I'm back, and I'm alive! I put a handful of YAP applications in the mail this afternoon (hopefully my last year doing that mess), and a few more lower-stress things I'll send off in a few weeks. (Including sending my materials for some house auditions...my first time doing that.) So now I feel like I have some of my life back.

Here is a picture essay, for your viewing enjoyment: My Life, September 2007.


(Mark likes to take pictures of television.) I can't believe I got ten comments on my last post! I felt a little like a celebrity last week--strangers contacted me from my website (I uploaded the new sound files right before we went to the party--just in time!), and someone even stopped me in church yesterday and asked if I was on Jeopardy!. It's a little strange, and I'm glad things are more back to normal. So yeah, in case you missed it, I came in second place, thanks to a tricky Daily Double (damn you, titanium!) and the hardest Final Jeopardy! ever--but I did actually have $15,000 at one point. I finished Final Jeopardy! with one dollar. But that's okay! I had a great time, and with my second-place finish, after taxes we should just about break even on the trip. So I got to be on national television for free. And Alex flirted with me. Awesome. :)


And here's the really nice tote bag they gave me. I haven't used it yet--I don't want to get it dirty. (Silly, I know.)


The Traviata score, which I have had my nose buried in for a few weeks now (rehearsals started Saturday, and seem to be going well), and the &%$#@#$% Wagner Aria That Will Not Learn Itself. I usually learn music so quickly, but I really don't have much motivation on this thing. My coach is coming down this week, and I'm planning on going through this with her on Thursday. It will be in decent shape by then, I'm sure. It's not technically difficult, but it's musically tricky. Eh, I guess if it doesn't work for me I can always offer the mother's aria from Hansel & Gretel in German...


I have actually had time to knit (though mainly in front of the television, or if I'm procrastinating or too tired to practice). The scarf (I haven't added fringe or sewn in the ends yet) is for my brother Jeff and the socks are for my BIL Matt--the one who put his bare feet all up in my Christmas cactus last winter, but has generally redeemed himself since. (I just now realized the possible snarky subtext of making him socks--so I guess it really wasn't motivated by snarkiness, but it's kind of hilarious nevertheless.) The scarf is the Pine Cone Scarf from Knitting Daily (I will plug it again--a very quick, unisex knit), and the sock pattern is my own (top-down, stockinette with mirrored twists down the center). I'm currently working on a top-secret holiday gift. All I will tell you is that it's made of this yarn:



In swap news, my Knit One Tea Too Pal should have her package by now, or possibly tomorrow. I hope she likes it! I got to go a little wild in A Southern Season, which is always a good thing. It's fun to indulge the inner yuppie whose existence I usually try to deny. :)