Finally...an update!

I am so awful at posting these past few weeks! I apologize for yet another hiatus! There have been many ups and downs the past couple weeks, all summing up that technology is literally out to do me in! Not even joking.

Okay...so here's the low-down:

Applications all submitted! (And even a CD sent over to Hungary for Janos.) Woot! Now, just the dreadful waiting process to see what is to come.

ArtsApp is stupid. (Online submission portfolio to send your recordings to schools. Seriously doesn't work and cause of many headaches.)

Skyped with Quinton last week! I seriously miss Hungary! :(

Got to go home for Thanksgiving! A whole 3 days! Crazy, I know. ;)

Xander is totally ridiculous. Quite the personality going on there.

New computer! It's fuschia! Ooooh! haha! ;)  (This, of course, means I'm broke...again...blah!)

Christmas lights hung in my apartment. :)

Oh, yes...it is officially the Christmas season! Yay Christmas music! ...But where's my snow?!

My Christmas list is pretty pathetic...it's sad how filled with needs it is...and that I want these things that I need.

Today, I was looking at old picture CDs...wow, does my family have some ridiculous expressions! haha! Can you seriously just look at some of these, please (except my family probably won't appreciate it the publicity of these...hehe!):

Seriously, I wish I remembered exactly what happened in each of these situations to promote such expressions...and how the camera had to catch that exact moment. Makes for some pretty good laughter later, though! haha! ;)


Gratitude 287
So...Quinton composed another piece for me last week. While we were on Skype, he asked me to open the Bible randomly and give him a verse; it landed on Psalm 142. In my email last night, I received the completed 5-page work for soprano and organ. Today, I got to look at it...I seriously LOVE this piece! Not to toot his horn, but it is really good. Each piece he's written for me has topped the previous one. This "Muse" is loving it. And what's more incredible is the fact that he magically creates things that fit perfectly in my voice. Upon first glance at them, they look ridiculous and impossible with their extreme ranges (bottom--and sometimes below--the staff and up a 6th above the staff over just a few measures), but the first read-through confirms that it was tailored just for me (and optional notes for whoever else may one day sing them! haha!). I don't know how he does it...and he's even 6000 miles away from me currently, so he hasn't been around me or my voice for months! 

Gratitude 286

Putting together/wearing artsy outfits. :) I don't know why, but this seems to have become my "creative outlet," but on days when I have to work, I don't get to do this...so there end up being days like today when I spend two hours getting ready...while I should actually be doing something productive. haha! (I seriously need to get a life apparently!)


Recording in one week! Eek! Excited, nervous, anxious. Just want it done and done well. :) For now, I am just trying to keep the voice under control and even. (Not that you probably cared to know, but the sinus drainage has caused a flare-up in my LPR. Awesome. Another thing to try to counteract. Why do I have to be a hot mess health-wise?! It's the graduate school application curse!)

I'm ready for a big move in my life. It's time. There comes a point when you need to step beyond your comfort walls. It has become something of a normalcy in my life to do that, constantly push those boundaries. Without that, I would not be who I am; I would not grow. There's also something to be said that once you travel, life is never the same. And the yearning to travel, again, is always within you.

I've been thinking a lot over my trip this past summer. How I miss the lifestyle I had those two weeks. How I've been longing for all the things you hate about travel while it's happening: airports, rushing from gate to gate, lugging around your suitcase cursing yourself out for still packing too much, not knowing where or how to get from where you are to where you need/want to be, wearing the same clothes...yet again, another shared room in a hostel, ambiguity...  The curiosity of what marvel could be down the next winding, cobblestone street. Sipping wine at a cafe while people-watching. Practicing (aka fumbling through) my broken knowledge of the languages. And how I feel I probably didn't embrace my time abroad as fully as I could've/should've. Silly anxiety, I know. I've been so lucky to travel as I have. It sucks, though, to have no idea when, if, or how the opportunity may arise, again. (I'm clearly addicted to travel! I need my fix!)

However, a new American adventure awaits me. Chicago? Boston? I don't know which it will be. That's God's choice once those recordings are posted to the schools and the outcomes of whatever auditions I may receive. Que será, será...

I'll leave you with a few fun things I found today:

 

AND...Lady Gaga was mentioned in this month's issue of Opera News. Yes, I've seen it with my own eyes. In an article written by Brian Kellow, he says, 

"'Diva' has become one of the most misused and over-used words in the vernacular, but I'm about to give in and accept it, just I've damned near given in and accepted the horrible use that's made of "hope...fully" and "access," everywhere from the conversations you overhear at your corner bar to the anchors; desks at CNN. The word belongs most correctly to the pop world - is there any question that Lady Gaga (who has one of the best voices I've ever heard) embodies divadom more completely than anyone currently working in opera? (Yes, Miss Gheorghiu - I see that your hand is up, but I'm not going to call on you.)..."

Gratitude 285

Tonight at home church (aka Bible study), we had a huge dinner beforehand. YUM! So much deliciousness. (I didn't know it was happening until about 2 hours prior!)  Pretty much made my night. :) Saturday night, I get to go to part of the retreat they are having this weekend, too. (Unfortunately, I have to work all day/night Friday and Saturday during the day, so I don't get to go for the whole weekend...but at least I found out tonight I can make some of it!) 

Tomorrow = crazy day of babysitting and work. :(  I'll get through it, though. ;)

I must be easily spooked lately. I don't know why because I don't do the whole scary movie, creepy Halloween deal; I do the silly, cute, funny Halloween deal. On Saturday, though, I was organizing one of the freezers at work and must of scraped the ice with one of the packages. However, I thought my coworker had sneaked up behind me, trying to scare me, and I spooked myself...I literally jumped back and screamed...while there was a whole store-full of people. Oh, geez! Then, today, I was walking into the conservatory, humming, and thinking about Lynn (you can see the window to her office as you walk up to the building). I opened the door, and there stood Lynn, who was walking out. I am not exactly sure what I exclaimed in that moment, but it was a really funny scenario...after the spook factor. haha!