School Concert Rage

We just got home from Jessica's "spring" concert. It's blowing like a mofo out there, some "spring" we're having. But. The choir director didn't rename the concert "alleged spring concert," as I told her she should have (you know, printed it upon the programs and all). They started with the string sextet. And they were god awful. Two of the girls sat there like they'd been doped with atavan before coming out on stage... limp, slouchy, uncaring. And two of them didn't tune their instruments to any sort of agreeable with the rest of the instruments tuning.

The cello player, however -- she kicked ass. I wanted to hug her and thank her after they were finished.

The choir was good, but once again I was shocked at the level of tom foolery exhibited by three of the girls (in the back row, on the end. You saw them, I'm sure you did).

Shifting stances, yawning, not looking at the sheet music, putting the sheet music away before the song was over, talking to one another, waving at people in the audience, scratching scalps, pulling down on the back of the all-too incredibly mini-skirts, crossing feet one over the other while standing all akimbo, lifting the ankle to scratch it in the middle of a song...

...the entire time.

I wanted to throttle each of them. All three of them. Especially when they talked on the risers during other choir members' solo performances.

Gee, bitches. Sorry a choir performance broke out in the middle of your little coffee clatch... Shut the hell up for ten seconds. Pay attention to the choir director. Why the hell are you UP there in the first place? Did mommy make you sign up for choir because she has big dreams for her little angel? What, you think you're some sort of karaoke diva and Rogers and Hammerstein is too boring for you so you won't come in on cue and you put your sheet music away before the big finish, and you yawn and start giggling.

Please, woman.

Get off the riser and go home. American Idol is on. You're missin' it.

I'm only a little, tiny, itty bitty bit perturbed.

I will say, that on the whole the performance was very nice. Aside from the murderous rage I was feeling, I was impressed by a few of the solos. One girl sang an Evanescence song, which was beautifully done even though the lyrics were darn creepy and half the audience probably had no clue what the hell was going on. I enjoyed it though. She did a kick-ass job on a song that is probably not meant to be performed with just a clunky middle school piano. My daughter's hair looks gorgeous when she wears it down, which is something she does so infrequently that it breaks my heart. So it wasn't a 100% horrible night.

After I posted my entry this morning, Doug informed me that we are indeed not going camping this weekend. It is not going to stop raining. We will not be able to build a nice roaring fire beside which to drink beer. We will not enjoy cooking over the little wee Coleman single-burner stovey thing I bought last year, and we will not freeze damply inside our tent. Even if it stops raining for a few hours, everything on this God's green earth will remain soaky until next month.

So. Doug woke up on the side of pure, clear reason, without me having to resort to whinging.

I'm so relieved.

I hate rain camping. Being cooped in a tent with Geoff and 2 stir crazy confused dogs is not my idea of a good time.

Back in the day, when it was just me, Doug and Jessica, when she was 2, yeah. We did it and we did it well. We played cards in the tent, and she danced and sang and we had a grand-assed old time.

Nowadays, there are far too many of us, one of whom is blessed with ADHD, another blessed with being an adolescent female. And it just is not a party.

Instead?

Doug has decided to measure what's left of the ceiling that needs drywalled, and he's going to buy drywall and finish the ceiling. And ... skim coat it. AND... paint it.

I almost fainted when he told me this. I'll keep you posted on whether or not we succeed.

Well, I'm only a little overtired, and because I totally got soaked in the rain I didn't get to take my pictures for my weather tiles, but I swear by the end of this week I'll have them ready to share. And you can put them on your webpage too when the weather is doing stuff that you either like or dislike.

It will be the living end.