Tra la la LAH!

“Shot through the heart, and you’re to blame. Baby, you give love…a bad name.”

My neighbor across the way has been singing again. Bon Jovi is not her usual, however. She is an opera singer.

I am privileged to listen to opera almost every night. This woman is apparently practicing for an upcoming performance. Although I do not typically welcome any loud noises while settling in and eventually drifting off to sleep, this is different. Her voice would never qualify as “noise”. She sounds so beautiful, I find myself opening my kitchen window and remaining quiet so as to get a taste of her arias. I am grateful to have my bathroom window open in her direction as well, so that she can sing me to sleep.

We have never met. I don’t even know where she lives. She has made me so relaxed, I forget that my other neighbors nearby have porch lights that could light up a football field, which might as well be shining directly into my bedroom.

She is MY opera singer. I am being serenaded by her sweet dulcet tones, and can almost feel the tension release upon hearing her first notes. I also have the tune called “Opera Singer” by Cake stuck in my head all the time now. So, when I am not home I often think of her. A part of me wishes for her to remain anonymous, so as to retain the mystery. Of course, I am also dying to put a face with the voice. For now, I will just enjoy my nightly concerto in the comfort of my adorable little home.

Stream of Consciousness...

Don't know what to write about yet, so I am pulling the free association out of my head and will see what comes out. I have had a few zillion thoughts today, so I am sure it won't be difficult to find something interesting to say.

I just watched Juno last night. It is going to be or already is a cult "classic". I guess it is not classic yet, but it has some lines in it like Napoleon Dynamite that will linger and be repeated profusely, esp in the teen world. They say things like "wizard" (def: cool) and "I need to procure a hasty abortion". Juno is so freakin lovable, I want to adopt her myself. For those of you who haven't seen copious ads for this film, it's about a pregnant teen with precocious and brilliant, quirky and cute all over her face. Jason Reitman produced it, I believe? Can't remember the guy's name, but he rocks. Juno is one of the better movies I've watched in some time. A must see for people of all ages.

Today before I went to my work study at Body Therapy Institute, I took some time to relax in my lawn and write a gratitude list. I observed a standoff amongst the DLV Kitty Posse (that's De La Vina, what I have named our hood, since we live on that street) and a cat who lives behind us named Sadie. I may have mentioned before that we have a total of 9 cats in our little community. My neighbor Starr and I each have cats who are related to one another. They pretty much get along well, and claim the area as their own.

Anyway, Sadie comes to visit, as do some other neighboring cats. Sadie likes to hang out, whether our local crew likes it or not. She just settled down behind my worn out window screen in the dirt, with a definite plan to stay a while. Well, first I heard Delilah begin to grumble. Then her brother Moses came over. I noticed Lucho creeping over from the other side. Suddenly, Sophie showed up too. They were surrounding Sadie, but she did not budge. Lucho's sister Layla made an appearance a few minutes later. I swear I need a soundtrack for this. Finally, they all sort of closed in on her and she yowled and moved about half a foot. She eventually left for the day without any of them having to scuffle with her. Brave little bobtail, I'll tell ya, what with the 5:1 ratio. She was seriously outnumbered.

My littlest kittens are Moses and Delilah, at 11 months old. They keep catching mosquito hawks. Delilah will bring them in to show off her prize. She has orange stripes with a white face, and has black lips. It's too cute to see her head buried in this helpless insect, then slowly peek up to seek acknowledgment from me.

Moses has some strange habits. He enjoys any paper product, especially tissue and toilet paper. He has an inclination to unravel the TP roll every so often. I have had to take it off the handle when he gets out of hand with it. I also hide my tissue boxes. There have been times when I left it out, like when I've watched a movie that makes me cry. I'll get up in the morning to discover tissues all over the living room. He would be adorable if he wasn't destroying stuff. He massacres any paper. He could be my shredder. Ha ha. His other habit is totally gross. He tips over the trash can in my bathroom once a month, in search of personal hygiene products. I don't even want to share any further info on that one. Ew. Of course, he makes up for his destructive tendencies by purring really loud and long. He comes over for what I call a purr session several times a day. He sounds like he has some respiratory condition, but it's just him purring his heart out. So sweet, my motor mouth.

Service to the Max

As Brea put it, watch me as I do some levitating. :)

I was powering out some school assignments on Tuesday evening when my neighbor Starr came to my door, asking me if I could take her to the ER. She needed a blood transfusion, she said. Whoa. I will spare her privacy and leave out the details, but let’s just say she should not have been walking at all at that point. The doc said she had like 1/3 of the blood that normal folks should have at any given time. They gave her oxygen and saline drip. The blood came later, after a few other procedures and when I had gone.

By the way, I am absolutely fascinated by medical procedures. I love getting blood drawn (or in this case, watching it being done). If I had not made some poor choices made in my past, I would always give blood. Brea, you are so vein! You can give blood for me, ok? Anyway, my curiosity about the ER, coupled by the fact that Starr needed support, kept me hanging out there for about 3 hours. Did I mention that nearly all the staff, esp the men, are totally hot?

The last few times I’ve visited the emergency room has been with friends. I have fortunately never had to go for myself before. Maybe that is partially why I felt completely at ease there. I almost felt like changing careers. Maybe I’ll be a psych nurse. I was especially drawn to the patients. Starr was really nervous, and I was totally calm. She was grateful for the support. I smiled at a woman being cared for in the hall, and felt all warm and fuzzy as she grinned back at me. I took interest in an injured man being guarded by a K9 dog and 2 officers. My curiosity wanted to lead me right over to him and ask what’s up. I held back that urge, as I carefully exited.

Cottage Hospital has free valet parking, which is so foreign to me. Frankly it made me kinda nervous at first. It is convenient though. I waited for what felt like 30 minutes under their canopy in the cold gusty wind. I didn’t eat dinner until 8:30pm. I called Starr’s daughter Tegan, who was staying at her boyfriend’s house for the night. Starr was kept overnight for observation.

Tonight, after a very long day...I helped my other neighbor James jump start his new old 1988 BMW. I was already in PJs and really wanting to settle in with some dinner and a movie. But I helped him first. God knows I’ve had a ton of help pushing my VW back in the day, so I guess I sorta owe. I feel really good being there for others. I also got reminded that sometimes my routine can be shaken up a bit, and I will survive. I talked to my instructor about the paper I had not quite finished, due to the emergency with Starr. He totally understood and is allowing me extra time.

Whew.Now I am ready to take care of Michelle. I am exhausted. Good night.