The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, February 12, 1997 - B1 TERRACE STANDARD INSIDE COMMUNITY EVENTS B2 JOMMUNITY: JUST A THOUGHT. - KATHY FLORITTO Snow, oh glorious snow URING THE years when i was certain I'd left childhood behind and my parents were cqually sure | had not, 1 was a member of the Winnipeg Girls’ Choir. You've probably never beard of it, but it was a huge choir. Wanna-be choristers and soloists alike were subjected 10 a miserably rigorous audition, and merciless adjudication, before being given a grudging acceptance nod or a curt wave toward the door, J realize my personal history is not on your ‘need to know’’ list, bul not long ago, as the weatherman’s ‘‘partly cloudy” advisory tumed to three feet of snow, I was reminded of a solo | was forced to sing in my 3rd year with the WGC. | say ‘‘forced’’ because I truly hated the song. The word ‘‘hate’' is an ugly one and I rarely use it. In this case, there is no other word thal adequately describes the intense loathing I felt for both the music and its composer. ‘Snow’. that’s it, just ‘Snow.’’ It begins wilh ‘'O snow, that shines so bright’’ or some- thing like that. The first note is high C and, if memory serves, it never, ever dropped below that lofty plain. It wasn’t bad enough that I had lo sing an ode glorifying the cold stuff, but sing- ing it gave me a vicious headache, Even today, the memory and acctaminophen have a working partnership, Living in Winnipeg during the winter months was nol conducive to waxing eloquent about the ~ glories of -40F or the white blanket that was tucked so tightly around us from November through March. 1 don’t recall who wrote the lyrics, but whoever if was must surely have lived in Saudi Arabia or some other clime where snow was something for picture books and postcards. He’d obviously never been stuck in it, never shoveled it and never had to buy an entire war- drobe designed to prevent hypothermia. He also, very obviously, didn’t care much for singers Vocalists are often advised to sing ‘‘over the note.”’ This imaginary drop to the note helps to prevent flatness —— something often heard from warblers whose aim is just to reach the darned thing. It works...well, it works most of the time. My imagination didn’t stretch to dropping down to any nole above high C. It wasn’t bad enough that I had to sing an ode glorifying the cold stuff, but singing it gave me a_ vicious headache. I was happy just to get there, flat or not. The choirmistress and I didn’t see eye to eye on this one, so ] spent many, many painful hours prac- ticing, practicing until] she was satisfied and I was sure death’s bony fingers bad me in their stecly grip, Since the final performance in which this solo was included, I haven't looked at the music or sang the thing again. Come to think of it, I haven’! heard it since,..]’m guessing no one else will sing il, Smart move. And speaking of snow and. removal, con- gratulations to whoever decided that, when the avalanche that blesses Terrace every year, drifts across our sircets and avenues - it doesn't have to be pushed into minj-mountains in the middle of every intersection. That wasn’t removal - more like redecorating. Something about deck chairs and the Titanic came to mind.,, And that same jevel-headed someone (let's give the credil to Stew Christensen, our director of engineering), figured out that ‘snow falls without any regard lo the comfort or schedule of those who must slog through it...sorta like that anonymous piece of misery who wrote the forgettable ditty of the same name. The song, fortunately, can be ignored. The object of its affection cannot. There is, apparently, some question as to whether the mountain-leveling operation will become standard pracedtire since it involves plucking another $15,000 from the public purse. If maintaining it means collecting the coin from taxpayers, this flatlander will gladly kick in her share, but then, I'd happily consider the pur- chase of al feast one monster snowbiower — the kind wilh the. giant’ proboscis that sneezes tomorrow's flood material into trucks eager to deposil it in a far mote appropriate resting place than on our commercial and residential streets, Those machines play ''Now you see it. Now you don’t’? beautifully... like the Don’t”? part. MOST ROMANCES start over dinners, long walks, and shared experiences. But when you live in a town of under 20,000 people, it might be hard to meet your soulmate. When two Terrace resi- dents took to the Internet, they weren't even looking romance, Decent conversa- tion was all they had in mind, But each ended up with a lot mare than that. Scott’ Vandenberg, aged 24, moved to Terrace this SCOTTY VANDENBERG romanced his fiance with e- mail messages, not roses. The two started dating when they realized they e-mailing each other at least once a day. An officer and. a feminist By CRIS LEYKAUF “IT COULDN'T happen in real life.’’ Carol Sabo keeps repeat- ing that phrase. It’s been two years now, and she still can’t believe the circum- stances that led to her rela- tionship with Tom, a colonel with the U.S, Defense Department, sta- tioned in Washington D.C, Two years ago, Carl, now 44, posted a message to a news group sociely, look- ing for keypals — the mod- em equivalent of a penpal. “It was a sort of cutesy message,’ she says, She received over 100 responses, the majority from men. She was upfront about herself, saying thal she worked for a women’s centre, was a feminist, and definitely wasn’t into on- line sex (it makes laugh). “Most said, ‘Well, | don’t think we'll be compatible,’”’ said Carol. Tom was one of the ones who wrole back, telling her he didn’t scare casily. The two chatied back and forth for months, talking aboul kids, dogs, Caral’s job. Working in the defense departnent Tom couldn’! share too many details aboul his job, but it was enough for Carol 10 realize he lived in an entirely different world. “We are like oil and water,’’ she said. ‘‘We have vastly different upbringings: Tom’s a Texan. An officer. Apple pic and mom. A city boy.” From the start Carol let him know she wasn’t inler- esled in a relalionship. She has three children, and was content with being single. When they first slarted writing, Tom had just been - called back into the army. He was recently divorced at the time, with four kids. He's now 47 years old. “He was a single guy . her alone im an apartment look- ing for conversation,’ said Carol. The two discovered that despite different back- grounds, they think very much the same way. Even their politics are similar. Tom describes himself as a pacifist.’’ After a while they realized they were becoming good friends. , ‘'The Intemet is like talk- ing in the dark. It’s like a blind person who makes up for the lack of other senses,” said Carol. “You're talking on a tolally different level. There’s no concept of looks or ac- cents.’’ But this closeness poscd a new problem. + Each wondered why they were making friends with some- one who lived -across the country. After a year of wriling, Carol and Tom decided they had to meet. That sparked many concerned comments from friends, afraid she was flying off to mect a serial killer. But Caro] wasn't worried. ‘We wanicd to pet together face to face 10 see if we hated each olher.” There are plenty of people who.claim the Internet is-a dangerous way to meet people, because you can’t tell if they're making up stories: about themselves, But it wasn't too hard to sift through. the people who wanted ta ‘play games,” said Carol. **Whal’s the point of play- ing games? You. can- tell. when somecane’s bullshitling you. People can like or dis- like a pretense of you or the teal you,” When Carol got off the plane in D.C, she said it was like she was meeting. a friend she ~ had known forever, ~ She's visited him twice since then, and “when: she goes down for the fourth sumuner to teach al Cenlen- nial, Christian: School, Be- fore he left he handed out his new e-mail address ‘to friends and acquaintances — anyone who'd take pily on him for moving to a small northern town. Amy Norman barely knew Scott — they'd only mel briefly through friends — but she took him up on bis offer. And now they're get- ting married this July. “Amy wrote right away,’ said Scott, ‘but the con- versalion wasn't rela- tionship oriented." She was teaching at an in- ner cily school in Chicago, and the two had a lot in common, lalking aboul their careers, They also dis- covered a shared love for music, singitg, computers, and a commitment to Chris- tianity. ‘*We started writing every moming before school,” said Scott. ‘You'd be amazed at bow much you can talk about over e-mail. You cover the bases in a quicker amount of time.’’ A traditional relationship involves all sorts of ac- livilies — movies, dinners ete. — and that leaves less time for talking. But with e-mail you can tell the person your deepest fears at 3 a.m., and get a m response usually within 12 hours. Snail mail, as computer types refer to it, is hopeless- ly old-fashioned. Responses omance in cyberspace THE WEDDING DATE is this July for two Internet sweethearts, Amy Norman and Scott Vandenberg. In the future their children might read old love e-mail, rather than love letters. Both Scott and Amy have saved almost all their mes- sages to each*other. By De- cember Amy reported she had over 300 inessages. Alter a few months of e- mailing, they decided they had to meet. “We wanted lo sec how we were side by side,” But a ticket from Chicago to Terrace was pricey. Aimy talked the dilemma over with friends, and an ex- employer offered to buy her a ticket lo Terrace, “She thought it was im- portant that we see cach other,” Scott said, — still amazed that someone would have bought them a ticket. Amy flew up to see. Scalt during the American Thanksgiving holiday in November, “Things clicked the in- slant I saw her. Everything went incredibly well.” When Amy went back home, she told her parents that “Scot was the one.” Scott was a bit shocked to hear this, since he hadn't been thinking about mar- riage yet. So he spoke to a counselor, friends atid his father via e-mail, asking for advice. And this Christmas he proposed to Amy, when they met in Vancouver. “T took her to the old church I was baptized at, aud sang her a sang I had made up, then dropped on one knee, She wasn't ex- pecting it at all.”’ Scott and Amy are getting married this July, then she’ il mave up to Terrace, hoping to gel a job al Scott's school, “Sell your shares in Kermode.net before July,” Scott joked, can take weeks. THE COMPUTER holds a place of honour in 1 Carol Sabo's home. Two years aga she met someone on the Internet, and they converse every day through e-mail. Now the computer sits in the spot where most people would put a TV, time next weck, she'll take her (wo youngest kids along to.ncet hin. If the kids approve, and if Tom can get lime off from work, then he'll visit Ter- race for the first time this spring. He’s even talking about quitting his job and inoving up here. “But [ said, no you can’t move here till you see the place." Ton is used to getting up at 4 am. to go jogging, in order to avoid the traffic. Terrace will be an adjust- ment for him. "So far it's been his job and my stubbomness keep- ing us apart,’’ said Carol. She flatly refuses to leave Terrace and move to D.C, She has a lot of trepida- tions about the idea of living with Tom. ‘Your bad habits, per- sonalilies aren’! shown on the net,’’ She has however, confessed a few of them to him. But mainly, she’s rely- ing-on the fact that so far it seems like there’s nothing thal they can’t lalk about, - As well as- this rela- tionship has timed out for Carol, she doesn’t recom- metid the Interiiet as a vi- able option for meeting men, “There's as many: jerks out there as they are in real life." Around Town Choir tours NW THE KING'S University College chamber choir comes to Terrace on Feb. 17 at the Pentecostal Church, The choir, from Edmonton, has performed through- out western Canada and the northern States. It’s been established since 1979, and ils members comes from across Canada and the world, The 18-voice mixed chamber choir is directed by Trent Worthington, and will be accompanied by Dr. Hoachim Segger and Christina Fischer on piano. Program highlights during their stop in Terrace will include Liebeslieder Polkas, by P.D.Q, Bach, the Liebeslieder Walzer by Johannes Brahms, Elizabethan part songs, traditional songs from South Africa, madrigals and parodies. The program starts at 7:30 p.m at the church. Admis- sion is free, bul donations are welcomed, Nominations sought DO YOU KNOW somecne’s who's made an out- standing contribution to the communily? Nominations are being sought for the 1997 Order of British Columbia, the province's highest recognition of excellence and achievement, The award is presented each year by the lieutenant: governor to oulstanding British Columbians who have excelled in community leadership, the aris, labour, business, volunteer service, rescarch or education. Since the first award was made in 1990, more than 100 British Columbians have received this honour, Recipieats are selected by an independent advisory council, Nomination forms are available at the govern- ment agent’s office, or by phoning 387-1616 or faxing 356-2814. Deadline for nominations is March 6.