caught in the undertow

Okay, so by thirty-three minutes ahead, I mean, of course, seventeen minutes after the original deadline or thirteen minutes ahead of the new one, as I was a victim of the Upload Crash of Doom.  But!  I am now safely uploaded, and all is good, and I can therefore open a beer and talk about a couple of other things.

• One of the hired altos got zapped out of the Messiah chorus tonight.  Apparently at last night's rehearsal, the director (who isn't conducting this concert, but is still our boss, and prepared us for the conductor) spent a lot of time hanging around in the alto section because he was Suspicious, and it turned out? that she hadn't really learned the music.  Shame on her!  The soprano behind me said "I mean, how can a person not know the Messiah?", to which I pointed out that before rehearsals began I knew exactly one movement of the Messiah, so I have in fact learned it all in a big damn hurry.  And, okay, so I learn fast, but you know what, if you're going to advertise yourself as a professional?  You need to be able to sing the stuff 72 hours before the concert, know what I'm saying?  So I'm not sorry she got the boot.  I appreciate knowing that there are standards and they're being enforced.
  
• The alto standing next to me tonight (because I am on the boundary between sections, hurrah, my favorite place to stand, and I almost never get to stand there, because normally the seconds are between the firsts and the altos) told me I have a beautiful voice!  Which is very exciting to hear any time, but from another singer is especially pleasing.  I said it was very nice of her to say so, and she said something about just soaring up to the high notes, and I felt all cuddly and happy.
  
• Holy crap, I wrote the last five hundred words of my yuletide story in like fifteen minutes.  Yoiks!  Must not let situation get so down-to-the-wire in future.
  
• Back to the Future is on Bravo again, and I always wonder:  how come they dub over "shit" ("stuff") and "son of a bitch" ("son of a butthead", which, what?) but not "bastard"?  Also, holy crap, look how young they all were.  Except Christopher Lloyd, who's been the same age since he was on Taxi, but who -- look, this movie came out twenty-one years ago, and you know the guy is still picking scenery out of his teeth.

hee!

from sowilo and jgesteve.  I don't think a Duchess is an Exalted Highness (and Hoptonshire-by-Leer should almost certainly be hyphenated), but maybe that's what makes the title peculiar.  Whatever -- "Fox the Uncanny".  I like it.

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Her Exalted Highness Duchess Fox the Uncanny of Hoptonshire by Leer Getyour Peculiar Aristocratic Title

And now:  laundry!