FOUR Score and Seven Years Ago... I was tagged.

Four jobs I have had:
1. Voice of the School for the Arts Concert Line (I was the only one who could pronounce the composers' and performers' names)
2. Conservatory of Music Box Office Manager
3. Gap lackey (Hiyeee, and welcome to the Gap! Can I help you?)
4. Temporary Mystery Shopper (Don't ask. Really.)

Four movies I can watch over and over
1. Point of No Return (yeah, I don’t know why, either)
2. Grease (I know- I'm a walking cliche.)
3. West Side Story (Especially when I need a good, cleansing cry)
4. The Breakfast Club (WHO am I? Who AM I? Who am I? Oh, and when Claire gives Bender that diamond stud!)

Four places I have lived
1. San Francisco, CA
2. North Attleboro, MA
3. Walnut Creek, CA
4. Where I live now

Four TV shows I love
1. Beverly Hills 90210 (What can I say? I live for cheesy sideburns, proms, and Dylan & Brenda's lurrrve.)
2. M*A*S*H* (Hey look, it's MASH!)
3. Project Runway (Go Santino, you madly entertaining egoist!)
4. Made (My name is ZigKvetch and I'm an MTV junkie. Hi Zigkvetch!)

Four places I've vacationed
1. NYC (Honeymoon.)
2. Lucerne, Switzerland (actually, I was there to play, but it was still kind of a vacation)
3. Washington, DC (In 8th grade, but it still counts)
4. Monterrey, CA (With my Parental Units when I was a little kid)
Guess I should go on a vacation someday, huh?

Four of my favorite dishes
1. Anything with one of Mr. ZKvetch’s homemade sauces on it
2. Soup
3. Baked chicken with butter, herbs, lemon, etc.
4. Ensalata Caprese (tomato/mozz/fresh basil salad)

Four sites I visit daily
1. Gmail
2. Camp (group of friends)
3. JBC (group of friends)
4. Woot.com

Four places I would rather be right now
1. At home.
2. A beautiful, quiet beach- tropical or cold and craggy.
3. Not at work.
4. At Sephora.

Four people I am tagging
1. Suzanne
2. Bunnyrock
3. LE
4. Cilee

Happy VD, Y'all!

Happy Valentine's Day to one and all!

I get a little too excited about this day, I think. I am wearing a top that is pink and white and looks frighteningly like a pink construction paper and paper doily Valentine today. I am also wearing little red heart earrings.

I gave nifty Valentines out to all of my co-workers. "Retro 3-D Valentines!" screamed the box. Inside were "3-D" (you know, like those plastic bookmarks that you can move back and forth to make the character move or open and shut their eyes?) valentines imprinted with peace signs, hands giving the peace sign, flowers, yin-yangs, and happy faces, all in psychadelic rainbow colors. That's right, I'm just a dirty Valentine hippie.

I bought each of the 3 people on my team a pink-frosted sugar cookie.

I left a furry red monster heart thingie that says "boiiinnnngg!" in Mr. ZKvetch's car this morning.

I will give the students who actually show up for their lessons on Valentine's Day a Valentine and some chocolate.

I did a "Secret Cupid" trade with a group of girlfriends and got my package last night! It had a beautiful red leather frame in it, a matching coin purse key chain in the shape of a red leather pump and filled with chocolates, bath stuff, comfy socks, and adorable R. Nichols notecards! SCORE!!

The Parental Units will undoubtedly take 2 weeks to finally open the e-card I sent them.

Mr. ZKvetch and I will have a quiet dinner at home after we get done teaching. And then, when the mood is right? We're going to turn the lights down low, slip into something a little more comfortable (wink, wink) annnnddd....

...watch some Food Network and some M*A*S*H* reruns, feed the cat and go to sleep! RROWRR! We are on FIRE (pronounce: FI-YAH), I tell you!

Big Valentine kisses and hugs go out to you all! Especially to sweet Paul Joseph, Keri and the Doodle (Pete too, but he's probably too busy watching Olympic curling for the love of all that is holy), Skeezy, Flipsy, OJ, MeganCookie, The Mexican Wrestlers, AC (you don't need no stinkin' heart-shaped donut, damn it!), Molly, LE (hope you like your Secret Cupid stuff! HEE!), Leanne & Artster, Chanvre, Cilee, Mizzie, Trying (thank you my dear Secret Cupid!), Bunnyrock, Campers, JBCers, Parental Units, Uncle Larry & Aunt Noreen, and, um, anyone else that happens to come by this blog.

Happy Valentine's to all, and to all, a good night.

Monday-Shmunday

I had a lovely weekend with Mr. Zigkvetch and some friends. We drove up to New Hampshire and all played in a private recital. We played in the most beautiful home I've ever seen- everything was designed to their specifications, and they had it built so that they could hold concerts in the house. They just had a bitchin' pipe organ installed last year! Out of control. It was amazing though, because as incredible as the home was, it still felt cozy and inviting.

The concert itself was a blast. The entire program was works by a Massachusetts composer, who we are all friends with. The guy is a freaking genius, and totally nice, to boot! I played his Sonata for Flute & Piano with him. The piece is a monster, and it's the first piece I've performed in recital in years! I was a mix of terrified/tense and exhilarated/grooving. It came off pretty well. I played a short piece on the second half, as well. It was lovely. We all (8 musicians!) stayed over at the house, and then drove up to hear Mr. Zigkvetch's quintet play the next day.

The drive home was a little terrifying because of the ice and snow, but it was kind of fun too- Mr. ZKvetch and I haven't exactly had a lot of time to chat lately, and we chatted, listened to my goofy mix-cds and laughed at a Dane Cook cd all the way home.

OH! And I almost forgot! I tried poutine this weekend, and people, it is food of the gods. Holy crap. When my Canadian friends first described the french fries in gravy and melted cheese dish, I was pretty skeptical. How wrong I was. It is the most comforting, delciously horrible for you comfort food ever. And I'm damn happy it's up north and far away from me, lest I become a 500-lb. poutine-eating monster.

I'm stressed and a little sad today. In the last 2 weeks, I've had 3 people tell me (directly or indirectly) that I'm "too nice." And not in a complimentary way- more like a "geez, you're annoying" way. I think I actually come off as a freak an awful lot of the time. I'm trying to figure out how to change this a little. I mean, I'm not going to become a raging bitch or anything, but maybe I need to hold back a little. Sometimes I want to slap myself, I'm such a goody-goody. Mr. ZKvetch just laughs when I tell him about this "too nice" criticism and says, "you're definitely not 'too nice' to me!" I don't know what the big jerkwad means. (Ha!)

Has anyone seen a flying pig lately?

Who would've thunk it? I have a cool boss. Me. I can hardly believe it myself.

Today was sort of a mini-review and in the short time we talked, the woman actually told me that she wanted to make sure I knew that she valued me and my contributions to the team. And that she especially valued how I keep our team upbeat-- she actually laughingly called me the ringleader!

In a time of tripling workload, no bonuses, and a constant state of flux, this went a long way with me. No boss has ever told me that they valued me just for being goofy old me. I was floored. Maybe I'm just naive, easily-amused, or just a chump, but it really made me feel good. Of course, finding out that we're getting 6.3% profit sharing didn't hurt, either, but I digress...

And... I sure am glad we had this conversation prior to my royally fucking something up today. Yeah, I totally set 7 people up to attend a career fair on Thursday. Except that it's actually on Friday. They can't rescind profit sharing, can they?