Crunch Time

It's the busiest time of the semester, so this post will be short. At the college alone, we have a combo performance on Thursday, several students doing scholarship auditions on Friday, and the concert on Saturday, plus juries next Tuesday. The high schoolers are finally done with Region, but those who tried out are now scrambling to pick out a solo for Solo and Ensemble before Christmas (or "Festive Winter Holiday" in school-speak). All in all, it's a very typical week this time of year for a busy music teacher, but it doesn't leave much time for things like blogging. I'm about to finish a review of a CD release concert I attended over the weekend, and the Big Posts from last month should come shortly...but right now, it's all I can do to get six hours of sleep a night, so be patient with me and enjoy the weird news stories for now.

Nobody's going to get their goat this time: Every year, in the Swedish village of Gavie, officials set up a Christmas goat-- a statue made of straw, symbolic of a Christmas tradition that even predates Santa.. But it's fallen victim to vandalism so many times that this year, the locals have treated it with a fireproof chemical just to keep it intact. (Over the years, it's been set on fire, had its legs cut off, and even been hit by a car one time.)

Next, they should try this at the school cafeteria: Food safety inspectors in New York City are cracking down on illegal mystery meat sold at markets--which in this case includes armadillo, iguana, cow lungs and something listed only as "smoked rodent." Yummmm...

Would you like clothes with that? A teenager in Indiana has been charged with ordering from a fast-food drive-thru while naked.

Political correctness run amok: A city in West Virginia has set up a Nativity scene without a baby Jesus or his parents.

Blowing out all kinds of candles: It's Triple Birth-Day again; greetings to my buddies Chris C., Wyatt and Andrew (the latter two were even born in the same year).