Just A Few Quick Hits & Bits

I'm working on a long post at the moment - two, actually - but in the interim I thought I'd pass along a few tidbits that happened recently.


I write quite a bit about my nephew C here, but one day I'll write a full post about him. He's had a remarkable life for someone so young, and has overcome quite a bit of adversity (a cliche, but true in his case).

As you've probably guessed, his more, um… interesting conversational ideas are at least partially in jest. :c) In reality, he is mature for his age, and is remarkably open-minded.

My sister says he will have no trouble when I tell him my news, and I agree. In fact, I had planned to tell him before Christmas… but then the flu bug hit.

Oh well, I thought. It can wait.

Or maybe not.

On that long, emotional day about a month ago when I finally, finally cried, it was my nephew C who drove me into the city for my doctor's appointment. (He didn't know where; I had him drop me off about ten minutes away.)

This past weekend my sister told me over what happened when he returned home. (They both live with my parents.)

He asked her if she could come up to his room. When she did, he asked her to close the door so they could talk to her in private.

Once she did, he asked her if I had been on a diet recently. She asked him why, and he said that I looked as if I've lost weight. He thought my face looked thinner, too.

He thought for a moment, and then said, "He just looks different. And he's acting different. I can't explain it. But he seems happy. He never used to smile like he does now."

My sister, needless to say, was astounded at how perceptive he is, but didn't feel it was her place to tell him anything. She simply said he should ask me himself if he wanted, because she was sure I wouldn't mind.

I'll likely tell him before I even tell my parents. I have complete faith in him, which is a tribute to the job my sister - and my parents - did in bringing him up.

Stay tuned.

***

The other item is a short one.

I had just started to work on my voice after finally moving to my own apartment again in mid-November, typically on my seemingly endless drive home.

But then I came down with this awful flu, which is still wreaking havoc on my respiratory system. I am up throughout the night coughing, a wracking cough that leaves my throat raw.

Needless to say, those are not ideal conditions to try vocal exercises, so I've reluctantly put them on hold.

My sister has told me I don't have a particularly deep or masculine voice, and an online friend (who is full-time) with whom I've spoken insists my voice sounds better than hers. (It doesn't; she sounds wonderful, although she doesn't seem to believe it.)

That said, I had an interesting conversation over the weekend.

I was out on Saturday with my friend S from work (much more about this day is forthcoming).

We were getting a late-afternoon caffeine fix to tide us over until dinner, and were chatting about various work-related matters.

She then asked, seemingly out of the blue, if I have been doing a lot of work on my voice recently. I replied no, citing my illness and so on, and asked why.

She said that she had called in from home for an online work meeting to represent the doc team, assuming I would still be out sick. As a result, she said she was startled to hear a woman begin to discuss my deliverables for the current release.

She was wracking her brain trying to figure out who was speaking.

Until she realized it was me.

Whoa.

She then said something I've been hearing more and more the past few weeks.

"I don't think you have any idea how much progress you've made, especially in the last month or so," she said. "And I think you're a lot closer to being able to pass than you think."

I'm not sure about either of those points - I know I'm certainly not remotely ready to going full-time, physicaly or emotionally - but I've heard it from enough people I greatly respect that they're must be *something* to it.

Things have changed, it seems. :c)

***

God, does he have a killer band!