Practicing BBB (Blog Before Breakfast)

I woke up SO sore this morning. Shoulders...neck... But it wasn't due to any strenuous workout, nor some heroic good deed. No, it was from three hours of washing dishes!

Last night Aunt Laura and I went to help a woman with her dinner party on the East side of Providence. Her husband is a prof at Brown (yes, I talked about PC, and how much I loved it), and they have a beautiful home right near the university.

It was about the most exciting dish washing I'd ever done. Beautiful surroundings, interesting people, great company (Aunt Laura and I had a really good talk - sometime I should do a blog about how awesome she is).

I had the weirdest moment of relating to modern classical composers (brace yourself, Craig). I was sitting in the kitchen (before the dishes started coming), and I could hear the vibrant conversation, without actually picking out individual threads or even many distinct words. So I just sat there listening to the combined sounds of the conversation and it was fascinating. I started wondering about the possibilities of conveying such an experience through music. I don't know if it could be done. But some modern composers use pre-recorded stuff, so that might be a possibility.

My musings were quickly set aside as the dishes started pouring in. That was a scary experience. My first dish was a wine goblet (plug nose here - so smelly!) made of crystal that was so delicate and thin feeling that a sharp glance could probably have cracked it. The bowl made out of similar crystal was the scariest of all. But it didn't break even when I bumped it against the sink once, so I'm guessing the stuff is sturdier than it feels. Whew!

There were beautiful dishes - some that were handpainted in France, some that were that wicked famous kind of China from England (I forget the name right now). OH! Thanks Granddaddy Fred! It was Wedgewood. And then there were some from Germany. I am happy to report that I made it through the whole evening without breaking ANYTHING. (Ditto for helping the Demmes move!)

So then I drove home, through the streets of East Providence, and decided my greatest ambition in life is to live on the East side. Of course, this doesn't go along with my ambition to be a high school English teacher. So I knew I'd have to marry for money. But then I began thinking about how much pressure it is to have money (I was getting stressed out with the money I got for graduation, for goodness sake!). Of course it's also too much pressure to have no money (hmm, should I get gas or food today?). SO, I decided I want to have just the right amount to get by - aha! English teacher-dom here I come!