Birthday shoutout to HELEN! Hope you have a great day, girl!

Sidebar: I can't believe I didn't mention this before. Our local newspaper beat The Hater to Book22.com by two months! We even talked about it at work. Very interesting stuff. I suppose they're just evangelicals--they're not dead!

I just made a recording to submit for a competition in October, and I think I got some good stuff. Woot woot! Now I can relax (read: make some yummy rye beer bread, get dinner started, keep working on Ellie's birthday present, drink leftover beer!).

Okay, so I am surrounded by babies and buns-in-the-oven. Two of my former castmates are expecting, and a good friend is undergoing artificial insemination treatments right now. Not to mention my sister-in-law who's due in October, plus the squishy blonde goodness that is little Suli... Back off, babies! I am not ready for you, nor are my malfunctioning ovaries. Jeez! They're like, everywhere. Mark and I have discussed, of course, and I believe this time next year we will begin negotiations (why that word came to mind I do not know). That is, unless I get to be an Adler Fellow, or something of the sort. (Babies can wait--San Francisco Opera cannot!)

Speaking of which, it's about time I start compiling the annual list of summer programs... I do so with not a little world-weariness, since I'm nearly aged out and they don't know what to do with my voice type anyway. But I will dutifully make a list, if only of the companies doing things for my fach. Money becomes an issue--the application fees average about $25 each, plus I have to take off from work. I will be very happy to be past the whole Young Artist stage of my career--and live in a place where there's more opportunity.

But on a silly--but still singing-related--note, THIS is how Phantom of the Opera oughta be.

Just a little fun...

I'm sure you're all aware of how tired I am of being sick, of feeling like I'm a victim of my body's capricious whims (is that redundant? probably). The week before our (quite lovely!) vacation, I got the fabulous news that I probably have endometriosis in addition to my other lady problems. Later that week my primary care doctor recommended I see a psychiatrist to get on the right meds, since the ones he's prescribed haven't worked for me.

You know what? I'm tired of taking pills, too. Whatever made me think taking medication for my anxiety was some sort of "easy way out"? My skin and my digestive system have been freaking out since we started this little experiment in March, I have trouble sleeping--and I won't even mention the little excessive perspiration problem. (Oops, I did.) So I am DONE with mood-altering medications. And I would never be on the Pill if I didn't need to be (Natural Family Planning being the cool-ass hippie chemical-free alternative--and the Pope likes it, too!). I do legitimately have blood sugar issues, so I still gotta take that one...but is Allegra doing SHIT for my allergies? So ixnay on that, too. I'll stick with the multivitamin, of course. And the Prilosec? I do actually need that, at least right now.

I'm staying away from caffeine, too--I don't like what it does to my mood, and I get a bad headache coming down from it. And if you add in my low-sugar intentions, it means the only drug I get regularly is Riesling. :) I'm backing way off on artificial sweeteners, too--again, I don't like the chemicals--and I see crystalline fructose packaged for diabetics, so maybe I'll try that...

So I guess I just have to get over it and get exercising. It should be easier in a few weeks, once it gets below 90 degrees on a regular basis. That, and I may as well use the counseling services provided by my employer to help with the anxiety. I'm also tired of trying to psychoanalyze myself. :)

But on a funnier note, this is pretty f-ing hilarious...

The August 2006 Music Post

Since I know how you all like my music posts (like that famous one on Extreme from the fall of 2002), I have a few music-related items I must relate:

1. Ani has a new album coming out! For some reason I never bought the last one (presumably because I was unemployed at the time). I will definitely get this one.

2. Last night I had a dream that I sang backup for Fleetwood Mac. Apparently Christine McVie's voice had deteriorated to the point where she could no longer sing the upper harmonies (it was on "The Chain", specifically), so I was somehow called upon to improv said harmonies. So cool, I got to jam with Fleetwood Mac!

3. Speaking of improvised harmonies (and of Extreme, coincidentally), will Helen and I get in any bar jamming during my visit? We could pull out some Mary's Danish and kick it old-school. Hell, we could teach it to Margaret and Ellie.

4. I am now officially totally over Matchbox 20 and/or Rob Thomas. Why I even thought that dork looked at all like the other, cowboy-costumed dork I stalked in college is beyond me. His voice is annoying and hell, the band is like, Bon Jovi if Bon Jovi immediately sold out and only had one good song. (And speaking of Bon Jovi, their new song is beyond lame, verdad?) The only Rob Thomas projects I will admit to actually enjoying are the duet with Carlos Santana (which duh, sounds like Santana) and the song "Disease". So there.

5. Also, Nickelback sucks. The Great Oz has spoken!

6. Artists I'm currently into: Dido, The Pretenders, Green Day, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger

7. Further signs of the apocalypse, i.e. artists I am finally able to admit that I like: Kelly Clarkson (yes, THAT Kelly Clarkson), Counting Crows, Gavin DeGraw