Mississippi Beyond Katrina

SDCPB at 2006 European Championships

...playing their medley

SDCPB at 2006 Dumbarton

...playing their MSR

SDCPB drummers warming up

Shotts and Dykehead's drum corps warming up with the MSR before this year's World Pipe Band Championships in Glasow.

SDCPB warming up: reel

Shotts and Dykehead warming up before this year's World Pipe Band Championships. This is their reel.

SDCPB warming up: strathspey/reel

Shotts and Dykehead warming up before this year's World Pipe Band Championships. This is their strathspey, "Susan MacLeod," I think it is, and their reel, "The Sheepwife."

SDCPB warming up: march

Shotts and Dykehead Pipe Band warming up before this year's World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow. This is the march "Highland Wedding."

SDCPB Drummers Salute 2006

Shotts and Dykehead's drum corps playing their fanfare this year, at the Glasgow Piping Festival.

day 7: "More List Yourself"

A couple of entries from the eighth chapter of More List Yourself: Listmaking as the Way to Personal Discovery.

Chapter Eight: Mmmoney

List the jobs or companies you wish would disappear from the face of the earth.

Any one that does animal testing...Procter & Gamble, Huntingdon Labs

and

List the things you love most about your work.

• freedom to set my schedule of calls
• wear what I want
• have my own office
• good bosses and colleagues
• nonstressful for the great part
• good benefits
• enough free time to get things done, to catch up

Quiz Farm: "Which Religion is For You?"

You scored as atheism. You are... an atheist, though you probably already knew this. Also, you probably have several people praying daily for your soul. Instead of simply being "nonreligious," atheists strongly believe in the lack of existence of a higher being, or God. atheism 92% agnosticism 75% Islam 63% Paganism 63% Satanism 63% Buddhism 54% Christianity 42% Hinduism 33% Judaism 29% Which religion is the right one for you? (new version) created with QuizFarm.com

Quiz Farm: "How Will You Die?"

You scored as Natural Causes. Your death will be by natural causes, though not by any diseaese, because that is another option on this test. You will probably just silently pass away in the night from old age, and people you love won't realize until the next morning, when you are all purple and cold and icky. So be happy, you won't be murdered. Natural Causes 73% Suicide 73% Posion 53% Disappear 53% Accident 53% Gunshot 47% Suffocated 40% Bomb 33% Stabbed 33% Disease 27% Eaten 20% Cut Throat 20% Drowning 7% How Will You Die?? created with QuizFarm.com

day 6: "More List Yourself"

A couple of entries from the seventh chapter of More List Yourself: Listmaking as the Way to Personal Discovery.

Chapter Seven: Sixth Sense

List the times you were in just the right place at the right time.

The time I bent down to dust/vacuum under my chest of drawers and found the miniscule (no exaggeration) pearl that had fallen off my grandmother's cameo!

Having to work Christmas Eve day in Boston and ending up finding my husband a job at one of the service calls I did.

Working in the Deans' Office at the University of Chicago's Graduate School of
Business and having one of the computing services bosses come down and offer me a job, for which I had no previous formal training. I'm still doing that same kind of job now, 12 years later.

day 5: "More List Yourself"

A couple of entries from the sixth chapter of More List Yourself: Listmaking as the Way to Personal Discovery.

Chapter Six: Us

List the people you'd like to smack around, yell at, or simply tell off.

bad drivers, especially when I'm on my motorcycle
Jerry when he's on my case
Jerry's ex Boston College boss

and

List the people who understand you best.

me, famliy, husband, therapist

and finally,

List the people you still know from grammar school or high school.

My high school band friend, John Gutierrez

my real age

I went through the steps at RealAge.com: my adjusted real age (as opposed to my actual age of 42.4) was 47.8, no doubt because of my horrible lack of exercise. Before that section of the "interview," I was holding close at about my actual age. I need to get moving.

day 4: "More List Yourself"

A couple of entries from the fifth chapter (I'll come back to fourth chapter later) of More List Yourself: Listmaking as the Way to Personal Discovery.

Chapter Five: Culture Club

List the injustices on the planet that trouble you.

God's letting bad things happen to the defenseless. The idea of free choice should have a limit.

Animals being exploited.

Idiots not caring about the environment. This includes drivers of monster SUVs, pickup trucks, etc.

And the standard murder, rape, wars, hunger, etc., etc.

and

List all the people you'd like to be stuck with on a desert island.

all my family, Jerry, cats, a doctor, a therapist, an inventor, an outdoors expert, a chef, a dentist

and finally,

List the songs that have affected or touched you the most.

Louis Armstrong singing "What a Wonderful World": He seems to really mean what he's singing, and the song itself is so simple...just a downward scale.

Cliff "Ukelele Ike" Edwards singing "When You Wish Upon a Star": From 1940's Pinnochio. Edwards makes the song so sweet and innocent. It's a beautiful performance, one in a vulnerable range (the tessitura, that is) for a man.

the humming chorus in Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly: plaintive and delicate

Charles K. Harris's "After the Ball": This was, for a very long time, one of the most popular songs in the world. I wish I could've been alive to see the world as it was then.

Kirk Franklin's "Why We Sing": My mother played it for my sister and me one day and said she wanted to have it played at her funeral. I instantly felt like crying.

The transition between life and death in Richard Strauss's tone poem, Death and Transfiguration: I'm usually a dope when it comes to hearing what it is a composer is trying to portray in a tone poem. But to me there's no doubt when the tone-poem protagonist's (?) heart pounds in its last attempt to remain alive.

and more I'll think of later.

bear + trampoline = comedy

Well, at least according to Craig Kimble. The bear folks had the right idea, but it didn't play out quite as planned, I don't think.

day 3: "More List Yourself"

A couple of entries from the third chapter of More List Yourself: Listmaking as the Way to Personal Discovery.

Chapter Three: Big Wisdom

List the best teachers, priests, rabbis, and mentors that you've come in contact with.

No priests, for sure. Or nuns. Nobody Catholic.

Some great teachers, though:

Bruce Garner: a band director at Biloxi High School. Even though he was only an avocational drummer, he worked hard to help me become a drummer, something I'd always wanted to be.

Sherman Hong: my percussion teacher at the University of Southern Mississippi. Dr. Hong taught me to become a musician, and not just another musicality-less technician.

Charles Moorman: a literature teacher at the University of Southern Mississippi. He made it all very fascinating, from Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales to Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy.

I've had some psychotherapists and other health professionals whom I've liked a lot, too. They know who they are.

and

List the things you'd actually be willing to die for.

My husband, my cats, my family, and certain of my friends.

and finally,

List the acts you would never do, no matter how much you were paid.

Anything that would result in my going to prison. Killing someone is definitely an act I wouldn't do.

presentation of the rose

One of the most original orchestrations ever...from Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier:

Note the kaleidescopic shifting harmonies as Strauss' orchestra shimmers in this scene. It is scored for 3 flutes, 3 solo violins, celeste, and 2 harps.

day 2: "More List Yourself"

A couple of entries from the second chapter of More List Yourself: Listmaking as the Way to Personal Discovery.

Chapter Two: Your Style

List the sexually experimental activities you'd like to try.

Momma...no way I'd write down online answers to the above! Anyway, what's meant by "experimental"? Just something not done before? I suppose that's it. For me, nothing kinky and nothing involving other females.

The only thing sort of cryptic sounding that I'd respond is...I liked the idea of one of the "options" presented in Stephen Spielberg's A.I. You'll have to watch it.

and

List what you've been known to do when you've lost your inhibitions.

Again, I can't think of any provactive answers for this. One thing I definitely do differently if my inhibitions are down is talk more. I'm usually pretty tight lipped.

Once in college, after I and some friends went to Bourbon Street, New Orleans one evening, I drank way too much. We ended up in a gay dance club/bar and I danced. I don't dance usually (that was the first and only time...except when I'm imitating So You Think You Can Dance? people in front of Jerry), but did after half a million drinks. I think I finally "fell out" and was escorted/carried from the club, and deposited on a curb!

Also, if I've drunk too much and my inhibitions are lower, I might feel less self conscious about suggesting activities.

and, finally,

List what talents you'd most like to have.

Sort of like a "if you had three wishes..." kind of question. Hmm...

• I'd like to have the ability to speak, read, write, and understand all the world's languages, past and present. That's a pretty big wish!
• I'd like to be able to play all musical instruments at a virtuoso level.
• I'd like to play snare drum for the Shotts and Dykehead Pipe Band in Scotland.
• I'd like to be rich and famous, though not INfamous.

day 1: "More List Yourself"

From the book More List Yourself: Listmaking as the Way to Personal Discovery, by Ilene Segalove and Pual Bob Velick.

I'm going to do a a few entries of this, online, every day...well, that's my plan. So here goes:

Chapter 1: Day to Day

List your daily rituals that mean the most to you.

A few years ago (in April 2002 I wrote this) is was giving Gomer his twice-daily insulin shots...and weekly blood-sugar-level tests. That "meant the most to me" because he meant so much to me. Later on, his diabetes went away, but he developed cancer in his jaw. Then Jerry and I had to give him subcutaneous fluids, to keep him properly hydrated. And baby aspirin, too, for his pain.

Other than that, "rituals" and "mean the most to you" are confusing. I have rituals, in that I have I have things I do each day, but I don't think of them as meaning a lot to me. They just need to be done. Or, perhaps thinking of the question in terms of what's important to be done, I suppose taking my prescription medicines and vitamin supplements (multi-vitamin and calcium) means a lot, since I'm getting older. Or, sunscreen is important to me, since I'm fair haired and fair skinned. I know that I could get in trouble health-wise if I didn't keep up with that.

I'll try to think of more later, but this was a tough question to start with, I think.

and

List the weirdest or most exotic foods you're eaten.

I have a pretty woosy appetite for odd things. I ate (I had to chew it as part of the bargain) half an oyster for 75 cents once, in Biloxi, Mississippi, at the famous restaurant (now gone) Baricev's. See what I mean about woosy.

I tasted a Wasabi-coated peanut Jerry offered me once. It was foul and left my mouth tout de suite!

I gave a fried mushroom a second try not long again, since Jerry likes them so much. That left my mouth even faster than the Wasabi peanut. Mushrooms are way too musty and shit-like for me!

In the French Market in New Orleans once I dared try a bit of hot sauce someone offered me. I was no fool and knew not to take more than a pin-dot-sized drop, to put on a piece of popcorn. That tiny, tiny drop put me over the top for about 45 minutes. I should've known that any hot sauce that is nearly black is too intense for living beings. I drooled and spat, sucked on ice, and futiley searched out some milk for what seemed like infinity.

a long time

It's been a long time since I've posted. Jerry's gall bladder freaked out the weekend before last and he's been in the hospital since about 3:15 am last Wednesday morning. That was a long night for us both! But he's home now, finally, and is getting better. I'm about ready to have help again with the grocery toting/putting away, the house cleaning, etc.! ;-D

(Plus, I haven't been able to think of much to say.)

Satisfectellent?

What the hell is Snickers trying to get across with that new ad-campaign slogan SATISFECTELLENT?! I guess they're trying to combine the idea of "satisfying" or "satisfaction" with "excellent"...that's the best I can come up with. But it they're trying to get across "excellent," why the "-ectellent"?

How about "satisfexcellent" or "satisfacxellent"? All I get from "-ectellent" is something like "feculent," which I doubt the Snickers folks were looking to get across. Who knows?

Donde los yikes! as Jerry would say.