But apparently the key was having her boyfriend ask her to sing for him. He had been asking her to sing for him too and she was playing the shy card with him as well, I think. But when she ran out of present ideas for his birthday, she decided she’d relent and record herself singing one of her favourite tunes: Russian Lullaby.

She downloaded Audacity and taught herself how to use it to create three versions of herself singing the same lines and layering them so it sounded like she was singing in a round. It came out fantastic and not only am I proud of her for doing it but as a geeky editor, I’m proud of her for creating and editing the whole thing herself.

I don’t have a really good way to record it and share it so I jerry-rigged some mics and earphones together on my craptop to make this AudioBoo. yes, she gave me permission to post it. I think she’s pretty proud of it too

The high school orchestra has mostly consisted of about 800 violins, cellos and violas, and about 4 or 5 wind instruments. Shannon plays clarinet. Only once in the 4 years of high school have I been able to see her, because the instructor tucks the winds way at the back.

But tonight is different. Tonight she’ll be called up to sign the Big Yellow Bass as is traditional for departing seniors and receive her Letter. I think it will be lovely.

It’s about 8 minutes to showtime. The stage is empty but I can hear strains of instruments coming from the nearby bandroom. The seats are filling up and we are ready to enjoy the likes of Bartok, Mozart and Bach.

I can’t think of a better ending to my birthday

I wrote the above stuff as I sat waiting for the show to begin (I heart my iPod Touch). Below, I’ve added some audio I took as well as some pix.

The first song:

The last song:

Shannon talks about the last concert:

He’s put together a couple of videos that showcase both shows, though the Night Prowl video is bittersweet as it was his last show. Shortly after returning from his wedding and honeymoon to my sister, XM/Sirius laid him and around 80 other XM DJs (keeping most of their, frankly quite shite, Sirius DJs) off.

If I sound bitter, well, I am. But Matt the Cat will be back baby He already sort of is, if you visit his website, mattthecat.com, every Friday you can still listen and vote in his popular Friday Night Cat Fight, where two artists who each recorded the same song, square off and YOU decide which one is the best.

But if you have a free 16-17 minutes, watch the videos and give your ears a real treat as Matt the Cat, our Furry Leader, spins some discs, imparts some knowledge and takes us all back to when music truly rocked.

Night Prowl:

Harlem:

Here are all the mixes if you want to check out some other ones. The Torchwood one seems to be going over well. These are really just a bit of fun. I hope you like them though. If you could ‘Right-Click and Save As’ to help me preserve bandwidth, that would be shiny

• Captain John Hart
• Deviant – Angelus mix
• The Spark in Me – Spike Mixy
• Fists N Fangs
• Angelus Mix
• Spike Mix
• Angelus’ Passion Mix
• Angel’s Despair Mix
• Cheap Wine Lies – James Marsters
• Bones Mix
• The Bauer Mix
• And just because it makes me laugh – but is not a remix, Cavemen vs. Astronauts Debate

And here’s the Monty Python boys doing the same sketch:

Enjoy, and Happy Valentines day to you all.
xoxo

If words were wings, this letter would deliver itself. Such is the airy power of what i will share with you about the finest student i have encountered in 27 years in education. For there is a story being written here on the Plains, a hopeful prophecy of golden days ahead, the genesis of a singular life and manifold accomplishments that will matter – the life and future accomplishments of Shannon ______.

Truly, were you to know her, you would understand the force of nature she is as a writer, the compassionate observer of the needs of those around her, the gifted scholar who has done Promethean works at such a young age, and the precocious future educator destined to inspire those students fortunate enough to have her teach them in the decades to come.

To say that Shannon is exceptional and well-rounded is like blurting out that the Earth is a nice place to live – the understatement compels any would-be advocate to find a better, stronger way to create a picture of her true capabilities. And they are dazzling! How many students write a novel their senior year in high school while balancing the demands of coursework, involvement in over a half-dozen activities and clubs, and a nearly full-time job? How many consistently finish assigned work in rigorous academic classes and ask for ancillary enrichment reading to satisfy a thirst for deeper insight? These have been my experiences with this startling young woman.

I could rattle off a menu of her many accomplishments, medals won, competitions mastered and superior academic performances. I could list aperitifs such as her 32 score on the ACT and her leadership in the fine arts program and the clubs within our school community. However, my space is limited, and her resume is doubtless attached; thus, I choose penultimately to tell you that your committee has an opportunity to advance the education of the next Sexton, Bishop, or Browning. So strongly do I believe in the gifts God has given Shannon that I urge you to give her your strongest consideration. She already has my highest recommendation. Thank you.

You can tell it was written by an English teacher eh? Hehehe. I read this and was just filled with so much pride I thought I would burst. I mean, of course I already think highly of my amazing kid, but finding out that her teachers do as well is a really good feeling. She has two other, just as beautiful, letters from other teachers that make my heart sing.

It’s been a long road for Shannon and me. There were times when her grades weren’t so hot and it took some understanding to discover that when Shannon finds the work too easy, she finds ways to not do it. A lesson both of us needed to learn because I couldn’t grasp why my intelligent child would not be doing well in a class. One teacher (and this still pisses me off) in third grade wanted Shannon to be examined because she thought she might be ADHD because she was “daydreaming” a lot. I put my foot down on that and we came to discover Shannon was simply bored in this woman’s class.

Anyway, I’m extremely proud of my extraordinary daughter. I believe she will be one of those teachers that students always remember the rest of their lives.

I love you kiddo.

We watched a kids show that taught basic French to students, and with some help from The Google, I found Téléfrançais, the zany adventures of a talking pineapple in French class for years when I was in high school. When I tried to describe it to my daughter, all I got was funny looks.

But HERE!! PROOF of the PINEAPPLE! L’ANANAS!

AHhhhhhhh nostalgia Now I have to rip the vid so she can take it to school and show her French teacher, who also gave funny looks.

It seems like every time we make plans to head into Lincoln to visit the Voelkers, something happens to keep that from happening. One time was spent in a snowy ditch after we drove right off the interstate exit curve during white-out conditions. Just before Christmas, the kid was sick and the weather was crap. But today we finally made it in and spent a delightful day hanging out with Jo and Tom, Günter, Beca and Hannah. And the kitties Even got a call from dad during it, so that was lovely

We brunched, we chatted – well, Shannon and I mostly sat giggling away at listening to Günter and Beca riff off each other, and Hannah telling Zoo bar stories. Jo put together a huge spread for brunch as usual and it was full of awesome. I showed off my mad juggling skillz with some Clementine oranges to hehehe. Yes, I can juggle. A little. I’m a constant surprise.

And we all walked to a couple of Asian markets… one possibly just a front for something else judging by the scant products, compelte disarray and general… oddness of the place. They did have this stuff in freezers called ‘Jews Mellow’ which prompted a few inappropriate jokes – my favourite of which was Shannon blurting out, “Jews Mellow is people!” I lost my shit laughing at that. I have looked it up though, because the name is so weird to this very white chick, and have learned it’s a leafy green vegetable popular in the Middle East, and is thought to be a sexual stimulant that makes women stray into the arms of strange men.

The other markets we popped into were loads of fun and I ended up with some Rose tea – never had it so hope it’s nice. Actually I hope it’s loaded with caffeine, but at the least it should smell nice Also saw some frozen squid heads, and I’ve had Barnes & Barnes stuck in my head ever since.

Then after some more lovely hang time, in which Tom helped me pry the cap off my anti-freeze thingie in the car so I could fill it up, we left for a stop at our favourite import place, Eyes of the World. There is always a lot of fantastic, beautiful, funky and just plain weird stuff in there and we try to go whenever we’re there.

I bought yet another funky box thing that folds out into a clock and a shiny new silver Claddagh ring. I’ve been looking for a silver one for years actually. I was given a gold one with an emerald heart one by an old boyfriend, ohhhh about 12 years ago and it just became one of those things I wore. Not because of who gave it to me, but because I love Claddagh rings, and that one came from Ireland. Must be my Irishness I guess. I’m not really a fan of gold jewelry though. Much prefer silver so while I wore the gold one, I’ve always been on the lookout for a nice silver one. And silver ones that won’t break or turn your finger green are hard to find.

All this just to say I felt it was time to replace that one, and I’m digging being able to wear it the proper way when one’s heart has been captured

After that, it was an uneventful drive home, apart from letting Shannon take over the drive at York. Just before she got her license, she drove once on Interstate between North Platte and Ogallalla. And that’s it. She’s only ever driven here in town. As she will be going off to college *sob* in the Fall, and the one she wants to go to is 40 minutes away by Interstate, I figure she better learn it. It’s a bit different from town driving. She did well We will practice some more this spring.

And so now we are home, with our swag from Jo and Günt and Beca (thank you again guys!) and EotW. And it was a perfectly lovely day. Thanks Voelkers Love you all!

Instead of just driving out into the country though, I thought we’d go back to Witch’s Bridge. The problem with just driving around here is a lot of land is private farmland and probably wouldn’t appreciate a couple of chicks wandering around their land. So I went with a place I knew

We first went to Witch’s Bridge a couple of years ago with some friends from the paper as we attempted to produce our second annual trip to someplace creepy at Halloween and “investigate” hauntings The first one we did was spend an evening at the downtown movie theatre after closing. I wanted these to be like Most Haunted, but kind of failed

Anyway, the kidlet and I, after getting a bit lost and asking Scott for help, we found it, and well, here are some pix from our ramble today.

Clicky