Journal Entry for March 27, 2022

Well, I’m tired.  I should be exhausted.  I sang two Masses in church this morning, after which I attended a meeting in another church building, then walked home.  I fed Harmony the Cat, changed into something comfortable, ate some lunch, and had a phone conversation with my friend Joan, who wanted to know about the meeting.  Then I collapsed on my bed and fell asleep while watching “Gone With the Wind” on TV.  Now I am awake and writing this.  Under normal circumstances, my Sundays are not so busy, but today was an exception.

Watching “Gone With the Wind” for the umpteenth time, I can’t help but wonder what would possess that silly bitch Scarlett O’Hara to moon and long over Ashley Wilkes when she had Rhett Butler to lust after.  If I were her, I would have considered Ashley’s marriage to Melanie a sign I should ditch him, especially with Rhett Butler hanging around just waiting to be grabbed.  Someone should have taken Scarlett and shaken some sense into her.  But then there wouldn’t have been such a good story.  Oh well.  You take the bad with the good.  Thank you, Margaret Mitchell.

The April edition of The Corlear Gardens Newsletter, of which I am the editor and head of the newsletter committee, is ready to be printed and distributed.  This is after I pestered two of my contributors to get their work in on time.  Then, when I emailed the “final” version to all contributors, some of them wanted corrections.  I had to go into the original several times, make the corrections, turn the document into a PDF so that everyone could open and read it, and send it out to everyone once again.  By now, it seems that everyone is happy.  I will send the final version tomorrow to be printed and distributed to the people in this building.  After that, my work will be done until the time for the May edition.

Now that I have written this, I can officially collapse.

Journal Entry for March 8, 2022

 

March 8, 2022

I don’t know what to say here.  My life isn’t exciting.  I never competed in the Olympics.  I am not a CEO of a Fortune 500 company.  I don’t travel the world and write about my adventures.  I don’t have adventures, at least not deliberately.  If I have an adventure, it is strictly by accident and probably not something I wanted to happen.  So why am I bothering to write about my life?

The funny thing is, other people find my life more interesting than I do.  For example, when I tell people I used to sing opera, I get a reaction like it is a fascinating thing.  It was a lot of work, rejection interspersed with some acceptance and a good deal of loneliness.  However, when I gave a good performance that went just right and got a good response from the audience, there was nothing like it.  So yes, I guess that part of my life can be considered interesting.  Most people don’t sing opera for various reasons, and I did.  I still would if anyone wanted to hire a 76-year-old former soprano who doesn’t have a High C anymore but still has the rest of the voice well intact.

I do sing in church every Sunday and whenever they have a funeral or a wedding.  People in the neighborhood have been known to stop me on the street and ask me if I am the lady who sings in church.  Apparently, they like my voice.  That always gives me a lift.  It makes me feel good to know that I am reaching people with my singing, even though it is easy music and not always very inspiring.  I try to sing it in a way that will move people.  It’s nice to know that I sometimes succeed.

In the meantime, though, mainly being retired, I sit in my apartment almost every day and try to find something to occupy myself.  This isn’t easy.  I take that back.  It would be a lot easier if I would pay more attention to things, like online exercise programs offered by my local senior center.  When I do pay attention and attend these, I feel better.  The problem is getting myself going.  Exercise is a dirty word.  I don’t even like to walk to church anymore, although my church is only a couple of blocks from where I live.  I usually take an Uber car.  This not only keeps me from exercising by walking, but it also revs up my credit card balance.  That doesn’t keep me from calling Uber every Sunday, going and coming.  Sometimes, I think I singlehandedly keep the Uber company going in The Bronx.

If, after all this, you still think my life is interesting, go ahead.  I don’t find it as interesting as you do, but maybe with a bit of help, I’ll stir it up a little.