My last paper EVER!

So, as is my tendency, my LAST PAPER I EVER HAVE TO WRITE EVER is due tomorrow.... and I'm up right now finishing it. I will also likely not sleep this evening, but again... LAST PAPER EVER. I am feeling at least sort of okay about it as I can hand in a piece of crap tomorrow as long as I hand in something. I'll have to revise the heck out of it anyway because that's just what you do with these things.

In a slight bit of interestingness, I'm going to try to finagle a way to live stream my recital to here and also my fancy professional website so you loverly people can sit in your jammies on March 7th at 6pm CST and listen to some big ol' opera.

Okay, well I just needed a little mental break from editing and editing again and writing... so back to the grind.

Don't Ever Change

Don't Ever Change - The Beatles



About six months ago, something significant happened in my life. Something that changed me in a very real way. Looking back, it seems almost stupid that this would have had such a profound effect on me, but out of this, I feel like I have grown leaps and bounds closer to understanding what it takes to be an adult and take care of myself. What happened?





I quit biting my nails.


I know, I know. This sounds just totally ridiculous, but let me explain a bit. I have been a nail-biter since I was a child. That's 25 years of literally everyone in my life harassing me about it. The ex-f used to say that he "wouldn't put a ring on hands that looked like that" (which is sort of funny, since he did). But now, every day, I look at my hands and barely recognize them. I watch them do things like pick up a pen or wash dishes and they don't look like my hands. They're pretty; they sometimes have nail polish, which I never used to do. I broke a nail at work and had no idea what to do, as I had never remotely been in that situation before.


Anyway, this may seem like a tiny change, but let me tell you- I never thought I would be a girl with pretty hands. To have positively changed myself in this way was a revelation, of sorts. It made me realize and see that it is possible to make changes to yourself, to your body, and they will last. You can break habits and change your lifestyle. I'm kind of drunk off the possibilities, actually. So as part of my New Leaf Program (the one in which I turn over a new leaf for the new year), I started waking up early (like this) and trying to not be fat (like this, this, and this) and so far, it's been... changey.


I'll let you know if anything crazy happens, like I start cleaning up my room for fun or something.

8 hours...

...is a REALLY long time to be in the car. But it is absolutely worth it.






That's Ashley, my Albuquerque roadtrip buddy. She was in the sun and it was too warm, so we put the sunshades over her.



I didn't want to turn around to take a picture of the rainbow, so I took a picture of it in the side mirror. Note the difference in the color of the sky in front of us versus the sky behind us. That was a rough patch we had just been through.



This was probably 1 or 2 hours from Albuquerque




I brought a bunch of my music and books so hopefully I make some headway on the papers and recitals and crap for next semester. Anywhozits, I'm gonna get out of this Hastings and go piddle around until Joel gets off work. Toodles!

p.s. I don't just mean worth it for the sunsets, mountains and rainbows.

Nothing else will do...

(I wasn't going to blog any more today, but this song... so very yes.)

Gotta Have You - The Weepies

No amount of coffee, no amount of crying
No amount of whiskey, no amount of wine
No, nothing else will do
I've gotta have you, I've gotta have you.

Things on my mind

In no particular order:

-I waste an inordinate amount of time at work just putting off stuff I know I can do later.

-Wheat Thins are so good. Even the Reduced Fat kind.

-My life the next week or so is going to be greatly determined by a friend of mine: Jeremiah. He should be calling me this evening sometime to let me know whether he wants to switch presentation days with me in our Vocal Pedagogy class. If he does:

I can take all of the next 3 days to prepare for the Naftzger Competition I have this weekend

I will have an entire week to prepare MY presentation for said Vocal Ped. class

I will have to give that man a bottle of booze of his choice for saving my butt, and likely my sanity.

-I am glad for this guy and his recordings of the early Italian songs I need to get memorized for said competition. I am listening to them on repeat to hopefully ingrain, at very least, the melody in my subconscious. Watch one of his videos. They're quite good; easily the best recordings of the songs I needed.

-Somehow I missed the "Kelli O'Hara is giving a benefit concert in OKC" memo. She sang someplace here on the 18th and I had no idea. She is so fantastic live, and I have only gotten to see her once. Color me irritated.

-I want to quit biting my nails. I have tried before, but I cannot kick the habit. I know all the tricks and suggestions and helpful tips, too. I guess too much of my wayward energy goes into that for it to be ok to let go of it. That can be added to my Summer Self Improvement Regime (more on that later).


Ok, it's time for me to order some toilets (and faucets, bidets, toilet seats, sinks... if it is a fixture in a bathroom, I'm ordering it (did I mention I work at a plumbing rep company? Haha))Nested parentheses! Agh!

But I can't post without media of some kind, so here is the Richard Strauss I'm also trying to memorize (Wiegenlied, sung by Renee Fleming; sorry the recording is so quiet):






Poetry by Dehmel:

Träume, träume, du mein süßes Leben,
Von dem Himmel, der die Blumen bringt.
Blüten schimmern da, die leben
Von dem Lied, das deine Mutter singt.

Träume, träume, Knospe meiner Sorgen,
Von dem Tage, da die Blume sproß;
Von dem hellen Blütenmorgen,
Da dein Seelchen sich der Welt erschloß.

Träume, träume, Blüte meiner Liebe,
Von der stillen, von der heilgen Nacht,
Da die Blume seiner Liebe
Diese Welt zum Himmel mir gemacht.


English trans. by Emily Ezust:

Dream, dream, my sweet life,
of the heaven that brings flowers.
Shimmering there are blossoms that live on
the song that your mother is singing.

Dream, dream, bud of my worries,
of the day the flower bloomed;
of the bright morning of blossoming,
when your little soul opened up to the world.

Dream, dream, blossom of my love,
of the quiet, of the holy night
when the flower of his love
made this world a heaven for me.

I don't really like coffee

So I'm not a huge advocate of Starbucks. But:


Y'all, those Strawberries and Cream Frappuccinos are SOO good...



Anyway, I'm not really in a spending money sort of life-place right now, so I won't be having any more of those for a bit (as that was the last of my gift card). Not much to report these days. Rümmi is on her way to NYC for a fabulous vacation. I will be working on competition stuff and trying to write a paper (no not that paper, a different paper) before Thursday. I'm sort of feeling like a beautiful, on purpose nap, but I don't know. I think laying in bed with music and music books. Sleeping will likely be a part of this.


I shall return...


Sleepy little girl here along with a link to to this, a super useful and succinct guide to naps! Wow!

Wheels keep on spinning 'round and 'round

So tonight, I am going to finish this paper. No other goals or To-do's.


focus



Paper.




Huge THANK YOU to Rümmi's brother Jason (of Eyes Made Ready fame) for giving me all of the Cake he had. It's more Cake than I've ever had at one time and it's all fabulous. In fact, it may be all the Cake in the world. Nom nom... Cake. :)

Let it be known

I had a really emo blog written out about how stupid and disappointed I feel sometimes, but after being ridiculous and listening to "Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps" by, of all things, the Pussycat Dolls, I have decided to just let it be known that I was going to be all Debbie Downer, but didn't want to sully the other very delightful entry this evening about my wonderful friends (who are, of course, incredible).

I cannot stop listening to this song.

It is so beautiful. I have posted some Kelli O'Hara before (see here), but this is just so incredibly gorgeous, I seriously have listened to it continuously since I got home from church. I was totally unfamiliar with Light in the Piazza until about 2 days ago, but if you enjoy this song and don't know the show, it's totally worth it to go look it up and then listen again. And again, and again...




Also, all both of you who read this, go look at my Facebook note about kisses. :-*