Navy58, the joking started in tragedy of my voice teacher herself. Ten years ago, my voice teacher cancelled the final lesson before a recital because she was having a hard time with a scene in Menotti's "The Consul," as it emotionally affected her because of its reminiscence with her mother's suicide nearly two years prior to this incident. On Valentine's week, she postponed two lessons in order to return to her native Mississippi, settling her mother's estate -- I said "Have a Happy Valentine's Day" but then she admitted the tragedy to me. It broke my heart, and our budding friendship was drastically affected, considering I had studied what caused suicides during the 2001 National Right to Life Convention in Charlotte (influence of nihilism).

At the time of the cancellation, she said simply "she had a scene in (that week's performance of The Consul) to do". I accepted the response, and four days later was the performance of the Menotti opera. In the theatre, I read the libretto, and upon the end of the opera, I could see why my lesson was cancelled. She couldn't take the suicide scene well. I could see her having a hard time with it.

A few years later, I was frustrated after the Cooper River Bridge Run XXX when I didn't show up because of a stomach virus on race morning. A few weeks later at a voice lesson, in humourous furore to her, I said I wanted to take my own life after the DNS during a voice lesson. She laughed hard and responded, "The Consul!"

After a gridiron derby loss to the hated opponent that had me frustrated that everyone else had a party on New Year's and I was left starving I told her I wanted to jump off the Ponte Vecchio into the Arno the next week at a concert, and she responded, "Did you see Gianni Schicchi (a few weeks prior to the concert)?"

Indeed, I had attended the twinbill of "Amahl and the Night Visitors" and "Gianni Schicchi" just three weeks prior to that concert, exactly what she had expected I attended.

Classic music people -- what do you expect from them having fun with opera and literacy. Much better than those with only a popular culture brain.

As for my furore in last year's marathon, I had pictured "O mio babbino caro" in the Puccini comedy. Maybe I laugh too hard at myself and make fun of failure with a satirical look at "The Pain of Losing," with references to death at the opera, certain sounds on television, and illegal street racing of the 1950's.