Saturday, June 20, 2009

Yippie Kai-a!



Kaia came over to visit for three days because Gen and Sean were going up to wine country to spend some vacation time together. We set up the aerobed in our bedroom for her, with a featherbed on top. Rob put a TV in there and she was able to watch movies while she laid in bed. She loved it.

The first day we went to the farmers market in Ojai where Rob bought Kaia a Webkinz at Serendipity Toys, the coolest toy store in the world where I'm always getting things for the little ones in my life. It was on to Art's Corner Cafe where Kaia was very impressed by the caricature of Rob and me they having hanging there, (chicken Rob and Big Anne, we've never been able to decide which of us should be more insulted). Then she ran into a friend from school, so she knew it really is a cool place.

After I had to go to Port Hueneme to cover Seabee Days, which was interesting because I've never been on the Naval base here. Before I moved to Ventura, I'd never heard of the Seabees, the navy construction engineers who run around the world building things lick-ety split. They build roads and bridges for advancing armies. They build facilities for people to work and live in. But they also do a lot of humanitarian aid around the world, digging wells, building schools and other public works projects in developing countries. It makes my little pacifistic heart happy to hear that our military isn't just about war.

We went to Carrow's for dinner where I had the gross-t beef and Rob had a Mile High sandwich. Kaia got a sundae with chocolate sauce and hot fudge on top and declared it the best overnight EVER. We were both so proud. Monday was fun day and we went to the Teva outlet store, Deckers Factory Outlet, in Ventura to get Courtney her birthday present and bought Kaia a pair of Teva sandals for $4.99. Then back to Ojai for more Webkinz (they were $7.99 a piece and include a special code so Kaia can register them online and make the into virtual pets). Lunch was at Ojai Pizza, where the portions were huge, the wings were perfectly prepared (which is not an easy thing) and the sauce was too sweet for my taste and on to Libbey Park where Kaia made a 4-year-old friend who proceeded to eat her leftovers.

The entire time Kaia regaled us with her fantastical stories of friends, her endless enthusiasm and vivid imagination. She is such a joy and we're lucky to have her in our lives.

Now we have Gen and Sean's dog Keba visiting because Gen, Sean and Kaia are all in Ohio visiting Rick and Marilyn. Keba came with Kaia during the wine tasting too. She's one of my favorite dogs. She's a German Shepherd mix and I'm not sure what she was mixed with, but it was enormous. Despite being a huge dog with a basso profundo voice that literally rattles the house, she's a timid baby. The rest of the dogs keep trying to put her in her place, so she needs extra attention, and so do they. the cats were angry at first, but now have decided Keba isn't a real threat.

I was given the go-ahead to enjoy the summer when I found out I wasn't kicked out of the Ventura County Master Chorale. I had auditioned originally to get in back in August 2008 and for some reason the director, Burns Taft, decided he wanted everyone to audition again. I figured the audition would be like the first one where I had been asked to do some rudimentary sight reading and to sing my prepared song. But this audition was much harder. The accompanist played two notes and asked me what interval they were -- a third, a fifth and a diminished sixth (WTF?. Then I had to sing a chromatic scale. A what? Oh. half steps. But I was so rattled I couldn't get my mind around what a half step was, even though I do know that. She played a major chord, then a minor one, but she played weird chords that sound major at first and then got all minor.

I played the cello back in high school and read music then but really haven't much in the intervening years. I know that a lot of people in the choir are music teachers or at least were music majors. Me, I just love to sing, which apparently was the wrong answer, according to the grading brochure they had made up. There was a category under singing experience that referred to someone as "just loves to sing," with the phrase dripping with sarcasm and listed as a 4 on their scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being the best.

The entire experience was humiliating. As Rob pointed out, I was totally blindsided. I had no idea they were going to ask such questions. I wish I had known because I would have been able to work on chromatic scales and intervals, which I pick up really easily because I do have a good ear. I'm not going to quit or anything because I do just love singing and am so happy to have this back in my life. I'll try to see if I can get private voice lessons, which are an actual course at Ventura College. I did that in Ohio, but I wasn't really working on music at the time. Now, I could really use some help with some of my vocal issues.

Anyway, at least now I don't have to burn the hideous black choir dress, which would have probably caused a noxious cloud and brought the EPA down on me.