for real real

So being a poor college student stranded in Cedar Rapids has its benefits. One of them would be only rehearsing a few hours a day, which leaves you a lot of time to sit around and try to entertain yourself. Some of it is used to catch up on those many hours of sleep which I was deprived of during the weeks leading up to Christmas. Some of it is used to mindlessly wonder the internet as I sit in a local coffee shop. Downside is that while I'm getting paid to perform, it's not all that much, and again, lots of free time I probably could have used to make more money in the dsm. But so is life.

I feel slightly better after venting a little, not gonna lie.

How about them caucuses, eh? It seems our director has little regard for the democratic process, as we had rehearsal from 7-10 last night. I'm a registered voter in Polk County anyway, so I wouldn't have been able to caucus in Linn County anyway. Boo. I REALLY wanted to too! I'll refrain from using this as an outlet for my political views since it's not the intended purpose of my blog, but I will say that it was an interesting caucus. I'm looking forward to the other primaries to see how it pans out.

Who's excited for their last semester at Drake?! I am! Though secretly scared at the same time. It seems I have a grand plan, but I think we are all smart enough to know that it doesn't always happen exactly as we plan. ;-) But ideally, I'll finish my course work this semester, then student teach in the Fall of 08. I'll graduate in December 2008, and spend the next six months living and working in the dsm, all while looking and applying at grad schools for vocal performance. So then I'll do work somewhere during the summer, and go to grad school in the Fall of 09. And another 3.5 years is accounted for, right?! We'll see.

I read a report on the growing number of college graduates who boomerang after they graduate. That means, end up moving home and living with their parents. I'm trying to make that not happen. As much as I love my parents, moving back to Omaha would kill any momentum I have. If I moved back, I feel I would fall into a trap, where it would take an extraordinarily large amount of will to get out of. I talked about this with my best friend Karen. When you have free rent, and a place that is familiar, you're exerted with a lot of pressure to move out. It's a trap too many of my friends have fallen into, and I'm trying to avoid at all costs. Well, enough ranting on that. HA!

iPhone update: I got the sad apple face on my 4G ipod color the other day. That made me SUPER sad. I'm going to take it to the Apple store in the dsm when I get back, but it's not looking good. I can't even get it to mount. blah. So it I loaded up my iPhone with a ton more music and it is working well for now. I also spent 2 hours on the YouTube application on the phone a few days ago. It's so addicting, and the videos seemed to load pretty quickly.

Place of the Post-Cedar Rapids: Granite City. The most patronized restaurant by out of town folks in the Cedar Rapids Opera Company. Probably because they have cheap beer and discounted appetizers after 9pm. We usually get out of rehearsal at 9 or 10, and they're open until 1. All of the above result in a nice social hour or two after rehearsals. Oh, and most of their food is excellent, including the cheddar and ale soup! (my favorite!)

This YouTube video has been the talk of my roommate and I (and most of my friends) for a few weeks now. I don't even know how I found it, but regardless. It's a little crass (ok, pretty crude), but if you enjoy watching a comedian make fun of washed-up soap stars, this will certainly be funny to you....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO65OlAhEJg