Bored, Boring, Bordedom HNT

Back in his day, Handel would have used a small orchestra to accompany his singers. We are using the same sort of instrumentation--mostly strings, a couple of trumpets and 3 woodwinds. A total of 26 in the orchestra, and 72 singers. We have been doing the "Messiah" almost every year for the past 30. Needless to say, it gets easier year after year. Or harder, apparently.

Within the first minute of playing the overture for the first time, he will inevitably stop, and chastise the violins on how they played it. Almost like he's reading from a script! But it all comes together quickly, and the sold out audience goes home, knowing that Christmas has officially started in Helena.

Personally, I've gotten bored with the piece. There are arrangements where a full orchestra is used, but I've gotten bored with those too. The killer now is that I'm not playing, but still have to be around, due to my duties with the organization. Nothing like spending a Tuesday night doing nothing but wait for the thing to get over.

During the year we're at the mercy of the schedules of the school system as to where we can rehearse. December is tough, because of all sorts of school programs, drama productions, etc. We are currently rehearsing in the social center of a local church. To keep my butt from falling asleep, I walked around, and found the Christmas tree they were decorating. Since getting half-nekkid in a church would probably be frowned upon (let alone the public aspect and really--who wants to see me half-nekkid in a church?), I took a picture of me taking a picture of the tree. Did I mention I was bored? I also got a picture from the back of the room with my empty Diet Coke w/Lime bottle, with some of the orchestra in the background. This is what happens for HNT during Symphony Week...

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I always love when this young lady offers up pictures to be the Mystery Guest! Some people have had a glimpse of this series of pictures (she's got a private site), but she kept a couple aside just for us! All I can say about her is that she's one of our original HNTers, and I've had the extreme pleasure of meeting her face to face. Beautiful, as well as intelligent. Tough combination to ignore! I'll reveal her name Thursday afternoon, but if you're lucky enough to access her site, feel free to leave her a comment!
Many thanks to Summer for being this week's Mystery Guest! Sorry, but no link...

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Not alot of quantity, but good quality for "...the Other HNT". And definitely NSFW!

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Don't forget that we've got three themes coming up in December! First one's in two weeks--look forward to details!