Stacy Horn

Like I didn’t know it already, but we (humans) are insane. A lot of people are taking this whole judgement day thing very seriously, apparently. For instance, I’m hearing stories of people who took the week off, to what? Prepare? To pack for Heaven? Insane.

As long as we’re identifying flowers, what is this in the picture below? From a distance it looked fungus (very pretty fungus) growing up this tree, up close it looks like azaleas, but it’s a tree, so it can’t be azaleas, right? So what is this?

Three things that made me happy yesterday:

Reading Glamour at the doctor’s office, those moments on the subway when I remembered not hating myself so much, meditating with my monthly group.

I think I misunderstood the happiness formula. When the guy who gave the TED lecture said note three things that made you happy and (stupid word usage alert) “journal” about them—I think that is supposed to be one thing, note them and write them down. I don’t think I need to write three things down and also expand on them in a journal entry. One happy thing from yesterday: that guy holding up the judgement day sign below? He’s probably crazy.

But my real happy things from yesterday were:

The smell of the rain, a coupon for free cat treats, getting out of the focus group early.

I watched a TED talk about happiness yesterday. I’ve already forgotten the guy’s name but here are the things he suggests doing every day for 21 days in order to be happy.

– Note three new things that made you happy. I already do this. Here is my list from yesterday: Feeding the cats treats, John making the same points I did, not getting caught in the rain. I have a document on my desktop and it just takes a few seconds to update it every day.
– Write about one of them. I do this, but not daily. I guess I could do this here, on my blog.
– Exercise. I do this every other day, but I have been meaning to up the ante.
– Meditate. I already do this.
– One random act of kindness per day, if only a nice email. I’m sorry to say that of all the things on the list, this is the one I do the most sporadically.

The guy said to do it for 21 days and I started yesterday. I will report back on June 5th and let you know how it worked.

Happy thing: For the past year I’ve had this ongoing Q&A with the director of my choir, and he made some points in his last set of answers that were the same as some points I had already made. It wasn’t that they were earth-shattering or brilliant points, it just feels good to notice the same things as another human being. It’s that—”Ohmygod, did you see that??” “Oh yeah. I saw that.”—feeling.

Pretty flowers on 11th Street. What are these?

Do you make promises to yourself every week, ie, this is the week when I’m going to write every day? Eat healthier and less? Monday mornings start out so hopeful for me. It’s like every week I get a second chance to do better. And then it’s always the same! Ha. Sorry. It is! I never change. Do you?

Actually, that’s not completely true. I introduced exercise into my life a few years ago and I stuck to that. I’ve been eliminating sugar from my diet, which, by the way, I’m blaming for feeling miserable and oppressed for the past week. I’m sure there are other examples, but still. Mostly every week I am still the same person.

I took this picture at the Perry Street fair this weekend. Because of all the hoarder shows, I walk through these street fairs with a different point of view. How many of these buyers and sellers have to climb through their apartments?

Yesterday I’m reading this book Choral Music in the Twentieth Century, and the author predicts that out of the crop of young American composers, the possible break-out star is Eric Whitacre. Boy, did he ever call that one right, (and over ten years ago). If there’s a God handing out gifts, he had a pile of them in his hands when he tripped and fell and they all went to Eric.

So my choir is having its Annual Spring Benefit Cocktail Party – Thursday, June 9, at the lovely home of Kevin Roon and Simon Yates in Tribeca. From our director’s email: Simon and Kevin’s apartment is becoming one of the premier musical salons in NYC, and to add to that trend, our special guest, baritone Robert Gardner, will be sharing some vocal gems with us at the event. (Choral Society aficionados will remember Robert as our “Elijah” from a few years back.)

Tickets are $100 if you buy them from me or $125 otherwise. It’s a lot of money I know, but it’s for our choir which yeah, benefits ME, but also a lot of great people and our audiences. I’ve spent the past year reading hundreds and hundred and hundreds of articles and studies about singing and I can say with authority that singing like this makes the world a better place. Watch that video I linked to in the first paragraph!!

To buy tickets, go here and click on June 9th party (there will be an option to buy the lower price tickets because you know me). A shot from last year’s benefit: