Thanksgiving!

Well, after a week "off", I officially need a break! I flew home Tuesday night (Thanks Adonis, for driving me to the airport!) and arrived in Newburg, NY at 10pm. Over the next few days, much cooking was done, movies were watched, fireplaces were put to good use, and friendships were celebrated. Thanksgiving day was wonderful, as Leanne and her family came over to celebrate. We all had a great time, and I officially adopted 2 more grandparents :) It was really fun.

I took a plane back Saturday afternoon, got to my apartment at 10pm, left Sunday morning at 8am for my central city audition in Chicago, had my audition yesterday morning at 10:35am, and drove back here, arrived at 7:30, I had an 8:30 rehearsal, and then came home and crashed. I got about 8 hours of sleep, but I'm still totally exhausted. I've got rehearsals and/or concerts every single night this week until Saturday, when Adonis and I make a trip to Indy (Yay!). I'll upload pics from thanksgiving soon, though the ones I've red-eye corrected don't seem to be coming out on blogger. Sigh.

Hope all of your turkey days were fantastic. Can't wait to catch up with everyone (who knows when we'll all be able to fit that in our crazy schedules...)

-L.

My online quiz said that I am the:

Robot!

You are 57% Rational, 28% Extroverted, 14% Brutal, and 14% Arrogant.

You are the Robot! You are characterized by your rationality. In fact, this is really ALL you are characterized by. Like a cold, heartless machine, you are so logical and unemotional that you scarcely seem human. For instance, you are very humble and don't bother thinking of your own interests, you are very gentle and lack emotion, and you are also very introverted and introspective. You may have noticed that these traits are just as applicable to your laptop as they are to a human being. In short, your personality defect is that you don't really HAVE a personality. You are one of those annoying, super-logical people that never gets upset or flustered. Unless, of course, you short circuit.
____________________________________
Scary, beacuse I think some of that is accurate. I sure hope I have a personality, though. Haha.

Books

So I'll have 3 days at home over thanksgiving, and I looked at my blog from last year and noted that I read 2 books. Would anyone be willing to loan me a favorite of theirs? (I'm a sucker for fiction) Give me a call if you are--I'd be happy to pick it up and drop it off, and repay you with a homemade dinner when we get back from break.

-L.

It totally amazes me that:

1-the weather can be soo beautiful and warm, then so DRY and cold

2-I have a lot of singer aquaintances now

3-I made it through the week without collapsing

4-after said week (which was downright shitty at times) I could have such an amazing weekend, vocally.

I don't want to sound egotistical, but I had quite an amazing vocal weekend. I really was preoccupied with it (and of course other things) all week, and somehow, everything managed to work out just fine. Better than just fine. I think I was actually proud of myself after my performances Friday, Saturday, AND today--and that's probably a first this semester. There are always things that could have been better, but I was actually satisfied with each performance, whether with oboe for a canata, solo with piano alone on the MAC stage, or a full scene duet with fellow singer. Ahhh, I can sleep soundly.

Tomorrow starts a whole new week, and I am so happy to have made it through this one (and weekend!) it's already looking like a piece of cake. I'm going to have to hole myself in the library a bit, however, to try to get that Opera Lit paper done. I think I've come up with my topic: The art of madness--the mad scene of 19th Century Italian opera. I don't know quite what I'll say about the mad scenes, but I've got the 3 down to one from each Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini. Each of the operas were composed in an 11 year time span, so pretty much at the same time. I figure I'll do some comparing and contrasting, maybe talk about particular performances, and then (gulp) I suppose I'll have to mention society's view of women's hysteria at the time...I may actually have to go to the academic library for that one . Save me now.

Ok. Time for bed. Yay for Sleepytime Tea.

CocoRosie

Every once in a while I do a google search on people from my past. Anyone from close friends to mere aquaintances, just to see where people end up. Recently I've discovered the interesting current events from someone I met my first year at MSM. She was just an aquaintance, but I always thought she was really interesting, and had wanted to know her better. She left school after our first year, and I guess she started up on what she's doing now--singing in a band with her sister. They're called CocoRosie, and they seem to be doing really well in Europe and with the very alternative/eclectic music lovers. I'm going to see if I can contact her just for the hell of it--I figure why not? At least I can pass on a congrats and a hello. If she doesn't remember me, it'll just be like more fan mail, or something. Hmmm.

Bleeech all over everywhere

What an absolutely crappy two days. Pure shit. Anyhow, just thought I'd write it down to be done with it. Tomorrow's another day, and hopefully it will bring back a more optimistic and ready to take on the world Laura. Too many things have brought me down recently, and I need some good things to start happening! I send positive thoughts to everyone, in hopes that you are having a better week than I am!

Though I was able to go out a lot this weekend, I still feel that I was quite productive. I managed to get all of my song lit assignments done for the whole semester (!) and also put together my binder for my recital, which I'm really excited about! I also went to 2 fantastic recitals--One gypsy themed by Bethany Barber and Chris Lysack (not only fun and great music, but entertaining performers, and then lots of cookies afterwards! haha, a grand success) and then Rachel Holloway's doctoral discussion/recital on Barber's melodies passageres, his only song cycle in a foreign language. I found her discussion totally interesting (haha, Barber) and not only that, but her voice was absolutely breathtaking. Made me think about how fitting barber really is for my totally different, light voice, but then I just realized the art songs can fit almost any voice, and sighed some relief. Even if that's not the case, I'm still singing them. Ha.

So, I hope to have my recital sometime in late Feb. or early March before spring break, and am planning some great music! I even copied all of the Barber choral works I'm ending the recital with, and just need to find a few more singers who will sign on with me! The pieces are:

Sure on this shining night (yes, very typical, but I've never sung the solo or choir one, and it's just gorgeous)
To be Sung on the Water
The Coolin (my absolute favorite)

I am excited to program these beacuse I didn't want to do a recital all by myself--that gets boring for everyone...and also, I have some strong feelings about this choir music, particularly that last piece, and am really excited to be able to give out my ideas as to what should be brought out, etc. Anyhow, I am super excited about it all (can't you tell? I've used that word a million times this paragraph), and once I get through the next 6 weeks of auditions, it'll be recital music (and Carmen) all the way! :)

Well, off to start a crazy week. Wish me luck~

Random thoughts

I've been more social again recently, and it's been fun. Whenever I've actually got an evening for myself, when I can cook a good meal and chill out on the couch, I take the opportunity--however, it gets quite boring after a few hours. I'll keep that in mind when things get busier and busier.

This week there are a few things I've realized:

1-hanging out with new people can be fun, and you can learn all about strange and new things. Also, you seem to learn a lot about yourself.

2-hanging out with new guys can be bizarre and complicated. Sometimes you learn a lot, and sometimes you feel like you've anti-learned.

3-I have a passion for Italian double consonants. I love them. How better to fill more emotion into a word than hang out on a double consonant? :)

4-I beat up on myself in the practice room all the time. Outloud. When I screw up I curse at myself, stop myself incessantly, and overall judge myself with ridiculous criticism.

5-Conversely, I still think I'm too lax when practicing, and wish I could learn solid technique faster.

6-I love eggplant. It's probably my favorite vegetable, and one of my favorite foods.

7-A lot of people hate eggplant, particularly men. The ones I've met this year generally dislike squash and similar vegetables all together.

Ah, my lovely education at work.