Tomorrow will be my day to rest, recupirate, ruminate, and catch up on all your awesome blogs.  Hugs.

But since I’m feeling better I thought I’d make you guys laugh, or at least drop your jaw from disbelief.  Or maybe everyone already knows about this product and it’s old news.  I don’t think it’s a joke.  Apparently it is Fresh Balls.

And if anyone has actually used the stuff, and wants to admit it, I wanna hear your story.

But I was just over at Mel Heath’s blog, reading a very insightful post that she wrote about self-confidence and how one comes across to other people.  At the end of her post she included a link to two voicemails that a guy left on a girl’s phone, that just left me speechless with my jaw dropped to my knees.  I try not too abuse the power of forwarding links because do you really want to know about A True Friend Is or Men Are Like or Cute Puppies Dancing On Cotton Candy Rainbows.  So believe me when I say ya’ll need to hear this.  (And if you already heard it on Mel Heath’s blog then you’re probably laughing just remembering it and want to hear it again.)  And you will also understand the title of this post.

And maybe I’ll get to bed at a decent hour today. And I’ve probably disgusted English teachers across the 50 states with my overuse of the word “and”.  And I don’t care.

It’s hard to describe throat-singing; sort of like a human didgeridoo mixed with the creepy girl from The Grudge, but sounding simply stunning.  One of the members of Alash did an acoustic solo to show his skills.  He kept a low guttural bass going with his throat while mixing in much higher-pitched sounds that seemed like whistling or a flute.  It sounded like nothing that a human voice could do.  The most amazing thing about it is that he could make two or three different sounds simultaneously.  It was completely mesmerizing.

Though the solo piece is not on their website, four other songs are available.  Check them out - especially Dyngyldai and Bashtak Joke, which has a really cool ending.  These guys are extremely talented and have won many awards for both throat-singing and as part of the Tuvan National Orchestra.  They have an American manager who has lived in Tuva for the past six years.  I heard him say that he went there on a Fullbright Scholarship and ended up falling in love with the place.  He also fell in love with a local girl, settled down, and started a family, which I thought was just beautiful.  (Damn, I’m getting soft in my old age.)

I hope these guys keep getting international recognition and come back to NYC again.  If all else fails, they can also make good money doing voice-overs of cartoon aliens for Pixar.  But I hope they don’t need to sell out like that.

But then, ten minutes later, came an announcement that we’ve got the inauguration in the auditorium on the humongous projection screen.  All the kids and faculty were pouring through the doors, filling up seats, hundreds of people looking up at the screen.  There were some kids who were trying to sneak out, moaning about how it is their lunch period.  I just reminded them that they are living through the greatest moment of their lives so far and that they better get inside so they can tell their grand-kids about it one day.

They made it through the swearing-in ceremony and even listened to Obama’s inaugural address.  I hope they weren’t confused by the fact that our new president was using big words eloquently, speaking thoughtfully, and not smirking.  Soon after, the attention spans started to falter and about 30 seconds into Elizabeth Alexander’s poem we’d lost most of them.

I suppose that if I was a teenager right now I might not appreciate the significance of the moment.  I’m grateful that I’m old enough to know better.

And since we’re talking about animals, why in the world did he think he could literally hug a panda without any consequences? “Yang Yang was so cute, and I just wanted to cuddle him” he said from his hospital bed.  Dude, I think pitbulls are cute but you don’t see me trying to snuggle up to one.