Mi chiamano Mimì

Sì. Mi chiamano Mimì,
ma il mio nome è Lucia.
La storia mia è breve.
A tela o a seta
ricamo in casa e fuori...
Son tranquilla e lieta
ed è mio svago
far gigli e rose.
Mi piaccion quelle cose
che han sì dolce malìa,
che parlano d'amor, di primavere,
di sogni e di chimere,
quelle cose che han nome poesia...
Lei m'intende?

Mi chiamano Mimì,
il perché, non so.
Sola, mi fo
il pranzo da me stessa.
Non vado sempre a messa,
ma prego assai il Signore.
Vivo sola, soletta.
Là in una bianca cameretta:
guardo sui tetti e in cielo;
Ma quando vien lo sgelo,
il primo sole è mio,
il primo bacio dell'aprile è mio!
Il primo sole, è mio.
Germoglia in un vaso una rosa...
Foglia a foglia la spio!
Cosi gentile il profumo d'un fiore!
Ma i fior ch'io faccio,
Ahimè! non hanno odore.
Altro di me non le saprei marrare.
Sono la sua vicina che la vien fuori d'ora a importunare.

Sandwiches, Faces, and Blinking

Dear Imaginary Readers,

It is time once again for the bi-annual update of Coincidental Fishsticks.  This update is sponsored by Boredom™.  When there's nothing else to do, choose Boredom™!

Tonight's insane, rambling diatribe is inspired by National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo.  For those poor few uninformed, this is a month in which the nation, as a whole, sits down to write a novel.  The best of these get self-published.  The worst are burned while their authors fight to be the one survivor of the Thunderdome (Fun Fact: on the weekends, the Thunderdome is home to high school football tournaments).

It is also a time in which amateur authors are encouraged to put pen to paper or finger to keyboard to create a piece of fiction out of nothing.  The act of conjuring up a world is the closest man can come to magic*.  Fifty thousand words which existed before are being reorganized in a way never before seen to create something completely new.  Nobody has ever seen this thing you've created before, because you just created it.  "This is my story," you will say in unison with your writing brothers**, "There are many like it but this one is mine."

This is both liberating and debilitating.  I find it completely numbing, and not in the fun way you get before dental work.  The options are, if it is possible, too unlimited.  I need boundaries, and this blows them away.  I salute those who can look the open prairie in the metaphorical face and wait to see who blinks first***.  I look forward to completely ignoring your novel the way I do most things.  For now, my steam has run out and I never did figure out if I had a point or not, so I'm going to end here.  Now, where's that sandwich?

*Unless you're Criss Angel.

**And sisters.  Geez, we get it.  Ladies can do anything fellas can do.  Now be a doll and make me a sandwich, yeah?

***You will.  Metaphors don't need to blink, because of their state of being not a physical object.  Use a dog or small child instead.

Home Again, Home Again...

I find, with each passing day, I am more and more glad to be home.
Yesterday was exhausting. Phew.
It was the dress rehearsal for Dr. Wolf's Studio Recital & Fall Opera Scenes. Which naturally means that Deanna (Opera Guild President) and myself (Opera Guild's oldest current standing member and Treasurer) were out and on the go all day. Phew! It's a good thing she's staying at my house all week, we could just crash when it was all over!
My day looked something like this:
7:00 - alarm went off. It was around this time. I woke up, Dee didn't.
7:15 - I was dressed, Dee was wiping sand out of her eyes. :P
7:45 - showers and breakfast aside, we were ready to leave.
8:00 - Institute (studying D&C this semester)
9:00 - Go back to apartment for computer power chord - dummy.
9:15 - Go to Chase and get change. Because cash is imporant to have on hand.
9:20 - 10:15 - Drive around campus and curse EKU parking. Epic fail.
10:20 - Arrive at class. Is there a test today?
10:21 - Check the syllabus. THERE ARE NO DATES.
10:24 - Ask a classmate. No idea.
10:25 - Ask another. NO ONE KNOWS ANYTHING!
10:26 - 11:59 - FREAK OUT! And study the powerpoints online. OH WAIT - you don't have Microsoft Office. Nevermind.
11:00 - Biology starts. Test is not for two more weeks. Experience sweet relief.
12:00 - Walk to Foster.
12:15 - Wait for Deanna to get un-Lost.
12:20 - Go with Dee to pay her rent, pick up her props. We are getting tired now. Found the next two issues of a manga I'm reading in her apartment. Ganked them. Sweet victory.
1:16 - Go to my apartment. Pick up props. Play with kittens. Joy.
1:45 -Go to ACE. Dee's mother is not there. Her grandmother is in the hospital. Lovely.
2:00 - Go to the Dollar Tree. They do not have what we need. We continue to be tired.
2:10 - Go to Hobby Lobby. FINALLY! Found (part of) it!
2:50 - Sit in traffic.
3:05 - Go to Party City. Found the other part. Debated over price. Was tired, bought the cheaper of the two. Declared it suitable.
3:20 - Drive to campus. Park. Then WALK to rehearsal.
3:24 - I found myself with a serious desire to cause bodily harm to the first person to be snarky to me.
3:30 - Rehearsal starts. We have to dress Chase for his opera scene. He likes Orange & Purple, I like Teal. Deanna overrides him and says yes Teal. I have a moment of triumph.
3:40 - Dee starts rehearsal for Stoned Guest.
3:41 - Children start arriving for Oliver! scene. I have to answer many questions.
4:00 - Five kids (that's two more than were at rehearsal last week) Dee, Courtney, and I begin drawing food on posterboard.
4:15 - Act like you have energy. Check. Devise choreography for end of children's scene. Check. Rehearse it with them three times. Check. Fall over and die now? Nope, not happening.
5:00 - Rehearse La Boheme. Face melts off because I have forgotten all the words to my aria. Which is in Italian. Failcakes.
5:30 - Rehearsal blessedly ends. Dee remembers to pick up the markers that I was too tired to care about. All leave.
5:45 - Have urgent desire to speak with Ashley. Get offered free food from Subway. Take her up on offer. Have dinner. Speak urgently.
7:00 - Husband calls. Wants to know why I am not home and where is the chili? I am embarassed - I forgot it.
7:20 - I am home. Husband forgives me.
8:something - I am tired. I go to bed.
9:something - ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz......................

This said. I am again tired. And tomorrow is the performance. And I'm still having word difficulties.
But on the bright side, baby has decided to behave and quit with the nausea thing. :) Woohoo!

A little update...

I'm really not sure what to write about, but since I'm in a place with internet it occurred to me that I owe this blog a post.
A while ago, I posted a one-liner about being pregnant. It's very true. I'm around 10 weeks pregnant now. I know it's a little early to be announcing (someone commented that now it would seem like I am going to be pregnant FOREVER), but I figure if I have to deal with the waiting for another 6 1/2 months, then so should everyone else. :P
Nathan and I are really excited, and we have been since we found out (about 5 weeks ago). Still, in the midst of everything, this is all really weird for me. All kinds of things are happenning in my body, and I'm tired all the time, and I'm never hungry except when I am HUNGRY, and when I'm not hungry and I try to eat because I should I get sick... I don't even get the satisfaction of seeing my belly get bigger this early - I just know that I have to pee a lot and have a psychological issue about sleeping on my stomach: just. in. case.
So, right now I'm feeling a little weird. This is an odd period of change for me, and it's the first time I've ever gone through it, so I'm a little off balance. I've been told things will even out as I get further along, and believe me, I'm heartily looking forward to it.
All that said, Nathan and I have been busy planning for life with baby. We got a new van (a 2003 Dodge Grand Caravan SE) that has SO MUCH SPACE! It's perfect for Nathan's job, and it's perfect for us and baby. I'm super happy about it.
My mom came up last weekend and helped me clean the house, which is awesome. I still need to do some work on the laundry (I've only been working on it for weeks. I probably could be better about being efficient with it, but I forget - and when I don't forget, I get so exhausted. Still, I'm working on it.) and in the office and the living room. It was really good to get to spend time with my Mom, I've missed her a lot lately, and I'm really happy that she got to come up and we could spend some quality time together.
The reason for the cleaning fest is because Nathan and I got some new furniture this week! Well, new to us, anyway. Our friends the Coffman's were receiving some new furniture from a friend of theirs who was moving, and they offered us the things that were currently in their house (most of which were antiques! How cool is that!) we received a new bed (queen size! we're going to be spoiled!), a short, wide dresser, an armoire, a bedside table, a nice large filing cabinet, and will be getting a lingerie cabinet/jewelry chest as soon as Ashley can transfer her things from her old one to her new one (which is huge and very, very pretty). We're really happy about this turn of events, because it means that our old bed can be (and currently is) in the nursery, which is going to double as a guest room for a bit. :)
Kaylee and Jack are doing well, by the way. As the weather gets colder, they are getting more and more into snuggling with us, and Kaylee especially is a purring machine! She is also not nearly as interested in going outside since it's gotten chilly outside the house. We also discovered last night the reason that they never stayed in bed with us at night - they didn't feel like there was enough space on the full size bed! They both spent the entire night on the bed with us last night! It was awesome, because I was having a little trouble adjusting to new mattress, but every time I woke up there were kittens piled on us, wanting lovin's and purring. :) Best night ever.
I will put up pictures of new things as soon as I have a camera again - I bought the wrong kind of batteries at the store last time, so now we have to wait for payday again. But rest assured they will be here... at some point.
Also, in related news: Nathan and I will go for my first prenatal appointment and ultrasound on Monday! Say a prayer for me, if you wouldn't mind, that there won't be too many needles. I know I'll have to learn to handle them, but I'd like to do it more slowly, if possible. We will try and get them to give us some digital copies of the ultrasound pictures so we can share what we know with all of you. I'll try not to wait so long before I post again as well.
Happy Saturday!

We're Pregnant!!!! :D

Interestingly enough...

I really have nothing to talk about. I'm going to ASL in a few minutes and I'm slightly worried that Karen is going to try to sign with me about my absence Wednesday. I just am still not super comfortable with the language, is all.
My 'receptive skills' can do with a lot more practice, and I feel like I'm having trouble getting that. I really need to get with someone who has a car and go to the deaf lunches in Lexington. And maybe to that church service in...wherever it is.
In other news, iPods are bad for your grammatical health. The spell check on here is so thorough that you never have to check yourself.
More later, probably.

Best Thing To Ever Be Mine

Braced yourself for the goodbye, cause that's all you've ever known
Then, I took you by surprise
I said, "I'll never leave you alone."

I said, "I remember how we felt, sitting by the flowers.
And every time I look at you, it's like the first time.
I fell in love with the careful son of a careless father.
He is the best thing that's ever been mine."