(wine and song)^2
Feb. 27th, 2005 11:54 amAfter getting phones and computers purchased and handed-off to ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sarahh for her trip to Madrid, and a last-minute frantic submission of an drilling automation abstract to ESA (before a 6pm cutoff), I headed over Friday to Wine and Song. patgreene had gone ahead of me with the kids, but I arrived first (she stayed on 238 and wound up on I-580 headed to Stockton...). James was excited to see M. Butterfly after a couple of weeks' gap... I was happy to just circulate, even if the (brave!) hostess was in pain and tenacious_snail and I wound up quarreling in the hot tub. Still, brownies... mmm. And coyote3502 gave me some latex exam gloves for use... at home, painting. (grin)
Which I did, Saturday before the rain started. More cabinet work.
Last night, Pat and I went to a $50/head benefit and wine-tasting at the University Club in Palo Alto, held for David's Ragazzi boy's choir. The various choirs did 15-minute sets, interspersed among the food, wine, and auction items. We now have birthday presents forgeekchick secured, after a couple of successful bids ;-).
More importantly, this was David's very first performance, ever. And he did very well... his voice was discernably on pitch and clear and he fidgeted minimally. And the boys looked handsome in their dress clothes and dark red bowties. They exited to a pizza party, while the grownups tasted more wine and munched on prime rib and chocolate-covered strawberries and the like.
There is a noticeable socioeconomic stratification effect... I saw only white and Asian boys in the choirs, along with one African-American kid. No Hispanic kids, out of about 150 boys. And the benefit audiences were full of CEOs and venture capitalists and random professionals, folks happy to bid up a $160 pair of decent Giants dugout-level seats to $440 during the live auction. I bid a couple of times on a handmade quilt, but quickly dropped out as the bids ascended. Given the costs of tuition and summer camp and uniforms and (for the upper-level choirs) touring, little wonder that only the relatively well-off can afford for their sons to participate. Not to mention all of the volunteer and fund-raising efforts on the side, which practically presumes one stay-at-home or part-time-working parent...
Still, it's a bit of a sacrifice, but seems thus far to be boosting David's native talents and his self-esteem, which is in turn beginning to pay off in classroom situations and at home.
sarahh for her trip to Madrid, and a last-minute frantic submission of an drilling automation abstract to ESA (before a 6pm cutoff), I headed over Friday to Wine and Song. patgreene had gone ahead of me with the kids, but I arrived first (she stayed on 238 and wound up on I-580 headed to Stockton...). James was excited to see M. Butterfly after a couple of weeks' gap... I was happy to just circulate, even if the (brave!) hostess was in pain and tenacious_snail and I wound up quarreling in the hot tub. Still, brownies... mmm. And coyote3502 gave me some latex exam gloves for use... at home, painting. (grin)Which I did, Saturday before the rain started. More cabinet work.
Last night, Pat and I went to a $50/head benefit and wine-tasting at the University Club in Palo Alto, held for David's Ragazzi boy's choir. The various choirs did 15-minute sets, interspersed among the food, wine, and auction items. We now have birthday presents for
geekchick secured, after a couple of successful bids ;-). More importantly, this was David's very first performance, ever. And he did very well... his voice was discernably on pitch and clear and he fidgeted minimally. And the boys looked handsome in their dress clothes and dark red bowties. They exited to a pizza party, while the grownups tasted more wine and munched on prime rib and chocolate-covered strawberries and the like.
There is a noticeable socioeconomic stratification effect... I saw only white and Asian boys in the choirs, along with one African-American kid. No Hispanic kids, out of about 150 boys. And the benefit audiences were full of CEOs and venture capitalists and random professionals, folks happy to bid up a $160 pair of decent Giants dugout-level seats to $440 during the live auction. I bid a couple of times on a handmade quilt, but quickly dropped out as the bids ascended. Given the costs of tuition and summer camp and uniforms and (for the upper-level choirs) touring, little wonder that only the relatively well-off can afford for their sons to participate. Not to mention all of the volunteer and fund-raising efforts on the side, which practically presumes one stay-at-home or part-time-working parent...
Still, it's a bit of a sacrifice, but seems thus far to be boosting David's native talents and his self-esteem, which is in turn beginning to pay off in classroom situations and at home.
