Date: October 22, 2001 Contest this week!

Most of the gang were able to make the extra practice on Friday, and we made considerable progress with making the choreography automatic, as well as getting all the happy intervals Rob likes to hear and we like to sing.

District Convention and Contest is going to take place this weekend in Lowell, MA. It doesn't seem like a year since we were hosts, does it?

HOTEL AND TRANSPORTATION: You should have made your own arrangements already, but speak to Jerry Silverberg or Bert Brossoit if you haven't got it squared away. The bus will be leaving from Église Ste Sixte at 12 noon.

COSTUME: Make sure you have all parts of your chorus uniform, cleaned, pressed, shined and whatever else you need to do. It is tux pants, formal shirt, bow tie, tux pants, black socks and shiny black shoes.

IDENTIFICATION: U.S. Immigration will require either your birth certificate (baptismal record) or passport. A driver's licence or Medicare Card is not sufficient identification.

PERFORMANCE: We will be performing for a small, but enthusiastic audience, since we are singing early in the chorus contest. We have an opportunity to entertain while the audience is still fresh. If we do what we are capable of doing, look out District!

Please check the list of jobs to ensure that your name is on the list in a place where you will be comfortable working for the week of the International convention. Have you signed up to take that week as vacation? Do it now!

We will need everyone from our Chapter to be available. This is going to be a massive undertaking, but it will be a lot of fun.

If it is possible for you, plan to come to Portland, OR for the SPEBSQSA 2002 International Convention and Contest. Besides having a wonderful time, you will be able to help us promote Montreal 2003, and to sell advance registrations. We hope that we will have the largest ever attendance at a SPEBSQSA International.

DESPERATION, when you rearrange the letters: A ROPE ENDS IT

THE MORSE CODE, when you rearrange the letters: HERE COME DOTS

SLOT MACHINES, when you rearrange the letters: CASH LOST IN 'EM

SNOOZE ALARMS, when you rearrange the letters: ALAS! NO MORE ZS

A DECIMAL POINT, when you rearrange the letters: I'M A DOT IN PLACE

ELEVEN PLUS TWO, when you rearrange the letters: TWELVE PLUS ONE

A young man was talking to a young woman that he had just met, and asked for her name.

"I don't want to tell you," she said, "I'm named after both of my parents, and it's kind of embarrassing."

"Well, what could be so bad about that?" the gentleman asked. "My mother's name is Eliza, and my father's name is Ferdinand." the lady answered.

"Well, those are nice names" the guy replied. "It would be if they wouldn't have named me FerdEliza!''

A magician was working on a cruise ship in the Caribbean. The audience would be different each week, so the magician allowed himself to do the same tricks, over and over again.

There was only one problem: The captain's parrot saw the shows each week and began to understand how the magician did every trick. Once he understood he started shouting in the middle of the show:

"Look, it's not the same hat."

"Look, he is hiding the flowers under the table."

"Hey, why are all the cards the Ace of Spades?"

The magician was furious but couldn't do anything; it was, after all, the captain's parrot.

One day the ship had an accident and sank. The magician found himself on a piece of wood in the middle of the ocean with the parrot, of course.

They stared at each other with hate, but did not utter a word. This went on for a day and another and another.

After a week the parrot said: "OK, I give up. Where's the boat?"

Rob Mance has done it again. The program for the full month of November has been sent by email.

Please make sure that you have reviewed all the music that we will be singing this week and the presentation plan for each song, so that we are always in performance mode. We are singing well. Let's make sure that the audience (including Judges!) sees us at our best in all areas!

Feet, knees, shoulders, tongue, jaw. Remember what to do with each, and do it before each song we sing.

Here is our current repertoire list:

Practice is something we do at home, every day, between rehearsals!

Rehearsal is where we reinforce what we have been practising every day!