Charlie Brown the ghost, "The" Dave, and Squidward

Squidward (4 legs, 4 butts, no face) and the Asian tourist

Kaia in the cemetery

The morning after (@ the Runcible Spoon)

The Morning after, take two

Halloween weekend!

So, this weekend was a real success. 4 people stayed the night here last night, and we all crashed on the floor. We were pretty interesting sleepers overall: Susan was out really fast, I snored for a good 30 minutes, providing some comic relief to those still awake, and Ryan had a few outbursts of intense jibberish mixed with intelligable english. That was pretty awesome. Haha. Then around 10am we got up and went to breakfast together at the runcible spoon. I am not sure whether or not you can see the morning after pictures, as the blog is giving me issues at the moment. I'll fix it later.

So, yes, the party was great, we had a lot of fun, it was easy to clean up (leaving my apartment cleaner than ever!) and I got to know a few people a lot more (Leah, Adam, and Dave to name a few...)

After breakfast, I came back home, tried to study a bit, and sang at church with Adonis. I took a nap for a bit, and then Adonis, Susan, and I went to two parties. Very different parties, in fact. So here I am, it's 3:30 in the morning, and I need to get a lot of sleep. I hope the pictures (if they all get posted!) will show you the fun we had. I can't believe my costume came together. I couldn't bear to put the make-up on again for tonight, so in one of the pictures Squidward's missing a face. I did, however, have 4 legs (pretty impressive, I think) and as a result, had 4 butts. Ah well, take the good with the bad.

Too tired to think of something comical to say on the blog, hope you like the pictures.

~Squid'

party success!!!

It's 3:15am, and the party was a success. My apartment is cleaner than ever, and 4 fantastic people are staying the night :) More halloween movie madness, more later.

Party Prep!

Well, I am glad that I'm a planner. Oh yes, I am glad. The past two days all I've been doing are Halloween party related things (well, other than class, singing, and Threepenny). Thank goodness I got out Wednesday afternoon and shopped for all of the food and remaining decoration items needed...that took me about 6 hours!
I went to 3 supermarkets, a liquor store, walmart, both movie galleries (one twice, because I forgot to bring my student ID), hobby lobby, two 99-cent stores, and gosh knows where else. Again, amazement directed towards my parents, who were the hosts of an astounding number of fun and lavish (in my opinion) parties! Wow.
I suppose most of my time has been spent making my halloween outfit. It was pretty good at first, for a non-sewing person, but I HAD to fix one little thing. That set off a chain reaction comparable to the I Love Lucy episode where they just about demolish their Christmas tree. Anyhow, the outfit is now as good as it's going to be. I've definitely fixed most of it. The key will be to really be exact with my face make-up (eew, the thought of wearing it all night makes me squirm). We'll see. No matter what, all of you--be kind. Tell me it looks great...

I really am excited about getting everything ready tomorrow...I'm going to put on some really upbeat and loud songs when I get back from class, and just clean the apartment like a bandit. Once that's pretty much taken care of, I have a whole list of treats for the party to make:

about 9 dozen sugar cookies, some decorated, most not (for the guests to decorate!)
spiced hot apple cider
popcorn (woo hoo! That's an easy one)
devilish eggs (cute name, haha)
halloween punch with a kick
carmelized spider webs
special web dip (with tortilla chips)
candy (already prepared, and not by me. phew.)

Um, I think that's it. I think that's a pretty decent list. If my guests come hungry (which they hopefully will!!!!) I think they'll be satiated by my offerings...I hope! Lots of fun decorations to put up too, which I am thankfully being helped with by Susan and Kaia (I think I've mentioned that in a blog before, but extra thanks to them!).

Well, it's late, and obviously I have a long, yet very exciting day ahead of me. I think a good bunch of people will be coming through the night (about 20 people!)--I have lots of work ahead!

Lowa, the Squidward to be

More rehearsals...

So, I just got back from another rehearsal. We were able to run through acts 1 and 2 tonight, which is better than ever before. One of these days we'll get through the whole thing in one shot...and hopefully before opening night.

I'm going to keep this short, as I am currently fuming over artistic differences between the music director and myself. My one "aria" is a very shmultzy piece, yet the words are very dry and bitter, etc. The words match my character, and the melody does not. If you listen to any recording, you will find that the songs are acted as much as sung. I am all about singing beautifully and such, but I do not believe in making these songs a one-dimensional, "just pretty" melody line. The words will not make any sense if I do not play them up, and the audience only having 1 time to hear them, will either not grasp the whole point of me singing the song, or will think I am a boring actress, doing a poor job. Why write bizarre and pointed lyrics (or have lyrics at all) without having a driving force behind them?!

Anyhow, I am really annoyed over this, as our musical director spoke with me tonight after rehearsal telling me that I am not doing what he wants, and why not? and that it was so pretty when we rehearsed it together long ago, and I must have forgotten everything that he said. Also that I am putting on an ugly sound, also that I sound like a mezzo, and that I am therefore out of tune all the time. Also that it should be sung quietly, yet dramatically like Lucia or some other Italian great opera. GRR! Can one compare Weill's composing style to Donizetti and Bellini?

Tomorrow I have the fortunate opporunity of meeting with this lovely director at 4:30 to go over everything again. [I feel I must remind you: if this director had experience, were older than I by more than one year, knew a lot about singing,knew how to voice what he wants from a performer in a clear manner, were organized, etc. I wouldn't be so upset...]

Anyhow, tomorrow I am going to try to sing this piece soooo softly and sooooo sweetly, and without any difference in emotion, that he'll fall off his chair from utter boredom. He'll probably love it, and I'll have to swallow my pride and do what I consider a half-ass job at it. I suppose I'll have to do that anyhow. I don't mean to sound like the stereotypical soprano, but for the first time in my life I want to stand up strong for my own interpretation! He will not compromise with me (as I've tried to suggest) and so Mrs. Peachum will become a Martin-(un)inspired creation.

Ah well. Enough complaining.

Nighty night.

Goin to the big city...

of Indianapolis. Haha. Yesterday Adonis and I took a trip to Indy, and it was very interesting. We drove there and upon seeing the city thought it looked a little like Philadelphia. Now, those of you that have been to Philadelphia know that it can look mighty seedy. Well, Adonis and I walked around the large (actually beautiful) mall area, and just browsed around, etc. One particularly interesting stop was at this game arcade place. There are these video game dance things called "dance revolution" where you stand on this board and jump around like a crazy nut at the direction of a screen filled with different facing arrows for each direction of your foot placement. Well, it was definitely fun, but I felt really old. I used to be good at games like this. I am trying to convince myself that I still would be had I more time to practice. I was pretty good on beginner level on a slow song. After that it was all downhill...with everyone watching. Haha. So, this is me, after two rounds of dance revoltion:

Haha. Then Adonis and I drove around the city a bit, and went to this great fondue place for dinner. It was pretty expensive, but we treated ourselves. We had the fondue dinner for two: cheddar fondue served with breads and apples and vegetables, yummy salad, and then fondue coc au vin, spiced with burgundy wine and mushrooms. That came with shrimp, salmon, two kinds of fillet, and chicken. Yummy. AND then we had their original chocolate fondue with fruit and poundcake. Wow. It was definitely intense. I fell asleep on the drive home, but Adonis was sweet and said he didn't mind. It always used to drive my dad crazy when he had to drive at night with mom and I asleep in the car :)

So, other than that, I met Meredith's parents yesterday afternoon. They were so nice, and I hope to see more of them in the near future! I stopped by Mer's apartment for an hour or so, and they were all carving pumpkins, watching football, and talking. Really fun and cozy :)

My mom's coming to visit in three weeks--yay! Hopefully a lot of my Bloomington friends will be able to meet her and her friend Rochelle. They're both coming to see Threepenny, but as I've stated before, I hope they're really just coming to visit me...eek.

Hope everyone has a good day. I'm off to cantor the 8:30am mass. I think I may have to take a nap this afternoon...

Threepenny, here I come

So I will finally be able to concentrate on Threepenny opera now that my crazy music-learning week is over. Today I had my Bach audition and my Utah light audition (those of you that read my blogs everyday must get bored of reading the same stuff..sorry!). Both went pretty well, I think. I didn't really care either way about the Bach, but since Ms. Wise wanted me to audition for it, I did. The Utah audition was so casual...I mean, it was probably one of the quickest, easiest auditions I've done.
So, this week's thought about music making (well, my music making): All my life I've pretty much been told I'm the lightest soprano type out there. Light light lyric, possibly colorature. Soubrette. My designation: "the -ina/-etta girl". Well, ever since I've moved here to Bloomington, everyone I've encountered has heard something quite different. I no longer seem to be the light lyric. Now I'm lyric. I'm singing Verdi. It's really weird, and though I'm pretty thrilled, I really don't want to lose any of that coloratura possibility. We'll see.

So, back to my day, after my auditions I stopped by at Susan's and picked up two halloween themed books she's lending me for the party. Dave was there, and the three of us played (well, I joined an already bustling game of) "set". It was a pretty cool game, but Susan totally creamed us. I was in last place in each of the 3 rounds I played, but had a great time anyway. I don't know why I haven't tried to get into the card playing thing earlier...silly me! I'm hoping for a lot of chill evenings (once the Weill is done) over a board game or some cards, relaxing music in the background, and maybe some hot chocolate. I've got to teach Susan samba. Maybe Dave will want to join in too. We only need one more player to get the game going--who's in? :)

Let's see...then I relaxed at home, and didn't clean the apt. like I wanted to, but tried to plan the halloween party more. I'm excited that people are planning on coming, and have left arrival open so if people want to come and help decorate around here, they are welcome. Thanks Susan and Kaia for offering! The more help and ideas, the better!

To end the evening I went to see the school's production of Eugene Onegin. Overall it was pretty good, though I was tired and some of the themes were very lullabye-ish. Jamie, Alexis, Naomi, and I went to grab a bite to eat afterwards, and now it's pretty late (2:20!) and I should be getting to bed. And By The Way--it's 2:20AM, why is my neighbor upstairs still walking around on the squeaky floor? He'll be up by 7am most likely, darn him! Bleech. Maybe I'll leave him a little halloween treat with a very polite little note....

So, every once in a while I get to speak with some friends from home. I do miss them, and often marvel at the idea that I was at a tiny school in a huge city, and now I'm in a huge school in a tiny city. Such a bizarre thing. Well, since I've been talking about auditons and concerts, etc. I'm posting one of the most fun things we did this summer--concerts (free!!!) in central park. We'd all arrive after work, and put lots of blankets down, bring picnic dinner to share, and listen to the operas or the phil. I think this may have been for Madame Butterfly...anyhow, my most favorite concert program was cancelled--Barber's violin concerto--and I left my recording of it in Poughkeepsie. Waah. It's one of my favorite works, and there have been so many times where I've just needed to listen to it. Grrr. I suppose I could buy another copy, but I like the one I have! I'll have to remember to bring it back from Thanksgiving break.

So, since I really should get to bed because I'll be heading to Indy for a day trip tomorrow with Adonis if he's feeling better, I'm just going to introduce my friends:


Starting from the top left: Matt and his wife (is her name Julie? I don't remember). They were more friends of Andy's. Then Andy and Tricia. Tricia is one of my girbles, and Andy is her fiance, also a friend of mine, and a damn good percussionist. Then bottom left is Anna, a fellow singer, who is the most kind and wonderful person ever. She's living in NJ with her husband, and working for the year. I haven't spoken with her in quite some time. :( Then there's me (as you might have guessed), and Rachel "Bug" one of the girbles! Yay. So, this is Central Park, on the great lawn, and the camera is facing SW. Yeah. Ahhh.

So sweet dreams to all of youse.

Performing:

Can be fantastic. Like today, in my lesson. Definitely a morale boost. Hopefully tomorrow will be even more fantastic...Bach audition @ 12:44 (which is not really that important at all) and Utah Light @ 1:50--considerably more important.
Performing: can be frightening--like Threepenny rehearsals. I cannot believe that this show will pull itself (or be pulled, by all of us musical actors/acting musicians) out of the muck into the sunshine. I feel overjoyed when we go a night or two without rehearsing, but horrible upon realizing that we should be living at the Arts Center, rehearsing every spare second we can...

So, my picture of the night is to inspire me to have good performances tomorrow...tada, my recital space @ MSM. It looks moderately pretty, but lots of things were crumbling around the room. Supposedly they're redoing the space, but I wish that they would keep the velvety style and keep it cozy--they'll probably make it cold and ickified. Well, let's hope not.

Pforzheimer Hall.

A una notte pieno di dormire~

Inspirational people...

Today I got a great package from Mom and Karen (I'm feeling like Christmas comes dozens of times a year!). In the package I received lots of fun things (like Spongebob everything--thanks, Karen!) but also mom matted and framed my diploma and graduation award.
I almost didn't really feel that graduating was a big deal until I saw those pieces of paper...Somehow I now belong to a group of people who will proudly display their hard work in a pretty package on the wall of their office-like space, so all can see that they have achieved some sort of greatness. I mean, it might be viewed as a load of malarchy, but one can get sentimental looking at those scraps of paper. Tree bits that encompass seconds and minutes and hours and days and weeks and months and years of hard work. The time that one puts in to start-off in this world. I guess it's like grown up macaroni art or coloring book pages. Hmm. Anyhow, back to graduating and college life in general:

Since I've put up a picture of one my inspiring teachers this year, I am now putting up a picture of one of my all-time favorite teachers, Dr. Stambaugh. Dr. Stambaugh is an absolutely amazing man, and he has my full respect and admiration. My first year at MSM I was stuck in a theory class with a horrible teacher who was an easy grader, a show-off, and of course, most everyone liked him...but he didn't teach us anything. In the long run, my A's meant nothing, and it was very frustrating. I heard that Dr. Stambaugh was the hardest of the theory teachers, and so I transferred to his class for my second year. I was behind compared to those that had studied with him the year before, and felt quite misplaced. Dr. Stambaugh learned my name right away, made me feel at home in his class, and always spent time explaining things to any of us that needed the extra help. He always challenged the way we would think, and always made us look at things from every direction and with every method "like a chess game where you must see the pieces from each and every angle"...I miss Dr. Stambaugh and hope that I will be lucky enough to encounter more teachers like him--teachers who love their art, and who have a deep passion for sharing knowledge with all who have the desire to learn.
Thank you, Dr. Stambaugh.

So, at about this time last year (I think) I was sitting by Turtle pond in Central Park (my favorite spot in the whole park!) talking to turtles. Yes, I was talking with a turtle. Here I am on the southeast side of Turtle pond, sitting on this rock ledge where many turtles and birds sun themselves. See the turtle on my left? Adorable.
All this gross rainy weather here in IN has made me miss beautiful fall days!

On the bright side, I haven't had rehearsal the past two nights, and it's been an unbelievably easy schedule. I was able to give blood yesterday (YAY!) and I don't even have a bruise from it. Being able to cook nice meals at home must be contributing to my hemoglobin levels, :) I did get a little lightheaded in the middle of choir, however, and while we were recording, I had to sneak off stage and lay down on the floor of Auer Hall. How embarrassing. Ah well. See--it proves that singing is a physical activity!

Ok, I'm off to school. It's my shortest day, (except for Fridays) but I do have Threepenny tonight. I'm almost memorized! Phew. One more thing almost checked-off on my to do list.

Have a great day, all!

Summer Baseball Madness

This past summer, Rachel Y. ("Bug") and I got the chance to go to quite a few baseball games at Yankee stadium. She knows the 3rd base coach of the Orioles, and we got free tickets to their games vs. the yankees. Even though I am from NY, I am really sick of the yankees winning, so I was completely happy to wear orange and cheer for the Orioles. I think that was pretty gutsy figuring that Yankees fans are some of the most crazy and bizarre folks in the world. We're lucky we didn't get pummeled! Anyhow, here's a pic of the field:

Fun times. :)

So, today was a success overall. I made it through and it's only 8pm. I really think I'll be able to get 8 hours of sleep. Whee! I had a masterclass tonight, and made it through Oh Had I Jubal's Lyre, and Caro Nome (my dream aria!). Of course there is always room for improvement, and I intend to make Care Nome absolutely fantabulous. In the meanwhile, I still have to learn that Bach and Threepenny by Friday. Eek.

Another note: I think I've become slightly addicted to caffiene. All those Copper Cup stops have gotten me addicted (not to mention that fantastic pumpkin spice coffee mom sent. thanks!). I haven't had coffee for the past 4 or 5 days, and have had 2 headaches since. Either I stay away, or try an every other day routine...oh, Copper Cup is just soo yummy!

Sweet dreams to all~

Dr. Tellez, my hero :)

So I haven't written in a while. Yes, I have taken a blog-break. Pause on the blog. I am back, hopefully for a more stable writing session this week. As you could have probably guessed, I have been totally exhausted by my schedule and have therefore not written to you. I was so tired, that this Friday night, in the middle of dinner with Adonis and Susan, I nearly fell asleep on the table. Then Susan and I watched some West Wing episodes here--actually, Susan watched 2 or 3 episodes while I fell asleep in the middle of the first, sometime around 9pm. Yes, I have been totally empty of energy recently, and this week looks like another draining one. Before talking more about this week, and today in general, let me give you the run down of music I must learn before this Friday afternoon:

*All of Threepenny, lines and music, memorized (by today, sorta)
*Caro Nome and Oh, Had I Jubal's Lyre, for tomorrow's studio class
*Bach soprano 2 solos for his b-minor mass, audition Friday afternoon
*Utah Light Opera audition, after Bach audition on Friday

Enough to be stressed about, right? And, um, classes. Right. Luckily those aren't too stressful, it's just juggling them with everything else.

So, one thing I no longer have to be worried about is the CVE concert (for those of you who might not know, that is my choral group here at IU, the Contemporary Vocal Ensemble). I feel priviledged to be in the group because
1) I really love more modern musical works
2) I like being challenged
3) I can't stand being in choirs made of poor sight-readers and bad musicians
4) Our director, Dr. Carmen Tellez, is amazing.
Tada. I do love CVE, but I was really worried about tonight's concert. A few of the pieces in particular were quite difficult, whether because they were in a very foreign language, or that the harmonies were very tricky and finding notes was a challenge. I feel that I put a bit of work into studying the music however, and all in all, I managed to scrape by tonight. I could have done better, but I could have done worse. I suppose that's always the story.
Anyhow, after the concert Dr. Tellez asked us all to go out for food and drinks, to this place on 10th St. called Lennie's. At first I didn't think I should, being so busy and all, but I decided that it was something I really wanted to do, so I went. It was fun, and the food was pretty good (albeit the sevice slow). The one truly unbelievable thing was that when we inquired about the bill, Dr. Tellez said that it was already taken care of. She paid for all (~20) of us. I never imagined that she would do that. Needless to say, I was touched. So, although this isn't the best picture of her (she's really dynamic and generally upbeat and cheery) I introduce to those of you who don't know her:

~~~~~Dr. Tellez~~~~~


Now I must get to bed. I have to wake up in 5.5 hours. Not a pretty thought.

Buona sera~

oh the torturous week...

Today was easy. I love Wednesdays. Of course, they're really the calm before the storm of Thursday. Tomorrow looks awfully painful, so I may make this blog short so I can just sit on my tuckass for a bit and make sure I'm ready for all the Sturm und Drang. To add some humor to this site, and to make myself feel good and jolly, I'm posting a picture of my crazy girbles waiting for the subway to arrive.

Alas, I ask you: what can one do while waiting for an express train? Well, maybe listen to music, talk with friends, stare at the track, etc...? No. That certainly wouldn't do for lovely Rachel and Tricia...

Tricia decided it was the perfect time to stick something up Rachel's nose:

Oh, my crazy girbles...I miss them. :)

...Tomorrow they're listening to the Lowa's IU Adventures package I sent to them last month (finally! I'm obviously not the only one busy). I hope they enjoy my ranting and raving and singing and all the other good stuff that's on that tape.

Hope to be writing again tomorrow, when I'll be worrying about the following things:

History Listening exam, Friday.
CVE rehearsals and concerts, Saturday and Sunday.
Threepenny memorization due date, Sunday.
Studio class, Monday.
Bach Audition, next Friday.

I suppose the list isn't as long as I thought it would be. Sigh.

The Longest Day...

probably wasn't today. But it often felt like it. Actually, today was one of those days that I'd push to do one more thing, and then get a rush of energy from it. It's 9:45pm, and I'm feeling pretty accomplished. At least for today. I still have French homework left to do, but I suppose that won't take too long, and before you know it, I may be getting a good night's worth of sleep! Haha.
Since I amused myself some time ago by making a laundry list of my day's activities, I think I'll do it again:

6:08-7:10: shower, breakfast, prep for day
7:22-7:31: bus
8am-8:50: History
8:50-9:15: waiting for the choral office to organize itself, sign up for Bach choral audition time, check out diction exam posting (yay! I passed ALL of my diction exams!!!!)
9:15-9:40: Copper Cup with Adonis
9:45-9:53: bus to Foster Quad
10:10-11: French class
11:15-12: lunch with Meredith
12:15-1:45: practice
1:45-2:15: meeting with Kazuha to go over music
2:30-4: CVE (can't believe there's a concert on Sunday, eeek)
4:17-4:28: bus home
4:30-5:15: woohoo! change into gym clothes and check email
5:17-5:25: car to school
5:30-7: studio class
7:07-8:28: working out at the gym
8:37-now: shower, dinner, blogging!

Tada. Another long day. And this one was without Threepenny! It's actually one of my short days! Haha.
So, My picture tonight is of the infamous, fantabulous, diction master/accompanist/friend/etc./ etc. /etc.! extrordinaire: Dodidef!!! He's having a hard week, and I thought I'd put him up on here to have you see how adorable he is, and to get you sending positive thoughts his way...


Lowa & Dodidef, partners in crime... ;)

Buona notte, tutti!~

Apples and...pumpkins :)

So, the highlight of my day: Apple picking (sorta) with Susan:
Doesn't she look awesome chilling in the apple tree? Yay. I love this picture. We can pretend that we hand-picked some apples, even though they didn't let us. They did let us walk through the orchards, however, and Susan and I each stole an apple from a tree. :) They were yummy.
Other than that, nothing much happened today...I sang at church, went to dinner with Adonis, and had Threepenny rehearsal.

So, since I forcast that nobody else will be taking my little quiz, it's time to unveil my answers. Now you all will know some strange things about me!

1) Both Susan and Ryan got one of my nicknames right: Shithead. That's right, my mother (lovingly) calls me shithead. Other names might be: beadhead, beanbrain, birdhead, birdbrain, girlriller, etc. The list goes on and on...

2) Three things I might be doing during my angsty years are: writing poetry, taking baths, listening to the Cranberries, sitting in a dark room under christmas lights or surrounded by candles...

3) Leanne Markowitz is my faithful (sort-of, haha) wife of 16 years. We got married in the 2nd grade, the year we became best friends. I don't know how I became her husband, it's just always been that way. :)

4) My favorite season is winter, because I can sit by a large fireplace (well, when I'm home) and have a cup of cocoa and read a good book. Yay! for the brick fireplace.

5) Ryan was right when he guessed that I'd want to come back as a bass. Actually, the 100% correct answer would have to be a Russian Bass. I have absolutely no low notes in this life, so I'd want them ALL. :)

6)My first nightmare (I'll try to keep this short): I'm 5 years old, and eating dinner in a chinese restaurant with my parents. They both get up from the table at the same time, and when I look to see where they've gone, they've been tied up to a stake, and are being cooked. The owner hits a gong and chases me around the restaurant, trying to catch me to eat me, while everyone at the tables watches hungrily. :(

7) Girbles=particular group of 4 girls: Laura (Lowa), Rachel S (Slike the Rat), Rachel Y (Bug) and Tricia (Twisha). [for those of you wondering, girble=girl]

8)Favorite candy is definitely chocolate covered gummy bears. That's not too famous though, and might not even be called candy in some circles, so both Susan and Ryan were right in mentioning peanut-buttery candy :)

9) The first thing I wanted to be when I grew up was a hula dancer. Then my brother told me they were naked under their grass skirts, and I immediately told him that I wanted to be a teacher. Haha. ..Susan was definitely astute in guessing doctor, as I wanted to be a dr. for about 8 years.

10) Jobs (in sort-of order): 1) Cantor. 2) Office staff at the NY Eye Center. 3) Office staff at Columbia Law School's publications office. 4) Cello teacher. 5) Camp couselor for critically ill children. 6) Teacher's Aid for a headstart classroom. 7) Resident Assistant. 8)General Music Teaher, grades 3-7. 9) Hostess and Opera singer at Italian restaurant. 10) Apheresis recruiter for the NY Blood Center. 11) Summer Housing Coordinator for MSM's Residence hall. 12) Camp counselor for middle school musicians. 13) Voice teacher. and the list goes on...

TADA. The answers to my lovely quiz. Hope you all enjoyed finding out the more intricate details of Ms. Lowa.

Off to bed, all of you!

Friday night--

Well, as opposed to being a party pooper and staying in all night and getting a ton of sleep, I went out for dinner and drinks and other fun. Haha. Adonis and I went to Nashville, IN, which is an adorable town just 30 minutes away...it reminds me a little of Rhinebeck or Woodstock. Really artsy, lots of cute shops, etc. We ate dinner at a really quaint country restaurant, and then came back here. For 20 minutes we laughed our tuckasses off as we pretended to be cracked-up voice students and their respective teacher. Maybe we are really easily amused, but we couldn't stop laughing the whole time. Haha. I'm still laughing about it :)
Then I took a 30 minute nap while Ryan and Adonis went to Susan's (sorry Susan! I was just completely pooped!) and then we got a drink, talked a lot, and then drove around town some. We did visit Dave at the Travelodge, and tried to keep him awake by being silly and trying to be amusing.
Too tired to make this an interesting post. Please oh please oh please oh please, let not my neighbors wake-up before 11:30am tomorrow, as I will then not get 8 hours of sleep!

~and to all a good night.

ps-thanks to George for the sweet surprise package! Perfect for halloween and the colder months! :)

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy

I made it through the week!
I made it through the week!!
I made it through the week!!!
I made it through the week!!!!
YIPPEE!!!!!
I can't believe I actually made it through. This was a rough week, and my sleeplessness didn't help the situation. Sorry I didn't write last night...I got back from rehearsal around 10:30pm, ate dinner, relaxed a bit, and got to sleep around 12:30. Not a lot of sleep, but better than most nights recently, and I woke-up pretty much ready for my (short) day.
[I'm trying to remember what I wrote in this blog, as I wrote the whole thing out 15 minutes ago, and when I tried to submit it, it was lost. Grr.]
Ah yes--I'm extending the deadline for The Lowa Quiz. Not many people took it--maybe it was too hard? A difficult week? Just silly? Either way, when I post the answers, you will all know some very random things about me, and that's always fun. Thanks to Ryan, Susan, and my mom (she didn't even know all the answers) for taking the challenge. You all did pretty well. We will see how well in due time :)
What else can I tell you all? Threepenny Opera is going ok, but it's a heck of a lot of time. Most of it I'm just sitting around, since it's pretty disorganized. At least I get some studying and reading in that way, I suppose. I have a music rehearsal for it tomorrow, from 4:30-6. Who wants to rehearse from 4:30-6 on Saturday afternoon/evening?! Now I can't do something in the afternoon, or the early evening. I hope it's productive, at least. Other than the rehearsal, I have no weekend plans. Adonis and I might go to Indy tonight after my cableperson comes to fix the jacks in the wall. Maybe when we come back from Indy we'll visit Dave at Travelodge. I think he should certainly have at least one visitor per graveyard shift :)

So, I made myself stir-fry for lunch and I want to sit and enjoy it before I start cleaning up the apartment. I figure if I clean up a little each weekend, it'll be easy to get it ready for the Halloween party! ...When do you think I should have it? Friday the 29th, or Saturday the 30th? Any suggestions on what we should do? (Costumes are definitely required!) I was thinking about pumpkin carving, eating candy and cookies (maybe decorate your own cookies? I can bake them ahead of time) and watching scary movies. If we watch the exorcist, someone will definitely have to stay here overnight. I can't sleep alone in the apartment after watching that!

Veering off of scary topics, here's a picture of the street I lived on when I lived in Italy for a summer. Mi manchi, Italia!

A piu tardi~

She hopes for dreams, so sweet and steady;
awake she seems asleep already.
Let's not make haste, quickly declining;
her mind is waste, get her reclining!
This blog is short, I don't mean to tease;
my one retort: a night full of Z's.
~Lowa

That kind of day...

It's been that kind of day. A Miranda day. Miranda was a camper of mine from many years ago--she was a crazy kid--in one ear, out the other. This particular evening, she went parading around the cabin area with only her bed sheet wrapped around her. In high school I always had this picture up in my locker so when I had a crazy day, I could laugh at life's precious moments...

So, yes. Today was that kind of day. I made it through, which was an absolute miracle. Last night I couldn't fall asleep, and kept reading in hopes that I would fall asleep on my book. 4.5 hours later, I finished the book, and gave up on the sleeping. I got out of bed at 4am, got ready for my day, ate breakfast, packed my lunch, and then set my alarm for 6:45am. I was able to take a little nap from 5-6:30 or so...Made me think of how many different ways one can approach life. I mean, we could all eat breakfast before going to bed, put on our regular clothes, do our hair, make-up, pack our bags for the next day, etc. and then sleep. Upon waking up, just brush our teeth, put our shoes on, and head out the door. One night of that per semester should certainly be enough however. That's my cue to hop into bed for hopefully what will be a very restful sleep. If I get 15 or so hours tonight (um, think me getting to bed at 3 in the afternoon) I could catch-up (which you can't do anyway)...
Buona notte, la ragazza che e' molta stanca

arrgh.

No sound for tonight. Audioblog is awesome, but too time consuming for Lowa. I'm tired. Well, I was going to play "A fine romance". If you know it, hum along to tonight's blog. The vocalist in the beginning cracks the first note, and starts laughing, telling his band that his tongue got caught in his tooth. The bassist replies that it was more like his shoelace...and then the song begins anew :)

Another Monday bites the dust (phew!)

1 day out of 5 done. 1 exam out of 6 done. 1 rehearsal out of 7 done. Tada. The life of Laura's week has begun.

The only really great part of today was when Susan came over for dinner. We had lots of good talk, and I hope to have more Susan-Laura dinners in the near (and far!) future.

Alas, somehow my goals of being in bed by 11pm were foiled by trying to get rid of the red eyes I have in the next picture. The red-eye thingee wasn't working on this one, maybe because I scanned it in (I found a lot of great pictures! Yay! Now I can make my MSM picture collage. When I have more time, that is). Anyhow, on to the topic of today's picture (it's because Susan and I were talking about haircuts): Some of you have seen pictures of me with short hair, but this was the shortest it ever was. I may have been the only one who liked it, but it was easy to maintain (obviously) and I think it fitted my personality. Anyhow, for those of you who didn't know me when, tada. Lowa with the short brown hair:


So, I was thinking of putting an audio file on here, see how that works. So, I'm sending you all a jazz classic. This recording is owned by most of my NY friends, and I love it because it allows for fun things that could never happen when singing opera out--like getting your tongue stuck in your shoelace. :) Listen and you'll see what I mean.

Nighty-night,
Lowa

ps-I've been told that emailing Lowa test answers is an extra step too much, so if you feel so inclined, click on the comments button after the post, and guess away! -L.

The Lowa quiz!!!

Okedoke. Although I didn't actually take Andrew's quiz (I'm horrible, I know. Andrew, if you feel you must, you can protest and not take mine) I've decided to procrastinate studying, and write a quiz of my own. For those of you who aren't familiar with Estel's, here are the rules:

Here are 10 questions about me. You will need to answer them to the best of your ability, and submit the answers to me at lstelman@indiana.edu, no later than this Friday, Oct. 8th, at midnight. That's Thursday night, for those of you that think that way. If you don't know the answer (which will probably be the case for most of the questions), make your best guess. Creative answers might win some points. :)
The prize will be homemade dinner at my place! I can't guarantee culinary genius, but it should be fun. Plus, you're not required to sleep in bed with me, like Andrew's prize (yeah, that's more fun, I know. I'm conservative. Haha).

Ok, here goes:

1) Please name at least 4 things my mother might call me at any given time (not "Laura").
2) What are three things I would commonly be doing during my teen-angst years (8th-10th grade)?
3) Whose husband am I, and when did we get married?
4) What is my favorite season, and why?
5) What (different) voice-type do I want to come back as in my next life?
6) What was my first nightmare?
7) What is a girble, how many are there, who are they, and what are their nicknames?
8) What is my favorite candy?
9) What was the first thing I wanted to be when I grew up, and why did I change my mind (so quickly)?
10) Name 5 jobs I've had.

Tada. Good luck! The real answers will be posted (along with some crazy answers received from all of you) Sometime this coming weekend!

Lowa

I'd like a tootsie-pop blackout, please ;)

Overall, today was a great day. My upstairs neighbors woke-(me)-up at 7:30am, which I was not pleased about considering I stayed up reading until 3am, but I was able to fall back asleep until my alarm went off at 10:15, so that was good. I started my morning making cookies, and then ate a leisurely breakfast while putting together my Threepenny libretto, and then reading some more. I went to a nice little potluck lunch (that's why I baked the cookies) for church musicians, and then came home and did some heavy cleaning of my apartment.
Ryan and Adonis then called to see if I wanted to get something to eat, and so I accompanied them to the mall. Adonis thought he lost his wallet, but luckily we were able to locate it--the bartender @ Crazy Horse forgot to return it to him last night. Phew.
Anyhow, I had a pretty good dinner at this Turkish place in town, and then met up with Adonis and Ryan again, and we headed out to crazy horse for a few drinks:

The small one closest to you, with lighter liquor on the top was mine: A Chocolate-covered cherry. My new favorite drink. I wish they could make them as actual drinks, but supposedly the liquor is hard to layer, and making it in larger quantities is pretty unheard of. Even for shot-sissies, this one is easy. You can even swirl it around in your mouth to savor it. So, to make this shot, you pour the alcohol in the glass in this order: grenadine, creme de cacao, kaluha, and baileys. Yummy yummy. The other drinks in a counter-clockwise motion were Ryan's (Jaeger), and Adonis' (surfer on acid...don't ask me what's in it, I don't remember). We didn't overdo it at all, and after talking about some interesting things, we called it a night. So, here it is, 3:15am, and I'm still not in bed. I'm going to get into my pjs, and fall asleep over my current book, The Green Mile. It's a Stephen King, and was made into a movie. I feel sad that I saw the movie first, but it seems like a pretty great replication of the book, so it's not so bad. It's a great story, and I recommend the movie to all.
Until the morrow (well, this afternoon)~

Chef Laura

I started off this morning going to the most pointless review class I've ever sat through. Then I returned home and got ready to go to the gym. Having pulled my left buttocks extremely, I left almost unscathed. I am already seeing a dramatic change in my abs, however, as they are returning to the defined and hard form they were in a few months ago. :)
After the workout, I went grocery shopping--one of my purchases being a 6lb. pork roast (for $6!!!!). I came home, got showered, etc. and headed to school for my monthly voice lesson with Ms. Wise. That was excellent. We sang through two pieces, and she showed me a few tricks--soon enough I'll be singing Caro Nome like Sutherland, Sills, and (the young) Moffo. [To let you know, soon enough = a few years. haha]. I was really pleased with my progress with it in just a few minutes, and I think that next semester and next year will really have me moving in a wonderful direction. Anyhow, yes. My new vocal project is getting in control of my epiglottis. If you're interested in the details, ask me about it later. :)
So, I came back home after the lesson, and I became the extrordinary chef Laura. Adonis came over and we enjoyed my pork roast with mashed potatoes, homemade gravy, and broccoli (always have to serve something green). We watched a bit of Margaret Cho (a pretty funny comic) and then a movie. All in all a great time. Ryan then came over for a few minutes, and Adonis and he went out. I'm just too tired to go out. These old bones need rest, haha.

You know, more and more I realize how amazing my mom is. Although this pork roast I made didn't take a lot of preparation, it took a long time to cook. It was a pretty big ordeal for me, as it was my first roast (my first kitchen, you see) and then my first homemade gravy. Practically every night for 18 years my mother made me and my father homemade meals...and we're not talking out-of-the-microwave or pizza dinners. We're talking meat, starch, vegetables, and perhaps even appetizers and desserts. Everyday!!! It's pretty easy to take advantage of someone who pulls it off with unbelievable ease. Until you put the time into making a healthy and delicious meal, night after night, meanwhile taking care of everything in the house, and driving your children to and from all the shit that they do, I don't think you can understand how taxing and difficult it is! Luckily I only have to drive myself to and from all the shtuff I'm doing. I can barely make a sandwich for myself in the morning before leaving for school.
Thanks, Ma. I love you.

Nighty night, Lowa


PS-
Yummy.