Yeesh. Now I really know how delinquent I've been with my blogging. My many apologies to the loyal readers in Deutschland who have given voice to their complaint. I'll try to suck less from now on ;)
It's been a busy month. I was back in Seattle for a few weeks doing this workshop thing for their new commission, a piece called Amelia (libretto by Gardner McFall, story by Stephen Wadsworth, music by Daron Hagen) scheduled for 2010 on the mainstage. It was a fruitful and relatively drama-free experience until the last 12 hours, the events of which I will not divulge publicly because my momma didn't raise no fool. Fortunately, the good people at Cupcake Royale and the makers of Pikolinos were able to rescue me from my funk, along with the company of some good friends. I returned to Boston, my fair city, just in time for the Sox to leave town *sad face* and to start rehearsing for my next gig, A Little Night Music with the Boston Pops. Tanglewood begins June 19, so I have approximately nineteen days to do as much packing as humanly possible because when I return to Boston in August, we will be in the new house, Lord willing and the creek don't rise.
On the house front - I nearly sent a nasty letter to the seller who had the audacity to attempt a little bit of rigmarole on the day of the purchase and sale agreement. He tried to say that he was not going to put in the appliances until our mortgage commitment came through because, in the event that we didn't take the house, the stainless steel appliances would ruin the 'country kitchen' that he had envisioned and, subsequently, the house would lose some of its selling power. Now let's review. It is NOT a great time to be selling a house. The sub-prime mortgage scandal has left a lot of people high and dry and so, to my mind, any seller should be thrilled to have a buyer come around who's putting down an extremely respectable down payment and wants to buy the house. So imagine my dismay when this guy tries to tell us, through his lawyer and ours, that our taste in appliances will ruin his country kitchen. I've got some very colorful words for his country kitchen, most of which my husband heard on the telephone when he told me about this ridiculousness, but this is the bottom line: yellow walls and white cabinets do NOT a country kitchen make. And we're painting over that stupid yellow anyway, so you and your country kitchen can stick it.
Aside from the aesthetic differences, the appraisal MUST include a stove, in accordance with the first-time buyers program from Massachusetts Housing. And for our mortgage to close up tight, the appraisal has to be complete. So if he wants to sell that house, he'd better put in the freakin appliances. End of story.
What else is there to say? I got my ENO contract in the mail, signed and sent it back, so I can officially tell anyone I please that I'm singing with ENO next season (anyone fancy making a trip to London in February?) , and my pianist Brett and I have been invited to perform the Harbison Milosz Songs at a very sweet little chamber music festival in Wisconsin, hosted by the composer and his wife. So if you're in Wisconsin at the end of August, come check us out at the Token Creek Chamber Festival!
I will apologize again if this reads like a calendar explication. There is more to say, and I'm still wrapping my brain around how to say it. But as a teaser, it involves the ashes of my grandmother, a Duck tour with my family, and why one should always be very explicit about their wishes. I'll say no more for now, but beg your indulgence - I recently updated my website and need some feedback about the formatting and user-friendliness. Feel free to leave comments here.
5 comments:
The website is very professional-looking without seeming stuffy. I think the bubbles floating around the bottom might be a little distracting, but the feel of the page- its simplicity- is great.
Other than that, don't let the seller screw you out of your stove. He should thank his lucky stars he's even got an interested buyer!
I am intrigued by your comments about the Seattle workshop of the Hagan opera. Were you in any way mis-treated by Seattle Opera or the authors? If not, what are you inferring exactly?
Hey you!
I love your website! It's got a lot of personality without being too flashy. I actually like the bubble things floating around at the bottom... kinda makes me feel like I should go outside and blow some bubbles. Yeah, I'm gonna go do that!
Before I go get in-touch with my inner child, let me say a huge CONGRATS!!! about the ENO contract too! Ya know, flights to England are cheap at that time... ;)
Give the dates in a mail for London and I am there. Hombre is dying to go to London and he can go hang with his peeps now can't he. We will go have beverages at Harvey Nicks.
Dear Shiksa:
I just ran across an article you wrote on Have a Vegetable entitled Hin and Zuruck, posted May 31, 2008, http://haveavegetable.blogspot.com/2008/05/hin-und-zurck.html, and I would like to raise an issue that is of concern to Selling Power magazine, which is the use of our trademark.
The word "Selling Power" is sometimes erroneously used as a synonym for sales effectiveness. For example, your article states: "… the stainless steel appliances would ruin the 'country kitchen' that he had envisioned and, subsequently, the house would lose some of its selling power. ...” We do not condone such uses of our trademark.
As a practical matter, when you describe sales effectiveness, there are a wide range of terms available such as: sales excellence, sales savvy, sales mastery, sales acumen, sales efficiency, and many more.
The reason for this letter is to educate writers like yourself that we want to protect our trademark, since we don't want to risk Selling Power being declared by the courts a generic word. Therefore we ask you not to use Selling Power as a phrase since it is our legal trademark.
We would like to receive a written acknowledgment of this letter stating that you will in the future identify Selling Power as a trademark if you should write about our magazine, and not use Selling Power as a phrase. If we do not hear from you, we will need to take further action.
Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.
All the best,
Gerhard Gschwandtner
Founder and Publisher
Selling Power
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GG:ts
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