Poughkeepsie once again

Well, somehow 12 days have passed since any blogging activity, and in that time I managed to have a few performances, take a long weekend trip to Ohio, sing two auditions there, take a final exam, and clean my apartment like crazy before leaving way before the crack of dawn for home. My flight ended up being cancelled, but luckily I was able to be shoved on another (direct! YAY!) flight, which left me at Laguardia airport. A little further from home than I had planned, but it was a smooth trip, and I only had to take a bus to grand central terminal, and then a train here. I managed to get home only an hour or so later than planned, and skipped out on a lot of waiting time in airports :)

So, now I've been home for about 4 days, and have noticed a few things:

1-I really hate not having my car here. Mom's car is awful to drive, and it also means that I need to wake up super early and drive her to work, pick her up for lunch, drop her back off, and pick her up to have the car all day (which I hate anyway). Blech. If I come home for spring break I'm thinking I'll drive. I could have just driven this time, since the weather wasn't bad, but I didn't want to take a risk.

2-I love my dog, Buttons. Although she barks like a crazy monster early in the morning and barks when there is anything moving outside (sigh) she's really quite adorable, and silly enough, is seems like when you talk to her, she really understands. It's just crazy. She's getting older, though, and she's a little slower than before. Makes me sad :(

3-Mom is as crazy and silly as ever. We're nuts together, and that's fun. It does seem that all of a sudden she has lots of projects to get done around the house, now that I'm home while she's at work. I know that all of the things that she's done in the house over the years have been taken for granted, and just because I clean up and organize a few times doesn't mean I deserve a medal...but sometimes I want one for it. Crazy how I can clean like a maniac for my own apartment...

4-I think my tastebuds have gradually changed over the years. Nothing really tastes the same recently (certain christmas cookies, for example) and things are very often too sweet for my taste. Also I think my affinity for more eastern foods has made lots of other things taste very bland.

5-Despite my issues with food, Mom still seems to be one of the best cooks around. A huge crockpot full of her homemade vodka sauce has been on all day, and last night as she prepped it, I could nearly have died and been satisfied for just one smell before leaving this earth...

6-I still can't relax, and I'm on vacation. I've really not even practiced, but am obscessing over all the music I have to learn before returning to bloomington. Thank god for the sofa and loveseat in our living room...you sit on one of those and you're asleep in a matter of minutes. Good thing I don't have them in bloomington, I'd never get anything done! Seriously, though I am stuck in the house for a good portion of the day, and feel like I'm accomplishing nothing, I'm still ready for a million errands and unable to get any of them done. Bleech.

7-Every time I'm home it's one doctor's visit after another...if I didn't have to, I didn't want to switch doctors. Therefore, I can always look forward to a visit to the dentist amongst my Poughkeepsie travels.

8-Christmas is coming. Soon! My 24th birthday is coming. Sooner! It's weird, the decorations are up, the radio is blasting christmas music (which I have purposely not listened to, bringing my mix cds everywhere) and it couldn't feel less like the holidays. Each year I turn more grinchy, it's frightening.

9-I am looking forward to spending time with my extended family again--christmas day at the Markowitz' house, and Grandpa Ed and Grandma Evelyn's house on Long Island 2 days later.

10-I think I have plans for New Years--in NYC! I'm definitely not going to Times Square, but my friend Andy will be visiting his brother, and I've been invited out to show Andy some of my old haunts and to find something adventurous and fun to do for New Years. We'll see what my update about that will be. Also, I'll also be able to see lovely Anna, who I haven't seen since this summer, and George, who keeps reminding me that I need to tell him when I'm visiting :)

Ok. That's enough noticing and thoughts for now. I'm off to try to start The Fellowship of the Ring...for the 3rd time. I can make it through the first 60 pages, I can make it through the first 60 pages...

recent pics :)

Just call us Rosina and Figaro--Adonis and I and our modern Barber of Seville scene! :)


My "family" at Thanksgiving. :)



mini-80's fest. Haha. We're dorks, and it's great.



Two pictures from our scenes program last night. Fun and beautiful ladies everywhere! :)

Adult life

Today I had another one of those "I can't believe I'm really an adult" moments. I had to drive out in the mini-blizzard we had, and on my trip, I realized that I'm definitely not a kid anymore. Sometimes it takes a bit of ice and snow and some slipping around on the roads to make you feel grown up...

on my list of "to do's", part I:

Find someone (or lots of someones) who are also leaving B-town for winter break on Friday, Dec. 16th. My flight is SUPER early (7am) and the earliest shuttle arrives at the airport at 6:30am, so that's a no go. I'll take a taxi if it comes down to that, but perhaps if I can find a few other people in the same kind of predicament, and we could take a taxi together and split the fare? That would be best. Of course, anyone going for a long drive home that wants an early start, I'll chip in for gas money! Please contact me if you're in this situation--it's less than 2 weeks away! :)

Try to get into the holiday spirit. For some reason, this isn't easy for me. Add in a few auditions for my last weekend here, and it's nearly impossible. Any holiday spirit sharing post-next Sunday (the 11th) would be eagerly accepted. Cookie-making, holiday-movie-watching, etc.

December update

So there are only 4 official days of class left (!!!) and 12 days until I go home for a full 3 weeks. Unbelievable. My only stressors for the next 2 weeks are the 3 auditions I have coming up, which will be completely finished exactly a week from this moment. I really have to start rememorizing my monologue for Ohio Light, which I am a little too confident won't take me too long. Sigh.

I feel really bad that Adonis will be driving us all the way to Wooster, OH, for that audition. He didn't hand in his application (the due date snuck up on him) and Wooster is A LOT farther away than we thought. Almost 3 hours further. (further? farther? I don't remember. whichever.). I'm just hoping that the long amount of driving won't kill us (him in particular) and that we can find some fun things to do and some good relaxing between my saturday and our sunday (cincinnati) audition. What a crazy last weekend in town.

Just to comment on this past week, it was the week of choir singing. Every night I had a rehearsal or a concert for the 2 composers concerts I've been participating in, or the CVE concert. I'm baffled that this week I won't have choir to sing in. If only I didn't have all these auditions I could just have fun for the next two weeks (other than 2 more school performances and 2 finals). Back to the choir concerts--Tony's Colors in Silence went pretty well, I think, as he seemed pleased, and the audience was receptive. I really enjoyed singing in the piece, and will probably sing it in his recital next semester. CVE went really well, considering the intense difficulty of the 3 pieces we performed. I was so very proud of Vasiliki and her conducting.

After the CVE concert, Vasiliki's sister, and Vasiliki's Greek friends had a party down in the Auer Hall Green room--yummy food, some wine, and Greek dancing. It was really a lot of fun, and again made me hope for some more time with Vasiliki.

Ok, off to make some breakfast. This weekend was the first time in over a month I didn't have anything pressing to do, and I could hardly believe it. I got soo much sleep last night and it was simply fantastic :) Ahhhh.

19 days until my birthday, and 21 days until Christmas!