Kinda Blonde

BEFORE:

AFTER:

So, I'm kinda blonde now.  I'm totally liking it.  Back to my roots, you know?

It's been such a crazy week since I came back from Spring Break, but maybe the blonde is improving my quality of life, because things have been totally okay.  Busy, but good.

My apartment is a mess.  Atrocious.  OMG.

Singing and Chardonnay

Still haven't decided about my hair... hm... The dying of my hair from blonde to brown four years ago was kind of ritualistic, as it aided in a huge life change.  So I feel like the dying-back needs to be ritualistic as well.  It's hard when I've put that kind of pressure on a dye job.

I've had a long day.  I think I learned how to sing today.  Recently I've been surrounding myself with Youtube videos of Edita Gruberova and I think somehow something clicked.  Yesterday I went to the practice room and sang for two hours, and today I did the same.  And I sounded like a different person.  So I got home at 7:30 and was exhausted.  I'm making curry and just opened a bottle of Charles Shaw chardonnay, and nothing seems like a better reward.  

It seems like the secret to singing is confidence, inspiration, and a clear idea of what you want to sound like.  God, I've been having so much trouble singing lately.  And I think it's because I've had strange ideas of what I need to sound like.  And when I heard Gruberova I heard the voice I wanted to sound like, and had the potential of sounding like (uh, I by no means think I'll ever be able to sing Zerbineta or even sing as high, but I'm talking about her general sound...).  And as soon as I had a new sound ideal in my head, everything about my singing changed.  And how long has it been since I've spent two hours in the practice room two days in a row?

By the way, some day I'll post about my fab New York trip with Kyle.  But now I'm too uninspired :)

Blonde Renewal

Me, a few months ago--with brown hair.  This is what I look like.

Me, four years ago with blonde hair (and Matt).  

Should I dye my hair blonde again?  Suggestions?

No Drama!

Lord knows why I'm sick all the time... ugh.  It's pretty ridiculous.  This semester I had a brief cold to jump start February, then I got extreme food poisoning on Valentine's, and now I have the cold virus of death.  Sunday I threw a Pro Arte Potluck (otherwise known as "No Drama" Potluck, because drama wasn't allowed!), and by the end of it I had completely lost my voice and felt like death.  Ah well, it was a success.  But Monday I woke up with an over-the-top fever that lasted the entire day, and it's kind of morphed from sore throat to fever to sore throat to runny nose to sore throat to horrendous dry cough... it's been absolutely ridiculous.  So I'm sitting at my computer with my nose as red as a rudolph (that's the oldest comparison in the book).

Oh well, that's a shot of the Pro Arte Potluck, with absolutely no drama.  And plenty of sweaty, sweaty drunkenness on a school night.

Speaking of Pro Arte (and drama), there is drama with me and the choral department, and none of it is my fault.  It's a long story, but the basic jist is that one choir wants me in their concert, and so does Pro Arte, but they both rehearse at the same time, so I was snatched from Pro Arte and put in the EMI choir and now there's drama.  You know, I just want to sing and I don't want to make people angry.  I just want the whole world to be a No Drama Potluck.

Ah, everything at IU is drama.  Choir, my singing, my PERSONAL LIFE, money, my health... oh God I could just go on and on.  But I won't.

Because I'm going to visit Kyle in New York tomorrow!  Yes, after a full week of HARDCORE stressing due to choir drama and its schedule conflicts with my trip planning, and after + $300 in fees to change a plane ticket for a later time in the day, and hours of hotel searching over the phone with Kyle, not to mention lots of time spent crying in my bedroom because my life is too stressful, I will FINALLY be spending the weekend with Kyle away from Bloomington, spending money I certainly don't have in the big city, eating cupcakes and watching Natalie Dessay.  I guess that's the life.  But what I neglected to consider was that Sunday is Daylight Savings... and my flight out of Newark is at 6:50 in the morning...

E Vivo Ancor...

What a week... I don't even know what to say.  But, vivo ancor...I still live... Which isn't necessarily good or bad...

I found this on Erika's facebook.  It's about a woman who found a cell phone in her potato chips and freaked out.  Why would you freak out?  She's all like "It makes you not want to eat a chip ever again" and "What would have happened if a child put it in his mouth?"  If a child opened up a bag of chips and found a cell phone, I don't think the kid would try to eat it.  Maybe her kids would, and that's because her kids are dumb.

OMG Marshmallows!

Bloomington has a Winter Farmer's Market, and it's the best thing in the entire world, hands down.  I bought sweet potatoes, a leg of lamb, and...gourmet, organic MARSHMALLOWS!  They are literally the best things I've ever had.  I mean, right now they are.  They're salted caramel marshmallows.  Can you believe it?  

I had an absolutely terrible Friday, which ended with me drunk pulled over on the side of the road in my car and sobbing to Mark on the phone.  Yeah, a hot mess.  And surprisingly, I woke up, bought marshmallows and other goodies, picked up some gray brushed alpaca at the yarn store, came home and fixed some macaroni and cheese, got an unexpected email, and...my terrible Friday turned into a wonderful Saturday!  Funny how that happens...

Hate Blog!

I'm in a bad mood!
I'm just frustrated with a lot of stuff, particularly my singing. I feel like I don't know how to sing. Which is kind of awkward, because I think knowing how to sing is a prerequisite to getting a master's in singing. Whatever.
So I'm going to make a list of things that make me mad:
-Group back massages. What is that about? Why does every choir in the world think that it's appropriate to give group back massages as a warm-up? I don't want random people touching me, and I don't like giving massages, especially to random people.
-Bloomington's local stations. Basically, Bloomington doesn't get local stations unless you pay for cable. So cheapo me can't get local channels on my tv. Which is dumb, because isn't every person with a tv and a converter box supposed to be able to get local channels so they can at least see the news and the weather? All I get is THREE PBS channels. Who knew that PBS has three channels?
-Early music. Why am I studying this stuff? No one knows. It's annoying. I guess I like the music, but I don't like people going around saying that people who sing anything after Mozart are "modern singers" and that A=440 is WAY TOO HIGH.
-The "reply to all" feature on email. I never remember to press "reply to all" and so I never send out group responses when I'm supposed to. And I hate that. Why is this a skill I have not yet mastered? (and by "skill" I mean pressing a button)
-Paying bills. I don't like bills. I think they're dumb. And I don't have money to pay them. And sometimes I forget to pay them. I am retarded. But so are bills. So we're even.
-Travelocity. Travelocity is dumb because it says "Fly to Portland for only $150!" So I go to their site and they say "Sorry, that price is no longer availible. EVER." So it makes me mad. Why do they send me emails letting me know that I can go fly to see my best friend for an affordable price, when it's just a big lie?
-People who are not on facebook. Okay, facebook is dumb. But everyone is on it. Parents, teachers, junior high students. EVERYONE is on facebook. So when someone isn't on facebook, I have no idea how to contact them when I need to. Or find out if the guy I like has a girlfriend. 
-Animal Crossing. Now, some of you are probably like "Lindsey LOVES Animal Crossing." But I hate it. I really do. It's a dumb wii game that has ruined my life. I give it so much love and affection and it gives me nothing back! I hate Animal Crossing. I really do.
-Competition. I hate competition. I hate people who think that music is a big competition. Seriously, did I not get the memo? Who randomly decided that singing was a game, and why did everyone at IU decide to follow this person in thinking that we must be competative in order to be successful? Because it's not true.
-I also hate the person who decided that dating was a game, with rules. Because that's dumb and we all know it.