Time zone change, a cat intrigued by a laser pointer, zing zang singing, Mozart, and endearing people

I am forcing myself to sit down and write a post because procrastinating about it only makes more to remember that I want to write!

I wish I had some sort of epic tale to tell of my latest travels, but they were really quite mellow on the adventure scale. And you know what? I'm okay with that! This trip's focus was: relax and keep the voice fresh and tension-free, visit with my Katie and Bry Bry, visit the school, meet endearing people, AUDITION, Katie's opera, wine. ;) Sadly, there are no lovely photos to accompany this post, as I STILL can't find my camera battery charger...this is getting irritating! And the campus there is just so beautiful, so I am very sorry I was unable to get some artistic photography out of this trip. :(

I arrived in Chi-Town Wednesday evening and made it out to Katie and Bryan's in time to have some quick pizza and zip off to the final dress for the school's opera, The Magic Flute. It was not Katie's cast, so we just watched. The director had no idea who this random girl was with Katie. I caught him staring at me a few times, and you could just see his head reeling with, "Who is that? I think I've seen her before. Am I supposed to know this person?" etc. haha! I just love bewildering people! Esp. when I know who they are, but they aren't sure if they know me. Of course, he'd seen me before; he watched the prescreening DVDs. Good times. ;)

Wednesday was errands day, brunch at Le Peep (yum!), a bit of practicing, and relaxing. We ran into Sunny Joy (the teacher I took a lesson with when I visited in December), and she was so excited that I was auditioning and promised to be there the next day. I met many of the students in the voice dept. and got to hear many of them sing, which was so great. Most everyone was so nice and happy to chat and get to know a new face about town. Many so humble despite the enormous amount of talent. :)

Katie had a performance that night, so I was left with the apartment to myself...except for Carmen, their cat, who was obsessed with a laser pointer. Every time I put it down, she freaked until I got it back out. Oh, man! haha! Only thing that would keep her from jumping all over me; I'm quite allergic to cats. A relaxing bubble bath, face mask, tea, Gnomeo and Juliet (quite ridiculous but entertaining), and an overall quiet evening.

Friday was audition day. Pretty dress, pretty hair, pretty makeup, glitzy jewelry, a bit of Anastasia music while getting ready, and I was set to go wow them with some crystal high notes. ;) I don't know how, but I was warming up to high F#s like they were nothing for some obscure reason. I'll take it! And now enter the ridiculous irony of my life...

Pam, one of the voice faculty, came out to usher me into the audition room, and instead of a typical "Hello," I was greeted with an exclamation of where my home town is and that she grew up a mere 20 minutes from my country bumpkin small town. Say what?! Yes, it's true. The people I meet and the connections they have to my life are mind-blowing! haha! How are these things actually possible?? It was pretty adorable, though. (And just yet another ironic connection for me to that school...) 

My audition time slot was very generous there...3:40pm, but they were running behind, so I didn't sing for them till about 4pm. Prime singing time! ;) I feel it went rather well. Not perfect by any means, but well done and tension-free tessitura. Also, what piece did they choose? Of course, the Hungarian! haha! Sunny was unfortunately late that day, and did not make it in to my audition. However, I walked out of the room to find her standing right in front of my face; she'd walked up two seconds after the door closed and was going to go in, but the piano started playing then. So instead, she listened through the door with Katie. ;) I am very thankful for both of their support throughout that weekend...and Katie being my lady-in-waiting the whole day. It meant a lot to me (Gratitude 319). :)

And as for the results of this audition and Boston's...che sera, sera...I'll know in a couple of weeks...and till then, I'm apt to be a bit off-kilter and a little more stressed. I must remember, though, that it is in God's hands now.

Friday evening was filled with some wine, Mad Libs, Carol Burnett videos on YouTube, a bit of silliness, and receiving the completed music video from our video shoot a couple of weeks ago! It can currently be found here. Oh, man! It is fantastically cheesy. Gotta love it!

Saturday, I had a meeting at the university and then just dilly-dallying. Dinner with the McGookeys and the opera. A little get-together at their apartment with hor d'oeuvres and wine. :)

Sunday was back to Ohio...and a grumpy Samantha! :/  Hopefully back to wonderful Chi-town, again, in the near future! Such a lovely town! ;) Time to get back to work and on to whatever is next. Besides, I think Geri might have gone crazy if I'd stayed away longer! hehe! Regional NATS Competition this Saturday. Oooh Bowling Green. Not a fan of that place, but it is what it is...and another 9:30am audition slot...goody! haha! Just another chance to perform and put myself in an audition setting...always good practice, since this is my life!

Cheers!

Chicago: T-Minus 2 Days!

Wednesday morning, I'm off to Chicago for audition adventures round two. Life, as of late, has been pretty mellow...for me, that is. Not too eventful , just total craziness and spinning around in circles. Per usual...except for that time Barb related my Puccini aria to a Nora Roberts novel...minus the mystery...during a 2-hour coaching session on Saturday...haha! ;)

Amazingly, I am not super stressed somehow. Hmm...this must be an "improved" Samantha. (Must be all those European vibes coming my way...Everywhere I go anymore, I randomly run into Hungarians! And a few Austrians, too. No joke. This seriously is a small, small world!) People I spent a fair amount of time have been telling me a lot recently that they don't believe I am melodramatic; that they find me a "super chill" person. Huh?! Alrighty then! If you say so.

However, this constant line of commentary about this subject has brought me to observing my behaviors more often, and they may be somewhat right. I overreact...a lot!...and just plain blow things way out of proportion. But most of my "melodrama" is me just being ridiculous...and I know it; I typically do it intentionally (probably just because I find it humorous! haha!). Quite interesting.

Now, though, it is on to packing for my next travels. I love traveling! I can't wait till I get to do this all the time! However, I really need to stop procrastinating on this packing thing... ;)

Gratitude 318
Colin Firth as the most perfect Mr. Darcy! Ah! Yes, I spent five hours of my life this weekend watching BBC's production of Pride and Prejudice. Worth it? Duh! The young Mr. Firth: gorgeous! And his portrayal of the character Mr. Darcy: so subtle in demeanor, yet absolutely spot on! Watch it. It certainly is long, but I don't think you'll be sorry for having spent the time. ;)

Also, every time I watch/read that story, there are some characters I just want to punch in the face. Probably the 21st century woman in me speaking, but seriously, get over yourself, Mrs. Bennet, Mr. Collins, and various others of those loony women! Perhaps, I am just very strong-willed like Elizabeth...

"My courage always rises with every attempt to intimidate me." ~Elizabeth Bennet

Gratitude 317

The rare Friday night when I find myself in pj pants, plopped on the couch, watching movies, and doing nothing else! Sure, there were many things I should have done, but nothing of urgent necessity. ;)

P.S. Happy Birthday, Mom! 

Gratitude 316

Dove chocolates. :)

Oh, have I got some stories for you!

Tonight, I quit my job. Okay, so one of my jobs. (Well, actually I technically only put in a "two weeks notice of resignation," but still!) I finally reached a point where I just couldn't take it anymore. The fact that my practicing is becoming a distant memory thanks to this whole "trying to get ahead" business is a MAJOR issue in my world. And let's just face it: No one ever "gets ahead," especially in this career. You just gotta learn to go with it. Liberty and the pursuit of happiness...I feel like one of the weights suppressing my life has been lifted. (And never you fret, It certainly was not the bakery job! I heart my Cherbourg family!) 

And now for the REAL exciting stories! Muahaha!

Gratitude 315
For this to make any sense at all, you need a setup of the scene...
A contest entry project for a summer traveling around the world on someone else's buck. Ingenious gay best friend and "resident composer". Ridiculous soprano (aka me). Mastermind of videography. Three ball gowns (worn by me the entire time). A one-minute arrangement of 8 arias with text created in 7 languages. Very bad lip-syncing (clearly, I'm a live singing kind of girl!). Super cheesy acting. The bakery. A tent vs. kayak in Dick's Sporting Goods. The escalators of H&M. The wine aisle of Kroger. Confused yet? hehe! ;)

Yesterday, Q, myself, and our new friend JD spent half the day going all over the city, shooting a music video. Yes, that's right. A music video. It is for an application for a world internship, where I would spend the whole summer traveling around the world, blogging, photographing, etc....for FREE! Sign me up! To sum up this escapade in one word: FABULOUS! Best Saturday in quite awhile, and I'm still laughing about it all! ;)

We started out on the stage in the conservatory for our opening sequence. Very "serious" and all. Then, it was off to the bakery in my red ball gown and white satin gloves rolling out dough and displaying cakes in a very Chinese commercial-esque way. So cheesy! Next, we made our way to a shopping center...where the real madness began...  It's pretty fantastic the scene that a girl in a (now purple) ball gown being followed around by a "camera crew" and lip-syncing to an ipod tucked in the back of her dress and hidden in her hair can cause. Love it! Oh, the looks we got!!! (Certainly was also a test of how much I obviously don't care what others think...most of the time...) It was like a flash mob scene or something. The people stopping and staring or walking by with the most absurdly perplexed looks on their faces...cracks me up! Q had the best laughs watching them.

The best scene happened in H&M, where we "borrowed" the escalators. While Q was pretending to shop and plotting deploys, JD went down one escalator while I went up the other, crisscrossing with the video camera. We did this like 20 times. A kid's dream! haha! People just kept looking like, "What the hell are they doing?! Why is she in a fancy dress? Why does he have a camera?" Ahahaha! Awesome! Then there's Q, who was watching the employees and listening to them talking over there headsets, saying, "Do you see this?! What's going on? What are they doing?" The manager came running over as we got off the escalators for the last time. Pretty sure one or two takes more, and security would have detained us...

The madness didn't stop there. No, no. It was only beginning. Dick's Sporting Goods was our next stop. Our thoughts were the rock-climbing wall or a kayak. Sadly, the rock-climbing wall no longer exists, so we moved on to the kayaks, which were all stacked up. We were seconds away from actually taking one down and using it, but we chickened out. (Okay, Q and I did...if JD had had his way, we would have done it.) I seriously have never seen so many employees in a store surrounding EVERYWHERE. Geesh! We were so nervous about the whole thing. I was legit scared and ready to just forfeit this location, but the boys overruled. So instead, we set up in an aisle, Q took stance as interceptor, and I climbed into a tent, hiding out till the coast was clear. Totally ridiculous! Completely hilarious! Two takes and we split before a huge scene broke out. After that, we decided we could get away with anything, so...

We went to Kroger for the wine aisle shoot. Small detail we neglected to remember: they moved that aisle to next to the customer service/security/check-out area. Oh, my! Now in a black glittery gown and a feathered mask, video camera "smuggled" in a shopping basket, there is obviously nothing suspicious about our behavior! ;) Some guy and his little daughter started walking that way, and he diverted her to get out of the way, and instead of being the slightest bit concerned about the entire scene, he instead asked Q about what type of camera JD was using. Seriously?! This whole day couldn't have gotten anymore insanely hilarious!

That was a wrap, and I'll be most absolutely certain to post the end result when the editing is complete. (Should be sometime later this week!) The whole filming scenario probably isn't as funny to people who weren't literally there, but hopefully the above gave you at least a few chuckles. ;) Oh, how I wish we'd had a camera crew following us as we filmed, like behind-the-scenes footage. That would be even more hysterical to watch!!!

Wrapping Up Take 1 of February Audition Adventures

Saturday, my last day in Boston, was a fairly mellow day. I slept in till 9am and felt much more rested than on my audition day. *sigh* Oh, well. It happens. Of course, more rest adds to vocal quality, but it still went well regardless and regardless of whatever outcome, also. ;)

I made an adventure out to Where'd-everything-go-ville of Boston. haha! The Sam Adams Brewery is a bit out there, but it was pretty and a lovely little walk around. I picked up tickets for Betsy and me and then found a little pub for lunch.

All I have to say is: Sam Adams Brewery Tour...best decision EVER! That was so cool! I'll just throw it straight out there: for American beer, Sam Adams is probably the best. I highly recommend this free tour if you are ever in the Boston area...and like beer. ;) Betsy and I were standing right where they shoot the commercials, our guide was a hoot with a pretty sweet job, and, of course, free beer samples. New discovery: Sam Adams Brick Red. Yum! But sadly, it is only available via draft in Boston. :( Happy day that I got to sample it. Sad day that you can't find it in Ohio. Lame! Extra special treat whenever I'm visiting Boston, though!

It started raining late afternoon on Saturday, which made my allergies go berserk. Blech! But, oh well. Betsy, a couple of her friends, and I met up at John Harvard's Tavern in Harvard Square for dinner and drinks to wrap up my stay in Beantown. I definitely have to say that, thanks to my fellow Irish peeps, Boston does pub food right. However, four days in a row of that stuff = not so healthy eating. I did get my omega-3s from all the haddock...haha! 

My overall impression of Boston (esp. as a potential city in which I may soon live): Although it is the oldest city in the U.S., it is a really "young" city. With the ridiculous number of colleges and universities in the city, there are masses of 20-somethings. It's also quite casual and chill. Boston in February is yucky weather. Cambridge is pretty awesome but super expensive. There's a bit of sticker-shock with price tags everywhere. Great seafood. Even though there is so much American history in this city, it is such an international place; everywhere you go, it's like little pieces of Europe or always different languages being spoken. I just don't get bus systems...in any city...but subways I get. The subway there actually reminded me a lot of Budapest or Munich. I think every city should have a subway system. ;)

This is what the intelligent students of Cambridge do when it snows. haha! Actually, the best display was on Harvard's Radcliffe College lawn...snow forts all set for a snow renegade! Yes!

Gratitude 313
I thoroughly enjoyed not being governed by a cell phone during my time abroad, however, I cannot deny how wonderful it was to be traveling somewhere and having that source of communication with me. (Clearly, I haven't done very much domestic travel, since it threw me for a loop that my phone would still have reception the whole time I was away!) My friend Chris asked me as we were talking on the phone trying to locate each other (we'd each walked the opposite direction on the same street and wondered why we didn't see each other! haha!), "What did people do before cell phones? How did we ever survive without them?" We all remember time before cell phones; it really wasn't that long ago. I was a senior in high school when I got my first one, so something like 5 1/2 years ago, but what did we do when we didn't have them?? Some are a little overly obsessed with the communication source; sometimes, I think we are verging on being too connected. Nonetheless, I am thankful to have this technology at our fingertips.   

(And an extra one for good measure...) 
Gratitude 314
I have realized in the past week or so just how wonderful of a support system I have. It is easy in this world, in this career, to get caught up in the ideas that you are rowing away in your own little boat, and others just give you a glancing pat on the back and a "Good for you" as they keep walking by. Some people, indeed, do just that. But then, there are those who make sure all is well every step of the way and eagerly await the next "morning report" (Lion King, anyone?!) or status update. It's true that many will never know, nor understand, it all (and some will never understand any of it), but after all, no one but yourself has an entire experience as you have had it. That's just how it is. Regardless, it is the encouragement of those dear ones that walk with you instead of by you that makes you realize that you may be on your own but not alone. Thanks, guys! I really appreciate it, and all of your support in my craziness means a lot to me. :)  

Boston Adventures

What a crazy couple of days this has been! Yesterday morning, I ventured out bright and early to the North Shore. (I didn't know that's how far out I was going...that was quite a public transport hike!) I met Heather, my accompanist, at the Wonderland stop, and we drove out to her house to rehearse. (Every time someone said "Wonderland" or I saw it written somewhere, it just made me giggle. And it certainly isn't a wonderland in Wonderland. haha!) Her student canceled their lesson that morning, so then we went to lunch in Salem at the Hawthorne Hotel. It is so pretty and cozy inside! And delicious food! :)

That adventure took quite a bit of the day. I got a quick rest in mid-afternoon before heading back out to Harvard Square for a trial lesson at the school. It was my first time actually visiting the school. My lesson was pretty awesome, despite being fatigued and still battling the effects of flying on the voice. Anna, the teacher, was such a sweetie and fun to work with. :)



I explored the school a bit and then the Square, where I found this amazing place called Tealuxe. It is a tea bar and cafe. Literally, that is all they have. Like a hundred teas. Um...Awesome! I enjoyed a small pot of tea while waiting to meet up with my friend Andrew for dinner. Five years is all a lot to catch up on!

Sucks to be this dude! :-/

This morning was my audition. 6am is far too early. Oof! I had to keep telling myself, "Keep your eyes open! Keep your eyes open," which is not a good thing when you are supposed to be concentrating on everything else! Nonetheless, I survived, and I think it went fairly well. :)

Afterward, I was sitting in the parlor/sitting room with Heather, and the dude that sang after me came in. Lo and behold...he is from Budapest. Get out! Tooooo crazy...esp. since they asked for me to sing my Hungarian piece and were so intrigued by my time spent over there. haha! AND...it gets even one better...he studied with Janos! This is a small, small world! So crazy. Janos even wrote him the recommendation letter for his application. Totally cool.

Very small sampling of the snow around here. Actually, this is extremely mild!

When all my duties at the school were through, I changed and made my way to the North End/Little Italy and Quincy/North Markets, where I wandered around in my typical exploratory fashion. ;) I was meeting up with my dear friend Chris for dinner, chats, and a bit of adventure and decompression after all the singing events were complete. It's been too long since I've seen her! I miss her in my life. Also, before meeting up with her, I was walking by Quincy Market, hanging up with her on the phone, and had an earphone from my ipod in my ear, so I didn't hear everything this newspaper dude said to me. However, I am pretty sure he said something to the fashion of, "Are you an actress? Can I be your black big daddy?" Um. No. OH, boy! That's when it's definitely time to keep on walking. haha! Wow.

Chris and I went to an Irish pub for some Sam Adams and delicious food. Mmm sweet potato fries! We spent some time walking around and then decided to call it an early night because we'd both been up since super early.

Tomorrow holds [super hopefully!!!] Sam Adams Brewery Tour and then who knows! I wanted to visit the Isabella Gardner Museum, too, but can't do everything you want all over the city in just a few days. Perhaps another trip...

Gratitude 312
Meeting up with old friends during my stay here. :)  Also, I have been super chill most of the time I've been here. This is, of course, a really good thing...and a much necessary thing, but those who know me, know that this isn't always the case. I don't really know very much why, but I'll just go with it! Actually, I think this American travel thing is pretty much a walk in the park after European travel...not so much brain power involved in understanding things, since you are not in translation/foreign language mode. haha! But I certainly, even with its added stress, love that, too!!!

Airport Attempt #2: Success!

Last night, I chilled out in comfy pants and watched [part of] Toy Story 3. Went to bed at 10:30...and then my darling friend Katie called as soon as I'd laid down. A lovely, happy surprise...but I also had an alarm set for 4:30am. I knew I wasn't going to get much sleep anyhow, so we chatted for awhile. I was later awoken in a panic by a Lady Gaga ringtone (yes, it's true) with a call from the airline. 1:10am...flight delayed. Hello, flight change #4!

Q took me to the airport at 7:30am. Flight at 9:25...to Alabama?! Actually, it was supposed to be Charlotte, NC, but my text message had said Alabama. Okaay. Before the plane came in, though, I checked in with the ticket desk about whether or not my connecting flight to Boston was even going to happen. Surprise, surprise! Canceled. haha! Schedule change #5: back to the DC plan. They told me I'd have a flight to Boston...except some had been canceled. Hmm...

Fast forward to 10:30am...landed in DC, flight status to Boston "On Time". 20 minutes later: status unknown. Swapped storm battle stories with a few fellow travelers, and one woman said she'd been on the last plane to Boston, was in the middle of the whole flight safety speech, and everyone's phone's started ringing with the automated cancellation messages. Their flight had been canceled, and they had to unboard. That sucks.

We actually boarded at noon, but no one was counting any chickens until we actually got in the air. Even then, they said there may be some circling once we got to Boston until a window opened up for us to land. I thought, watch them land us somewhere that's definitely not Boston, or worse...back to DC. Oh, man!

That flight had some patches of some of the worst turbulence I've ever experienced, which found me muttering "Hail, Mary"s under my breath while flipping mindlessly through the SkyMall magazine. (There are some pretty obscene "inventions" out there. I just don't know what this world has come to! haha!)

Alas, we landed in good ol' Massachusetts! Hallelujah! Made my way to Harvard Square via airport transport and the T (subway). When I came up to street level at the station, this was my first real view of the outside. Exhausted, tired, grumpy and so over it, I literally said out loud as I was trying to drag my suitcase through it, "Are you kidding me?! Am I serious about wanting to move here? Why?!" Snow everywhere. Seriously. Everywhere. They have no place to put it. And then it melts in places that make really deep puddles of mucky slush (which later freezes to sheer ice...and then will melt again tomorrow). Ew.

It's all good, though. Traveling, esp. in these circumstances, is overwhelming, and even more so when you are doing it on your own. But I'm a conqueror! It's gonna be grand! ;)

Gratitude 311
Tazo "Refresh" mint tea from Starbucks. I think I have found my calming device when traveling. Or any time. ;)

Early mornings every day while I'm here. *sigh* What is it with the world actually thinking it should function before 8am? haha! Rehearsal with Heather (my accompanist from Hungary...who just so happens to live in Boston now and is going to play my audition) at 9am...on the opposite side of the city. Perhaps a few very small shenanigans along my way back. Trial lesson at the school at 5. Then, dinner with a friend from high school (haven't seen him in 5 years...it's gonna be crazy weird!). I should probably find a map first...

P.S. Even with an extra night at my apartment, still no camera charger... :( 

Airport Attempt #1: Fail.

Well, I went to the airport this afternoon. All super dandy, no lines, a lovely cup of tea in a cozy Starbucks, got to the gate, and...flight delayed. Not surprising with this weather. But then I was going to miss my connecting flight, which means another trip back to the ticket counter to get it changed. This is how that went:

What's that? Boston via DC instead of Philly? Sounds good to me. Sorry, could you repeat that last portion? No flights are going into Boston? Splendid! So what are my options? Fly to Philly or DC tonight and wait till morning or go home and start over in 5am? I'll go home, thanks. That was a nice afternoon at the airport. (Actually, it was rather relaxing at that Starbucks...) I'll see you in the morning...maybe.

Soooo now I am back home with few hopes that I will be going anywhere at 5am. Maybe I'll get to Boston tomorrow? It's all up in the air, and we will just have to wait and see. No one's fault. Not mad. Just a little worry in the back of my head that I may not make it there in time if this all keeps up. It's just one of those absolutely unexplainable incredulous things that happens in my life. Would I expect anything less? Now, what would be the fun in that?! ;)

Gratitude 310
At least, the audition isn't till Friday morning, and I don't have any appointments in Boston till Thursday morning. And it really was a relaxing hour chilling out with that cup of tea. :)


P.S. Security had to run my bag twice...I thought I was going to get searched, but I didn't. I have a feeling it was the Neti pot under suspicion...haha!

And also, our electricity is now flickering. If it goes out, wouldn't that just be the icing on the cake!

Winter Travel Adventures: Take 1

Sorry for the brief lapse in posting. I have literally been home for no longer amounts of time than to shower and sleep in the past week. It's been madness!

Today, I travel to Boston for round one of auditions. Or, I am supposedly traveling to Boston tonight. I typically haven't had travel/flights scheduled during these times of the year, so this is going to be a very interesting day, I'm sure. Especially with these "crippling" winter weather storm warnings. My flight has already been canceled and rerouted to Philly. Let's see what crazy nonsense this globetrotter will inevitably get herself into in the next 18 hours... ;)

Gratitude 308
Yesterday, I found site posted on Facebook by a friend. I am lovin' it! :)

Shine Like the Sun

Some recent videos I've found also to be posted soon!