Fatale Abstraction

You know, it's so funny when someone you used to see on a regular basis pops up in some other context. Maybe it's a girl you see waiting tables that you run into in a restaurant. Maybe it's someone you used to work with.

I watched someone on television every week for the past few weeks with a nagging familiarity, and I finally realized who he was. When I was at music school in the late 90s, one of the current American Idol contestants was studying music at the same time. However, back then, Brandon Rogers seemed like just a kid, and of course now he's a man - hence my slowness to register familiarity. Remarkably talented, yes, but then again, in such an intensely competitive environment as a top-flight music school, there are lots of talented kids to go around. Brandon's not just a good singer, though - he's a masterful pianist, capable of flowing from gospel-style keyboards - to improvisational reverie and then into ragtime. Brandon's voice and his singing are superb - I think he'll outlast almost all the other men on the show.

I love Chris Sligh, and I think he could pull off an upset just on personality and poor song choices on the part of other singers, which is rather unlikely. No question in my mind - the top two will be Melinda Doolittle and Lakisha Jones. Actually, the thing I find superb about Chris, Brandon and these two women is they are not sparkly-eyed ding-dongs who are all "golly-gee" about the competition - they are all rather low-key in demeanor, actually. Refreshing.


Tonight was my first showing of a house for sale. Not as realtor, but it made a nice trial run. Guess what? I don't think they're gonna buy the house. This was a learning experience, for sure. I learned I need to get the specs on warranties and that sort of thing before I show a property. Strangely, though, I didn't feel nervous. I guess I've shown so many apartments (some with dead fish!) that I'm unflappable. I also know not to take it personally if they don't like it, though the criticisms be withering. I thought they hated it immediately, but they ended up staying and looking for about 50 minutes. It wasn't so bad, but I kept noticing little flaws that need to be tweaked, and I felt like I was sitting down to dinner with company when I noticed the panties on the lampshade across the room. I wasn't sure if I should point out all these flaws and say "this will be fixed prior to closing" or just pretend I didn't see them. I guess I need to figure out what's the best way to do that balancing act, because I want people to know what they are getting in advance, and not feel surprised down the road...