Monday attack

So I made it through the week, and then by goodness the weekend disappeared. How does it do that? (Especially when one hermits herself for the totality of Saturday)? Sigh.

The past week has been pretty uneventful, yet very eventful at the same time. I'm sorta riding this crazy rollercoaster and am scared of it and enjoying it at the same time.

So, Saturday I stayed in my comfy one piece flannel pjs all day. I wish they had booties on them (remember the pjs with feet? I loved those!) but other than that, they're amazing. I managed to sort through most of my sheet music, which I've been using quite randomly for singing projects here and there, and they are finally back into some order in a number of black 3 ring binders...musicians never have enough black 3 ring binders...

I also managed to finish all the workbook exercises for the next French chapter (which we haven't looked at yet, and hopefully I did correctly). Hmm...what else did I do? Oh yes, I realized that the evening that I signed up for my recital, I have a CVE concert. Wow. Who is thinking of the next concert cycle when you've only got a few choices of days for your recital and are juggling life at the same time? Alas, I wrote the woman in scheduling and asked her if I could possible contact those people who have the earlier recital times so I could at least have an hour between recital end and choir concert. I don't have any idea what I'll do if the 1pm or 3pm person won't switch with me...

Well, I better get ready for me really long day. This one doesn't even compare to next Monday, which goes from 9am-9:30pm with only a break from 4-5:30 (to come home, eat dinner, and change clothes) and then 7-7:30 to get myself to church for a cantor rehearsal.

I realize that I'm always worrying about all the things I'm doing. I aplogize for my complaining. Jeez.

Had a good time at Suz' chocolate fest last night. Too much wine was had, particularly for a Sunday night, but all was well and I had fun. In fact, I think we all did :)

Off to let Monday bite me where it counts...

Merci!

So today, like the past weeks, has rushed by really fast. I think I have a new outlook to my days...before I would dread having to stick around all day for a few classes. The days were slow and I just wanted to be home to relax. Now I just take each day for what it is (hopefully a really good learning experience) and try to enjoy the thrills and challenges that it holds. Yesterday and today were fairly busy, yesterday particularly so, having to go straight from 9-4:30 without a stop for lunch or a break or anything. I returned home for approximately 30 minutes to change and each some lunch/dinner, and then went to studio class. When I got home it was only 7:30pm, and hours were left for me to finish up school work, relax, etc. I almost dread tomorrow (well, almost) because I only have two classes, and enough time inbetween to practice and do my other school chore-ish activities. I should be home for the day by 12:30pm. Crazy. Let's hope I can get a headstart on future work that needs to be done.

...I like the idea of daily blogging, but more than not if I've had a really busy and somewhat interesting day, I'm too tired to write about it. If I've had a boring day with no extraneous thoughts to share, who wants to read about it in a blog? Ah well. I can write what I want, it's your choice to skim through the mess of it :)

Tonight Adonis and I went to dinner at Le Petit Cafe, a family owned restaurant that cooks in the style of Provence. It was a cute space, and you felt like you were at someone's home. The place was originally a garage, I think, which is sorta funny to think about...The selections were few, but they were all very fresh and tasty...even the bread was right out of the oven. The owners, a couple, were very nice--the wife sweet and dainty, the husband bold and funny. Adonis and I split an appetizer, had soup, an entree, and split a dessert, for under $25 each. Definitely someplace to check out if the desire stirs you.

Well, I'm off to bed to do a little reading, watch a little tv, call mom, and go to bed. Bonne nuit~

My favorite place in my house: I'd take this if "paradise" (see below) weren't an option. Too bad neither are options...

Paradise: Where Mom is right now. Also, where I want to be.

The end is here

and I have moderately successfully made it through the school week. Yes, it was short, but it was certainly chock full of eventful events that kept me running. Who needs the gym when you have endless errands to run?

The week's final updates:

1) Voice: It's back. 90 minutes straight in the practice room today was enjoyable and carefree. I was thinking that I was expecting too much from my teacher this last lesson. I was asking for a miracle cure in only 60 minutes of time. Alas, she knew exactly what to say and how to fix everything. Granted, she applauded me on being able to aptly express my week's ills, but it's all her. I am now ready for the sung road ahead (well, at least for tomorrow) with my full page of lesson notes and afterthoughts. I was considering doing a blog on exactly those thoughts--the ones that will save me from the recurrence of this past week. 4 stretching exercises, 2 breathing exercises, and about 10 important things to remember (at once) and I'm back. Phew.

2) Glasses: Being sent to Texas. Pearle Vision at home made a mistake, and after 40 minutes on the phone with them from the store here in IN (thank you nice lady Eva, for dealing with the rude eye-store workers in NY) they admitted that they cut the left lens wrong, and that I am not crazy, not progressing closer to blindness, and will not have to pay more money. Amen. 2 weeks and counting until human beings other than my family will see me in glasses. :)

3) Britton's office: Called me back twice today (many thanks to the Dr. herself!). Things are faxed and also in the mail. Another unnecessary $amount not spent. Woohoo!

4) Wine glass: still broken. I have 5 more. I live alone. Life is good. :)

Sweet dreams to all.

Sigh.

DUMB [dUm]: 1. someone who returns their rented dvds to the wrong video store 2. me
(side note--Thank you blockbuster for keeping the video gallery dvds I rented, and placing them on the side with a stickynote attached asking Chad what was up. Thank you man at blockbuster desk who did not treat me like an imbecile when I realized I didn't own a blockbuster card but somehow thought that I had rented the videos there and then returned them on time. Thank you video gallery lady who understood that I'm dumb (see definition above) and since it was "my first time" gave me a discount on my late fees)

RELIEF [ri (actually backwards upsidedown e, but it does not exist on this computer) lif]: 1. a feeling you get after a voice lesson which assures you that you are not crazy. 2. realizing you remember more aria lyrics than previously thought, making something which you thought impossible possibly possible.

GREAT! [greIt]: 1. what one might exclaim after having experienced relief (see definition above). 2. what one might whisper to themselves (while still keeping the exclamation in there) when they realize that the library does not seem to have a book to help them easily translate the aria mentioned in a definition above, which they would need when they cannot seem to find the translation they have already made (refer to dumb definition 2).

Bleech.

So, today had lots of crummy aspects:

1) My voice has been in blah shape. Ick shape. Seems like when that happens my life is just about worthless. Bah! :(

2) I got my new glasses today! (should be good, right?) I put them on and went to get them adjusted at the Pearle Vision in the Bloomington Mall. Well, I was realizing on the way that my vision through the left lens was a little blurry. Turns out that the prescription just doesn't seem right for that lens. Long story short, I am going to have to call my opthalmologist to fax my eye prescription over here, then have them compare the prescriptions to the lenses in the glasses, then have an eye exam done (another $50, argh!) and see what replacement lens needs to be put in, then have the glasses sent for (the store in this little town has everything sent from Texas) and then I'll get them. ARGH! All this extra trouble because the store in NY won't send my prescription info.
...was I in a bad mood after that.

3) Still need to get a hold of Britton's office in NY. It's been FOREVER. Can I waste more time on the phone with them or listening to their answering machine?! Will they send my records or what?! (the answer would probably be "or what", requiring me to pay $200 for next month that I shouldn't be paying. grr.)

4) I accidentally broke one of my new (and gorgeous) wine glasses bringing it over to the sink. :(


the ok things that happened today:

1) pretty much everything else.

Moral of the day: No matter how many bad things happen, just the fact that you're around to experience them probably is a good thing.

1...2...3...4...5

It's currently 5 degrees outside. All I can say (sorry to be a little gross here) is that if I were born a male, I don't know if I would be one anymore. It's that cold.

The room-to-room thermostats here are finally heating to the temp. on their settings. Unfortunate for me, compared to last week when they were heating the place to much warmer than that. I don't know if that was because my upstairs and downstairs neighbors had their heat on full blast, if it was warmer outside, if my little heaters were broken then, or all three. Bleech. It's a sad time for someone who likes to live in a house that's anywhere between 70 and 75 degrees. I'll be a very poor person if I keep the house at that temp until spring has sprung...

So, today I'm back to the grind. Though the weekend didn't speed by (it was filled with lots of hermity-events since my trip out to k'ntukee) it's now officially over, and I'm sad. Especially sad because I'm freezing my tuckass off (but unfortunately not freezing it off well enough, haha) and mom is sipping 2-fer drinks on a sandy beach, sitting nearby palm trees and the clear green ocean, while the sun radiates a beautiful 85 degrees to all those below. Sigh.

Well, here's to 9am ear training, 10:10am french, and 2:30 cve. I raise my hot cocoa to my short day!

3 day weekend now down to 1.5

So this weekend has turned out pretty well thus far. My original plans were to be a hermit for three whole days, but the idea of having fun was too strong to ignore.

Adonis and I went out for dinner on Friday night, and then met up with Dave at Crazy Horse. Dinner was ok--we went to Janko's Little Zagreb, an IU decorated, athlete-filled steak house. The steak was good, but I was not planning on spending that much money for dinner, so my tastebuds certainly we not registering the quality of my canivorous activity. Crazy Horse was better--good company, good drinks (3 Santa's little helpers for me, a slightly spiced warm coffee drink) and cozy plannable atmosphere.

Yesterday was also a very unexpected adventure...Adonis convinced me to take a trip to Kentucky (k'ntuckeee) just to get out for the day. We drove the 2 hours there and back, and went to this Vietnamese restaurant to have Pho, a special soup filled with noodles and vegetables and beef. Filling and inexpensive, too bad it wasn't a little closer to Bloomington....but at least I've been to Kentucky now. Even the Vietnamese restaurant owners had a southern accent.

So my mother is now on her way to a 3 week trip to paradise. Wish I were there:

Aruba. :) 

Easy as Cake.

So, this week has flown by, and each day has ended with a relaxing homemade dinner and early pj time. Excellent. I even had time to bake a cake tonight, though it turned out pretty horribly, as the recipe's ingredients were all ones I had in the house. It should have been tastier, as far as I am concerned, but making a cake doesn't mean we're going to want to eat it too...

To be honest, I don't really have much to say. Things are going to get busy really soon. So many pieces of music to learn...within the next 3 months I will have auditioned for a few things, had a recital (hopefully), and been in a staged opera. I have 18 pieces to learn for the recital, 3+ for the auditions, and a role for the opera. It's just time to enjoy the stressless days now before I'm once again a headless chicken...

Nighty night, moi

Dream On.

So I survived my first day. Amazing! Today should be a piece of cake, as I only have two classes (no choir!) and lots of practice time. Here's a quick rundown of this semester as I now know it:

Ear Training: everyday. 9am. feels early when two people above your bedroom are arguing at 5:45am. The teacher is a wacko who inevitably will be able to shock me at every class. Part of me is sorta looking forward to this interesting morning wake-up. Luckily there are a bizillion people in the class, so I'll have plenty of people to laugh with about the whole experience.

French: New teacher. He was nervous yesterday. I was crammed into a small space with lots of freshmen who cannot pronounce french very well. Should be interesting. That's what I get for changing french classes so I could be closer to the music building and improve my overall schedule. Something I learned yesterday to use today: Il y a un orage. Il pleut. Bleechesxs (that's french spelling for bleech).

Vocal Ped: We're in MA 404. The room with the flourescent lights so bright you feel your eyes popping out of your head 3 minutes into the class. I'll have a voice student this semester. Start praying for us both. Now.

Classes combined: My only final exams (2 of them) will occur on the first day of finals week, Mon. May 2nd. Whee! That leaves a lot of time for me to get home and practice for a big performance on May 9th. Excellent.

So, the title of this blog is Dream On. Took me a while to get to that whole subject. As many of you know, I am a very vivid dreamer, who can remember dreams for up to years at a time. I sort of consider my dreams as a whole other side of my life. Anyhow, the past few nights I've had moderately interesting ones, which I will sum up:

Saturday night: I worked for a government agency. The person who was my boss figure was a very disorganized middle aged lady who was spiteful and rude. She never gave me direction, and then became frustrated when I searched for things to do. She then fired me, and I challenged her for her job. I then began taking an exam under the guidance of my past theory teacher, Dr. Stambaugh. He was helping me through the whole ordeal. At the same time, I was studying an opera with Tom Muraco, a famous coach and accompanist who I know from MSM and who is Joseph's teacher. Joseph was there too, and I was just trying to make it through learning the opera and still doing my job at the agency (before I got fired) and spending time with friends.

Sunday night: (first day of school anxiety dream, very typical-Lowa): I kept waking up in the middle of the night, and then realized that I was missing my first class. I had to drive my mother's buick (which you may or may not know that I despise) to class. In Manhattan. From the back seat of the car. Phew. When I finally got to class, I ran into Bruce Willis, who was my step-father. I tried to start a good relationship with him because I told him I wanted a father figure. In the dream my age was approximately 10 years old.

Monday (last night): We were having a party at my house, and mom and I were cooking up a storm. Mom's best friend Rochelle had a new grandson (about 6 months old), who I was chosen to watch. He was unbelievably smart, and we were having long conversations about many things. Then, I lost him. Thing was, he turned into the size of a dime, and I was trying to push Rochelle out of the kitchen long enough to find him. I finally found him (he was lost under a pile of coats) and after making sure Rochelle had seen him, I took him on a day trip to New York City, where he was fascinated with the buildings (he was now normal sized). Then I was in NY roaming around with some friends (sans grandson), and we stopped at a gothic looking place which had tattoos and leather purses with animal prints, and a live rock show in the back. I proceeded to get a tattoo, which I had to give to myself. I royally messed it up, and had a mis-shapen line of rainbow colors on my ankle. It was really hideous. I then was so upset that they gave my friends and I free tickets to the rock show. I had been there before in another dream, and was happy to see I was sitting in the middle where I wouldn't be bothered as much by roaming rock goth artists.

Tada. I'm sure there's a lot of interesting information about me in there...

I'm off for my day. Have a great one~

24 hours from now...

will be another start. Well, the start of a continuation...Anyhow...

Today was a rather laid back and enjoyable day. I slept 11 hours last night (!), and woke up and cleaned the apartment. It wasn't that messy, considering I did a superwoman's job of cleaning it before I left for break, but that considered, I really had it looking clean enough to be barren (compared to home :)). I got the last few items from the grocery store for tonight's Italian meal, and then watched some tv and waited for my friends to arrive!

It was a small dinner get together, but it was quaint and relaxed. We made pizza frete, which is like a fried calzone, and had some of the roasted red peppers I made yesterday. We then watched Napoleon Dynamite, a most interesting and funny movie that you sort of suffer through and laugh through at the same time. I wasn't expecting a masterpiece, and wasn't really expecting a plot either, so I was entertained. I think poor Adonis was dying through the whole flick. Haha, sorry!

Right now I'm drinking some new tea I picked up at the grocery store ("Sleepytime Tea" with chamomile, mint, and other tea-goodness. It's yummy, and hopefully will have me dreaming about sugarplum fairies and such within the next hour).

So, I'm getting a little less worried about the semester now that I'm settling in here once again. I didn't pass the aural theory exam (missed by 5 points) and though I was sure I wasn't going to pass it, after I took the exam I was secretly hoping that I skimmed by. I have always enjoyed ear training in general, and in the long run, I hope to learn a lot from the class. Since it's at 9am five days a week, I assume that if it's anything unlike my other review classes, I might learn something...We'll see.

A lot of my friends and family are visiting this semester, so there's a lot to look forward to! Dodef in late February, I'm visiting Rachel in LA mid-March, and then Leanne and Mom and maybe some family in the beginning of April! I can't wait to see them all, and to show them around Bloomington. I've really loved this town so far, which is quite suprising. It's almost sad I'll be leaving here within a year or two...

Alas, I think I'll crawl into bed with my Sleepytime Tea. Goodnight to all, and sweet dreams~

One day late, and a bag short (for a while)

I managed to visit NY for a whole two and a half weeks, and not see any significant snowfall. Crazy idea. Then the day I'm scheduled to fly out, it starts to snow...and the storm is coming from my connecting flight city--snow-ridden Chicago. Well, to make a long story short, I missed my connection by about 10 minutes...I saw my next plane pull away from it's gate. Hundreds of flights were canceled for the night, and thousands of people had no place to go. Luckily I got a spot in a hotel about 40 minutes away, which was partially covered by the airlines. I met some really nice people throughout the adventure and luckily flew out of Chicago Thursday morning. As I knew already, my luggage was floating around in Chicago with hundreds of other displaced bags (and did NOT fly out of Chicago Thursday morning), but I had all my essentials and made it home ok.

The luggage delivery truck called me at 3am this morning to ask where exactly my apartment was (yay! He didn't drop it off at the other Heritage building!) and tada, now I'm back to where I started.

I've got my aural theory placement exam (attempt #2) today. Are my ears trained? Probably not enough. Does it matter? Not really. If I pass I manage to get one more hour of sleep a night (which is definitely good) and possibly could take another class instead, making the following semester a little easier. Ah well. Let me say that in advance. I really don't think I'm going to pass-out of this class, and I'm just taking this exam to see where I am with the material. My ears used to be pretty top-notch, but I guess they've decided to take a vacation for the past 5 and a half years since the last aural theory class I took. Bleech.

I realize that this is a moderately boring blog. I wanted to get back into the daily blogging this semester, but blogging at 7:15 in the morning just doesn't seem to stimulate the sleeping brain...

Have a great day. Send interval and chordal recognition waves my way~