Adventures in Cello-Land

Identity crisis

2012-01-18T15:43:00.000-05:00

I woke up yesterday morning (yes, it was really still morning!) to the news that I am not who I thought I was.

Which is kind of a strange place to be, really. You construct all the stories about who you are around the stories you've been given. So when you learn that the stories you've been given weren't true, what happens to your stories?

Now... anyone who knows me is already aware of just how much of my early life was based upon stories that turned out to be brilliantly-woven lies, and I've spent the latter half of my life trying to dig myself out from under all the B.S. that had been piled up on top of me. So you're probably asking yourselves now: "why is she surprised? Doesn't she do this all the time? What's the difference?"

Well, the difference is that this wasn't really a lie -- just misinformation, or misinterpretation. And the new story, the truth, is backed up by science. Genetic testing, to be exact.

You see, my mother was adopted. And while she has never particularly wished to open up the kettle of possibly-stinky fish of meeting her birth mother, not knowing anything about her ancestry or family health history has left a considerably large hole in her personal story.

It doesn't help that my mother was adopted by a Tyrannical Nutbar. (No, that's not a clinical definition, but I'm sure 9 out of 10 clinicians would agree with my diagnosis!) The Children's Aid must have been desperate for adoptive parents at the time, because I cannot see anyone honestly believing my grandmother had a nurturing bone in her body. (While I may complain about my mother's own severe lack of parenting skills, she certainly came a long way from her own upbringing, I'll give her that! Probably via her Dad, who was a very warm and caring person, but couldn't hold his own against the Tyrannical Nutbar he married, and neither divorce nor murder were legal in those days.)

So when my mother, at age four, arrived in the home of the Tyrannical Nutbar, she had to change her name, sever all ties with the foster family she adored, and was not even allowed to talk about her previous foster families. A few years later, my mother unknowingly came across her adoption papers -- Gramma ripped them out of her hands before the information could even register, and destroyed all the copies. My mother's history was permanently erased.

Fast forward to her marrying into a family of avid genealogists (and a smattering of Tyrannical Nutbars as well) who could trace all the generations back to Bonnie Prince Charlie, and she truly became the Mystery Meat. And of course everyone had their own theories of where she "must" be from. Her almond eyes, her olive-y skin, her high cheekbones -- all these became "proof" of whatever exotic tale someone felt like coming up with.

In the early '90s, once she had severed all ties with the Tyrannical Nutbar for once and for all, Mom decided to see if she could get a little more information about who she was and where she came from. There wasn't much in the records -- certainly none of the health information she really wanted -- but she did learn her mother's name, as well as her own (Carolyn Louise), that she had a younger sister still living with the mother at that time (she had actually been given up so the mother could look after the cute new baby -- charming, eh?), and they both lived with the grandmother. The father was not named, but was listed as living locally, in good health and a Native Canadian.

So... we had a tiny bit of information. Not much to go on, but... we had an area of the province and a bit of ancestry. I went and did a bunch of research on what Native populations were concentrated in the area, and searched for physical similarities. When my sister went up to NWT for a research project she was thrilled to discover that her "turtle nose", which nobody had ever been able to place, was an Inuit nose, and a beautiful one at that.

So... we must be Inuit! Silly 1940s CAS workers, they couldn't tell the difference between Innu and Inuit, obviously... We were obviously 1/4 Native, with at least 1/8 being ever so obviously Inuit. Of course, upon knowing this information, our "Native" friends saw the resemblances, took us under their wings, and shared their stories.

This discovery also started to make a number of other things clear. Like: why the Tyrannical Nutbar forbade my mother from using red crayons. After all, Gramma was also a fierce racist (she would get off the elevator when the black university professor would come on, because she didn't want him to rape her and chop her up into pieces and hide her in the trunk of her car like he'd done to that other woman -- when the police discovered it was a young white guy who did all that, she simply left out the last part of that sentence), and there was nothing she hated more than those redskins. (Other than the brownskins or yellowskins or... anyone other than United Empire Loyalists, basically.) Her freaking out over Mom's passion for horses (all those Indians ride horses, right?) and insistence that she only ride English saddle. Her unexplained joy when my hair came in curly. And my sister's came in blonde.

Our story was finally complete. We had a full story, which we were happy to share, finally, with anyone who asked.

We all build our stories -- and other people's stories -- on the stories we've been given.

Last month, Mom sent a blood sample to a company in the US that will test your DNA and give you a full report of the genetic markers present -- giving a wealth of information about health history and possibilities, as well as pinpointing your DNA history, i.e., who your ancestors are. Depending on the population, and how isolated they may or may not have been, they can trace some people back to particular villages, depending on the genetic markers found. Mom very much wanted to have a better picture of her health and what to look out for in her aging years -- but she was also hoping (or maybe I'm just projecting) to be able to pinpoint which Native population she belonged to.

Her results came yesterday morning. She was like a kid in a candy store, finally having the information she'd longed for for decades upon decades. She was so excited, this former English teacher forgot her spelling, and hurriedly typed away at me about the discoveries about her gnome history.

Gnome history?!?!? You mean genetic testing has proven we're descended from a hitherto-thought-to-be-mythical species of grumpy little people? Should I get a pointy hat? No wonder I like the colour red and goose-down pillows and get crabby when people walk across my bridge!

Oh... no... genome history. We're not Gnomes. Damn...

As it turns out, though, we're not Native North Americans, either. Not one single genetic marker to anchor us to North America, let alone a particular Native population.

So... I guess those 1940s CAS workers meant "native" as in: his parents had been born here; not as in: traceable back for many generations. Of course, one line was traceable back to the super-early settlers of Newfoundland, so perhaps the CAS workers mistook that population for Native? Who knows... maybe the birth mother wasn't sure who the father was and just took her best guess. Back to Mystery Meat (excuse the raunchy pun!).

So the cheekbones and eyes that my friends alternately swore were Nish or Innu, and the extra layer of belly fat that I blamed on my Inuit genes (they actually have an extra layer written in to their genetic code) have nothing to do with this land whatsoever. I ain't from around here.

My mother's ancestry comes almost completely from the Basques of north-central Spain and south-western France. It was a mountainous region (west end of the Pyrenees and stretching down to the coast of Biscay) and cut off from the effects of all the other migrations, so has remained fairly insular genetically. It is one of the oldest peoples of Europe -- originally pastoral in the mountainous terrain, but then they became seafaring as they ran out of space. They were among the first to reach North America, and settled mainly in Newfoundland (Port Aux Basques).

So... this doesn't explain my belly fat (damn!), but... it does explain my passion for mountains, sea, and a good Rioja (I've never met a bad Rioja -- of course, her genes also show a predilection for alcoholism, so between her and my father, I'm pretty much screwed in that department!).

And it means I have to take a fresh look at my stories. Why the heck DID the Tyrannical Nutbar forbid Mom from using red crayons? Where DOES my sister's turtle-nose come from? WTF is with this belly fat?

Where's my Rioja?

"We make up our stories by looking at clouds
And nobody bothers to say it out loud
'Cause they don't think very much about it."
- Susan Latimer

Oh, and P.S.

2012-01-18T00:12:00.000-05:00

Found a poem I've been searching for since high school -- which was... oh... maybe a couple of years ago???

I remembered the first three lines, and have been searching in poetry books all over the place, worried I might have made it up, but... FOUND IT!!! On a whim, while procrastinating via Google.

The poet's name is Langston Hughes, who was apparently from Missouri. The poem, as I suspected, is called "Dreams":

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

On a day when the world has gone into flash-freeze... I'm so glad I found this poem again!

How can I miss you when you won't go away?

2012-01-17T23:45:00.001-05:00

OK, be careful what you ask for, right?

Round two in as many weeks of got-the-house-to-myself, as Don heads over to Gabriola (without me, waaaahhh) to do the final master of his new solo CD with our friend Graemme at Zen Mastering. (Love the name!)

It would have been nice to have a few more days before doing the happy dance. Not quite so happy. Yes, it's nice to be by myself, as always, but... I'm actually missing him this time.

Stupid Lyssy... you're not supposed to miss him.

Maybe it's just selfish -- after all, he's in the place we love, and I'm here, in the place I like a lot, but can no longer flourish in. My sister asked if he was going to look at real estate while in Victoria... no time. Which is good, because then I'd be REALLY jealous!

Feeling a tremendous urge to create, to collaborate, and so few opportunities around here. Unless you count the "this would be great exposure!" crap, which I'm about 30 years too old to be fooled by. (I have refrained from responding to an e-mail that came in last night, with that exact request... I'm trying to find a polite way to say no. Still trying...)

He's in the land of people I want to collaborate with, collaborating with one of the guys I'd like to collaborate with. Staying for two nights at The Haven, where life and people are beautiful.

And I'm feeling sorry for myself, in my Rudolph pyjamas and messy office. Having accomplished a whole bunch today, dealt with a great deal of emotional upheaval (more on that tomorrow, I just don't have the energy to explain tonight), but... still missing him.

Damn. So much for being 100% independent.

Stupid Lyssy... you're not supposed to miss him.

What happened to the happy dance? There's supposed to be a happy dance...

Over and out,
Two Left Feet Lyssy

The stuff in between

2012-01-16T17:43:00.001-05:00

Just back from the Orillia Folk Society - BaDAS/S DIY Music Weekend, a gathering of the clan.

A few new faces each year, several folks I see regularly, but many who I only see at this annual event. Many song circles, a few workshops (led by DIY participants, hence the moniker), tons of community, and perhaps a tasty adult beverage or two. A wide variety of tastes, experiences and abilities, from the three full-time pros (Don, Ray Dillard and myself), to music lovers who will take any opportunity to learn something new, to "weekend warriors", to folks who just want to jam and have fun, to a small handful who just want to sit back and listen and soak it all in.

I learned and observed much this weekend. First of all, that 2011 kicked the crap out of a lot of people -- more accidents, illnesses, deaths, etc., than I've heard reported any other year. Second, that these people kicked back, and are moving forward in grace and joy. So -- a toast to the end of 2011 for all of us, and a toast to 2012 swinging us all to the opposite side of the pendulum of life (OK, maybe we should wait until my liver recovers...).

The other great thing about seeing people every year is noticing the good stuff that's changed. There were three young guys who joined us for the first time last year, and had such a good time hanging out with all us old farts that they actually came back. :-) All three of them have been a part of the Mariposa Songwriters Club, a group of young'uns under the mentorship of Aaron Howes, who has obviously been doing a fantastic job with this group. They've grown so much in the past year (I'm talking musically, they're in their 20s and past the growth-spurt stage!), gained confidence and skills and... tremendous musicality.

Last year, guitarist Chris Thompson already had the technique and the drive and the creativity, but this year, the musicality and confidence had bloomed beautifully. While still employing the zippy effects and percussive techniques, his new compositions were filled with much more lyricism and harmonic movement than flashy technical tricks. There's a new maturity there, much more than a year's worth. Aaron Mangoff, whose voice and songwriting had impressed everyone last year as well, has gained a new poise as well as confidence in his guitar playing. He and Tyler Knight were venturing much more into trying out lead parts in the jams and song circles -- and did so with such taste and sensitivity, they put some of the older-and-should-know-better folks to shame. Tyler has completely exploded into and embraced his musicality -- I was blown away by his accompaniments, but also by his songs (last year, he played mostly covers), which dug incredibly deep and pulled out some gorgeous gems.

All three have such a great sense of musicality, sensitivity (same thing, really, I'm just repeating it for those who might forget such notions), respect (ditto) poise and confidence. They're at an age where it would be easy to get stuck in the testosterone-y it's-all-about-what-I-can-do-to-impress-people mode, but they're so very obviously All About the MUSIC. They're going to go places, I'm sure. I love these guys, search them out and you'll love them too!!!

I should also mention that Tyler's creative passions are also in the realm of videographer -- he owns District Media & Design here in Orillia, and has put together some terrific videos for local musicians. This guy oozes creativity. :-) In fact, he put together a five-minute down-and-dirty video of The Brights playing with our friend Ray Dillard "backstage" at DIY: The Brights with Ray Dillard. Browse around his YouTube site, because there are a number of video projects he's done available there. Don's going to hire him to do some songs from his upcoming solo album, too.

But back to DIY.

The other people who blew me away were Noreen Sullivan and Mary Bennet (no websites, sorry). More examples of musicality at its finest! They're more in the doing-it-for-fun-but-won't-pass-up-a-gig-if-asked category, but their duo work is simply beautiful, and certainly of professional-if-they-felt-like-it quality. Their voices blend so nicely, and they've worked out some lovely arrangements. But even when you take them out of their "comfort zone" of working together, the harmonies and accompaniments they ad libbed over people's songs in the circles were just as tasteful and simply-beautifully-perfect.

Another guy to impress me -- well, he'd already impressed me, and I see him on a regular basis, but it was good to be reminded -- was Roy Hickling. His songwriting just gets better and better. Yes, he is a friend and a client, but no, he didn't pay me to say this -- and I won't be invoicing him for it, either. ;-)

What all of these people I mentioned understand and embrace is that music is not the notes -- it's the stuff in between the notes. Yes, I go on about this ad nauseam, but that's because not everyone is listening yet. :-) These people are wonderful examples of how amazing it is when the Music is there, in between all the other stuff.

My very favourite compliment -- and self-conscious, oh-please-don't-let-me-cry-now moment -- of the weekend was when Mary H. and Peter K. were talking with Ray about the workshop he was going to give on musical tension and release. Mary's eyes shone and she said "oh, that's what Alyssa's so natural at!" Peter jumped in and started talking about how it's so nice to play with me or just to listen to me accompanying others, because I know where to place the notes and when to stay out of the way. And then I turned red and tried not to cry as they waxed poetic over my sensitivity. Sure it's nice to get compliments about my technical proficiency, and be reminded I don't suck, but... THOSE are the types of compliments I ADORE. The ones that have nothing to do with the number of notes I play, but how I play them. Because the Music is not the notes. The Music is the heart in between the notes. The Music is what makes Mary's eyes light up, what touches Peter, what makes complete strangers go away from a concert and feel they've been part of something.

And this is what I saw, heard and felt in all the people who made an impression on me this weekend. The stuff between the notes. The heart, the soul, the spirit, the Music. Notes can be learned. Music has to be nurtured. And once you can let go of the notes and put in the spirit, you'll be touching people you don't even know of, and you will make them feel they've been part of something. Whether you pursue it professionally or simply for the sheer joy of it, you will be A Musician.

All-in-all, a great musical weekend. Do check out everyone's websites I mentioned -- and search around for those without links, because other people have posted videos and bios of them. These people are Musicians.

Doin' the Happy Dance

2012-01-10T16:15:00.001-05:00

Got the house to myself, doin' the happy dance... Don's off to Jersey to do a re-mix of his solo CD, so I have four days and three nights of being alone!

Although, this time, it's REALLY alone. One cat died mid-December, the last died Friday. Unless you count the ghost who occasionally makes an appearance in our dining room, I am really and truly alone, for the first time in... well, I guess it was January, 1993 when my first cat, Evinrude, joined me in my one-bedroom and very blue (it looked like someone had shaken a 7-11 slushie all over the walls) Kingston apartment.

So... this is the first time, in almost exactly nineteen years, that I don't have to look after another being's needs, or even take another being's needs into consideration.

My Happy Dance is getting downright ecstatic.

Not that I don't miss my husband or my cats, but... WAHOOOO!!!!!

This is what freedom feels like.

I'm not a horrible person, really I'm not. Don recognizes that the happy dance has nothing to do with him and everything to do with me.

You see, I'm an introvert -- a needle-firmly-entrenched-in-the-extreme-pole-of-introversion introvert. I NEED my alone time, or I become a nervous wreck.

Not only am I an introvert, I am an emotional sponge with horrible boundaries issues. Growing up with parents who needed me to be their parent, who, it became obvious by the time I was three, would inevitably die or be sent to an institution if I didn't identify and anticipate their every need and forsake my own to satisfy theirs -- well, I've been pretty much hard-wired to know people's needs before they even know what they are. And if I'm not absolutely, positively, one-hundred-percent centred (read the above paragraph about needing my alone time!), I am also hard-wired to dump my own needs and look after everyone else's.

If I'm grounded, centred and relaxed, I can sometimes catch myself before it happens. But -- as my sister-friend Ali commented last night -- the past year has not had a single lull for me. I have been in emergency-fixer-upper, problem-solver, here-let-me-look-after-that-for-you mode since October, 2010. There has been no hope of being grounded, centred or relaxed.

It wasn't so bad when Don was still working at the fire hall. Then, I knew there were seven 24-hour shifts (plus errands and driving time) every four weeks when I would have the house to myself. And yes, there are days when I regret encouraging him to follow his heart and leave the job he was no longer enjoying...

He tries, he really does try to give me my space and alone time, but... in this year-plus of total frazzlement, I don't think he completely understands that in order to give me that true space and alone-time, he has to either leave the house for an extended period of time, or hold perfectly still and silent and not breathe for an extended period of time.

This is part of the reason why we're looking for a house with either an out-building or a soundproofed basement apartment.

Because in this old house, no matter where he is, I can hear him breathing. Not to mention moving, or listening to music, or creating music, or... well, all those various things (such as respiration) that Don has to do in order to be Don.

If I'm meditating, for instance, and I hear him shuffling around in the kitchen, "man-looking" for something... my concentration is gone in a split-second, and before I can stop myself, I'm shouting out the exact location of the thing I already know he's looking for.

Pathetic, really.

My creative process requires total silence and no interruptions. Don's creative process involves spending the day noodling on the guitar and seeing what sticks. These two processes are completely incompatible. He's told me to tell him when I need him to be quiet, but... I never know when something will sneak into the silence, so the answer to "when should I be silent?" is really: always. Which, of course, is not possible or desirable. Hence the need for an out-building. And an out-building with no intercom, because another part of his creative process is the need to talk it out with me instantly. Which... again... Totally Incompatible. (I keep telling him he's got to know I love him, because otherwise I'd never tolerate living with another human being!!!)

A few years ago, when I was playing an extended run in Prince Edward County, I was offered an apartment for a weekend, to get away from my friendly yet multitudinous billet hosts. The woman who owned it had her own house, but kept this apartment as a personal getaway.

I have been fantasizing about having such an apartment ever since.

Because, much as I try, much as Don tries... remember that television ad that said "the years before five last the rest of their lives"? They weren't just whistlin' Dixie, people!!! Hard-wired is hard-wired. It may be possible to short-circuit every once in a while, and continue to work on tricks to overcome my hard-wiring, but... I don't think I'm ever going to be able to get rid of it completely, let alone to a point where I can stop keeping a vigilant eye out for my own knee-jerk.

Apartment, out-building, panic room... I'm afraid at least one of these is necessary, especially in such busy years. Or, perhaps, some really good earplugs. :-)

In the meantime, though, I'm going to happy-dance my way through four days and three nights of silent, solitary bliss. Don't even think about calling me to make sure I'm not lonely! I ain't gonna answer. :-)

Happy New Year!

2012-01-02T15:11:00.000-05:00

I have never been so happy to see the end of a year.

I know, I know, relish the time you have, but... honestly, I didn't have TIME to relish the time I had in 2011. The year of chaos. Yes, much of the chaos was good chaos, but I'd be happy for a little bit of calm. Maybe even a lot of a bit of calm. :-)

New Year's Resolutions?

I'm going to do my best to have more than just coffee for breakfast. And I'm going to try to remember to brush my teeth before I go to bed.

Yup, that's it. And it's kind of pathetic that I have to actually make resolutions about those two things, but... such has become my (lack of) habit. Looking after myself has once again fallen by the wayside.

Eating breakfast and brushing my teeth are as big a promise as I'm going to allow myself to make. Because the overarching big promise it to not expect so much of myself -- to not continuously set myself up for failure.

I thought I had figured this out last year when I promised to set myself only three goals per day. Three ought to be manageable, right? Well, they would be, if I picked reasonable goals. My three daily chores tended to be more along the lines of "establish world peace" and "save the planet from environmental destruction" and "write a Pulitzer-prize-winning novel." Which would leave me angry with myself at the end of each day, for failing to accomplish three simple tasks in a day...

Eating breakfast and brushing my teeth. Easier to accomplish in a day.

Yes, looking after myself -- Extreme Self Care -- seems to be part of my resolutions every year. This year, it isn't even that extreme, though! Even the basics have flown out the window, with all that was happening in 2011.

OK, bonus resolution: I'm going to try and look decent in a bathing suit by May. That is when my sister and I take our families to the BVIs to celebrate having survived all there was to survive in 2011.

There was so much unknown last year, so many last-minute changes of plans, so many last-minute emergencies... it feels very strange to be able to plan ahead for a vacation. Five whole months in advance. It's been a long time since we've been able to do that. Heck, we missed celebrating our first anniversary, because family drama and cancer kept us from making any plans. (We will make up for that this year!)

2011 began with a cancer scare (mine), was taken up with a cancer reality (Don's) and ended up with a cancer death (our littlest cat, Tough Cookie). In the middle of all this were the final touches of a five-year battle against an evil little man who has spent the last several decades causing us great harm -- which of course has led to emotional regurgitation of the last several decades, and trying to put old hurts to bed one final time. We had to cancel a tour with our friends Heather and Ben, because court and hospital appointments shifted around like acid-crazed silverfish, and we didn't know which end was up for months at a time. We didn't know if we'd be able to keep our house, we didn't know how to keep our careers going with all the cancellations, we didn't know if keeping commitments would cost Don his life or if cancelling our commitments would cost us our future.

It was a whole year of not knowing. Of waiting for other people or circumstances to decide what we would do any given day. Of trying to trust our guts when we were having trouble keeping our guts still. Of not making any plans. Of not daring to dream about the future because we didn't know whether we'd have one.

And yet, in the middle of all this -- there were some pretty amazing adventures! Perhaps it was the threat of death that made us leap where before we would have hesitated. But man, we sure leaped!

I played in concert with Victor freaking Wooten (and he called ME a virtuoso!). We both played in concert and wrote a song with Eric Bibb. Don recorded a kick-ass solo CD (just waiting for final mix & master). He met a long-lost cousin he never knew existed, until they ended up playing a duet together. We did our first tour to BC and a second one including the other western provinces, and met some incredible new people -- many of whom are going to be close friends for a very long time. We fought many dragons, confronted many demons. Out of all the chaos, we were forced to face what we no longer had time for in our lives, and focus more clearly on what we did want in our lives.

And here we are in 2012, with all the chaos of 2011 behind us. We are planning a vacation. We are planning our anniversary. We are planning how best to pursue all that we want and need from our lives.

First: calm, rest, quiet. Then: eat breakfast, brush teeth. This will, in all likelihood, be followed by chaos. But it will be chaos of our own choosing. Changes are coming. We're no longer living under affect of our lives. We are living our lives. Making decisions. Some of them are pretty huge. And chaotic. And pretty darned exciting.

Hello, 2012. It's great to meet you. So long and good riddance, 2011 -- but thank you so much for all you taught us.

Happy New Year, everyone!

The blank canvass

2011-12-06T13:40:00.000-05:00

OK, I'm not a painted -- how about the blank page? Very intimidating, the blank page. I don't usually write very well from the blank page. There's usually something swimming around in my head long before I allow myself to touch the page -- well, swimming around and knocking desperately on the door, insisting I let it out. Or barf it up, as the case may be... :-)

I don't write songs because I want to write a song, I write them because they give me no choice.

Kind of like how I've lived my life. These are you confines, this is how you need to live. This is your budget, these are the number of hours in the day (OK, those are the confines I still tend to ignore...), these are the resources at hand. Fit the jigsaw pieces together and deal with it.

If I'm just dealing with it, I'm not really having to make a choice. It's kind of easy that way. Survival skills 101. I'm really awesome at survival. Crisis, chaos, conflict -- my forte.

Choice... not so much.

Here I am, well into month two of the time I allotted for figuring out what I wanna be when I grow up... and I'm still looking at barriers, figuring out how to navigate them. Reacting to "reality" while making my "choices".

How many of those barriers are actual barriers, and how many of them are me trying to avoid making real choices?

How many choices am I making based on other people's parameters, or what I think my choices "should" be?

Under the guise of dreaming big, Don and I have been perusing the real estate listings for our dream home. Some of the obvious things we want are a space big enough to hold house concerts, separate areas (be that an out-building or a nanny suite) for us to make music in without getting in each other's way. Actually, those are really the only "have-to"-s. We also tend to prefer the "character houses" to the newer homes, and will never, ever put ourselves in a gated community or next to a golf course. Would LOVE to be in walking / biking distance of downtown and the waterfront.

With these criteria, we've been dreaming. And we've fallen in love with one house that's WAYYYYY over our price range. We actually saw it when we were in Victoria in September. I guess it's kind of like brides and the first wedding dress they try on... It is a gorgeous house, and if it were anywhere within our price range, I'm sure we'd have bought it in September.

But, here's the thing -- it's about 50% more expensive than some of the other perfect houses that meet our criteria. Reason being, of course, it's all newly renovated with marble countertops and top-of-the-line fixtures and stuff.

Which... has never really impressed us before.

Yes, the layout impresses us -- big-time. But... are we going for the glitz because we think we have to have glitz in order to dream big?

I mean, seriously, anyone who has been to our house knows that those marble counter-tops would be covered with piles of "to-do" papers in no time, and never be seen again. :-)

Not realistic in any stretch of the word. So... am I chastising myself for liking this house because it's totally impractical, or am I chastising myself for liking this house because I'm dreaming too big, or am I chastising myself because I just really like chastising myself? And why don't I chastise myself about that for a while, while I'm at it? ;-)

Of course, Practical Lyssy has found a bunch of similarly-laid-out homes in comparable areas for about half a million less than the Gorgeous Yellow House. They even have more floor space. No silly marble countertops.

When we were walking through the Gorgeous Yellow House, a man who'd noticed our Ontario plates pulled us aside and told us the house was far over-priced. Which might explain why it's still on the market, three months later -- and they've brought the asking price down a bit. Who knows, maybe by the time we're ready to take the plunge, they'll have realized the error of their ways and we'll get the Gorgeous Yellow House for a Practical-Lyssy-friendly price?

Or maybe there's another place that's just perfect, that will present itself when the timing is right.

Ah yes... but then, am I deferring to "fate" making my choices again??? Arrrgggghhhh...

I need to shut up my lizard brain. Face the blank page. Paint my dream home and dream life. And get ready to dive in. I won't know what fate has brought me, or when to dive in, until I can paint the dream.

Hand me my paintbrush, please!

Not settling

2011-12-05T14:53:00.000-05:00

Our Amity Trio concert yesterday, coupled with an article in Strings on forming an ensemble, combined, perhaps, with many of the thoughts that have been flitting through my dearly beloved's and my heads over what we want to be when we grow up (!) all seem to be coming back to the same place.

Don't settle.

The trio's "Gift of Music" concert yesterday was our second performance for this series, the first being two seasons ago. As I mentioned in our introduction, we were excited to be able to introduce the audience to a new member of the trio, and a new cello. Both certainly worked their magic -- those who had been at both concerts made a point of saying so.

For years -- oh geez, decades! -- I let myself be stuck with an instrument I was fighting, that wouldn't do what I wanted, that made me sound far crappier than I actually am. :-) And then, I finally allowed myself to invest in the proper tool for my career. And whooosh! All those things I was fighting were instantly easier. "Lady Jo" responds to my wishes with grace and passion, whereas "The Old Clunker" (the more polite name) would have made me fight for it -- and probably still not given it to me.

Similarly with the trio, which has had trouble with pianists from the beginning. When I joined the group, the pianist was a very good player, able to sight-read pretty much anything -- but that's also pretty much all he did. Any musical decisions discussed were forgotten by the following week, as he sight-read his way through the piece for the hundredth time. He got all the notes just fine, but there wasn't any life in the music -- add to that our uncertainty whether he would show up for any given date, and you can see it wasn't the most ideal circumstance. The trio's next pianist was really jumping off the deep end -- and good for her for giving it a whirl. But without the background or the experience or the technical facility, she was really just turning herself into a giant ball of stress. Rehearsals had become extended argument sessions, the music was unsatisfying, the concerts frustrating. And, as with any long-term relationship, it was really hard to get to the point where we all could say so. It was a relief for all three of us when it was finally said.

Fast-forward to the new trio, where the pianist has equal -- arguably, better -- technique, background and experience to the rest of us. Which means the rehearsals are now dedicated to the making music part, instead of the tension and fighting and hoping we make it to the end of the piece in one piece. It's a real ensemble, not three people pulling in opposite directions. We can make music, not notes, knowing the music won't end in tears or resentment. And what a relief! We can actually PLAY music, not just worry if we'll get to the end in one piece.

It's what this is all about, really. (Oh yeah, and the whopping big salary -- ha ha ha ha ha.)

And so... here we are with the-rest-of-life. A year of cancer scare and cancer reality, family drama, family victory, end-of-an-era (or seven) and tabula rasa (or, sort-of-rasa) leads us to: what now? What have we been settling for, when we know we want or need something better? What would our biggest fantasy life be? How can we make it happen? What's holding us back? How do we shed that skin and face the world anew?

Planning ahead, making long-term plans or goals does not come naturally for either one of us. We both learned at a young age not to hold out hope, because we'd be brutally disappointed. Not to expect that the world would reward us for our hard work, just pull the carpet out from under us as we got to the finish line (yes, spectacularly mixed metaphor -- I apologize). Not to dream, let alone dream big.

Don often gazes at me, dewy-eyed and says "what happens now that all my wishes have come true?" Well... make bigger and better wishes, I guess. :-)

We're actually planning our July anniversary. We missed the first one, because the way life was working at that point, we didn't feel comfortable planning ahead. Those complications are gone, now. We're planning ahead. Over seven months ahead. I seriously believe it's the first time we've made any concrete plans more than three months in advance. Baby steps...

What would happen if all my dreams came true? Well... I won't know unless I figure out what those dreams are!

We've pinpointed a number of "settled-for-s". Now we have to figure out the "dream-of-s". Then we have to figure out how to make them happen.

We're dreaming.

Happy Birthday, Baby Narcissist

2011-11-30T20:27:00.000-05:00

It was my birthday yesterday. My sister gave me a book called "It's My F---ing Birthday", a series of "state of the union" addresses the thirty-something and then forty-something main character gives herself on seven subsequent birthdays. Upon visiting the author, Merrill Markoe's, website, I am amused / perplexed to read that one of her main objectives with this novel was to examine the tricky business of having narcissistic parents. Was my sister aware of this? Is this an acknowledgement that she's finally in on the joke? Or was she just so enamoured with the title she was oblivious to the content?

Regardless of my sister's motivation, I was intrigued by the character's annual entries (I've only made it to her 38th birthday, so don't spoil the ending for me if you've already read it, please!), which she concludes with answering the questions: "what did I learn this year?" and "what do I want to learn next year?". It seemed like a good set of questions to ask myself on the auspicious occasion of my 41st birthday.

A good set of questions which I managed to totally avoid by answering "happy birthday" emails and FaceBook wall posts all day, and celebrating with great food and wine and single malt and midnight naughty activities [sorry Mom, but I figured I'd lost you in the first paragraph, anyhow...] with my incredible husband.

Couple this with my friend Louise's recent blog entry, "What do I fear?", which I have been studiously avoiding for over a week while fighting the gnawing feeling I must respond with my own answer to the question and... well, the stars are apparently aligning and trying to shake or stab some of that truth-I-hold-so-dear into my consciousness.

Because my first answer to the question was: nothing much, really. There's so much I used to be afraid of -- speaking the truth, being alone, being imperfect, falling on my face, not being loved -- that I've done and survived with flying colours, so am no longer afraid. I lived my first three-plus decades in such all-consuming fear that I truly feel fear-free now. Of course, I was afraid with Don's cancer diagnosis, but I also knew I could handle whatever had to be done, because I'm really freaking awesome in a crisis. Pathologically awesome in a crisis. I sometimes catch myself trying to create a crisis so I can remind myself just how freaking awesome I am.

I'm not afraid of spiders. I'm not afraid of being alone -- and Don has learned to not take it personally when I do the "I've got the house to myself" happy dance. I'm not afraid of being unloved, because the people who threaten me with that are the people who aren't capable of loving in the first place. I'm not afraid of speaking the truth -- some people wish I were, but I'm not, sorry! (not really...) I'm not afraid of screwing up, because that's how you learn new things. I live a free and open and fear-proof life, trusting my gut and going for it.

Er... Alyssa... um... [tap tap tap]...

If you're not afraid of anything, could you please explain some of your neurotic, knee-jerk reactions?

Because SOMETHING has to be scaring you into all that crap. You know, the having to say "yes" to everything and take responsibility for stuff you don't really want to do, at your own expense? The fact that, even when people aren't asking you to do stuff, you're finding a whole pile of stuff to do anyhow? The fact that you became Little Miss Cranky Pants after a Saturday of jammies and cheesy television? And practically had a nervous breakdown when your husband said he didn't need you to take care of the pile of stuff on the stairs in order for him to love you?

You're afraid of something, Lyss. You're definitely afraid of Something.

OK...

Yes, I'm obviously riddled with fear and guilt and all that ugly stuff when I'm not DOING something. But... maybe it's just a silly residue...? Maybe...? Because my brain and heart KNOW I'm still loveable if I'm in my jammies watching cheesy tv. And my home is no longer in a place where if I don't keep everything together, the world is going to blow into smithereens (and, if it had blown into smithereens in those early years, it might have actually been a good thing). Nobody is going to kill themselves if I don't put their needs before my own. I know my future doesn't live or die on whether my desk is clear. And I've even learned, after the seven years when I upped the ante from living with narcissists to living with a sociopath, that the world doesn't explode if you don't pay the credit card bill on time (although, it's much easier if you do, trust me!) All of the reasons I used to have for this obsessive-compulsive workaholic behaviour are gone gone gone. I know they're gone.

And yet... while I have been working hard at saying "no" the last couple of months, and started weeding out the things I don't actually have a passion for, it's been like ripping out my entire body's arterial system through my eyeballs.

Taking that jammies-and-cheesy-television day on Saturday turned me into Medusa-on-acid for Sunday and Monday.

I'm not SUPPOSED to relax. I'm not SUPPOSED to take a day off. I'm not SUPPOSED to look after myself.

Why the hell not?!?!?

And here, we get back to what the universe has been screaming at me this week. I am TERRIFIED of becoming a narcissist. (She writes, in a blog, that she thinks people want to read... oh shut up, Alyssa!)

I come from a long line, really. It's my birthright. I was raised (or not) by two thoroughly messed-up narcissistic individuals who should never have procreated. It's not their fault, I don't blame them -- hell, I've met THEIR parents, and am thoroughly amazed that ANYONE in this family has managed to make it to adulthood (their bodies, at least -- there's still many whose emotional IQs have yet to catch up... or even start the race, in some cases). My parents really didn't have much of a chance at being good parents, because their parents were serious control-freak nut-jobs. In the last several years, I've had the opportunity to learn more than any person should about their grandparents, and let me tell you I am no longer in the least bit surprised that my father saw giant coke-bottles chasing him home from school, nor that my mother knew about this yet still thought "oh, there's an awesome father for my unborn children!"

They were messed up. Their parents seriously messed them up. Their parents were so freaking incompetent, that both of them were grasping and gulping for whatever care and parenting they could get from whoever was the closest at hand. And on November 29, 1970, I became the closest person at hand. I remember my mom once telling me she wanted to have a baby so she would finally understand unconditional love. It sounded kind of sweet at the time... now I know how destructive a motivation that was. From the very beginning, it was my job to parent my parents. 2-1/2 years later, it was my job to also parent my little sister. And with an alcoholic pedophile father and a prescription-pill-popping suicidal mother who had zero parenting skills and more than anyone's fair share of mommy and daddy issues of their own, it was a lot of work. A LOT of work.

If I weren't 100% on top of things back then, the world WOULD have exploded. No sick days, no mental health days (hardeeharhar), no days off, no nights off. My needs were absolutely nothing compared to the immense ocean of needs of my parents, and the need to keep the "one big happy family" facade intact for the outside world. The grandparents would not accept an ounce of imperfection, and they were mean and vindictive bastards. I had to keep it together.

My parents were narcissists. Not by choice, but by design. They never had their childhood needs met, so they had to find a way to make it happen later in life. This is why I hate vampire movies. Once you're bit / damaged, you have no choice but to instil the same harm on others. It sucks. Hardeeharhar...

One of the biggest reasons -- well, THE biggest reason -- why I chose to not have children myself was because I know I, too, had really awful parenting, and there was no way I wanted my subconscious to subject a poor little offspring of mine to make up for my parents' lack of parenting. I did not want to burden a child with providing me with unconditional love. I did not want a child to grow up to believe his or her sole purpose was to make up for what I had missed.

I did not want to be a narcissist-by-design.

And so, here I am, childless. Solves the whole problem, right?

Har-de-har-har-har...

OK, yes, it does solve the problem for those unborn children of mine, who are probably hanging out in the place where little baby spirits wait for a body to inhabit, and thanking me profusely for not giving in to the societal pressure to cause 2.1 of them a lifetime of therapy.

My part of the equation, however, is still fully intact, and ruling with a vengeance.

I spent a decade of four-days-a-week-flat-on-my-back sessions working on de-dissociating myself. I thought I'd gotten them all. But there is obviously one little piece of me tucked away so very well... and I'm still working hard at keeping her down there.

As Medusa-on-acid will attest, I am still playing whack-a-mole with my inner Narcissist.

If there's even a hint of her, saying she might deserve something good? WHACK!!!

For years, Don's been making fun of my total inability to accept help. I've explained it away by citing my fiercely independent streak. Nobody looked after me before, why should anyone look after me now? I can take care of myself. Besides, the minute you accept help from someone, they're only going to let you down by failing to give it to you after all. You won't be disappointed if you don't allow yourself to rely on others.

Yes, this all makes logical sense, and I've been explaining my some-might-say-fierce-is-a-woeful-understatement independent streak that way for quite some time.

But what the universe seems to be not-so-quietly-stage-whispering is: I don't want to be caught thinking I deserve what I want, because that would make me a blazing Narcissist. And that would be bad. So... WHACK!!! WHACK!!!! WHACKETY WHACK WHACK WHACK!!!!!

You think you DESERVE a day off where you don't have to do anything? WHACK!!! You want to open that nice bottle of wine (I just mis-spelled it with an "h" twice...) for no particular reason other than it'll taste good? Didn't you see what that did to your father? WHACK!!! You want to watch TV and read books and not spend the day looking after the needs of heartless vultures who need you to look after their shit for them? WHACK!!! You want to buy yourself a new pair of comfortable and hole-less shoes instead of give money to charity? WHACK!!!

Geez, Alyssa, you're so freaking selfish. I mean, it's probably genetic, or at least learned behaviour. It's not your fault you're such a selfish person, but holy crap, you'd better protect the world from your obvious narcissistic behaviour. If you let yourself sit still for an hour, the next thing you know, you'll be an alcoholic pedophile pill-popping suicidal maniac who thinks the whole world owes her a favour!!!

Or...

I could figure out those damned shades of grey. And the damned shades of all the other colours...

Hey... little Narcissist... I think you might be a helpful personality to have around sometimes. Because, until Medusa showed up, Saturday was actually a pretty good day. I mean, don't go overboard, there are others who have to share this body. But... I'll try to put that big club away, and stop whacking you in the head. You're right, the idea of you taking over all the other bits of me and turning me into an alcoholic pedophile pill-popping suicidal maniac is a bit far-fetched. I'll try to clear out some closet space for you, maybe let you buy a new pair of shoes. Yes, I'll let you buy a pair of shoes, but we aren't going shopping for neo-citran or crack or anything, OK? Deal? Deal.

So, a la Ms. Markoe's heroine: What have I learned this year?

That having a jammie-and-cheesy-television day does not make me a crack whore. That having a couple of needs satisfied from time to time does not make me a raging narcissist. That having wants and needs does not make me a raging narcissist. That saying "no" to things I don't want to do doesn't make me a raging narcissist. That saying "yes" to things I do want to do doesn't make me a raging narcissist.

That people became narcissists in the first place because their needs weren't met.

That I run into more danger of becoming a raging narcissist by insisting my needs don't get met than by allowing myself to meet my needs.

Ooh, that one felt scary... So much for being fearless.

What do I want to learn in the coming year?

How to let those needs raise their heads without whacking them down. How to embrace my inner Narcissist. How to not denigrate her by calling her a narcissist.

But hey, baby steps, right? We don't find a balance until we swing to each side. So... First, I'm going to simply embrace my inner Narcissist. Ask her what she wants, what she needs. Buy her a pair of shoes. Bake her a birthday cake.

She's been hidden away for so long, the lights are a bit bright. And her head is a bit sore. She might have some trust issues of her own... I'll have to make sure she doesn't bid a hasty retreat.

Hey, Baby Narcissist -- welcome home. Happy birthday. Hope you like chocolate. :-)

The truth will set you free

2011-11-28T15:22:00.000-05:00

"The truth will set you free"

A lovely platitude... but total crap.

Not that I'm dissing the truth, here. Anyone who knows me has seen me in action, my sword in hand, carving away at the B.S. and "beautiful lies" until left with that cold, hard nugget of truth. Having grown up in a funhouse-mirror world of lies and illusions, finding the truth and seeking out truthfulness is more than a bit of a quest for me. And I'm not just hacking away at other people's lies, I'm equally brutal with myself, forever holding my words and actions under the microscope and making sure I'm being true to and with myself.

The truth is amazing. The truth is wonderful.

But, as you can see in my above metaphors, it doesn't set you free. It doesn't really DO anything except sit there and be truthful, waiting for you to hack away at the stone and find its beating heart.

And when you find it, it ain't necessarily gonna give you magical fairy wings or sing hallelujah. You will not be floating above the clouds on a golden saucer with your personal shiny, happy Cupids floating around you.

"The truth hurts."

Now THERE'S a platitude that makes sense. Not all the time, of course, sometimes the truth can be quite wonderful. But...

If you had to hack through a giant rock to find that beating heart of truth, odds are that you and/or someone else worked very hard to put that rock together in the first place. That beating heart of truth needed protection from something, or someone needed protection from it.

The truth doesn't set you free. You set the truth free.

And then you deal with the consequences.

So now you've found it. You've left it vulnerable. You've left yourselves and others vulnerable. There will be a tremendous fight to cover it up again. Depending on what truth it is, there may be a whole army of people swooping in. You may not, as the movie says, be able to handle the truth. Others might not want you to handle the truth.

The truth may be free, but you've still got a long, arduous battle ahead.

Not that I'm trying to dissuade anyone, just make sure you aren't expecting rosebuds and moonbeams. You've only completed part one of your quest. As any epic adventure writer knows, good stories come in Trilogies. :-)

Part One: You set the truth free.

Part Two: You realize the battle has just begun. You figure out if you can handle the truth. If no, put it back, draw a map of where it is so you can come back to it when you're ready. If yes, turn to page 45... You figure out if others can handle the truth... if yes, turn to page 52. If no, turn to page 63... Is this a truth that is ok to keep to yourself for a while? If yes, wrap it up in a warm blanket and keep it safe. If no, put on your helmet and draw your sword, it ain't gonna be pretty.

The human brain has this wondrous capacity for making up stories that help us stay sane. That's not always a good thing, that's not always a bad thing. Just because you're ready to explore and reassess your own stories doesn't mean that everyone else around you is in the same place. In fact, odds are they aren't. No matter how obvious the truth may be to you, as you stand with arms outstretched, holding its beating heart, there are those who cannot deal with its rawness. Yet. Maybe ever.

You need to decide if a battle is worth it. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. Nobody really wants to hurt another (except, of course, psychopaths), but... All too often, we're willing to hurt ourselves in order to not hurt others. In the more extreme cases, we convince ourselves that walking into the middle of the battlefield without no sword and no armour is a nice and peaceful way of solving things. Which it could be, if the other party is similarly attired and willing to chat. But walking into the middle of the battlefield with no sword and no armour while the other party continues to shoot guns and arrows and hack at you with their sword is not going to get you far.

Sometimes that rock is necessary. Sometimes a fortress wall is necessary. If you've got the truth and nobody wants you to have it, the world can seem like a nasty place. You don't feel terribly free. You just feel terrible.

You build up the walls and hire the guards and keep a vigilant watch. You keep yourself safe. You keep the truth safe. You may verge on the over-protective but, heck, look how vulnerable that beating heart of truth is, and how single-minded those outside parties are -- they'll stop at nothing to get rid of it, so you'd better stop at nothing to protect it. No matter how crazy they say that makes you.

The truth doesn't make you crazy, it's the people who want to get rid of it that make you crazy.

Part Three: You realize that the beating heart of truth is actually your own. You resign yourself to the fact that there will always be people who want to hide it, to get rid of it, to destroy it. You and your beating heart get stronger, wiser. You don't let your crazy-makers in. You learn to recognize the people who will treat your beating heart with respect, and you stop making room in your life for the crazy-makers. You slip up sometimes. A little bruising occurs from time to time. But you and your beating heart surround yourselves with other beating hearts, and the resulting joy... well, it creates those hallelujahs and floats you above the clouds on a golden saucer and yes, there ARE rosebuds and moonbeams and rainbows.

So yes, the truth WILL set you free... Just not instantaneously.

As with any of the good stuff in life, it requires an epic journey, a bit of grunt work, a lot of bravery, some dragons and ogres, a bunch of battles, a bit of luck, some trusty companions, and... a beating heart.

The birth of a note

2011-11-21T14:02:00.000-05:00

I gave an improvisation workshop last weekend to a group of budding young singer-songwriters. My main focus with them was on listening -- the most important part of any musical endeavour, in my opinion -- and we did many exercises that got them to open up their ears. Of course, as I warned them, this was just an introduction -- "listening" does get more complex as you go on. And eventually stops involving your ears... yes really. :-)

This, combined with some discussions we had at the same week's Amity Trio rehearsal, has had me pondering about all the aspects of listening the past few days.

For many of us, the idea of keeping in time begins with us playing along to a metronome -- that clicking annoyance of sometimes painful rhythmic accuracy. It's a good start. It shows us where we're tempted to rush or slow down, where our sense of rhythm is completely off, where we're losing the "heartbeat".

However, if we were to listen to a metronomically-accurate performance of anything, it would be as exciting as watching paint dry. Part of the tension and release of music comes from playing with the push and pull of the tempo -- making your audience wait, or surprising them by jumping in.

If you're playing solo or singing a cappella, you have total freedom in this endeavour (within the boundaries of taste and reason!). As soon as you add an accompanist or ensemble member, however, there's a whole new layer of complexity -- how do you communicate the when and where of this push and pull?

If you're just listening with your ears, then you'll always be lagging behind a bit, reacting to what you've already heard a split second earlier. You can't just react, or the whole piece will drag to a crawl as everyone lags behind. You need to anticipate what the others are going to do. Which is easy if the others are playing metronomically, but more complex if they're playing musically (which we all hope they're doing, or it's gonna be a lllooonnnnnnggggg performance!).

This is when music teachers and coaches around the world introduce the idea of eye contact -- at the beginning and ending of phrases, and whenever possible in between. If your head is buried in your music, there's no way you can communicate with your musical partners. If your toe is tapping the beat, you are not paying attention to your musical partners, you're attempting to take over as conductor and only paying attention to your own rhythm. (Which might be OK if you're a soloist with accompaniment, but you still need to pay attention and communicate this rhythm to your accompanist and not the floor.) Of course, as with our trio, there is often a great deal of verbal discussion behind the scenes, but when reading through something for the first time, or once you've decided on how you wish to play a phrase, then a nod, a breath, or a raised eyebrow is all it takes to ensure you begin a piece or a phrase or a note together.

As I discovered when playing next to a rather lazy and incompetent principal cellist who kept relying on me to keep track of our entrances, those visual cues aren't necessarily accurate. ;-)

It doesn't have to be a resentful stand partner who is trying to "out" you and your sneaky ways by moving her head a bar too early (and then shrug and itch her nose like she almost had a sneeze, or carefully examine her bow-hair...). But, as my former ensemble coach, the late Ken Perkins of the Orford String Quartet, taught me: what people INTEND to do is not always what they ACTUALLY do. You have to pay attention to what they're actually doing, not just go with their best intentions. Don't ignore their intentions, but do be aware of what's going on with the rest of their body. For instance, they may be wanting to produce a sound at time point A, but their bow is too high off the string to get there on time, so you adjust to match the reality, not the intention.

These cues are getting into the much more subtle.

But think about it: a note doesn't begin when the sound begins. Watch a string player, and you'll see all the subtle preparations the left hand has to go through to prepare the note, and the right arm has to go through to prepare the bow to make the string sound. Watch a wind player or a singer take a preparatory breath. Watch the pianist or percussionist lift their hands or mallets to prepare to strike. There are at least a couple of seconds before the sound occurs when you can see the preparation for that inevitable sound. Much like a diver jumping on the end of the diving board, you've committed well in advance -- and if you break that commitment after you've made it, you're going to have a painful belly flop! :-)

Let's stick with the diver for a moment -- even before that final, no-stopping-me-now springboard bounce, there's the run or walk to the edge. Before that takes place, there's the moment of focus and concentration.

It's the same with the first note of a piece. Or of a phrase. Before you can make that final "bounce", you've had to decide what you want to do after it starts! You need to have the sound in your head, the tempo, etc.

Yes, this can all be communicated through eye and body language, through the physical preparations, but...

The next level of listening involves neither the ears nor the eyes.

Ken made our university ensemble rehearse with our eyes closed. Very scary, and counter to all that had been drilled into us about ensemble playing up until then. But once we were able to stop our nervous giggling... wow. (The Orford String Quartet would do this regularly, going one step further by recording their rehearsal, and playing it back at half-speed to see if there were any even slightly ragged entrances!)

Victor Wooten calls it "listening with fox ears". You're not just listening with your ears, you're listening with your gut and your soul. Your intuition, your hidden psychic... your Music.

Our eyes and ears and bodies can sometimes lie to us. Our eyes and ears and bodies make mistakes on a regular basis. Our Music does not.

When you can tap in to the Music and ignore your eyes and ears and body, you realize that the notes begin long before you're even conscious of them. They may never even "begin" at all, but be there constantly, waiting for you to invite them to come out and play.

On those rare occasions when all the members of an ensemble are tapped in to the Music, it's a blissful thing. Music High.

Which, quizzically, requires that you have built up control of your eyes, ears and body and technique... and then totally let it go.

All that advanced preparation, all the training, all the planning. And then run... bounce... dive... YIPPEEE!!!

When will I be good enough?

2011-11-20T15:30:00.000-05:00

One of my favourite questions from students is "when will I be good enough to not have to practise any more?"

There are two equally valid and truthful answers to this question:

1. You're already good enough, and
2. Never.

Neither answer, on its own, is honest or fair. I always give both answers, weighting them depending on where I feel the student is at the moment.

One example I use is Yo Yo Ma's two recordings of the Bach cello suites. The first was recorded when he was quite young. Is it good enough? Darn tootin', it's good enough. It's fantastic. But... a few decades later, with all he had learned in the meantime, he realized he had something more to say, and re-recorded the suites. If you A-B the two recordings, they're completely different. And yes, there's quite a good argument that the newer one is better -- although that, of course, depends on the listener's perspective and tastes. But even if you're with me on the second recording being an improvement... does that make the first not good enough? Absolutely not. Cellists around the world would probably give their eye teeth to be that good.

But age and maturity, along with the wrinkles and responsibilities, does give us all both a broader perspective and a deeper perspective -- on life, on music, on pretty much everything.

When we start to learn music, to play an instrument, to use our voice, to play with others, our focus tends to be more in the "not making mistakes" department. Our most pressing goal is to not screw up. So we practise. (Eventually, we learn that it's not actually possible to NEVER screw up, and also learn how to practise getting out of mistakes gracefully!) And we get ourselves to a point when we're reasonably confident that we can make it through a performance or jam session or whatever we're trying to do without falling hopelessly on our face.

We get to that point, and realize that we want more out of music than simply not falling on our face. We can manage to not fall on our face in many different circumstances (at least most of the time), but there's something more than that which draws us to the music.

That's when the fun begins.

That's why the first answer to the "when will I be good enough" question is so very important. Because music really has very little to do with getting the notes right, and a student who is terrorized into thinking they're wrong all the time is never going to get to the fun stuff. And the fun stuff is REALLY FREAKING FUN!!!

I often get students after they've already started with someone who's initiated them into terror. It's a long haul bringing them back from that. But last year, I was lucky enough to get an absolute beginner who really wanted to play cello (i.e., this wasn't her mother forcing her to do something). I still remember the big, ecstatic grin on her face as she plucked the strings and said "listen to that!!!" I seriously had to force myself to not burst into tears in her first lesson, lest I scare her off.

And yes, of course I still have to make sure she's holding the bow properly and not squeezing too hard and reading the notes correctly and blahdeblahdeblah... but we can also have fun with the music side. And sure, she's an early teen, so when I tell her to make something up off the top of her head, she still balks and waits for further instruction, but... she is getting better at letting things flow. I do keep having to remind her she's good enough. But I don't have to tell her to practise or work hard, because she's paying attention to the sounds she's making, asking for help when it's not a sound she wants to make, and experimenting in the privacy of her room with different ideas -- sometimes coming to a lesson saying "I think I'm doing this, how can I fix it?"

I still try hard not to burst into tears. :-)

A former student used to come to his lesson, look terribly guilty, and then "confess" that he had used his allotted daily practise time to work out songs he'd heard on the radio. He always thought I'd be mad, because he wasn't "really practising." Once again, I had to try hard not to burst into tears... I'd ask him to play it for me, he'd look sheepish, then play it, his head bobbing to the rhythms of the invisible drum kit. After seeing me do some of my singer-songwriter stuff with the foot percussion, he begged his mom for his own, and surprised me one day with his own composition -- he played it for the Kiwanis competition later that year and was rewarded not just with a high mark, but exuberant comments from the adjudicator. This reaction made him want to keep going, to improve, to learn, to refine, to get better.

There's a common progression when formally learning to play music. First, we want to make sure we play the right notes. We get to that level, and then we want to make sure we're starting those notes at the correct time. We get to that level, then realize we need to finish them at the right time, too. Then we work on the articulation, then what we do in the middle, then how those notes fit together into a figure, then how they fit into the phrase, then how the phrases fit together into the whole piece... It never really ends.

Take the Beethoven trio I was mentioning yesterday. We performed it already in January, we'd worked on it until we thought it was performance-ready, and then we performed it. By the audience reaction, we performed it quite well, thank you very much. But we didn't sit back and think "OK, we're done". We've spent the last several months trying to find more "meaning", subtle nuances, fix sections we thought could be more coherent, found different ways to express and bring out certain phrases. And we're so much happier with how we're playing it now, we're very excited to present it in a couple of weeks -- and kind of hoping there will be people there who heard the previous version and will appreciate the difference. But even if there are no repeat listeners, we're thrilled with the new interpretation.

If we play it again somewhere next year or in a few years, we'll probably change it again. Because if we didn't have something new to say, there really wouldn't be much point in saying it.

I have been a part of -- and left, disappointedly -- several ensembles who got to "good enough" and stayed there. No curiosity, no desire for self-improvement or ensemble-inprovement, they just wanted to get the job done and get out of there.

Honestly, if you're that bored of the music, if it's just a job, you should really not be a musician. I'd say the same thing to someone in any other job -- if it doesn't excite you, get the hell out and find what will. Because if you love what you do, you won't wait for the boss to tell you to get better at it (and then resent your boss for saying so), you'll be self-motivated to look for ways to improve. Not because you were bad at your job, but because you want to be even better.

Between my "Big Ethyl" incident at the beginning of this year and Don's cancer and recovery now, life has given me a more-than-subtle nudge to figure out what's important and what to let go. Part of the weeding-out process has been a question of "what do I have time for?" (The answer, of course, is I haven't had time for most of this, but somehow expected myself to be able to bend the space-time continuum in order to accomplish six full-time jobs at the same time!) But in the last couple of months, it's also started to come down to: what am I passionate about doing? There are a few things I never was particularly passionate about, but did them out of guilt or obligation or misplaced loyalty or whatever other silly motivations there are to do things that completely bore you. There are others I started off doing quite passionately, but realized in a number of recent "ah-ha!" moments that I just don't give a crap about any more -- which means it's definitely time (or past time) to hand these things on to someone who WILL be passionate about them, for everyone's benefit.

If you love what you do, you're good at it AND you want to be even better.

If you're taking cello lessons because your mother wants you to, neither one of us is going to have much fun. If you're taking cello lessons because you want to play music, we're both going to have a lot of fun. Like that one student on her first day, happily plucking the strings and listening in awe to the sound, you are already good enough. Like that same student a year and a half later, bringing me pieces she wants to learn but doesn't know how to reach some of the notes yet, you will never stop practising and learning, because being good enough will never be good enough for you.

Which kind of sounds like a negative thing on the surface, but... it's actually the really fun part.

There's a reason why it's called "playing" the cello, not "working" the cello.

As I tell my students all the time -- go find a video of Yo Yo Ma performing. Even if you don't know the first thing about all the mechanics and technical things his body has to do to make that cello sound, the one thing ANYONE will notice is that he's smiling, often laughing, having a musical conversation with his fellow performers, with the audience, with his instrument. He is PLAYING the cello. He's not worried about getting the notes right (granted, he's had several decades to work on the notes, but even so...), he's not worried about whether he'll screw up (and if you follow his career, it's not because he's remained stagnant in a safe place -- he's constantly pushing his own boundaries and putting himself in unfamiliar musical genres and situations), he's PLAYING. It's a joy to watch and a joy to listen to.

Even Yo Yo Ma practises, kiddies. Because he knows he will never be good enough. But he knows that's a good thing. And as we all know, his version of "not good enough" is pretty darned fantabulous!

So is yours. :-)

Using the right tools

2011-11-19T17:46:00.000-05:00

In talking about life and emotional fitness, I talk a lot about having the right tools in your toolbox, and knowing how and when to use them.

It was in my Amity Trio rehearsal yesterday that I discovered it's a good thing to remember with many things in life. You see, we were rehearsing Beethoven's "Archduke" trio, which I've played many times before. But December 4 (our "Gift of Music" series concert at St. Luke's in Creemore) will be my first time performing it on Lady Jo, my beautiful new-to-me-but-275-years-old cello.

After over two decades struggling with my "old clunker" of a cello, fighting to simply get the notes to sound, I've finally got an instrument that responds to everything I ask her to do. It is heavenly.

Of course, after two decades with the clunker, it's often difficult to remember I don't have to try so hard. I still see a passage coming that used to give me difficulty, and can feel my body tense up and try to will the instrument into submission. I have to remind myself the very same things I tell my students -- if you fight the instrument, the instrument will fight you. Coax it, don't force it. (One of the reasons I love teaching -- often a student will hold up the mirror and make me see something that has slipped in to my own playing.)

And so, the fingerings that were awkward but necessary on the old cello can now be switched to something more elegant and, dare I say, musically-inspired on Lady Jo. I don't have to saw away to get the g-string to speak on the upper positions, I can just tickle the notes out (yes, that does sound dirty... you're welcome).

Of course, I can no longer blame a bad instrument and allow my left hand to get lazy on those blistering runs any more -- the strings WILL speak if I do my job properly.

When you have a musical partner like Lady Jo, you don't have to spend so much of your energy putting up a fight, you don't have to compromise musicality for reliability, you don't have to worry if she'll do her part, you just have to worry about doing your own.

I imagine it's like being the female half of a skating pair -- you do your job much better when you don't have to worry your partner is going to drop you on your head. :-)

What's that about art imitating life? Or life imitating art?

I spent so much of my life with no tools or bad tools. What a relief it is to finally be in a place where I don't have to try so damned hard. Life just works as it should. Music just works as it should. I am able to put more into the world, because I'm not spending so much energy fighting it any more.

My cello students are used to my endless "don't conform your body to the cello, get the cello to conform to your body" and "if you ask it politely it will sound better than if you beat it into submission" and "don't try to play like me, play like yourself" comments. Sometimes I wonder if I'm teaching them cello so much as teaching them life.

Either way, I hope they get it more quickly than I did.

Abuse of people, abuse of power

2011-11-15T16:55:00.000-05:00

In the process of pondering personal abuse, I was silly enough to watch some of the footage of the NYC police department closing in on the Occupy Wall Street protesters.

And my heart broke further.

It's the same premise, really. The abuser / oppressor fails to see the other as anything less than, well, a thing -- a means to an end, a plaything, something in the way of their needs or goals, or a way to meet their needs or goals. The victim tries to explain, fill in the picture, help the abuser / oppressor see things from their side, pleas for compassion, for reason, for empathy...

And wastes a whole lot of time doing so, because the abuser / oppressor doesn't really give a crap. Be it narcissist, sociopath, psychopath, or corrupt and greedy system, it doesn't care about the victim because the victim is just a roadblock or stepping stone. Bring out the bulldozers. Or the SWAT team. Or the billy clubs. Or a few choice words to send the spirit reeling.

Trying to explain the faults in a system -- be it a multi-national system or an interpersonal system of two -- is almost guaranteed to fail, when you're trying to explain it to the person / entity who perceives itself to be the winner.

"Look at what you're doing to me" will not fly. A corrupt / greedy / narcissistic / sociopathic / psychopathic entity doesn't recognize you're even a "me". It just wants to keep winning.

The only way that human or structural entity will take pause is when he / she / it understands that he / she / it is also on the losing side of the equation. Which is difficult when that entity has a very limited view of what winning entails.

In an interpersonal relationship, there comes a time when you simply have to walk away. In a relationship with a multi-national system... where the hell do you go?

Hmm... more questions than answers today.

When too much is finally enough

2011-11-14T17:20:00.000-05:00

For many years, I have been watching someone I love living in the receiving end of verbal and emotional abuse. Having been through this myself -- in five relationships of which I am conscious -- I have, unfortunately, become a bit of an expert in the field. And as that "expert", it's heartbreaking to watch someone you care about going through the exact same steps you've gone through, and the colleagues from your support group have gone through, and the steps are depressingly similar and predictable... and the inevitable heartbreak of realizing those steps just aren't going to work.

But you can't stop them from going through those steps, no matter how much you want to protect them from their actions. They won't stop until they've tried it all. Sure, you can try to make suggestions, ask questions, give whatever guidance you can offer, introduce some new tools to their emotional toolkit, but there's nothing you can do to get them out of the situation until you see in their eyes that "ah-haaa!" moment. When THEY realize that nothing they are doing is making a dent of difference in the other person's behaviour.

And that moment is enlightening. That moment is relieving. That moment really and truly sucks.

Because, while it is the moment you realize it's not your fault, it's also the moment when you realize you're not super-human. And, like any good co-dependent, you have based your expectations of yourself on your incredible super-humanness. You are proud that you can do things nobody else can withstand. You can deal with pain that would make lesser people whimper at one-tenth of a percent. You are so much better at enduring this stuff than anyone else on the planet, you might as well take it on and save the world!!!

Until your body finally reaches out and throttles that part of your brain, and shows you, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that you really, truly, can't take this any more.

And then you mourn. A funny type of mourning, because the abuser hasn't really left (typically, they're still calling you or e-mailing you or harassing you at your workplace or your front door several times a day, telling you how they wouldn't have been so awful to you if you hadn't really deserved it...), and the end of the relationship as it stands is, indeed, a good thing that even your battered brain can recognize. But you mourn for what you wanted the relationship to be. For what you tap-danced and cartwheeled and juggled fire to make it be. And now know it may never be.

Not that it necessarily will never be... of the five relationships where I had to completely pull the plug, two came back into my life, after they (and I!) learned what my boundaries are, and they (and I) learned how to respect them. Of course, those relationships are still not the sunshine-and-lollipop fantasy relationships I had to mourn earlier, but they're healthy, reasonably satisfying relationships. The other three could never be, because the other part of the duo had no desire or ability to change their part of the equation.

And that's the hardest lesson to learn. You can't force somebody to be compassionate.

As children, we don't know enough to tell ourselves that our parent / caregiver / authority figure has some severe emotional issues of their own and are not competent to look after us. We can't think that way about the people who are charged with looking after us. Instead, we tell ourselves that we must not deserve that care, and then start looking for all the reasons we can think of.

As the damaged adults growing out of those children, unless someone is able to give us the tools we missed in our childhood toolbox, we continue to hold those thoughts about our undeservedness. And when, inevitably, we run across someone who treats us in the same cold way, we see it as confirmation of those lies about ourselves. So we accept it. Anyone who tells us we deserve better obviously doesn't know us that well...

But the beauty of the world is that even a decades-belated adolescence is still an adolescence. It's still fraught with the same pain and grief and angst... maybe not the acne, but the pain and grief and angst. And it's not much fun. But if we're surrounded by a good support team of people who are compassionate and do care for us, our emotional maturity finally has a chance to catch up to our physical maturity.

I used to say I was 18 going on 80, and many parts of me were -- by that age I had experienced, suffered through, and come out the other side of more traumatic movie-of-the-week-ready events than many people go through in a lifetime. But many other parts of me were, later, still 30 going on 5. I was missing a lot of tools in my toolbox. My family never taught me how to play baseball, because there were no baseball players in my family who knew how to do it. My family never gave me the proper tools for my toolbox because they didn't have the tools, either. I'm sure we can go back many generations and find a lot of tool-less individuals (and yes, some tool-less tools!).

I was lucky. I found some wonderful people in my life who gave me the tools I needed, and taught me how to use them properly. Yes, sometimes I still try to use a hammer to change a light-bulb, but I'm getting better at figuring out which tools are needed when. That whole "trusting my gut" thing.

It was a conscious and difficult effort to build my toolkit. And now it's my responsibility to help whoever's looking for it put their kits together too.

Number one tool, by the way, is trusting your gut. (I never said I was perfect at using my toolkit, just that I was much better at it than before!) There is a time to sit back and just be there, there is a time to offer assistance, there is a time for emergency intervention -- your gut will know. Just listen.

Crying Wolf

2011-11-10T18:13:00.001-05:00

Yes, I have been silent. There have been a few adventures over the past few days.

What started as a minor fever developed into a ridiculously high one on Monday night, resulting in Don being taken by ambulance to emerg (I've never called 911 before -- it kind of felt like getting away with something, which probably necessitates a whole other self-examination!), where they fought like hell to get control over the fever and a raging infection.

This outcome, of course, left me feeling rather chastened for my rant about men and fevers. And mad as hell at the home care and TeleHealth nurses who had told us there was nothing to worry about, and I should just feed him ginger ale and wait 48 hours for the fever to subside.

There is a connection between those two previous sentences. Crying wolf.

My rant about men and fevers was, at the time, perfectly valid, as the fever hadn't gone more than one degree above normal at that point, and my experience with Don and other y-chromosome carriers with minor fevers had definitely been of the sucky-baby variety. Can't and won't take that one back! :-)

But the problem in the face of mild-fever-sucky-babytude is that it's hard to notice when the fever actually gets worse, because the pinnacle of sucky-babytude was already reached at 37.4 and had no further to go. The only way to tell if the temperature has gone up past 40 is to stick your hand on his head and pull it back like you've just touched a lit stove. And then wish you'd paid attention to the moaning a few hours earlier, even though it sounded exactly like the moaning from two days before. And then wish he weren't a y-chromosome carrier, which is really a silly wish to make, but at least you wouldn't have stopped paying attention to all the cries / moans of "wolf", and known when there was actually a wolf at the door.

That's the first sentence. How does crying wolf apply to the second?

In times of high stress, we tend to revert to our childhood knee-jerk survival strategies. One of my more prominent ones was to hide in the background, not raise my voice, be insanely careful to never "cry wolf" or be perceived as doing so, so that when the time came when I had big reasons and big proof, somebody would listen to me. (Not a terribly successful strategy, as it turns out, but that's a whole other blog entry...) The other biggie was to never question authority, even if I knew they were wrong, because there would be severe consequences. (This was an incredibly realistic survival strategy at the time, not terribly helpful any more.)

So when I first called the home care nurse about Don's fever on Saturday, and she said it was probably nothing to worry about, he'd just picked up a bug from a visitor, I took that as the voice of authority. I did ask if it might have anything to do with his surgery, or the catheter, or if there anything to worry about or keep an eye out for, but pretty much got laughed off the line and told to feed him ginger ale until he got better.

Of course, silly 'lyssy, don't bother the poor nurse with your petty concerns about minor fevers when she's got more important things to deal with. If you're a thorn in her side now, she won't listen to you when it really matters. Don't be a sucky baby.

And, lo and behold, the fever was gone Sunday morning, so she was obviously right and I was obviously just a glass-half-empty worrywart with trust issues. Right?

Unfortunately, the fever was back Sunday night, along with nausea and vomiting. It was too late to call the home care nurses, so I turned to TeleHealth instead. Explained the history of Don's surgery and the fact that he had an indwelling catheter, and specifically asked several times and in several ways if this could be an infection we should worry about? Again, no, couldn't possibly be, because the catheter bag wasn't cloudy. We should just wait 48 hours for the fever to clear, don't bother the poor overworked folks in emerg just for a trivial fever.

Of course, silly 'lyssy, you've done it again. Stop bugging people with your overactive imagination. They know what they're doing, they're the experts, stop pretending you're something you're not (intelligent, knowledgable, capable, competent...) and go back to being quiet. Stop crying wolf.

Yes, even in intelligent, knowledgable, capable and competent adulthood, in times of stress it's really hard to shake those ingrown voices. What we hear as children seeps so deeply into the psyche that it becomes our own voice. On my better days, I'm fully conscious and aware of whose voice it truly is. In sleep-deprived, stressed-out, uber-care-giver mode, however... I'm still easily duped, even by myself.

And yet, when those "never cry wolf" voices scream their loudest, it has ALWAYS been when there's an actual wolf in the room. The "never question authority" voices have always screamed their loudest when the people in authority were not to be trusted, and my gut was correct. This was the case when the adult voices shouted this at my childhood self. This is the case when my inner daemons shout this at my adult self.

Listening to those voices has always caused me harm. Not listening to my gut has always caused me harm.

Yes, I have trust issues. Maybe there's a good reason for that. Maybe I have trust issues because certain people can't be trusted. That's not a fault, it's simply good perception. I should learn to trust my trust issues. :-)

So... how do you train yourself to trust the gut you know has never led you astray?

This is not one of those rhetorical questions I'm going to give an answer to. I would really, really love to know the answer.

Patience for the patient

2011-11-07T14:50:00.000-05:00

This'll be a quickie, because there's too much going on today. But, for my own sanity, and the safety of my dear hubby, I do need to take a few minutes...

You see, he popped a fever over the weekend. After going through the checklist with the emerg nurse, we realized it was nothing to do with his surgery or any sort of infection, he'd probably just picked something up from one of his visitors. A relief, to be sure, but...

OK, call me horribly sexist, but there's something about the combination of fever and Y-chromosome that is NEVER a good thing. It seems to produce sucky baby at the best of times, and this is not the best of times.

The man was stoic through major surgery, hospitalization, sutures, staple removal, catheterization... and now give him a tiny fever and I JUST WANT TO SMACK HIM UPSIDE THE HEAD!!!

The man who wanted to get out of bed immediately post-surgery so I could have a nap now feels the need to call me downstairs in a panic because he needs a glass of water -- and I find him standing directly between the glass and the water source, thereby having to move him from between the two to provide him with the desired clear beverage. SERIOUSLY?!?

After over a week of playing nurse (and not in a fun way), doing all the errands, shopping, cooking, cleaning, lifting, catheter bag tending, scrubbing down bedroom and bathroom from catheter bag going awry, washing untold loads of urine-soaked sheets, towels and clothes... and now a weekend of holding the barf bowl, cleaning the barf bowl, calling nurses and wiping fevered brow and getting maybe a total of 3 hours sleep because every time he wakes up and remembers he's sick he lets out a ginormous sigh and moan until I wake up and ask him what's wrong and he says nothing... THEN he's complaining about the messy state of the KITCHEN?!?!?

Where's my frikken' gun?!?!?!? !!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, I know I'm not supposed to use this blog purely for ranting, I'm supposed to come up with some humanistic solution that helps all the readers and will make the world a better place, right? OK, so...

Yes, this whole Movember thing is lovely, and all the folks who have mentioned Don in their pledges have been much appreciated.

BUT if you REALLY want to do a good deed for men's health (and the women who love them), how be we all chip in for some research in to the Y-chromosome and FEVERS?

If there is a doctor on this planet who can find the cure for the male fever -- or at least get rid of the damned symptoms -- I would give my first-born child. You're right, I haven't given birth. But I would turkey-baste myself this very day if it would help cure the feverish baby males of the world. :-)

Incidentally, I also have a fever. Yet, as a possessor of a perfectly intact pair of X-chromosomes, I am still somehow perfectly capable of taking care of both myself and my feverish victim of testosterone poisoning (my 3rd year male psych prof's term, not mine), and of pouring both of us glasses of water, without sighing moaning or whining.

Ranting, perhaps. ;-)

I will be patient I will be kind I will not dump the barf bowl in his underwear drawer I will be patient I will be kind I will not empty his catheter bag into a glass and pretend it's flat ginger ale I will be patient I will be kind I will not allow myself near sharp objects I will be patient I will be kind...

Thanks for letting me vent -- you've probably saved a life (or at least a marriage) today. :-)
Alyssa

Routine and Ritual

2011-11-04T17:06:00.000-04:00

It's a fine line, sometimes...

My daily routine is ritualistic most days. A way to bring my self, my life into focus, prepare the way to get things done. Some days, such as yesterday, I begin to resent the restriction of it. Unlike most days, where I force myself through it, yesterday I gave myself a break. You will notice there wasn't a blog. There also wasn't much else. :-)

Not true, I should give myself credit -- there was lots done, many errands, much work. And a whole lot of sitting around with my hubby on the downstairs sofa bed watching DVDs. It was exactly what I needed.

Seems kind of funny, after the previous day of awareness and spirituality that all I wanted to do was zone out in front of the screen. I kicked myself for much of the early afternoon. But then, once I'd managed to get done all the things I had to get done, I simply embraced it. I needed to sit with my hubby and watch DVDs more than I needed to reflect or write or clean the oven. And that's OK.

I have to keep reminding myself WHY I gave myself the daily routine, including meditation time, writing time, exercise time, reflecting time, etc. It wasn't to constrict myself and make myself feel bad about failing to do those things. It was because, knowing my propensity for checking off to-do boxes, the only way I would allow myself the "ESC" (extreme self care) would be if it allowed me to check off a box. (I even assigned myself a weekly bubble bath, so the time wouldn't feel wasted.) It was to make sure I actually looked after myself.

And yes, there are those days when I still DO need to schedule in some me time, because I'm still likely to get carried away doing other stuff and ignore myself. But ignoring the routine yesterday was, in fact, giving myself some me time -- just in a different format than usual.

I still had to talk myself into it, though. Those check-boxes can be a curse as well as a blessing!

It's so easy to get stuck in routine -- even a good one. And for rituals to stop meaning what they were originally meant to mean. Sometimes they need some shaking up. Sometimes they need some letting go.

With my family and loved ones, for instance, I always make a point of saying "I love you" when hanging up from a phone call, or saying good-bye in person. You never know when or if you'll have a chance to say it again. Overall, it's a good thing, I think. But then, several years ago, I was on the phone with a recently ex-ed, being screamed and cursed at, and finally realizing what a horrible excuse for a human being he truly was... and as I was hanging up, it popped out of my mouth. Oy... stupid habit, way to give him power, Lyssy. Around the same time, an abusive family member phoned to similarly scream and rage at me for being so stupid as to get into an abusive relationship in the first place, and hung up with "I love you." From both sides, it didn't really mean what it was supposed to mean, it was just routine. (Of course, the combination of those two phone calls definitely helped me get to the "ah-haa!" moment about how I ended up in an abusive relationship!)

My sister and I both sang in the church choir from an early age, so while most kids were at Sunday school crayoning the baby Jesus, we got to be like the grown ups and stay for the service (hey, it was exciting for us to be considered grown up, and we could sneak books in under our choir gowns for the sermon!). Within a couple of years, we had the regular Sunday service and communion service and wedding and funeral services memorized perfectly (my sister would even hold perfectly accurate Anglican weddings for her stuffed animals, but that's a whole other blog entry...), both the parts we actually got to say and the parts the ministers usually said. (Once, when I was an older teenager, I was asked to give the readings -- and accidentally launched in to the minister's spiel when I was finished, because it just flowed so naturally from my brain. He was gracious and let me finish.) I loved the ritual, the calm, the knowing exactly what went where, the lack of surprise (decidedly different from my real world at the time), the comfort of the words and gestures. But then...

One day, I actually read the words of the Nicene Creed. Somehow, I was reading it with fresh eyes. And when I saw all the "I believe"-s I'd been rattling off for over a decade... I froze. Here I'd been declaring two or more times a week, in God's house, all the things I believed. But I wasn't sure I actually did believe these things. I'd never thought about what the words actually meant until that day, just the comfort of the ritual. And suddenly, it was topsy-turvy. I mean, let's forget for a moment about all those references in the services to God as our father, and my experience of fatherhood at that time, because that's a lifetime of blogs in itself. But how about in the Creed itself, "...in all things, visible and invisible." Pretty mighty stuff. How do I know if I believe in all things invisible? Does that mean everything invisible, like poltergeists and stuff, or just church-y invisible things like angels and heaven? How do you know which "all things" are supposed to be on the list? Will God be mad if I've forgotten to consider an invisible thing I don't even know about yet? My father saw giant coke bottles chasing him home one night, but nobody else saw them; I saw things happening right in front of our faces that everyone else seemed to be totally oblivious to -- where do those things fall on the scale of things I'm supposed to believe in?

When you grow up in a family of gaslighters and questionable mental and emotional wellness, announcing you believe in all things visible and invisible can open a rather large can of worms.

I mouthed the words from then on -- although in later years, I would subversively insert "she" and "mother" and "her" into the recitations, just to make a point. ;-)

That ritual lost its meaning. But others took its place. Some came and went, others are still an important part of my life today. I'm sure there's some I have that I'm not even aware of, but I do try and take them out of my pocket every once in a while, hold them up to the light, check for wear and tear and fault lines. Some are still useful and comforting. Some have gone the way of all things visible and invisible. What gives me comfort one day doesn't necessarily do the same the next -- but here I am, writing again, despite the "vacation" yesterday. Today it feels good, yesterday it would have been just another chore.

When the ritual becomes mere routine, it's lost its meaning. Time to shake it up, do something different, see what happens -- whether you miss it or feel relieved it's gone. Put it back in your pocket, but not if it's poking you in the arse. :-)

Early(-ish) morning

2011-11-02T18:44:00.001-04:00

I had to get up early today. OK, not early for most people, but early for yours truly. I have to edge the diabetic cat's injection time a bit early so I can do his meds before leaving for trio on Friday, plus the Rogers guy was coming in the morning to see why our internet was not working and I had to make his pathway to the modem and incoming cables a little less embarrassing. So... unlike most days, I was the first person up.

And, you know, if it weren't for that whole waking up part, I could certainly see the appeal of being a morning person. :-)

It's just not possible. I've tried, many times and many ways, to adjust my inner clock. Even as a little kid, I missed most of the Saturday morning cartoons, because I couldn't get up before 10:00 -- even Bugs Bunny at 11:00 was tricky most weeks. My greatest joy when I graduated high school was that I'd never have to wake up before the sun again. (Well, that assumption turned out to be faulty, but at least I didn't have to do it on a regular basis!) I have seen many beautiful sunrises, but the majority of them have come from staying up to see them. The couple of people who have tried to wake me to see the beautiful sunrise have been greeted with incoherent grunts and moans and the odd finger gesture. I am a living example of that Garfield cartoon "I don't do mornings."

So... no sunrise this morning. Hell is still just as unfrozen as it was yesterday. But there was morning light. And morning quiet.

I had the house to myself, in effect. Don was still fast asleep. The phone wasn't ringing, because we've got people well trained to not call before the crack of noon, when we've got some coffee into us. Couldn't check e-mail, because the internet was down and our neighbours' signal wasn't strong enough.

So I sat at the kitchen table. Drank coffee. Bathed in the morning sun like the well-fed cats on the floor. Immersed myself in my own thoughts. Ahhh... Nobody needed me. Nobody interrupted me. I was alone. Just me and the sunbeam.

Nobody needed me. A delicious sentence. Let's revel in that a moment, shall we?

...

...

...

sigh...

There was much to do today. First, the internet had to get fixed -- the Rogers guy actually showed up over half an hour early (good thing I'd already put clothes on, rather than sat around in my PJs, as was my original impulse!), replaced the pooched modem and was out of the house before his scheduled earliest arrival time, or before Don even woke up. Then several loads of laundry, dealt with the incoming mail, cleaned up the kitchen and cat boxes, a bunch of other less-than-exciting but necessary small jobs. Later this afternoon, I was able to get back in touch with customer service for our database, and got that back up and running. In the middle, got a bunch of phone calls and e-mails and other chores done.

But... even though I was able to check off a lot of to-do boxes, it didn't seem like a frantically busy day.

There ya go.

Just as I was questioning the value of my morning meditation versus getting boxes checked off, life conspired to convince me to get my arse on that zafu. Not only am I having a better day (despite turmoil with technology), I'm also checking off more boxes. And that makes me happy, despite the fact I keep telling myself it shouldn't. :-)

Today's Tarot: 4 of Swords in my "works" -- take time to rest, recoup, regenerate. Done. The rest all pointed to new energy, big change, and digging deeper into the spiritual world. Done. Hey, I seem to be getting better at these cards.

If only I were genetically programmed to be a morning person...

Trick or Treat

2011-11-01T14:50:00.001-04:00

You might have noticed there was no blog yesterday... our internet gave up late Sunday night and I spent much of Monday trying to get it back online. No luck, the technician from Rogers will be in on Wednesday. In the meantime, I'm "borrowing" the neighbours' wireless when possible, and using the internet stick when I have to.

Once again, life is forcing me to slow down. Or at least stop wasting too much time online. :-)

In the spirit of slowing down, I did not give in to the pressure to give out Halloween candy last night. Figured I had a good excuse... Put a sign on the door saying "recovering from surgery, please don't knock," so I didn't even have to subject myself to the guilt of not opening the door.

I was laughing with Ali about that later -- I've been quite good at saying "no" with the whole cancer surgery scenario providing a good excuse. Why do I need a good excuse to simply say "no"? She's doing the same thing -- has written an e-mail a dozen times to say she can't do a presentation next week, but she keeps deleting what she's written, because it goes into the long list of reasons why she can't. We really should just be able to say "no" and not have to fan out our reasons, we should just say "no". Why does a room full of total strangers need to know the intimate details of all that's been going on in her life, just so she can say no? They don't, it's none of their business.

Why I didn't feel the need to invite dozens of strange children into my house and give them free food is really nobody's business, either. "Recovering from surgery" was the simplified note on the door. Imagine what I would have written if given a chance?

Dear ghosts and goblins,

I'm so very sorry that I can not answer the door and give away tons of expensive candy that will make your teeth rot and drive your parents insane from the sugar buzz. But I'm dealing with a diabetic cat and a husband who just got out of surgery and several handfuls of people who are holding out their proverbial pillow bags and expecting me to just give and give and give more and more and more. And I'm exhausted, I'm really bloody exhausted. So having dozens of you little people come to my door with real pillow bags and similarly demand what's left of my resources makes me want to curl up in the fetal position and suck my thumb -- or at least a bottle of tequila.

There is no candy on the premises, and if there were, I would defend it to the death right now. Because I'd really like a few minutes out of the day where I could be selfish, but there are several days before that's going to be possible.

Furthermore, even if there hadn't been all these deaths and strokes and illnesses and family chaos and all the other stuff life likes to dump in your lap all at once, I can't say I'd really feel like it anyhow. Maybe I won't do it next year, either, let's see how you feel about that? If I'm going to give away my resources, it should be to a good cause, rather than sugar-poisoning small children.

Even that's a sorry excuse, I'm grasping at straws. The truth is, dear kidlets, I'm an introvert and an emotional sponge, both of which make shopping malls and sporting events and strangers coming to my door to demand things of me kind of a hellish experience. It was actually a relief to have a really good excuse this year. Nothing personal.

And then there's the decorations -- oh lord, the decorations! Every holiday has its own set, and it's a constant reminder that I am an utter failure in the decorations department. Either they don't get put up on time, or they don't get taken down on time. Hell, our wedding cards are still on prominent display in the living room, and we were married a year and a half ago. They're growing their own dust bunnies to keep themselves company, because I haven't been paying them any attention. You don't even want to look at the basement...

Trick or treat? Between the basement, the cat, computer frustrations, the number of people who want a piece of me, my own personal stress level, and my husband's catheter and open wound, you kids really don't want to push me in the trick or treat department, trust me.

In fact, you know what? Drop the bag of candy on the front porch, tell your dad to hand over the flask as well, and you guys make a quick get-away, before mama blows...

10... 9... 8...

Happy Halloween
Zelda, princess of fury

So, what d'y'all think? Yup, probably a good thing I didn't answer the door! ;-)

And probably a good thing to just learn how to say "no", without becoming Zelda.

It's been kind of enlightening, being able to wave the "cancer card": I'm much more easily able to see what I don't really want to do. I can more easily recognize the people I feel I need to give an excuse to -- something to explore and deal with when I don't have the excuse. It's also much more easy to see the people who just don't give a modicum of a crap about my well-being, provided I continue to drop everything and do what they want. Guess which people are going to be gently (or not-so-gently) nudged out of my life?

Between "Big Ethyl" for me in January, and now Don's cancer (he never named his tumour, I guess they weren't too close...), and the myriad other things going on in our lives, this year has been showing me, bit by bit, subtly and with a big honkin' hammer, that I don't have time for all the things I've been trying to cram into my life. I don't have time for the people who take and take and take and never consider giving. I'm weeding... slowly, but I'm weeding. Separating the wheat from the chaff. Whatever natural metaphor you prefer.

I'm done scrambling to get things done that don't really matter, or that someone else could easily do if it was that important in the first place. I'm done babysitting and rescuing people who don't lift a finger for themselves, let alone anyone else.

I'm done filling up everyone else's pillow bags with my stuff, and having nothing left in mine.

Tarot card yesterday -- Six of Pentacles. No surprise. A card of generosity. You have many gifts and are in a position to share them with others. But beware of all the outstretched hands, and make sure you're sharing yourself in a balanced manner. Don't give people what they don't need, and don't give it all away, leaving yourself with nothing. Give where it will make a difference, don't give more than you have. Sometimes what people say they want is not really what they need. Share your gifts, but share wisely.

Trick or treat. :-)

Expectations

2011-10-29T14:02:00.000-04:00

"When she sleeps, you sleep" were the orders my sister's midwife gave after Lilly was born. My sister ignored that advice -- a genetic flaw of the Wright sisters, it seems.

My "patient", Don (home from the hospital yesterday) is having a nap, and I'm catching up on e-mail, blogging, laundry, groceries, to-dos... Typical me. Although, to be fair to myself, there are a few "have-tos" and several "must-do-to-keep-my-sanity"s, and a number of "must tidy up so the home health care worker doesn't go into shock on Monday"s. :-)

That was me being fair to myself. Now for me being honest with myself: Ha ha ha ha ha ha hardeeharhar!

I haven't kept up with my expectations of myself my entire life -- why should I suddenly be able to now, when half the "household help" is recovering from surgery, and I've had to add Nurse Lyssy to my list of roles?

I've been cursing under my breath at people who knew what we were going through this week, yet still contacted me to ask stupid questions they really should be able to figure out on their own, still expected me to be able to function fully in the roles I'd already warned them I wouldn't have time for, and my personal favourite, the person who didn't have time to fulfil her own role so decided to dump it on me instead with no warning and no checking if I was able. Seriously?!?!?

But, back to the being honest with myself part -- SERIOUSLY?!?!? I mean, at least I curse those people under my breath. But I'm treating myself with the exact same disrespect, aren't I?

Why should anyone treat me any better than I treat myself?

I cannot tell you how many things I thought I'd get done while Don was in hospital. I'd packed up a number of books and magazines, none of which got touched (although I did read the same page of one of the books about 40 times before giving up on that endeavour). I'd also transferred my web design program onto the laptop, so I could re-vamp my website. (You will note it's still in the same sorry state as it was in 2007.) I was going to put together the online volunteer collaboration system for the OFS. I was going to go through all the tutorials for my new financial software and set up the business accounts. I was also going to keep up my workout routine, change the bed, wash the towels, get all the laundry done, wade my way through the glut in my inbox, and scrub the house top to bottom.

What the hell was I thinking?!?!?

Not to be outdone, Don, of course, thought he'd finish mixing the trio recording on his laptop in hospital, and had been upset they wouldn't allow him to bring in the laptop. And one of the first things he tried to do when he first opened his eyes after surgery (and the second, and the third...) was get out of bed so I could have a nap.

Seriously, it's kind of no wonder our previous relationships were all abusive, no? Probably the only way either one of us could have a healthy relationship would be this way: where we're each trying to un-self ourselves to equal degrees. (I remember taking a personality test when a client of the Sandgate shelter -- it basically said the same thing: that anyone but someone as self-effacing as me would be dangerous to get involved with. Good thing I ended up with the male version of myself, but geez, I really have to learn how to say "no" a little better with the rest of the world, don't I?)

Now for the giving myself credit part. I've accepted the casserole offers, and am not protesting. When Don placed his breakfast order, I made myself a pot of coffee first. I am back on track with my meditation and morning writing, which keep me sane (-ish). I will get on the treadmill today and will get at least one load of laundry done so I can have some clean underwear without holes available, and will do groceries so there's some decent, healthy food in the house. These last bits sound boring, but it'll feel good to get them done, and at least be closer to a normal (-ish) person in a normal (-ish) household than I've felt all week.

The website and the database and the financial software and the spring (!) cleaning will just have to wait. I'm only human. Oh, so very human.

Long-awaited update

2011-10-25T22:36:00.000-04:00

Sorry to leave you all hanging -- he's OK!!!

Surgery was successful, doctor doesn't think cancer has spread.
i'm exhausted, but life is good.

No blog tomorrow. Honest, I mean it this time!

Okay, I lied...

2011-10-25T09:01:00.000-04:00

We've been at the hospital since 6:15, it's now 8:45 and he's not going to be out until 11:00. Tried to read. Hardeeharhar. It's Sudoku or blog. Or both.

The nurses and staff here are lovely. Even the fellow waiting-room folks are chatting away and hiding their nerves (except one, who was exceptionally cranky). The volunteers are cheery and helpful and would probably go to the bathroom for you if they could. The chick at the Tim Horton's counter, not so much... But, got a bagel into me -- look mom, I'm eating breakfast, and it's not even noon! ;-)

Of course, this means I will probably be starving by noon.

My beloved sister-friend Ali is not here and hasn't been in touch. Which tells me that she's had to go off to Ottawa to be with her aunt as she dies.

I hate cancer.

Especially when people I love have it, or the people they love have it.

I went to bed with a horrible wish that my ex-husband were going to hospital instead. I don't take it back. I'm going to hell. But there will be some cool music there, and most of my friends. :-)

Speaking of, we have some wonderful ones. Ray is en route from Toronto to be with is "brother" -- I told him Don might not be conscious for a while, but he wants to be close, anyhow. Ali's probably feeling guilty she isn't here -- which makes me laugh, because we were just talking about compassion fatigue and our inability to say no, which will undoubtedly lead to our demise.

I'm good. I'm an introvert. Being alone is generally my preferred mode... Otherwise, I'm looking after the people who are visiting. Ali is the exception, because she and I would have to jello-wrestle over who was taking care of who, and then Don might burst some stitches... ;-)

As far as old hospitals go, the RVH is rather bright and open. Some of the corridors are a little bleak, but the common areas are quite nice. You can't cross your legs without bumping into a handwashing station. I have a feeling I'll be eating a lot of Tim Horton's and Subway and Jugo Juice and Druxy's this week. I'll eat healthy on the weekend, promise.

OK, the cafeteria is starting to bustle. I've got some people-watching to do. There's an album worth of songs at the tables around me. If only I can stay awake long enough to listen...

Ch- ch- ch- changes... and lists

2011-10-24T16:08:00.000-04:00

In order for there to be a "first day of the rest of your life", there also has to be a "last day of life as you previously knew it" -- ever-so-likely with a "day of chaos and feeling lost and confused" somewhere in the middle of those two.

I guess that makes today the last, what with Don's surgery tomorrow. Actually, we thought it would be, but apparently yesterday was, unawares, the last day of normalcy -- after learning his surgery is scheduled for 6:15am tomorrow (yeah, the hospital has obviously never met us!!!), it turns out that the toast he had for breakfast this morning is the last meal he's allowed. Only clear liquids for the rest of the day. So much for the dinner I'd planned... (they told us before he could eat until 11pm, but... apparently that info sheet was wrong!)

So... yesterday was apparently the last day of life-as-we-knew-it, and we didn't even know it. Today is waiting and fretting day. Tomorrow is the chaos day.

Glad that's figured out.

By the way, don't be expecting a blog tomorrow, at least not until evening. Although I may need something to do with my hands and brain while Don's in surgery... you never know -- wait, that blog was the other day's!

But it seems to be today's too. And yesterday's. And tomorrow's. Because you never know. Ever.

Don was planning on a nice long walk today. But now he has to stay close to home, and porcelain, because the pre-op medication is busy working its magic. I'm trying to figure out whether to move my trio rehearsal to Thursday or just give up entirely, because he may be released Friday morning... or he may not. His body is going to have to decide that one.

Which doesn't work very well in my world of planning and organizing and putting stuff down on calendars and to-do lists, so I can pretend at least temporarily that I have some sort of control over this wild and crazy thing that is my life.

Of course, that wild and crazy thing that is my life has been trying to show me for several months, if not years, that there is no controlling it. Which, I believe, I tend to equate with being out of control -- which is, in fact, a very different thing altogether, but my subconscious has yet to grasp the subtleties there.

I've got a to-do list a mile long. The reason why it's so long isn't because I'm out of control, it's because my making of to-do lists is out of control. :-)

I really need to make a habit out of sitting myself down, getting myself to estimate times for each "to-do", and then slap myself upside the head for expecting myself to get 36 hours worth of work squeezed into a 24-hour day. Especially on days when Mother Nature has other ideas and Life has a few other surprise lessons in store for me.

Should that truck or those aliens come to be, I'm quite sure nobody is going to mourn the length of my to-do list. My last thoughts will ever-so-likely not be about my to-do list. So if it's not important in death, why do I cling to it so in life?

Here I am, on the eve of my husband's surgery, trying to figure out how to squeeze enough workouts in to the week, between visiting hours and errands and updating friends.

Seriously, Alyssa?!? At this point, I think it's OK to skip a few workouts this week. You aren't suddenly going to be svelte by Friday if you do them, and you might need to take it a wee bit easy on yourself, too!

Now I'm bargaining -- maybe if I double up on Saturday...?

Dear lord, if I were able to type as fast as my brain can make up arguments with itself, you'd be reading a brilliant, if terribly pathetic, comedy right now. My fingers cannot travel at the speed of Lyssy, though. Another thing to kick myself for. :-)

The thing with to-do lists, other than the joy I get at ticking off the boxes, is that they keep me out of the present. I'm stuck in the past with things I wanted to do but didn't get done yet. And I'm stuck in the future with dreams of "one day my to-do list won't be 418 items long" (you think I jest? nosirreeee!) And I'm not here in the moment, embracing my imperfection.

I'm forever telling other people they don't need to be perfect, and should just embrace the beauty of their imperfections. Perhaps it's time to offer the same advice to myself?

At a women's integral retreat led by Don's and now my cousin Becky last year, we learned the 'mantra' "I am infinitely adequate" -- heck we even got the group to write a song about it. Boy, did I ever fight that mantra. Adequate? I'm only adequate? I'm supposed to be wonderful and perfect and better than anyone would believe a person could be!

Pfui.

Well, you're not. Suck it up, cupcake.

Provided you aren't slouched in front of the TV eating bon bons all day -- well, at least not every day, but maybe on the days when you need to sit, watch and eat -- whatever you do IS infinitely adequate. It's the best you can do that day. Other days, you'll be able to do more -- and if you're anything like me, you'll force yourself to. Other days, you won't have the time or the energy, and just might need a pyjamas and crappy movies and junk food day to restore your balance.

The to-do list can wait. Have a great meal with your spouse -- you never know when he'll be back on solid foods. Screw the to-do list and cuddle in front of the fireplace. Heck, screw your spouse, because prostate surgery is a bitch and it might be a long while before you get the chance again... (sorry, Mom!)

What's in your heart and in your soul is so much more important than any crappy to-do list. Guilt can take a holiday, she's not helpful at the moment. Although, Lyssy, you are 24 weeks behind on a bubble bath, and a couple of months behind on your weekly "me" hour. :-)

Yes, even when I put myself on a to-do list, I'm useless at looking after myself.

But at least I made it on to the list! Baby steps...

I'm getting wise and getting fit
It doesn't have to hurt a bit
My inner light is getting lit
I'm Infinitely Adequate
[She's Infinitely Adequate]
[We're Infinitely Adequate]

I need that like a hole in the head

2011-10-22T14:19:00.000-04:00

Well, as it turns out, sometimes you do! Two holes, to be precise. That's what saved my uncle yesterday, drilling two holes into his skull to relieve the pressure on his brain. He's doing great and will be home Tuesday.

So you see? Sometimes you don't really know what you need. And sometimes you think you do know what you need, but you're totally wrong. Sometimes, the thing you think is the worst thing that could possibly happen to you is actually what saves your life.

My first husband (speaking of what you think you need but are totally wrong about) used to have -- well, probably still has -- this annoying habit of mixing metaphors and other sayings. One of his favourite was "I believe that like a hole in the head." As I pointed out, if you had a hole in your head, you'd probably believe it. But you never know... he was never a big fan of truth and reality, he might have managed to keep the blinders on in a hole-in-the-head situation, too. But then again, maybe he's managed to mature a wee bit in the 15 years since I've seen him. I'll try to keep an open mind about that, myself...

Looking back, I see many things I clung to because I thought I couldn't do without them -- and once I lost them, my life got better. There were many things I thought would be the end of the world, but I survived them quite nicely.

Sometimes a hole in the head is exactly what you need to keep an open mind.

Run with it yourselves, folks. I've got stuff to do today. :-)

Life or death

2011-10-21T15:12:00.000-04:00

So... what was that I said yesterday about living your life before you don't have a choice anymore?

Woke up to the news that my uncle had had a stroke. Actually, I didn't know it was a stroke until earlier this afternoon, this morning I just knew he had two haematomae in his brain. This uncle is from the longevity-inclined side of the family, not to mention the stubbornly independent and infallible side. So he's not supposed to even get a cold, let alone a stroke.

Life doesn't work the way we tell it to, now, does it?

I tend to assume I've inherited the longevity gene myself -- I know I've inherited the stubborn gene (I prefer to call it self-assured...). So here we have another wake-up call.

Life seems to be telling me to live. Don't wait until everything's in place, because odds are it won't ever be 100% in place. Just live.

I remember when I worked at a senior's residence in Toronto, which had an Alzheimer's unit. One of the residents was in her fifties, having succumbed to (very!) early-onset Alzheimer's. Her husband, Jack, would come in every day with a big smile on his face and something nice to say to everyone he met. (I never knew how he did it, considering she was, unfortunately, in the very angry stage of the disease -- perhaps he was trying to make up for her mood?) He had been a firefighter, and they had been counting the days 'til his retirement, when they could travel the world together. Well, he did retire, but they never got to travel the world.

I'm a freelance musician, so retirement is never gonna happen, but... the message is still, obviously, DON'T WAIT 'TIL YOU RETIRE.

I've been talking of visiting Tuscany for years now. Always in "someday" mode. Maybe I should just save my damned pennies and book the flight.

Ever since my solo CD was released in 2007, I've been saying "as soon as... [insert "to-do" here], I'll get cracking on my website. Anyone who has visited my website in the last five years knows full well that it has yet to happen.

Kinda pathetic, when you see all I've done in my voluntary capacities for other people.

My own health scare at the beginning of the year, followed by Don's now, has forced me (although not completely, as evidenced by my website!) to re-evaluate and re-prioritize. As soon as (yeah, I know) the surgery is done, that re-prioritizing is going to take top priority.

Last month, I announced my resignation as Artistic Director (and general manager, and publicist, and operations co-ordinator, and... and... and...) from the Orillia Folk Society. Because... you never know when Big Ethyl will explode and mean it, or a teeny-tiny blood clot will cause massive damage, or I'll get hit by a truck or abducted by aliens.

My final thought is not, at this point, going to be "geez, I wish I'd spent more unappreciated volunteer hours furthering other people's careers" -- it's going to be "damn, why did I never take my own career, or my own life, as seriously as I took others?"

Had an interesting chat with my friend / honourary sister Ali last night, who does a lot of work on compassion fatigue. She recently came from a lecture by Gabor Mate (author of "When the Body Says No") who said, among other things, that in a study linking the inability to say "no" to developing ALS, he had become quite good at predicting who would get ill.

I'm kind of surprised I'm not wheelchair-bound already... Ali and I are now practising really hard our "no", "No", "NO", "NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"

Because... as I believe I may have alluded to recently, if you don't look after yourself, or ask for help looking after yourself (even more difficult for me than the n-word), nobody's going to jump in and do it for you.

Nobody's going to take my career or my life seriously if I don't. As a self-employed person, nobody's going to give me a holiday -- or even sick leave -- if I don't.

And even if I eat and exercise and de-stress and do everything I can to look after myself, there's still that truck and those aliens.

So I'm not going to wait until I look good in a bathing suit (seriously, when have I EVER thought I looked good in a bathing suit?) before swimming in the ocean. I'm not going to wait until I've caught up on all my e-mails before I have lunch (I wouldn't have eaten since 2006, if that were the case...). I'm not going to finish all the piddly to-dos before I get started on the big projects that matter to me.

And I'm going to re-design my website, so help me Dog...

Now what?

2011-10-20T18:24:00.001-04:00

Geez, you commit to getting back into a daily blog, and then you actually have to write one, don't you?

Now what?

The first answer to that question was sleep in until noon and have apple pie for breakfast. Followed up with cursing myself for not completing eleven projects by 2pm. See? The world of Lyssy has not really changed that much, other than the pie...

But change it shall. A chapter has closed, so something is going to come in to fill the void -- I'm the one who chooses what gets in. So the next question becomes, what do I want to be when I grow up?

Stay Calm
Be Brave
Wait For the Signs
- Dead Dog Cafe (CBC)

Over dinner last night, Don and I were chatting about our recent experience at the OCFF conference in Niagara Falls, and what each of us got from it. We had both, apparently, come to similar conclusions about a few things. Namely, our discomfort at the desperation felt in some of the private showcase rooms, plus the (unfortunately, rather large) group of people who were simply bitter that the world had yet to discover them, even though they hadn't done a damned thing to further their careers other than sit and bitch with other undiscovered people.

Oh sure, there are the Justin Biebers of the world, but even then, his mother promoted the hell out of him. The folks who have actually "made it" in the folk world (and become "hundredaires", as Don says) are the ones who not only have incredible talent, but who have worked their arses off. They didn't sit around and bitch and expect the world handed to them on a silver platter.

I mean, take Dave Gunning, who was recently nominated for the CFMA's "Emerging Artist of the Year" award. Are you kidding me? This man's first CD was released in 1996, and he's finally being welcomed as a newcomer. He's not an instant discovery, he's worked and worked and worked -- and it doesn't hurt that he's a great songwriter, but he's a great songwriter who has worked and worked and worked (at both his music and his business).

I was in a funding workshop at OCFF, and one of the panelists asked the group how many had applied for funding before? Big show of hands. How many had been rejected? Fairly large show of hands. How many had re-applied? Embarrassingly small show of hands. So... someone doesn't give you what you want (depending on what you're applying for, you're in the same boat with 70-95% of the applicants), you stop asking, and then you complain that nobody funds you?

Can you imagine that with any other job? I mean, seriously, if everyone gave up trying after their first job interview, it would be a national disaster! And if they all sat around in the coffee shop whining that they were unemployed, somebody would smack them. (Maybe me...)

As happens every year, there are private showcases in the hotel rooms -- folks split the expense of the room to do a 30-minute-or-whatever showcase, in the hopes that people will listen to their set and hire them. As happens every year, there's a handful of complainers who come out to say it's a waste of money and the OCFF is trying to swindle them out of their cash, because nobody's ever hired them from the previous year's showcase.

Well, yeah... maybe because the sound of your whining was drowning out the music. (Oops, was that my outside voice?)

Or maybe you didn't do anything to follow up. Or maybe you didn't fit in to their programming. Or maybe you aren't as insanely awesome as you and your cats think you are. Or maybe a 20-minute showcase does not a career make...

You know that line about 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration? Well guess what -- if all you've got is the inspiration, that's not enough. Nobody else is going to put in the 90% for you if you're not willing to put it in for yourself. And if you're not willing to put forth the effort, don't go complaining that nobody else has done it for you.

Geez, how did this turn into a rant? I had a whole other idea when I started...

Both of our favourite part took place in the wee hours of Sunday morning (and by "wee hours," I mean just before sunrise), jamming in the Tunesmiths' room with folks like David Ross MacDonald, Scott Cook, Jesse Dee and Jacquie B, the aforementioned Dave Gunning, Ann Vriend, Dave Borins, Jadea Kelly, and a whole slough of others whose names I didn't catch. Not a whiner in the bunch, all go-getters making it happen. Despite the time and level of inebriation, the music in that room was incredible, the musicians sensitive in their accompaniment, the mood jovial and community-oriented. It was all about the music. Maybe they'll get a gig out of that room, maybe they won't. It's not about the room, it's about the music, it's about the community. And yes, there's a reason why you've heard of many of those folks -- if you don't know some of them, trust me, you will. Better yet, follow those links and take a listen.

So... getting back to today -- where do I want to put my 90% perspiration? Once the long sleeps and pie and surgery are over, that is.

In some ways, Don's surgery is providing both of us with a much-needed oasis in time. We have a darned good reason for saying "no" for the next few months. (OK, his excuse is better, but I'm taking it, anyhow!) An enforced hibernation period, when we can both figure out where we want to go, who we want to be, what we want to do, once we can stretch and yawn and go forth.

For me, it's the end of a chapter that has taken up much of my spare (?!?) time and kept me in survival mode for far too long. For Don, it's this sudden reminder of our mortality, and the need to live our lives before we don't have a choice anymore.

As our friend Ali had on her FB status update the other day: life isn't wrapped up in a bow, but it's still a gift.

As I replied: you just have to say "thank you" and figure out what you're going to do with it.

I am so very thankful for this gift, for where I am today, where we are today. I am not going to look that horse in the mouth and complain it's not as perfect as it should be. I'm not going to hide it in the basement and hope I get something better next year. I'm going to take it and run with it and enjoy every moment I have with it.

It may not be wrapped up in a bow, but it's the only thing that's truly mine. I am responsible for every opportunity I've missed, and every opportunity I've created. I am responsible for every choice I've made, and every decision I've avoided.

As I started singing in January, 2009:

I have cleared the space, it's time to take my place
Prepare to speak my truth, stand up and be the proof

The war will carry on between the sword and the wand
And I'll keep the rewards I've gained
All advance, no retreat, peel away the conceit
Until only the Truth remains

Truth remains

Time for some hibernating and soul-searching and truth-finding. Followed by some making it all happen.

But first, I think I'll have another slice of pie...

And they all lived...

2011-10-19T22:16:00.001-04:00

...well, anyone who's read a fairy tale knows how that sentence ends. And anyone who's been on the planet long enough knows that the end of the fairy tale is when the real story gets started.

Note to my ten-year-old self: you know that day, the one you're waiting for, that day when truth and justice shall win out and your past hurts will be vindicated and the promised happily-ever-after will begin? Well, it is coming, do not give up hope, but... seriously, just kick him in the shins while you still can, it will be MUCH more satisfying. :-)

Because that day has come. I won. After an over three-decade wait, the day has finally come when truth and justice has prevailed. I was right, they were bad. Yet, ironically enough, the quest for truth and justice has come with a price of sworn confidentiality. Oh, c'mon, how sick a joke is that? (Ah well, I'm sure it'll all make it into a song, somehow, someday...)

There will be no singing from the rooftops, there will be no kicking in the shins.

There is a tremendous relief, of course, that a three-decade battle is finally over. There is a certain confidence that comes from the official declaration that I was right and they were bad. I was not crazy. I was right and they were bad.

But there's also a certain hollowness. Because no matter how right I was, or how many people declare me to be right... they were still bad. The scars don't suddenly disappear. The lies that were told and the choices I made based on those lies don't suddenly get reversed. The secrets I kept to defend myself from those lies don't retrospectively get revealed in time for anyone to save ten-year-old (or twenty-, or thirty- or...) me from the damage they caused. The people who were protected by my silence do not have to deal with the consequences -- they're long gone, forever consequence-free (unless there is, in fact, a place called hell, in which case, I've got some marshmallows that need toasting!).

And yes, those of you who have been paying attention through the years and have a certain skill of reading between the lines have probably figured out by now that this all ties in to the abuse I endured as a child -- not directly, of course, but intertwined enough to be tugging at far too many strings than my heart and mind really know what to do with right now.

Those who have been on this path with me in recent years have been expecting pom-poms and champagne. I suppose a part of me was hoping for the little happy dance, too. But the most telling comment, when I was talking to both my sister and honorary sister after hearing the good news was "I can't believe how much I've been crying today!"

Some of those, of course, are happy tears. Some are tears of relief. Some come from the sadness that the man who started carrying a sword with us almost two decades ago died suddenly on Monday, two days before he could have celebrated this victory with us. (Thank you, Jim, for standing by us all these years. I hope there's champagne wherever you are, or at least a really awesome single malt!) Some come from the fact that it took us this long to get here. Some come from all that we lost, and missed, in the meantime.

Mostly they come from knowing I was right, they were bad. And that it doesn't change anything.

The happily ever after is never the end, it doesn't really exist. There is much still to be done. There is much that can never be undone. I still need to get back on the treadmill (literally!) and back into shape (a shape that doesn't involve waves and ripples...). There are still cobwebs in the corners. My husband still has to go for cancer surgery on Tuesday. I still have to practise my cello and plan a tour and pat the cats and brush my teeth and pay the bills.

Nothing has changed.

Of course, the here-and-now me in her fifth decade (!) didn't really expect it to. She knows better. But the ten-year-old me was still, I guess, hoping for the magical fairy tale ending -- and I was still hoping she'd get it. Not to mention the twenty-year-old me, and the thirty-year-old me...

So, where do you go when you hit the end of the story?

If it were Hollywood, I guess I could go for Return of the Revenge of Lyssy, Part II. But I've always been more into books than movies -- more room to think your own thoughts, dream your own dreams. Pick up a new book and try another world.

Better still, write a new story.

I could easily waste a lot of time going through the what-ifs, what-might-have-beens and what-will-never-bes.

Instead, I choose "now what?"

I have come to the end of one story. And I am eager to devour the next. Which one? Which one? True to form, there are a few dozen on the side table, wanting me to pick them first. Or, even truer to form, read three or four of them first.

But I'm kind of tired of reading other people's stories. Living other people's stories. Dealing with other people's stories. Reacting to other people's stories.

It's time for my story. My life.

And so, here I am, walking into the sunset. The beautiful sunset. Where the Hollywood story usually ends.

The way it works in the real world, however, is:

After the sun sets, the heroine puts on her snuggliest flannel, hops into bed to cuddle with her hubby and cats, and falls into a deep, delicious sleep. And then the sun rises again. And then she sits, and waits, and gathers her thoughts and her pens and her paints and her tunes. And then she embarks on her next adventure.

Once upon a time... there was a little girl who had faith. Faith that she would survive. Faith that things would get better. She was right. The Beginning.

Coming home

2011-10-19T16:17:00.000-04:00

Yes, it's been a while.

I've been writing tour blogs over at www.brightsroots.blogspot.com, but have been ignoring my own... As well as my own creativity.

A number of things have happened in the meantime, which make me want to get back to it. Some difficult chapters have ended, some new connections made... and now it's time to get back to me.

I have been enjoying my new friend Louise's blog over at www.recoveryourjoy.blogspot.com, and mentioned I wanted to get back into it, myself. See what happens when I open my big mouth? :-)

It's been surprising to me how many people were reading the tour blog and getting something out of it. Apparently, my musings and blatherings do touch others, give them something to laugh about, think about... who knew? And I have to say, that as much as I DON'T miss blogging in the car, I do miss having that time each day to focus in and just write.

Creatively, I mean. My morning pages (3 pages of longhand, as described in The Artist's Way) seem to have descended into to-do lists and griping sessions.

I don't think to-do lists and griping sessions will touch many people...

So, here I am, committing to ripping my guts out in public once more.

Bring popcorn. And a helmet.

Because today, apparently, is the first day of the rest of my life. And I've run out of excuses for not living it my way. (Well, I'm sure I can think of some more, but... I'll try hard not to!)

See you in cyberspace,
Alyssa

Life and Living and Leaping

2011-02-12T16:35:00.001-05:00

Hello all,

Yes, it's been a long time since I've written here -- life has been rather full this past year, of course, but I wonder if some other forces have been at work, as I've had a "dry spell" in all my writing and other creative ventures. It was suggested to me earlier in the week that these plateaus, road blocks, or whatever you choose to call them, are simply "enforced resting periods." I can definitely see that in my world... what we refuse to provide for ourselves, the universe provides in weird and wonderful ways.

Like this past month, for instance. One month ago yesterday, I almost died. In rather dramatic fashion. Having spent a few years living with the cancer worry floating around in the back of my head -- but not being able to convince anyone in the medical profession to take my concerns seriously -- the kitten-sized tumour (that was supposedly non-existant) decided to make her presence blatantly obvious by making a break for freedom. I named her "Big Ethyl", and am, in a twisted sort of way, rather proud of her determination to be acknowledged.

How many times have we had to fight to be heard? Or recognized? Or even noticed to exist? And when it doesn't happen, how many of us have then turned that against ourselves and decided that we aren't worth hearing, haven't done anything worth recognizing, and maybe shouldn't even exist? So we deny, repress, deny, repress, until -- like Big Ethyl -- something explodes and paints the walls a big, bloody mess that can no longer be ignored, no matter how hard everyone tries.

That, my friends, is my life story in a nutshell. The big, bloody messes haven't always been so... well, big and bloody, though I can see metaphorical echoes (pre-echoes?) of Big Ethyl in so many points along my journey.

I keep telling people how lucky I was that Big Ethyl exploded when she did -- when I live a mere two blocks from the emergency ward, when I have my beloved to look after me when I can no longer stand on my own, when we weren't on an airplane or driving through the Rockies. But her timing was so perfect in many other ways as well. I needed this reminder that I deserve to be heard, and recognized, and to exist. I had been slipping back into old patterns of putting everyone and everything else first, and not looking after myself -- or even acknowledging my own existence or basic needs.

To such a ridiculous extent that Don practically had to DRAG me to Emerg as I protested that I was fine and didn't want to be too much of a bother, they had more pressing cases to deal with. And then woke up the morning between Big Ethyl's Great Escape and the surgery to complete her quest thinking I should really get out of bed and spend my down-time doing some chores (not a good idea, as I discovered when I realized that losing half your haemoglobin makes standing up to brush your teeth a rather tricky endeavour...). And then took my laptop to bed, so I could still make sure the Orillia Folk Society's upcoming concert went off without a hitch, and sneak in some PR work. And gave myself guilt trips for cancelling my students that week, until I convinced myself they might be grossed out by the carnage. OK, so it took a few days for me to fully absorb Big Ethyl's message, but I eventually got it!

Flash forward to this week, having recovered from a successful surgery, when I actually AM driving through the Rockies (or about to), surrounded by beauty -- the landscape, the people we've met, the music, the ideas. Don and I have just spent a week in a creativity workshop with Victor Wooten on Gabriola Island, BC, and enjoyed an incredible solo concert -- solo, that is, until he invited me and four others to sit in with him on a song. Yes, people, I just played a concert with Victor Wooten. Which would be incredibly cool at any time, but when it happens on the anniversary (monthiversary?) of my near-death, "HOLY CRAP!!!" is about as articulate as I can get.

Not only that, but I did a mighty fine job at it! Not only did I "not suck", I was really quite good. Victor kept telling me how beautiful my solo was, and used me as an example to the group the next morning, saying I was "a virtuoso" (referring to my "Both Sides Now" arrangement he had heard earlier in the week) on my instrument, but could get into the music and forsake virtuosity for the feel, and to support the others on stage with me, which was a goal to which we all needed to aspire.

And, let me tell you, the Old Me is twisting and turning and shouting inside me and trying her damndest to prevent me from writing that above paragraph. "Be small!", she's shouting, "you're not being small enough! The world is about to end!!!"

Maybe, maybe not. Maybe it's a world that needs to end.

Thursday night after the concert, I was brazen enough to post on FaceBook that "I might have kicked a wee bit of ass tonight." You can only imagine how much the Old Me punished myself for that in the following 24 hours. She actually tried to get me to erase that post, but someone had already responded (thanks, paul!), so I didn't feel it was right. And it wouldn't have been right, anyway.

Yes, I kicked ass. Yes, one of the most creative and innovative musicians around thinks I'm good. Yes, I should make myself a flashing neon sign that says "I kick ass and I'm damned good!" Yes, I should feel proud of myself -- it's taken 40 years of work to get to where I am today, not just musically but in my life in general. My life is awesome. Sure, much of that awesomeness comes from sheer good luck (I was born in Canada, fer cryin' out loud!), but a lot of the perceived good luck that has come my way has come along because I set things in motion, was prepared for it, and receptive to it -- AND dealt with the bad luck (and those who know my whole story know I was born into a lot of that, too!) in a positive way.

(The next step, of course, is being able to make that neon sign flash BEFORE someone else plugs it in for me, but... you know... baby steps.)

As many of you know, on my sister-friend Ali's birthday, she brings "the girls" together for an evening with Jude, who gives us all our Tarot readings for the year. Analytical-brained me was incredibly skeptical of this at first, but Jude has proven herself year after year. I left my notes (pun intended, for those of you who were at the workshop) at home, and am really itching to re-read them all right now, but the main message to me in this year's reading was that I had laid the groundwork (and needed to keep working on that), and that and the social/relationship connections I was making were preparing the way for something really big in my musical career. And when that unexpected opportunity came up, I had to be ready to take that leap of faith and trust that the groundwork and relationships would hold me up and propel me forward.

Where and what that leap is is supposed to be a surprise, which is part of the fun. The song we played together on Thursday was "Stand By Me" -- my first reaction to the choice was "oh geez, how many times have I played that song? this is gonna be boring". But then Julie, the singer, came in in a place nobody expected. And then Victor threw in some notes and chord changes that nobody expected. And then we all put in dynamics that went the opposite direction anyone familiar with the song would have expected. AND it became more fun than I've had in ages -- we were all flying by the seat of our pants, pushing our imaginations into strange new worlds and taking the audience along for a very cool ride. It was the not knowing that kept it interesting, kept us listening, kept us working and exploring and taking that leap of faith together.

Going back to the Tarot, it was like we were all Card Zero, The Fool -- juggling all the possibilities, being everything and nothing, looking at the world with wonder and imagination and awe, and having the innocent faith that our leap of faith would open up a whole new world of possibility. And it DID. That wonder and imagination and the faith, love and trust that six previously total strangers had for each other created a remarkable thing -- something I don't think anyone in that room will forget in a long, long time.

And, Fool that I am, I'm still juggling and wondering and playing and have not come down from that incredible high. The leap of faith hasn't landed. I'm not sure if it will, before I take the next one. Those who got used to the Old Me being back again might be in for a few bloody walls of their own.

Because between Big Ethyl, Jude, and Victor Wooten... I'm ready to jump, baby, I'm jumping now! Round and round and round she goes, where she'll stop, nobody knows...

Foolishly yours,
Alyssa

The birthday weekend

2009-12-01T15:11:00.002-05:00

Hi folks,

Our final day in Halifax -- we'll be heading to Clifton, NB tomorrow evening for a visit with some of my friends from the old Cannington days, plus surprise last-minute mini-house-concert. Then Lennoxville Friday and... presumably, home!

Just waiting for the laundry to finish up before heading to the last play-time with Lilly and Wyatt (boo hoo). But thought I'd catch you up on the birthday weekend while I waited.

Saturday afternoon, we visited Don's cousins in Dartmouth -- they're such a fabulous family. They were very happy about the engagement, and I don't think Becky stopped smiling once! Becky has also convinced me (very little arm-twisting necessary!) to come to her Open Field Retreat in January and do a workshop in finding your authentic voice -- I can't wait! It was an all-too-short visit with Becky & Jim, Hugh & Chris and Lois, plus a phone call from Deb in Salt Lake City. But it was lots of fun, and we'll be seeing them again soon, I'm sure.

In the evening, Don took me out for my Birthday Eve dinner, just up the road at The Brooklyn Warehouse -- our favourite in the area. Apparently, it's become many others' favourite too, because we had to wait a little bit for a table, and it was quite busy for most of our dinner. Oh well, we enjoyed some fancy cocktails at the bar, so all was well! :-) We shared an appetizer of to-die-for hummus and pita. Main course was steak for Don (he always has the steak there), and a vegan angel hair "carbonara" for me, with smoked tofu -- never had it before, but I'll be keeping an eye out, because it's amazing (Don the tofu-hater even liked it!). Washed down, of course, with a lovely French Pinot Noir. Remembering the last time we ate there -- and the painful waddle home -- we opted to skip dessert this time, but had some Monte Christo coffees instead. Mmm-mmm!

Sunday morning, we got up early (musicians' early, anyhow) for the weekly Breakfast Club breakkie at Athens -- I think there were about 14 of us there this week. Then, in honour of my birthday, I had a two hour nap. :-)

And then the "surprise" party (not really a surprise, since Lilly had broken the news several weeks ago, and had talked about it almost every day we were here) at Mom's house. Lilly still yelled "surprise" with great gusto, though!!! She had made me a card that wished me Merry Christmas (a running joke, since nobody is "allowed" to decorate or sing Christmas carols until after my birthday in this family -- which means she's been singing carols at the top of her voice since I arrived!), plus a very colourful play-clay sculpture of somebody swimming in the swimming pool. Her parents gave me a great wine diary and a bottle of Rioja Gran Riserva to start me off. Funny, friends Sheila and Hugh also brought me wine -- a local brew which looks lovely too. Mom opted for the non-alcoholic present, giving me a lovely wood-block serving tray with sailboats, some lovely "live love laugh" magnets, and a CD from her recent trip to Newfoundland.

Food and beverages? Well... this is where it gets interesting. Pot Roast. Yes, pot roast was the main course served at my birthday. For those of you who don't know, I am a vegetarian and have been one for about two decades. Who would serve pot roast at a vegetarian's birthday party? Yup, my mother. This explains so much on so many levels, doesn't it? ;-)

But she redeemed herself with the traditional Wright-family birthday cake -- angel food with chocolate drizzles. Don is a convert. We ate the final slices of leftovers for breakfast this morning. :-)

Ah... and perfect timing. The laundry just finished, and I have to dash over to play with my niece and nephew. Life is rough...

Musically,
Alyssa

For those of you who don't read The Brights' Blog...

2009-11-26T21:38:00.002-05:00

[Copied verbatim -- feel free to ignore if a duplicate!]

Hello folks!

OK, yes, the rumours are true -- although it's probably the worst-kept secret in showbiz. The Brights are, indeed, well on their way to being The Brights for real and for true -- we are now officially engaged. :-)

In fact, the worst-kept secret kind of made itself made by being the worst-kept secret. At dinner with my family, Don let it slip we were trying to figure out where to get married. Ears were perked, champagne was poured, all was good. :-) So, the following morning, we broke it to the kidlets. Wyatt, of course, could have cared less... Lilly immediately shut the door to the hallway and started practising walking in a straight line with a bouquet full of flowers. So we might not know where or when or whatever... but apparently our flower girl is sorted out. ;-)

So... other than that... my Ontario cousin, Chris, was in Hali on business, so we had a grand family dinner at Tarah and Daniel's on Monday night! Funny how we have to go to a different province to see each other, aiyaiyai! But we had a great visit, and... ooh, perhaps a few too many bottles of wine between us all. Hey, it was the beginning of our time off, with family we love -- what the heck?

Tuesday morning, I took my nephew Wyatt to kindermusik. While he absolutely adores music (and has a great sense of rhythm), the greatest draw for him was the mosque being built next door! This boy is definitely going to be a crane operator when he grows up. Although he was equally as fascinated with the garbage pick-up on the way home: "someday, Wyatt ride on garbage truck!!!" Tuesdays are usually Wyatt's "special days" with Grammie -- this week, it was special day with Auntie Lyssy, and we made the most of it. :-)

After a fun day with my nephew, we headed west to Lunenburg, to visit with our friends Bob and Julia. We headed to the Tin Fish restaurant for dinner -- lovely food! -- where their friend Paul was playing, with his wife Eilidh and daughter were also visiting. A lovely evening. We stayed at Bob & Julia's beautiful house overlooking the sea, and stayed up into the wee hours catching up on everything. In the not-so-wee hours the next day, we headed back into Hali, through the drizzle and fog.

Wednesday night, we were on our own, and headed down to Quinpool to have dinner at the FANTASTIC "It's All Greek to Me". Cheezy name, yes, but the food and the service are INCREDIBLE!!! (It was all we could do to not sneak back there tonight.) Yes, I like food and wine. Yes, this is an amazing restaurant. Trust me. Go. :-)

Thursdays are usually Lilly's special days with Grammie -- which means I got her this week. She woke us up very gently this morning (she could teach grammie a few lessons in this department -- oops! did I use my outside voice?!?), with a whisper and a snuggle, and then she went to get Grammie to bring us coffee. I have obviously trained this child well!!!

Once coffee was administered, it was down to the kitchen to paint some ornaments for the Solstice tree. It's a running gag that there are to be no holiday decorations put up until after Sunday (my birthday), so she waxed eloquent on all the stores that have ignored the rule, plus the fact that her parents have put up a wreath already. It's fun that she's at the age where teasing is possible.

Her mom and dad were out looking at prospective schools for her for next year -- yikes, is she that old already?!? Her favourite so far is the Shambhala school, where they put on shows. Yup, my niece the showgirl, who'd-a thunk? (They also have a teeter-totter, which came a close second!)

Then it was a late visit to the bookstore (who can resist?), and dinner around the corner. It's now 10pm and we feel like it's 3am -- is that all the time with the kids, or are we finally feeling the effects of the champagne from the other day? Probably both...

Well, we're off to early slumber-land. Yes, believe it or not... Tomorrow is our final Nova Scotia show at Brookside Cottage -- so we'll need our beauty sleep. :-)

Thanks, as always, for reading,
Alyssa

Singing for my supper

2009-11-21T18:57:00.002-05:00

Hi folks!

I'm on tour with The Brights right now, but did a solo (or, sorta solo) gig thisafternoon at The Carleton in Halifax. It was a return visit to "Sing For Your Supper", a songwriters circle led every Saturday by our friend (and amazing songwriter) Kev Corbett. The lovely and talented Don Bray was also a guest artist, as was Jadea Kelly and surprise guest David Borins (who is touring with Jadea).

It was a fun afternoon, and there was a larger audience there than we'd had the last time we played the series. We made some new friends, and made a new connection that might prove profitable in the long run... (not saying it out loud yet, I don't want to jinx myself!)

Kev gave us a copy of his yet-to-be-released CD, Son of a Rudderless Boat, which I'm really looking forward to hearing. Jadea and David also gave us their CDs, so we'll have some pleasant listening material on the road, for sure! This was the first time I had heard either of them, and it was a treat. Although David did a song about disliking women who drink whiskey... he promised me it was just a song. :-) I countered, of course, with Not Enough Whiskey -- dodge, parry, thrust!

Unlike last time, we actually got to stay for dinner -- The Carleton has great food, let me tell you! Don had the ribs in... some sort of brandied BBQ sauce. I had curried penne with shrimps and scallops, mmm-mmm, and a nice Australian Merlot whose name I've already forgotten. Hopefully Kev will invite us back a third time, so we can sample more of the menu. :-)

Actually, we might be heading back next Monday, if we aren't busy visiting family -- David Myles is playing that night. We saw him at Shelter Valley this summer, and would love to see a full night of him!

Well, I'm off to tuck my niece into bed. Hope everyone's having a great weekend!

Alyssa

Remembrance Day - The Armed Man

2009-11-13T01:01:00.004-05:00

Hi folks,

Wednesday, I played a Remembrance Day concert with the King Edward Singers in Barrie -- the piece was "The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace" by Karl Jenkins. A beautiful work, with some lovely cello passages (and some hair-raising bowing technique - aiyaiyai!). It was a real pleasure, although emotionally quite difficult, when I caught a glimpse of obvious veterans in the audience, and their reactions.

Of course, some of the reactions were quite humorous! In one movement, it's mostly men singing a capella with slow, quiet lines. Then all of a sudden, completely out of nowhere, there's a huge CRASH in the percussion -- everyone jumped, then looked around nervously and giggled a little bit. Not, perhaps, the effect Mr. Jenkins was looking for. ;-)

But it was a very moving piece, and I enjoyed participating in it. John Swartz of the Orillia Packet & Times pointed out that this is the same composer who wrote the music to that famous DeBeers diamond commercial campaign. I mentioned this to some friends as we were leaving (Sandra Ruttan, of the Amity Trio, and her husband Rob), who laughed at the irony... yes, trust a poet to notice. :-)

Well, I've just spent two days in front of the computer screen, trying to get some software fixed up for the Orillia Folk Society. I think I've had enough of computer screens! More later.

Musically,
Alyssa

2009-11-10T21:05:00.003-05:00

Hi folks,

Yes, been far too long... I've been a busy little cellist.

Just back from the Barrie Folk Festival -- visit The Brights' blogspot at http://brightsroots.blogspot.com/ for more details.

I also have to say that I really enjoyed hearing newcomer Jill Jambor play -- sweet voice, and great attitude! I think she'll go far.

In the meantime, I've been busy getting the new committee for the Orillia Folk Society up and running, getting ready for our upcoming tour, attempting to be a computer genius (!), and doing all the glamorous behind-the-scenes stuff -- argh. Will try to write more soon. Right now, though, my sweetie is insisting on taking me out for dinner -- who can resist?

Musically,
Alyssa

CD Release -- or, why I've been too busy to rant recently!

2009-05-01T21:19:00.002-04:00

Hi folks,

I realize those of you who know me must have been scratching your heads when I actually said -- TWICE -- that I was too busy to rant! But it's true, things have been a little nuts around here. Of course, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and it'll be smacking me in the face on Sunday. :-)

I'm talking, of course, about the CD RELEASE!!! For those of you who have managed to escape my nattering so far, the fabulously talented (and downright sexy) guitarist and singer-songwriter Don Bray and I have a folk-roots duo called The Brights (Bray, Wright... do the 'Electric Company' thing and you'll figure it out). After almost two years of saying "we should really..." we finally have -- the debut CD "Live Love Dream" is back from the manufacturer's, and we're ready to unleash it on the world!

The CD Release concert takes place this Sunday, May 3, 2:00 pm at Hugh's Room in Toronto. Doors open at noon, with their delicious Sunday brunch menu available. Advance tickets are $14, through 416-531-6604 or www.hughsroom.com, or $16 at the door. Copies of the new CD will, of course, be available at the show -- and we'll be bringing our Sharpies! :-)

I will be spending Saturday tackling the last of the webcode (please oh please oh please let it be the last of the webcode!) making the CD available online via our website. Ah, the glamorous life of an independent musician... (Note to friendly neighbours -- I will be gladly accepting cocktails any time after 6pm!) Will keep you posted on the availability.

I'm hoping that -- once the blasted code is finished -- I'll have more time for my general ranting and raving. Keep your fingers crossed for whichever scenario you prefer. ;-)

Musically,
Alyssa

More madness about the CBC

2009-04-27T14:03:00.002-04:00

Hi folks,

Still insanely busy, but thought I'd pass on the latest from Friends of the CBC. I'll go back to ranting one of these days, I promise!

************

Dear Alyssa,

Let's tell Heritage Minister James Moore to come clean!

Despite their claims, the Conservatives have not provided CBC record levels of funding. Instead, the Conservative have actually cut CBC's funding by $63 million, according to the latest spending plan tabled by the government in Parliament on February 26th, 2009.

Telling the truth is the first step toward ensuring the CBC is given the funding it needs.

Take Action Now!

********************

Something very troubling has arisen amid the deep cuts to the CBC's creative staff and programs.

Under intense questioning in Parliament and in response to messages from tens of thousands of CBC supporters, the Prime Minister and many of his MPs have made false statements.

Prime Minister Harper stated falsely in the House of Commons on March 25, that this year's Budget provides CBC with "record financing... in the order of $1.1 billion".

Many people who wrote to their Conservative MPs have shared the responses with us. These replies are modeled on statements the Prime Minister has made in Parliament.

Here is a typical example:

"As far as funding is concerned, the CBC is currently receiving the highest funding package in its history. This year the CBC will receive $1.1 billion of taxpayers' money."

This statement is false!

This development goes to the heart of integrity in public life. We should be able to expect our Prime Minister and his followers to tell us the truth.

The real story from the government's Main Estimates (their spending plan for the coming year) tabled on February 26 is that the government has cut CBC's funding in 2009/10 by $63 million – that's equivalent to a $79 million reduction in purchasing power when inflation is considered. And, since they were first elected, the Conservatives have cut the purchasing power of CBC's grant by $119 million (when inflation is taken into account).

I believe this is an indicator of the pressure being felt by the government, especially by those Conservative MPs who won by narrow margins in last autumn's election and who are hearing our message loud and clear.

We must work hard to maintain and increase that pressure. There is a golden opportunity to fight for the CBC this Wednesday (April 29) when Heritage Minister James Moore will be appearing before the House of Commons Heritage Committee.

This is an important occasion. It will be the first time MPs have had a chance to grill the Minister in detail since the CBC announced its cuts.

So I urge you to send a message to Minister Moore.

Please ask him to just tell the truth when he appears before the Heritage Committee. Telling the truth is the first step toward ensuring the CBC is given the funding that it needs.

Your message will be automatically copied to members of the Heritage Committee, your own MP, the Prime Minister and the other Party leaders.

After thousands of people have demanded that the CBC be adequately funded, the Conservative government is feeling the pressure. There is hope for a sustainable future for CBC. We can turn this hope into reality if we act together now.

Please send your message to Heritage Minister James Moore now!

Yours sincerely,

Ian Morrison
Spokesperson
FRIENDS of Canadian Broadcasting

CBC Survival is Essential!!!

2009-03-30T21:35:00.002-04:00

Hi folks,

I'm afraid I'm just too busy to compose one of my trademark rants, but this issue is too huge for me to remain silent. So I'm going to just cut and paste a few things in here.

First off, the letter I sent to the Right Horrible Prime Minister:

Right Hon. Stephen Harper
Prime Minister of Canada
80 Wellington Street
Ontario Ottawa K1A 0A2

Dear Prime Minister Harper,

I can't believe that the government of Canada would consider bailing out private broadcasters while leaving CBC to face a $200 million deficit with no help whatsoever. Please make sure CBC has the resources it needs to do its job.

Arts, Culture and Communication are the lifeblood of any country. When industry and economy are down in times such as these, Communication, Motivation and Inspiration are especially key -- not just to keeping us afloat, but speeding up our recovery.

Failing to properly fund our NATIONAL COMMUNICATOR is short-sighted, and, frankly, quite idiotic. Canada needs this unifying tool. Do not destroy it.

Sincerely,
Alyssa Wright

*****

Next, a petition request I received from Avaaz Canada:

Dear friends,

Canada’s media networks have all been slammed by the recession. But the government is reportedly considering bailouts for its friends at private companies CTV and CanWest, while forcing the CBC to drastically cut 800 staff and programming.

Our CBC is a national treasure, and a pillar of public−interest journalism in a country whose media is owned by a few large firms. We won’t hear an outcry from their media outlets, and the CBC is too principled to use its megaphone to make the case for itself. We are the only voice the CBC has.

We urgently need a massive public outcry to Save the CBC, click below to sign the petition and forward this email to everyone who might care about this:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_cbc/98.php/?cl_taf_sign=c8dbb1eb5e77ba407be1c378e42bae43

The petition will be delivered directly to the government, through Parliament, ads, and stunts such as an airplane pulling a giant Save the CBC banner over Ottawa. In each case the number of signatures on the petition will be crucial to the effectiveness of the campaign, so let’s get as many people as possible to sign.

The CBC is facing a budget shortfall that amounts to just $6 per Canadian, but its request to the government for a bridging loan to cover this was denied. The deep cuts the CBC is making will damage the organization across the board, and they will not be the last. If we don’t stand up for the CBC now, it stands to die a death by a thousand cuts. Harper’s minority government is politically vulnerable – public outrage could turn the government around on this, but it has to happen now. Let's move quickly.

With hope,

Ricken, Lisa−Marie, Laryn and the whole Avaaz Canada team.

*********

Next, the letter I received yesterday from Friends of Canadian Broadcasting:

CBC's creative people have just been through the week from hell.

The cuts announced last week will leave our beleaguered public broadcaster a shadow of its former self, especially in smaller communities where CBC is often the only option.

This is all so unnecessary, yet this may be only the beginning.

More cuts to CBC news are expected mid-April. And if Stephen Harper's hand-picked President cannot raise enough through a firesale of CBC assets, he says that even more cuts will be required.

But there is a glimmer of hope. I urge you to join with me to stoke it.

Viewers and listeners have been outraged by the events of the past week. We have bombarded our MPs with calls, letters and emails demanding action. A storm of protest has erupted in the House of Commons as a result, and the government is under intense pressure to prevent the announced cuts.

Please join with me to turn up the volume by sending a message to the Prime Minister today demanding action.

There is a simple and inexpensive solution to CBC's funding shortfall.

Among modern industrialized nations, Canada in near the bottom when it comes to investing in public broadcasting. The average is $80 per citizen and countries like Great Britain, Germany and Norway invest even more.

In Canada, our government provides only $33 per citizen. That's just not enough for CBC to serve as the public broadcaster Canadians want and need. The House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage has recognized this and called for an increase of $7 per person - to $40.

Please join me to urge our government to bump up Canada's investment to at least half the average. That would mean only a $7 increase for each Canadian. Per year!

If we don't act today, the pressure on the government and the momentum we have built will be lost.

Seven dollars is a small price to pay to keep our CBC.

Please act now... before it's too late.

Yours sincerely,

Ian Morrison
Spokesperson
FRIENDS of Canadian Broadcasting

P.S. Please feel free to forward this email

*****

The Friends of Canadian Broadcasting also have a FaceBook site. I encourage everyone to support the CBC!!!

(Who knows, I may still end up ranting later, but right now I've got a tour and CD release to work on )

Welcome to Alyssa's Adventures in Celloland!

2009-03-26T19:25:00.001-04:00

Also known as Alyssa’s first adventure in blogging. A natural endeavour for someone infamous for her online rants, er… highly-informative essays.

I’ll be taking a while to explore my new surroundings, but am looking forward to nattering on at you in the days to come.

Musically,
Alyssa