Red Letter Year review and Hurricanes

I've been listening to the new Ani Album: Red Letter Year. Laura found it for me after the whole Empty Envelope Fiasco. But, I have a real copy now--my dad bought it for me! Thanks Dad.

On with the review. At first, I didn't like it. There's reverb and echo, there's lines like "Love is all over the place" and "smiling underneath" It is Different. Anna says she felt the same way, but since we are committed Ani Fans, it is our Duty to purchase every new album at least 8 weeks in advance. It's different, but that's one of the reasons I like Ani. I can certainly depend on the fact that every album she puts out in the future, like every album in the past, will sound completely different than every one that has come before. As far as the sappiness of it goes: I'm ok with it now, Catie Curtis has been doing it for YEARS and no one really complained that much.

On to other news: We had a Hurricane here at the Chalet. There was a dutch woman. She has loved the Chalet for a very long time. She even worked here (for how long, I don't know). A few weeks ago, she emailed us to let us know that "The staff at the Chalet are making many mistakes. I will come and show you how to wax the floor, teach you some traditions and help you win back the guests you have lost (presumably due to the mistakes we are making)". So she came. She was housed for free and given a very very intimate tour of the Chalet--which included a scathing peek at my very own desk. She felt free to voice any opinions she had, and did often, usually aiming them at the poor volunteers who are just doing what they're told. For instance: the bathrooms were not clean enough for her standards. The bathrooms were fine. And, I'm sure that she knew exactly where we keep the cleaning supplies... but I digress.

On Friday morning, most of the volunteers had the day off, and the only staff on site was in the office. She took it upon herself to rearrange all the furniture on the dining-hall floor of the main chalet. She took down posters, put new ones up, relocated the antique chest to it's traditional location--right beneath the hatch where food comes from, moved the silverware from the dining hall into the kitchen--right beneath where dirty dishes often pass. She effectively put the dining hall back exactly as it was 25 years ago. Well, I have news for you Mrs. Dutchie, there's a damn reason we changed those things. I'm incensed at the disrespect shown by the Senior Senior staff towards us lowly senior staff and volunteers who have to fix everything, who were the target of snotty comments and had our privacy invaded by an Unsolicited Advisor. So there. I hope it never happens again.