psuedo-unemployment

Dearest Readers-

Since last we spoke, or I spoke to you, I finished Madama Butterfly with Cedar Rapids Opera. Great show!! Watch it for yourself on IPTV in Iowa on Thursday, January 29th at 7pm! So good.

In other news, I'm finally finished (after countless weeks) with paperwork for substitute teaching. So...I guess I wait for the calls to start rolling in? Not so much. In the mean time, I live like a pauper, and enjoy the time off I guess. I'm still working at Banana Republic some, and if they ever schedule me, Wine Experience. yeesh. I feel like Britney Spears two years ago, poor and not appreciated. I have, however, cleaned my entire apartment, exercised every day of the week, and organized just about everything that can be organized.

I turned *gasp* 23 last Saturday. In unusual fashion for me, I didn't plan anything, and decided to go to Iowa City to hangout with a friend there. Dinner and drinks proceeded to form not too shabby of a birthday for being completely unplanned. yay me.

Place of the Post: Fermosa in Iowa City. Very classy bar and sushi restaurant. and great music. Highly recommend.

Video of the Post: Ok, so I hate to admit, but I watch this a lot now that i'm "psuedo-unemployed." It's a dead-ringer. Kathie Lee is on drugs sometimes me thinks.

FRIGID.

Wowzers folks. I can't remember it ever being this cold. Frigid. Anyway, life has not changed much for me. Rehearsals for Madama Butterfly have continued. We moved last week from Cedar Rapids, up to our new performing space here in Cedar Falls at the University of Northern Iowa.

My new homestay is great. He has WIFI!!!! Lemme upgrade ya. definitely. He lives about 15 minutes from the university, but it's not too bad of a drive. I really don't care for Cedar Falls much. It's a tiny town with little to do. Though to tell you the truth, I wasn't doing much in Cedar Rapids either. Anyway, performances are tomorrow at 8pm, and Sunday at 2pm. Come see it! Tickets can be had online at : www.unitix.com or by calling the box office! :-)

I am eagerly anticipating my arrival back to Des Moines, even though I have a ton of stuff lined up for me to be doing for substitute teaching and private health insurance hoop-jumping. awesome.

Here are pictures of the last time they did Madama Butterfly at Cedar Rapids Opera:

Pinkerton and Butterfly in a loving embrace:


Chorus!

CR - again.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years! After spending 5 days at home in Bellevue, I was off on the 29th of Dec to Cedar Rapids where I'm working again for Cedar Rapids Opera. I'm in the Chorus of Madama Butterfly and am in the Broadway Revue. Whenever I'm here, it's like a nice vacation. I'm not in the outreach program this year, so I have all day free, then rehearse for a few hours in the evening. And I am paid to sing! It's amazing. Hopefully I'll be back for the summer.

My Christmas was good in Bellevue. I've talked before on my blog how I have a terrible Pavlovian complex whenever I'm home. It's a good thing that this holiday, I graduated and don't have much to be doing, otherwise it wouldn't have gotten done. I never get things done when I'm home. I hungout with my brother and his new 8-week old puppy, Bailey. She is a beagle, and super energetic. My best friend Mireille was also in town right before Christmas on her way to Minnesota to visit her family, so we had dinner, and an evening together with Karen, my other best friend from high school. So after 5 days, it was time to head back to Des Moines, and then off to Cedar Rapids.

So the million dollar question I've answered multiple times: What am I doing now that I've graduated? Well, a multitude of things really. No rest for the weary! My "full-time" job is going to be substitute teaching in Des Moines, West Des Moines, Urbandale, Waukee, and Johnston. My part-time job (still in the works) is to teach studio voice through Johnston at the high school. Then keep my two part time jobs at Banana Republic and Wine Experience. We'll see how all those pan out. BR might have to be scrapped if I am too busy, but again, we'll see. It'll take time to gauge how busy I'm going to be. Oh, and looking at grad schools too. HA! It's just beginning.

The first photo is of Katie Saldanha (staff member in Admissions) at a drama presented at her church. A few of us that are close went up to see Katie and her husband Chris. From left to right: me, Duhita (A&S '06?), Katie, and Christen (A&S '08). YAY Drake!


The second picture is of me and my brother's new puppy, Bailey.

me = finished.

Yes folks. I am officially a Drake graduate and alum. Weird, eh? I won't get all sappy about my time here, but I don't have any regrets about coming to Drake. Yes, there are things I didn't like or would change, but no institution is perfect.

I finished student teaching on Friday. I received lots of cards from students, even the ones who were my "usual suspects" a.k.a the bad ones. It was a nice gestures on their parts. The weekend was a whirlwind with my friend Phil being in town and my parents here for the Graduation reception Sunday. I made it though!

Monday and today have been my recovery days. I don't even know the last time I didn't have anything to do. I get to exercise, practice, and generally catch up on things. So exciting! Haha, at least for my OCD mind.

Tonight is the reception for mentor teachers and student teachers at Drake, then my voice teacher's annual studio Christmas party. yay! It's a rough life, I know. I do have to run errands and practice at FAC beforehand though. :-)

Place of the Post: Wine Experience. I know I work there, but it's SOOO good, and SOOO bad for you. But that's not whey people eat out, right? To eat something that's good for you? Exactly, I knew you'd see it my way.

Video of the Post: Some people have too much time on their hands. Seriously?

Confessions of a Midnight Mall Worker

I was there! I worked midnight to 9am on Black Friday at Banana Republic. Wowzers. I think the worst part was that I didn't have any concept of what time it was inside the store. It looked the same as it always does, so it could have been 2am or 10pm and you wouldn't know. Weird.

It was pretty busy from midnight until 2am, then died off pretty quickly after that. But yeesh, it's like we're a nation of insomniacs. I saw people of all age and gender out late at night! I didn't mind it so much. I could do one overnighter, but if it were many overnighters, I wouldn't make it.

I'm pretty excited to graduate in less than 2 weeks now! I can hardly believe it! My 4.5 year journey is coming to an end, and another path is trudging on. I'm already making trip plans to look at grad schools next semester/visit all my friends across the country. First stop: Texas! I'm going to visit Rice University in Houston and visit one of my best friends from high school who's going to law school in Austin.

I wanted to talk about how the construction on campus is going. I can't believe they've already leveled painted street! So many good memories there, and now it's different-looking. At least all the old layers of paint were covered up. That was probably a good choice. It sometimes look like an eyesore in my opinion. 28th Street looks amazing though! I'm excited to see it in the spring when it's completed.

Here's a picture of all the Drake people who were involved in Sparks Fly Upward. From left to right: Tim Bostwick (senior vocal performance), Christine Blanner (voice faculty), Tony DiMeglio (senior vocal performance), Leanne Freeman-Miller (voice faculty), and me!


Place of the Post: Wow. So I had been getting my stuff dry cleaned at Crown Cleaners at 50th and EP True, and they were expensive!!! I started going to Martenizing (sp?) at 51st and Mills Civic. Wow, way less expensive and just as good. Way to go me for finding a cheaper alternative! So if you live in the WDM, go there!

Video of the Post: Real World-Drake University? I found this on YouTube. Dunno. Watch and learn.

mall madness

So I'm working at both Banana Republic and Wine Experience these days.....when you're student teaching full-time, and not getting paid, it's hard to pay the bills, so I manage. I would blog more, but my brain is done working for the evening. Let's see if I can summarize my week in a stream of consciousness: kids who think they're cool, but really annoy me and my mentor teacher. balancing two jobs and a full-time teaching position is not always fun. I like BR at least for now, but don't know if I can manage it until after Christmas. Wine Experience is more laid back, though the owner thinks I am a dullard. Oh, and a church wants me to be their choir director. I told them not until January and we'll see how that goes.

I'll write again tomorrow when my brain doesn't feel like mush.

Place of the Post: QT. I got a free donut with my Sunday paper. That's quality.

YouTube of the Post: It's SNL, c'mon.

Sparks

So Sparks Fly Upward and school have taken upwards of 70 hours of my time last week. So is life when you're teaching and performing. But I'm exciting. The show is next weekend! www.thesparksflyupward.org Come see it!

I've also been applying for part time jobs after Sparks is over. So far interviewed at Outback and Wine Experience. I'd prefer the latter over the former, but I guess a job is a job, eh?

Yes, I did vote. And early actually. I sent in my vote by mail two weeks ago. Good job me.

I went to a Halloween party last weekend which was really fun, but other than that, Halloween kinda passed me by this year. I was at Wartburg College for the NATS competition on Friday, so I didn't get to dress up (at least in a costume) or celebrate at all. NATS is always a crap shoot, and I rolled an unfavorable number. Oh well. I'm successful in every other aspect of my singing, so I'm not worried about it. Iowa is such a flakey state when it comes to that as well. They let so much interesting singing go on here that wouldn't be tolerated most other places. Enough talkin' shop.

I feel psuedo-disconnected from campus these days. Student teaching is going fine, but I have to be an adult and all that other jazz. Ugh. Oh college, where have you gone? Enjoy it while it lasts. I mean, I'm going to be a grad student soon enough, so I'm not too worried about my bygone days, but right now I feel old. HA!

Place of the Post: Campbell's Nutrution. It's like Des Moines's version of Whole Foods.

YouTube of the Post: Who doesn't love political satire?