Opera Snob

No, I don't listen only to opera. I also happen to like this:

Bad review, Good Review, Nice Email, Can I Go Backstage?

NJ Opera Young Artist Program recital today. The truth is we stayed only for about half the program. On the way there, as usual, Alex asked or should I say demanded to hear Barbiere again, Una Voce Poco Fa. Ok, fine. Let's warm up our ears for the performance. Well funny thing is, the mezzo whose name I don't recall did that very aria. Her bio was in the program: prestigious schools, famous teachers, honors, contests, etc. Bottom line: I sing it better when I'm doing laundry, and I have none of the special training, background or experience. I wasn't going to say anything but then Husband brought it up. Why I sing it while doing laundry... well that's another post entirely.

The tenor, on the other hand, was fabu. He sang Una Furtiva Lagrima. You can tell that he'll be going places while the mezzo will be left behind.

Maybe she was just having a bad day.

Changed my mind about the Zankel backstage pass. Thinking about sending a short email with a request to come back and say hi afterwards...

This isn't totally out of context. One juicy bit of information I've kept from you all is that a few days after I got home (Sunday night), I sent Nathan a short email (yes I have his email address and I'm not telling what it is or how I got it) listing the live shows I have. I included a few lines about my opera-loving Alex and I attached the pictures John took. Tuesday morning he sent a nice reply, apologized for having to run, thanks for the CD, keep that little boy of yours singing, blah blah blah. Oh and he said it was lovely meeting me. Well he didn't use italics but I just love using them at every opportunity here on the blog. Signed his full name, very formal, unlike the emails I've gotten from him in the past which had 1st name only. Obviously I have too much time on my hands if I'm noticing things like that... So anyway I might reply to his email closer to the date of the recital with a short and sweet, I'm coming, I'd love to say hi, any chance of getting on the list? Yadda yadda blah blah blah. He'll either do it or he won't, but if I don't ask, he definitely won't. (There's that chutzpah someone recently "accused" me of having, heh heh.)

Well I've posted enough that the Pictures are no longer on the page. Vaguely considering reposting... nah, I'm not that nuts. Or... am I?

Kiss The Girls... All of Them

Found another... More fuel for my teenaged mind. This time he's making out with the other one.



I will, of course, post a click count in a few weeks.





Meanwhile, I think my husband is about to call him to thank him.

Future Coloratura-er? Oh And I AM Going To See It Again

Scary stuff! Today we were listening to the recent Barbiere on our way to Alex's swimming class and he asked to hear Cessa again. I have to post something on John's wall on Facebook - he's a hit with the 3-4 year old set! Then in the locker room he was making these funny almost laughing sounds - like coloratura. It was awesome. On the way home we listened to the opening of Act 2 and Alex was giggling and laughing at how silly the music teacher sounded and how "the other guy" was getting annoyed. He still goes on about how he wants to be an opera singer, he sings bits of Papageno and Figaro... maybe he's expanding into tenor roles, ha ha. Might as well prepare for it all since there's no way of telling how his voice will change.

Oh well this post just proves that I'm a mother before anything else. Duh. I should also post that John mailed me the CD insert with Nathan's autograph. I got it today. Here's a picture:




















I sent John an email asking when his CD is coming out so I could post the info.

You know, listening to him sing Cessa, I think it's ridiculous that everyone says that JDF is the only one who can do it. That's so not true, and so not fair. I actually brought that up when we were out last week. Wow that was an entire week ago! And one other thing I want to say about that is, we tasted each other's drinks. Did I taste his? I don't remember... I must have. Peer pressure, you know, heh heh.

I have to say again what an awesome time I had in Chicago, not just the opera and after, but the whole time. It was wonderful to be on my own, to do what I wanted, when I wanted, to take an uninterrupted shower! And of course the opera... and of course meeting Nathan for 5 minutes... and of course hanging out with John and friend afterwards... I realized I haven't hung out with guys without my husband there since before we were married. It was refreshing!

Thanks to All Who Applied, The Position Has Been Filled

That was surprisingly easy. One of my friends has a son Alex's age and they're buddies. She agreed to keep Alex OVERNIGHT so I can go to the Zankel Hall Recital. I didn't hesitate to get a ticket - Row CC, Seat 6.

Ooh I just went here to follow the links to get to Zankel Hall to put a link here and there's a description of the event! Thanks Nathan, perfect timing. (By the way, it's effects, not affects. There's my job coming through my blog aaaarrrrhhhhh)

If only I had the nerve to email and ask for a backstage visit... but I don't and I won't.

I'm not a stalker, I swear!

Who Wants to Babysit???

Nathan Gunn is doing a recital at Zankel Hall on April 15. I can get a ticket for $46 which means I could do the entire evening for like $60 including the train. Woo hoo, I thought... I'm gonna go!

Then, reality: When is Husband going to that conference in Boston? Oh yeah... April 15 - 18. And he's not even going to see Nathan there on the 17th. Wait a sec why aren't Alex and I going to Boston too?

So... anyway... anyone want to babysit on April 15th? Play trains with a rambunctious 3 year old, read him a bunch of stories and put him to bed? We have cable, on-demand, high-speed Internet, unlimited long-distance calling and I'd get a pizza and fill the house with snacks. Anyone?

Some More (teenaged)Thoughts

Enough already! Get on with your life and stop daydreaming!

Ok but I just want to say once more that he (who?) was so very nice. Almost shy. I mean at first he wasn't, but then when I was all smiley and trying not to giggle he kind of got the same way, it was cute, very charming really. And sort of slightly dorky. But then again, aren't all guys once you start to talk to them?

But that intense eye contact and those smiles verging on giggles... it reminded me of this guy I met on New Years Eve, 1991 maybe? Um... Joel was his name. I went with a friend to a dinner party at Joel's sister's house and he was there. Our eyes met and we had this instant connection. We spent the entire evening stealing glances and doing that smiling-trying-not-to-giggle thing, all the while making normal dinner-party small talk. We'd pass food dishes, our hands would touch and it was like electricity. Seriously. He had the most amazing blue eyes. We all went to a party later at his house where he lived with a bunch of guys. I ended up staying over but get your mind out of the gutter - NOTHING happened. Well, that's not entirely true. We spent the longest amount of time gazing at each other saying what amazing eyes the other person had, and then he went to sleep in the other room because he knew he wouldn't get any sleep if we were in the same room. He told me that earlier that week he had had one kiss with a woman he had liked for a long time, and he thought that they were about to have a serious relationship. (He was right, they later married). In my mind, laying there with me and saying all those things was already "cheating" but that's another topic... the entire evening was so intense and wonderful, even though it was one-night-standish. (remember, nothing happened but looking and talking!!) So those shy smiles, intense stares and almost giggles that I had with Nathan totally flashed me back to the evening in 1991 (or whenever) with Joel. Everyone needs an evening (or two, b/c something similar yet different if you catch my drift happened with Nick in 1993) or, I don't know, how about 5 minutes like that with someone. So who knows, maybe we did have a moment, as one of my friends said. I felt like we did, or, I felt like I did. I'm so glad I got to meet him backstage, alone, instead of in the stage door waiting area, with the hoards of opera hotties waiting with their bouquets of flowers.

Ok, back to reality. He probably looks at everyone like that.

Let's talk about John Osborn for a second here. Very nice guy. Amazing voice. I was listening to the live broadcast I have of the Lyric's Barbiere. (Yes, I already have a recording of the production, although not the evening I was there, thanks to my Secret Source, does that surprise you? Thank you, Secret Source.) I can't connect that wonderful voice with the guy I was out at a bar with last week. My husband was totally star-struck by that, btw. How bizarre is that? He (JO, not my husb) kept asking me what I thought, did I like it, etc. Hello? You were amazing... wait, that was you? But you're just this normal guy I'm hanging out with here. A guy who won the singing contest at the Iowa State Fair when he was 16 - could it get any more... Midwestern?

Let's repost his picture here... After all, he's the one who invited me backstage, might as well give him some more air-time... this is from last month, when I met him after Rigoletto. Should've taken another pic with him and/or with him and Nathan together... Oh well.









BTW, readers, he and his very beautiful-like-she-could-be-a-model opera singer wife have a CD coming out soon.

I think I need some psychotherapy or something, because entire posts sounds and seems insane to me. Oh I know, I had to cancel my voice lesson on Thursday b/c I was too tired from traveling, and then this week is spring break for the music school. Is this how patients feel when their psychiatrists take August off to go on vacation?

True Immortality

Opera Chic has linked to my blog. Does that make me famous?

Fun With Captions

I didn't come up with this - I'm posting it with permission of the "author."

Fantasy vs Reality

At the bar with John, at one point I was taking something out of my purse and out fell the insert to Nathan's CD. I never did ask him for an autograph - it just seemed so, I don't know, like a strange thing to do. John insisted that if I left it with him, he'd get Nathan to sign it and would send it back to me. I gave him my address. I kept saying, "I'm never going to see that again, am I?" and he kept laughing and insisting that he would send it back.

I wonder if I'll ever see it again...

Joyce DiDonato posted a cute portrait of Nathan in her latest blog entry. She didn't publish my comment on one of her other photos though. My comment was about what she wrote more than about the picture. Trying not to come across as the stalking opera freak so I'll lay low on the comments.

Edited to Add: She did post it and comment back. :)

I keep rereading my previous post. I need to be hit with a reality stick. But not yet, please let me enjoy these last few moments of fantasy...

How I Saw Nathan Gunn In His Underwear

I realize that there's just too much to write about to put it all in one long post, so as the events of the past week seep from my short term to my long term memory I'll try to get them down.

I decided that there's no reason I have to write about the trip in chronological order, so let's just jump right in. And I'll try to keep it semi-professional and mature, but once I get going I can't make any promises...

So the opera... I had the concierge at the hotel take my picture:

He even gave me fashion advice: Hair down, not pulled back in a barrette.


So down I went, trying not to slip on the marble floor in my heels. Took a cab to the opera house to save my feet as well as my shoes.

There were two signs inside the front door of the opera house, one warning that there will be gunshots during the performance, and this one:

So put on your disco shoes and try not to have a seizure...









Got to my seat and had to take a few more, all time time expecting some official to tell me to stop. The opera house is gorgeous.













The opera was FABULOUS!!! The scenery was amazing - bright colors and clouds, and the costumes matched the scenes. Everyone looked wonderful.

John was great as Almaviva. There were times, of course, when I was sitting there in my 14th row seat wondering what it would have been like to have Juan Diego that close, but that doesn't mean I was disappointed. I just... wondered.

And then Nathan. Oh. My. God. Figaro's Largo aria... they wheel out the "shop" and he's asleep on a cot on a loft. One leg is out the window. The other I think is on the floor. And he's wearing nothing but underwear. Gulp. I had my binocs focused! He pops out singing and gets dressed. Sticks his hand down his pants to arrange the business as he hits the high notes. The audience loved it. I almost fell out of my seat. (and just think, I shook hands with him later that evening.)
His singing and acting were perfect. That voice like melting chocolate just washes over you. It oozes out all sweet and rich and yummy. Ok stopping myself now... He was the perfect Figaro. He ran through those coloraturas and made them look easy. Like a piece of cake. Chocolate cake with a gooey warm chocolate center. Oh wait I said I would stop...

Joyce was great too. She played Rosina as a sort of petulant teenager. And her voice - WOW. It reverberates through your entire body. That's one of the things I love about live opera - how visceral it is, the sound washes through you and you feel it as well as hear it. It's why it can move me to tears sometimes. Although at Barber they were tears of laughter.

John was great as Almaviva - so funny. As the music teacher he sounded just like a sheep or goat, and he did this ridiculous little jump in between some of the lines. It was hilarious. And of course he did Cessa like it was nothing. Made it look easy. Beautiful light tone, rippled through all the trills, coloraturas and whatever they're officially called like he was out for a stroll.

Everyone left the theater with a smile on their face.

Then... in true teenager fashion I felt pretty smug squishing past the people at the stage door because I was "on the list." Very juvenile, I know. Heh heh.

I was hovering in the hallway by the dressing rooms when Nathan came out to leave. He turned to go the other way from where I was in the hallway so I called out to him, told him who I was and that I was Ricardo's friend and he came right over. Ricardo, if you recall, is one of Nathan's students, and he had emailed me earlier that week to tell me that he told Nathan I was coming all the way from NJ to see him. I couldn't let him leave so I said, "I just HAVE to get a picture with you, is that ok?" And he was like, Sure, let's find a spot, and we went into John's dressing room. John took the pictures. Well first he pushed the wrong button on the phone, then one shot was blurry so we had to do another, then of course I wanted one with the real camera and luckily he noticed that the setting was for landscape so he had to change that... and the whole time I'm there with Nathan's arm around me, holding me pretty darn tight. Like pressed into his side. I was like, holy sh!t I'm standing here with Nathan Gunn and his arm is around me and mine is around him and I can't think. He was talking to me about Ricardo and I was just all smiley and, "Uh huh... oh yes, Ricardo, he's great, uh huh...."

Seriously he was so cute that I was a bit star-struck and couldn't do much more than smile and try not to giggle. He just kept smiling right back and making the most wonderfully intense eye contact. I seriously felt like I was 15. If he had asked me to come on tour with him to do his laundry I would have said, "Do you want me to separate the colors? Maybe iron your underwear?" Then his wife sent him a text message to come home so off he went. Oh well. I gave him the CD of those live recordings from all over the place and told him that there were lots of live recordings online. I wrote a little note with it too, a dorky stupid note because, well, that's me, and I mentioned all the live stuff online and that I can tell him how to find it if he wants. Of course I gave him no way to contact me... even though technically he already has my email because we've already exchanged a couple, as well as a message or two on MySpace. He seemed really thrilled when he saw it was a CD of himself.

I gave John the book and a CD of Barbiere from San Fran opera that he did with Nathan. He was funny, he said, "You were much more outgoing last time, you seem so shy today." I was totally making fun of myself - "I'm just a little star-struck... you know... just met Nathan... it'll pass..." Must be tough being one of the stars and having everyone go ga-ga over the other guy.

I met Joyce too, and she was really nice. Her niece and nephew were there, I'm guessing he's about 5 or 6 and she's about 3 or 4. They were upset that she and John kissed at the end and she was explaining to them that they didn't really, it just looked like they did, and the boy kept saying, "But you're married," and she kept saying, "So is John - it's all pretend, it's ok." It was very cute. I gave her a recording of a recent Cenerentola she did. She also seemed thrilled to have it. Plus I gave her the earrings I made for her. I posted pictures of them a few posts back. She said that the timing was perfect because recently all her jewelry was stolen. How awful is that???? I happened to have a pair of "backup" earrings in my bag because I couldn't decide which ones to wear that night, so I gave those to her too, explaining that I have all the beads and can make them again, so she wouldn't feel bad. She was wearing a really nice, chic looking dress - I should've asked her where she got it. Joyce, if you read this, I loved that little dress you had on!

Then John, his friend Larry and I went out for a drink. The nearby pub was closed, and Larry and I happened to be staying at the same hotel, so we walked there. Yes, I ended up walking in those shoes all the way back to the hotel. We had fun just talking and joking - I won't go into details here because I really just want to get this post up.

There will be more posts about this as more details pop into my head. Like how when Nathan was leaving and he put his hand out and I took it and he sort of slid his hand out as he walked away... yeah John there's a reason I couldn't talk after that. I'm surprised I could still stand.

Seriously, how old am I?

Let's repost that picture.

Non-Gossip, Eye Moments and Nathan Gunn's Underwear

Far be it from me to gossip... so I won't. But let's just say I heard some stuff yesterday about a certain someone from a colleague of that person which I found veeeeerrrryyyyyy interesting. I'll put a name in the tags... Hint hint.

On a totally unrelated note, I saw Nathan Gunn in his underwear yesterday. That was before the photo. More to follow on that later, but are you intrigued? It's not what you think...

So I know I totally ragged on that woman from PBS but she's right; he's totally hot in person. He looks at you and really looks. Like super-intense charismatic eye contact, like you're the only one in the room. At least that's how I felt. One of my friends said, "Oh, so you two had a moment." I don't know if HE did, but I sure did.

Ok, will stop drooling now - it's bedtime.

Yowza

Pictures first, full detailed report later.

It's About Friggin' Time

I leave for Chicago tomorrow.

I will, of course, take copious and detailed notes for you, the reader, and will post a complete and overly detailed report upon my return.

After that, what in the world am I going to write about? This damn trip has taken up so much space in my brain that I fear I'll suffer some sort of breakdown after I return to Real Life on Thursday.

Oh wait, there's Fille at the Met on May 2!! Whew.

On a side note, it was announced on like Feb 16th that Juan Diego was fully recovered. Hmm.

Just In Time

So the first Operatic Disaster book I ordered was returned to the sender. Or the empty package was... And I heard from the other seller ... THAT book was also returned, totally damaged as if it had been "run over by the postal truck." I ordered them from different sellers on the same day, they both got destroyed and returned. So that leads me to believe that the destruction occurred here. Strange. And today's package wasn't in the best shape either... but the book is fine. Now I'll go put it on the "don't forget to bring this" pile.

Speaking of Cold Showers

Well I haven't written about them here, but the topic has come up recently.

Yeah Baby!!!

That's what my voice teacher said yesterday when I was really getting it... it was during a vocalise. She said, "Sing like an opera singer" so I did and it worked. I started laughing of course. She said better to laugh during a lesson than to cry. It felt like pretending, like when I used to play at being an opera singer when I was young, but I produced the best sound I've ever made! It was pretty cool. Worked on the aria and I can really hear the difference. Later I'll post what she told me to do... I wrote it down word for word in my notebook. Something to do with improving my legato of course... about when one syllable has more than one note, to stress the 2nd note so I stitch them together... something like that.

It's funny how she writes stuff in her notebook. When she says something to me that gets through and improves my sound, she leaps up from the piano to write down what she said. I had more to write about this - had a long and of course terribly clever post all put together in my head while driving. Of course it's gone now... I'm sure it'll come back as I'm falling asleep or showering.

Tried on my opera outfit for a friend yesterday. Picked out a few necklaces that work with the dress and jacket. Now I have to make earrings to match each necklace. Sounds harder than it is - but making something to match is actually pretty easy.

Life Expectancy of an Egg

Who are we kidding. If I brought one of those candy eggs to Chicago I'd probably eat the entire thing by Tuesday afternoon.

All is Calm... For Now

Yes folks. I just called the Lyric and spoke with Kelly. She confirmed that Nathan WAS sick and had to cancel, but he is back and he is currently scheduled to perform in the remaining three performances. Just in case, the replacement's name is Philip Gothard (or something like that... can't find him on google, must have the spelling wrong)

Just in case.

This Isn't Happening...

My friend who studies voice with Nathan left this wall post on my Facebook page today:

... just to let you know, nathan WAS very sick! he actually canceled some performances this last week, hopefully he'll be fine when you come ;) ...

No. Oh no.

Just a Little Something I Whipped Up

Just made a pair of earrings: green encased flower glass beads with rhinestone rondelles, a shiny green glass bead and small silver balls. Tried taking a picture with my iPhone so of course they're blurry. Really need the macro lens on the real camera to get a good shot, but anyway, here they are:



Now I'd like to repeat, for the record:

The whole gift idea was a token something-or-other to thank John O. for the backstage invite. I knew from the very start that flowers were not on the radar. I never planned on gifts for anyone else. My smiling face will be gift enough, ha ha. And of course a fabulous review of the experience here on my blog! See the comments on the long post from a few days ago for more details...

Green River?

Is this true? The river in Chicago will be dyed green for St Patty's Day? And I'm arriving in Chicago that day? Oh boy.

I'll try to take a picture from the airplane as we land.

Learning Curve

I love reading the blogs of "real" singers, like, people who get paid to sing. Sometimes when they write about technique I admit I do get a bit lost, but for the most part I get it. For me, now, I'm still focusing on relaxing. Relax and let go. Plus I'm learning the physical techniques to help make the sound rounder, fuller, more legato, more vibrato, etc.

Ok I got carried away with the whole gift thing. The point is to bring a small token to J.O. to say thank you for the backstage invite, not give everyone in the cast a present! I made a CD of the Barbiere from San Fran Opera. And if he forgets, well, I can always give it to NG since he's on it too, heh heh.

High Demand Item?

Still haven't gotten EITHER book, and I ordered them from different places. Emailed both. One is looking for a tracking number. The other informed me that the package came back to them on Saturday, EMPTY. Like, either it opened and the book fell out, or someone opened it and took it. Ok, so who in the post office wants a copy of Operatic Disasters???? Hopefully the other one will come.

Gift for Joyce - sure, why not? Earrings. I'll go through my supply and if nothing jumps out at me I'll make her a pair. It's hard to tell what she would like, except that from her blog she appears to like beautiful things, so I'm thinking the encased flower or cloisonne beads with rhinestone rondelles. I know that doesn't mean much to anyone not into beads, but too bad! I'll post a picture of the pair once I make or choose them. And a good thing about earrings is, they fit in my purse. Might toss a "youthful" pair in for John's daughter, just in case she's there.

Made some CDs today of live recordings but I have no way of knowing, as Carlos commented, if they'd want them.

I'd rather give something I make than something I buy, but we'll see.

One Week!!! Chicago! Barbiere! Lyric! Nathan Gunn! Candy Eggs! And So Much More!

One week until my JDF-less trip to Chicago!!! One week!!! A week and a half until Barbiere at the Lyric!! And hopefully a little visit backstage after the show! C'mon John O, don't forget! Of course a little message on Facebook before I leave won't hurt.

Google maps has a street view with panoramic photos, so I've actually located the stage door on the picture. So now I wonder... what will happen? Assuming John remembers to put me on the list... I'll go there after the show and I assume there'll be someone there with some sort of list that I'll hopefully be on... and then what? I envision a long hallway, lots of doors, people scurrying about... where to go? How to find John? How not to be totally starstruck if I see/meet Nathan Gunn or Joyce D (whose blog I've been reading and commenting on), who I know are just normal people but still... how not to totally pee in my pants? Or in my dress... In a way it's good that JDF isn't going to be there. True, I wouldn't have had the backstage invite (which I'm still not counting on, just in case...) but the whole starstruck thing - I'd probably start crying and then pee in my pants. Charming.

Ok, let's get realistic. Flashback: 1985. Age: 18. I'm crazy for Adam Ant, INXS, Duran Duran. Ok, never met Duran Duran. But I met Adam Ant and did I pee in my pants? No. In fact, I had a little argument with him because he insulted me. Stupid man. What about INXS? Hung out backstage with them. No big deal. Eurogliders? Anyone remember them? They should have been more popular here than they were... so I wrote them letters when I was in high school. Later met them... and they had the letters. Did I pee in my pants? No. The drummer propositioned me. Did I pee in my pants? No, I didn't really understand what he wanted... but that's another story. The point is, I was starstruck yet I was totally cool. Of course that was before I had a baby... damn better start doing kegels.

Another issue... a thank-you gift. Can't show up backstage empty-handed. Flowers are inappropriate and cumbersome. I have this cute book of anecdotes called The Bumper Book of Operatic Disasters. I looked for it online and found two sequels. Ordered both on Feb 13. Where are they? Not here... so if they don't come this week... there goes that idea. Next idea: an Allfathers Egg. It means schlepping a 1 lb chocolate egg to Chicago and then to the opera house. Hmmm. They're good but... is that a good thank-you gift? Worth the schlep? Candy... not sure. Then what do I do with it if he forgets? Give it to Nathan when he leaves the theater? Better not write a note with it... or maybe I can have an alternate note to stick on it... there's an interesting thought. Prepared for any situation. Heh heh. Ok for anyone who doesn't know me, it's a joke, ok? I'm not writing an alternate note. "Hi, I was going to give this to someone else, but... here... enjoy!" Heh heh.

To the 4 people who read this blog... any gift ideas? Leave me a comment...

Ok, off to find my xanax.

Slow Down, You Sing Too Fast

At my last voice lesson, after telling me how much better the aria sounds now, my teacher admitted to me that perhaps this particular piece is a little bit too complicated for me at this time. She still seems to think that, not this year, but next year, I'll be good enough to audition for the local opera chorus. I still think she's nuts, but that's a whole other topic. The point is, she said she realizes that this piece I'm working on now is very challenging ... and it's a good thing I like a challenge. My problem is, I want to do it perfectly right away, but because it's a challenging piece for me, I have to take it slowly. So I'm breaking it into sections and perfecting one section before really seriously tackling the next.

How do people learn a role for an entire opera???? Like... how in the world do people learn Rosina??? All those notes... What, 16th notes? 32nd even? Plus all the recitativo in between? I guess when it's your full time job it's a bit less daunting???? Oh yeah and music school, and experience, and coaching, and lots of rehearsals...

The House Tenor

Today we were having one of those perennial "what would you do if you won the gagillion dollar lottery" and Jim suggested that I keep a "house tenor." Like, on staff, along with the masseuse, the hair washer and braider and of course the regular staff of cook, house cleaner, laundry doer, landscaper and concierge-type person. Oh wait that's a personal assistant... yeah that's fine. I need someone to bring different sizes to the dressing room when I'm trying stuff on, and someone to carry all the purchases and gift-with-purchases.

The truth is, I've never purchased anything at a makeup counter that qualified for a gift-with-purchase, but I would, if I had someone to carry it for me.

Lungs, Glorious Lungs

And so it continues. Both Alex and Jim were at 102 this morning.

• Jim went to the doc. Diagnosis: Bronchitis approaching pneumonia, throat infection sinus infection.

• I called the pediatrician about Alex: "Oh, it's going around. It's probably a virus. If he still has a fever on Friday morning give us a call."

And that's the difference between a high fever in an adult and in a child.

To make this opera related...

Today I tackled that tricky part very very slowly, one note at a time, then did lip trills, then chanted the words, then very slowly sang the words. I think I got it. And just for the record, we're talking about 2 measures of music here, not much. It's like my brain has some sort of block when it comes to learning all the components of the measure - rhythm, notes, words.


Two weeks until Barbiere!!!!

Out of My Price Range

Well. Last week I was so cocky with my "I'm gonna OWN this aria," blah blah blah. That was after being totally overwhelmed by the sheer number of notes on the page the week before. Well the sheer overwhelmedness has returned. Really. What was I thinking? What am I thinking? I keep practicing, doing lip trills, plunking it out on my piano backwards adding one note at a time, doing the rhythms, singing the vowels only and yet it still sounds choppy and awful. I know I have legato in me, I know I can make it sound nice... but how? Why can't I do it????? I need to be slapped, seriously. I see the insanity where my confidence waxes and wanes to the extreme. I see the insanity, but can't control it. Right now I truly believe that there is no way I'll ever be able to sing this aria well. No, really. I know last week I wrote that I was on my way to owning it. Well I just peeked at the price tag, and I can't afford it.

All I Want...

... is a full night's sleep. Is that too much to ask? Another sicko day here in the I'd Rather Be Sleeping Household. Did get a chance to practice my vibrato scales a little, but singing is out of the question thanks to the bizarre cough. Spent 2 hours this afternoon holding a feverish Alex while he napped/dozed. Jim came home with a fever of 102 (no doubt vectoring (infecting) the Rutgers undergraduate population, or at least the students who showed up for class) and then Alex took over 2 hours to get to bed. Parents of toddlers who read this will need no further details as to what that means.

I don't think any of this is good for the vocal cords. Especially the part when I finally lost it and yelled, "Get back in bed or I'm turning off the light and shutting your door!"

Ok, here I go to try and sleep for 8 hours IN A ROW...

What's Your Vector, Victor?

Illness spreads through the house. It starts when coworkers come to work sick. They pass bacteria with the file folders and I bring it home.

I woke up coughing Thursday. Friday I developed a fever. Yesterday, Saturday, Alex refused to eat and was generally whiny. I was still feverish and feeling worn out. Last night I was up most of the night with Alex as his temperature went up up up - 102.5 in the ear thermometer that I'm still not sure how to use. (for example... I was 100.5 in one ear and well below normal, like in the too cold to be alive range, in the other...) Today I have a cough that finishes like an old car struggling to start in the cold. Alex is still a bit warm and now Jim has a low grade fever and cough. I don't recall a contagion spreading this quickly through the house before. Hopefully it'll be gone tomorrow in time for work and school.

Strangely, I can still sing. I'm not singing much because the cough irritates my throat, but Alex keeps asking me to sing from this little songbook of children's songs so I do.

The Importance of Blogs

I never though of my blog as being important to anyone other than myself. However I am aware that many blogs are very important as forums for people to discuss whatever... so where is this leading?

Ok so the guy who left the nice comment on one of my posts about John Osborn ... his name sounded familiar to me but I couldn't figure out why. So I went and googled him. Turned out I recognized his name from MySpace, because he is friends with Juan Diego Florez and I've seen his comments on JDF's page. So I tried to send him a message to thank him for his comment here on my blog, but his MySpace profile is set so that only his friends can send messages. Then yesterday or possibly the day before, I added him as a friend so I could send him the note with the friend request. He accepted the friend request, posted a comment on my MySpace page about John Osborn and then... deleted me from his friends list. Strange stuff...

Now, this guy is an aspiring singer. He has over 1000 friends on MySpace.
And anyone who has read my blog (all three of you?) know that I have no compunction about calling people on rude behavior. While I don't think it's rude that he didn't keep me on his list, I do think it's odd... considering I could potentially be a fan... and I could potentially write about him here.

That said, I was planning on listening to the music this guy had posted on his MySpace Page, but now I won't.

You know, when I told John O that I have my own "silly" blog (or did I say stupid?) he immediately replied that they're NOT stupid... and I tend to agree. Blogs are a great way to share thoughts and opinions about, well, everything.