"Obama probably failed lunch." - A. Hilter

So when you're fasting music for thirty hours, you need something to command your attention for part of that time when you're not conversing with the Almighty. Max to the rescue! He sent me this hilarious redubbing of a scene from Der Untergang. Try not to laugh - I dare you!

* Click on the video twice in order to watch directly from Youtube so you can read the supertitles. They're super funny, but you'll miss out if you can't read them all.

Sounds like a winner to me.......

A conversation I had w/ CT Sam via text message late last night. No need to thank me.

Sam: So the guy Marco* with the bad haircut is asking about you

Me: Was he the one that wouldn't leave me alone and dated that one girl you don't like?

Sam: No... The short one in politics we wanted to give a makeover too

Me: I don't remember him. Where did I meet him?

Sam: He was there both nights... He remembers you!
He had like the shroom cut

Me: Seriously not ringing a bell... Did I even talk to him?

Sam: Yes lol and we talked about how we wanted to make him over... But he got a haircut thank god!
He was nice and talked to us but was slightly shy

Me: I don't know why I don't remember. Is he good looking minus the weird haircut?

Sam: Not really lol

Me: Awesome! glad to know I made an impression on someone...
Does he know I'm republican?

Sam: I'm not sure but he know your cute!

Me: Fabulous.. He thinks I'm cute and all I got is he's short and formerly sported a shroom do. Is it bad I don't remember him?

Sam: Yes it is cuz he talked to us the most... And then we were bitchy and judged him
Is our judging no longer sacred?

Me: Did someone roofie my drink or something b/c I don't remember having that much either night.

Sam: You cought me... I slipped you a little something
Stalk him on facebook. He is one of my friends... Marco Polo*

Me: I knew it! You b***ch! You can't be trusted/ You roofie my drink and then try and set me up w/ the dude we totally judged. That hurts sam...

Sam: I'm sorry: Next time I drug you I will get your consent first

Me: Apology accepted. Is he dateable material? I mean I'm no gold medal, but I don't need a schmoe.

Sam: You are a gold medal!

Sam: He's sooooo sweet. I like him alot but he is no looker

Me: Awww you're a platinum medal in my book.

Sam: He's not horrible... Needs work

Me: Oh lord! Bless his heart. I'm flattered, but um...

Sam: Lol

Me: So could this be like a samantha thing from sex and the city where I make him pretty and then he finds some younger hotter babe? You know, the guy was balding and a bit of a goob

Sam: Lol I remember that one!

Me: He looks like a thug in his profile pic. And not at all familiar. Maybe I was too traumatized by the other guy

Sam: Lol we did run into some characters. Ya his profile pic is super weird

Me: I think I remember snarking on someone, but I don't think I'd be able to pick him out of a line up.


So apparently Sam is trying to fix me up with a fixer-uper... A shroom cut - really, are we thirteen? I'm thinking a big fat no!

*Not his real name

The Day the Music Died

My bible study has decided to participate in a church-wide fast that lasts from this evening until church service tomorrow. The gals in my group decided to give up food, which would be totally doable. They'll eat dinner on Saturday, give up breakfast and lunch on Sunday and break the fast at 6:00pm at dinner.

I decided to go a different route, mostly because I had scheduled a brunch with a friend weeks ago. So instead of parting with my planned crepe and peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I will be fasting the Tunes starting at noon on Saturday until 6:00pm Sunday. No music. Period. No opera, country or anything in between via the Zune. No Saturday matinee broadcast from the Met. No Youtube or opera dvd's. Just silence. Unrhythmic, deafening silence. "No big deal," is what you're thinking. Oh, but how wrong you are! I have music playing ALL THE TIME. I sleep with it on (this started when we had mouse issues), I listen while I'm drying my hair, eating, surfing the web, talking on the phone. If I'm home, the music is on. But now it's not. And it's freakishly quiet in here.

I took a walk to the Lincoln memorial today minus the music. I could hear a lot of clatter and chatter, but mostly the squeak squeak of my orthotics with E.V.E.R.Y. S.I.N.G.L.E. S.T.E.P. I. T.O.O.K. Even though my own walking was annoying myself, it's pretty funny to listen in on what others around you are saying. Especially in and around the Mall area where tourists abound. They say the darndest things!

This time of fasting is meant for reflection and conversing with the Almighty. But I find myself singing a lot of Dwight Yokam and Celine Dion to myself instead. Random selection, I know. We'll see how the night goes when it's REALLY quiet. Torture, I tell you. You don't know how bad I want to push play on my Zune right now. I miss Renee...

Photo courtesy: www.passportnewsletterblog.com

A 26 looks at 40

Forty – doesn’t look so bad surrounded by a group of friends sharing laughter and memories.

Kari G threw herself a birthday bash to commemorate 40 years on this planet. It was a gathering of new friends, childhood buddies and coworkers. I was one of the fortunate few who feasted with Kari at Crispo. Much feasting and beveraging was followed by more beveraging and loads of laughter that lasted until the wee early morning hours at the Regency.

This wasn’t a typical 40th birthday party. No lame Over the Hill jokes or people dressed as old ladies. Kari’s not that kinda gal, especially since she makes 40 look like the new 29. It was just a classy celebration with a woman and her friends. And what a fabulous group of friends she has surrounding her! I’m fairly new to the bunch and only know her New York opera and theatre buddies Sarah, Roxie and Sally. It was such a treat to be invited along to meet her friends from home and school who have shaped her and made her the Kari I know today (could I sound any cheesier???).

Sometimes it’s undiplomatic to choose favorites, but of the new friends I met this weekend, my favorite has got to be Kari’s friend from high school, Kris. She’s a cop (detective) in the Madison, WI area and she is hilarious! When she was first starting out on the beat, she was called to a scene. Being the resourceful and time saving cop that she was, she decided that the quickest way from point A to point B was going right through a volleyball sand pit instead of around it. She rationalized in her head that her vehicle was rear-wheel drive and for crying out loud they do it on Baywatch all the time with no problems!!! So in true Baywatch style, Kris drove her squad car across the sand and was successful…….until she got stuck! But you know they do it on Baywatch all the time.

Anywho, Happy Birthday to Kari! Here’s to 40+ more awesome years surrounded by good times and great friends! Thanks for inviting me along for the celebration.

Taking Stock (and exposing my inner nerd)

***Warning*** ***My opera nerdiness is about to be exposed. You have been warned. ***

When I started going to operas almost two years ago, I began to keep a list of the operas I had seen. Since my outings to live performances were pretty infrequent but trips to my library's opera dvd/cd collection were not, I decided to keep track of all the operas I listened to as well. In order to make the cut, I had to have listened or watched the opera in its entirety (exception made for Puccini's Il Trittico, which is a series of three smaller operas). Today I decided to transfer my opera tracker from paper to excel spreadsheet. Here's what I have discovered:

• I have watched (live or dvd) or listened (cd or radio) to 52 different operas by 24 different composers.
• The composers that show up the most on my list are Verdi (8), Puccini (5 1/3*), Strauss (5), Massanet (5) and Wagner (3).
• I have been to 55 live performances of 26 different operas - nine of those were the Met's Live in HD simulcasts.
• Clearly I am a repeat offender when it comes to live performances - I see/hear something I like, I go back for more. Four seems to be the magic number. I've seen Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia, Rossini's Barber of Seville, and Massanet's Thais four times each, and Strauss' der Rosenkavlier three times. But Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos takes the cake with a whopping eight viewings** in a span of about four weeks.
• Adding the multiple live performances to audio and video recordings, it seems that Verdi is my go-to guy. He has 20 hits with Otello receiving six and La Traviata receiving five.
• Strauss clocks in at 17 with Ariadne at nine and der Rosenkavalier at five.
• Surprise, surprise! Renee Fleming is my diva of choice appearing on my tracker 40 times.
• The next closest competitor is my recent find, Swedish soprano Iréne Theorin, making 14 appearances live and recorded.
• Placido Domingo shows up 13 times both as conductor and tenor.
• The language breakdown: Italian-21, French-11, German-10, English-7, Russian-2, Czech-1

Final thoughts: Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera seems to be the most obscure on my list and I'm surprised I don't have more Mozart on there. I would like to explore more Russian and Czech opera. I had attended a recital in the fall that featured some wonderful music from Russlan and Ludmilla and War and Peace (both Russian) that sounded really awesome. I'd also like to give Katya Kabanova and The Makropoulos Affair (both Czech) a shot. Don't ask me to monetarily add it all up. I probably could have purchased a new car by now. And in case you were wondering, Verdi's Otello was my first in house live opera.

* 1/3 = Suor Angelica from Puccini's three mini opera series Il Trittico
** I can't believe I just admitted out loud to seeing Ariadne eight times. I feel like I need support group or something.

I PR things...Ariadne, Seville, WAGNER!

This past fall I got to PR things. I didn't get to PR Lulu, but I did get to PR opera for Washington National Opera. It was an unpaid internship and perhaps I'm on the cusp of being too old for an unpaid internship, but it was something I wanted to do and could afford to do.

Maybe it was the fact that I didn't have to be there that made me want to be there, but I thoroughly enjoyed going to the Watergate office everyday. It was a challenging, engaging and rewarding experience that has left me with so many wonderful memories. I don't want to toot my own horn, but I'd count myself lucky/fortunate for having prior work experience, which allowed my supervisor to give me some kind of big deal tasks. I staffed a reporter at one of our operas, was one of the point persons for press at Opera in the Outfield, coordinated interviews between artists and reporters, pitched the hell out of our Costume Sale and staffed press at the sale, and talked to grade-schoolers about PR and opera. I also had to guard the Diva Rack with my life at the Costume Sale. Let me just say that probably aged me ten years. All those crazy patrons clamoring over Anna Netrebko's Susannah frock from Nozze....

Yes, I loved this internship because I got to PR opera. But I loved it because for four months I felt like I was part of a team again. WNO has a great internship program and the staff (from my experience) treats them as one of their own. The interns really do play an integral role in the company and I believe that the employees recognize that.

Sure there were a lot of perks that came with the internship - free tickets to dress rehearsals and performances - but the coolest perk for me was learning and seeing how an opera company operates and functions. From top to bottom, inside out, organizational to artistic and everything in between. I used to sit in the opera house thinking "Wow! It must take so much hard work to put on an opera." It does, but back then I was thinking in macro terms and only on the artistic level, which don't get me wrong is truly important - all the rehearsals, learning the music, building sets, lighting etc. - but there's more. So much more. Seasons are generally planned far in advance. And there's the money issue. Who's going to pay for it all? How do you inform and excite your audience? There are so many details and departments involved in keeping an opera company successful and thriving. The interns had an opportunity to meet with most of the department heads - Finance, Artistic, PR, Development and Special Events, Tech, Costumes, Production - and get a peek into their world and their role in the company. It was so cool to see how each department is a piece coming together to make the WNO puzzle complete. Without one, the company could not succeed. I appreciate opera so much more now knowing how much work goes on - on stage and off.

Perhaps there is a chance to continue on with WNO, or perhaps not. Regardless, for four months I got to do something that I truly wanted to do and truly enjoyed for a company that I regard highly. For those four months, I had my dream job.

And so it (re)begins

Let's be honest. I've kinda sucked at this whole blogging thing. I was doing pretty good there in the beginning, but computer woes and the overwhelming-ness of wanting to put everything on here was just too much. So I ignored it all together. But now equipped with a new computer and a New Year's resolution to become a better blogger, I'm ready to give this another go. It's like a new beginning. And it starts today!

But I don't want to forget about yesterday or all those other yesterdays that didn't make it into the blog because of my neglect. So as I get going, it might be a little rough around here as I put up some past happenings. There will be no order - expect chaos and unchronologicalization.

Winter Dedication

I guess since winter insists on sticking around for awhile, we might as well bunker down with a cozy blanket, a warm beverage, and a delightlfully dreamy Strauss song. If Strauss is Renee Fleming's desert island composer, then her rendition of Winterweihe is my snow-capped moutain song. Winter be damned! You are no match for this heart-warming Winter Dedication!

Winterweihe (Winter Dedication)
In these days of winter,
now the light is veiled,
let us uphold in our hearts,
and confide to each other,
that which fills us with inward light.

That which kindles gentle ardour
shall burn for ever,
let that which tenderly binds souls,
builds bridges of the spirit,
be our quiet watchword.

The wheel of time may roll,
we scarecely catch hold of it,
lost to the world's illusions,
we would, on our island,
dedicate day and night to blissful love.

Remembering Christmas, Day 7: That perfect tree

Remember Aunt Stana and her larger-than-life Christmas trees from Day 4? One year we got to experience the hunt for the perfect tree with Aunt Stana and Uncle Charles. It was awesome!

I was born and raised in sunny Arizona in the part of the state where the weather was stereotypical of Arizona, hot, dry and hot, hot, HOT! No snow and barely cold. My dad got a permit to cut down a tree out in Williams somewhere - I'm pretty sure we were near the Grand Canyon, perhaps the North Rim, but I could be terribly wrong. Maybe the permit was for the Kaibab forest. I don't know. But we had a permit and a hodge podge of "winter" clothes to keep warm.

When you're young, traveling places always seem further away than they really are. Going to Williams was a big deal for me. It was so far! And so magically covered in snow. What joy to pop out of the truck and just jump around and leave my footprints in the snow - a mark that I had been there! We searched around for the perfect tree. Our "perfect" was much smaller and easier to manage than what Aunt Stana had in mind. It took several hands to load up Aunt Stana's tree onto the truck once she found 'the one.'

Speaking of hands, mine were freezing. Mom let me use her tan Isotoner gloves which looked all too sleek and fancy for playing in the snow, but that didn't stop me. I don't think Kevin was on this trip. I probably would've played more in the snow if he had been there.

When we headed back, we stopped by Aunt Stana's house before heading back to our place. I don't know how much of the top was cut from her tree - probably enough to make a respectable 2 footer for a small apartment. Can you just smell the pine? And hear the crunch of the snow...?

Remembering Christmas, Day 6: Shawl we sing?

I don't know if public schools still have Christmas programs. Or do they call them holiday programs now? Well, back in my day when I was a grade schooler, we had Christmas programs. We sang about the baby Jesus and harked to Angels and wisssshed (because kids can't just wish) people a Merry Christmas and life was good.

These Christmas programs were held in the evening so all the parents could attend. I remember pulling into the parking lot at Desert Valley Elementary School and walking to the auditorioum. We sang our programs and "click, click, clicked" to our hearts' content. I think we had a Christmas program every year in elementary school, so most of the programs run together and I can't tell you what song was sung in what grade.

I was in grade school in the early 90's, and I believe that my mother's wardrobe reflected that. For instance, my mom was a wearer of shawls. Do people still wear shawls these days? I remember wearing that shawl to one of the Christmas programs. I don't know if I had taken it from my mom and left her to freeze in the cold Bullhead City winter eve or if it was a prearranged agreement. But I wore the shawl and it was brown and had little hangy fringe things, and I'm sure I was wearing white leggings because I wore those a lot back in the day. And a Santa hat. There was definitely a Santa hat on my head. And maybe a side pony because it was the early 90's.