That Old Gang of Mine

The really OLD song says that wedding bells are breaking up that old gang of mine. Of course, I know the song from my forebears - it has nothing to do with MY age. Experience has demonstrated to me that we often change things every ten or twelve years. I've been in my present job for 11 years. And today I said abientot to the last of my lunch buddies and colleagues who, in a sense, would constitute that old gang of mine. There is still one who works in my building, but is actually a federal employee. When I came to the Department of Labor, on my very first day on the job, I was invited to have lunch with this one group of women - actually five women and me - I became the rooster in the hen house. It was a good move and became a regular part of my work day when I was in the office, not traveling. And I was honored and proud that I my innate radar seemed to have led me to automatically gravitate to people who were bright, competent, hard-working, socially adept, and artistically educated and curious. We had many fine lunch conversations and often ordered Chinese carry-out, which was always fun. Our Chinese carry-out and our regular lunches faded as people left the group. But the last one to leave was the one with whom I collaborated most often. So today for the second time in two months, I played host to a gathering to honor a retiree. Both of these last two retirees gave 30 years to the state of Maryland - a feat that is absolutely incomprehensible to me. So while it may not be wedding bells that are breaking up that old gang of mine for lunch at work, there are plenty of substitutes to blame: old age, considerable experience, new horizons, new adventures, health, history, politics - and that last is the most insidious. Shopping for food and gifts was exhausting. I don't shop much any more other than in the grocery store. Anything else gets ordered online. But I was able to spend some money getting the supplies for the party. Fortunately, there are some wonderful colleagues in my office who can set a beautiful table. I got some help wrapping presents too. Cake and Conversation with Kathy was a nice affair, but quite sad for me. Again, maybe it's age, but I'm having difficulty seeing how I will turn this around to feeling positive at work. And since it was Friday, it was my day to sing,
I'm so glad we had this time together,
Just to have a laugh or sing a song.
Seems we just get started and before we know it,
Comes the time we have to say, " So long."
Abientot.

hematoma granuloma

A hematoma is a bruise. A granuloma is a nodule. It seems that any time I have any kind of surgery, I am prone to create some sort of disturbance with my vocal folds. Two years ago following foot surgery I found I had a hematoma on the right from intubation during the surgery. When I learned I would have to have my prostate removed I was vehement about NO intubation after spending lots of money to rehabilitate my voice. SO this time following surgery with spinal anesthesia, after a short while after returning to singing, my voice started to go haywire again. Just like the first time, I ran to the voice teacher. Just like the first time the voice teacher told me to get to the doctor immediately because what was wrong was NOT my vocal production. Just like the first time, the doctor told me I had acid reflux. This time I argued. But my last doctor who discovered the hematoma had retired and I had to see one of his associates. Now this ENT practice is known for taking care of singers. The new ENT recommended an allergy series. Hence, yesterday's blog story. BUT, in addition to the allergy discoveries, I had a videoscope as I did with the hematoma, and this time we discovered a granuloma on the left side. The good news is that the granuloma is not as potentially serious as the hematoma was and there is no sign on my vocal folds of the past hematoma. It is expected the granuloma will disappear within two to three months. A granuloma can be caused by any number of things, but the doctor speculates that with surgery and post surgical pain drugs making me sleep often and deeply, some snoring or coughing caused the granuloma, and I never knew about it until I got back to singing, then once it was aggravated, things just went downhill quickly. So, by taking care of my allergies and singing less in the summer, things will again return to normal. I just don't want to hear anyone say anything to me about anything to do with surgery any more - at least until I retire permanently from singing. Surgery just seem s to be bad for MY voice! Hematoma, granuloma, rap rap rap...

Ah-choo

Today, I had an allergy test. I've never had an allergy test in my life. Today I learned something I've never know in my entire lifetime. There is great irony in what I learned from my allergy test. The primary allergen that causes the strongest allergic reaction in me is cats. What a thing for me to learn at this point in my life, as those who know me know that I have been a cat owner for 25 years of my life, and for 12 of those years, or so, I had two cats. And what do I get for owning cats for so long and being allergic to them? The doctor recommends that I empty and strip every room in my house to bare walls and floors, wash or refinish all the walls and floors, wash all textiles, get rid of all rugs or have them professionally cleaned, then return the room to its livable condition. Second on my list of allergens is cockroaches. Now fortunately, I don't have them in my house that I know of. But I see them at work all the time! There is nothing I can do about that! I also have reactions to weeds and mold. I am advised to be vigilant about cleaning the kitchen and bathroom where molds are most likely to grow. But none of my reactions are as strong as the one to cats. Alas, no kitties in my future ever again. This is sad. And I guess I'm going to have to learn to be more devoted to the household chores to keep the mold checked. Yeah, when hell freezes over. Though looking from another angle, may be I could use sick leave to catch up on the household chores. I've been looking for a reason to get rid of the bedroom rug - a remnant of a bygone era. Let's see, anyone want to wager how long it might take for me to dis-assemble and re-assemble my entire house???? NOT!!!!!

When celebrities leave us

I suppose it is a definite sign of age when we learn on the news that a celebrity who has made a mark on our consciousness passes on. I remember in days gone by when certain celebrities passed away and parents and even grandparents would comment on their importance or influence. I can remember the older generation talking about what a beautiful dancer Cyd Charisse was. I can't tell you anything else about Cyd Charisse except that she died recently and was admired by the older generation. And just yesterday came the anouncement that George Carlin died. Yes, he was a definite influence to my generation, Didn't we all laugh hysterically when we hear the 7 words you can't say on television? Weren't we coming into our own, making our mark on the popular culture when we realized that it was one of our comics who was making us laugh with material that would have never been uttered by our predecessors? What is to become of the popularizing of opera with Pavarotti gone? He certainly led me with what I wanted to learn to sing. And these are only entertainers. We wonder when we lose those who reached the pinnacle: the presidents, popes, and monarchs of the world. Still nothing touches us like the loss of those who we love the dearest. And it's not always the final loss that tears our emotions. I'm finding retirement losses are not as easy as they once were. A prelude to mortality?

Staying Young

How many times have we been told the way to stay young is to stay around young people. My week invovled attendance at two conferences which gave me occasion to buy several small stuffed animals for my god-daughter. What a joy to see stuffed animals and have someone to spoil with them. I need to be careful because god-daughter has lots of grandparents to do lots of spoiling too. Today I had a chance to go see a young people's community theater production of a new musical by Stephen Schwarz who is the author of Godspell. I was pleasantly surprised at the accomplishment of the group. The piano was inferior and had an ugly sound that drove me crazy (but we know I was always spoiled having only Steinways in practice rooms in my younger days - and now we know too that I have spoiled myself with a "Japanese Steinway" - a Yamaha that is considerably less expensive then their named cousins - after trading in my long-serving Baldwin spinet, I wondered how I ever played it!). Anyway, the show was quite convincing, none the less. It was so heartwarming to see such an array of young people so ardently employed in producing a show that was pleasantly entertaining. Oh, it is called Children of Eden. The director has some sort fo cancer and it is not known how long she will be able to continue. But, I thought how therapeutic it must be for her to be involved with young people as she battles a disease that will probably cause her demise. The show indeed had a hopeful message and the little theater troop utilized the talents of many young people. If you've listened to the Academy Awards, you've probably heard all sorts of actors waxing on the family involved in their films - the actors and the crew and all the auxilliary personnel. This local theater group indeed has formed a family! And how fortunate are those young people to find an activity worthy of their investment of time and energy. And I thought community theater was largely a thing of the past. What a potent reminder of the restorative power of connecting with young people!

Friday the 13th & Father's Day

SO, I visited Dad on Saturday. NO, I'm not superstitious, but age has its way of making one a bit more cautious than might have been historically accurate. And age has a way of slowing down one's productivity. Thankfully, it rained this evening, so I didn't have to water the outside pots. It takes so long to water pots. I don't know why I think growing things is so much fun in the concrete jungle? But just imagine the city air pollution that I clean singlehandedly with my vegetation on my spit of land. Oh, and isn't it just like Baltimore City to triple the land value of my little spit of land so they can collect more taxes. Of course I complain, They do nothing! Government! I am just so glad to be a public servant. Speaking of which, my days have involved just a little too much contact with certain staffers for politicans of state and national persuasions or some such. Well, somebody has to tell them the truth so they can spin it into their version of political reality. Politicians' staff DO check with experts. However, of course that doesn't mean that they'll make the right decision. But too much interest from politicians makes any day a Friday the 13th for an honest working man!

On cleverness

OH how many things are missed because I don't have time to write...or more commonly, the idea I had has escaped my brain AARP magazine has a list of things to write about for those who would like to start a journal. The ideas are good and I porbably will try my hand at a few of them. I like to be clever or entertaining when I write, but often when I have time the clever inspiration or the entertainment value has escaped my brain... like now. This is a blog entry about nothing, other than I have no clever inspiration or ideas to write about, and it is already June 9. I jumped June 1 as you will or have read in the previous entry. I am also learning that there is much more to blogging than just writing my entries. So many possibilities!! And hasn't everyone's parent warned about how much we realize that we don't know as we grow older? I can hardly come up with a new idea every week that I think is fit for public consumption. No, it's not writer's block. It's just lack of inspiration and limited mental faculty, i.e. memory. Would that I could add a memory card to my brain! So much for my cleverness.