sox. Before you close the casket don’t forget to put my IPOD and headphones in the casket with me. I know I will need it. Don’t forget the battery charger. Also…I think I will need my Amazon Kindle. It is important to have the proper accessories in the afterlife.

So these are my wishes as I see them today. Please follow these instructions as close as possible and don’t horde the insurance money and skimp on my wishes.

Match.com AKA I am being crazy part II

So this whole “Internet dating” thing has sent my mind into a crazy whirlwind of emotion. I have not been able to focus on anything. I just keep thinking of things that have nothing to do with the task at hand. I guess this isn’t the time of the year to add such a large quantity of craziness to my life. I will be sitting at my desk trying to work and the next thing I know it is fifteen minutes later and I was just staring at the wall thinking.

So, I do not seem to be able to make a decision of what to do about the guy I went out with last week. After we were done with our date on Sunday, I really didn’t think that we were compatible. So I decided in my head that I wouldn’t go out with him again. But I was also going to wait and see what happened. I just couldn’t bring myself to call or write him an email. On Tuesday I received an email from him saying that he had a great time on Sunday and we should go out again this weekend. It would have been easier if he had just ignored me but then I would have been upset at being rejected. This put me into a full panic mode. I just didn’t know what to do, one minute I would think we were not compatible, the next minute I would think maybe I didn’t give him enough of a chance. Then I have had to listen to my various friends and their opinions on whether or not I should go out with him again. Now it is Thursday and I haven’t done anything yet. I am feeling very bad…like I should have contacted him by now. I feel like a jerk. No wonder "A" told me I was acting like the man in the situation. Perhaps I am too practical and analytical. But the crazy thoughts in my head NEED to stop soon! I guess I need to get the courage to send him an email tonight saying thanks, but no thanks.

*****Update*****
I did write him an email back on Thursday. I knew that I just had to do it and pull off the band aid. This is what I wrote:

"I am sorry for the delay in answering your email. You are a great guy and very nice, but I just don't think that we are compatible. I hope you find what you are looking for. Thanks for the nice date on Sunday."

I had a very large sense of relief on Friday after I finished this task. I was calm and actually able to focus on work and I got a large quantity of stuff done.

Secondarily, I must have received a large ego boost because I have reviewed the website and sent several guys emails this week. So some of them have responded but they are weird. The first weird thing happened on Tuesday. I received an email from a guy and we had the following email conversation:

Match Guy –
hi my cousin would like to chat with you he is not a member but i can give you his cell # ......thanks


C - HI There-I wouldn't mind talking to him. Could you send me some info on him??? Where he lives, what he likes, his age, a photo?

Match Guy –
HI HE JUST LEFT HERE IS HIS CELL # 765-xxx-xxxx GIVE HIM A CALL HE WONT BITE...LOL

C - Hi....so what is your cousin’s name?

Match Guy –

hi candias (HELLO…he didn’t spell my name right) we call him arnie give him a call ........

We call him Arnie….this last email seemed like the person could be crazy. I don’t know, it was some gut feeling. So I didn’t call. This task is becoming very difficult even worse than trying to find a roommate. On the judgmental side…the name Arnie sounds like someone real OLD. Do you think I should call “Arnie”? I don’t have a profile or a photo or know anything about him.

The third thing was I received a virtual “wink” last night. This person lives in Missouri . Aren’t there any boys in the Indianapolis area? Why are they emailing me from out of state. I also received a wink from a guy in Milwaukee , WI last week. These people seem fine enough, but why would I want to start conversations with strangers so far away. Maybe this is where I need to lax my qualifications.

BTW I received a viewer feedback email from Diane earlier this week that said the following:

I think there has to be some leeway in that internal list you have so you can be open to meeting someone who does not meet your"qualifications". That might be why someone said you sound like the guy. Many guys are Hef-like in their lists. Here they are older and not at their prime and they expect youth and beauty. I'm not saying you expect that, but why not consider going out with someone 5 to 10 years older than you? You really like to talk. They would be more likely to listen to you or act like they are.

So the boys have to act like they are listening…perhaps. I am a bit judgmental but I think I know right away when I meet a person if I like them. Even if I am only thinking of friendship.

On Thin Ice - A Very Phoenix Xmas

I went to see a new fun play last night at The Phoenix Theatre near Fountain Square . I have never been to this Theatre before so I was excited to experience something new. I was very surprised when we arrived at the location because the building resided on a residential street and looked like a house and it was a bit difficult to find. When G and I went to get our tickets there wasn’t a reservation waiting for us. We had rescheduled this event a couple of times and I guess there was a miscommunication between us on who was responsible for making the reservations. I think we both decided to take fault because it wasn’t a big deal and we still got a seat.

The demographic of the audience was very different than at most of the other venues that I frequent. Most of the time the audience is comprised of older women or older couples, there usually isn’t that many younger members or people my age. When I went to the ballet last week the audience was mostly parents and young children since The Nutcracker is a family production. The audience of this show was mainly same sex and opposite sex couples around my age. I was very surprised. The second odd thing was the theatre housed a wine bar and most of the audiences were drinking it up during the show. I have been places that had alcohol but this was different, it was more like a subdued bar atmosphere and not a playhouse.

A Very Phoenix Christmas was wrote by a local women who happened to be in attendance while were there. It was a show of several short stories all dealing with Christmas in a different way. Most of it was comedy and some of it had singing. Most of it was funny and I enjoyed it but some of it was, “what was that all about?”. There were a few that were very funny and stuck out in my head. The very first one was called “Balls”, this was a short story from the perspective of four different colored Christmas balls in a box waking up thinking it was time to be put up on the tree. The balls were funny and bickered amongst each other and had very distinctive personalities. The unusual part was the balls figured out it was near St. Patrick’s Day and their ‘owners’ were having a fight and were in the midst of breaking up and dividing their things. The was a good starter story and it made me laugh.

The next one that I especially liked was titled, “Oy Vey Maria”. This was from the perspective of Mary just after she gave birth to Jesus and then her parents came over and her mother was a very stereotypical Jewish mother. It was hysterical and I laughed very hard. The actors put on the Jewish accents very thick and there was allot of funny humor poking fun at Christmas and pointing out that Jesus was a Jew.

The next scene I liked was short but humorous; it was called “Christmas at Amy Wine’s House”. This depicted Amy Winehouse having Christmas day with her family including her grandmother and father. All of the presents that she received were Heroin because they knew that was the thing she liked the best. Her grandmother gave her cocaine because she was confused about the difference between the two drugs. It was very imaginative and funny. The first thing I listened to on my IPOD Friday morning was her album.

The final scene that I really liked was called “Poodolph, the Red-nosed Reindeer". This scene took place in the ladies bathroom at a Christmas party. There were two ladies in there hiding out and one of them defecated and the toilet got clogged up. When the maintenance man was called to repair it he noticed that the poo was shaped like Rudolph including the red nose. It was very much filled with bathroom humor but it amused me nonetheless. The interesting part was while I was in line for the bathroom at intermission there was two ladies talking and she was dating the actress who does the poo scene in the play. She commented that this lady doesn’t like to talk about body functions and how uncomfortable she was in the part. She had even considered not doing the play. It is funny how you find out this insider information.

I am glad that I got a season pass to this theatre and I am excited to see more of their original productions. I would recommend it to my friends who enjoy original productions.

Birthday Fun

I was invited to my brother’s house on Wednesday night to attend a birthday party for my little niece who turned 6. Lou’s new wife made a beautiful Barbie cake and a tasty comfort food dinner of meatloaf, baked sweet potato and glazed carrots. The kids made up a funny play to entertain us after dinner , it was based upon Sleeping Beauty. They here hilarious. They didn’t have time to memorize the script so the had it written down on paper and propped it up where they could see it and read their lines. I appreciated their creativity. They even made set decorations with paper and hung them up on the walls.

After the great play, we sat around the table to sing her the Happy Birthday song. We turned out the lights and the candles were burning. Then poof…her HAIR caught on FIRE. You can see the little flame in the photo below but it got pretty big for a moment, and then fizzled out. I freaked out and screamed. I was so frightened for her. It went out rather quickly and she was unharmed. But she was very scared, and so was I. She was so shook up she couldn’t even eat her cake and ice cream. I felt so bad that her birthday was marred buy this awful experience. Except now we all will remember the events of her sixth birthday.

I have gone CRAZY!

I often like to make fun of my brother Ron for his complete lack of communication skills. The best story of this is when I called him early in January 2005. He had moved to North Carolina and I wanted to know what he was up to. While we were talking I heard a baby crying in the background. I asked him what the sound was? He said just a moment and he put a woman on the phone. The woman was Gigi. He had been Internet dating her for the past year and she lived in Hong Kong. He had talked a little bit about her in the past and she even had sent him a cell phone from Hong Kong in which he could call her at no charge to him. I assure you Lou and I found this to be extremely amusing and we often referred to it as the "Hong Kong Cell Phone".

The story was that he married Gigi the prior spring, she got pregnant and moved to the US to be with Ron. Ron never told us that he got married or was expecting a baby. Not even when he came to Indiana twice in June of the year to see my mom while she was sick and then to come to her funeral.

So I have decided to not act like Ron and tell you a story of something happening in my life. I don't normally share things this personal...I hope it doesn't backfire on me.

I had a large quantity of time on my hands the long weekend of Thanksgiving and I decided to create a profile on match.com. I was very nervous about this and also decided to be very passive. I was reluctant to contact anyone so I just posted my profile and waited to see if anything happened and then tried to put it out of my mind. Honestly, I never thought anything would happen.

On Sunday I get an email from match saying I have a message waiting for me. I was a little scared but I opened it up. It was from a guy saying I looked like a person with whom he could have a good conversation with. I was stunned and I didn't quite know what to do. I think I wore out some carpet walking around the living room thinking. I am sure that there was steam coming out of my head. I think it took me about three hours to get the courage to write something back. When I finally decided to write something...I seemed to have developed a form of writers block. I just couldn't think about what to say. I felt like anything I did write would sound incredibly stupid. Twenty minutes later I finally created a short three sentence response and hit send. It was done!

Early Monday evening I get a response that he would like to talk to me on the phone and he included his phone number. I was completely freaked out. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to build up the courage to actually call. Rather than calling I decided to go to bed at 9pm and go to sleep. I think that it was the only way I was able to deal with it, and allow my brain some additional calm processing time.

I got up at 5am on Tuesday and checked my email and there was a second message waiting from him wanting to know if I got his first message from yesterday. I responded yes...and that I would try to call that night after work. It was 5am and I still had all day to think about it. I tried to work...but honestly I am not sure if I put in very much effort. I was completely distracted all day. I get home about 5:30pm and then proceed to procrastinate because I was so completely nervous. I walked back and forth in the kitchen trying to find things to do. I ate dinner, cleaned up from dinner, cleaned the cat boxes and suddenly it was 7:45. I knew I needed to do it but I still didn't know if I could actually push the buttons. I called the only friend that I had told this story to earlier in the week for some encouragement. She tried to build me up and to give me the courage and we hung up.

I sat on my couch in my bedroom with the door closed and my head in my hands trying to give myself some positive self talk. I tried to feed myself positive thoughts...It will be fine...what is the worst that could happen...it is just a person....I finally pushed the buttons and hit send. You know what; I got the fricking voice mail!!! Hallelujah...leaving a message wasn't nearly as difficult as actually talking to someone. So I called my friend back and we conversed for about 10 minutes when my call waiting beeped in. It was him and I knew I needed to answer it.

All of this hype in my head and it was fine. We talked for about 45 minutes. Just basic small talk stuff. Honestly, I don't remember much. I don't really think that I said much. I just sat on my bed Indian style trying to not say anything too dumb. I did tell him how nervous I was to talk to a stranger on the phone. I think he was nervous also.

So he is 32 and divorced and has a four year old girl with whom he has shared custody. He is a mechanic somewhere in Carmel and he owns a house in Lawrence near Fort Ben Harrison. He has lived in Florida and Michigan and doesn't travel much. He (gasp) doesn't really like to use the computer! He likes to fish and attends tournaments in the summer. Did I mention that he really likes to fish! I have a friend who has been Internet dating for a while and she made an observation that most of the guys posting are hunters and fishers. I guess those are the guys who cannot get girls.

So on Wednesday morning I wrote him an email telling him I enjoyed talking to him on the phone on Tuesday and we should do it again.

I traveled to Ohio to attend a funeral for my sisters father for the entire day and when I return to town at 6:15 I immediately headed to the west side of town to meet my friends for our monthly book club meeting. At this point I am dying to see my email. I wanted to know if there had been a response to my morning communication. When I finally got home at 9:3o I immediately booted up my computer expecting to find an email. There was...it was something like I was nice to talk to and we had a good conversation and he wanted to know if I wanted to go out sometime. I replied and said I would call him on Thursday night and we could talk about it.

Buy this time I am not feeling nearly as nervous. I think the first phone call was the hardest. I already had plans on Thursday night to see a movie with some friends and I got a bit drunk. I was mostly sober by the time I called him but not completely. We talked for an hour and fifteen minutes. I think it was ten minutes too long. I really cannot remember many of the topics we talked about, but just ordinary stuff. Then he told me something shocking. His friend shot a deer and it is dead and hanging in his garage. I was like WHAT! I guess it is deer season and he was waiting for it to...I don't know...tenderize? I could not get the image of a dead deer hanging in the garage out of my head. A few minutes after that I said goodnight and hung up the phone. After this revelation I wasn't nearly as enamored with this situation as I was before.

So, I didn't do anything for a few days. I didn't send any emails or call him back. On Saturday afternoon while I was hanging out with a friend he called and then sent an email. I didn't take the call because I didn't want to be rude to my friend. So I called him after I left her house that evening and we talked for about 45 minutes. This conversation ended in us making a date for the following day. So I am meeting him somewhere in Castleton after I finish going to the ballet in the afternoon. What am I going to wear????? I got some new perfume tonight so at least I will not be smelly!

So I had the date. I was completely exhausted when I was done. I met him at a Starbucks in Castleton. I wanted to stay away from food but be somewhere in public. I think it was a good choice but neither of us drink coffee (I had ice tea and he had orange juice). Things went ok. We talked for about 1.5 hours and I learned allot about him, his life and his ex wife. I don't think that we have very much in common but I feel that I need this practice. When we were leaving he said he had a good time and we should do it again. I guess I will see if he calls this week. After thinking more about this I really don’t think that we are very compatible. We are very different. I have a bit of a list but I don’t want to post it. So I am going to keep trying.
Any Advise???

So, I am sorry to all of my friends that I didn't tell this story to in person. Sometimes communicating these things are hard for me. This is my attempt to not act like Ron.

Am I a Robot??

So I came to the realization over the weekend that I have a large quantity of automation in my life. I know that I never like to be inconvenienced by stuff and basically daily life in general. Let me list it for you and you decide if I am a Robot?

1. All of my outside Christmas lights are on timers so they automatically turn on and off each day at dawn and dusk
2. All of my inside Christmas decorations are on timers so they automatically turn on an off each day at 6pm and 11pm
3. My alarm clock automatically goes off Monday – Friday at 7am without any daily interference from me
4. I have a light in my bedroom that automatically turns on and off daily from 7am-9am
5. I had my phone alarm set to go off daily at 9:30 am and 9:30 pm to remind me to take my medicine, I have since disengaged it because it annoyed my co-workers
6. All of my various podcasts automatically download daily if ITUNES is running on my laptop
7. I have set up my yahoo calendar to automatically send me emails 4 days and 1 day prior to any birthday, anniversary or social activity
8. I have several bills that automatically get charged to my debit card monthly
9. My Amazon Kindle...the ultimate....I just pick a book and it downloads in less than a minute...instant gratification at it's finest

So are there any daily automation items that I could still be using but don’t? Does this make me a robot or crazy or just plain old LAZY?