Journal Entries
*jingle-jingle*
Posted Dec 24, 2007
Seasons Greetings All!
I've sort of lost sense of time lately...
So sorry if I've seemed a bit boorish regarding my lack of posting during another one of my 
vanishing acts.
I was out doing 
concerts in Montreal, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston and Seattle. Being on a long term w*rk strike without a paycheck for 2 months made it necessary for me to be booked more frequently for performances. With all that travelling, the dates got increasingly fuzzier each time I boarded a plane.
Hmmm. Today is Monday, so I must be back home and... 
...wishing all my favourite hootooers
an abundance of 
love, 
joy and
peaceduring the holiday season and the year ahead!
Thanks for the 
of your friendship. You've always got my best wishes - and I'm especially hoping 2008 will be your very best year ever!
Happy Christmas and 
s all around!
Discuss this Journal entry [11]
Latest reply: Dec 24, 2007
*boinggg* Did someone mention chocolate?
Posted Nov 2, 2007
Hello friends!
Sorry I haven't been quite so forthcoming as of late...
I confess, posting a journal entry hasn't been something that comes naturally to me. I'm much more inclined to idly chat with you, tucked away in cosy corners of hootoo, running amok with indiscriminately placed
smileys and
seelly phonetic aksentz...
I was starting to feel comfortable while typing that!
What I wanted to report, is that I'm fine, safe, and not likely to mysteriously disappear suddenly as I did last month.
The closest Californian fire was 15 miles from my home, this time. We had a week of ashes blanketing our lawns and gardens like drifts of snow. The sun would rise above the forested hills all saffron tinged with a lilac veil and then turn blood red at noon. Then it would seem like a pall of twilight had been cast upon the afternoon sky until the crimson sun would dip into the reflective mauve and violet sea.
In the midst of this, I found out from an
excited team of geologists - that the driveway entrance to my home was situated on an about-to-collapse sinkhole
. It was determined that I should relocate my Mum(whom I am primary 
caregiver of), 
and anything of value to somewhere safe to live while they used blasting caps, heavy machinery and other toys that they were eager to use to remedy the 30 foot wide and
who knows how darned deep situation.
I hired a removal van to load up Mum's hospital bed and contents of her bedroom. We were going 100 miles south to my cousin's new home that he had specially built to accomodate his actively urbane electric wheelchair lifestyle(he's got cerebral palsy) and enough spacious room for caregivers and guests.Perfect!
But I got a call early in the morning from a close family friend(my vocal coach/mentor) who was in dire need of help to move his valuable posessions because 
his Malibu neighbourhood was on fire -again!
So I, who just-happened-to-have-a-big-removal-truck at the moment, raced down the coast, past blazing communities and hillsides in 80 mph winds and donned a face filter mask and safety goggles to load up household goods and hose everything down with water that we could in an hour because the area was being officially evacuated.
We successfully moved all his belongings to my big brother's geodesic dome home. Then we moved my belongings out of my home that had been surrounded by a hastily erected chain link safety fence and copious yellow caution ribbon tape. My brother took my Mum down to my cousins house in his car and I drove the van.
Moved into my cousins lovely hillside home and settled down to relax when we got another phone call. My other cousins from San Diego county were being evacuated because their canyon home was in the line of a fast approaching fire!
And I still had the Removal Van.
You guessed it.
Repeat performance with all the familiar fiery refrains.
I rested for a day or so to recover from muscle strains and
asthma.
Then I hopped a flight to Paris to perform Fauré and Bach.
As a flight attendant assisted me in stowing my carry-on gear, he slipped, my laptop flew out of his hands to the cabin floor, he sought to catch it, the forward momentum caused him to actually stomp on it , as his jaw slammed hard on the window ledge and the sickening sound of cracking laptop casing ensued.
The laptop died. That's why I texted Wile E from Paris. Well, I also wanted to nag him to go to sleep because it was late-
but I managed to interrupt his sleep because he was busy texting me back...
Anyway, Air France presented me with a new laptop to replace the smashed and body slammed one. The concert went well and sans asthma. My San Diego cousins have moved back home to find that 
their next door neighbour's house had burnt to the ground and their home had only sustained fixable roof, fence and landscape damage. My vocal coach/mentor and my are still living out of my brother's house weekdays and a mountain cabin on weekends. He'll be moving into my home once we're given the all clear that needed repairs are well and truly finished. His insurance company has assessed his house damage to be $730,000 so far. It's estimated that he may move back within a month or so.
And I'm still here at my cousin's house in the foothills of the San Fernando Valley with my Mum. I went to a business meeting at a convention center last night detailing 
strike plans in my line of w*rk. That's why I'm only now posting and sincerely thanking you for your concern and kind thoughts - or I'm saying 
"hi" for the first or second time and thanking you for your patience and fortitude for enduring this rare, drawn out missive.
I'm back! Let the 
offerings commence!
Discuss this Journal entry [36]
Latest reply: Nov 2, 2007
~A midsummer night's random list~
Posted Jun 23, 2006
I'm it.
My friend, Ivan the Terribly Average, tagged me to make up a list of eight random things about myself a couple of days ago at "http://cynthesis.wordpress.com/ (one of my blog spaces).
By the way, you're always welcome to pop by and visit. I'm still in the process of unpacking and getting things in order over there. You can never have too many retreats and hide-a-ways, and that's one of mine.
So, here are eight random things about me...1)In my high school yearbook, I was voted as 'Easy On The Eyes' and 'Most Shy'.2)I can be very klutzy. I once pushed an acknowledged world leader into a compost heapin a London park. The acclaimed person had stepped forward to shake my hand.I awkwardly lunged forward to reciprocate, lost my balance on a slippery bit of grassand hurtled headlong, throwing the respected figure sprawling sideways onto a steaming compost heap.*sigh*No further comments about this incident.3)I ran and finished well in a marathon race.The very next day, I promptly quit running forever.4)I've got a bit of a drinking addiction.I drink at least 3 litres of bottled natural spring water each day.5)When I'm queueing at grocery stores I find myself taking inventoryof other shoppers' trolley cart contents.
I then imagine those people consuming and enjoying each of the edible and potable items.6)I'm quite near-sighted but I don't wear my prescriptive contact lenses or glasses very often. In fact, I prefer to see impressionist/pointillist images of audiences when performing concerts because I'm less distracted that way.Unfortunately, when I *do* don lenses, I tend to jump back and be startledby clearly defined people approaching me.7)I like the scents of orangeblossoms and jasmine. I grow them in my garden. I wash with products made from them. I drink my
flavoured with them...8)I try to find something to love about every person that I encounter. Admittedly, some people are more difficult than others to achieve thisbut I like the challenge anyway.That's all folks!Now it's my duty to tag some of you to share 8 random things about yourselves and for you to tag some more victimsfriends!
jaz'd, Wile E.,airscotia, lf2871,and CYBERHUMAN...you've all just been tagged!
Discuss this Journal entry [28]
Latest reply: Jun 23, 2006
Perhaps it's just me, but...
Posted Sep 11, 2005
I think everyone has on occasion displayed a certain amount of behaviour that could be seen as quirky to others and simultaneously quite normal to themselves.
This morning I was hoovering my refrigerator,singing Schubert's"Ave Maria",when gales of shrieking laughter startled me from this Sunday act of devotion. What was this cacophony of disparate sounds?
I swung round to witness three Croatians in various stages of paroxysmal distress,bodies bent at unnatural angles,gasping,wheezing,pre-cyanotic...you get my drift. I stared wildly at(I recalled these were my weekend house guests) the pyjama clad figures and a gust of renewed laughter forced me backwards.
After a time,actually a fairly good amount of time,their bodies retained their usual upright forms and their breathing resumed to normalcy except for the occasional soft rattle.I sat them down gently in the living room where I explained that some icing sugar had fallen off of the sherry poppy seed cake onto the shelves of the fridge,a vacuuming seemed to be the logical course of solution and seeing as it was Sunday,did they expect me to be singing "Lady Marmalade"? I searched their faces for any sign of comprehension. Did I have to interpret this through universal mime and gesticular emphasis? Were they patiently waiting for more detailed explanation? Silence.Then something sounding like the very first "ppppf" of popcorn popping in the microwave broke the surface of that silence. A sonic blast of laughter followed with bodies helplessly knocked sideways then diving for the cushions on the couch, frantic feet kicking as if they should be accompanied by a known swimming stroke and the voice of one strangledly gasping, "Ohhh, I would pay some one to strap me into a straight-jacket right now..."before burying his head into the cushions and muffling any further communication.
At that, I left the room shaking my head puzzledly and commenced writing my first journal entry.
Discuss this Journal entry [7]
Latest reply: Sep 11, 2005
cynthesis
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