Iolanthe! Iolanthe! Come to our call!

Gratitude 173

Sang Phyllis last night in Iolanthe. It was sweet! I know it is completely not humble of me to say, but I'm going to say it anyway...I kicked ass if I do say so myself! :) I had a blast and had way too much fun with it! Oh, Phyllis! Such a naive, pink bubble gum, blond ditz of a character. Except I was brunette. (As I am every day. haha! I would look awful as a blond!) I let bubbly Samantha exude my stage presence, took a few artistic risks that I hadn't done before, and all turned out splendidly. I am the one that always leaps and dances around backstage, too. The excitement can't simply be left on the stage! haha! It was certainly a frustrating adventure getting to last night, but in the end, it was soooo worth it.

And the photos I promised....

Then Away We Go to Fairyland!

Iolanthe rehearsal had a few mishaps last night, but overall, it went quite well. :) Voice is very tired after this week. Resting. Tomorrow, I sing Phyllis.

I was very happy to see Lynn there last night, even though she didn't stay the whole time. She checked in with me before she left. :) During the Act 1 duet (following my first entrance) between Strephon (my lover) and Phyllis, I sit on a swing and Strephon pushes me. Last night, however, as I sat down to begin singing, the stagehand in the fly accidently dropped the rope, and I kerplunked to the ground. hahaha! At least, Lynn and myself thought it was funny. Mark, my director, not so much. I just kept singing and smiling in the awkward position; if I had tried to fix the situation any more, it would have made a bigger production of the swing malfunction. The guy that let it slip kept apologizing the rest of the night. I just laughed; I thought it was hilarious.

This afternoon, I was leaving to go home after choir and ran across pictures Mark had posted by his door from the dress rehearsals, and BAM! Huge picture of Strephon and me conversing. haha! Costume looks good, though...I was a little worried.

I was further shocked with I opened The Chimes, the university newspaper to find yet another giant picture of myself and Strephon. Whoa! Definitely unexpected. Flattering, I suppose, but never saw that one coming.


Gratitude 172
I am so glad I decided to take fencing. It is so sweet!! I can't wait till I get my sword! Muahaha! Right now, we are working on footwork, aka What-you-need-to-know-before-I-give-you-a-weapon 101. Thank you, 11 years of ballet for grace, proper posture, and pliés...although my thighs are a little wavering under the pressures of many pliés after not dancing for four years...

One day, I will be in an opera and be required to do a fencing scene on stage...and I'll know how to do it! Yay! (The city's opera company is doing Romeo et Juliette next month, and Elise, one of the vocal professors at the conservatory, is singing Stefano and is learning how to fence for a scene right now. Sweet!)

A Package from Hungary!

Gratitude 171
I arrived back to my apartment this morning after Theatre class, scheduling a babysitting time for Barb's kids, and a little chat with Lynn to find a package from the lovely Sun Xing in my mailbox. How exciting! It was a 2010 planner...in Hungarian! Oh, boy! I gave her a quick ring to thank her. She told me that it is to force me to keep learning Hungarian. haha! I kid you not, it is really in Hungarian; each day has a paragraph about something that happened that day. I apparently have my work cut out for me... haha! ;)


Final dress rehearsal for Iolanthe tonight. Nervous. Only my fourth time on the stage and second time with the orchestra. It'll be okay...let's just pray it goes better than Tuesday's teetering train. Lynn, being such a dear, is coming to observe the rehearsal for my reassurance. Thank you, in advance, Lynn! :)

P.S. I promise pictures of me in my Bo Peep-esque display to come soon...I left my camera cord at home, so I have to wait till Mom and Dad bring it on Saturday. Till then, just imagine me in a wig that looks very much like my hair, only darker and actually styled, a skirt that has to easily have 4 or more yards of fabric in each layer...and there are three layers, a cute little bonnet with some peculiar sprigs of grass-like substance sprouting out the back, and lots of pink and white.

Laughs...and truths, compliments of my dear friend Matty! ;)

My friend Matt sent me this email from his uncle filled with random thoughts. Just the sort of light-hearted humor needed right now. Enjoy!

• I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.
• More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.
• Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.
• I don't understand the purpose of the line, "I don't need to drink to have fun." Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they've invented the lighter?
• I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.
• The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This recently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never be ending a work email with the phrase "Regards" again.
• There is a great need for sarcasm font.
• Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the f*** was going on when I first saw it.
• How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
• I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.
• Was learning cursive really necessary?
• Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say."
• Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart," all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart."
• How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?
• While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.
• MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.
• Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.
• I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.
• Bad decisions make good stories.
• Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!
• If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.
• Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from; this shouldn't be a problem....
• You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.
• Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.
• There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.
• I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.
• I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Darnit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?
• I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.
• When I meet a new girl/guy, I'm terrified of mentioning something she/he hasn't already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.
• I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.
• Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.
• I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.
• Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.
• I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.
• I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

Smile.

Smile, though your heart is aching.
Smile, even though it's breaking.
When there are clouds in the sky you'll get by.
If you smile through your pain and sorrow,
Smile and maybe tomorrow,
You'll see the sun shining through for you.
Light up your face with gladness.
Hide every trace of sadness.
Although a tear may be ever so near,
That's the time you must keep on trying.
Smile, what's the use of crying?
You'll find that life is still worthwhile...if you just smile.

This is my week. Already...and the journey started on a Sunday. In the movie I saw the other night, they kept going on about it being bad luck to start a journey on a Sunday. Oh, dear. Well, then, I guess I must say, "En garde, week!"

Gratitude 170
Monday mornings this semester are very gratefully lazy mornings. Not rushed to leave or go anywhere till after lunch, so I can take my leisurely time getting ready, catching up on neglected or unfinished work, and running errands if need be. :)

The Luck o' the Irish

Gratitude 169

We had a rush party for SAI last night, and we went to see Leap Year at the movie theatre. AH! SOOO good!!! It was seriously an AWESOME movie. And...(I'm sure as no news to anyone)...I want to go to Ireland. A lot. I am Irish after all. I think it'd be class! They used some Irish idioms in the film, too, and thanks to my friends Hilary and Clare, the Irish girls I studied with Hungary, I knew what they meant! :)

Baklava!

Gratitude 168

After dress shopping (only Tiffany found a dress...but it is gorgeous!), Katie and I decided to take an adventure to The Mad Greek, and it was the BEST decision ever! :) Greek food is so delicious! Souvlaki, gyros, feta cheese, that awesome cucumber garlic yogurt dip/sauce, baklava! YUM! The restaurant was so cute on the inside, too! I really want to visit Greece. Hopefully soon! ;)

Coconut does not go down the garbage disposal.

Actually, will not is probably the better word. That was life lesson #5,782 of the day...don't trust your roommate when he/she tells you that pouring the shredded cocunut that was decoration on top of a kool-aid punch down the drain will be fine. It's not. And it causes a small tsunami effect in your kitchen sink...that gets worse if the dishwasher is also running.

Gratitude 167
Thank you, Dad, for answering the phone and talking me through how to fix the sink. Oh, the things you learn! You guys have taught me how to be way too handy and self-sufficient...and I have to thank you for that. Country smarts do come in handy...even in the city! haha! ;)


Rehearsal and then going over to Katie's tonight. Recital dress shopping with Katie and Tiffany tomorrow afternoon! :)

Overactive Imagination:

Run away.

I have told my mom this on many occasions -- all of her children have the character flaw of making up the most tragic scenarios in our heads and convincing ourselves they are true...when there is no actual evidence or even truth to the ideas. For example, we misread someone's reaction or comment and explode it into something astronomically out of proportion.

This is me. Especially during this whole Iolanthe business. It is a terrible flaw. It always increases my anxiety and makes me judge myself so much more than ever. Self-doubt. And the worst part is that all of this is the silliest, stupidest thing to ever think.

The irony: after coming home from rehearsal this evening, I found this on my computer:

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. You have to agree that you are less and that someone else is more to feel inferior. If you don't agree, you can not possibly feel inferior. You might know something less, or you might be able to do something less, but you ARE unique and hence simply incomparable. Do not buy into being reduced to an object of comparison."

I don't know what to think about this, so I'll just let it be for now.

Gratitude 166
In my lesson today, I sang probably 20 or so high C's while we took apart "Chi il bel sogno di Doretta," and although it was tiring, it was pretty sweet and all with ease. A simple thing to be thankful for, but just a few years ago, I couldn't...and wouldn't dare...do even one high C...and now, that has become not even that high...we're onto D's, E's, and F's. Muahaha! Even despite the sinus infection, we accomplished quite a bit today. Lynn kept forgetting I was even sick. Silly, lady! :)

N High St.:

The longest street ever!!!!! Seriously. It goes on till the horizon. I took an adventure this morning on the - *gulp* - COTA bus. And you know what? I don't know why I have had some absurd fear against it. It's no different than any other city in the world. I always found it silly that I would, without much hesitation, trapse around a foreign country but freaked out about Ohio. Stupid, I know. However, it takes freaking FOREVER to get from Point A to Point B on the bus here. So my quick adventure across town turned out to be a three-hour adventure. And it was all rather ridiculous.

The whole reason for the road trip was to meet with Jim Unger to go through some Hungarian music for the Hungarian music recital I have been asked to perform on at the beginning of March. Such a quirky old man! haha! He was so kind, though, and a brilliant musician. He wanted me to look at this one aria but couldn't find it, so he was buzzing around the music room at his house - fully outfitted with a gorgeous Steinway grand piano! - looking for the book. (He never did find it.) I will be singing 5 Kodály folk song arrangements and then the 2 pieces Q has composed for me.

Last night, we moved Iolanthe rehearsals to the Lincoln Theatre downtown. It is a pretty cool space, however, it is very much acoustically dead. :( I didn't get a chance to sing in it, myself, last night, but we'll make it work somehow. It's a big step up in the world to be performing downtown! :)

Gratitude 165
Thank you, DayQuil for making it possible for me to muster through the day despite feeling like crap. Sinuses, please go away.

Snot that unusual

Woke up this morning with a lovely sinus infection. Of course, that would happen. All the greats have said it: "You're only sick because you have to sing." Alas, I have a very minimal cushion to get well, so extra vitamins, some antibiotics, lots of water, hand santizer, and a box or two of kleenex, and I'll be fine in a couple of days. Hopefully, I can kick out of me really quickly; I think I caught it soon enough.

My director: no panic in his eyes. Me: walking the edge of panic. However, panicking never helps the situation. So...I am going to try to keep it underwraps and muster through it. I will sing.


Gratitude 164
Pink lemonade slushies. And limeade ones, too. Actually, pretty much any type of fruit slushie. :)

T'ai Chi

Gratitude 163
For Christmas, I got a little T'ai Chi kit with a DVD and such in it. Yesterday, I pulled it out and popped it into the DVD player...that thing is SO COOL!! hehe! ;) I'm a T'ai Chi freak now. It is so relaxing! I am supposed to be taking lessons with my yoga instructor's husband, but I haven't had time to set up a time yet...after the opera probably...


Last night, I had a lovely dinner at the Rusty Bucket with Sarah and then dance party at Katie, Caitie, and Bryan's with pretty much the same crew that hung out at my place Friday night. Delicious dinner. And the dance party was pretty hysterical. :) We rocked out to everything from Beyonce to Michael Jackson. (Even though we're classically-trained musicians, we have some eclectic music collections!)

High Society

A million hours of rehearsal last night scattered with short tempers (myself included), but we survived. Despite all the frustrations, though....

Gratitude 162
During our dinner break, I went to Giuseppe's (the Italian restaurant around the corner from my apartment) with my friends Anthony and Kelly. The three of us are quite the crowd...laughter always ensues. Over dinner, the three of us also decided we are going to move to New York and share a flat. And before we do that, Kelly and I are going to go live in England for a little bit. haha! Oh, the silliness I dream up for my life. High society. Then, after rehearsal, Anthony, Kelly, Katie, Bryan, and Tiffany came to my apartment for a few hours to hang out. We gossiped and chatted over a glass or two of wine. A splendid evening. :)

Gratitude 161

Coffee with Kristin this morning. (She just got back from Hungary.) It was wonderful hearing all of her stories and trading experiences.


I'm taking fencing this semester! Eek! Had my first class today. It was only introductory stuff. This is going to be exciting! And I get my own sword! Muahaha! ;)

Gratitude 160

I am thankful for peppermint oil. Oh, how it has saved my life this week relieving my headaches. Actually, I am going to extend this to all things peppermint...yay for leftover candy canes! :)

Gratitude 159

During Iolanthe rehearsal this afternoon, Todd, the facilities manager at the conservatory, came in prancing across that back of the stage like a fairy and then left. Fantastic! haha! We applauded for an encore, but he never returned. That moment is now certainly in my books of hysterical moments from my undergrad years! ;)

A Taste of Hungary

Gratitude 158
The girls who spent last semester in Hungary at the Kodály Institute have returned, and Kristin brought me back a Milka chocolate bar and a little bottle of pálinka. :) I am super excited. Köszönöm szépen! AND...I got to talk to my dear friend Sun Xing (who is still at the Institute) on Skype for over an hour and a half this afternoon! :)

Semester: 8

Impossible? Seemingly. But I will surmount it. Somehow.

My last semester of undergrad is now underway. Exciting? I suppose. Unnerving? Most definitely. It came up all too quickly, and it is hard to believe I am nearly finished with my Bachelor degree.

Day 1 did not exactly begin so smashingly, as I wasn't in the best of spirits. I hid in bed this after 10am, and then I could do so no longer. I had to get up and face the day at some point. My first class was not till 1pm, but I left to run some errands around campus before that. Talked with Lynn for awhile, too, and she cheered me up a bit.

So...I had one class and choir scheduled for the day, and what happens for my first class? Of course, I don't read the fine print to see that they changed the location and showed up at the wrong room in the wrong building...4 years of scheduling, you'd think I'd know better. Needless to say, I had to go to the next building and then find the room, and my allotment of time so I would be "on time" ended up making me late. Brilliance.

I had rehearsals from 4pm till after 9pm with a short break for dinner. Spilled ziti on my sock. (I know, that one takes talent, right? haha!) And I was just tired. I didn't start my day till really 1pm, but it just seemed like it went on forever.

Didn't see Chad at all during the day but ran into him on my way back to my apartment for dinner. He had a rougher day. (Is that proper grammar, "rougher"? Or, perhaps, it is supposed to be "more rough"?) Poor guy!

Gratitude 157
The day ended splendidly, though, watching an old episode of The Big Bang Theory (I love that show!) and before that, with a small glass of wine and girl chats with my Katie and Caitie...and the occasional aside comment from Bryan. haha! :) I love those guys! They brighten my life. I have many blessings in my life and shouldn't complain because I really do have it good. Lucky. I'm just frustrated with my cards right now that seem to be glued facedown to the table in front of me.


Oh, and I passed Music 498 (turning in 16 specific and required programs that you had to collect throughout your four years) on the first day of school. Yay! First and last day for that class...although it isn't a class that ever meets...just a transcript and graduation requirement. But it's done! :)

And...Caitie lent me books 3 and 4 of Twilight! Eek! Muahaha! (Suffice it to say, I stayed up a little later than I should have reading the beginning of the third one! Oops!)

The weirdest class assignment I have ever received

Okay, first I have to say that I made Trader Joe's cornbread tonight, and it looks pretty cool when you pour milk into oil...it's like this blob suspended in the oil. Not sure why I found that so fascinating...little amusement the past couple of days.

Second, today I received my first class assignment for the semester...even though classes do not begin until Monday. Because my poetry class is a night class, I cannot attend it until after the opera, so my professor struck a deal with me. I have to make YouTube videos of three songs that are settings of particular English poetry. Cool, but this shall be interesting. Don't know how I'm going to do this yet, since I have never done such a thing, but I am sure I can figure it out.


So...I got to thinking today. (I know, scary...) What do you do when you are unsure of what you really want anymore? And what if Plan A falls through? Where's Plan B? What is Plan B? My creativity, my imagination...they're gone, and I seem to be numb to it all. My voice just makes sound. Pretty or not, it means nothing without the emotion, connection, and portrayal. I have become a puppet. I know the issues I need to work through but not the time or resources to devote to it in order to handle them properly. Is any of this really worth it? Perhaps, I shouldn't have watched that episode of Will and Grace this morning where Jack auditions for a Broadway show and finds out he really does suck after all. I feel like pig-nose Penelope when she says she keeps moving but goes nowhere. A dear friend once told me that the biggest sin, however, is in not using the gifts you've been given. I know, I am not myself right now, and apparently, I have the inability to hide that in any aspect of my life, despite any facade I place. Nem jó.

Also, I realized today that I have fears like Bella in Twilight: not afraid of the things she really should be, like being eaten by vampires, but by the little stupid things, like acceptance or walking without tripping over herself. That's me. Minus the vampire business, of course.


Got my hair cut this afternoon. Just a trim. Looks the same as usual, just shorter.

Gratitude 156
I love getting my hair washed at the salon. Scalp massages are the best. :)

I'm going to write a novel.

I haven't figured out about what, but think about it: one top-selling book, and you're set. Then, you get a movie deal, and you're really set. Then, you write a daily blog about it and get another movie deal. Sounds good to me!

Gratitude 155

I am thankful for hi-speed internet connections. :)


Back at my apartment now. The only opening in the storm to get back safely. Grand total of snow since Saturday, according to the news, is 57 inches! At school: maybe 3 inches, give or take an inch or two. Such a change. My parents and I were at Red Robin for dinner tonight when we got into town, and we heard the employees talking about the "big snow storm," and all we could do is laugh. Possible accumulation total estimated: 3-5 inches. Oh, my! haha!

Rehearsals begin Friday. Classes, Monday. A little frustrated with life. And I can't find my other set of rope lights now that I have a cool idea of how to hang them. Argh!

Snowed In!

Just how much snow there really is:

I wasn't even touching the ground yet...I was standing on a compacted bed of ice and snow.

What can still be seen of the dog house in the backyard.

This is/was my sister's car.

Becca and I took a venture out into it...a lap around the house that left us huffing and puffing from the effort to push through the endless layers of snow, a climb to the top of "snow mountain," and being toppled by snow and then more snow. And it is STILL coming down. It's been snowing for 3 days straight now.

"It's wood-carryin' day."

...Or so my dad announces Sundays as the day he carries wood into the basement for the furnace. Every few days, he makes the statement, and as Sunday nears, it becomes every few hours.

Snowed in. It's a blizzard out there. I don't mind...I love the snow...but it shall pose an interesting challenge as to whether or not it will allow me to return to school mid-week to prepare for and then have rehearsals. Till that problem arises, we're contenting ourselves at home. Watching movies, making trouble (muahaha!), creating some mess my sisters decided to call chili...I just stirred...they kept dumping things in...never letting them help me make chili again..., building an army of mini snowmen on the front porch, and reading...my sister handed me her copy of Twilight last week, and that was the end of that. I have been completely addicted. On book two. Eek! This stuff is crazy but so good! (However, it doesn't top Harry Potter.)

New Year's celebrations were nothing super spectacular. Same events as usual pretty much. A little wine, sambuca, and much ridiculousness to bring in 2010. (5 months to figure some of my life out...)


Gratitude 154
I love how most of Christmas gifts are pretty, yet have some sort of functionality to them. Perfect. Now, I don't feel so bad about adding them to the amount of stuff I have at my apartment. ;)