January 21, 2003 - 1:01 p.m.

Some details.

Those not interested in the wacky doings of ten years of assembled madrigal singers kindly disregard this entry. :)

For the rest of you, I intend to fill you in a bit more on the reunion in a fairly chronological manner.

FRIDAY: Most of the reunion participants gathered at Ben and Jerry's to consume Vermonsters. Bethans and Vermonsters have been associated for quite some time and this is the traditional kick-off activity for any Elizabethans reunion. I was somewhat disappointed that we only got two Vermonsters, but then again encouraging an even greater collective sugar high might have been a bad idea. :) Also, per tradition, we sang to the employees at the ice cream store, in a half-hearted attempt to repay them for the ruckus we'd been raising for more than an hour.

SATURDAY: Started rehearsing shortly after 9AM, but it was worth it. We worked through the morning, took a break for lunch (I went with a small group that had lunch in the local deli where they name sandwiches after celebrities), then did a little more polishing of things in the afternoon. We were all amazed at how good we sounded! Of course, the Bethans at any given point numbered between 10-14 people. It's much harder to sound polished with that small an ensemble than with the chorus of about 35 we had this weekend! After rehearsing, some of us hung out in a coffee shop and talked for a long time. Interspersed in some more serious conversation was some light-hearted flirting between myself and my friend, Colin. He was also really huggy, which was nice, since I haven't gotten to sort of cuddle anyone in quite a while. I suspect Colin either knew threw the grapevine of my recent romantic troubles or just sensed that I was a little down, because he was more complimentary than usual. Good for the ego!

Saturday night was probably the highlight of the weekend. We had a really nice dinner catered by the college followed by this awesome powerpoint slideshow sort of presentation my friend Dan put together. It was a sight to behold! It included tons of pictures and many accompanying stories, and I laughed and laughed and laughed. Many of the incidents retold, I had completely forgotten. Including one in which (on one of our spring break concert tours around the Northeast) I asked the aforementioned Colin, "Can I borrow your boxers, I need to prove something?" (I had claimed to a group of skeptical Bethans that I could change from jeans into boxers without revealing an immodest amount of flesh, but Colin and the rest of the people in the room didn't know that! For the record, I was able to prove my point. :) Dan did a really great job with the presentation, though! It also included concert posters from our past and even a couple funny emails sent to the group by various memories. It was a blast. Afterwards, we all hung out for a bit, then some of us went out for drinks at a local bar. I can now say I have bellied up to a bar with someone who works for the CIA! :)

SUNDAY: Finally got to sleep in a bit. Had lunch then headed to the college chapel (a gorgeous stone, mostly Gothic structure with lovely stained windows and divine acoustics) to get ready for the concert. It went very well, and we performed some of our favorite skits from over the years. One of which was a Jeopardy send up in which the contestants were myself, Keanu Reeves, and Beethoven (categories were Music, Really Easy Answers, Things Only Keanu Reeves Knows, Famous Shepherdesses, Potpourri, etc.) It is probably my favorite skit we ever did. Keanu couldn't even properly answer the questions about things only he was supposed to know, and every correct question in the Potpourri category was, "What is potpourri?" We recorded the concert, so at some point I may even be able to post links to a couple songs or skits.

After the concert, three of us went grocery shopping to feed everyone dinner. We were all gathering at one Bethans house near campus who has loads of space, a fireplace, and a hot tub. I had volunteered to be in charge of food preparation, so with loads of help, I got to make chili, cornbread, salad, and birthday cake for more than 30 people! Yikes! It was actually pretty fun, though. The chili turned out really well, especially the veggie version, though I am not sure why it was better. The birthday cake was for Colin, who was due to turn 30 at midnight. Much to many of the assembled folks surprise, a bunch of the alums who had been in the bass section with Colin during his time as a Bethan had spent weeks planning a skit/roasting in honor of his birthday. Most of it makes no sense if you don't know Colin or other Bethans, but I will say that the men involved did quite a strip show. They had even bought those athletic pants that snap down the side so that they could whip them off in dramatic fashion to reveal the sparkly, sequined boxers beneath! Mind, most of these guys are nerdy grad students not normally prone to showing much skin. It was hysterical! And Colin's reaction was even better! I am surprised he didn't wet himself! It was quite the culmination of the weekend!

Over the course of the weekend I also had a tarot card reading done for me by one of the alums. I did it just for kicks, but it set me to thinking anyway. Much of it had to do with my current career choice being a piece of cake and that I have talents and resources at my disposal that might be put to better use if I explored other options. Since I have been hemming and hawing about considering or pursuing other job options for more than a year, it hit home. I don't intend to do anything drastic (as is often the case it was a fairly vague reading anyway), but it may help motivate me to look into some grad programs and jobs I had been pretty much ignoring up to now. We'll see.

Editorial Note: This entry has a lot of Colin in it. No need to read too much into that. He has a forceful personality and is very funny, so he is one of those people that gets noticed a lot and gets into notable situations a lot. Plus it was his birthday. Yes, I flirted with him. No, I am not interested in him. :)

today's project: the kids have been playing house for hours!

musing about: what to have for dinner

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