glitter, solo mandolin, & audiologist lying traps

I haven't been able to find my tube of lip gloss since we got back from Germany and Austria.  I love my lip gloss, because it makes my lips shiny in a Charlie's Angels sort of way, but it is not that sticky kind of lip gloss that makes your hair stick to your lips whenever you turn your head around.

So last night right before the limo was scheduled to pick us up, I grabbed a tube of lip gloss that Claire got in her Christmas stocking last year. She never wears it, but she likes to put it in her purse if she is playing I'm Packing for Vacation on the Moon.  (She goes to the moon about once a week with Hello Kitty.)

As I glanced in the mirror on the way out the door, I noticed that I had lovely shiny lips with sparkly green glitter all over them. I was really very grateful for that low, ambient mood-lighting in the limo. As soon as we got to the party, I made a beeline for the bathroom and just wiped it right off before I could alienate anyone with my disco alien lips.

It was a fun party. Bob won a bottle of wine and a Brita Water Filter pitcher (I've wanted one of those!) for answering some trivia questions correctly. We laughed a lot. Our sweet friends ended up getting stranded on the side of the freeway for awhile when the limo broke down (that's a long story), but eventually they made it to the party and I think that was the only glitch in the evening, besides the green glitter lips. 

The entertainment was super! Evan Marshall, who is the husband of a former employee at my husband's law firm, is a world-class mandolin player. It is unusual for someone to play solo mandolin. "To have a full musical experience as a solo mandolin player," he explained, "it is sometimes necessary for me to play duets by myself." I can't even begin to explain how fabulous it is to hear him play a solo mandolin in duo style. He explains that as he plays the melody tremolo, it sounds as if the tremolo is happening continuously. (Or do I mean continually?) But it's not . . . there are spaces in between. Into these spaces, he inserts a plucking, harp-like note, and this magical duo-style appears.  (I hope I have explained that correctly. I am not musical. He plays the melody and the accompaniment simultaneously, basically.) It really sounds like two people are playing it at once.

He is also apparently the world's fastest mandolinist.

The best thing (for me) is that he plays not only the classical Italian mandolin pieces, but also bluegrass! It's just so great.

If you have a couple minutes, I really encourage you to watch this video as he plays the William Tell Overture. It is so enjoyable! :) (It will make your fingers tired watching it!) And here is a lovely Tchaikovsky piece:

There are so more videos here and here. He also plays the violin! He was great at that, too. His wife is adorable and she sang with him a bit. Then one of the partners at Bob's law firm (a super jazz pianist) joined in, and we sang Christmas carols. It was so fun! The talent boggles the mind.

I had several fun conversations. One was with a pediatric audiologist.  She works with children with different degrees of hearing loss, and is sometimes involved in testing children's hearing.

"Do the kids ever lie?" Bob asked.

"Bob!" I said, and poked him.

"No, they do," she said, and her boyfriend added, "And the prisoners lie, too." (Hearing tests will get you out of school and jail temporarily, it seems.) And people trying to get worker's comp insurance sometimes lie about their hearing. In fact, the problem is so prevalent that she had taken an entire course in school that teaches audiologists how to spot people who are lying (for whatever reason) about their hearing.

"See? It was a good question." Bob said to me.

"It was," I admitted grudgingly.

"One thing we do that works with little kids," she explained, "and sometimes, surprisingly, with adults, is to tell them 'Say 'no' if you can't hear the beep' when they're taking hearing tests."

"No," the kids will say each time the machine beeps.

"Ah HA!" the audiologist will say. She said she loves it when she catches them. :D

It was such an enjoyable night. I would also like to explain to you how good some artichoke dip was and some cupcake frosting was, but I just don't have the words.