I just read in the SUNY-B alumni newsletter that tarte cosmetics was created by a fellow alum. Cool company philosophy, paired with fun products! And it's all available at Sephora. Maybe I'll visit tomorrow. I have purposely avoided entering the Sephora in my local mall, intuiting that I would not have the willpower to leave without spending vast amounts of cash. But I had to buy some gel eyeliner for the apprentice program, so last November I dared to enter. I later explained the experience this way to Mark: "You know that scene in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory when they enter the candy garden? Well, it's a lot like that, except it's makeup and perfume and candles and stuff..." And guess what? I left the store with some excellent Stila gel liner and nothing else. So maybe I can handle it. :)

The weekend of shows went well--we got terrible, vindictive reviews (well, I didn't--I suppose my part was too small for them to think of anything nasty to say, though both reviewers said I was a mezzo so they must not have even LOOKED at my bio) which we were all extremely pissed about, but considering how tumultuous the production was I'd say we did really well. My next step: work on that role I'm supposedly being considered for, get my "five" (arias, for auditons) worked out for next fall, and eek! get a job, somehow. My first step is to call up all the community music schools in the county and see if they have any openings for teachers. If that doesn't work, well, I may have to get a part-time day job--which I suppose wouldn't be that bad, but my resume overqualifies me for everything, plus I haven't had a steady office job in like, twenty months. I'm not sure how it will all work out. Maybe I should just get a job at Sephora. Dangerous...

So turns out the girl I was supposed to be covering didn't really want the role in the first place (she's mad, by the way. At six-two and buxom she's not going to be singing Carmen--at least not in this country, where appearance matters much and she'll be at least six inches taller than all the tenors. Sidebar), so I myself am singing the Mrs. Kravitz-inspiring character mezzo role. And having a good time with it, I might add. Our first performance (open dress rehearsal) was last night. This production has been rife with complications--numerous principals backing out at the last minute, injuries, delays getting on the set and acquiring props, a director (who I know from a previous gig which shall remain nameless) who's good at his job but can be prickly... But all in all it's been a good experience. Hell, I just like being on stage. And supposedly I'm being heavily considered for a huge role in the company's fall show. (Still have to audition, of course--still have to get through the SCARY second aria, which looks so easy on paper but is full of peril...) More details when it gets closer--I don't think they're even having auditions until early August. So things are good.

Married life is fine, by the way. We've both been a little grumpy lately--I've been sleeping poorly, and having rehearsal every night means we don't get to see each other in the evening, so things can get a little tense sometimes. Nothing a little fresh homemade strawberry frozen yogurt can't fix!

Oh, and before I forget--we saw Revenge of the Sith last Saturday night. There were some truly awesome moments. I think if you go in with the proper expectations--e.g. the dialogue is going to suck--it can be a thrilling experience. Mark read somewhere that the screenplay was heavily edited by Tom Stoppard. Comments?

p.s. I've put up some pictures from Florida on my singer site--but I haven't linked to the page or labeled them yet, plus I want to double-check with the people in them that it's okay. But Giulietta and Butterfly are definitely staying up!

God, I am such a slackass! I go to the library a few times a week (so I can actually type and view pictures and other things which are impossible on my ancient computer with dialup and a temperamental spacebar) and I always open up Blogger to create a new post, then find I have nothing interesting to write about. Which isn't entirely true--I just feel unmotivated, I guess.

For those of you who weren't there, the wedding was a success--everybody seemed to have a good time and we were relaxed enough to enjoy the day. Unfortunately I had a nasty cold which left me completely hoarse for the wedding, the honeymoon and the following week. So I was finally better for about a week when Mark got sick (presumably from work). And this morning I woke up with the telltale sore palate/postnasal thing. Wonderful. Especially with this show going on. Oh, yeah, I'm singing in the chorus for this local show--our rehearsals start tonight--but about ten days ago the artistic director of the company asked me to cover this small part--another dramatic mezzo thing which I'll probably never sing again--so I've been working on learning that as well. And my first lesson in FIVE MONTHS is Thursday. I have been needing one so desperately. We're going out to lunch first to get all the talking part out of the way. And all this hinges upon whether I am actually sick, or if this is just allergies. I'm not taking any chances--I've just washed all the bedding, and one of us may take the couch tonight (DAMN! forgot to buy Lysol). I am NOT getting sick again--this would be the third time in six weeks, which leads me to believe that it's some really bad bacterial thing. Luckily I have insurance now (!!!!!!!)--though I haven't gotten my card yet--so if I wake up tomorrow completely stuffed up I am immediately making an appointment. Mark is headed to the doctor tomorrow anyway...

Enough about being sick! I get a little obsessive... Anyway, so we went to Cancun for the honeymoon. None of the pictures do it justice--the water is really Kool-Aid turquoise. We spent most days at the resort, sitting by the pool/beach and drinking daiquiris, though we did spend a morning in downtown Cancun. And we took a looong bus ride to Chichen-Itza--but it was worth it. We climbed that famous pyramid. Which was scary, actually--the steps are really steep, so most people crawl down on their butts (including us). But it was really cool. And our hotel room was nice, too--fantastic view AND a whirlpool tub. And the food was pretty good--though we were starting to get sick of it. Breakfast was definitely the best meal.

Comments are back! Sorry, they got lost in the new template circus. I'll put my sexy succubus Giulietta picture up as soon as I get everything scanned. Though at this rate that may not be until after Cancun...

We spent a lovely weekend watching documentaries from Netflix (Mark's latest obsession), baking bread, finishing and assembling the ceremony programs (cute!) and discussing how INSANE my mother is.

Not much else to report, in all honesty. Just kinda running around, tying up loose ends...

My birthday was uneventful...

Twenty-eight! Late twenties! Have traded in (most of) my chunky shoes! Use a "firming cream" twice daily on my "delicate eye area" (mostly because of the hell I put it through during shows, but nevertheless) and an alcohol-free toner! Getting married in eight days! Extremely excited about wine glasses and Kitchen Aid Artisan Stand Mixers in Empire Red! Starting to worry about my parents' health (okay, that started last year, but whatever)! Beginning to think about thinking about starting a family (but still extremely excited that my monthly friend will leave the day before the wedding)! Enjoy watching cooking shows (if only because I am strangely attracted to the nerdy, anal-retentive, pop culture-spouting, possibly closeted host)! Spent several hours winding yarn the other day!...

How else am I "old"? The Jim Morrison poster came down in, like, 1997... No, I don't actually feel old. Just needed to get that out of my system a bit.

/rant

...Anyway, it was uneventful. Monday night was fun, though--Mark and I bought some wine to taste for the reception, and ended up splitting a bottle of champagne (wouldn't want it to go flat). It was kind of silly. So we're currently in full-steam-ahead mode, sending out thank-you notes and working up the programs. My current drama is that the church doesn't have a real organ--just some sort of MIDI contraption, which pisses me off, but anyway--and the "organist" isn't sure one of the pieces will work (a critical piece--the duet from the Bach cantata, to be performed during the Eucharist) because it has running 32nd notes originally scored for a violin and he wonders whether this keyboard-thing can handle it. So I have a call out to the church's music director to see if they have an actual piano. Drama!

Sidebar: I ought to comment on the Pope thing. He died during my bridal shower Saturday, as many of you know... It's sad, but he was old and sick, and is surely happier where he is now. As all are well aware, I've never been one for authority figures, religious or otherwise (save Bill Clinton, perhaps--though not in a Monica Lewinski-type way), but as far as popes go he wasn't too bad, honestly. I just hope the next guy wakes up about contraception and a permanent female diaconate--if not, sensible Catholics will just continue practicing what we think is right, versus what some old guy tells us is right.

Here I am! I was so prepared to start blogging every day again when I got home, but I forgot about the little matter of the spacebar on my keyboard not working... oh, well.

So it's been over three months since I've actually posted a substantive entry. I hardly know where to begin, but many of you are already up-to-date on my latest highs and lows, so I'll be brief. Sarasota was fabulous--learned a lot, sang a hell of a lot, escaped with most of my sanity. And while there was some big drama (if you don't know about it already, all the better), I think on the whole my experience there will make me a stronger person as well as a stronger artist. And the wedding planning is in its final stages--twelve days until the big day, and I've managed to restrain myself from throttling my mother. Though there were some close calls... We're really looking forward to it, though. It looks like we'll have about eighty-five people (fewer than we thought, but no biggie), the food and music will be great, the service will be beautiful and we're going to Cancun for five days. Oh, and I'm marrying the best person I've ever met. Hooray for me!

Next step for me: buy bridesmaid gifts and pantyhose.

Oh, and this is from Jord--just to remind me of my high school boyfriend...

Psionicist You scored 50 Holy, 57 Tactful, 80 Natural, and 60 Arcane!

Your eye flutters for a second and the world loses focus... when clarity returns you realize that the only person in the room who wasn't knocked unconscious is holding his temples and writhing on the ground. Nobody knows what you just did, even you, but you know it happened because you made it happen. You have taught reality that your desires are more important than it's fickle laws (or you can, rather). You are one of the rare psionicists, the masters of mind over matter. Your approach to problems is a rare blend of intuition, force of personality, and careful planning. You're all right in a fight, but can really hold your own only once you've stacked the laws of this universe on your side. Thankfully, with practice, you can do this with ease. Hmm, my guess is that you're a bit lacking ethically speaking however... just a guess though, creep.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 64% on Godliness You scored higher than 65% on Tact You scored higher than 80% on Harmony You scored higher than 79% on Arcane

Link: The Which D & D Class am I Test written by effataigus on OkCupid Online Dating

Just in case you were wondering, I'm in Florida and don't usually have the time or access required to update my blog. We are kept very busy--and hooray, I'm learning a lot. Anyway, I wanted to let everyone know that things are generally fine, though I do miss Mark terribly. He's coming down in a few weeks--hooray!

I'm back! Two weeks is a long time to go without sleeping in your own bed, but I guess I'd better get used to it... The auditions went okay (except when I came in early on two entrances in this one aria--I don't know if somebody would notice unless they knew the aria encyclopedically, plus it's modern anyway--but it probably killed my chances with this particular company, which makes me very mad because I was singing really well), and I was able to visit just about everybody I wanted to see. I even got up to my alma mater and had coffee with an old professor.

But now I have a lot of work to do. Still lots of music to get memorized, packing to do, some presents left to buy/make. And we're supposed to be having a Christmas party, but Mark has been dragging on it. Speaking of Mark, he's having car problems again. Not good...

Very tired. Leaving for NYC trip tomorrow. I will definitely see at least one of you! I'll be back sometime after December 11th, and probably will not be able to post until after then. Love you all! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

A poem, submitted for your approval:

One reason I like opera
Marge Piercy

In movies, you can tell the heroine
because she is blonder and thinner
than her sidekick. The villainess
is darkest. If a woman is fat,
she is a joke and will probably die.

In movies, the blondest are the best
and in bleaching lies not only purity
but victory. If two people are both
extra pretty, they will end up
in the final clinch.

Only the flawless in face and body
win. That is why I treat
movies as less interesting
than comic books. The camera
is stupid. It sucks surfaces.

Let's go to the opera instead.
The heroine is fifty and weighs
as much as a '65 Chevvie with fins.
She could crack your jaw in her fist.
She can hit high C lying down.

The tenor the women scream for
wolfs an eight course meal daily.
He resembles a bull on hind legs.
His thighs are the size of beer kegs.
His chest is a redwood with hair.

Their voices twine, golden serpents.
Their voices rise like the best
fireworks and hang and hang
then drift slowly down descending
in brilliant and still fiery sparks.

The hippopotamus baritone (the villain)
has a voice that could give you
an orgasm right in your seat.
His voice smokes with passion.
He is hot as lava. He erupts nightly.

The contralto is, however, svelte.
She is supposed to be the soprano's
mother, but is ten years younger,
beautiful and black. Nobody cares.
She sings you into her womb where you rock.


Yay.

This is way more entertaining than it ought to be...

Blogger has been eating my posts. What the hell?!

Okay, I don't have much time, but I must vent about my mother. She called earlier and somehow managed to work the word "bow-dabra" into our conversation. Haven't had the chance to Google that yet, but apparently it's some sort of bow-making device that she's secretly coveted for years, and now she wants to buy one to decorate the cake table. Twenty minutes about flowers. How many times do I have to say that I don't give a flying crap about the damn flowers?!

Oh, well, if it's taken me this long to get exasperated with my mother in this process, I guess I'm not doing so bad...

Just got word today that I have an audition in New York in early December. Yay! I only know one other person who's ever sung for them, so this is good. Now all I have to do is work up my scary Barber aria again, and I'll be all set.

It looks like I'll be down here for Thanksgiving, and will come up to New York the following week, or possibly that weekend, depending on what other companies feel like I deserve an audition.

Damn, I have a lot of music to learn...I did get my first scene assignment for Sarasota, by the way--Act III quartet from La Boheme. A role I never thought I'd be cast in, but whatever. Gorgeous music, and pretty easy, actually.

What else is new? Well, Saturday we did our first round of registry, here. Nobody ever told me how long it would take! But it was pretty fun--shopping for things we probably won't get (i.e. the Kitchen Aid Artisan Stand Mixer in Empire Red, Mark's baby), using the little scanner gun... I'm still not clear on the Etiquette (capital E) of the whole registry thing. I mean, I know you're not supposed to put it on the invitations, of course, but apparently everybody in the family is supposed to pretend they know nothing about it. Rather, the bridesmaids are supposed to relay that information. Hello, we all live in different STATES, okay? So I'm gonna consult The Knot, but I don't think it's some sort of cardinal sin to tell people to shop for you at a particular store. I mean, come ON.

Margaret Cho's blog has some great stuff today--really uplifting for those of you upset about the election. Even if you don't like Margaret Cho, I insist...

Not much going on. Had a lesson this morning, then lunch with S. I had a burrito and a Negro Modelo with lime. Yum.

In case you were wondering, it's not as easy to renounce your citizenship as you may have thought...
(nicked from Wonkette)

I'm trying to stay positive. I'm just so angry. Now is a time to count your blessing (or else go mad). I'm still marrying Mark, I'm still going to Sarasota, I still have great friends, my family is in decently good health, at least our governor is a Democrat... How do you start a grassroots impeachment movement? We may not be able to get it moving until they reinstate the draft...

Sorry, I meant to post these quizzes from Erik a few weeks ago...


You are Fish 'Tacos.' You might think you're
exotic and worldly-wise, but in reality you're
just a bunch of crap on toast. Repeat after
me: 'just because you put something in
quotation marks doesn't make it so.' And
'taco' isn't Spanish for 'toast.'


What Weight Watchers recipe card from 1974 are you?
brought to you by Quizilla


Take the quiz: "What Tori Amos Album are you?"

To Venus and Back
Congratulations, you're To Venus and Back! You're the life of any party: popular and a trend setter! Like Tori, you love fashion...especially shoes! Just don't let your spur of the moment tendencies get out of hand!

I don't know about the shoe thing, but whatever...

And also, I have to admit that I have a new crush:



And he's even straight! :)

Come see my new web page! It's www.[my name].com. It's still in the beginning stages--I need to mess around with the layout a bit, but the basics are there...

Okay, the main reason I haven't been updating my blog is that the space bar on my keyboard no longer works properly--I have to hit it hard for it to work at all. And using my thumb doesn't do anything anymore. It's really time for a new computer...But in the meantime Mark might need to get a new car soon (his broke down a few weeks ago because of some rust-related problem), and we have to worry about the honeymoon, and my student loans are coming due. Maybe we can get something used (my mother bought an iMac off of eBay--I was picking it up for her when Mark's car broke down, actually--so maybe that's an option. I dunno...money's tighter than usual, I suppose.

Even more reason to vote today! Get the @$$holes out of office already! Mark voted last week--and didn't even have to wait in line--but I will have to go today. I know that whenever I go there's going to be a line, but it's all good. I still have all that music to memorize, after all. I had to wait for almost two hours in 2000, actually, but that was because they messed up when they were assigning polling places. Anyway, Ihad the county Democratic party AND moveon.org come to the house this weekend--apparently my state has a chance if this area(a very liberal place, thankfully) favors Kerry by more than 15%. Still kind of a stretch, but we have to hope. I'm tired of my vote not really counting!

Get used to me taking weeks to update my blog--I'M GOING TO SARASOTA!!!!!

I found out Friday--the artistic director was about to call me to say I was the first alternate soprano when someone cancelled. I'm in! I'm still in a bit of shock about it. I should get the contract in the mail in a few days; maybe then it will sink in. So the next few months will be busy for me--learning music and taking care of the final wedding stuff in addition to my auditions (we hope) in New York after Thanksgiving. Oh, and Christmas. I've already started on the presents. :)

So we've had three rehearsals now for the opera I'm doing at the end of the month. I'm kind of disappointed. I went into the first rehearsal almost totally off book--maybe needing some work with the timing of big tempo transitions, but that's a natural part of ensemble singing and would probably occur in any company. And there are obviously other people in the cast--proably a handful--who also came in similarly prepared. But there are others--including a woman with a master's degree, fifteen years older than me, with a bigger part--who really didn't have their music learned sufficiently. People are getting notes wrong, they're CONSISTENTLY missing the same entrances, and it's really wasting time in rehearsal that we could be using to refine things (and, what the hell, MEMORIZE, considering that the show's in two weeks!). But no. I assumed, having seen two other productions by this company, that there was a certain professionalism consistent to everyone involved. Some of these people are just community choir-types. And for small parts, that I can understand. But one of the biggest male parts are being sung by this person who is NEVER on pitch, and misses ALL his entrances--which, in this kind of music, is throwing EVERYBODY off. I'm getting really annoyed.

Sorry about all the yelling--I'm just frustrated. I really want this to go well. Did I mention Mark's sister (she of the millions of frequent-flyer miles) is going to come down for, like, sixteen hours? It'll be good to see her.

Oh, and what did y'all think of the debate last night? I only caught the last half-hour (rehearsal--see above). Isn't it good to know that both the men running for president are whipped?

I really need to be more diligent about updating. I really haven't had that much opportunity to post, honestly, but still. Anyway, the audition went extremely well--I don't have enough time to get into the details of it right now--and the hurricane did indeed miss Sarasota, though some of the sewers were flooded. It's a really cool city, in case you haven't been there, but I'm sure it's way too expensive to vacation there in the busy season (winter). The day after my audition I woke up with a sore palate and immediately knew I had dodged a huge bullet. The head cold which followed made me miserable for four days and hacking my lungs out for the next three. (Product plug: did you know you can get guaifenesin--active ingredient in Robitussin--in time-release tablet form over-the-counter? Perfect for someone like me, who can't keep that vile liquid down long enough to digest any of it...) Today, lesson day, was the first time since last Wednesday that I sang for longer than three minutes--and even then it was just to assess the progress of/recovery from the cold. But everything went okay this morning. I'm working on one new piece--a Britten aria which sits surprisingly well--and reviving my SOB Barber aria because one of the apprentice programs is doing Vanessa. The latter is so much easier to sing now--still no walk in the park, but it's amazing to think my technique has improved that much in the six months since I've even thought about looking at that thing. Oh, and speaking of hard music, Gianni Schicchi is quite a bugger! I forgot how challenging it was to memorize ensemble music, and that's all this is. And there's this one trio where I have the middle part--all crazy intervals while the other singers move in octaves around me. Well, I'm up to the challenge. Tomorrow morning I'm getting measured for my costume; the opera's being updated from its original setting (13th century) to the late 1940s. That sould make for a really cool costume, at least. Oh, and speaking of getting measured, I'm finally going to buy my wedding dress (and get measured for it) today. My mother will have to give the credit card number over the phone, but it's apparently no big deal. I guess waiting for David's Bridal to have a sale has paid off! I'll be asking again about the bridesmaid dresses, by the way--almost time to get your butts to the store, ladies!--And my mother and I met briefly with a florist last week; next time Mark and I are down there, we'll spend a little more time. Mark is in Michigan right now, by the way. I have the whole house to myself, all weekend. Perfect environment for me to finish the last Dark Tower book, which I got from the library this week! It's so incredible. Say what you want about Stephen King, but the man can tell a story...

I've been a little busy. Next week I'm going to Sarasota for that audition (if there still is a Sarasota by this time next week...); my mother and I are driving down. Twelve hours in a car with my mother...wish me luck. And remind me to take my MP3 player. :)

Last week I talked to someone at a music school--hopefully I'll get to start teaching there. And I got together with some people to talk about young artist programs for next summer. Maybe I'll even get into one of them...

And Mark just got back from the convention. It was less exciting than the Democratic convention, though a certain Democratic senator did make things a little interesting. (Did you hear he all but challenged Chris Matthews to a duel? The man is bonkers.) Today is Mark's first day back at work; he seems to be acclimating well. Oh--last night we finally saw Fahrenheit 9/11. I liked it, though there wasn't anything there we didn't know already. Too bad he wasn't able to put in all the Abu Ghraib stuff and the disappearing WMD. But maybe that would've made the movie too long.

On a related note, I think Mark's going to dress up as Michael Moore for Hallowe'en--rumpled suit, unshaven, baseball cap, holding an Oscar... But what should I dress up as? We wanted our costumes to be somewhat related. The only thing I could think of would probably offend lots of people.

That reminds me...I got a part in one of the local opera company's productions. Not the part I was hoping to get--but this one will probably be more fun, and certainly less stress. And my friend S. got the part she wanted--one she's always wanted. I'm so happy for her!

The wedding planning seems to have stalled. Still waiting for David's Bridal to have another sale! But I think we're meeting with a coordinator this weekend. And there's a bridal show in October which hopefully will hook us up with a DJ. I think we're using my mother's friend's daughter for the flowers. I could care less about the flowers, honestly...