Semester 2 and...GO!

Alright, alright! I will stop this procrastinating nonsense and finally post something! (So much for that New Year's resolution! HA! How long did we honestly think that was going to last, anyhow?)

First off, apologies for the depressive last post. Not like me. But I suppose I am only human.

Gram and Pops came for a surprise visit right after that post, and that was a much welcome treat. They helped get settled into the new place and fix it up a bit. I got to take them to the see the school and show them a tiny bit around. It was extremely cold then, though! Winter storms back home kept them here a couple days longer than they planned, but I don't think they minded much. ;)

Week one of classes was a bit on the rough side...many loose ends and unanswered questions, but week two seemed to help iron some of that mess out and begin reassembling the puzzle. I have a new pianist, lessons with Jayne are going wonderfully, began teaching voice lessons for my pedagogy practicum, and although quickly demanding much of me, my classes are already on a roll. (Ornamentation and Recit may be the death of me, but I will conquer!...somehow...) My voice student is so sweet, and I think she will be fun to work with. I was like "little Jayne" when I assumed the role of "teacher" for, technically, the first official time. Going to be a learning experience, but I am actually enjoying it. I contribute my preparedness and foundation to my own education. I have been very lucky thus far to have/had the teachers, coaches, experiences, etc. that I have.

Jayne sang in a recital last Sunday...I seriously must be the luckiest girl on the planet to get to study with this woman. So talented and one of the sweetest, most down-to-earth people you'll ever meet. She sounded absolutely stunning. Like an angel. And she was so adorable afterward with I saw her to congratulate her.

My repertoire for this semester makes me smile...and some of it makes me want to run away in fear! haha! (I declared in my lesson on Thursday that I wasn't so sure I wanted to be a coloratura...but we don't get to decide that...the voice was already predestined...) Handel, Purcell, Brahms...I cannot believe I have gone this long and never before sung Brahms! AH! His melodies and harmonies are simply so beautiful that sometimes I just don't believe they are real. Mmm. Seriously. Listen to this:



And that's just a folk song setting! Gorgeous. :) Also, I can't help but think of the "Raisin Brahms" commercial every single time I open my music. Hehe!



"JOHANNES BRAHMS?!" Hahaha! I think I drive my roommate crazy when I play that, but it will always be funny! ;)

At the end of the first week of classes, my friends Francesco, Edwin, and I decided to take an adventure to the original Cheers bar for dinner. Such fun! Delicious, too!

I also received my chamber music assignment for this semester...soprano (me), harpsichord, and trumpet...and...the best part is that Jayne (my teacher) is our coach! Win! (That's kind of like getting a second voice lesson each week, since she can work with me on my technique all the while. YAY!) I am the leader, though, so that means I get all the fun of booking rooms, rehearsal times, and all those unmentioned logistics. Scheduling and coordinating various people's schedules is kind of the bane of my existence. =P However, I think it is going to be great! Jayne and I are working on picking out the rep, but it is going to be some Handel, Scarlatti, Vivaldi, and/or a bit of Bach. So good for me...but I also foresee some possible tear-shed from it. Oh, well. Che sera, sera...

P.S. Downton Abbey...I'm obsessed! So much drama! And Mr. Crawley is so gorgeous...I want him to just come marry me since he won't marry Mary! Ah, stupid girl! haha! My roommate probably gets more entertainment out of watching me watch the show than I do watching it. (Yes, I squeal, shriek, mutter obscenities to the the TV through gritted teeth, and tell the characters what I think.)

Blog Post.

As I said in my resolution, I would post at least once a week. Not feeling up to it right now, but I don't want to fall off the bandwagon so soon. And unfortunately, the additional holiday photos were left at home.

Back in Boston now. Severely homesick for some reason and never before been so much. New apartment has had a million woes already. School begins on Tuesday. I am suddenly not ready for this semester. Can I please have December back, so I can go home for a little longer? I wish it worked that way.

As for a little Sun Drop, though, I received my grades from last semester, and I got a 4.0 gpa! WOW!

For My New Year's Resolutions...

I will post on my blog at least once a week. (Seriously, I apologize for my total laziness.)

This year is going to be the year of gotta get things done! haha! It's time to really get my career foundation under way and rolling. Time to update that mess of a resume I have, get my professional website into construction phase, and start signing up for some of those "grown-up soprano" auditions. I'm going to learn tons of repertoire and memorize like never before. And maybe, I'll even give that first-year recital Jayne and I have discussed. As my dad said the other day, "Gonna open me a big can of whoop-@$$ and get things done!" haha! Let's do this, 2012! ;)

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The holidays have seemed like a bit of a blur this year. Could have in part to do with how green and warm it has been outside. No white Christmas here. It's just been different. Xander, as always, makes things pretty hilarious! (This kid is like Einstein. How is a 3-year old so ridiculously smart?!) He got a play kitchen for Christmas, and they found the old toy food that his mom and I used to play with as kids.

And I may chronologically be 24 years old, but I'm really like a 5-year old sometimes...I got the twilight ladybug star projector for Christmas...and it is kind of the coolest thing EVER! hehe! (I think Xander is jealous...)

New Year's Eve last night, my dad coaxed me to sing for the family. It may have been the three glasses of wine I'd already consumed or the monetary bribe, but five minutes of singing entertainment for forty bucks?! Yeah, I'll take that! ;)

Other than that, there's been a lot of cleaning, hanging out with Xander, pestering my little sister, baking, watching too much TV, and wearing pjs. (If people at school saw how I dress sometimes when I am at home, they'd probably be calling What Not To Wear! haha!) Not too eventful, but that's just what we all need every now and again.

Oh, yeah...and X is our new calendar boy. HA!

Rafiki's apparently been partying too much.

Happy 2012!
Cheers! :)

P.S. More holiday photos to come later...this dial-up connection is having issues loading what I ask.

The Adventures of Samantha in an Airport

Of course, something that was supposed to be a simple 6-hour endeavor would turn into 14 hours of ambiguity with ~6 additional hours than planned hanging out in the Philly airport...so I may have bought myself a sweater while trying to waste some time... hehe! (Let me tell you, that is a boring airport! Only thing really was to sit and read and resist the temptation of the wine bar located at my gate.) It wouldn't have been a day in my life if something absurd and ironic didn't happen...my flight was cancelled even when there wasn't any snow! Ha! Go figure. However, I made it home a few minutes before midnight on Wednesday. So much for paying extra to fly into the local airport...I was re-routed, and my grandparents had to drive 2 hours to come get me. Oh, well. C'est la vie. At least, I didn't have to sleep in an airport like many people that evening. ;)

I also noticed when I opened my At-A-Glance in the Boston airport waiting for my first flight that I somehow managed to book 16 days at home! How I pulled that one off, I don't know, but we'll go with it. (We'll also see if I'm not ready to pull my hair out by the end of that time...haha!) I am going to have to make sure I don't neglect the piano too much over the next two weeks, though...this soprano can't go back to Boston out of shape. Not allowed. And unfortunately, I was not booked for Christmas services this year. :-/

I promise pictures and holiday festivity reports to come early next week. :)

Merry Christmas Eve!

Thought.

Last night, I finished reading Eileen Farrell's autobiography...good and entertaining read! She certainly had one heck of a career and lived in the moment all the way. At the end of the book, she quotes the song "It Was Worth It," saying,

"'All in all, it was worth it -
Oh, that's what I'll say
To the ladies the very first day
They discover my first bit of gray.
All in all, it was worth it...'
Well - yes. It sure as hell was."

What a wonderful philosophy on living life to its fullest. :)

Off to the airport...see you on the dial-up side! ;)

Cheers! 

I AM alive! ;)

Why, hello! I have been absolutely terrible at keeping up with this blog this semester. I think my New Year's Resolution is going to be to be better at documenting my life! haha!

Well, I'm here now and much better than before! Ugh...being sick was an absolute nightmare and honestly couldn't have happened at a worse time in the semester. :( It took two weeks, two doctor appointments, and an antibiotics to get back to being myself. I think the sinus infection isn't entirely gone, though... :-/ All I have to say is that I still hold to my feelings that I HATE doctors and that I NEVER want to be sick EVER again. =P Not a fan. These past 3 weeks have been not my grandest.

My first semester of graduate school is complete (just submitted my final essay!) and [hopefully] with great success. Apparently, I don't actually receive my grades till the first week of January, which is totally lame, but whatever. I feel pretty good about all my exams and my work this semester. I have learned so much, and honestly, I feel like I struck gold coming here. I am so grateful for my wonderful voice teacher and professors, to be in such a wonderful city, and to be doing what I love. :) When I was so sick I was barely functioning, I saw just how caring and supporting my colleagues and professors are, and I am so blessed to have such people in my life. They were constantly checking on me to see how I was feeling and knew just how ill I was because I really wasn't myself and wasn't bouncing around. My diction professor wouldn't even let me climb the stairs to get a paper from his office...he made me sit downstairs, and he brought it to me! Being "miss independent," I told him I wasn't an invalid! haha! Then, because I wasn't feeling the holiday spirit because I was so out of it, he randomly started playing Christmas carols on the piano for me in diction class the next week. Oh, that crazy man! I have to thank him for that, though.

I'm certainly in the holiday spirit now, though! hehe! I am like Buddy the Elf...I walk around with a bag full of Christmas candy, which I have insisted on calling "Christmas cheer," and passing it out to people. Yes, I am totally ridiculous. But it makes people smile! And that makes me smile. :)

I have to say, though, that Christmas shopping seems to be giving me the Christmas grumps this year. :( Why is it so stressful?! It's supposed to be fun! I'm the type of person that wants to get just the right gift for each person, though, and that is actually so hard! I have been looking for Eiffel Tower stationary all over this city, and everyone looks at me like I asked them to put the moon in a jar for me. Seriously. I didn't think that Paris-themed notebooks were that bizarre of a request...they are always EVERYWHERE...except when I want them for a gift.

I fly home in TWO DAYS for the holidays!! EEEK! I really love Boston, but after these rough past few weeks, I am ready for a bit of country time, where I don't have to do everything myself for at least a few days. My stuff is almost packed...as soon as I get back to Beantown, I am moving into my new place! HALLELUJAH! (No more crazies in my life, please!) Coming back is going to be a little nomadic and probably a bit tense, but I think it will be worth it. ;) For now, though, I need to practice, copy music for my new pianist (oh, yeah...my wonderful pianist is leaving me! AH! Sad day! But, we are going to continue coaching language and such over the phone, which is really sweet of her. Plus, I also snatched up another wonderful pianist, so life is still good.), finish my Christmas shopping (fingers crossed!), and go to work tonight. Tomorrow is laundry, finishing up my packing, voice lesson, dinner with my friend Rachael, and then I am trying to persuade my friend Francesco into going to the new Muppet movie with me. Muahaha! ;)

Also, I have been dying to post this photo...

I love it! And I want those gnomes!!! hehe!

Back in Bean Town.

I had a nice holiday at home, away from most things electronic and internet. Sometimes, it's good for us to drop the gadgets and live life not glued to a newsfeed and continuous stream of emails. Now, it's back to that thing called school, work, and making a career.

I flew home last Saturday (I love Boston, but extended times away from "home" can take their toll, too...), and this morning, I caught the train back to Massachusetts. I always loved riding trains in Europe, but I'd never ridden one in the States. It's cool...but not so cool traveling for 14 hours while sick. :( Yes, unfortunately, I woke up yesterday with a fever. Ugh. Fever seems to be gone, but I still feel like crap and totally drained. However, I feel myself already pushing myself to swim through the pile of work I've neglected and ignore what my body is telling me. Good thing and also a very bad thing.

I've got a crazy next 3 1/2 weeks before my Christmas holiday. From the get-go, I am facing: sneezing, endless nose-blowing, a voice on the brink of taking its own unapproved holiday, fatigue, exhaustion, 10 songs to memorize, other misc. homework, reading assignments, and a semi-up-in-the-air work schedule. And...cue after-break panic attack. ACK! NyQuil working its way into my system, so I'm going to go pass out now...

☼Sun Drop☼
Since going off to school, I kind of forfeited my room at home, so I have sort of been a couch surfer (and let me say that we have one of the comfiest couches!). When I got home last week, though, my mom and little sister had created a little "room" for me under my sister's loft bed complete with a "marshmallow bed," nightstand, lamp, musically-ornamented tapestries and bedding, a "complimentary gift basket," and a section of the closet with my clothes organized by style! (I didn't realize I still had that many clothes at home...haha!) Thanks. :)

Second star to the right and on till...HOME!

Hooray!! I've made it through to...HOLIDAY TIME!! (Okay, I probably shouldn't speak too soon, because I still have 5 hours at the school for my assistantship tomorrow before I can head to the airport, but still.)

It was a crazy week but went pretty great. Sleep has been minimal, but I can catch up on that in the coming week. Somehow today, I had the energy of the Energizer Bunny or something and was just bursting with giddiness. I was hyper-focused or something in the afternoon. (It may have been that Christmas Blend coffee I grabbed on the way to school...hehe!)

Friday school days conclude with Art Song Repertoire class, and I just love that class! I definitely confirmed my nerd-ship today in that class! haha! I just love the coaching sessions, the poetry, the music, the piano-voice collaborations...so cool to me! (I am positive my coach thinks I'm crazy or actually a 5-year old because I am so overtly bubbly sometimes and was definitely more so today than in diction earlier in the week!) Unfortunately, I got the shaft today when we ran out of class time for my coaching time, but I was promised we'd make that up when we meet, again.

Now....it's time for a week of rest and repose in the countryside... ;) Well-deserved and much-needed. I'll try to check-in from the dial-up side!

Cheers!


☼Sun Drop☼
Fabulous voice lessons AND BOGO Starbucks holiday lattes...what's not to smile about? ;)

Ta-Da!

Look at this girl go! I just got a job at The Gap. (Can anyone say, "new wardrobe"? hehe!) I am officially moving to a new apartment after the New Year. I am s-l-o-w-l-y conquering my fear of the French language and singing in it. AND I'll be flying home in 2 1/2 days! (Not that that means my to-do list and schoolwork pile disappears during that time...but it will highly possibly be somewhat neglected... Oy! So much work to do...)

Also, my diction coach told me yesterday, "Samantha, she is saying this half asleep...you are singing it like you've already had too cups of coffee. It'd probably be really hard for you to play a depressed person." Apparently, he noticed my bubbly-ness. ;) I think that was the highlight commentary of the week.

And then there was the creeper cashier at Dunkin' Donuts very blatantly giving me the up-and-down... Boy, is that a story for the books! Just ask my friend Edwin, who was with me, all about it. ;)


P.S. Those beautiful red trees I posted I photo of last time have now painted the sidewalk in red and yellow. Still beautiful! :) 

☼Sun Drop☼

As seen on a bus stop sign on my commute to school one morning. :) 

☼Sun Drop☼

Most beautiful Autumn trees I've ever seen! 
All the other trees in the park are jealous, I think. ;) 

Wow! I seriously promise that I haven't actually fallen off the face of the earth or left this blog to cyber junk! Hopefully, I have some exciting updates to come soon, though... Stay tuned and keep your fingers crossed! ;)

Home for Turkey Day holidays in only 10 DAYS!! :) I get 6 WHOLE DAYS at home! YAY!