D-d-d-d-d-downer

Don't get me wrong and all. The Frank part of my life is awesome.

But everything else... Hmmm...

Yup. That's it.

The Epic Tooth Saga

Let me warn you, this entry is merely therapeutic for me and is NOT well-written or interesting or funny.

This time of the year is always one of the worst for students. I remember this time two years ago--I had my first breakdown at IU. I went back for a gig last week and everyone was in the middle of a busy semester, bogged down with coursework and performances, stressed to the max. And for the first time ever, I'm not in the middle of it...because I'm not a student anymore!

The avoidance of mid-October mania was a comfort to me until I had my own mid-October, non-school-related breakdown last week.

As I said, I went to Bloomington for a gig with Vox Reflexa. It was a little weird to travel to Bloomington this time around, I think mostly because I used to do it so many times last year after having visited Frank for a weekend or so, and every time the voyage back to Bloomington was bittersweet. But now this was a business/recreation trip. It was nice to make the drive at a more leisurely pace and see all the leaves changing in Indiana (they haven't changed here very much yet), and stop at places like Traders Joes--I even bumped into Matt on i70 and we had dinner at a Sonic in Vandalia, IL. I stayed with Laura (as she is my only friend without cats...that and she has a spare bedroom) and Joel, and Laura was in the middle of the most stressful semester of her life. It felt like all of Bloomington was like this. The only people who seemed to be getting along well were Brian and Amanda, who just had their baby a week earlier. I had knit him a little pumpkin pie hat with matching booties and got to hold him for two hours while he slept. I could probably write a whole blog about that, but I won't. :)

Anyway, I sang the gig (it went well, big crowd), met up with a few friends I hadn't seen in a while, caught up on the latest EMI gossip, and had breakfast with Laura and Arwen before hitting the road on Friday morning.

I called Frank from the road to tell him I had left, but I had to cut our conversation short because of an atrocious toothache. Thinking it was merely my sensitive mouth's reaction to Bloomington allergies, I bought a few advil and kept driving. But the pain got worse and worse. Frank had grilled a whole meal for me for when I got back home, but I showed up on our doorstep in agonizing pain. That night I couldn't sleep and kept waking him up as I grabbed more pain pills, so I finally moved myself to the guest bedroom and put a frozen bottle of gin on my cheek.

Let me explain: I am ridiculously afraid of the dentist. I think because my parents didn't really take me to the dentist much as a kid, and as a result I only went for serious problems, not normal check-ups. My most recent visit was two years ago when I had a terrible toothache that needed a root canal, but I didn't have insurance, which resulted in a filled cavity instead. And now, this recent toothache was that SAME tooth. And because of my previous problems with it, I knew it was going to be a big issue. Frank and I spent all Saturday calling dentists in Kansas City, calling our parents to ask them to call their dentists, calling friends for their recommendations, but for some reason we couldn't get in anywhere for emergency treatment. Finally, we got a tip to go to an urgent care clinic and ask for pain meds so I could make it through till Monday when dental offices were back open. So we spent two hours waiting at the Urgent Care in the Shawnee Mission mall (I know, it was really awkward) and I ended up with some crazy pain pills and a bunch of amoxicilan. I was drugged up and sick the entire weekend, with puffy chipmunk cheeks, and was only able to take small sips of milkshakes for food.

Monday I went to a dentist that Alan recommended and got a root canal. It turns out I had a huge infection behind the cavity in that tooth from two years ago. Everyone says a root canal is really awful, but I've had bad pain before and didn't believe it could be so terrible. OH MAN, it WAS! The root canal procedure was horrible and I felt so much pain during it (probably because the novacaine didn't work very well on my infection) that afterwards I was almost in tears. They left the tooth open for a day to drain the infection (GAHHHHHH!!!!!) and then filled it in temporarily on Tuesday. Now I'm doing a lot better, but I'm still on antibiotics and have to go back again in a week. There was such drama with this whole situation, but I'm really indebted to Frank for everything he did to help me out. Not just during the pain, but it's his insurance I'm on (as his "domestic partner" hehehe), and we just set up my plan a few weeks ago. If it wasn't for this, I wouldn't have been able to afford the care I needed in this emergency... And, come on, Frank was REALLY sweet too :)

So now I'm back in the pain-free real world, right in the middle of concert-week for the Chorale. We had our first concert yesterday, and it was one of the most nerve-wracking experiences of my life. Seriously. I don't know why... it's not like I'm an amateur choral singer or anything. This should have been a breeze. But it was so hard. I didn't sing my best, and the concert wasn't all that amazing...so I keep blaming it on myself (which is dumb, by the way). It was all ooey, gooey, sustained, "filtered" singing--none of this laser-pointed, consorty early music stuff. And since I spent the past two years of my life doing almost exclusively the latter, I felt sufficiently out-of-shape for this concert. We have another one tomorrow night and hopefully that will be better for me and for the group.

But the funny thing is, I'm still having that huge mid-October stress fest all of my school friends are having. The parallel is somewhat interesting to me, but I'm sure it's not to you, so congratulations if you made it to the end.

Who knew...

...that you had to be a full-time student to get music jobs in this world.

Wedddddddding

So, my big sister is getting married on Saturday. For some reason, the only thing I can think of is what I'll be wearing to the rehearsal dinner... Being the maid of honor for my posh, sylish, successful older sister freaks me out a little bit--I have to really up my game in the wardrobe department...

So clothes are on the brain. Unfortunately, there is no money to be spent, and somehow none of the dresses in TJ Maxx actually fit. I don't think they really fit anyone. It's weird. Maybe that's why you shouldn't shop at TJ Maxx...

So I suppose I'll have to wear something I already have. I mean, I have about a hundred dresses. But this is the big time, people. If I'm gonna wear that purple one, I have to stitch up the tear under the boobs. Cuz it's a fricking wedding...

Ohhhhh no.

Okay everyone, I have a confession.

I am addicted to yahtzee.

I played it for the first time in the bed and breakfast with Frank less than a week ago. And now I feel the need to play it all the time. Monday I made a pogo.com account just to play yahtzee, and now I find myself playing it all.the.time.

I even like to play on the laptop so I can take it with me when I go to the bathroom--never gonna miss a turn!

I'm serious.

The last game on pogo, I got 375 points. And three of the five members in my little yahtzee game room were like "gg linds!" which I guess means good game? And I enthusiastically responded "ty!" which, of course, means thank you! Oh man, that just makes my day.

The One-Year Wonder

Frank and I celebrated our one-year anniversary this weekend. Actually, the anniversary isn't until tomorrow... but we celebrated early, and it was one of the best weekend adventure's I've ever had!

We spent Friday night at a sweet Bed and Breakfast in Pleasant Hill, MO called the Mulberry Hill Bed and Breakfast. It was a in a huge Victorian house in a small town a few miles south of Kansas City. Even though our room was decorated like my grandparents' house, we absolutely LOVED it there--we watched Food TV for the first time in months (no cable here!), played Yahtzee (my first time--can you say "addicted?!"), and watched a movie on our new MAC BOOK PRO while playing in the jacuzzi! They also had a hot tub right outside our room, but it stormed all night and we just spent the evening in.

We went to dinner at a little Italian restaurant in Greenwood (a few miles away) called Perazelli's. You wouldn't think that you could order the best Italian meal of your life in small town Missouri, but this place was amazing! Our breakfast was provided at the B&B, of course, and it was ridiculously amazing (oh, forgot to add that we got complimentary dessert in our room before bed, and this innkeeper KNOWS how to make brownies!!!!).

We drove back to Kansas City on Saturday and spent the 100+ degree day at Oceans of Fun! Unfortunately just about everyone in KC had the same idea, so it was a little packed... but we really enjoyed ourselves! After spending six hours at the park (no joke!) we made a take-n-bake pizza at home and watched the sixth Harry Potter movie (which ended our marathon...). I, of course, sobbed like a baby for about an hour afterwards. Poor Frank...

Sunday started off normally with the typical four hours of church choir, but afterwards we had lunch at Sweet Tomatoes (literally across the street from our backyard--score!) and bottled our homebrew. Then we went to a pool party with Frank's chorale friends, drinking beer and basil mojitos in the water until we couldn't stand the cool evening breeze (WHAT? Finally!) any more.

Of course, in a party for chorale folks, my month-old chorale audition was foremost in my mind. I still hadn't heard yay or nay and after a month's worth of waiting, I was worrying it wasn't going to happen. BUT, strangely, as soon as Frank and I got home that night, I had an email from the group's assistant that I had been offered a position in the choir! Talk about coincidence! And good news! I am now officially a professional choral singer--I get paid for this gig--in a grammy-award-winning chamber choir! With my boyfriend. Woot!

Wednesday, for the actual anniversary, we have to go to church choir rehearsal... But we're making the best of it by going out for fondue afterwards. I think? What a great weekend--I'm happy with it all. And what a nice relaxing break, probably the only time to relax before Cortney's wedding in less than two weeks... wish me luck on THAT rollercoaster!

Peace-out!

Woody Strikes Again

I love that even if a Woody Allen movie is absolutely terrible, I'm always bawling by the end. Because somehow Woody has managed to wrench a beautiful ending out of every circumstance--good, bad, or poorly acted.

I'm saying this because I spent the past two hours watching one of Woody's recents (Whatever Works, which, by the way, stars the amazing Larry David) with my newly-sprained foot icing on a pillow. Frank and I decided to check out a sushi bar across the street, and after an amazing meal, in the euphorea that ensued, I stepped in a hole on the way home and sprained the BALLS out of my ankle. I have terrible ankles and have sprained each one quite a bit, but this was one was particularly painful. And poor Frank, who has to be out of his apartment by tomorrow, went by himself to clean and move his stuff out...

I feel awful. The poor thing. There's so much work to be done, and I can't even stand on my own! But he just called and agreed to bring me home ice cream. And I realized, even if the day ended in a sprain, poor luck, and even this terribly-written blog, it was still beautiful in the end.

Thanks Woody.