Mobile blogging *activate* !

Hello friends. Today has been one of those days where things just work out. I caught every train on time, I got to every place a little earlier than I needed. Which is awesome because that never happens!

My day started with a workout at the 59th st. Crunch. Brad has bulked up and he wanted to show me some exercises that makes him cool looking. I suppose either he was entirely too good at it or he and I are not a believable looking pair of friends..whatever the reason, he got the attention of the personal trainers there. The dude comes over to him and says "Alright Brad we're gonna have to revoke your guest pass and have you get your stuff and leave". We thought he was kidding until we noticed his facial expression and his body language. Basically comin at Brad sideways for a fight or something! I had to get in there and assure him that we were just friends working out and it was all good. The angry trainer kept saying that there are trainers here to help me and I don't need to use Brad. Right, because I can definitely afford a personal trainer with my abundant supply of money! We also
told him we were opera singers and that we can't strain our necks, and he cut us off saying that he's trained singers before and he knows what to do. Needless to say we complained at the front and needless to say I will not be attending THAT Crunch anymore.

Then I met up with Joe for delicious protein cookies at a delicious Protein Bakery over by Union Square and had lunch at Cosi. I taught my unruly high school students and made it to the LIRR in time to *not* pay peak price for my ticket thank you very much. After my lesson with one of my darling students in Great Neck, I'm headed (this is in present tense because I'm doing this right now! Duh guys c'mon) to the movies to see State of Play. If it tickles my fancy enough, I will blog a review of it! I'm pretty excited because I haven't seen an intelligent film in a while (see: my blog about Knowing).

Hope everyone's day was as rockin and tasty as mine! Thanks for reading!!

xoxoxo

I'm so 3008 you so 2000 and late

Have you ever heard that song? The one I quoted in the title? Ah it's rockin my world right now. Each time I jumped in my car today, no matter which station I tuned to - it was on. Hmm, maybe I'll hate it soon.

Yesterday's weather was so awesome that I didn't even get a chance to blog! I mean, I was sweating! Is there a simple past tense for that verb? Swat? I swat! What I normally do [beside make up verb tenses] is, when the day is over, start my mobile blog on the train ride home tweak it a little and then post. But the day was so dang action packed that I hadn't had the chance. OK, first of all, unless you live in the North Pole (it's, like, always cold there right?) the weather was beautiful yesterday. I did some yoga in Central Park with my NaFOS peeps, went to the spa, and to a birthday party!

The party was for an old friend of mine and it was out in Sheepshead by the water at this Yacht Club. Apparently everyone had the same idea to go out there last night because parking was nonexistent. After driving around for maybe 7 minutes, I called the Yacht Club and asked where the heck I should park. A man with a thick possibly Italian accent answered with:

"Listen, I dont-a have-a the parking lot, this is what I'm saying to you"
"Oh ok, well that's cool," I said, "but my question was, 'where should I park in this neighborhood?'"
"Ok, no, what eess you name?" he asked
"Aah, La Toya?"
"WHAT?"
"LA-TO-YA" I yelled...what the heck did he want my name for?
"Oh, Victoria, ok well, liiisten, I like-a you ok, you sound nice to me and you come here and you park and say Alberto eeezz looking for you"
So, in a stroke of luck, I got to park right up in the place!! Poor April came all the way from LI and I had to come with her to find a spot. The party got to a late start but I had a nice time.

Today was cool but not as interesting as yesterday :)

xoxoxo

Friendly friday

Today I got to hang out with my boys, Darrell, John and Jorell. We had lunch and then I dragged them t o the library to check some stuff out for me. Aah friends.

It was glorious today so we eventually sat in the middle of Columbus Circle and people watched. And by people watched I mean, we were terrorized by these dirty little group of boys that were putting their hands and knees in the water fountain. Darrell had to point out the fact that they weren't taking clothed baths, they were stealing the coins people threw in there to make wishes! Ugh!! As if I liked kids in the first places. And then the little terrors (there had to be at least 5 of them) started throwing these dirty balls around. They almost hit people a few times. I swear if it hit me I was gonna throw it in the damn street.

With my luck, one of them wouldve run after it. And everyone would been like "oh...look at what you done to those kids La Toya, I can't believe you are so incredibly mean" and I wouldve been like "screw you, fellow columbus circle sitters, I only did what you were thinking you'd do". Then I'd get arrested and everyone would applaud.

We also sat in Central Park while John ate a subway sandwich. This darling child on a pink bike was singing the Queen of the Night's aria. We were staring at her and laughing and we had to explain to her parents that we were opera singers so that's why we were impressed. She couldn't be any older than 6 yrs old. So she asked us which operas we had done. Basically all Mozart stuff but we named the operas...to which she replied "ugh, how come you're only naming Mozart operas?" She also told us another favorite composer of hers was Vivaldi!

In short, today was awesome and I'm definitely lucky to live in this amazing city with amazing friends!!

Xoxo

PS- did you know that there's a huge statue of Christopher Columbus in the middle of Columbus Circle? What?! I didn't! Gosh.

Diet woes

I was too sore to work out today. But I did go to Crunch to change my billing info. I was tired of the random calls from Crunch's "international" collections agency with people who couldn't even pronouce my name. " 'Elo? Kun I spek two Lah Taya Lois? We ned yer credeet card noomber" Right, let me get that for you, scary international person. I'm certain you won't attempt to steal my identity or anything.

Then I went to the library. On my walk over, there lay a box of chocolate macaroons, unopened, just sitting there on the ledge of someone's gate. Now, of course I wouldn't grab a couple or anything but, when does stuff like that EVER happen? Only when people are on diets. I wouldve rang the bell to let them know but they probably wouldve tried to reward me with macaroons.

:-P

Huzzah for LOST Wednesdays!

I had planned on doing a few things today. But what I ended up doing was going to the Gym w/ Brad and going to Professor Thom's.

I got to the gym super late because I woke up late (crazy sore from multiple workouts yesterday) and also because I didn't realize how atrociously far the Crunch on E 59th st. is from my house. Once I got there, Brad had already worked himself silly and I told him it was all good and that I'd just go stretch and do a little free weighting in the aerobic room.

While in there, I encountered a man who made a little too many gratuitous noises while stretching? You know the kind- the ones who sound like they're havin' a lil too much satisfaction if you know what I mean. After the moaning increased to a roar, he started vocalizing...but not like for real, kinda the way non-singers like to make fun of us...like "mi mi mi mi mi". So I asked him if he was a singer and he was kinda startled that anyone heard all that. But he told me he had a show at 2pm...a show called "Wicked", because I wouldn't have heard of that or something. But he was into the fact that I was an opera singer and what not so he was nice. Then he peaced out. Just when I got used to the quiet in the room, this skinhead looking guy comes in and starts high kicking (I couldn't make this stuff up if I wanted to). Then he turns his headphones all the way up and starts doing a form of Capoeira but seriously hardcore Capoeira. Like he was in battle mode. And every time he needs to catch his breath, he stops and stares at me like *challenging* me to test his skills. Once he started back flipping I had to get outta there.

I shouldn't have gone because I'm super sore. I spent the afternoon wanting cookies and laying on the couch. LOST was awesome although it sucks that next week is a recap. M'eh.

Xoxo!!!!

I want biscuits.

Hey everyone! I feel like I haven't posted in forEVERRRR. Well, I started my diet yesterday ...-_-

I'm almost in angry lack of sugar/carb land, almost. I went to the grocery store to pick up some more healthy lifestyle stuff and the first thing that caught my eye was a Godzilla sized poster that read:

***FLYER Correction: PILLSBURY BISCUITS are 2 for $4***

Then, when I was walking up and down looking for some tofu noodles, the ready to bake cookies caught my eye. I don't think I've ever seen that many types of cookies. I won't list them here, or else I'm going to hop in my car and friggin buy them.

But I mean, other than that today was cool! I finished my taxes and did a little homemade hair-do, where I wash my hair and then braid it wet. I'll take the braids out tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, I'm gonna head to bed because my social calendar is full to the brrrrim with workouts, LOST Wednesdays and the like.


xoxo

Knowing

So this morning, Kimberly Sizer and I went to see the movie 'Knowing'.

**Spoiler alert: if you're crazy enough to see a Nicolas Cage movie you might want to skip this entry**

As for the rest of us, when you go to the matinee at 34th st., the tickets are $6. Yeah, I know! So I didn't mind which movie it was as long as it was a movie and I could have some popcorn. Me and Kim knew that we'd laugh at Nicholas Cage but we didn't know we'd laugh at the movie itself. Please allow me to start at the beginning....Long ago when I was in undergrad and still able to take electives, I took a Cinematic Expression class. This class taught me many things which in turn validates my movie snobery. It had also ruined most movies because I can sense the 'big reveal' almost immediately from camera angles and other context clues throughout poorly done movies and movies in general.

Ok that being said- The premise of the movie: this crazy girl hears whispers and writes down these numbers that the whispers tell her. A page of these numbers ends up in a school time capsule and is dug up fifty years later in 2009. Cage's son in the movie ends up with the number paper and all Hell breaks loose. He figures out the numbers outline catastrophes and the longitude and latitude of where it occurred on earth. Good idea - poor delivery.

Cage can't act. We know this. But the script didn't help. It was a hideous script. The most interesting character was his son and he did as much as he could with the small amount he had. But seriously, it was pretty bad. I almost want to write an angry letter. One of my favorite lines was "I can still see their faces...burning" delivered by Cage himself. It was...well, it was..Shakespearean.

All this other dumb stuff happens, the son hears the whispers, they track down the crazy number girl's family, these weird Vampire looking guys are stalking the son. Then (Spoiler!!!) we find out the final event listed on the paper is the end of the world. Oh snap. Ok so, luckily the only thing I noticed was the bird's eye view camera angle during the opening credits. That normally means that aliens will be making an appearance at some point. BUT the big reveal was how exactly the world would end. Apparently the sun was gonna shoot a fire beam and destroy the ozone layer leaving the earth unable to support life. Brilliant. Except for the fact that from the beginning of the damn movie, they were throwing the Sun in your face:

The crazy girl staring at the sun instead of playing during recess,
The crazy girl releasing a yellow balloon into the sky at the time capsule ceremony,
Nicholas Cage giving a lecture on the properties of the sun at MIT while tossing a model of the sun around the class at various students,
The radio announcer discussing the extension of Indian summer,
There are others that I don't feel like listing. But you see what I mean though?

On the plus side, the special effects were fantastic! I was horrified to see NYC explode and to see a train crash at the fictional Lafayette st. station. Ever notice how disaster movies like to destroy NYC any way they can? Hmm.

The point is, don't see this movie. Unless you want a good laugh because I've just ruined it for you.

Freaky Friday!

I took Bikram Yoga today, or Hot Yoga, at Crunch. Holy Yoga! It was awwwwesome. Literally 100 degrees, warm moist heat, I was friggin drenched. But the cool part was that I felt like I was on the beach after a while, and shoot , I'll take that any day of the week. Well maybe not any day...my hair is a mess now haha.

Here's what I wanted to do today:

1. Go to the gym and do the yoga [done and done!]

2. Go to the library, return things and check more stuff out

3. Finish my taxes

4. See a movie

5. Have pancakes

One out of five ain't bad!! Honestly, today was one of those days where I naturally allow myself to not do much because I did a crap load the day before. On Thursday I hung out with Brad, Briana and tried on some dresses for a +Size Model Fashion show. All social events but I was definitely in the city for nine hours yesterday and my feet hurt a little at the end of the day.

Well, there's always tomorrow.

Cookie cookie cookie starts with C

My brother makes the best cookies.

There were three there, then I ate one.

LOST Wednesdays two weeks later

So the chicken wasn't as good as last time. I mean my stomach is going to die soon. I think it's also because I got my opera diet booklet today [which is what i will refer to it as from now on] and I just shouldn't eat that way in general. Ugh typing about it is making me sick...

But I had a great time with my old school friends beside the fact that it was super crowded and people were dumb with their random seating and general tomfoolery. And of course the episode rocked my world, as it tends to do.

Let's see what else happened today...hmm well I taught the crazy children, the word "taught" being used very loosely. They decided that today they were going to ask me a lot of questions about being an opera singer instead of singing. I know that trick ok? I invented that! Then I had a meeting about the opera diet, which I will not really speak of on here bc I think there will be a separate blog about that. Then I went to Barnes and noble to kill some time before LOST. This annoying guy kept singing "I put onnnn, I put onnnn" like that dumb song by whoever that guy is. I was expecting to see some urban high schooler with a fitted cap and an ipod, but instead it was a skinny Sk8tr boy "he said see you l8tr boy" rockin out hard. Just like last night when I saw a very village-y looking late 20 something professional woman rockin out to "Knuck if you buck" I did a few double takes both times not gonna lie.

Goes to show you how assuming makes an ass out of u and me.

xoxo

ET phone home

Picture taken from my bedroom window. What the hell is that? Is someone trying to contact aliens from our communal backyard? Hmm?

Yep..today's gonna be random..I can feel it.

Terrific Tuesdays

Pic taken on a whim as I exited the shuttle train at franklin ave.

List of events today: got my hair done, saw a show, went to dinner.

I tried a new beautician and she was ok. Left me under the dryer for far too long and now one side of my neck is super red. I told her it was too hot under there but she didn't speak english or something? Then I argued with my bro about making a ready to bake cookies without using a cookie sheet. For some reason he's a baking genius and I can't bake a cake that comes ready to mix in the box. Anyway, he says that you can't bake em on a plate bc metal is better than glass for baking. So is this what they're teaching kids in school these days? The art of baking?

Needless to say, the cookies weren't made and I went to the show cookie-less. That lasted about 2 hours and I got to see more people than I thought I would perform. Jorell and So young were in it as well as Lori (I'm just assuming the reader knows all these people). Lori and I ended up going to dinner at some hidden Uno's on 86th.

The train ride home was exhilarating. If by exhilarating I mean weird. This female panhandler with a drum came into the car and pretended she was going to start crying then some dude was like "Hey Sweetheart" and handed her a dollar. He continued by saying "you know baby, I saw yo' husband earlier. Mmhmm always good to see y'all baby" she's all like "God bless u yeah he just got out the hospital but he's doin good, he's downtown now" All the while she's setting up her drum(?) She does her drum rap circa 1987, with all the old school hip hop inflections and then proceeds to panhandle. Then the dude stops her again like "listen baby, u be careful now.."I couldn't hear the rest bc he lowered his voice to the sexy tone. She kinda runs off like yo stop talkin to me. FINALLY, the same dude gets off at 42nd and comes over to ME and says "hello m'aam (how do you spell that?), I just wanted to
tell u that u are very beautiful"...I wanted to say, yeah dude that means a lot comin from you! You just tried to holler at a married BUM for God's sake!!

But I just said thanks.

The end of my train ride culminated in the 2 guys across from me discussing making t-shirts while, very very unashamedly staring my ass down. I was thinking um hello? I don't want to buy t-shirts from you, weird t-shirt guys. And then, every person turned their ipod up as loud as possible. All in all I say best train ride ever.

xoxo

Cookies and some apple juice

I attached this pic because I'm a photographical genius. That's not a word ok? I know that.

Pet Peeve alert: people who over-explain or state the obvious. 'Really? Photographical isn't a word? Oh wow good thing you told me that, it's not like I learned grammar in school or anything' Or when I exaggerate for comic relief, "Good heavens! I haven't seen you in at least 67 years!" and people retort with.."Um that's, like, impossible La Toya" oh wait, let me get my calculator..hmm ok carry the 1...greatest common factor is...you are Captain Obvious! Thanks Cap'n!

I went to a bunch of smart schools before college. And we were all so smart that there wasn't any bizarre underlying social competition to see who was the smartest bc it was just the way everyone was, duh we were going to the same smart schools together. Kinda like when I downplay my opera singing bc to me it's like, ok who in my life DOESN'T sing opera? Anyway, we'd make fun of not smart kids by making the most off-the- wall, nonsensical statements.... Of course I don't remember them Edward, I'm opera singa not a...um, Historian!

By the way, I realized all the punctuation errors I made before you did. I realized that I should've said 'an' Historian before you did. I realized that the dude's name probably isn't Edward but I don't know his name bc I didn't really watch that show, before you did. I realized that if you're carrying a 1, why would u need to find the greatest common factor?, before you did. I realized those were run-on sentences before you did. I realized that I'm paying homage to James Marvel's 'about me' section on his myspace page before you did.

:-P

Xoxo

You like me! You really like me!!!

Completely overwhelmed with joy right now. Partially because the opera is over but MOSTLY because of my friends that came to see it!

I didn't even know how to combat the throng of old faces that were in front of me but somehow I managed to say hello to everyone and give them big hugs! A highlight for sure was when my wheel of fortune bff (no really we were on the show when we were younger) April gave me flowers at the end!! It looked staged but it totally wasn't! I love u April!!

Note to self: warm up before the show next time haha. It was super hard for my voice to wake up today! So I felt like there wasn't that much fluidity to my sound... but I'm a perfectionist for sure. I think it was definitely a step in the right direction as far as rep goes! One day that will really be a good role for me.

After greeting my peeps, I went out with Joe, Kyle and David. Thanks for taking us out Joe you freaking rock my socks! Then I drove David and Kyle home. It was awesome catching up with them!

Then I ran a red light and got my pic taken while on Atlantic ave. Then I left my new shoes my mom brought me at the place. But I mean other than that today was awesome hahahha.

xoxo

The opera is tomorrow!!/Hooray for the library!!

Yay!

I haven't been excited to do a show in so long!! Ah that sounds terrible but it's true. I think it's because I was always in the damn chorus. And if I wasn't in chorus and had a lead, then I was up in Binghamton or at Purchase and not too many people could come. I think the main reason I'm excited is because my friends will be there! Hooray for you my lovely adoring public! haha!

So I went to the library today. And can I just say how much I love that place? OMG! I used to go everyday in the summertime [which I plan on doing this summer] and take out a zillion books and get uber fines on them. OK so today was no exception. I'm not gonna tell you what the grand total was but believe you me, I'm embarrassed that I let it get that high!

I took out some music scores, a cd and a couple books. I also asked if I could be part of a library focus group. I had to pull myself away or else I would've stayed longer and took out more books that I wouldn't read!!!

Me=coming into my own and embracing the nerd within.

After that I drove home and cleaned up the house a little [very little] with my mom and strolled around our safe neighborhood.

Anyway, I'm gonna hit the hay, so excited for tomorrow. Tell you all about it next time!

Peace out!!!

Lazy day

Ah man, I **so** needed not to do a single thing today.

And that's precisely what I did. Last night, we had our final run of the Opera before Sunday and it went really well. I don't know where I got the energy from, but I went the extra mile and performed like it was showtime. [Duh, that's probably what people normally do] Well anyway, it's like a super cut version of Cosi Fan Tutte, even though most of my stuff is still in it. And it's only 2 hours long tops. So, I'm not sure why the opera is making me so dang tired but man!!! I couldn't get out the bed today.

When I finally did, I went through my normal morning routine of checking Facebook and I found out about that tragedy in Binghamton. I sat by the tv to follow that for a while and doodled around on the computer.

I have sufficiently accomplished nothing today, and I'm pretty o.k with that!

Funny words

I love it when people have those privacy settings on their blogs or social networking sites in general. I've been getting some funny words while trying to post on you guy's pages:

Ifinging

munarcle

benesse

dlarny

blettles

hipkonk

snarfblat and dinglehopper

Ok, OK! The last two were from the Little Mermaid but I couldn't resist!

eep op ork ah-ah!
xoxo

LOST Wednesdays

LOST was awesome. It rocks my world, but I definitely want to watch it at Prof. Thom's next week...

But I'm starting to get into this ridiculous television watching habit. It's like, I watch whatever I watch before 11:30 and then my brain is taken over by The Simpsons and just when I'm like "ok, I'm going to sleep this instant" Scrubs comes on and I'm like aaah I have to watch this. Bleh!! I know TV rots your brain but these shows are damn addictive!

Today was cool, I had to teach the chorus. The supervisors came in and I finally met the principal. I felt like I was getting fired or something. There was a lot of whispering, but I don't think I'm getting fired that would be like, mad stupid.

Then I went to S'mac again- this time with Joe- after going with my girl Ali on Monday! I admit I'm overdoing it a little bit because I'm embarking on an exciting weightloss thing for 3 months! I might have a separate blog for that but it's basically something Opera Manhattan is doing where I'd get Personal trainings and yoga classes and other awesome-ness. A new fitness magazine is writing a column about fat opera singers and how we shouldn't be fat for a variety of reasons. I don't think I'm fat of course but I'm not at the healthiest weight by any means! So once I find out if there's a video blog that I'll be doing for that I'll link you all.

Oh and my phone is off so I can't mobile blog once again. nice.