Via Sequencia

Happy Nativity, one and all!

In Memoriam

Mary Fran P.
Member Emeritus of the Soprano Section

Mary Fran, retired world-class soprano who was for decades the section leader of our 1st sopranos, died last night. She suffered from Alzheimer's and had been in declining health for some time. She was a great lady, and I am going to miss her very much. Those of us who were lucky enough to know her and work with her were indeed privileged to do so.

I would like to share with you now my most memorable personal moment with Mary Fran . . . .

We, Incontesta and I, have oft been interchangeable persons to people we know and love. I would even venture to say that on rare occasion, a family member might call me Incontesta and/or him, Sequencia. Needless to say, it gets old, and I have to wonder how the error can occur, as he has hair and I don't, he sings and I play, he is him and I am me. Anyway, it happens. We are also forced to endure the assumption that we're brothers from time to time. But back to my story.

On a Sunday morning of March 2003, I was looking forward in a few days to the milestone birthday called the "Big Four-O." I had always complained up to that point that Incontesta had never thrown me any sort of surprise party, and I assumed that he wouldn't this time, either, even though THIS was certainly the year to do it! Anyway...moving on. I was standing in the hallway of our church, vested in cassock and surplice, ready to begin my participation in the Eucharist that was about to commence.

I noticed Mary Fran, who had retired from singing in the choir a couple years earlier, was making her way over to me with a big smile on her face. She said, "I got the invitation and will definitely be there for the suprise! Thank you for inviting me."

Smiling back, I said, quite obliviously, "What invitation?"

The color draining from her face and her expression turning to a combination of embarrassment, frustration, and deep thought, as if to be thinking of some way to turn the clock back a minute or so, she shouted as only an 80-something diva could who has lost much of her hearing, "Damn! You're the wrong one!"

As she hurriedly turned and disappeared, I began to howl with glee! Not only did her "You're the wrong one!" crack me up, but Incontesta was throwing me a party! Yippee!

I had decided to chase after Mary Fran to tell her that if she didn't tell anyone that she'd told me, I certainly wouldn't. But as I chased after her, I saw her catch up with Incontesta and spill the beans. He was far more upset that the surprise had been spoiled than I was. As a matter of fact, today I'm extremely happy that I have this story to tell about our dear old Mary Fran.

May she rest in peace.

Open Letter to the Sewing Circle (aka Stitch 'n Bitch)

Circle of Sewers Bitches
444 N. You Know Where
Chicago USA

My dearest Fellow Stitchers Assholes,

What the hell was that? What did I ever do to you? Did it make you all feel better to each pick up your respective piles of shit and all at once hurl them at me? I certainly hope it did something for you, because I'm going to be cleaning it out of my hair, ears, nose, eyes, mouth, and clothes for the entire three-week hiatus before seeing you all again.

In all our weeks/months/years together, I have never felt so unwelcome, unwanted, unloved, and unsafe. Talk about having your parade rained on. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! I arrived tonight giddy and all upbeat. Is this your way of assisting the universe in keeping itself in balance? To shoot me down hard to a low that is equal and opposite to my high? Or was it simply a way for you each to feel better about your own current state of unhappiness?

Well, whatever it was, it was successful. I thank you all for a very enlightening unpleasant evening. Oh, and before I forget, a very merry fucking Chrismahanukwanzaakkuh to you, too.

Very sincerely yours,
La Sequencia

01.20.09

Everyone knows what that is, right? 01.20.09? You're right! It's Bush's last day in office as this country's worst president.

Via Sequencia has been avoiding the topic of politics for a while. It had just become too depressing and annoying. But as the primary season is soon to begin in Iowa, it seems apropos to be a little political. After all, this blogger's entrance to the blogosphere was precipitated by the unfortunate outcome of the last presidential election.

So, we know Bush will be out. But who to nominate as our democratic candidate? I swear I just don't know what to do. Never before have I been so undecided at this point.

I like both Hillary and Barack. If you know me personally, you probably know that I'm a real friend of Bill (Clinton, that is). Forget his indiscretion with "that woman." It just doesn't matter. He was a great president with Hillary by his side. He wasn't perfect; no one will ever be a perfect president. But he was, in my humble opinion, a great man for the job. I can only believe that Hillary, with Bill by her side, would make a good president, as well. And I'd love to see the US finally elect a woman to the job.

Barack I also like. Not only is he the senator from my current state of residence, but he is a fresh, young, enthusiastic, progressive voice, and he's becoming a political rock star. I'm just a little concerned about some of his answers relating to issues that directly affect me as one of the gays. While Clinton didn't exactly do everything the way we (the gays) would have wanted him to during his presidency, he did always seem to be on our side. Will Barack be on our side? Will Hillary?

And which one can beat Giuliani? See why I hate this time in the four-year presidential political cycle? It really wears me out. And it's just gettin' goin'.

In Praise of the MacBook Pro

I have found myself over the years to be somewhat attracted to Macintosh® computers, but like the loyal husband, I have always remained faithful to my first computing partner, the PC.

I remember the 8088, that old clunky thing from the 80s, then the AT, then the 386, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.  My God, that seems so long ago! I also remember my friend Keith telling me—when I was preparing to purchase my first computer in 1990—that I would never fill a 20 megabyte hard drive, and he was curious why I felt the need to spend the extra dough on the 40 meg option available on the AST® I was looking to buy. Never fill 20 megs? The only reason he never filled a hard drive was because he wasn't an avid collector of "art photos" like I was destined to become. Of course, they were only available through the news groups back then. Oh, the hours I wasted invested downloading!

Over the years, I have enjoyed my computing journey. DOS® to Windows® (what a day that was for me!). And now we find ourselves with Vista®. Hmmm... I have yet to see it. I've only heard horror stories. I loved every time WordPerfect® would release a new version. Those were the glory days for me. I knew every keyboard shortcut there was to know. Ah, the memories!

Well, after the aforementioned horror stories I'd heard about Vista®, I was prepared to stick with XP® for as long as I could. Then one day, while Incontesta and I least expected it, one of his students came to a lesson with his brand new MacBook Pro, and I instantly fell in love. And to my complete surprise, so did Incontesta. He turned to me and asked, "Would you like to go by the Apple® store after lessons?" If my teeth were fake, they'd have fallen right out into my lap at that very moment.

So a couple hours later, we went to the store and found ourselves Mac® users. I will promise that I will endeavor not to become one of those Mac assholes who insist that PCs are worthless and that PC users should be considered second class citizens. But I have to tell you that I'm very, very happy we switched. This machine just makes me smile every time I look at it.

Mom is happy, too, because I gave her my two-year-old Dell® laptop (she was still using an old Windows® 98 desktop...poor thing!).

Now, if only Corel® would see the error of its ways in deciding not to develop WordPerfect® any longer for Mac®, my life would be SoftwarePerfect.