The Chamber Singers recorded seven songs last night. We were missing several members — noticeable in a chamber group — but all three of the altos were there.

Frankly, I have a little bit of tension with one of the other altos. She is a good sight reader, as is the other alto, but I am not. I stand in between the two of them and do my best. But this woman pokes me when I make an error. She smacks my leg if we’re sitting down and my shoulder if we’re standing, and last night she jabbed me in the ribs with her elbow.

I appreciate her high level of accuracy, but I do not think that anyone’s singing is improved by physical violence.

What’s more — and this is true confessions time — my natural dislike of being assaulted by this woman is not the only reaction I have to it. The truth is that this woman, accurate though she may be, does not have a pretty voice. So I have a petulant “How can someone who sounds like her object to my occasional error?” kind of reaction. Or even “You are criticizing me?”

So last night, when she jabbed me, I jabbed her right back.

I am not proud of this. Not only is it always wrong to offer physical violence, but this woman is also a lot older than I am. Maybe she had a pretty voice when she was young. I am not good at estimating ages, but she has wooly white hair with scalp showing through, so she must be twenty years older than I am or more. Where do I get off jabbing old ladies* in the ribs just because they do it to me? I tried to be particularly friendly in between songs to make up for it.

Maybe she will stop doing it now, though.

Today I have Pampered Chef deliveries, baking, cleaning, and soldering to do before I go to work. I also made the error of peeping into a book I am giving as a gift, and found that it is really fascinating and amusing, so I may have to read bits of it surreptitiously before I wrap it up.

This requires holding the book closed at the spine and parting the pages slightly so that the book will not look as though it has been read, and is naturally a slower process than openly reading. I do it all the time at work, where reviewing the books is part of my job, but do not usually do it with books I give to people, which are supposed to be new. We will see if I can resist the temptation.

And I was hoping to get to the gym as well, since I have not made it there yet this week, involved as I have been with holiday preparations and my sons’ vacation.

* Ozarque has been having an interesting discussion over at her place about what to call old people. It appears that they do not want to be called “old” any more. I am watching to see what the concensus might be on a suitable new word, and when they all decide on one, I will use it. That Man says that he wants to be called an “activegenarian” when he gets old, which he plans to do pretty soon now.

And Marji is starting the official SWAP contest, which begins December 1st. I could never make eleven garments in four months, myself, but I am looking forward to seeing her do it. Her very pretty storyboard is up at her blog, and in more detail here.