Talk Talk

It's Friday night, and here I am, sitting in front of the computer. Because I am BEAT. Huh. Who knew having house guests for weeks while also preparing for my first ever music history lecture at Europe Through the Back Door could be so exhausting and wonderful at the same time?

I was a little concerned about the lecture. What with being preoccupied with Ryan and company (after all, the guy was having open heart surgery, no small ordeal), I wondered if I hadn't put enough time into preparing my talk.

"I've never given a speech for a full hour! What if I don't have enough material?"

"What if someone asks me some semi-obscure question I don't know the answer to, like, 'When was Chopin born?' or 'What's the plot for Rigoletto?'"

"Was it really a good idea not to actually give a practice talk out loud? Can I really just stand up there and expect to wing it, just going off a brief outline?"

As it turns out, I could have talked for well over an hour, no one asked any obscure questions (or cared about any dates or opera plots), and I think I only looked at my outline once during the entire class. It's true: when you're passionate about a subject, getting to share that passion with a room full of strangers is actually quite exhilarating.

Now I'm already scheduled to give a talk about the Basque region in early August. Do I have a passion for pintxos, the Guggenheim, and beautiful beaches? Hmm... yeah, I think I can pull it off.

Life and How to Live It

It's been awhile. I'm back home, and have spent the past week back at work and dealing with my brother-in-law Ryan's open heart surgery. Last Wednesday he went in to receive a heart valve, and Michael, Ryan's wife, Lyndsay, and his mother-in-law, Devra, spent their days with him at the hospital, while I provided everyone with late dinners when they came back home each evening. Ryan was discharged from the hospital yesterday evening and is doing wonderfully, and Lyndsay and Devra are on their way back to Las Vegas, so we're moving on to a new stage in this process, and looking forward to a few more friends moving in with us for the summer soon.

In the meantime, I'm trying to prepare for my first class at Europe Through the Back Door this Thursday. Titled "Europe's Musical History Tour", it's free and open to the public. Sorry to shill for myself, but you can find more information online at: http://www.ricksteves.com/news/classes/class_menu.htm (Really, more than anything I think I need prayer that the class will go well - I've felt so distracted lately that I haven't done as much prep work as I would like.)

And that's about it for now. I've come to realize that even though I haven't been overwhelmingly busy since coming back home, just taking care of guests and having a loved one's surgery on the mind (even if it did go well) can wear one out a little bit. I still haven't gotten to look at my Europe photos! Soon, I promise. Well, after next weekend (yep, I'm busy till then). Watch for the new, photo-enhanced Europe blog posts to come!

Celebrating Monday

The past weekend was a whirlwind of events - I'll get more into it later - and now, late Monday night, I feel that the weekend has finally come to a close. Each year at Europe Through the Back Door the individual departments have their own small Christmas parties, and the Tour Department is no exception.

Tonight, the eight of us headed out to Arnie's on the Edmonds waterfront, sticking pretty close to home this year. (A couple of years ago we drove through a windstorm to get to Palisades in Magnolia, during which Tara and I saw a stop sign uprooted and blown across Aurora Avenue, and Lisa and Heidi got locked out of Lisa's house where they had stopped before heading to the restaurant, leading them to break down her front door. Comparatively, tonight's event was pretty mundane.)

After three and a half hours of food, wine, conversation, and exchanging gifts, I'm still finding it a bit hard to wind down.Of course, coming home to a spectacularly dirty kitchen is something of a wake-up call. But for the moment I'd rather think the about the laughter (and even a few tears, although thankfully not for any tragic reasons) and bask in the afterglow of what was, perhaps, just a little bit too much to eat - good thing I don't do this every night!

Tomorrow it will be back to the daily grind, but at least Keith got Tara some new 80s music in the gift exchange, and I'm sure the addition to our work soundtrack will keep us going strong.

A Night at the Movies

Last night was a momentous occasion: the first (hopefully) annual outdoor movie night at Europe Through the Back Door. Held in the back parking lot, employees and their families spent the evening together, most of the young kids on the large carpet square laid out on the ground, while the adults sat around in a mishmash of company meeting room chairs and canvas camping chairs brought from home.

Topics of conversation ranged from junior high sleepovers to whether or not you ever want to have kids, to the upcoming MS bike ride next week, for which our company team has been successfully raising funds for the better part of the year. Pizza was the featured menu item, supplemented by the traditional movie concessions of popcorn, Raisinets, Junior Mints, and Red Vines. Of course, beer, wine, and soda were on hand, although the real treat was the hot chocolate served about midway through the movie, accompanied by homemade marshmallows, and (for the adults) Baileys or peppermint schnapps.

The featured presentation was the original 1960's Pink Panther. Everyone clapped as the movie ended, and in what seemed a matter of only minutes the parking lot had been cleared of chairs, tables, empty wrappers, and plastic cups. I noticed on the drive home that it wasn't even yet 10:00, yet it was of the most enjoyable Friday nights I'd spent in awhile. Perhaps that's a sign of one of the best work benefits you can hope for - to work some place where the people actually want to spend time together, and a company social event, rather than being a cause for groans and questions of, "how can I get out of this?" is something to look forward to. Thanks, ETBD!