Epiphany (non-liturgical)

Hi Hobbit Fans!

So, I have had an Epiphany. Convenient, as (if I'm not mistaken, though I likely am) we are technically still in the season of Epiphany. For those of you not familiar with the liturgical calendar, Epiphany is the period after Christmas representing the revelation of Christ to the Gentiles, in the person of the three directionally-challenged monarchs who clearly couldn't be bothered to to come to the party on time. I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Really, it is about Jesus being revealed to the nations and all of that.

But I digress. It's called Epiphany because that's what it means. According to Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 10th Edition ('cause I'm too tired to deal with Bartleby.com today- even though the print would have been much kinder to my aging eyes.) Epiphany is "3. a usually sudden manifestation especially of the essential nature or meaning of something. (2): an intuitive grasp of reality through something (as an event) usually simple or striking (3): an illuminating discovery." (1 and 2 have to deal with all the liturgical stuff I mentioned earlier).

Back to my epiphany. About 20 minutes ago I understood something I had heretofore not understood and had yea verily even mocked.

I know why people order Diet Coke with meals that have little or nothing to do with health or weight management.

Go ahead, alert the papers. This is big. I finally get this, because I have had an analogous experience. I just (literally– Anne, this is for you- 9: 30 inside the Houston city limits, 10 p.m. in my driveway after a stop at Whole Foods) got back from a week in Austin with Conspirare. It was a relatively tough rep. Not so much on the Conspirare end, because they're always fabulous and Craig is a complete love, but on my end, because I have so very much on my plate right now. I spent breaks memorizing Mendelssohn, mornings off correcting papers and learning Scarlatti and Bolcom and late evenings (the ones I didn't spend drinking wine and laughing at the Internet with Wendy) writing lectures and memorizing Gershwin. There's a lot going on, I tell you.

So, are you done alerting the media? What I mean is, I got home. I unpacked my suitcase. I put everything away and laundered my dirty clothes. Now, this may seem normal for the rest of you. But I can assure you (and so can the very few visitors to my house) that this is not the normal order of things. An open returned suitcase can languish on the floor at the foot of my bed for months. Since I did laundry before I left for Austin, I could have gone weeks without the clothes I wore there. But now, I put everything in the place that everthing has (thanks, Gram).*

As I removed the last bit from the dryer, I thought, "At least I accomplished something tonight." Honestly. That's what I thought. There are so many things demanding my attention (and yet, here I am, prattling on at you) that the one, simple act of having an empty suitcase and hamper was enough to make me feel like I could check something off.

I am now going to call this, "The Diet Coke Effect:" you might be scarfing down the 30-ounce Porterhouse at your favorite Way-Too-Expensive-But-Giant-Portions restaurant, or working your way through the All-You-Can-Eat-Big-Assed-Feed-Trough, but dad-gummit, by dint of that Diet Coke, you have "Made an Effort."

In the spirit of full disclosure, I 1) did neither** and 2) despise Diet Coke.

In fact, this post is an example of "The Diet Coke Effect." I still have MOUNDS of work to do, but the laundry is done and this long awaited (by at least one of you, anyway) post is en route and therefore checked off the list.

Is there other news? Of course. You are overdue for a Shameless Self-Promotion post, but one is imminent. If I don't get around to it in time, make sure you check out Mukuru: Arts for AIDS show "The Soul of Mukuru" this Saturday, February 9 at 7:30 p.m. at St. John's Baptist Church (Beyonce and Kelly's church) on Crawford and Gray. It's FREE and I'm singing Mendelssohn love songs whilst others hold forth on African-American Art Song, Spirituals, Gospel, and Hip-Hop. Don't be afraid, it'll be hot.

In other news, it would appear that I have arrived. Or something like that. One of my students started a Facebook fan group for me. I'm not entirely sure what to make of that. I have gleefully joined other fan groups dedicated to friends of mine, but now what to do that I have my own? I joined it, of course, it seemed only prudent. Or gracious. Or just weird.

In more compelling news, it looks like 2008-09 will be a big CD release year. Naxos has picked up the Ars Lyrica Scarlatti CD I'm on and Harmonia Mundi is not only releasing Conspirare's new Tarik O'Regan CD, but they are re-releasing the Requiem CD that was nominated for a Grammy last year. As the kids say, woot! I do not have exact release dates, but rest assured, it will be posted here. Somewhere. Sometime.

Ok, the "effect" is wearing off. I either need to do something else productive or go to bed.



* Gram always said (I'm sure yours did too), "A place for everything and everything in its place." The world would be a safer place if we all adhered to that more often.

** I did have a couple of lovely, but not obscene meals in Austin, including a revelatory lunch at Fogo de Chao. One could do damage there, but I think we were, in the main, ok.