8/11

Just when I was complaining (yet again) about not having a Bath & Body Works store here in Hawaii, E's B's mommy came back from DC with a bagful o' my favorite bubbly bottles. Also a little stuffed zebra and some suspiciously familiar Harry & David soup. Heh. Anyway, argh, I think I just volunteered to go to the Botanical Gardens w/ E's B tomorrow. At the time it seemed like a random act of kindness; now it just seems like a bad way to spend a perfectly good day in my rapidly dwindling stock of days off. I like plants, I love flowers, but ... gah, a whole sweaty afternoon of greenery? Chicken crap.

Had an exam today, one I didn't know about. I was too busy with the LP project, which I amazingly finished with time to spare. Usually I'm racing the clock right up to 5 p.m. (when I absolutely have to leave if I want to sit in a non-broken chair.) Anyway I had enough time leftover to take a leisurely shower and even to remove the toenail polish that's been chipping and flaking off for about three weeks. (That's when I should have been double-checking my schedule for things like practical exams for ukulele and recorder songs I've never laid eyes on before.) My understanding was that we would be doing peer assessments (i.e. play something brief for your neighbor, they jot a few notes; they play, you jot.) But the idea I guess was that she would do her own assessment of us and then we would do peer assessments and see how closely the peer assessment and instructor assessment matched up. Anyway this is getting really boring but the bottom line here is thank god (and my parents) for all those years of piano. The previously trained (no matter the degree) are at a significant advantage here when it comes to things like surprise tests.

Saw "The Wizard of Oz" last night at DHT. Kim Anderson is boffo, especially considering the fact that she's just 11. She can sing. One part had me laughing, though -- the part where they're in Emerald City getting all spiffed up to see the Wizard, and Dorothy sings, "Can you even dye my eyes to match my gown?" "Uh-huh!" "Jolly good time!" In the movie her dress is blue so that kind of makes sense, blue eyes and blue dress, but in this production they have her in red. I had fleeting images of Dorothy with these demonic red eyes wreaking havoc all over Emerald City, taking out the Witch of the West and reigning supreme over Oz. It was like giggles at a funeral. There's nothing really that funny going on, but you just can't stop laughing. The best part was the "Jitterbug" song and dance that got cut out of the movie because the producers felt that it dated the film (bc of the swing dancing craze of the 20s and 30s.) We used to have a W of O tape (another "van tape") that included all the songs from the movie, practically all of the dialogue, and a bonus -- the original Jitterbug song sung by Judy Garland that was cut from the movie. (The Jitterbug is what the Witch of the West sends to subdue Dorothy and Co. before the winged monkeys set out to get them. It's supposed to cause them to dance till they drop. That's why the Witch says "I've sent a little insect ahead to take the fight out of them," right before she sends the monkeys out, shrieking "Fly, fly!" ... Unfortunately there's no Jitterbug scene so that comment is a little confusing unless you are a huge fan of the movie.)

Yet another tape I'm after on eBay. btw, made E's B look for the Wee Sing stuff online, to no avail. A lot of people are selling their old (and I mean ancient) WS songbooks and tapes, but how good can really old tapes be?