Are You A Hoopy Frood?

Don’t forget that Towel Day is May 25th! Do you know where your towel is?

For those of you that don't know what I'm talking about, this should clear it up:

The original quotation that referenced the importance of towels is found in Chapter 3 of Douglas Adams's work The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

“ A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-bogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

Hence a phrase that has passed into hitchhiking slang, as in "Hey, you sass that hoopy Ford Prefect? There's a frood who really knows where his towel is." (Sass: know, be aware of, meet, have sex with; hoopy: really together guy; frood: really amazingly together guy.)”

— Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Borrowed From A Friend

The world did not end yesterday; it was just being rebooted. Please be sure your security software is up to date. Run a full scan of your life and remove any malicious files which may be damaging your joy, stealing your hope, or slowing down your blessings. If you need more instructions, please refer to the users manual, readily available or put your hands together, bow your head and contact tech support.

You Can't Go Home Again

One of my favorite things in high school was being a part of the choir. I have wonderful memories of singing, retreats and even a tour to Victoria, BC. Our choir teacher, Mr. Baker, was one of my favorite teachers. He taught us all so much and solidified my life-long love of music that was begun in the womb (thanks Mom!).

A few months back Mr. Baker announced that after 31 years of teaching he was retiring after the 2011 class graduated. A group of alumni got together to put together a big celebration and alumni concert. That all happened this weekend.

I haven't gone to my 10 or 20 year high school reunions mostly because I didn't want to see most of the people I went to school with (that and I didn't want everyone to see I'd gained so much weight). This was totally different, I actually LIKED the people I was in choir with so I was excited to go. And I really respected Mr. Baker and wanted to be a part of his celebration.

There were representatives from every year he taught at Rex Putnam except for 1994. It was really cool. We gathered in the new auditorium that was built after I graduated and sat in the old familiar semi-circle...sopranos on the left, bases and tenors in the middle and altos on the right. He got the rehearsal going with a rhythm game we always played in school with him clapping out a beat that we all echoed. It was the perfect way to get all us back in the groove since every one of us remembered it.

After a quick vocal warm up (played by his youngest daughter who wasn't even born when I graduated and is now a sophomore in college), we launched into the A-Choir trademark - The Lord Bless You and Keep You. I sung that song a million times during the 4 years I was at RPHS and it remains one of my favorite songs to this day. I didn't even bother to pull the music out for it.

We had a 3 hour rehearsal that just took me back 23 years to his classes at school. It was almost like I'd never left. We ran through a couple of pieces we did every year and then started learning a couple of new songs. Boy, was I out of practice sight reading. I was never great at it, but I could at least keep track of where I was!

After a break and then another practice on the risers we had a dinner over in the school. Boy, has that changed! They've done so much remodeling that it didn't even look like the school I remembered. The cafeteria is in a new place, there is a new gym, a whole new wing of administrative offices. I guess it's true what they say "you can't go home again." It was a really weird feeling to be back in that building I spent four years in and not really recognize it.

I spent a lot of Saturday alternating between feeling really old (those kids that are graduating this year look so young and are so full of life!) and being really glad I wasn't in high school any more.

It was a great day and although my voice is sore today I'm so glad I participated to the fullest.

One of the alumnus's daughter caught this video of the closing of the concert last night when we all sang The Lord Bless You and Keep You, our signature closing. You'll catch a quick glimpse of me if you look. My grateful thanks to the person whose daughter took this footage and I hope you don't mind that I linked to it!

Off to See the Wizard

I'm literally off to see the Wizard. You are probably all green with envy, right? I know, groan, bad puns, but I HAD to say it! In about 5 minutes I'm leaving to meet up with Maiden, do a little boxing on the way to Eugene and go see Wicked. I'm so excited! I can't wait to see it and put it all together.

Leah, you were so right and I was so wrong about this musical. Thank you for making me see the light!