The past few days have been a combination of feeling swamped at work and running into people on public transit.

The being swamped is partly due to the lawyers getting used to me being here and as a result forgetting to ask if I can do something before they assign it to me. For example, a request to do work two weeks ago would have started *lawyer drops by my desk and says* "Purple Mangos, do you have time to look into X Y and Z for me? I would need an answer by the end of next week." Now, a request to do work is more like this: *lawyer leaves note on completely covered desk or voicemail on phone or e-mail and says* "Purple Mangos, I need X Y Z by Monday/tomorrow/2pm today." (The last deadline option was a message that I got at 2:30pm when I got back to the office after being out all day on another matter. It got pushed back to Monday.) It is also partly due to my co-articling student being away sick since Wednesday afternoon. For some reason, there seems to be a general assumption that she passed off any unfinished work to me before she left. Unfortunately, she didn't, so this has resulted in people dropping by and asking if I'm done yet... when I generally don't know what they're talking about. So that has been fun.

The running into people consisted of :
1) my Disappearing Friend magically reappearing at the corner that I live on last night (getting off the same bus) after being absent for 8 years (this time... last time it was 4 1/2 years); and
2) running into ViolinII from the quintet on the train on my way to work this morning. It took me a few minutes to adjust to the lack of a violin, since I have never seen her without it before.  - posted by Purple Mangos @ 12:18 p.m. @ 

 
The bad news is I am in SO_MUCH_PAIN!!!! The good news is I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow anyway so I can complain that I am in so much pain and they might actually be able to do something about it.

Saw JPMC for coffee (well, tea, apple cider and a brownie, actually) and went shopping with SuperSis for concert clothes for our Tribute to Terpsichore on the 27th. Now all we need are red accents. I don't suppose anyone has a red silk scarf that I can borrow by the 27th?  - posted by Purple Mangos @ 10:29 p.m. @ 

 
I went with SuperSis and her bf to a great jazz bar on Monday so that we could hear Fish sing. I think everyone had a fabulous time! (I need to come up with a new adjective. I think I have started to overuse fabulous. Any suggestions?) Anyway, I bought a copy of her cd, paid her the money I owed her for the wedding jewellery and had a fairly decend glass of scotch, so between that and the live jazz, it was a great evening. I particularly thought it was funny when I asked the waiter/bar staff to list the types of scotch.

W: "Blended or single malt?"
PM: *emphatically* "Single malt! Definitely."
W: "Ok, well we have Glenfiddich, Glenlivit, Glenmorangie.."
PM: ...
W: "Lagavulin.. Cardhu ... umm... Strathisla...?"
PM: ...
W: " umm....."
PM: ...
W: "umm.... Dalwhinnie?"

In other words, I made him recite the entire list. lol. (Now, if you're wondering, I generally would prefer the Strathisla to the Dalwhinnie, except I have a really good aged Strathisla at home and I thought SuperSis would enjoy trying the Dalwhinnie, which is less peaty and more smokey than I like but has a very smooth finish.)

We stayed for two sets, chatted with Fish for a few minutes when she had a spare moment, and left shortly after midnight, since I had to get up for work the next day. Everyone wish Fish good luck for the next little while, please. She's giving up smoking and would probably enjoy the support.  - posted by Purple Mangos @ 5:47 p.m. @ 

 
Usually at this time of year I am crawling home from the first Saturday symphony rehearsal, which I am entirely out of shape for and for which my muscles are making me pay. This year is a bit different, though. This time I crawled home from a Saturday choir rehearsal, and the out of shape muscles were entirley different ones! It was a very novel experience for me. The only real down side was that the sore/tired muscles this time are in a place that can't be soothed with muscle cream. (Diaphrams are somewhat hard to rest.) The music is sounding good. I agree with MotivatedTea that it would be comforting to have two more rehearsals before the dress/concert, but I think we can do it with just the one that we have. For anyone who doesn't know, the concert is next Saturday, it is a wonderful and exciting program, and the choir is really top notch. E-mail for more information.

For everyone who doesn't want to come see me sing, I am performing with MotivatedTea and Supersis and two friends on September 27th at 8pm in a concert that we threw together ourselves. E-mail for more information on that one, too. Hope to see lots of familiar faces there!  - posted by Purple Mangos @ 6:48 p.m. @ 

 
Have you ever gone through one of those periods where everything stressful happens all at the same time, one thing after another, and you keep thinking "if I just get this one thing dealt with, it'll ease up" and then something else happens and it doesn't? It recently occurred to me that, except for the occasional outing with friends (a lunch or a dinner) and my fabulously wonderful birthday party, that has been my life since February. Fortunately, I'm fairly confident that the end is somewhat in sight. If I can just get this one last thing dealt with...

(PS - thanks to BLaw and Min for a lovely dinner/mental health outing. Can we go again?)  - posted by Purple Mangos @ 1:03 a.m. @