I'M BACK!!!
I HAVE INTERNET!!!
So many things.
Graham and I are back together. He's sober. He's living with me. It's great.
Neiman Marcus is getting fucking crazy. Many people in my department have quit because it has finally come to a breaking point with how shitty our manager is. She's a nice and fun person, just a terrible, condescending, micro managing, passive aggressive, manager. I have three interviews with significant luxury jewelry stores in Dallas that are ALL closed evenings and sundays!!! MORE SINGING FOR ME. I feel bad though. I had been planning an exit before shit got so crazy. Plus company layoffs and financial bullshit going on in the company wears hard on morale.
Graham is wonderful. We went to practice the other night and I was really frustrated and just couldn't do it. He was like, "Talk to me." and I wouldn't, but he persisted, and finally words came out. So he wrote down all my concerns as questions I was to bring to my voice teacher and then wrote out a practice schedule that I was to adhere to in the coming week before my lesson. And I did. I've been discovering a lot of things in my voice and doing a lot more exploratory practicing than I have done in years. I was too lazy to learn how to LEARN coloratura in college. Too many notes, too fast. I just didn't have the attention span or the follow through to learn how to actually LEARN how to do it. So I'm spending so much more of my practice time doing exercises, hopefully stretching and strengthening those muscles. Its actually great to just get down to the basics and start working on deficiencies from the beginning. Although it does make for an awfully slow process. Especially since I need to learn four rather difficult arias for the annual fundraiser at my church job in October. I need to get on learning them so I can start getting coachings from this guy Damon who manages our fundraisers. He's got a crazy career.... he manages musicians, has a voice studio of his own, sings in the Dallas Opera Chorus, performs jazz gigs, manages different music shows like our fundraiser.... its like.... WHO on this earth has the time to be all of these people?! Anyway, we get coachings with him as part of his whole package as managing our fundraiser. And I'm doing Bell Song from Lakme, Queen of the Night Aria from Magic Flute, a couple other Mozart arias, and one I did in my first semester of classical lessons with Eileen at HCC... so basically learning that over again.
But for so long I've always coasted in my music learning... getting things just on the edge of prepared and going for it. But I want these to be SPOTLESS. I want to have these arias READY for auditions and competitions because ITS ABOUT FUCKING TIME!!!!! ITS ABOUT TIME!!!
This year I've audtioned for:
Orpheus
Dallas Opera Chorus
Carmel Bach Festival
Highland Park Chorale
in two weeks I'll audition for Dallas Bach Society.
Its just a matter of time. I'm not quite polished enough yet, but I'm getting there.
In other news, I've realized that coming to my livejournal to "be honest" with myself and repeat negative things about myself in an attempt to better understand the starting point from which to improve is absolutely incorrect. Fuck that shit!
In other other news, essential oils have changed my life. All this... all this working, practicing, improving, motivation stuff; its all the essential oils. I'm not kidding.
I first got the essential oils to help Graham with his anxiety. They helped me a little and I got more on board. This company does points and freebies with auto-ship programs and stuff, so I got onboard with that, decided to try and get all the freebies they offered with purchase, and ended up switching my toothpaste, deodorant, conditioner, and mouthwash to their products, and INSTANTLY felt a PALPABLE boost to my functioning. It was immediate, and shocking. This was last October. By December, one of the freebies I got was their energy drinks, and it was like FUCKING MAGIC. In December I typically put in 80-100 hour weeks between the jewelry and the gigging, and not only did I not get sick, avoided exhaustion, but ended the holiday FEELING ENERGIZED AND FANTASTIC. With the energy drink, I'd start taking one in the morning. That was fine. But on my 8am-10pm days (of which there were two whole weeks worth) I started taking two in the morning. No jitters, and totally awake and alert until the minute I got home. It was magic.
Anyway, those are the main points of why everything is awesome, despite the Neiman stuff. Neiman stuff being said, I'm on track to make $70k there this year. This is like, unfathomable to me. And Damon (work Damon, not music Damon) says this is nothing. He was in the gold/bullion business for awhile, it got shady, but he was clearing six figures.
I could go on and on and on for ages about the essential oils and would love to talk about the job prospects, but I think I'll stop there for now.
FUCK YEAH!
So many things.
Graham and I are back together. He's sober. He's living with me. It's great.
Neiman Marcus is getting fucking crazy. Many people in my department have quit because it has finally come to a breaking point with how shitty our manager is. She's a nice and fun person, just a terrible, condescending, micro managing, passive aggressive, manager. I have three interviews with significant luxury jewelry stores in Dallas that are ALL closed evenings and sundays!!! MORE SINGING FOR ME. I feel bad though. I had been planning an exit before shit got so crazy. Plus company layoffs and financial bullshit going on in the company wears hard on morale.
Graham is wonderful. We went to practice the other night and I was really frustrated and just couldn't do it. He was like, "Talk to me." and I wouldn't, but he persisted, and finally words came out. So he wrote down all my concerns as questions I was to bring to my voice teacher and then wrote out a practice schedule that I was to adhere to in the coming week before my lesson. And I did. I've been discovering a lot of things in my voice and doing a lot more exploratory practicing than I have done in years. I was too lazy to learn how to LEARN coloratura in college. Too many notes, too fast. I just didn't have the attention span or the follow through to learn how to actually LEARN how to do it. So I'm spending so much more of my practice time doing exercises, hopefully stretching and strengthening those muscles. Its actually great to just get down to the basics and start working on deficiencies from the beginning. Although it does make for an awfully slow process. Especially since I need to learn four rather difficult arias for the annual fundraiser at my church job in October. I need to get on learning them so I can start getting coachings from this guy Damon who manages our fundraisers. He's got a crazy career.... he manages musicians, has a voice studio of his own, sings in the Dallas Opera Chorus, performs jazz gigs, manages different music shows like our fundraiser.... its like.... WHO on this earth has the time to be all of these people?! Anyway, we get coachings with him as part of his whole package as managing our fundraiser. And I'm doing Bell Song from Lakme, Queen of the Night Aria from Magic Flute, a couple other Mozart arias, and one I did in my first semester of classical lessons with Eileen at HCC... so basically learning that over again.
But for so long I've always coasted in my music learning... getting things just on the edge of prepared and going for it. But I want these to be SPOTLESS. I want to have these arias READY for auditions and competitions because ITS ABOUT FUCKING TIME!!!!! ITS ABOUT TIME!!!
This year I've audtioned for:
Orpheus
Dallas Opera Chorus
Carmel Bach Festival
Highland Park Chorale
in two weeks I'll audition for Dallas Bach Society.
Its just a matter of time. I'm not quite polished enough yet, but I'm getting there.
In other news, I've realized that coming to my livejournal to "be honest" with myself and repeat negative things about myself in an attempt to better understand the starting point from which to improve is absolutely incorrect. Fuck that shit!
In other other news, essential oils have changed my life. All this... all this working, practicing, improving, motivation stuff; its all the essential oils. I'm not kidding.
I first got the essential oils to help Graham with his anxiety. They helped me a little and I got more on board. This company does points and freebies with auto-ship programs and stuff, so I got onboard with that, decided to try and get all the freebies they offered with purchase, and ended up switching my toothpaste, deodorant, conditioner, and mouthwash to their products, and INSTANTLY felt a PALPABLE boost to my functioning. It was immediate, and shocking. This was last October. By December, one of the freebies I got was their energy drinks, and it was like FUCKING MAGIC. In December I typically put in 80-100 hour weeks between the jewelry and the gigging, and not only did I not get sick, avoided exhaustion, but ended the holiday FEELING ENERGIZED AND FANTASTIC. With the energy drink, I'd start taking one in the morning. That was fine. But on my 8am-10pm days (of which there were two whole weeks worth) I started taking two in the morning. No jitters, and totally awake and alert until the minute I got home. It was magic.
Anyway, those are the main points of why everything is awesome, despite the Neiman stuff. Neiman stuff being said, I'm on track to make $70k there this year. This is like, unfathomable to me. And Damon (work Damon, not music Damon) says this is nothing. He was in the gold/bullion business for awhile, it got shady, but he was clearing six figures.
I could go on and on and on for ages about the essential oils and would love to talk about the job prospects, but I think I'll stop there for now.
FUCK YEAH!