Spring Concert, Montevallo Chorale

Here’s the program for the Spring Concert, Montevallo Chorale, Sunday, May 10, 2009, 3:00 p.m., University of Montevallo, LeBaron Recital Hall. Gary Packwood, conductor. Matthew Rose, accompanist.

Morning Has Broken – Text by Eleanor Farjeon, Music by Shawn Kirchner
The Lord is My Shepherd – Psalm 23, Paraphrase A.P., Music by Allen Pote
Basket, from Four Pastorales – Text by Thomas Hornsby Ferril, Music by Cecil Effinger
Sure on This Shining Night – Text by James Agee, Music by Samuel Barber
A Red, Red Rose – Text by Robert Burns, Music by Z. Randall Stroope
America, the Beautiful – Text by Katherine Lee Bates, Music by Samuel A. Ward, Arranged by Rollo Dilworth
I Want Jesus to Walk with Me – Music by Rollo Dilworth
I’ll Never Say Goodbye, from The Promise – Text by Alan Bergman & Marilyn Bergman, Music by David Shire, Arranged by Mac Huff
Like a Mighty Stream – Arranged by Moses Hogan

It got me

Fortunately I didn’t get as sick as Thomas has been. I’m home today with a leaky nose and a chest cough. But taking Zicam every 3 hours has really helped. Somehow I even woke up about every 3 hours last night so I could take it.

Yesterday I led singing a cappella. Conducting gestures and all. I wasn’t in very good voice, because of the incipient sickness, but it went well and everyone sang out nicely. All those years singing without a piano in the Church of Christ, and now it sounds so quiet without one at Mayberry.

The previous day’s gaming was so fun. Nice to get back into it again. I’m anxious to play my new character, Ka-Quindath, giant iron witch. I got the mini in the mail Friday, plus his dice. Giuliana is a great character, but just not in the kinds of adventures Scott is running. And she’d require a completely different party, too. Oh well.

Hoping for a better year

Gah! Thomas and I agree that we’re glad to see the backside of 2007. Probably icky stuff happened before April (oh yeah, like Rick and Jen’s disappointment after all that time and effort), but with his quadruple bypass surgery, things went downhill. I had my yearly major sickness (vomiting and diarrhea at the same time–NOT recommended), my grandmother fell and broke her pelvis and has been in a nursing home ever since. Scott’s dad being diagnosed with emphysema in addition to his pulmonary fibrosis had its good side, in that a doctor actually discovered this when his other doctor didn’t, but being put on the lung transplant list is mighty scary stuff. On the good side, I started in February as worship minister at Mayberry following the scary-but-could-have-been-worse financial crisis and Ben’s departure. So now I’ve been leading singing (and the entire service once at Thanksgiving when Scott was out of town) for nearly a year. I really love it, but need to get back to practicing my vocal exercises; I’m getting rusty.

For this coming year, mine and Scott’s Imperial Age: Faeries should be published by Adamant, as well as his Imperial Age: Grimoire (which really should come out first, as he wrote it first). I’m really afraid the advent of D&D 4e has killed (for a time?) our d20 publishing careers. I’m really excited about 4e. I’m also hoping, on the publishing front, that I actually get paid something by Dog Soul. It’s been a year and a half now since they paid me anything! I haven’t seen a dime for my Sahasra Religion: Hinduism book (or whatever it’s called). Sigh. Guess that’s the way of independent publishing. They seem to want to fund themselves first and then pay the writers.

2002 Advancement Awards, Special Merit Award, CASE IIIGreat news is that my redesigned Samford home page won a Special Merit Award for CASE (District III). It’s the same award I won for the redesign back in 2002. Coolest certificate ever (see image), so I hope the new one is as nice.

We should resume gaming this weekend, with the next installment of Scott’s Mosaic campaign. I’ve nearly finished transcribing the tapes from the last session. (Yes, I tape the sessions. Got  a new digital voice recorder for Christmas, too, to use!) I’m anxious to see if Giuliana the bard/beguiler will get to use her talents this session. Someone whose forte is charm and illusion isn’t much good against undead, which was our primary opponent last session.