Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland!

So, we're getting closer to Christmas and I've barely purchased anything for anyone. I bought some cards and things for the people at my church and I got a cute little present for my friend I work. I don't have much shopping to do, but I've gotta do it soon!

In other news, I've added another spot along 7th ave in Park Slope that I like to go to. I have about 3 main things that I do in the area and I always need to know where I can eat. SO, my church and I went to this uber cute bakery/cafe (pictured above) for brunch this past Sunday. I loved it so much that I went back with Brad yesterday. The best part is that you can sit where they decorate the cakes!

Anyway, I'm blogging as I sit on the train on my way home from the gym. Later I'm going to sell tickets for this opera company. And at some point, I'm gonna make collard greens for my friend's pot luck tomorrow! I'm a busy bee!

xoxo

:o)

Where have I been?! 3: Do mi sol mi do!

Ok so this picture has zero to do with me singing. It's just that Sesame Street is having it's 40th(?) anniversary and they've got an amazing exhibit at Grand Army Plaza.

I'm back to practicing like I do! My voice lessons are superb and I'm feeling inspired again! My new job gives me time to actually study music the way I did in school (highlight words, translate, tap out and mark in downbeats w/colored pencils etc.) OH, and I got into this group called 'Opera Singers Initiative' for the 2010 season! Got a good feeling about that next step!

I'm also gigging like crazy for the Christmas season. I've got my Church gig in Yonkers and a bunch of caroling gigs around the city all this month.

HOLLA!

:)

Where have I been?! #2 : Sick as a dog!

A couple Sundays ago, I had volunteered to usher at Chelsea Opera. It was a warm day and I really didn't need a jacket. I also got my hair washed. I walked to the train without a coat and that's when the coughing started...

It didn't help that I was in a public place that had young children and old people hacking and sneezing and coughing. And in the evening, it got much colder. I also wasn't drinking enough water. There'd be days where I can't remember drinking a drop of it. So you add all that up, divide it by 7, do the Litmus Configuration and the Quadratic Equation and it all adds up to the cold of the century.

After I had an earth shattering headache for an entire evening, I went to the doc, who dresses overly glamorous whenever I see her (pictured above), and she told me it was severe sinus pressure.

I took a bunch of days to get over that and today I feel pretty much myself, but it took a while!!

Xoxo!

Where have I been?!: Worky Jerky!

Wow, really? The entire month of November has passed and I'm just updating?? Ok, there's a bunch of stuff that would make for one long blog entry so, I'll break it up a little:

1. Workin' girl!
So, I think I mentioned that I had a job at the end of October. It went on for a second or 2 longer and then I moved on to singing gigs and an actual job that I was hired for!

It's at Plymouth Church in Brooklyn Heights. Really gorgeous place and very historic! This was one of the stops on the Underground Railroad!

So anyway, I'm the evening receptionist and greeter. They open the place up to the community for various activities (Folk dance, basketball, meetings) and they need a person at the desk to be a greeter.

I'm on day two and having a great time :)

Xox

Today

So I liked today.

I took my lil bro to the doctor to get whatever he needed for his working papers. Then I took a quick trip over to Mango to get some last Thai stuff in before I get all strict and diety again. Which, was a good idea because I do feel quite nauseous after all the fatty stuff attacked my body.

I'm going into production for La Boheme with Opera Manhattan next week, and as the cover, I'm going to have to stand in for many of the rehearsals in November. I got into Super Opera Dork mode and got some research materials on it from the library before I met up with Joe to get the score. Then of course I did my normal busy work of highlighting the words. Tomorrow, I'll tab and translate. Feels good to be getting back into production.

Haha, hee hee, hoo hoo

I hope you all enjoyed my joke below. That wasn't a mistake. I am, in fact, a hilarious procrastinator.

The past few days have been cool. I don't know if I told you but, my car is up and running so the procrastination station is back in business. The funny thing is, I'll see a spot and say ugh, that's entirely too far for me to walk from. Meanwhile, for the past 3 or more weeks, I've been walking clear across town to Park Slope, uphill, from my house! I guess it's the state of mind that you're in. Had I have had my car, I wouldn't have walked.

Been working out, singing sometimes. Running into a lot of crazies on the train. This young, seemingly sane, mildly attractive guy told me he liked my boots.

Guy: [[sits directly next to me on the platform]]"Yeah, I like yo boots"
Me: ::pretends not to hear that even though he said it right in my ear::
Guy: "Nah, you heard me though?"
Me: "Oh...what?"
Guy: "Yeah, I said I like yo boots yo, them shits is tight na'mean?"
Me: "Ah, yes, thank you thaaaank you"

Mind you..ah I should've taken a pic of them...they are the most girlie, I mean little girlie, looking boots you can imagine. I got up and looked for the train. You have to bend over to do that so that probably wasn't the best idea. Then I started pretend coughing (bad for the chords, I know) so he would think I had tuberculosis or something.

The Top Ten Reasons I Procras

Book review: The Man in the Picture: A Ghost Story by Susan Hill

I wanted to go to the pizza place the other day but I couldn't find a book to read in my house. So, I ended up picking this up from the library. It's size and subject matter was of interest to me after reading the very long "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman (which is a bit too long for me to review on here).

Well, I read this book in a matter of days. The language is clear and very conversational (as most of it is a recanting of a story from various characters) which made for easy and quick reading. It involves two main characters, a college professor, Dr. Parmitter and his student, Oliver. One night, the professor decides to share a story with his student but it's much more than a story, it's a horrifying tale that no sane person would or should believe.

I think the outside flap was misleading. I thought I'd be reading a hallowing, gruesome, bloody tale filled with violent death. I ended up getting much more. It was probably one of the more elegantly written books I've ever read. To quote another review I read on this book: Think The Omen vs. Scream or The Shining vs. Saw III. This is the art of understated horror. I won't ruin the twist in the story so I'll end it there.

Thursday!

My friend from grad school, Beth, came to town today and I told her I'd meet up with her for lunch and general catching up.

She was nice enough to agree to travel to Brooklyn since the weather was so bad. But before we met up, I had to run some serious errands. I threw on my trusty old rain boots and headed Downtown Brooklyn. As I was walking down the street, I felt my heel go a little too far back in my boot. I also felt a bit of a draft.

I got all the way to the Atlantic Center Mall before I realized that there was a hideous slit in the back of my rainboot!!! To add insult to injury, I had on hot pink socks that had multi-colored polka-dots all over em! Ugh.

Well anyway, it was a good thing I was at the mall. I jetted to DSW and got some super cute, long overdue new rainboots.

Hooray, disaster averted!
Xoxo :)

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Movie Review: The Fourth Kind

Um.

Alright.

My friend told me he had some free tix for a screening of this movie. I asked him the name and he told me. So I googled the trailer and found out it was pretty much a scary movie about aliens. I don't normally like those movies, but I figured "What the heck, it's free".

So here's the review: The Fourth Kind is about a history of disappearances in nome, Alaska and it's direct relationship to a psychologist's study of sleeping patterns of it's inhabitants. This is a 'first of it's kind' movie that includes "archival footage" while simultaneously showing the actors re-enacting certain scenes. Done pretty inticingly if I do say so...you prefer to look at the "proof" even if it's on a low grade camera. Before the movie even starts, Milla Jovovich introduces herself as the actress portraying Dr. Abigail Tyler [the real doctor is eerily narrating the events in the movie, by way of an interview with the director]. If I've already made this sound more complex than it is, that's because it's hard to explain their storytelling method. The truth is, they are still editing things out. The movie actually comes out next month but this screening is supposedly going to help them decide what should stay and what should go.

I don't want to give away too much, but, I went into the theatre not knowing what to expect. It's sort of like seeing the Blair Witch Project without knowing that it didn't really happen. So of course I was shocked at many of the things I saw. They did say the footage would be distrubing but I hadn't expected it to actually disturb me. By the end I knew it all had to be fake...I mean...right?

Bottom line, go see this movie, suspend all disbelief and you will be supremely entertained.

Tuesday

My mom stayed home sick and I of course do not want to get sick also...so I've been finding oppurtunities to get the hell outta the house as soon as possible. I actually had rehearsal for a church gig today. I left a little early to meet Lori for the grossest empanada I've ever had [Cafe on 71st I think, gross] while waiting for Darrell to get outta work.

The gig is up at the tippy top of The Bronx and we took the train to his car. Before we went into the church, we grabbed some snacks from the corner store. It was an Irish bodega of sorts [if that exists] and they had every type of Cadbury product you can imagine! I was in Cadbury heaven. I also tried "Walkers Roast Chicken Flavoured Crisps". Sounds yucky but it was DElicious!

Singing at the Church was fun! I missed all the people there and we actually practiced inside of the church instead of the practice room. Their Bi-Centennial is coming up this Sunday so they needed extra voices. The job kinda sings itself. There are a lotta sopranos, including one that I've dubbed the Disney Princess, bc she's pretty and has a nice bell sounding voice. In addition to the organ, there were 2 trumpets and a dude on an amplified keyboard, which simulated another type of brass instrument, and at times, timpani..?? All I know is that, if I decided to stop singing, would people even be able to tell? Yeah, prob. But it's nice to know I can drop out sometimes.

On the way home, Darrell's car battery died. Tis the season I s'pose. I told him join the club, to try to keep the mood light. He, of course, was pissed. But, after about a half hour of sitting in his car, Triple A came and gave him a jump. All's well that ends well I always say!! :]

xoxo

Day 4: Holla atcha boy

There was nothing that happened to make me use that sub-title, I just figured I'd be silly. Hehe! It was a bittersweet ending today for me at my dream temp job. They're off to Asia on Monday and I'm back to being unemployed today! Awesome.

After I left and drank too much coffee, my mom and I went to the nail salon to get outrageous colors on my toes and nails [green and yellow, respectively]. After that we went to the grocery store for far too long. And now, I think my stomach is punishing me for all the caffiene I had today...ugh.

Day 3: God bless us everyone!

I got to NY Phil at 8am today (7:53am to be exact). I had no idea what was gonna be thrown at me so I just rolled with it. We ended up getting the breakfast order and setting it up for the judges. The auds started at 9 and we ran through them all at the speed of light. My calf muscules are gonna be so friggin toned by the time this is all over.

There were a zillion colorful characters of course, but one stood out. He was in the early morning and didn't advance but stuck around to meet people and network. In his dressing rm, he had a plastic bag full of snacks. There were granola bars (that I wanted), a dr peppy (?) and a whole bunch of other things I couldn't make out. Anyway, he offered me the granola bar and I didn't take it. At the end of the day, he asked if he could please be let into his room...on the way over he had to tell me how forward he was by giving the conductor is business card. 'I think New Yorkers expect you to have a lotta moxy!', he giggled. He was just the sweetest guy and of course he ended up giving me a package of trail mix and his card saying 'you never know you might just be the next big thing!' And then he told me God Bless me! Hehe from his mouth to God's ears, I say.

I was asked to stay longer than scheduled AND to come back for the semi-finals and finals tmrw!! That's from 8 to 5 so I'm gonna get to sleep. Thanks for reading :)

Days 1 & 2 : Holy moley, is this for real?

SO the day finally arrives that I'm going to temp with the ny phil. After not so much preparation but a whole lotta an-ti-ci......pation, I get there early and wait to meet my supervisor. She's a really sweet lady who was excited for me to help her. We get upstairs and the orchestra members are on stage in between numbers. I think I came in while they were playing some Beethoven. I almost fainted when I saw the stage from that angle. Avery Fisher Hall was where I was first introduced to live classical music professionally.

Anyway, I got RIGHT to work, on a birthday present for Lorin Maazel [!]. I had to full color copy all of the seating listings that he had done while he conducted there. They are going to get it bound and give it to him as a memento. Beside nearly pissing my pants at the magnitude of how much it would SUCK if I screwed up anything, I got to it and got half way through before I was there even an hour. Then it was time for the auditions.

They are auding for an specific instrument for the orchestra and that entire section was there to judge. I'm speaking cryptically because it was supposed to be a whole top secret thing, and not like any of them will read my blog, but I'd still like to respect their privacy. Anyway, the audition is blind. So the judges don't get to look at them, which is so amazingly awesome b/c that means their decision is solely based on talent ! Us opera singers needs some of that sometimes! Well, for competitions anyway.

Basically I do a lot of the busy work while my supervisor gets everything ready for their tour of Asia next week [they leave monday!! take me with you!] . Then, I have to bring the applicants to the stage for their auditions. It's crazy hectic and *freaking* AWESOME. I'm having the best time and look forward to the rest of the craziness!

For no reason in particular...

I've been having a lovely time getting back into audition season, practicing, going to the gym..things like that. I have no excuse for my absence. It's been far too long and cool things have happened that would've made great blogs but I don't remember half of them. So I'll just go with what I did today....

My friend Amy calls me at the crack of dawn and asks me to help her plan this fundraiser. I'm pretty much starving so just about anything will get me out the house to get food and other such deliciousness. I decide to take the bus to her place (she lives in Greenpoint, which is close and far from my house at the same time). After waiting for the bus for 20 minutes, I get a phone call from the temp agency I'm with. They have a 3-day gig for me this week: helping with auditions for the NY Phil. I mean..!!! I don't know how to explain my excitement, so I'll just end it there. I'm excited ok? So excited I might collapse. Speaking of things breaking, the bus finally gets to the stop right before me and it breaks down. Yes!

Eventually I get there. Amy and I go to a cafe and I order the burger. Like most people in America, I like to put ketchup on my burgers. You know, because that's just how I roll. I shake the ketchup and lo and behold, the top isn't secured. KETCHUP PARTY on my clothes! It was everywhere, Amy felt bad for me, the waiter was mortified, some other woman brought me wet napkins. You know, it happened, what am I gonna do? I smelled like ketchup for the rest of the day.

We planned for the fundraiser and I went home. I ended up hitting up the gym for a class and headed home. Now, I'm here writing a blog.

Ahhhh that felt good. And we're back.

PS: I love the television show, glee

PPS: I love (so far) the television show FlashForward

PPPS: I love you for reading. ;)

Toothache

I have the worst toothache which is subsquently causing the headache of the century.

It rivals that of an elephant stomping on your molars. It laughs at a drill digging into your temple. It scoffs at the feeling of being smacked with a ton of bricks...

Oh wow, I figured that would help but it feels much, MUCH worse now.

::sad face::

I like to singa

So anyway, last week (or the week before, I forget) , I went to the Met three times to watch their HD Opera series. It was beyond amazing. I saw Peter Grimes, La Boheme and Il Trittico. It was definitely cool to see all these productions up close and even COOLER to be inspired by watching new productions and viewing them as a post-grad, emerging artist. I'm not going to review them because, who am I really. Those singers are obviously doing *something* right because they're at the damn Met for cryin' out loud.

They finished most of the renovations on Lincoln Center and I took a pic of the part I like the most (in front of the library of course).

It was a great way to end the summer and it has me focused on singing these crazy crazy auditions this season!! Eep!

Let's go to prison!

So, I'm driving to the city and I see a van full of mostly handcuffed and arrested dudes. I end up stopping at a red light directly next to them and I guess bc they probably won't see women for a while, they started banging on the window to get my attention.

So I took a pic of them.

I apparently caused an uproar because I heard them all screaming when i aimed my camera at them. One red haired large man flipped me the bird. Awesome.

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

OH GOSH did I love this book.

I was walki ng through the library the other day looki ng for an interesting read. Earlier this summer I read "The Stranger" which was far too heavy for hot weather. Under the Summer Reading section, I found this charming book. In short, it's about a family who lives in an enchanted home with a magic garden. In the garden is an apple tree whose apples, when eaten, show a major event in your life.


That's basically what you find out right away, but what you discover as you read is a sort of fantastical coming of age tale about the wayward people in a south town. It shows them as normal people who inherted a not so normal gift and is told as though practical magic is a normal part of life. The idea is very reminiscent of the tone Gaiman uses in "Anansi Boys". It was such a great change from the books I normally read and I will definitely read her new book "Sugar Queen" soon.

Anyway, if you enjoy a not too heavy read with a drop of romance and a lot of practical magic, you should definitely read this one!

On a brighter note...

Remember my infatuation with cookies? [See some of my older posts, namely: Cookie starts with C! ] Remember how I'm choosing to exercise more often and eat healthier thusly leading to a slimmer me and a better lifestyle? Remember how I had to take cookies out of the equation??? Well not anymore! ::crosses fingers::

Pillsbury came out with an awesome new line called ...simply Cookies. The ellipsis wasn't for dramatic affect, that's the name of the brand! There's no high fructose corn syrup or any of that other crap they put in packaged stuff.

The BEST news, however, is that I stumbled upon a cool blogger who is doing a super cool giveaway ! You can find her page on that cute little button I embedded on the right, or *click here*

Mmm, cookies.

xo

My cat is sick

So my cat does in fact have FLUTD.

After multiple visits, hundreds of dollars and an angry review on Yelp.com , my cat has a disease that occurs in 1% of cats. According to Dr. Jackass , it's a genetic disease that she's had "for years". All two years of her life, huh? Son of a bitch.

I went to the store and got her the new food she'll need now on her special diet. I also have to groom her regularly, get a water fountain for them to drink out of and have herbal painkillers handy for when stressful situations happen to her. It's like having a permanent baby that can't tell you what hurts on them. So frustrated.

Wacky Wednesday

Ugh, what kind of person am I? Blogging once a week.

It's been a tough one I suppose, if we make the week start from Thursday to Thursday. I had a really long Thursday last week that involved early morning bootcamp, doctor's appointments, taking my cat to the vet and a late night audition. It was probably the longest day of my life. And all the events of that day kinda affected the rest of the week.

• For example, I had to go back and forth to the vet. I wrote a hideous review for them on yelp.com and they saw it, so there was all this drama there.
  
• I was super sore from the bootcamp so I had to rest crazy amounts and not go to the normal gym
• I ended up running Opera Manhattan auditions two days in a row so there goes my weekend. not complaining, it was eye opening.

The rest of the week is a blur. I'm getting ready for audition season so a lot of the things that are happening are gelling together. I am considering getting serious about going back on the hunt for a job. Or at least temp work while I try to get certified to substitute teach. I complain a lot about not having a job, but I gotta tell ya, it's so friggin tiring looking for one that the thought of it all seems so daunting.

Anyway, I've been escaping the woes of life by reading... and I'm reading a fabulous book right now...can't wait to review it.

xo

Everybody wins!

Remember that OTHER ticket I got long, long ago where the Po-Po told me I "rolled through" a stop sign? Well, today was the follow up ticket hearing. I got no reminder whatsoever about it but somewhere in my mind I knew something was happening today.

So I called my friend that works there and had him look it up for me...sure enough, I had a hearing at 230pm. Got down there and the courtroom was filled with mostly men; good-looking, horrified men. I saw someone I knew waiting for his hearing and sat with him. One of my old friends from the nabe.

The judge was SUCH a hard ass. This one dude came in with complete proof that he was given a ticket for no reason and he was still found guilty. The only thing I had on my side was that my officer hadn't shown yet. Then, when there were at least 25 people left in the room, there were no officers there for the hearings! He should've let us all leave but he killed some time and took some other cases in while we waited for our officers to show up. What a meanie!

My officer appears of course, and he just so happens to have written about 7 other people's tickets in the room too. His first victim gets up and the officer says he didn't remember what happened, so the victim got off. The 2nd person goes up, he still doesn't remember...the 3rd, 4th person goes...still doesn't know. I'm like holy crap, I just might win this thing. With my luck, however, he would've pulled out a scroll of notes and video footage of me rolling through the stop sign. Luckily, I got off!


Yay! Pizza for everyone! Well, not really.