Amy Lu's View

Yes, that is a seriously tacky title, but I couldn’t help it. (Have I mentioned that our band Pigeons From Hell does a mean cover of “Closing Time”?)

Just tonight we learned that our public library system has closed all 41 of its locations to try and stop the spread of COVID-19.

This is going to be a short post because I don’t have much I can or should say about this, besides THIS IS A BIG DEAL.

It’s a big deal for our communities and our employees and our library system. Okay, maybe I’m teensy biased, but we’re the PUBLIC LIBRARY–this just got real.

It’s a big deal for me personally, both as just something to process and wrap my head around and professionally because I need to step up and make sure I do all I can to make the closure as successful as possible.

I asked Chad to make specifically Closing the Library cocktails. (One is a Negroni and the other is a Negroni with bourbon instead of gin, more or less). Not to celebrate or mourn but just to stop and pause and acknowledge.

What is the Dewey Decimal or Library Congress number for bartending?

“For whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name,
There is love, oh there’s love”

— “The Wedding Song” by Paul Stookey (Peter, Paul and Mary)

That’s a line from one of my favorite feel good 70’s songs. I love it so much that we had the song as an instrumental during our wedding (and I sang the lyrics in my head).

Today, my church gathered virtually (via Zoom) instead of in-person in response to COVID-19 concerns. There were more than 30 of us, truly young and old, and there was love — and silliness, and community, and technical difficulties.

We didn’t gather in Jesus’ name (although he would have been welcome), or in anyone’s name in particular, but in all of our names. I know it’s hard for many people to understand why Chad and I are so into church when we don’t believe in a separate spiritual entity, and I struggle to explain it. But our little experiment with virutual church is one powerful example of why participating in our church is so meaningful for us.

“Community” is woefully inadequate. Yes, it is that, but so much more. Or maybe it’s Extreme Community.

Nothing can replace the connection of an in-person worship gathering, but there are some advantages to virtual church. Most notably, being in my pajamas with my own strong coffee.

Okay, I’m not sure if being in my pajamas was actually a plus or a minus — we had our video turned off, and I think next week we will make an effort to make ourselves and our house camera-presentable, so we can participate more fully.

(We were actually scrambling today to log-in on time because I had another vertigo episode last night so slept in and also had some work issues to attend to this morning while we were trying to get ready for church. And yes, I know no one actually would care if I was in my pajamas w/o any makeup but I have my “Amy standards” to uphold. We are not at the stage of the Apocalypse where I stop “putting on my face.” If we start this crisis at 100 we won’t have anything to escalate to).

AND if we have our camera turned on, people will be able to see StanLee! That’s definitely a win-win. StanLee loved having us home more, and he was definitely intrigued by the sounds of choral music coming from the computer (not something he typically hears in the Chamy household). We’ll make sure to keep our sound muted, though, unless StanLee is specifically asked to share a Joy or Concern.

StanLee B’s Joys and Concerns seem to be the the same thing, and mostly concern birds, squirrels, cats and other dogs. And mom not petting his face.

As a participant in mostly small and leanly-resourced community theater companies, (as in, we have no money much less understudies) I always have the fear of what will happen if I or a co-star gets sick or experiences some mishap that prevents us from performing.

But I regard myself and my fellow performers as a hearty lot. Hell, Chad fell onstage during a musical number in our recent “Uh-Oh Here Comes Christmas” and finished out the song without missing a word. I did a performance of “Talley’s Folly” with Chad (a two-person show so rather intense) the day my dad died–but that wasn’t a show of strength or sacrifice as much as a testament to the meaning I find in theater.

Probably the show I did under the toughest conditions was a melodrama fundraiser when I was quite hungover. The show was physically demanding, there was audience interaction, and we had to do strike afterwards, so it was a late night. Lesson learned–watch out for cheap drinks in small towns. (And that was almost 10 years ago and I haven’t been severely hungover on stage since so I think I really DID learn my lesson!)

Although I think I’m pretty tough, I have been wondering the last week if I was going to be brought down by vertigo. Last Friday I had an episode so bad I really couldn’t walk, with the added bonus of vomiting. (Don’t worry–I think I have it under control now). But obviously, my fears of vertigo and falls and empty houses have been swept aside by COVID-19.

As disappointed as I am that Applause Community Theatre needed to postpone our Collection of One Acts — which was scheduled to open next weekend until mid June — I know we are very lucky to have the option of a relatively painless reschedule. Many other theater companies, large and small, are in much more difficult situations. And yes, I know there is no guarantee that we’ll be able to go ahead with the performances in June but I think we can be reasonably optimistic.

We’re also lucky we were able to change our plans before going through an intense tech week (which would have kicked off Saturday with a 4-hour rehearsal that started at 8 a.m.). Not saying we won’t still have an exhausting tech week to look foward to, but definitely preferable to do that only once per production.

Personally, I am also lucky that I didn’t spend that much time memorizing lines for the one-acts…I have a really small (though awesome!) role in one and I get to read from Post-It Notes in the two-person show Chad and I are in. So my lines should come back to me quickly.

We also had to postpone our late-April Duck Soup show, “Nick Ace.” We even decided to postpone that one before we made the decision for Applause, as Duck Soup performs in Senior Living Centers. That timing was also “good” because we hadn’t started rehearsals yet, although I had spent considerable effort working my casting mojo to assemble an awesome troupe for “Nick Ace”–hopefully all will be able to come back in the fall.

Eventually, the show WILL go on after all.

*that aren’t food or drink related…and that I still enjoy during COVID-19.

Yes, this is a bit of a “throw-away” post, or and “I need to catch up and just get a post out” post. But taking a moment to focus on the positive can’t hurt, right?

• Matching pajamas and loungewear
• Soft clothes, especially never-washed sweatshirts, and soft t-shirts
• Warm sheets and a weighted blanket 
• Receiving packages and letters/cards and magazines I subscribe to  in the mail
• Compliments
• Snuggling with StanLee
• Watching StanLee chase birds
• Watching StanLee chillax while Chad plays guitar
• Kitty lap time
• Public radio (including but not limited to The Current, Radio Heartland, and shows like “Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me”)
• The smell of soap or body wash that I like
• Making supper (yes, I really do “cook” but I just consider anyone else is enlighted enough to eat it ;-)–Chad is indifferent enough)
• Audiobooks
• Making the “red line of death” go away on my Garmin watch (the line that tells me I haven’t moved enough recently)
• TV (obviously) but especially: The Daily Show, Legends of Tomorrow, Orville, The Witcher, Avenue 5 and Altered Carbon (Why yes, I did just give you several pandemic-watching television shows recommendations)
• Getting “likes” on Facebook (yes I’m officially old)
• Hitting “publish” on a blog post

A rather random post, as something innocuous seems best suited to current conditions.

Tonight on the The Current’s “Transmission” show (yes, I love real live actual radio!!) I heard a wonderful 80’s song that still holds up: “Overkill” by Men at Work. Oh, how that ode to insomnia was the theme song of my youth. And also the object of my misheard lyrics. Instead of “Ghosts appear and fade away,” I heard “Go Severe and fade away.” Well, that makes sense…sleep-deprivation can make you think, act and feel pretty severe.

No, I’m not claiming I’m the only one who’s misheard lyrics, but clearly my mistakes are the cutest and most endearing.

I’ll give you just a few more recent examples–or at least, not 80’s examples. Okay, “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” IS from the 80’s but I only recently learned I didn’t have the lyrics right when we started performing it with “Pigeons From Hell.”

Song	Artist	Real lyrics	Amy version	Witty commentary
Wasted My Youth	Jenny Lewis	I wasted my youth on a poppy	I wasted my youth on a puppy	Come on, my version makes much more sense. I’ve wasted my youth and middle age on a puppy!…I guess “poppy” is a drug reference,
Tints	Anderson Paak	I need tints	I need tits	Tints are sunglasses…ah-ha!
Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around	Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty	That’s the game, yeah, what am I supposed to do?	Just a girl, yeah, what am I supposed to do?	Sometime I sing my version just because I like it– it’s ironically feminist!
Shut Up Kiss Me	Angel Olsen	Shut up, kiss me, hold me tight	Shock me, blah blah, blah $#%^	My version isn’t appropriate for mass distribution
Brimful of Asha	Cornershop	Everybody Needs a Bosom for a Pillow	Everybody Needs a Bosom for a Pillow	Hey, I was right! I was, however, totally confused by the song title

This is my Amy Klobochar campaign t-shirt that recently came in the mail.

This shirt may strike you as a little sad. It is, as Amy’s campaign is now over (I knew it was very likely to end by the time I recieved it so I’m a little bummed but not surprised).

This shirt may strike you as a little creepy. It is, even though or perhaps because, it’s from one (several? I didn’t follow that closely) of Amy’s speeches. (I’m going to just acknowledge the obvious jokes about “knowing” in the Biblical sense and move on).

But I really wanted this shirt, because, well my name is Amy. And how often am I going to see my name on a presidential campaign shirt?

I tend not to use blogging or social media to share my political opinions, not because I don’t have them, but I realize I don’t have anything too insightful to add to the conversation. I certainly would have been happy to vote for Amy Klobuchar, and I thought she might hang in the campaign until Super Tuesday so that people could vote for her in her home state, but I didn’t think it was very likely she would win the democratic nomination.

For the record, as Amy dropped out before Super Tuesday and Minnesotat’s Primary (and my birthday!) I happily voted for Elizabeth Warren. I’m not thrilled with Joe or Bernie but would choose Joe over Bernie, but I’ll vote for whoever gets the Democratic nomination over Trump. I would vote for Marianne Williamson or a lampshade (just to name a few people/things) over Trump.

I don’t want to think too much about the presidential election or predict how that will go, but whatever happens, I have an “Amy Knows Me” shirt. I did agonize over if I should get a shirt with that slogan or the more straightforward “Amy for America” shirt, but I suspect “Amy Knows Me” will be even stranger and funnier years from now when everyone has forgotten about Amy Klobuchar’s presidential campaign. Either shirt suggests that I weirdly refer to myself in the third person ala Bob Dole.

And it reminds me of how my mom used to say “I don’t know about you” when she really meant “You are clearly acting in a crazy-ass fashion right now and I can’t begin to predict what stupid-ass thing you might do.”

I don’t know about you, America.

I am now the proud owner of a bona fide Snyder Family heirloom: My father-in-law Dan’s “50 years of Magnificence” mug.

This mug has been part of my life for over 30 years as I’ve used it during visits to my in-laws. I’m not sure who gave it to Dan–I don’t know if he remembers–but I’ve been appreciating it more and more as I’ve been approaching 50.

And now it’s mine. My thoughtful in-laws noticed my admiration for it and sent it to me for my birthday.

I’m not sure what Marie Kondo would say about me adding another mug to my extensive collection, but it definitely brings me joy. (I adore coffee–strong and black–and am now getting into tea, so mugs never sit idle).

I even will let Chad use it, as he’s also 50. But don’t forget the mug was given to me, not him. Clearly the Snyders love me best…or just think I’m the most magnificent!

In honor of International Women’s Day, I signed up for the Women Run The Cities 10K on May 17. Running is one of the most reliable ways that I can feel strong and competent.

This is the first race of 2020 that I’ve signed up for, and this very moment, it feels like a leap of faith to think that I’ll be able to run a race (even a relatively short one) in just over two months. Yes, after being able to (slowly) run for about two weeks, I am once again experiencing a mysterious running-related injury that is making just walking a trick. Yes, just in time for the really nice early spring weather.

But running is all about being perserverent and optimistic. And even if I do fail to successfully run the Women Run the Twin Cities 10K, the process of preparing for it will be valuable and teach me some important life lessons (and give me blog post fodder).

I also celebrated International Women’s Day by wearing my “feMNist” t-shirt and my new She-Ra flannel shirt (courtesy of Loot Crate). I won’t lie, I don’t know much about She-Ra and have only vague memories of her from my childhood, so I don’t know if there is a connection between She-Ra and flannel.

But my shirt is super soft, and in awesome colors (including my birthday month teal) that match my feMNist shirt, and “Warrior” is emblazoned on the back.

Theme dressing: another means to feeling mighty. Even if the She-Ra graphic does look a bit like smooshed woodtick.

I wasn’t a Women’s Studies minor from UW-Eau Claire for nothing.

When I recently made a comment about turning 50, a good friend kindly told me, “Age is just a number.”

I appreciate the sentiment–I don’t think it’s a bad thing to be 50. As the song “Smile More” by Deap Valley goes, “I am not ashamed of my age.” In fact, as most of you are probably well aware of, I am making an officially BIG TO-DO about my 50th Birthday because it’s a socially acceptable way to get attention.

But I do think that numbers are significant, and while being 50 isn’t a “problem,” it definitely means something. It’s a substantial number (at least in this context). Turning 50 is weird and wild and worthy of reflection (via blogging and Facebook, of course).

While I didn’t wake up on my birthday as a radically different person than I was just the day before, it is an relevant marker of the passage of time. I am clearly (at least by my definition) no longer “young.” I do NOT want to be in denial about being older because I do NOT think that old has to automatically mean out-of-touch or unattractive or infirm (or running for President). Actually, I think to try and pretend I’m NOT 50 just feeds into all that craziness.

But yes, of course, it is all relative. “I’m older than I’ll be, and younger than I was, that’s not unusual.” (Simon and Garfunkel, “The Boxer”).

I think context is key when it comes to numbers: you rarely get the full meaning of a number without some background or knowledge of extenuating circumstances. (That’s why we have a windchill index, right?) Knowing that I am 50 in a world where I have had access to the health care I need with the added bonus of not actually needing much health care sets the stage for understanding what 50 means for me.

I want to embrace getting older without using it as an excuse for not be able to do things or not being able to do things as well as I used to (unless using it as an excuse in this way gets me attention when I forget the lyrics to a song during a show, etc.). Maybe I can say this because I didn’t do many of the things I do now when I was younger so I can’t make make ready comparisons. Maybe I would have learned lines more easily in my 20’s, and I certainly would have been able to run faster–but those past glories aren’t nagging at me.

Of course, aging does has it’s effects, and I know I will start noticing them more and more. I’m also am all for the practice of “age grading” in running and I would be happy to apply this to the rest of my life.

I DO notice that hangovers hit me much harder now than they did when I was younger…or is that mostly a matter of expectations? When I was young I didn’t hope to or think that I needed to get nearly as much done in a day, so it was easier for me to ride out a hangover by just lazing around.

Maybe in some ways I was wiser when I was younger!