Day 1902: What I Know/What I Don’t Know

What I know, here and now, includes the following:

• In a group therapy session yesterday, people made lists of what they know and what they don’t know.
• During my first year of blogging, I wrote a post with the same title as today’s post.
• I’m avoiding doing my taxes.

What I don’t know, here and now, includes the following:

• What you might put on your lists of what you know and what you don’t know.
• Why I’m avoiding doing my taxes.
• Whether I’m going to sing new lyrics I wrote to “Mack the Knife” about my Coping and Healing groups at work next week.
• Who is going to be the next President of the United States.
• How you might react to my photos from yesterday.

I know that Bugles have way too much saturated fat but I didn’t know they were America’s #1 finger hat.  Now I know.

I know I love this Stephen Sondheim song (which you may or may not know from a six-month-old blog post).

Today I could choose to see a Stephen Sondheim musical at a local university and/or work on my taxes.  I don’t know what I’m going to do.

I know this:  I could do both. I’ll let you know tomorrow.

I don’t know what I would do without the people who help me write this blog.  I know I appreciate all of them, including YOU.

Day 1876: How man learned

Yesterday, I saw a greeting card with a caption about how man learned.

I thought it showed how man learned to golf, but it showed how man learned to do something else.

How Ann learned to blog includes noticing messages from the universe and riffing on them. I’m now imagining future documentation of how man learned to

• accept others,
• prevent bloodshed,
• let go of fear,
• recognize and reframe cognitive distortions,
• love,
• heal,
• speak up,
• tell the truth, and
• do the right thing.

I learned a long time ago how to take photos and trust they would work in the next day’s post.

How my man Michael learned to cook is a long story, but I’m glad he did.

How man learns to play the piano, by Jon Batiste:

How Ann learned to thank everybody who helped create today’s post and — of course! — YOU:

Day 1861: Super

Because today is Super Bowl Sunday in the Super United States, let’s Super celebrate by appreciating what’s Super in our lives.

Is that a Super idea, Super readers?

Super me  had a Super birthday on Super Groundhog Day.  I’m having a Super weekend spending Super time with Super people.  Because I’m a musical theater Super-fan, seeing two musicals in two days  — Road Show by Stephen Sondheim and Love Never Dies by Andrew Lloyd Weber —   was Super, although I’ve seen far Super-ior work from both of those Musical Supermen.

Here are some Super Suppers by Michael, Super Cook.

I wonder what Super Supper Bowl Michael will make tonight. Stay tuned tomorrow for a Super update.

On Super Saturday, I received this Super birthday card from my Super friend, Janet.

That cat looks Super psyched.

Because I love Super Moons, here‘s a Super video:

 

It would be Super if you left a comment, but I’m Super thankful for you,  even if you don’t!

 

 

 

Day 1776: Now you know

“Now You Know”  from Stephen  Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along has  been running through my head a lot lately.  Now you know.

If you didn’t know Lucia Spina is a great interpreter of Sondheim tunes, now you know.

Now You Know

by Stephen Sondheim

All right, now you know:
Life is crummy.
Well, now you know.

I mean, big surprise:
People love you and tell you lies.
Bricks can tumble from clear blue skies.
Put your dimple down,
Now you know.

Okay, there you go —
Life is crummy,
Well, now you know.

It’s called flowers wilt,
It’s called apples rot,
It’s called thieves get rich and saints get shot,
It’s called God don’t answer prayers a lot,
Okay, now you know.

Okay, now you know,
Now forget it.
Don’t fall apart at the seams.
It’s called letting go your illusions,
And don’t confuse them with dreams.

If the going’s slow —
Don’t regret it,
And don’t let’s go to extremes.
It’s called what’s your choice?
It’s called count to ten.
It’s called burn your bridges, start again.
You should burn them every now and then
Or you’ll never grow!

Because now you grow.
That’s the killer, is
Now you grow.

You’re right, nothing’s fair,
And it’s all a plot,
And tomorrow doesn’t look too hot —
Right, you better look at what you’ve got:
Over here, hello?
Okay, now you know,

Now you know!

Now you know the lyrics to “Now You Know.”

Yesterday morning, I visited the amazing home of Jane Hoffmann. If you didn’t know that Jane is the wonderful real estate agent who helped us buy our new home, now you know.

Now you know you can put blackboard paint on your walls, like Jane did. I love it.

This blog post is for you Jane, for me, and for all my readers, too.

Now you know.

xo

Ann

Day 1739: Facial Expressions

One thousand, two hundred and forty-five days ago, I wrote another blog post titled “Facial Expressions.”  My facial expression would be happy if you read that blog post.  Heck, my facial expression would be happy if you read any of my blog posts.

Yesterday, I drew this  facial expression:

Pointing to the bottom face, I asked my boyfriend Michael if he knew who that was.   His first tentative guess was “Me?”  My facial expression, in response to that, was probably disbelief, because I have never seen that expression on Michael’s face. His second guess, which was correct,  was somebody we both know.

How would you describe that facial expression?  It’s the  expression I most dread seeing on other people’s faces.

I wonder what expressions were  on my face, just now, when I realized that most of my other photos from yesterday show facial expressions.

 

To improve my facial expressions recently, I’ve been listening to the score of “Merrily We Roll Along” by Stephen Sondheim (whose facial expression can be found here).  Here‘s a “Merrily We Roll Along” YouTube video that shows many facial expressions.

Those were the facial expressions I saw TWICE on the stage of the Huntington Theater in Boston.  Now you know.

I hope you know that all expressions are welcomed, below.

My facial expression, here and now, is gratitude for all who helped me create this post and — of course! — for YOU.

Day 1736: Are you listening?

Are you listening?  What do you hear?

I’m listening.

I’m hearing many different things.

“Are you listening?” is something I saw on a poster near Boston’s Symphony Hall yesterday.

After I saw that poster, I was listening to somebody behind me in the audience of Merrily We Roll Along ask

Is Stephen Sondheim still alive?

I turned around and said, “Stephen Sondheim is alive.”

And then we listened to each other discuss Merrily We Roll Along before the start of that amazing musical.  When she asked, “How is the music?” she listened to my reply: “It’s wonderful.”

Because of all the upsetting things I listen to  at work and elsewhere, I’m doing my best to listen to wonderful music and the sounds of nature near where I live.

Thanks for listening and for looking at my other photos from yesterday.

Are you listening to this YouTube video about the 2012 production of Merrily We Roll Along starring Lin-Manuel Miranda?

Are you listening to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s pleas to contribute to this relief fund for Puerto Rico? I listened to that, too, yesterday.

Are you listening to my requests for comments?

I’m grateful to all who listen, including YOU.

Day 1730: It’s not that you’re leaving. It’s that you stayed.

Yesterday, I stayed at my computer to read this transcript of Lesley Stahl’s  interview with U.S. Senator John McCain.

This exchange — about his having the same kind of brain cancer a dear friend of mind is currently battling —  will not be leaving me any time soon:

Lesley Stahl: Do you think that this diagnosis has changed you?

John McCain: No.

Lesley Stahl: Not at all. Same person?

John McCain: No, I think you gotta– you know, you just have to understand that it’s not that you’re leaving. It’s that you– that you stayed.

Yesterday,  I was talking to another dear friend, Megan, who works with me and will be leaving the job soon because of a long commute and family obligations. Megan and I have been focusing on her leaving with tears and sadness.  When I said to her, yesterday, “It’s not that you’re leaving.  It’s that you stayed,” we both felt better.

It’s not that you’re leaving this post at the end, it’s that you stayed to read my words and look at my photographs.

That’s Megan’s office door, and I’m already imagining what it’s going to be like when she closes that door for the last time, in three weeks,  when she leaves. It helps me to remember that it’s not that she’s leaving; it’s that she stayed.

It’s not that I left Merrily We Roll Along at the end of the performance on Saturday.  It’s that I stayed to hear “Opening Doors.”

 

Thanks to you all, for staying.

 

 

 

Day 1728: Not a day goes by

Not a day goes by that I’m not

• grateful,
• worried,
• happy,
• sad,
• satisfied,
• disappointed,
• nourished,
• nourishing,
• trying my best to be in the moment,
• letting go of judgment,
• blogging, and
• taking photos.

 

 

 

Not a day goes by that I’m not amazed how many wonderful people have unusual hearts (like my new friend Annie, with me, above).

Not a day goes by that I’m not hearing a Stephen Sondheim song in my head, like this one from “Merrily We Roll Along.”

Not a day goes by that I’m not eager to hear people’s different perspectives, in blog comments and elsewhere.

As I stated at the beginning of this post, not a day goes by that I’m not grateful — for all those who help me create these posts and YOU.

Day 1718: Spend time with people you love

Yesterday, I found out that two people I love will be leaving earlier than I wish. I’m resolving to spend as much time as possible with them whenever we can.

I often think of this line from Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods:

Sometimes people leave you halfway through the wood

because that’s inevitable, isn’t it?  Here are other  lines from that song:

Hard to see the light now

Just don’t let it go.

Things will come out right now

We can make it so.

Here‘s that song performed by Bernadette Peters, whom I love:

 

Let’s spend time with the photos I took yesterday.

 

 

Krystle Campbell left us too soon. Again, I resolve to spend time with people I love.

As always, I appreciate spending time with people I love on WordPress. Thanks to all who helped me create this post and to you — of course! — for visiting, here and now.

 

Day 1583: Realizing who you are

Realizing who I am as a blogger, I’m sharing this teabag saying from yesterday:

I’m realizing I want happiness to come to me, so how can I realize who I am?

I am realizing  I am somebody who

• drinks tea,
• pays attention to messages and signs from the universe,
• blogs,
• likes to link to previous blog posts,
• works,
• hopes for the best,
• dreams,
• takes action,
• shares complex information,
• enjoys good food,
• focuses on self care (for myself and others),
• loves,
• breathes,
• is mortal,
• notices the passage of time,
• collects watches,
• watches other people,
• tries to be kind,
• can be a bitch sometimes,
• enjoys festivals and other happenings,
• lives in the moment,
• mourns losses,
• is healing,
• wants to realize my potential, and
• takes pictures.

Do you realize I usually take more pictures than that? I’m realizing I was distracted yesterday because I put a bid on another house. If you read this blog regularly, you’re realizing that I’m trying to realize my dream of living near the water.

Realizing I’m somebody who gets nervous about big decisions, I consulted two different online tarot-reading sites last night. Realizing that fortune telling is a cognitive distortion, I’m realizing I like pretending that tarot cards know the future.

Your answer is YES
The Hanged Man indicates a spiritual, emotional, or physical trial that has purifying effects. The troubles that you have experienced lately have given you a more peaceful and compassionate view of the world. You are able to feel for others around you and see the temporary nature of all things and events. Others will look to you for guidance and comfort, and your deep inner resources will not fail.

___________________________

You may choose to buy that dream house or a wonderfully fulfilling relationship is on offer.

Enjoy!

I’m realizing, again, that I  enjoy sharing music in this blog.

Realizing who you are as my readers, I hope you leave a comment below.

Realizing I’m somebody who likes to end with gratitude, many thanks to all who helped me realize the creation of this post and — of course! — to YOU.