Being off for three days.

So I've been off for three days. Three whole days. Can I tell you folks how bored I was without internet access?

So, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Good: Sleeping late.

The Bad: Having the phone ring at 8:15 on Saturday morning and answering it to discover a telemarketer. I'm truly sorry for anyone who does this for a job, but folks, 8:15 in the morning on a Saturday does not equal a sale. It equals "It's 8:15 on Saturday. Get a frickin' life." *click*

The Ugly: Having a cramp in your neck that means lying on the floor for most of the day Saturday.

The Good: Getting money back for books you don't want to look at again.

The Bad: Having to take a day off to get $47 back for books you spent $150 on.

The Ugly: The poor girl who had to take a day off work, who was not salaried (meaning no paid vacation) and had only one book (that she spent $80 on)...and they wouldn't buy it back. Asshats.

The Good: NASCAR on Sunday. Dude! The Pansyass kissed the wall just short of the finish line, went from 3rd to 33rd, and whined about the medical team not getting to him fast enough EVEN THOUGH HE WASN'T HURT! Plus Dale Jr. finished 3rd.

The Bad: Road races confuse the hell out of me. I can never tell where they are on the track.

The Ugly: Well, that would be the Pansyass again. Just because.

Religion and Music

Let's see what kind of hotbed I can stir up today! *cracks knuckles*

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( Discussion about Mel Gibson's movie The Passions which has to do with the crucifixtion of Jesus and why I'm definitely going to see it. )

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Here's a weird fact about my family. We're musical. Well, okay, not so weird. But we're musical. My aunt is the most musical of the bunch. She's played piano for years, plays the organ, can sing any part, has directed choir. My grandmother can sing parts and can play the piano (self-taught). My sister can play the piano (limited amounts) and sing parts (better than the rest of us - she's had lessons). My dad sings parts and played the piano at one point. Taught himself to play the guitar.

My mother's hopeless, but hey, she missed that one in the gene pool.

I myself can sing alto (with coaching), played piano for 10 years, and played drums for a few years. Had 3 months of organ lessons (and let me tell you, coordinating the foot pedal and the two keyboards thing is so damn hard).

All of these are mundane on the musical scale. (Hee. Bad musical pun.) Here's where the fun comes in.

My grandmother, aunt, and I can sing harmony. My grandmother is the queen of this. My aunt is nearly as good. I've just picked up this skill in the past couple of years. My sister may have this skill, but if she does, she's never told me.

You have to understand, the current choir director (who looks and sounds like Elvis - mmmm, pretty voice), the harmony drives him nuts. It's not notes written on a page. He likes to classify the parts as Soprano, alto, tenor and bass. He desperately wants my grandmother to just settle on tenor (we have low voices). When she sings harmony, it drives him nuts. (Well, it doesn't help that my grandmother's voice is loud and slightly nasal. *sigh* My grandmother has no control on volume. My aunt has better control on volume, but when everyone around her has a weak voice, you're kind of screwed.)

Well, we have this harmony thing going on. Of course I never get to sing harmony, but mainly because so far I've only found a few singers/songs that I can easily pick up the harmony on. The first time I ever found myself singing harmony was to "Safe In The Arms Of Love" by Martina McBride. Since then, there's been the odd song here and there. In particular, I'm very adept with Jewel (I think it has to do with the fact that she has a soft voice - my voice isn't very loud either. Singing voice. Not speaking voice.) "Dessert Rose" by Sting? I rock on it. Seriously rock on it. My best friend actually made the comment one time that this weird skill was something she envied. (She has a much better voice than me. Heh, I could probably sing backup to her.)

The most recent song I've found I can sing harmony too?

*g* "This is the Night" by Clay Aiken.

And that, folks, is the reasoning behind this long ramble about the singing of harmony. It's the fact that I can sing harmony on for Clay Aiken. Somebody hand me a backup mike and send me out on tour. I'll wear black. I'll do cheesey dance moves.

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ETA: All information about Judaism was clarified first by my Jewish coworker. Believe me, I was very leery about posting anything because of the very clear dividing line between the two religions. So I have done the research. Hee. I like the fact that in my office there are people from the following religions: Judaism, Catholicism, Christianity and Buddhism.