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Fall Is Here!

Whew! Midterm tests and projects are handed in and I have found a brief reprieve in our fall break.  The semester is halfway over - yikes!! I hoped things would seem a little calmer after getting some rest over this long weekend and catching up on work and errands, but no, this is not to be the case.  The next two weeks are going to be tough between writing my 30 page paper for my music research class, singing in a competition, and putting in some extra hours at work singing for part of their new software project.  It's ok though...this is what I came hear to do.  Now I just need to grit my teeth and get it done!

I did take advantage of my 4 day weekend to get some extra things done around the house.  My room is more organized now (but not finished), there are some pictures on the wall, and curtains are hanging in the livingroom.  Now if I could just figure how to light the pilot light so that I could heat my place it would be great....

Yes, it is shocking, but we have reached a point in NC where heat is actually necessary.  I think all the fall colors appeared in the blink of an eye.  I was looking for them for days, and then suddenly color appeared everywhere!! For the first time in my life, fall has become one of my favorite seasons.  One of these days I really will post pictures on this blog so you can see what I'm talking about.

Since tomorrow is Canadian Thanksgiving, Happy Thanksgiving to all my wonderful friends north of the border!  I will eat a turkey sandwhich in your honor. :)  I miss you all and will always have wonderful memories of my time spent up there.  Here in the States tomorrow will be Columbus Day.  I'm not exactly sure how we celebrate that, except for closing all government offices and banks.  Perhaps the appropriate way to celebrate would be to go out and discover something new.  Yeah, that's it....so if you are an American, tomorrow I want you to go out and find something new in your town that you didn't know existed before.  Either that or go for a boat ride - whichever is easiest.

Now for the fun part of my evening...bill paying.  It's an awful thing, but it has to be done in order to use my desk for homework, instead of just a loose storage space for bills and envelopes.  Canadians, enjoy your feast! :)

Aaagggh

So here I am in the computer lab at the university killing time while the printer prints my document ever so sloooooowwwwwllly.  It's been quite the week.  I was rear-ended on Tuesday, so dealing with the insurance company has been consuming time and energy that really needed to go into my research paper. :(  The good news is that I'm ok (was just stiff for awhile) and there isn't major damage to the car - just some scratches and miniscule indentations on the rear bumper.  It is ironic that I've never been involved in any sort of accident in my life and then when I'm driving a brand new vehicle it happens.  Pray for wisdom for me as I sort out things with the other driver's insurance co.

Aside from that, things have been pretty normal - work, classes, practice, and study.  My research class is getting to the point where lots is due and I don't have enough done in my research process.  I really need to get serious and focus.  I spent lots of time collecting great resources, now I need to read them and take notes and somehow put it into a coherent whole.  Oh, and listen to the opera I'm writing about....ok, my fellow music colleagues, don't judge me - you know you've been there too. ;) 

On the musical side, I'm looking forward to my first performances as a student at UNCG.  The first will be minor - a scenes performance for my Opera Techniques class.  I've been assigned Donna Anna in the first scene of Don Giovanni.  It's very little stage time, but it's fun to be the only female in a scene surrounded by amazing male singers! Rehearsals are fun. Then, I have a competition on October 13th - my first competition outside of Kiwanis stuff...whoo! Not sure what to expect, but I feel confident about the rep, so here's hoping for the best.  That's followed by fall choir concert in October, and Amahl and the Night Visitors in December.  I'm just singing in the chorus, but it should be fun and a good way to ease into the performance scene here. 

For now, I'm just hoping to maintain my sanity and manage to get everything done until our Fall Break in two weeks....then I'll do tons of work and hopefully life will be more manageable after that.  Hope you, the reader, have a chance to relax this weekend and recoup before Monday hits again.  Ciao for now.

Cats and Dogs

I should totally be doing homwork right now.  Instead I am procrastinating on my blog because I haven't blogged in awhile, and I will be more focused on my work once I get this out of my system.  I'm also using a different font cause I like lots of variety.  For those of you out there who don't like change, deal with it. ;) 

I have been pondering many things lately, but my favorite topic right now is pet roles.  We hear so much about gender roles in society, but you never hear anyone talking about the confusion pets might feel about their roles in the world.  Like my cat, Calia, for instance.  I have suspected for some time now that Calia identifies strongly with dogs and their traits.  She will excessively lick any hand that attempts to touch her and is generally much more sociable than the average cat.  However, the other day I saw something that cemented my suspicions.

My roommate gave Calia a squishy bean-bag type stress ball to play with.  Calia thinks this is the best thing ever invented.  She also exhibits extremely un-cat like qualities when playing with it.  I stepped out in the hallway to watch her playing with it, and was shocked to see her knock it down the stairs, run after it, and CARRY IT BACK UP THE STAIRS IN HER MOUTH!!!  Those of you who have experience with cats know that cats DO NOT do that kind of thing.  They leave that for dogs to do.  So I think she is having a slight identity crisis.  She always follows such events by dropping the ball and pretending she's never seen it before and proceeds to take a bath.  But she can't fool me - I know what I saw.  I wonder what kind of family history she had before I adopted her.  Perhaps a family brought her home to a dog when she was a kitten.  Perhaps that was her role model during her impressionable years.  I may never know the answers, but I tell her I love her anyway.  Although I wish she would realize that it hurts my skin when she licks me - her tongue is not smooth like a dog's tongue would be.  Enough said.

Alright, the homework is screaming my name now.  Using this font is making me restless for Lost to start again - only a few short weeks until a new season! Hooray!! Don't scoff - I'm sure some of you are Lost junkies too. 

Until next time...

Back to School

So, as you may have noticed, I have been sadly absent from the world of blogging for nearly a month now.  Then again, you may not have noticed cause NOBODY commented on the last posting.  I have no online friends.  Ok, pity party over now.  Anyway, the sudden transition into my new job and grad school proved to be a jolt.  A good one, but still a major adjustment.

3 weeks ago I started working at a music software company and can’t even tell you how much I love it.  Despite the fact that my first task was a rather involved inventory project (which I’m still completing) I love the people and the environment.  I was just so stressed at the last place that I could never wind down.  I love that almost everyone I work with is a musician of some sort.

The same week I started work I also took my entrance exams for grad school in music theory and history.  I won’t even tell you what I thought about the questions on the history test – really not a great representation of a person’s overall knowledge of music history at all.  But if you hear chord progressions really well and know obscure 20^th century pieces and composers, you’ll be fine.  Oops, I guess I did tell you a bit. Oh well.  The main point is that I passed – woohoo!!

I feel like I’ve been able to get into the groove of my classes. I’m excited about the things I’m learning and overwhelmed at how much there is to do.  If you think of me please pray for energy and excellent time management skills.  However, I’m enjoying meeting people in the program so much, I can’t even explain it.  I haven’t really had the chance to make a lot of friends since moving to Greensboro, and it was so fun to participate in music geek conversations again! Sure, there are some divas too, but overall there’s a lot of camaraderie amongst people.  I was worried about being competent in a bigger pool of people, but have been pleasantly surprised to find that I seem to be on par, which has added a certain level of comfortability and confidence to my daily activities. 

My new roommate, Avril, arrived the week of entrance exams and we are having a great time together.  God has been so good to bring me great roommates when I didn’t really know anyone to pick from! My roommate of this past year is getting married on Saturday, so it’s a pretty exciting time for her.  To add one last little bit of chaos to life, Avril and I have decided to move to a house much closer to campus.  We’ll be taking advantage of Labor Day weekend to do that.  I’m a little stressed about the time that I won’t be spending in the library, but being so close to both campus and my work will be worth it.  Once the move is done, I can finish settling into my new life in Greensboro.

So yeah, this is getting really long…hopefully next time I will just do a fun, creative post.  Gotta have something to break up the monotony of these posts.  ;)  But maybe if some of you commented it would break up the monotony….k, I really will stop harping now.  I hope you all have a great labor day weekend ahead of you and are enjoying the changes and challenges that fall brings.  Until next time….peace.