I have learned a lot about myself in the past couple of years and one of the most surprising things I've learned is how little I like to go out and drink/party. I really don't mind being with a couple of friends and drinking wine. If I go out to eat I might have a martini or margarita, but I try to avoid going out at all costs.
The most obvious thing I hate about going out is the need to get black-out drunk. I might not need to get that drunk, but if I'm going to be comfortable around hundreds of people I don't know I'd rather be so drunk that I can't remember any of them the next morning. There are several problems with getting that intoxicated and the biggest is that I have no filter. I literally say just about anything and if I have a secret that I absolutely cannot tell anybody it usually gets told to everybody. Unfortunately Raissa refuses to help shut me up because I insist on making sure everybody knows what my big secret is.
The next problem being that drunk is that I usually look back at my actions from the previous night and realize that I was running around like a little fairy princess whose mission was to embarrass my sober-future self. People insist that I'm not that embarrassing...but I know they're lying.
I still have a huge issue of knowing when to stop drinking. It's been a long time since I've embarrassed myself and earned the nick-named "The bathroom boy" (I was in the bathroom for 3 hours...puking), but sometimes I still get home after a long night, pass out, wake up the next morning and find the contents of last night's late-night McDonalds run either next to my bed or (as in the case of this weekend) on our couch.
The worst aspect, by far, of drinking like a fish is that wonderful feeling you get the next morning. Like being hit with a brick several times inside your brain--you still feel like throwing up but you don't want to (it'll ruin your teeth), you don't want to see people (they're loud and hit you with more bricks), and you don't want to move (incase the hangover fairy, who decided to bless you with the pain of a thousand bricks being pelted at you, decides to throw more bricks your way).
There is only one cure for my hangovers seems to be breakfast burritos. You may not think that breakfast burritos are pretty much the Jesus of mexican food...but they are my only salvation from the sins I committed the night before. They look like death when your hungover (much like Jesus was dead for a while) but you accept it (much like you accept Jesus) and you eat it (much like catholics think they eat Jesus...but more in the fashion that Mary Magdalene 'ate' Jesus). Breakfast Burritos--the Jesus of my Hangover.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Friday, August 26, 2011
GGDF
Gotta Get Down on Friday...
I'm excited to say that I have only one more class before the first week of school is over. I'm taking 13 credits, working 21 hours a week, and rehearsing for the opera every weekday. For now I'm confident that I'll be able to handle it all.
The classes that I'm taking don't require all that much effort outside of class. Vocal rep coaching just entails singing in class and listening to others sing. World music is almost all lecture--there will be a paper though. The most important class I'm taking is aural skills review for grad students. It's been so long since I've taken a theory or aural skills class that I decided I might need a refresher. Even when I did take those classes I still only fumbled my way through them. This time I need to actually improve my skills so that they don't hold me back during grad school auditions and diagnostic exams. We did some exercises yesterday and I was disappointed to find out that I had not gained perfect pitch in the last few years. If I had one wish it would be perfect pitch...or the mad piano skills of a world-class concert pianist. ..That's totally a lie, I'd totally ask to be a wizard.
What would I do with wizard powers...?
The first thing to do is give myself golden vocal cords of the gods. I'd be so freakin' amazing I wouldn't have to worry about doing a masters degree, just go right into concert tours with the cd that I recorded of german lieder. Become world famous for concert singing and then a few years later I'd break out into the opera world and sweep people off their feet.
Unfortunately, becoming a world famous opera singer would be so effortless that I'd probably lose interest pretty quickly... so then I'd take over the world. I'd take out all the world leaders that have no respect for human rights, solve world hunger and poverty, and fix the world economy. One idea I've had for fixing the economy is destroying things and making everybody rebuild them. After solving all issues and getting bored doling out socialism, I'll resign, fake my death, and then travel the world first as a crazy wisdom lama and then as a big time thief pulling off the biggest heists of the century. All this while I'm watching the rest of the world fuck itself up again.
I'm excited to say that I have only one more class before the first week of school is over. I'm taking 13 credits, working 21 hours a week, and rehearsing for the opera every weekday. For now I'm confident that I'll be able to handle it all.
The classes that I'm taking don't require all that much effort outside of class. Vocal rep coaching just entails singing in class and listening to others sing. World music is almost all lecture--there will be a paper though. The most important class I'm taking is aural skills review for grad students. It's been so long since I've taken a theory or aural skills class that I decided I might need a refresher. Even when I did take those classes I still only fumbled my way through them. This time I need to actually improve my skills so that they don't hold me back during grad school auditions and diagnostic exams. We did some exercises yesterday and I was disappointed to find out that I had not gained perfect pitch in the last few years. If I had one wish it would be perfect pitch...or the mad piano skills of a world-class concert pianist. ..That's totally a lie, I'd totally ask to be a wizard.
What would I do with wizard powers...?
The first thing to do is give myself golden vocal cords of the gods. I'd be so freakin' amazing I wouldn't have to worry about doing a masters degree, just go right into concert tours with the cd that I recorded of german lieder. Become world famous for concert singing and then a few years later I'd break out into the opera world and sweep people off their feet.
Unfortunately, becoming a world famous opera singer would be so effortless that I'd probably lose interest pretty quickly... so then I'd take over the world. I'd take out all the world leaders that have no respect for human rights, solve world hunger and poverty, and fix the world economy. One idea I've had for fixing the economy is destroying things and making everybody rebuild them. After solving all issues and getting bored doling out socialism, I'll resign, fake my death, and then travel the world first as a crazy wisdom lama and then as a big time thief pulling off the biggest heists of the century. All this while I'm watching the rest of the world fuck itself up again.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Summer and the First Day of School
Since I was 12 I have never really looked forward to summer. Yes, I got to visit my mother with whom I had a wonderful time, but she still worked and I had few friends wherever she lived. While I love the weather and the sun and getting tan, summer has never really been that exciting for me.
This summer I stayed in Boulder and worked minimum wage at the Rec Center--it wouldn't have been worth it if it wasn't for CU Now. I was lucky enough to get a principal role for a paid gig at the school where I got to work with the Herschel Garfein as not only the composer but also the director. The music was possibly the hardest I've had to learn but it made my whole summer...it also looks pretty good on my resume.
I've always looked forward to the first day of school and after CU Now all I could do was count down the days until class started. I knew that this would be my last year of undergrad at CU, but yesterday in the lounge I realized something. I've been in school for 4 years now and it's about to all pay off. This is the final year where everything I have been working for finally climaxes into a single year where I have to prove myself to everybody. I've seen so many people graduate and many of my high school friends are done with school now...this year, it's finally my turn.
The very beginning of the day started off with me failing to find sleep from 12am to 5am. I literally lay* in bed for 5 hours trying to fall asleep unsuccessfully. At least I wasn't going to be late for work at 6am because I slept in. I was going to be late because I lost my wallet, which Raissa later found in her car. The only thing that made my morning bearable was the coffee I had the foresight to know that I'd probably need.
(*I figured out that was the proper form of the verb yesterday. I'm glad to report that I finally used it properly)
The coffee I had made really did the trick and the rest of my last-first-day of undergrad was wonderful. Two coachings and two classes later and I felt/feel like this is going to be a really exciting year.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Live Journal
I started a Live Journal back in April of 2005 and I had hoped that I would keep using it and updating it. I was successful for the longest time but my last entry was in January of 2009. After going back and reading a few of my entries I realized how important it was to keep a journal. It's been so long that I've forgotten half of the things that happened, and half of those that I've forgotten I doubt ever actually occurred. I hope this blog/journal lasts as long as my Live Journal and someday I look back and remember how amazing my life has been.
I think what's important in this post is to note how I've changed since my very first entry nearly 6 years ago. I was a sophomore in high school when I first started my LJ, I had just come out, I was involved in the school plays and speech competitions, and I had some wonderful friends that I spent a lot of time with as awkward as some of those relationships were. I like to think that I was a really nice and kind person back then but something happened during my senior year and I became kind of an ass. I cheated on my boyfriend, I alienated people, and I did just about whatever I wanted. It feels wonderful to say that I'm conscience of it now and that I'm a much more exciting and kind person than that. I try to make a conscience effort to find the best in people and not say anything negative about them.
After high school I had planned on going to the UofM in Minneapolis to study music performance and education but I attended Northern State in Aberdeen, SD instead. They had given me a generous amount of money so I started studying music ed for a while until my professor, Raouf Zaidan, had mentioned I might pursue an opera career. I was on board immediately and during my sophomore year at NSU I started looking into transferring to a school with a performance degree. Under the most amazing circumstances I was offered a full ride at CU to study music performance with Patrick Mason. It was a very rough process trying to leave CU--a lot of mistakes were made on my part but eventually I ended up in Boulder.
I have been in Boulder for 2 years now and I'm about to start my 3rd and final year of undergraduate work at CU. While here I've already gotten to perform in the chorus for 6 operas, cover roles in 2 of those operas, sing principal roles in the Bernstein Mass and in CU's New Opera Workshop. This fall I get to perform two roles in the same opera and gain that much more experience. I would have never had these opportunities in South Dakota and I'm so grateful to have moved here.
This next semester is going to be one of the busiest with the opera, grad school auditions, senior recital preparations, and work. I've tried to prepare as much as I could this summer but I know I could have done better. It just means that I'll have to work that much harder during the school year.
A lot of things haven't changed since I first started LJ. I still love peanut butter and I still need a fan to sleep at night. I'm still an introvert and have some trouble making friends. A few things have changed, however. I am slightly balding and I'm more obsessed with my hair than ever. I'm probably in better shape than I was in SD though, since bike and walk a lot. For a while I worked out and had some pretty awesome arms too, haha. I also some quite a bit of herb, haha.
There is so much more that I'd like to add--philosophies, music that I love, information about my love life, and how much I hate my back fat--but hopefully I'll mention it in future posts. I specifically remember my director from Our Town the play asking if I kept a journal and whether it was more about events or my feelings. Honestly, it was nearly all about events. It would be wonderful if this could be a good mix of my ideas, events, and emotions...so, I'll try and keep that in mind.
I think what's important in this post is to note how I've changed since my very first entry nearly 6 years ago. I was a sophomore in high school when I first started my LJ, I had just come out, I was involved in the school plays and speech competitions, and I had some wonderful friends that I spent a lot of time with as awkward as some of those relationships were. I like to think that I was a really nice and kind person back then but something happened during my senior year and I became kind of an ass. I cheated on my boyfriend, I alienated people, and I did just about whatever I wanted. It feels wonderful to say that I'm conscience of it now and that I'm a much more exciting and kind person than that. I try to make a conscience effort to find the best in people and not say anything negative about them.
After high school I had planned on going to the UofM in Minneapolis to study music performance and education but I attended Northern State in Aberdeen, SD instead. They had given me a generous amount of money so I started studying music ed for a while until my professor, Raouf Zaidan, had mentioned I might pursue an opera career. I was on board immediately and during my sophomore year at NSU I started looking into transferring to a school with a performance degree. Under the most amazing circumstances I was offered a full ride at CU to study music performance with Patrick Mason. It was a very rough process trying to leave CU--a lot of mistakes were made on my part but eventually I ended up in Boulder.
I have been in Boulder for 2 years now and I'm about to start my 3rd and final year of undergraduate work at CU. While here I've already gotten to perform in the chorus for 6 operas, cover roles in 2 of those operas, sing principal roles in the Bernstein Mass and in CU's New Opera Workshop. This fall I get to perform two roles in the same opera and gain that much more experience. I would have never had these opportunities in South Dakota and I'm so grateful to have moved here.
This next semester is going to be one of the busiest with the opera, grad school auditions, senior recital preparations, and work. I've tried to prepare as much as I could this summer but I know I could have done better. It just means that I'll have to work that much harder during the school year.
A lot of things haven't changed since I first started LJ. I still love peanut butter and I still need a fan to sleep at night. I'm still an introvert and have some trouble making friends. A few things have changed, however. I am slightly balding and I'm more obsessed with my hair than ever. I'm probably in better shape than I was in SD though, since bike and walk a lot. For a while I worked out and had some pretty awesome arms too, haha. I also some quite a bit of herb, haha.
There is so much more that I'd like to add--philosophies, music that I love, information about my love life, and how much I hate my back fat--but hopefully I'll mention it in future posts. I specifically remember my director from Our Town the play asking if I kept a journal and whether it was more about events or my feelings. Honestly, it was nearly all about events. It would be wonderful if this could be a good mix of my ideas, events, and emotions...so, I'll try and keep that in mind.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)