Throat Advice... & other news (of the daily minutiae type)
Since you guys rocked at the whole Finding Eilonwy an External Hard Drive thing, wanna help with more stuff?
Here's the thing: I suck at projecting. My voice doesn't carry very well, and I'm not very good at being loud. When I need to be loud, or when I just plain need to talk a lot, I end up with a sore throat. Every time. If I go to an amusement park, I know that the next time my throat will hurt 'cause I'll shriek once or twice on a roller coaster and my throat is done for. If I go to a club, I know that the next day I'll have a sore throat and less voice because I'll be trying to be heard over/under the music.
Saturday, while still in VA, I went to the Blackfriars Conference Banquet and talked a lot in a room full of people. Then, I went to a very very very crowded bar and talked a lot. The next day? Sore throat. It was almost gone by Wednesday, but that morning I gave a lecture. I used a microphone, but I was still talking for 50 minutes straight, and afterward, had a sore throat. It was almost better by today, but I taught and then had rehearsal, and now? Sore throat. I can rest my voice all day tomorrow, 'til evening, but I have a play rehearsal on Sunday, too.
And the play I'm rehearsing for is going to be performed on an outdoor stage with no help for directing acoustics.
So, I put to you two things:
1. What can I do to make my throat feel better now that it already hurts. (I have been drinking lots of hot tea, but other than that?)
2. How do I learn to project without hurting myself??
In other news... I spent a lot of money today. Bad Eilonwy. I ordered my external harddrive. But then Wyrding Studios is having a sale... bad, bad. And I went grocery shopping. (That part's not so bad 'cause I had to get cat food or risk the wrath of Widget. Though she be little, she is fierce.)
Renaissance Colloquium went well, even though I wasn't really anticipating having to open it. Oops. And my chairperson volunteered me to help today's presenter dig up more information because I'm the only person who has theatre experience and can guide the presenter in what questions to ask various places as he seeks information on The Othello Project (an adaptation of Othello set in Mississipi in 1964, and perfumed in 1995 in Toronto and 1998 in FL and nothing since...) Fun! (Actually it will hopefully be fun, but I don't really need/want more to do!)
Rehearsal for Pyramus & Thisbe also went well. It helps that I have such enthusiastic students playing Thisbe and Pyramus and to a slightly lesser extent Wall and Lion. Their enthusiasm is infectious, too, so everyone gets into it.
221 was fine-- but we didn't really get to look very closely at Midsummer 'cause I took questions, and they asked questions, and I answered, and it was all about early modern English history and staging, and I can talk about those for hours and hours and hours, which is partly why I now have trouble with my voice, and definitely why we didn't get to the play very much.
I finished rereading Where Serpents Sleep last night, and since I have at least 3 days before the newest Sebastian St. Cyr arrives (thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you to Pyrite who mailed it today-- priority no less!!) I started rereading the first book-- What Angels Fear. This is interesting (to me) on two levels. One, going backwards from the most recent ('til next week) book to the first really highlights what has changed, both in terms of the narrative and also in terms of what the author chooses/chose to highlight. I really don't remember anything in Serpents that particularly referenced Sebastian's more unusual abilities, whereas it's emphasized (not overly, but clearly) several times in the first few chapters that his eyesight and hearing are unusually adept. Also, the reread has given me a new perspective on Kat. I've always liked her as a character, but have never liked her as a romantic interest for Sebastian. I'm finding that I'm more forgiving of that relationship this time around.
At the bus stop this morning there was a random (older, married, English-as-a-second-language) guy who kept trying to get me to talk with him. He could not take a hint even though I had a book open. >.< I was polite, mostly. But I wanted to read!! I mean, I walked up to the bus stop with an open book! (when I'm not in a hurry I'll read while walking). I sat down with an open book! I kept turning to my open book! Dood, I don't want to hear about your friend who teaches English in Japan.
On campus today, I went to the MU for lunch. Alas, when I went to purchase sushi and asked for more soy sauce, they told me no. So I left that shop without buying anything and went and bought an egg salad sandwich. So there. But anyway, on the way out of the MU to join Flurije and to read the paper I needed to comment on in time for Renaissance Colloquium, there were a bunch of religious prosleytizers with signs. One of them said something along the lines of REPENT YOUR SINS JESUS. Admittedly, "JESUS" was in a different color, but still, I felt that a judicious application of punctuation might really have helped this man's point. Then again, no one seems to have a clue as to how to write anymore. And I don't just mean my students. I received a sign on my door a few days ago that read as follows:
Dear Resident' (s)
On Thursday October 29, 2009 between
the hours of 9am and 12pm the water
Will be turned off for repairs. We
apologize for any inconvenience and if
you
Have any questions feel free to call the
office staff.
Would it really have taken them more than 30 seconds to fix the formatting and extraneous capital letters? And what in the freakin' world is with the random apostrophe in the greeting?
OH! I forgot to mention that I almost caught the feral kitten today. He* was eating with some of the adults when I came downstairs (I'd been on my deck taking pictures of Walsingham who was up a tree when I heard Mad Mabel pour out their dinner. When she does that, all the cats come running, so I went inside and put on clothes-that-weren't-pajamas (I'd planned on a nap) and went out to take pictures and go to the store.) All the cats dashed away from me, but the kitten was uncertain, somewhat trapped between me and the stairs on one side, Mad Mabel and some guy on the other side (and the other side far from his comfort zone of the drainage tunnels and where the other cats were.) I blocked his path with my sweater as best as I could and scooted down under the stairs, but at the last moment he escaped around my sweater. Next time I'll just throw the sweater at him. I'll try to get a chance to post pictures (and a blog post at Project-Cat) tomorrow.
I got an email from the head of PFF who was all clueless as to why I would want to leave and telling me how the next two seminars will have English faculty on them and therefore are useful. I didn't bother responding, and I gave the homework I'd done for today to another PFF person so that he could have it-- I'd spent hours on it and wanted someone to use it, and he'd forgotten to do his.
I took a long nap post-grocery store, but am still quite tired. I played Puzzle Pirates for a while with Flurije, but now 'tis bedtime. Zzzzz....
---
*I have no idea as to the kitty's gender, but until I do, he's a "he" and his name is Sebastian. Heh. If he's a girl, I'll perhaps name her Bast instead.
Here's the thing: I suck at projecting. My voice doesn't carry very well, and I'm not very good at being loud. When I need to be loud, or when I just plain need to talk a lot, I end up with a sore throat. Every time. If I go to an amusement park, I know that the next time my throat will hurt 'cause I'll shriek once or twice on a roller coaster and my throat is done for. If I go to a club, I know that the next day I'll have a sore throat and less voice because I'll be trying to be heard over/under the music.
Saturday, while still in VA, I went to the Blackfriars Conference Banquet and talked a lot in a room full of people. Then, I went to a very very very crowded bar and talked a lot. The next day? Sore throat. It was almost gone by Wednesday, but that morning I gave a lecture. I used a microphone, but I was still talking for 50 minutes straight, and afterward, had a sore throat. It was almost better by today, but I taught and then had rehearsal, and now? Sore throat. I can rest my voice all day tomorrow, 'til evening, but I have a play rehearsal on Sunday, too.
And the play I'm rehearsing for is going to be performed on an outdoor stage with no help for directing acoustics.
So, I put to you two things:
1. What can I do to make my throat feel better now that it already hurts. (I have been drinking lots of hot tea, but other than that?)
2. How do I learn to project without hurting myself??
In other news... I spent a lot of money today. Bad Eilonwy. I ordered my external harddrive. But then Wyrding Studios is having a sale... bad, bad. And I went grocery shopping. (That part's not so bad 'cause I had to get cat food or risk the wrath of Widget. Though she be little, she is fierce.)
Renaissance Colloquium went well, even though I wasn't really anticipating having to open it. Oops. And my chairperson volunteered me to help today's presenter dig up more information because I'm the only person who has theatre experience and can guide the presenter in what questions to ask various places as he seeks information on The Othello Project (an adaptation of Othello set in Mississipi in 1964, and perfumed in 1995 in Toronto and 1998 in FL and nothing since...) Fun! (Actually it will hopefully be fun, but I don't really need/want more to do!)
Rehearsal for Pyramus & Thisbe also went well. It helps that I have such enthusiastic students playing Thisbe and Pyramus and to a slightly lesser extent Wall and Lion. Their enthusiasm is infectious, too, so everyone gets into it.
221 was fine-- but we didn't really get to look very closely at Midsummer 'cause I took questions, and they asked questions, and I answered, and it was all about early modern English history and staging, and I can talk about those for hours and hours and hours, which is partly why I now have trouble with my voice, and definitely why we didn't get to the play very much.
I finished rereading Where Serpents Sleep last night, and since I have at least 3 days before the newest Sebastian St. Cyr arrives (thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you to Pyrite who mailed it today-- priority no less!!) I started rereading the first book-- What Angels Fear. This is interesting (to me) on two levels. One, going backwards from the most recent ('til next week) book to the first really highlights what has changed, both in terms of the narrative and also in terms of what the author chooses/chose to highlight. I really don't remember anything in Serpents that particularly referenced Sebastian's more unusual abilities, whereas it's emphasized (not overly, but clearly) several times in the first few chapters that his eyesight and hearing are unusually adept. Also, the reread has given me a new perspective on Kat. I've always liked her as a character, but have never liked her as a romantic interest for Sebastian. I'm finding that I'm more forgiving of that relationship this time around.
At the bus stop this morning there was a random (older, married, English-as-a-second-language) guy who kept trying to get me to talk with him. He could not take a hint even though I had a book open. >.< I was polite, mostly. But I wanted to read!! I mean, I walked up to the bus stop with an open book! (when I'm not in a hurry I'll read while walking). I sat down with an open book! I kept turning to my open book! Dood, I don't want to hear about your friend who teaches English in Japan.
On campus today, I went to the MU for lunch. Alas, when I went to purchase sushi and asked for more soy sauce, they told me no. So I left that shop without buying anything and went and bought an egg salad sandwich. So there. But anyway, on the way out of the MU to join Flurije and to read the paper I needed to comment on in time for Renaissance Colloquium, there were a bunch of religious prosleytizers with signs. One of them said something along the lines of REPENT YOUR SINS JESUS. Admittedly, "JESUS" was in a different color, but still, I felt that a judicious application of punctuation might really have helped this man's point. Then again, no one seems to have a clue as to how to write anymore. And I don't just mean my students. I received a sign on my door a few days ago that read as follows:
Dear Resident' (s)
On Thursday October 29, 2009 between
the hours of 9am and 12pm the water
Will be turned off for repairs. We
apologize for any inconvenience and if
you
Have any questions feel free to call the
office staff.
Would it really have taken them more than 30 seconds to fix the formatting and extraneous capital letters? And what in the freakin' world is with the random apostrophe in the greeting?
OH! I forgot to mention that I almost caught the feral kitten today. He* was eating with some of the adults when I came downstairs (I'd been on my deck taking pictures of Walsingham who was up a tree when I heard Mad Mabel pour out their dinner. When she does that, all the cats come running, so I went inside and put on clothes-that-weren't-pajamas (I'd planned on a nap) and went out to take pictures and go to the store.) All the cats dashed away from me, but the kitten was uncertain, somewhat trapped between me and the stairs on one side, Mad Mabel and some guy on the other side (and the other side far from his comfort zone of the drainage tunnels and where the other cats were.) I blocked his path with my sweater as best as I could and scooted down under the stairs, but at the last moment he escaped around my sweater. Next time I'll just throw the sweater at him. I'll try to get a chance to post pictures (and a blog post at Project-Cat) tomorrow.
I got an email from the head of PFF who was all clueless as to why I would want to leave and telling me how the next two seminars will have English faculty on them and therefore are useful. I didn't bother responding, and I gave the homework I'd done for today to another PFF person so that he could have it-- I'd spent hours on it and wanted someone to use it, and he'd forgotten to do his.
I took a long nap post-grocery store, but am still quite tired. I played Puzzle Pirates for a while with Flurije, but now 'tis bedtime. Zzzzz....
---
*I have no idea as to the kitty's gender, but until I do, he's a "he" and his name is Sebastian. Heh. If he's a girl, I'll perhaps name her Bast instead.