Salem in the Rain/Kitty in the sink/Goodbye J-Rowe/Fire Fire!

Okay, so there is WAY too much that has happened in the past three days, so bare with me...but at least I have some pics:o)!


Jennifer & I

Lunch at Salem Beer Works

After the Trial

"We have a witch, may we burn her? ""I'm not a witch, I'm not a witch!"

First, let me talk about my adventure in Salem on Saturday. To start with, every day has been gorgeous, perfect weather...except for Saturday. It was rainy and windy and cold. Times three. The people that were brave and headed out had quite an exciting time. We went and saw a trial, dungeons, a wonderful brewery where I had great beer and clam chowder as my pants were drying off. I got a cute mug and got to talk with some great people. And, as Rachael put it, the train ride really reminded me of Hungary...sigh!


Mrs. Norris is thirsty.

Mrs. Norris in the sink.

Second, when I got home from witch country I was soaked through the bum. So, I took a long, hot shower and dried off. When I walked out of my room, I saw Ms. Norris in the sink. In the past two months, she has not done this. Fortunately, she did not swipe at me while I took her picture!

Third, Sunday was J-Rowe's last day at work:o(. It made me quite sad since I really enjoyed working with him! A few of us went out to UNO's in Harvard Square to have some drinks. Apparently, according to a co-worker I saw today, I started talking in an English accent half way through our time. Gah! But, however much I may have drank, I guess I didn't do anything stupid, which is good. I gave Jonathan a mixed cd of breakup songs. He said he's never gotten one before, that made my day! (Other than the cute guy at work that said I had a hint of a southern accent...yes!) I had lots of fun learning that Dane is a man who likes bums, Barb & Jonathan love The Simpsons, and that I work with some super people, but one of the best ones is gone. Sigh!

Lastly, tonight, in true Longy fashion, the fire alarm went off while I needed to go and get my book bag. We had to wait outside for the fire department. Meanwhile, we found out it went off because two guys burnt popcorn and when the alarm went off they brought it outside, and began to eat it. Hoorah!

Let's Play a Game...

Cute: Six squirrels running around in the park on a sunny day, hopping around in those cute arch patterns, gathering food.
Creepy: The man on the bench yelling "You're Free! Free to eat!" to the squirrels.

Sweet: A person that is not clocked in that takes out the trash out.
Sour: A cat that's poop smells so bad you have to light a candle and spray the infected room down with Lysol.

Joyful: Constant improvement in voice lessons that make your teacher get goose bumps:o)
Sadness: Being separated from those you love and nothing you can do, a part from dropping out of school and quitting your job, will change that.

Lucky: Finding a practice room open and not getting disturbed.
Un-lucky: Finding a practice room open...no wait, a mom has her child playing in the practice room...or is she just watching her children play around on the floor?...erg!!!!!

Life is full of these contrasting emotional scenes. Have any more to add to this list?

and so it goes...

It is interesting what a song can do to a person. A melody that gets stuck in a person's head for an hour, a day, a week. And each song brings back different memories, doesn't it? For instance, every time I hear the song "If You Wanna Be Happy" by Jimmy Soul I think of Rachael, Susan and I driving to Susan's wedding. I'm taken to Hudson's Homecoming when I was a sophomore dancing with Jamie to Madonna's "Just like a Prayer" having lost our dates (and shoes) to dance by ourselves. Those are fun memories. But then there are those that are painful. Every time I hear "Total Eclipse of the Heart" I have to change the song. Silly, huh? But when I hear it I am suddenly sitting in a room full of people and having my heart wrenched out watching a youth group skit with someone I really cared about as the main person. Some memories are just weird. Every Shins song from "Chutes too Narrow" reminds me of playing Crono Cross. And some, like "The Luckiest" by Ben Folds & anything Nick Drake, are bittersweet.

This past year has been a weird one. I took a year off after my undergrad to find a teaching job and to make something of myself. With Evan overseas and not finding a full time position, I took all my emotions and burrowed them deep inside me. I look at 2005-2006 and think...what happened? Other than "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy" which brings back Jen's message on my parent's phone (oye!) and Kenny Chesney's "Back Where I Come From" that reminds me of Brussels and Cindy, I have very little music memories. Because it was too hard to think and it was too hard to feel and it was too hard to release.

Now, I am a performance major. I am in a great city and going to a great school. But I am finding it so hard to get that emotion back into my being. Once it is held in so long, the walls are difficult to breech. I have been so blah for so long it just seems easier that way. When one doesn't feel happy, one doesn't feel sad. It's not that I am complaining. I feel like my experiences, all of them, have made me who I am today. I am a stronger person and able to deal with life. Maybe it is just that it is Saturday and I know I have to work through most of this weekend. Maybe it's that I can't hop into my car and drive and drive. Maybe it's the distance. Maybe it's that two of my good friend just had birthdays. And aren't those times for reflection?

Sing us a song, you're the piano man!

Okay, I can understand sickness and missing rehearsals. In fact, I was quite tempted to ditch today's chamber music rehearsal, but seeing as we haven't had that many...well, I decided to tough it out. As it happens, our pianist once again DID NOT SHOW UP!!!! At least the first two times she had the courtesy to make up excuses. Monday she didn't even email. Today she was not there either. The solutions? Rachael and I went around the school trying to find someone else to play for us. As it turned out, I remembered that Danny (a fabulous pianist) had said hello to me so I knew he was in the building. We cornered him in the library and using our feminine charm, we convinced him to play for our practice. Okay, maybe the promise of getting paid and that he is a nice guy was part of it too. When we started to sing, we noticed something different with this accompaniment. The notes were right! They had emotion and, gasp!, he followed us! All this while sight reading. Needless to say, we convinced him to join us full time to play for our ensemble.

In other news, there is a lovely white spot on the back of my throat that I discovered this morning:o(. I plan on keeping an eye on it in the hopes that it will not grow or reproduce. Hopefully I can get in to see a doctor tomorrow and nip this in the bud if necessary. As long as a pointy needle isn't involved...

Also, it would be very unKaren-like if I did not mention tonight's finale of Project Runway. I cannot believe that Jeffrey won! I really thought that Uli would, especially since Heidi said she would wear everything that came down the runway. It was a tough choice and I really enjoyed seeing all of the garments. They were all so unique and it made it such an interesting final showing. And now it is all over! I will have to do without my Project Runway fix for another year!! Sigh!

Where would I be without you, Julia Quinn?

It's official. I'm an addict. My drug of choice? Julia Quinn romance novels. It all started innocently enough. I was talking with Bree, saying that I wish I had some nice, light literature to read. She gave me "The Duke and I" and when I opened it up one night...I found I could not stop! Was Simon ever going to get found out? Would he ever fall in love? These questions kept me turning the pages until I found that it was almost causing me to be late for classes, work and social events. My mind has been in a 18th century cloud and I find myself talking in a British accent, whether filled with wine or not. Since that first novel I have raced through two more and am now reading the novel about Colin and Penelope. While at Target, I bought the two after this one. And, by the way, this all started about a week ago. Perhaps I am going a little overboard. Perhaps this is an addiction. But, at least I freely admit it. And, I highly recommend reading her novels if you enjoy sweet,seductive stories. And, Dr. Mathias always said I needed a trashy novel by my bed to help me sleep. Though, this is certainly not trash. It is...l'amour!

For more information, check out this website! Cheers!
http://www.juliaquinn.com

Wine, cheese, chocolate and French art songs/One Reason to Attend Longy School of Music

Tonight for art song rep, we were allowed to bring in some stuff to munch on, as long as they related to France in some way. We had white & red wine, cheese, grapes, triscuts, bread, and chocolate. Since I didn't have to sing today (only in my Schumann class, where I sang fairly well!)I was able to enjoy eating and sipping while lots of people had to wait until after they sang. Halfway through, and a lot of "sh"s later, I had the feeling that we weren't going to be able to have this wonderful experience again. But, it was announced that we would have another chance, but we had to be a little more focused or the wine and food would not be welcomed. Sigh! Needless to say, tonight's class was the most fun class I have ever attended. It's times like these that I really heart Longy:o)!

Crab rangoon makes every day better!

As I have said previously, I love my co-workers. After not having much to eat this morning and afternoon (two pieces of toast, a spoonful of peanut butter and a peanut butter bar) I went to school to go to my Mozart class. Now, this is the class that makes me the most hesitant. There are hours and hours of reading and such that I just don't have the tolerance for, especially since it is only a one credit class. But the class went smoothly and I ran out to get to work on time. I sprinted inside my house, where Mrs. Norris greeted me, as usual, with a loving hiss and trying to swipe at me. I flew into my room, changed, and flew to work. Being not particularly in a great mood starting off, it is amazing how working with some great people can make a part time job fun.

In the middle of the shift, the chinese arrived. Since I did not have any money with me, I did not order anything. J-Rowe offered me some of his food and set aside some of his egg drop soup, a plate of his beef dish and even let me have a crab rangoon!!!! Shannon also let me have some of her dish. I was very touched and it just made the whole shift go by so much faster. There was pleasant conversation and laugher, except for the two rude customers at the end of the night, and it made closing a half hour later (b/c the sanitizer was broken:o( ) not too bad after all.

On a different topic, I found out that there was snow in lovely Ohio today. Here in Cambridge...seventies and sunny!

Some Ladies (& Gentleman) of Longy

Just because they are so pretty, here are some pics from Rhode Island (note how sexy Andrea looks in her dress!) and from the vocal dinner last Friday. Enjoy!


Ashley, Andrea & I

Andrea & Brian

Some of the sexy ladies of the voice department :o)

the elephants that live upstairs

it happens almost every morning, noon and night. you know what it is. "thump, thump, thump". rachael and bree know what this is like. thinking that the people upstairs (the mysterious people to me) like to move around their furniture every day and stomp around in heavy, steel-toed army boots just for the fun of it! this morning was no exception as, even with my sound machine on, i heard the "thump thump thump" of the elephants that must live above me. now, i don't know what they look like, they could be skinny little runway models for all i know, but the noise they create is atrocious!!!

in other news, the yankees got beat by the tigers. yeah! my voice did this awful cracking thing in art song rep. that made "romance" by debussy (no, not that one, the other one he wrote that was published in the 1980s...true story) sound like "ouch!". but that was only the high "a" that i had to leap up to from an "f" (he was quite evil with this piece, that debussy...maybe that is why he never published it in his days....) my high "b" i was told by andrea was "lovely" and the ending "breathtaking" okay, i don't think those were the exact words used, but you get the idea. i was quite proud that i did not let it get to me when brian...er....mr. moll began to comment on the piece and asked me to fix a few things (some of which my vocal chords would not comply with). we had our first vocal department dinner...which consisted of five people, including myself. it was still very nice and i loved the food i got.

this weekend rachael and party (sorry, rach, i don't remember everyone who went:o) ) went apple picking while i was....wait for it....AT WORK! tonight i was also at work. it would be an incredible bummer if i didn't like my co-workers. as it is, i like them very much indeed. saturday i got to see brian's cool u.s.s. enterprise tattoo (and found another lover of the show and got to talk about my love of stargate sg-1) and j-rowe complained about woman. LOL! tonight tatiana and i talked about our respective beaus and the crazy things that can happen with family members.

tomorrow it is predicted that it shall be in the seventies again and then back into the fifties the following day. adjusting to this weird weather is not fun for my voice and i hope that it evens out soon even if it means...erg....snow. but i bought some cute sweaters at the gap (yes, there is a sale ladies) and i will be happy to show them off. let me see if i eat my words in the coming months.

Baptism by Cappuccino/I Heart Squirrels

This morning I was on bar for TWO HOURS during a morning rush. It was crazy and by the end I was a mess, shaking and wanting to cry (which I did eventually in private). It got a little better when my "boss" (the person taking over while Swifty is gone to get married this Sunday!) was all "great job" and "I know that was tough"...etc. I went home and straightened my hair and felt better:o).

Tatiana found an picture in the Metro of a squirrel "reading" a piece of paper. It was too cute! I just love squirrels, how they hop in littler arches and such. They are all about trying to get the nuts and running around and so so so so cute!

The season is starting to come alive!

If you don't like the weather in New England...wait a few minutes!

Okay, so what is up with this weather? I walked outside yesterday morning in a cute black turtleneck and walked out last night in a t-shirt and was warm! The sun was beaming down upon me and it got up to high 70s...this is not helping my body adjust! And where is the beautiful New England fall I have heard about? And does all this just mean it will be a mild or a cruel winter? Any thoughts???

In other news, my voice lessons are finally swinging in the direction I want them to go. YES! And after putting it on my ipod (I figure out how to record it on my computer to my itunes to the ipod:o)!) I listened and found that the sounds I thought were nasal and ugly are actually quite lovely. YEAH!!!!

To add to my "things I wouldn't see..." list:
4. A gamble of kids (20 of them) throwing a cup of ice at a convertible.
5.A fire on a two story apartment house makes the news mid-day, but not in the evening....a place that is a few blocks from my house!!!

Mrs. Norris continues to be surly and yesterday got outside when I opened the door to get the mail. After a lot of hissing and the use of a spray bottle, she finally went back inside. Once I got home in the evening, she rubbed up against my leg, but I suspect it is only because her master(my roommate) was standing next to me. Figures.

Rain, Rain Go Away!

So I took a trip to Rhode Island today to watch a friend, Andrea, sing a lovely concert in Providence. The whole time it was rainy and wet and rather unpleasant. But we had tea afterwards in cute little china tea cups! We went to "Not Your Average Joes" which I had never been to and liked very much. I also found out that a group of Longy students is going to Salem the weekend before Halloween which sounds like lots of fun! So, if you have any costume ideas, please let me know!


In other news, Mrs. Norris was meowing at me and I let her sniff my hand. As she started to sniff, she then pushed my hand over her head to pet her!!!! Which was then followed by an evil look and a hiss when I tried to pet her again. It looked so promising, but, alas!, she is truly Mrs. Norris.