The beginning of the end

In a few days it will be the last month of the semester. I'm thrilled about it -- and terrified. I have A LOT to do before then. Blogging isn't helping, but it's a great distraction. :)

In case you don't believe me, I thought I'd post my schedule. Yes, feel sorry for me. That's the point. ;)

Friday, April 1st: Dress Rehearsal for Dixit Dominus

WEEK ONE
Monday, April 4th @ 7:00: Perform Dixit Dominus @ The Covey Center
Tuesday, April 5th @ 5:30: Concert Choir Performance @ Orem Library
Wednesday, April 6th: Opera Workshop Dress rehearsal @ 5:30
Thursday, April 7th: Perform in class
Friday, April 8th @ 6:45: Small Ensembles Performance
*I'm learning the oboe and play in a small ensemble...it's fun.
Saturday, April 9th @ 6:45: Help fundraise for piano scholarships
*I'm on scholarship to usher events, advertise, fundraise, etc. basically I'm a slave
Sunday, April 10th @ 8:00: Perform Dixit Dominus at The Cathedral of the Madeleine

WEEK TWO
Monday, April 11th: Opera workshop dress rehearsal
Tuesday, April 12th: Chamber Choir performance at Orem Library @ 7pm
Wednesday, April 13th: Opera Workshop Performance
Thursday, April 14th: Therapy (yes, I'm still going. And yes, I'm an advocate of it!)
Friday, April 15th: Opera Workshop Performance
Saturday, April 16th: Chamber Choir performance at the Springville Art Museum @ 3pm

WEEK THREE
Monday, April 18th: Usher Orchestra's end-of-semester Concert
Tuesday, April 19th: Women's/Concert Choir AND Honors Octet Concert
*I'm in ALL THREE ensembles
Wednesday, April 20th: Usher Percussion's end-of-semester Concert
Thursday, April 21st: Usher Wind Symphony end-of-semester Concert
Friday, April 22nd: Usher Jazz Band's end-of-semester Concert
Saturday, April 23rd: Chamber Choir Concert
*I'm in Chamber Choir so I won't be ushering

WEEK FOUR
Monday, April 25th - Friday, April 29th: FINALS!!!!!
Friday, April 29th: Perform with Honor's Octet at Graduation Ceremony
Sunday, May 1st: Chamber Choir performance at Holocaust Memorial Ceremony at the state capital @ 2pm

MONDAY, MAY 2ND: COLLAPSE WITH RELIEF!!! THE SEMESTER IS OVER!!!!

I have no idea where I'm supposed to fit in eating, sleeping, studying, practicing, working, and most importantly, TRAVIS! I've forewarned him that the next month is going to be UgLy!

I told you I was busy. And this is only my schedule -- I have no idea what Travis's looks like. :s

Pray for us.

Choir Tour: THE END!

I wrote this Monday, March 21st but forgot to hit the post button. Sorry.

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So I've been documenting my tour trip. I don't know why I decided to do this. I'm sure it's been a tad boring for you....who really cares about a choir tour?! ;)

Our bus arrived in Orem, Utah Monday at 5:15am. It was a long drive (18 hours of pure misery). Not just in distance but in other ways. People. Obnoxious laughter. Loud conversations. But it is now over. I hope to NEVER go on a choir tour again. The performances and some of the touring were really inspiring. But overall, Not happening. 32-going-on-16 was a freakin' nightmare. She was so much a nightmare that I dreamt about her last night --AFTER arriving home. Uhg. She really is a pebble in my shoe.

Anyway, here are some things I learned while on tour:

1) What is involved in poor leadership
-They left a member of choir in downtown San Fran to prove a point. I called them out on it - "that's quality leadership" - and was chastised by my professor - "Sometimes it's not about being nice. It's about respect for others" -- To keep things calm and respectful, I turned my back and held my tongue. CLEARLY the idea wasn't about being nice...or responsible...or inspiring...or about creating unity. It was about respect. Not respect for others but respect for themselves. Poor, poor leadership.
-the day after leaving a member of choir, the lame leader lost her phone and told the bus driver we couldn't leave our location until the phone was found. THEY'LL LEAVE PEOPLE BUT NOT PHONES. Pathetic.

2) College students are as immature as High Schoolers on tour.
-Obnoxious. That's all I'm going to say.

3) Cathedrals are one of my favorite places to sing. It was incredible!
-Side note: I get to sing in a Cathedral April 10th. I will be singing in The Cathedral of the Madeleine with the UVU Orchestra (I believe) and the UVU choir. I'm so excited!! (click on the red font to go on a pictorial tour). If you live in or near Salt Lake City, you should come. The program isn't too long and the music is GORGEOUS. We will be performing Handel's Dixit Dominus (the same guy who wrote the Messiah). I believe it's free too.

4) home stays are way better than hotel stays!!!
-Our home stay host was incredible. She was so kind and welcoming. I was lucky enough to room with a girl who's pretty level headed and down to earth. We got a long VERY well.

5) I think I'm done singing with any/all UVU choirs. Never again (after this semester).
-Yeah, I don't think I really need to elaborate on this. I just don't think I'm the hard-core choir type anymore.

6) There are really great people in the music program. Likewise there are some really awful people in the program. We had a good mix of 'em.

7) Buses are FrEaKy. I hate buses.
-Severe anxiety with buses since our experience in New York.

8) Five-minute-fun-breaks turn into 30 minutes of hell.
-I would have had some good use of the pellet gun, had I brought one.

9) Choir tour romance is disgusting. Especially when I have to sit behind/in front/next to the dumbo's involved. Ew. Get a life.
-desperate people. immature flirting. horrible cuddling. Uhg. Give me a break.

10) bringing too many pillows on the bus, for comfort reason's, is impossible because it is impossible to get comfortable on a bus.
-I brought three pillows and I don't regret it. I didn't have back/neck pain at all. Nearly everyone else did. Lesson to be learned: BRING MORE THAN ONE PILLOW WHEN DRIVING LONG DISTANCES ON A BUS! It's worth it, I promise.

hehe

So I'm on the bus right now. Believe it or not I'm doing qite well emotionally. I looked at our choir manager (I'm calling her 32-going-on-16 now) and I don't want to skin her (yet). So, the day's starting out well. Phew.

It's still rainy, windy, and cold here in San Francisco. It's FrEaKiNg cold. But I have my rad rain boots and my sweaters. All I need is my boy, a blanket, fireplace and a movie. Anyway, I re-read some of my posts (after reading an email from my beloved in-laws...hehe) and wanted to apologize if my writing style offends. I'm cold. I'm tired. I'm honest. And when I finally sit down to write I just don't care anymore. :) I know I didn't offend them, but I don't know what YOU'RE thinking. Yes, I'm straight forward. Yes, I'm honest. Isn't it fun?! I think I'm funny....

Okay, well, please continue to ignore my MANY typo's. This little phone is not the ideal computer. But it'll suffice. I'll post pictures of this tour when I get home and have a real computer.

Stay awesome (lol).

choir Tour: Days 3 & 4

Oh boy. Where do I start? Um...

Well yesterday was a day from hell. Beautiful weather but full of irritation. Our tour manager -- the 32 year old I referred to in one of my earlier posts -- has a death wish. She is the poop on the bottom of my shoe. I can't seem to rid myelf of her. She's 32 going on 16. And she pisses me off. Seriously, she should be given "THE WORST LEADER EVER" award. She's earned it.

Trav text me yesterday and asked how my day was going. My response: other than wanting to punch [so-and-so] in the face, I'm fine. :) Let me assure you those feelings haven't changed today. I doing everything I can to have tolerance but my sincere attempt is failing.

We were able to have a coaching session with the director of choral studies at UC Berkeley yesterday. She was incredible. However, all I could focus on while sitting in the auditorium observing her work with her choir was her bum eating her underwear. Where'd that come from?! Let me explain l: leggings, shirt that didn't cover her bum, ferocious underwear line. It was awful. I TRIED to look away but couldn't. I just kept praying she'd pull her shirt down to cover "things". But she never did. :( Let me assure you I wasn't the only one who noticed. Yucky.

We were also able to hang out at the UC Berkeley campus. That was fun. I had a delicious Indian curry dinner with some choir friends and was able to enjoy the beautiful campus. So, other than wanting to pull out my cat claws and rip out hair, it was an okay day.

Today was a mess. The weather was awful -- down pour. Seriously. Everyone was soaked, well everyone bu me because I was wearing my rad rain boots. Boo yeah. We sang at another cathedral and it was gorgeous. The sounds was amazing. We were also able to have a coaching session with the conductor of the San Francisco Symphony. He was ridiculous. It was incredible working with him. He was so down to earth and full of knowledge, expression, and ideas. And we were lucky enough to attend the San Francisco symphony performance tonight. The performed Bach's Mass in B minor. It was so incredible. Just beautiful. I felt lifted and inspired when I left. What a great night!

Oh, we were able to have dinner at a place called Max's Opera House. It was fun! The waiters sing opera thoughout the evening. It was a different kind of experience. I liked it a lot. Thankfully my mom, sisters, and Grandma were able to meet up with me for dinner. It was so nice to see them! Sanity! Normalcy! Yay! Kyle sat with us too. We had a good time together.

And I haven't lashed out at anyone yet. Things are good. ;)

G'night

Choir Tour: Day 2

Today was much better. We didn't drive nearly as long and we were able to tour more. We first stopped at the famous Golden Gate Bridge. We took lots of pictures as a choir and then walked the bridge. It was crazy-loud! I had to yell at the person walking next to me so he could hear me. Buses and cars drove RIGHT next to us, driving quite fast. It was amazing. And it was beautiful. San Francisco is beautiful. You know that song, "I lost my heart in San Francisco"? I can see how that could happen. It's gorgeous out here. I called Trav and told him we HAVE TO COME OUT HERE!!!

We spent the majority of the afternoon in China Town shopping, eating, and touring. It was quite fun! One of the first stores I went in had an interesting conversation that went as follows:

Store Clerk: (with an accent) Where you from? Texas?
Me: No, we're from Utah.
Store Clerk: Utah?
Me: Yes, Utah.
Store Clerk: Are you Mormon?
Me: Yes, we're Mormon.
Store Clerk: How many wives and husbands you have?
Me: Actually, I have 17 husbands right now. My goal is to have 30 so I can rotate one husband per night of the month!
Store Clerk: Well, with body like that, I can see you would be busy every night.
Me: Okay, I think we're leaving. Thank you, good bye.

I was disgusted. The man obviously didn't catch my sarcasm AT ALL! Gross.

Just FYI, any active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has one spouse. Just one. Savvy?

The rest of the evening was spent at the Oakland Temple. A Tongan ward hosted us for dinner and a performance. They sang for us and we sang for them. It was wonderful! They made us an incredible dinner (two FULL pigs...I'm talking from head to the curly tail). It was really fun to get a small taste of their culture. Very good people. Very kind and lovin. It was definitely an enlightening experience.

Well, I better get to bed. We have a full day ahead of us tomorrow. Lots of touring and performing! Wahooo! And hopefully I'll get to see my sisters, mom, and grandma sometime soon. Thankfully they arrived safely this evening. :)

I love you, Travis William. I miss you.

(Please excuse typo's. I'm writing/posting from my phone and it's WAY too hard to make corrections with this little thing. Thanks for understanding that I'm not stupid.)

Choir Tour: Day 1

Well, I'm in Sacramento tonight. The day was full of movies, naps, discussions, and dissapointing meals. I only had to threaten one person...well not threaten. I just told the guy if I had brought a pellet gun, I'd shoot him. He was quiet after that, thank you very much. :)

However, I had one MAJOR peak during this much dreaded day: a love note from Trav found in my back pack. There are a couple of lines I have to share with you because they're soooo cute.

"You are good enough to sing in an opera (my dream), you are good enough to be a beauty queen, you are good enough to be my best friend. You are good enough to play 'Mary had a Little Lamb" on like 12 instruments." This is the point I burst loudly into laughter! He's so funny! And what's even more funny is he's sincere about the 12 instrumet comment! I love my boy. He is so wonderful!

I hope he doesn't mind my sharing a small portion of my wonderful letter (which I've re-read multiple times already). It was just waaaaaay too cute not to. I love you, cutie. You are deserving of someone MUCH better then me. I'm so grateful to have you as my best friend and eternal husband.

Yours truly.

PS. Today is a special day. It is the 2 year anniversary of our Angel, Mercydez'es passing. I love that little girl so much. She has been my motivation to be a little more patient, kind, and loving. I have a LONG ways to go, but I'll get there. We love you, Sweeeeeeetie! My leetle fudge buh-rownieeeee! What a wonderful blessing she is.

the bug, the bus, the bozo's

Yup. Trav and I both caught the vicious bug going around. It's awful. It sticks and refuses to leave your body...it wants to hibernate. We've been miserable. Travis seemed to get it in different ways than I did. His voice went down nearly two octaves, I swear. He sounded completely different. It sounded painful when he would talk. Uhg. I can't imagine how he held his own at work with a class full of 30+ students. For the last week or two we've been downing vitamin c like no one's business. Trav has also been guzzling some serious amounts of airborne. It seems to be working, slowly but surely, because we are on the mend now, but we still have plenty of mucus (ewwy).

I'm grateful because rather than lose my voice -- it would be the equivalent to Travis breaking his hand -- I just got really achy, dizzy, congested, and had a medium-to-bad sore throat. We really make an awesome couple each morning...can you imagine what it sounds like in the bathroom while we're trying to get rid of as much congestion as possible?! It's sick. I'll leave it at that.

So today was interesting. Travis had a HUGE test he had to take this morning at 7:30. Every teacher has to take this test (it's called the Praxis) to get their teaching license. We won't find out if he passed for another 3 to 4 weeks. :( Miserable, I know. But we're glad it's done and over with. He has been studying for that beast for the last few weeks. The Praxis is a timed test. It's specific to his content area (art) and tests him on anything from Art History to photography to tapestry. It's craZy intense. It costs a purdy penny too.

I had the great opportunity to sing in a trio this morning. We had a religious gathering (Relief Society Commemoration) including approximately 475 women and I was asked to sing with two other women. It was stressful, but a great honor to be a part of it. I am so grateful to be involved in music. I don't think any of us -- and I include myself in this -- understand how much music impacts our lives. I think it would only be recognized and fully appreciated if we lost it. I hope and pray that never happens. Anyway, the performance was a success. I feel good about it. And I feel good about it being DONE. No more rehearsals. Wahoo!

This next week is going to be exciting and awful at the same time. I am heading off with the UVU Chamber Choir to San Francisco. We will be performing with some Universities out there (I believe), singing at a cathedral, receive an afternoon coaching session with the conductor of the San Francisco Symphony, and more. I'm excited to perform and fall in love with Cali. No offense but I'm not too fond of that state -- I'm hoping that'll change after next week. I think the drive out there and back is going to be insane. There will be 32 choir peeps on one bus. Can you say PaInFuL?!?! I not over exaggerating either. Okay, I am. Most of them are pretty normal, believe it or not. There are just a few I worry about. You know who I'm talking about, right? The one or two people who irritate the H-E-double-hockey-sticks outta you? They are loud, obnoxious, and honest-to-goodness stupid? Yup. They are drawn to the music world. I am surrounded my idiots. Not just any idiots, needy ones. Ohhh, the stories I could tell.

Okay, I have to share one: I have a friend named Kyle. He's normal, thank goodness. We normal people stick together; there are two of us in the music program: me and him. Anyway, last Monday we were in our conducting class and Kyle was up in front conducting. He was conducting wrong so our [young, single] professor grabbed Kyle's arm and showed him how to do it right. Kyle was able to grasp what our [young, single] Professor wanted, so the [young, single] professor let go of his arm and let him do it on his own. As our [young, single] Professor was walking away from Kyle this woman says OUT LOUD, "Can you do that to me later?" I nearly shot snot outta my nose I was so blown away (remember, I'm congested)! Who says that?!!! Only in music. What's worse is this woman is 30-freakin-2. 32 people. And she will be on the bus with me...and the same [young, single] professor who teaches conducting will be on the bus as well. I think I'll sneak Travis's pellet gun in my bag and pull it out when necessary. I can only handle so much before I lose it. Pellets don't hurt too bad, right? She very well may be my first target.

The good news is my mom, two sisters, and Grandma will be out there with me! But with the good comes the bad. I won't be able to sleep in their hotel room and I won't be able to drive with them because of legalities. But at least I'll see them each day, throughout the day. They will be my saving grace. I only wish Travis could tag along too. But he can't. He has to work. *Tear* I DO NOT LIKE BEING AWAY FROM HIM. Call me a sissy. Call my needy. Call my dependent. I don't care. I like being around my husband. I enjoy his presence. He is my comfort zone, my safety net, my validation. Yes, I'm still an individual and yes, I'm still a MARRIED individual. I happen to like who I married. I'm dreading the separation. I guess the one positive is he'll have all the time in the evenings to do his art without feeling guilty. No need. I'll be in San Fran with a bunch of musically inclined weeners. Sweet.

Well, my little pumpkins, I'm going to bed. I have a headache in my eyes (seriously. It's painful). Plus I don't think you want to read anymore of my boo-hoo-style ramblings.

Much love.

Our results, as promised

Well, the results are in!

Travis met with his principle and was told good things. The principle emphasized how well Travis interacted with his students. The only suggestion given was that Travis ask more open-ended questions. Not bad, eh?! Of all the things to work on, it's something that's an easy fix. Bravo, Cutie!!

Travis is an incredible person -- which means he can't be anything less than an incredible teacher. Honestly. The staff and students alike seem to admire and enjoy Travis. I'm so please with him. He does so much for me. And he never complains. Ever. He just does what he needs to do. I love that Travis is so dependable. What a great characteristic to have. Always where he says he'll be, when he says he'll be there, doing what he said he'd do. Travis is an excellent example to me.

In regards to the actual J-PASS score coming back, that will take a little longer. When the school gets the results back, Travis will meet with the principle again. So, as soon as we know anything we'll let you know.

As for me and my audition...

the information was posted today and I got the soprano part in the duet (which is the piece I knew from beginning to end) and I get the great pleasure of singing with another vocal major who I've performed with before. She's awesome! So, I'm stoked. The solo piece was given to someone else, but I was listed as the alternate, which means I'll need to learn it. I don't mind too much. The music is absolutely gorgeous. It's good to have it under my belt for future opportunities. :)

So, there are our results -- all positive.