Here’s the deep philosophical question of the day: As a member of a group, how much autonomy should you have?

Hmm… Trying to turn my specific question into a deep philosophical question of general import isn’t working.

Here’s what happened: last night in choir practice we were working on some pieces for the upcoming Great Day of Singing. One piece is being directed by someone else, and said director had marked a verse to be sung in unison by all the men.

A bass announced that he wouldn’t. He was going to sing the bass part.

“You can’t just sing the wrong part!” I protested.

“Yes, I can,” he said firmly. “I’ve been singing this song since I was seventeen.”

What that had to do with it I can’t imagine.

The guy was miffed at my attitude. He seems to feel that personal freedom extends to one’s right to sing any blamed thing he wants.

I don’t think it does. In a choir, you have to do what the director says. It’s part of the deal. If you aren’t willing to do that, then you shouldn’t sing in choirs. Right?

#1 daughter says that the U.S. is specifically designed to protect rebels. This is one reason that she thinks China rather than India is poised for economic greatness and we are of course rapidly sliding down the hill. China has everyone working together. We are all working against one another.

But in a choir, rugged individualism is out of place. There is a name for people who want to sing their own part however they choose. They are called “soloists.”

Are there groups in which it is entirely okay to go your own way, or does belonging to a group require you to accommodate and accept? This is probably the real philosophical question I’m contemplating today.

The other question is not philosophical. It is about plaid wool. Not only did La Bella give me the two lovely pieces I showed you yesterday, but she has several more she plans to bring to me. I’m seeing charming plaid jumpers, but I’m not young and slim enough for that. I thought of jackets, but oh my goodness how will I match the plaids? Even with a walking foot. Jackets are hard enough in solid colors. Skirts maybe? You may be thinking young and slim applies to plaid skirts as much as to plaid jumpers, though. Extremely gorgeous scarves? In very large quantities?

I’m very interested in your opinions on both of these burning questions.

My website is still stuck on page 2 of Google. I happened last night upon a discussion among SEOs of how impatient clients are, and how irritating that is, though of course we can’t complain since they’re paying us. I’m being completely unreasonable as a client, especially given how little time I’ve spent on this. But I’m competing with myself. I own the front page, after all. There’s that one mention of the actress who shares my name, and otherwise I’m just seeing the effects of my own past SEO. It’s just that my own website is not benefitting. I want it to be first. How can I manipulate it up there without damaging my other effects? I think this is an advanced manipulation situation.

In other deeply fascinating Dark Art manipulation news, I have gotten an obscure page on The Computer Guy’s website to the point of being more popular than his homepage. Yes. I knew you’d be impressed. He’s out of town, and therefore has probably not see that I’ve done this. He may not be pleased. In an ideal world, he’d say, “Wow! She’s good at this! I should give her more work!” Ideal for me. In an ideal world for him I would not have done my little experiment with an obscure page that brings him no income. In the real world, he may be a bit cheesed.

I have a challenging lesson to present to my writing students today. And an errand to run before class. And more blogging to do before then. But this afternoon I plan to wrestle my website up to the front page.