Monthly Archives: December 2009

Ding dong, another feast

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Yay! We love giving feasts at the Fink house. Today is BFF Kay’s. Mavis and I spent some time yesterday and last night getting ready for it.

For those of you who don’t know, my best friend for around 18 years now is this lady. Int she the cutest? Kay has had a wonderful career as an opera singer, Ohio Arts Council Artist-in-Residence, and studio teacher (a bigger knock-out voice you’re unlikely to find — g/f can shake the rafters). She’s done everything from Puccini to oratorio to cabaret. I even got her to monkey around with some jazz once. I’m still working on the rock and roll…

Anyway, not only is she an amazing singer, she’s a wonderful watercolor artist, writer, and all-around world traveler. She and her husband, Bob (remember my serenade by the accordion player?) live half the year in Slovenija and half here in Buckeye nutville.

Best of all, she’s just good peeple. Fortunately for me, she chose to spend the last two decades wasting time on the Fink. She’s like family, yes Mavis?

Anyway, it’s her birthday feast today — and she won’t even mind that we’re fixing a meat dish for all the carnivores who don’t share her vegetarian lifestyle, but heart her all the same.

HB BFF K!

FO…gotta think about starting the macaroni and cheese

Finkmobile Fotos

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OK, at long last. The new ride.

I love how it drives and how it looks. Seamus told me, “You will have people asking you what kind of car it is” (because of its “de-badged” condition — there are no Chevy bowtie emblems anywhere on it). I thought, “Yeah, maybe.” Well I definitely had people asking me about it. “Is it a mini-SUV?” “What kind of car is that?”

Me likey. And the best part is — room for more than one other person. Yay! My turn to drive.

Behold, the Finkmobile (aka 2008 Chevrolet Aveo 5):

Silvery

Looks like it's smiling. The black grille is an add-on.

5th door

Siriusly boss.

Love it. Fun to have new stuff, eh?

Always a good time

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And always proud of them.

Last night, my v-jazz ensemble had their annual anthem gig at the Q, where the Cavs made short work of Phoenix.

If you’ve never done something like this before, it’s quite the experience. First, you audition by sending an mp3 of your group doing the SSB. Then they contact you, and the smackdown begins. This is the part I hate, especially in this economy. The pressure to sell tickets to your community is immense. I mean, I’m certain these guys are paid on commission. You can hear the disappointment over the phone line when you say, “I’m sorry — times are really hard here for folks, and it’s Christmas time, and I just asked these parents to pay enormous deposits on their kids’ choir tour accounts, and we just closed a show and had another gig last week…” It’s like they’re just vacantly nodding their heads…then they say, “So. You sold only 32 tickets then?”

Kak.

Then you get the forms filled out (each kid has to sign a waiver, saying it’s OK to film them), report 90 minutes early to the event level, warm up, act silly, get pumped….and then they walk you out to the little ramp space right off the court. Excitement.

Waiting to enter. It's a crazy environment, but exciting.

They walk you out to center court and start fussing over you.

The big moment, for 20,562 silent spectators.

As always, they made me proud, and I hope they all had fun. Next year, we’re taking a Cavs break. I’m going to call the Injuns and the Browns and see what’s shaking there.

Yipes, I’m late. Have a good Thursday, fiends.

FO

Various & Sundry XXI

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Good grief. Has anyone ever seen this man smile? I wonder if he has ever cracked a grin in his long-legged life. Now we can see him in his own reality show (hey, there’s a new idea), chasing down the bad guys in NOLA. Actually, it appears that he is doing good things with his avocation, while nursing his acting career back to health.

But sheesh, can we see some teeth once in awhile, Grumpy McFrownyman? Lawd.

And then there’s the whole Tiger Woods thing. I have mixed opinions. Sure, he doesn’t have to tell anyone what really happened the other night, when he crashed his car into a fire hydrant and then into his neighbor’s tree, and his wife reportedly smashed out the back window of his Caddy SUV with a golf club (Seriously…have you ever seen someone do that? It doesn’t work like the candy glass shatterfests that happen in the movies and on TV.), and heroically dragged her husband through the hole. Okaaaaaaaay….

I’m all for keeping one’s business to oneself, and I agree that everyone should mind their own happenings in their own driveways and stop worrying about everyone else’s. But I have to also agree with Mike Lupica of the Daily News when he said, “[Y]ou either get out in front of your own story, or it takes off without you, like an out-of-control SUV.” This puts Woods in a precarious position: own up, or let the goss fly. It’s the downside of being the most famous working athlete in the world (sorry, LeBron).

That said, it’ll all blow over eventually (several actors, pro athletes and politicians come to mind), and he’ll likely be forgiven. However, people tend to forgive honest confessions of wrongdoing (not saying there was any wrongdoing, mind) much more readily than protracted holdouts that ultimately reveal the truth anyway. The media people are too good at what they do. I think the story will come out. In fact, tongues are already wagging.

Would it bother you if I said that, although I’m not a day-counter normally (I actually abhor the practice), there are only 13 more days of school till Christmas break?

Fink, draggin’ it to the Cavs game tonight