Musical Genius

I can confidently say that my sister Robyn is a musical genius. In fact, that's her at the top of this page, playing Guitar Hero. At the tender age of 8 her piano teacher dropped her because she wasn't "learning to play", she would simply listen to a piece and be able to play it. Later in life, she babysat for a member of the Seattle Symphony in exchange piano lessons. And a little bit later, she worked as a janitor at the Washington Academy of Preforming Arts in exchange for lessons. My mom used to say it was her walking-uphill-both-ways-in-the-snow-type-story. I imagine my W.U.B.W.I.T.S.T.S, would be the paralyzing fear I used to have over being mistaken for Robyn. Because, although we are 6 years apart we look very similar. I didn't even want to go to Kirkland Co-Op Preschool, for fear someone would think I was Robyn. It was debilitating for me there for a while, but I digress.



Anyway, Robyn was always looking for outlets for her creativity. In high school she started a "band" with a friend. They were called Robber and the Devils, and the only song they ever sang was "You Are My Sunshine". But they sang it in beautiful harmony! Robyn was able to seamlessly switch between high and low harmony, while her partner maintained the lead. You know, to this day I find my self singing only the high and low harmony to that song! Although Robber and the Devils ruled, they were no match to Zsa Zsa and Zsi Zsi. That was tenacious musical duo of moi and Robyn. I think our name was a play on the Gabor sisters, or something. Anyway, we had one melodious original, it was called "You Don't Know Me, I Just Work For You". I came up with the title, and basic concept of the song, but the lyrics and melody were a joint effort. We were so ahead of our time.... So, without further ado, here are the lyrics to our masterpiece. Or, at least the parts I can remember. If any of my sisters who read this can remember anymore, I would LOVE to get a comment in the comment section. My part will be in italics.

I bring you coffee, I bring you tea TEA
You never even notice me ME
I spend my time doing all your chores CHORES
You don't know my name, but I know your's

Chorus (to which I sang, Ah-ah, until the end, when I repeated the last phrase)
You don't know me I just work for you
You don't know me I just work for you
You don't know me I just work for you
Everyday of my life MY LIFE

You say what a crummy job I do DO
Tell me my breath smells like poo POO
I get a Christmas card from you each year YEAR
My name's not to resident I fear

Chorus
You don't know me I just work for you
You don't know me I just work for you
You don't know me I just work for you
Everyday of my life I QUIT!!!

I'm sure there was more, but I can't remember. Also, it's a bit confusing, because the chorus makes you think the boss doesn't know the employee, but in the last verse you learn that the boss tells the employee they have bad breath. Anyway, the 90s were crazy, and everyone was just trying to make a rhyme!

Thanks Mom

One of the best things my mom ever did for me was to write down all of the quirky things I said as a kid. Most of the quotes can be found in a journal with a fabric teddy bear cover, or in a Cabbage Patch Kids calendar (1986). Here are a few of the gems:


Let's start with some quotes surrounding my obbsession with death.


"I'm going to tell myself a bedtime story. There were 2 foxes. No, mice, who lived in a hole but they had no cheese. Their cousins came and had a bag and said I had a surprise for you. It was full of cheese. But a bull-frog. No, a bull-cat jumped out of the bushes and ate all the cheese and he squished the mice and cut their heads and necks and ate them. And they live happily ever after."


"My dog died. He's lying there with his eyes open but he's not moving. He had drugs-he didn't say no, he said yes." Well, done Mrs. Reagan. I was very afraid of accidentally saying yes to drugs!


I woke my mom up crying one night. "I'm going to die because I can't tell time. I want to LIVE!"


"Will Santa die? The dinosaurs died!"


Now, let's hear about how panicked I was at the impending birth of my baby sister Brittany.


"We can only have 5 kids."
"Robyn will be the baby! She'll pop back in."
"Are you having the baby today?" (No) "Good I get to see Emily another day"
"There's a mom in there to take care of the baby."
"I'll get tiny again and pop back in, and you'll never see me again, and you won't even care because you'll already have 2 babies. You'll have all the kids you need."
"The baby died."
"We don't need another baby."
"I thought we had the baby, but it was just my bad dream."
"You could get another lap, but then I won't fit across."
"It it's not a boy or a girl, it will be dead."


But then, once Brittany was born I liked her. One night I woke my mom up crying, saying "I want that baby to be mine, but she's your's."


When trying to sing the M-I-C-K-E-Y song:
"Bumble bee here your are, M-O-U-S-E."


"It's called Mt. Rainier because you can buy souvenirs there!"


I hope y'all've enjoyed these. Perhaps I'll share more later!