I can't believe it's been so long since I've updated. For the last few weeks, I feel like I've been letting time slip away from me...

The wedding was great, of course, and so was meeting Mark's new nephew. (We took some fun pictures, which I will link to once I get Mark to scan them.) And we went wine tasting on the Seneca Lake wine trail, which was fun.

Coming back to regular life was rough, though. Hours before I left for Mark's the previous Wednesday, my teacher told me she wanted me to sing (my bête noir crazy aria with the scary tessitura and the high B, no less) in this studio voice recital on Tuesday. So I would get out of work at five, fly to campus to sing at five-thirty, then be at the self-defense course across campus at six-thirty. And of course I wasn't at the beginning of the recital; at six-fifteen I was still onstage. The same thing happened Thursday, when a recital I was required to attend didn't get out until six-fifteen. (The course went well, I guess; I feel more confident, in any case. And I enjoy kneeing men in the groin.) That and rehearsal three times a week, and this dumb concert I have to do at the church (at least they're paying me), and coachings and lessons and practice sessions... Oh, and the spring opera auditions were on Monday. I made the asshole mistake of offering a third aria (one which I hadn't done in a lesson for a while, though I did coach it a few weeks ago) - the one the director has NEVER picked - and what do you know, he wants to hear it. It was not my best performance. It didn't suck, but I've done it lots better. At least I am consoled by:
(a) The man generally casts shows before auditions, presumably using them for confirmation, so I'm not sure how important it was;
(b) He hears me sing all the time, and knows I've improved a lot and am a hard and enthusiastic worker;
(c) I have to sing that crazy aria again on Monday in a master class, and I assume he will be in attendance (he skipped the recital last week);
(d) I think he likes me, even though I don't kiss his ass.

What does bother me is that I have apprentice auditions (well, at least one confirmed - Santa Fe) in New York in December, and I'm feeling a bit less than prepared. I have this one aria that is just not working. I will only offer it if they must hear something in German - and I know the certificate program I'm applying for will want to hear it. So I have a month to kick this aria in the ass. I'm beginning to suspect that floaty B-flats are not really within my grasp. Unless I can make this work for me I'm going to shelve it after December. There are so many cool German arias for my Fach - but they're all just a little big for me. Screw it! I'm learning "Ob die Wolke", and I don't care if Der Freischütz is never performed in the Western Hemisphere! :)

Okay, enough singer-ese. What are y'all doing for Hallowe'en? I found this fuzzy tiger-ear headband (tags still on) at Goodwill for 75 cents (sprayed with Lysol, thank you!), so I am going to be a tigress. (Tigers are one of our natural predators, you know. So are bears. Mark and I went to the state zoo last Saturday and we got to see grizzly bears and polar bears and mountain lions and bison. They're a rescuing type of zoo, and the polar bears had been liberated from someplace in the Caribbean where they'd been kept in tiny cages. Well, tiny for a polar bear. Anyway, the poor thing was neurotic or something, and he/she had developed this rocking tic that apparently will go away with time and proper care. I felt so bad! But I digress.) Anyway, I don't have anything orange to wear so I'll have to wear all black. I'll be like a Sixties, Catwoman-type of tiger. Black Cleopatra eyeliner, dark nails with red tips, drawn-on nose and whiskers courtesy of my Ben Nye kit, pinned-on black trouser sock for a tail... I hope I don't look too ghetto. It'll look great with my corset and petticoat at opera rehearsal tomorrow. I'm driving to Mark's in the evening (I think he's going with his old standby - Fidel Castro, if you can believe it), but I don't know what we're doing. Maybe we could trick-or-treat at the mall. :)

Speaking of which, what were our parents thinking when they let us go out trick-or-treating? I guess we were okay as long as we were in groups. And come to think of it, we usually had an adult with us. I think I would be a nervous wreck if my kids were out there alone. There's too many psychopaths out there. Or they could get hit by a car, or get lost in an unfamiliar neighborhood, or eat their candy before they got home... We used to eat candy out of the bags all the time, and nothing ever happened to anyone I know. My mother's friend's son found a pin stuck into a Butterfinger once fifteen years ago, but I don't even think that was Hallowe'en.

I feel like I'm babbling...

And I didn't even mention my latest injury. (I swear, I'm not a hypochondriac!) Friday morning I woke up with a stiff neck. It didn't get much better over the next few days, and yesterday morning I must've turned my head funny and I REALLY hurt it. It's a muscle spasm, apparently, and they prescribed a muscle relaxer (which hasn't made me sleepy, miraculously), Advil and heat/ice packs. Driving is a problem (since turning my head to the right hurts a lot - parallel parking is out of the question, and changing lanes is a challenge), and it's rather difficult to sing - last night I had this dress rehearsal for the church concert, and I'm surprised I made it through. I'm generally okay if I hold my neck (though I have trouble sustaining pharyngeal space, which is a problem for me anyway), but I can't exactly do that during a concert. And with this master class Monday... Well, I'm going to be very careful and rest a lot so I'll be well enough by then. It's very frustrating.

Anyway, I should get going. Hopefully you'll get a Friday Five post tomorrow...