I swear -- there is a secret code that, if known, can solve all your social problems. There must be an algorithm. I just need to find it!

Tammy has been playing "good cop, bad cop" with me lately. Just what I need right now. She's really hard on me/annoyed one day and the next she's like "Omgosh, you sound beautiful" etc etc. She's been putting stuff on my recital/jury, taking it off, putting it back on...in short, making me crazy. She's trying to rattle my cage. I'm not going to let it get to me!

That's what's amazing about private voice teachers -- they not only teach you how to sing, but they teach you how to live. She's preparing me for my LIFE. It's crazy to have someone in your life who is purposely trying to improve you not only in your craft, but in the way you present yourself to the world.

Here's a beautiful quote that a soprano friend of mine posted. Her voice teacher in Hungary (from when she was studying there) said this to her:

"Singing, the feeling inside when you are singing...enjoy it...remember that feeling...because the sound that results from this feeling is you...it feels good because this sound is you. Singing is who you are. No one else can make that sound for you. It is your own. Use it. Embrace it. Share it."

I am so inspired by this. Tammy has said some really deep things to me, too. These are the sort of quotes that push me onward, that make me remember that THIS IS IT and that I'm doing the right thing with my life. Honestly, I've never been so sure of anything in my life. It's a little scary but totally exciting.

Opera Theater of Saint Louis is hosting the world premiere of The Golden Ticket, a new opera based on Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. One of my favorite mezzos, Jennifer Rivera, is playing Veruca Salt. (Of course the mezzo would play the bratty kid...)

As exciting as this is, this brings up a topic that I've been thinking about/talking with other people about recently. What is with this new trend of making musicals out of movies? Granted, Charlie is a book, but there are two big movies and a musical based on it already. Now there needs to be an opera of it? I think the question needs to be: is this good operatic material?

So here's my problem: medium. Every medium -- be it opera, broadway musical, movie, play, novel, whatever -- has its inherent strong points. Some stories just work in a certain medium. When you start juggling it around, the story loses its original impact. Shrek the musical? Spiderman the musical? An opera based on An Inconvenient Truth? I mean, come on -- who thought this was a good idea? You see the same thing happen when they make your favorite book into a movie. Some movie renditions are wonderful and they even enhance the original story, but some books just lose all their power when they're put into movie form.

I've noticed a trend, especially in broadway musicals, and I think that these media are being compromised because everything new that is being written isn't taking into account the strengths and weaknesses of the form in mind. I could blame it all on commercialism, but this trend began before the recession came in full-force. I think the cause is more laziness than anything. There isn't a commitment to the craft. There needs to be a commitment to the craft! Nothing good ever came from half-hearted writing.

Joyce Didonato, a very successful mezzo-soprano with a refreshing, ever-present awe of life, said it perfectly in her last post when she explained Dr. George Gibson's philosophy. He believes in the three Ds: Dedication, Disclipline, and Determination. I think that is such a great motivator and thing to live by. If only the entertainment industry would do the same...

Imagine a 100-piece orchestra and a 60-piece choir improvising. At the same time. In no set key. INSANITY

That is about 50 measures worth of the Pärt Credo that we're doing with symphony orchestra and chorale. EPIC

How's that for art?

The funniest thing happened at opera scenes yesterday:

I was running through my Werther piece with George (on piano). It was just a musical run-through and no one was actually supposed to be listening. But, alas, it's rather hard to NOT hear my voice (through walls, down the street, you get the idea...).

So after I finished, I went to sit down and Brian (one of my good friends) leaned over and said,

"One day, I'm just going to propose. There's something about when you sing...whenever you sing, you make me want to marry you."

Haha!

Then Rachel, hearing this, leaned over and said,

"I never told you this, but last semester at opera scenes, Pat [her boyfriend] said to me, 'Honey, you sang beautifully, but when Kim sang I just wanted to marry her.'" LOLZZZZ

So apparently my singing has magical powers. At least it inspires people to virtue (and not other things). Marriage is a good thing! This could be very useful. Maybe this will work in real life...

Another funny story that's kind of related:

I've babysat Tammy's 6-year-old son, Rainer, a few times. He was at one of Tammy's performances 2 weeks ago and when he saw me, he started jumping up and down and he asked,

"Are you coming over today?"

"Not today," I said. "Maybe soon, though."

His next question was, "Um, can you move in with us?"

hahaha

Morgen, his older sister, came over and asked,

"Did he just ask you to move in with us?"

"Yeah."

"Oh gosh. He's been talking about it all week."

lolz

So many proposals. What to do with them all?

It's amazing how many things you take for granted. My dishwasher broke a few days ago and we've been washing everything by hand. It's so much time and effort! I feel bad for people who have to do this all the time. I am such a spoiled brat. The worst part of all this is that my Mom's skin problems have gotten really bad lately from it. :(

This lack of convenience was the worst part of being in Europe. It was so different to live there! I thought I'd already gotten my dose of "you take this for granted" but I guess it's not over yet!

I just finished watching Das Rheingold, the first part of Wagner's Ring Cycle. The last ten minutes were filled with such incredible music. Wagner is NOT all screaming crazy ladies with horns and spears. To be honest, it wasn't even what I was expecting. It was so fantastic. I can't wait to see the rest of the cycle.

There's a character in it named Fricka and I love her. I want to play her! When I was in Austria, my teacher said (on more than one occasion) that I'd play her. That's crazy! Very few people can handle that part. You need to be a Wagnerian mezzo-soprano. I almost fell over the first time she said it. Me, a Wagnerian! I never dreamed it would happen but you never know!

And now, because I love them: ( Music Meme )

Things have been pretty crazy at my school recently. There were news guys all over the place today. I successfully dodged them all (score!), but I hate to think that they were there for bad reasons. Thankfully, the whole thing was a racket. The alleged crimes never happened. Good to know now. I only wish I knew this when I got a text message this evening saying, "Two female students were accosted on north campus. Please exercise caution." I was at home (a freak accident) but all my girl friends were there. Stress, anyone? Apparently even those incidents were not serious/real. Stupid, stupid girls at my school. All they care about is attention. Nevermind that you made 15,000+ people crazy for three days. So stupid.

In other news: I've just been having a fabulous music week. I discovered Hindemith's orchestral suite to his "Mathis der Maler," Chopin's "raindrop" prelude, Bach fugues and suites played on the lute, and three new CDs that are all amazing (!: Anberlin's "New Surrender," Jars of Clay's "The Long Fall Back to Earth," and Daughtry's "Leave This Town"). That, and I got to see the NY Phil's opening on PBS. <3 Renee's dress was gorgeous. She was gorgeous. They played Messiaen and Berlioz (Symphonie Fantastik). LOVE.

As an added bonus, I have Haydn's L'anima del filosofo; Orfeo ed Euridice coming in the mail and I only paid $20 when all was said and done. I CANNOT WAIT. My Orpheus obsession continues. Next on my list is the DVD of Vesselina's Orfee. AHHHHHH.

So, all is well. I'm unveiling my Werther scene tomorrow. Über goosebumps for that. It should be okay. Please let it be okay. LET ME REMEMBER MY FRENCH! (Je devrais les détruire... je ne puis!)

Another bonus for today: I passed my first German exam! *fireworks* I'm going to survive German 3! Life is good. :)

Let's see how tomorrow goes...

These are ALL true about me. See how many you can relate to. :P

You know you're a nerd when...

...you and your friends/family play "guess that conductor" instead of charades.

...you look at a shampoo bottle and say, "Hey! There's a comma missing!"

...you look at the daily Google picture and you know what it's commemorating before you scroll over it.

...you fall asleep with textbooks in your bed and you don't notice until halfway through the next day.

...you quote Captain Kirk in real life and your brother laughs because he knows exactly what you're referring to AND he knows the name of the episode is that the quote is from.

...you think of every purchase in terms of how many songs on ITunes that would be.

...you know a random date that your teacher/professor asked for but didn't expect anyone to actually know and you can't remember how/why you know it.

...you play charades and the choices are: movie, book, tv show, play, and opera.

...you know the Dewey Decimal number of a specific subject.

...you talk about famous people by their first names and everyone knows who you're talking about.

...you can answer the questions on Jeopardy that the contestants don't know.

...you know who Petra is and what their greatest hits were.

...you have drawn out conversations about the meaning of Time and whether it actually exists or not.

...you don't notice that you're randomly adding phrases in foreign languages into your everyday speech.

...you have 43 books checked out and think nothing of it.

...you squee over a New York Philharmonic concert (and think that the first-chair cellist is cute).

...you're 10 years old and your role models are Nancy Drew and an android named Data (Star Trek TNG).

...you can read three different alphabets.

...you know the date of every Mozart opera premiere but you can't successfully drive two miles without getting lost (in your home town where you've lived for over 10 years).

...you correct a teacher's/professor's grammatical mistakes when you copy down their notes.

...you're 12 years old and you want to be an astronomical geologist when you grow up.

...you visit three different libraries in the same day and think that it's normal.

...you use opera singers' names in the place of profanities.

I got uber-lucky and this summer I'm a soloist for an orchestra's outdoor concert series! I had my first rehearsal with them. I'm singing the Habanera from Carmen and "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" from Phantom of the Opera. I usually don't sing Broadway, but they requested I do a Broadway piece so NATURALLY I chose something from Phantom (because it's pseudo-opera music and it has the word "opera" in the title). I was a bit nervous to sing in front of everyone for the first time, but it went really well. The conductor was really impressed and at break, half of the orchestra came up to me to tell me how fantastic it sounded. I couldn't believe it! I was a bit overwhelmed by all the attention. When one of the cello players comes up to you and says, "You're my new favorite singer!" and is willing to trek out to see you in your college's opera, you start to think that things are getting serious. All I could do was say "thank you" and try not to blush like a schoolgirl.

Let me say this: there is nothing like singing with a full orchestra. Nothing in the whole wide world. I LOVE IT. That's what I'm looking forward to most about singing in a "real" opera house: the amazing orchestra. I just feel there's so much more potential for music when you have that diversity of instrumentation.

So I went dress-shopping for the concerts and I found this GORGEOUS dress that fits perfectly (almost too perfectly - no desserts for two months!) and really accentuates my shape. HURRAY. There's nothing better than finding an uber-gorgeous dress that actually looks good on you. And it didn't take weeks. We found it in one night. Yesssss x 1000000.

I went to said orchestra's concert tonight. (They do two different sets of concerts; I'm not singing in this set.) I sang the National Anthem (with orchestral accompaniment!) because it's my grandparents' hometown and they requested it. I never realized this before, but when you sing it in the original key (Bb) it only goes up to an F. That's on the staff. Why does it always sound like people are dying to reach that note? It's not that high.

After I sang, the conductor announced that I'd be joining the orchestra for the next set of concerts. The best part was that he mentioned that I'm a mezzo-soprano. Finally someone cared enough to mention it and to get it right! Yay!

They had this world-champion harmonica player. He's held the "best harmonica player in Japan" title for years. He did these crazy Gypsy dances, "O mio babbino caro" (yay opera!), and Rimsky-Korsakov's "The Flight of the Bumblebee." He was AMAZING. I didn't know a harmonica could sound like that! He played it like a real instrument. I was completely astounded.

The concert got rained out half way through. :( We didn't get to hear any of the Broadway music. Since it was still kind of early, Mom took us all to Friendly's. :) All in all, life is good.

Headshots tomorrow! Eek!

5 Favorite Symphonic Works
1. Beethoven's 7th Symphony
2. Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture
3. Mozart's Sinfonia to The Marriage of Figaro
4. Beethoven's 5th Symphony
5. Mahler's Second Symphony ("Resurrection")

5 Favorite Quotes From Real Life
1. "That last sip of apple juice tasted like a snail!" - Tina
2. "That was a potentially tragic moment." - Kirstie
3. "This is the real world and this is Brian's world.  The only thing in common is Brian." - Katy
4. "Haydn was the guy who'd short-sheet your bed at camp." - Prof Krasner
5. "Jane is Wendy's illegitimate child.  You never see the husband." - Heather, age 13

5 Favorite Shakespeare Plays
1. Twelfth Night
2. The Tempest
3. Hamlet
4. Romeo and Juliet
5. A Midsummer Night's Dream

5 Favorite Bands
1. Anberlin
2. Jars of Clay
3. Eisley
4. Daughtry
5. Sixpence None the Richer

5 Movies That I Can Watch 20 Million TImes
1. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
2. The Emperor's New Groove
3. Mansfield Park (w/Billie Piper)
4. The Incredibles
5. Ella Enchanted

5 Opera Roles to Play Before I Die
1. Cherubino - The Marriage of Figaro
2. Rosina - The Barber of Seville
3. Sesto - The Mercy of Titus (Mozart)
4. Octavian - The Rose-Bearer
5. Romeo - The Capulets and the Montagues

5 Actresses That Are Fun To Watch
1. Amy Adams
2. Sandra Bullock
3. Nana Visitor
4. Emmy Rossum
5. Anne Hathaway

5 Favorite Places
1. home
2. the library (pretty much any library)
3. Great Aunt and Uncle's house in Rheinbeck, NY
4. Metropolitan Opera House
5. Grandma's house

5 Musicals I'd Love To Be In
1. My Fair Lady
2. The Phantom of the Opera
3. Tarzan
4. The Sound of Music
5. Beauty and the Beast

5 Favorite Authors (in no particular order)
1. C.S. Lewis
2. Madeleine L'Engle
3. F. Scott Fitzgerald
4. Ray Bradbury
5. Eoin Colfer

5 Operas I Have Left To Listen To This Summer
1. The Saint of Bleecker Street - Menotti
2. Werther - Massenet
3. Othello - Verdi
4. Tristan und Isolde - Wagner
5. Faust - Gounod

...you can get away with this.

This is the lovely Malena Ernman, operatic mezzo-soprano and European pop sensation. She is to be admired for her versatility, personality, and undivaness. (And did I mention her amazing biceps?) I love a opera singer who can take a picture like that and get away with it.

<3

You can find the Facebook page dedicated to her here. (You will find more flattering pictures there.) If you want to see her in action, check out her La Voix winning performance and an opera aria.

I just finished Diva by Alex Flinn.  I don't usually do chick lit, but this one spoke to me.  Immensely.  I could relate to so much of it!  Caitlyn, the main character, wants to be an opera singer (but she's a soprano, naturally).  Everyone thinks her obsession over opera is weird and she works really hard to get what she wants.  She has an uber-crush on a gay guy friend.  She struggles in dance class.  etc etc

The best part about that book was every so often, my heart would almost explode because she'd mention Renee Fleming or La Traviata or, God forbid!, Mozart.  I just see those words and my heart starts racing.  It's involuntary.  I'm not kidding you.  It even creeps me out.

Tomorrow I have the lovely job of converting LPs into MP3s.  My uncle (amazing man) bought me tons of opera LPs from antique shops.  And they're AMAZING.  Incredible casts, orchestras, and conductors.  Maureen Forrester singing Mahler!  Need I say more?

Plus, this is a much cheaper way of expanding my opera MP3s without doing anything illegal.  YESSS!!!!  I now have Traviata (which is, shock of all shocks, beginning to grow on me), Boheme, Aida, Othello (Verdi) and tons more!  Wow, now I sound like an infomerical.  I apologize.

In less operatic news, I went to my brother's high school graduation.  I got a random tan (ughh -- damage control, commence!).  When they were calling names, I fell asleep between J and S.  I was awake when everyone started counting the number of kids with the last name "Singh."  Apparently this strange tradition started at the middle school graduation last week and continued here.  It was amusing to see spontaneous mass-cooperation.  If only that'd happen for something productive...

Still, I saw my little brother walk across the stage and get his "diploma" (they had to get the real ones later).  In less than two weeks, he's off to the Merchant Marine academy and I won't see him for months. :(  He'll be really happy (in a strange sort of way as he suffers through mud and sweat and screaming) so I'm happy for him.  It's such an amazing opportunity for him.  He's pretty much set for life now.  At least one of us is.   

My Tammy-time for this week has been eaten by the NY Phil -- not an entirely bad thing, I must say.  It's going to be an all-Russian program.  Aka an all-amazingness program.  They're playing Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture!!  Even you classical music n00bs out there would know parts of it if you heard it.  However, the point I was trying to make is that Tammy started bending over backwards to find a new time for me.  It is SO NICE (and a change) to have someone making an effort for me like that.  I appreciate it more than she knows.  I only hope she understands how much she means to me.

So, one summer reading book down.  Many, many more to go!

Apparently Google knows who Igor Stravinsky is!  I'm so proud!!


Happy birthday, Stravinsky.  We actually love you.

One of the great ironies of the world is Chopin’s trip with George Sand to Majorca. I’m surprised he would go at all. But that is beside the point.

The funniest thing of all is this: while they (Chopin, George Sand, and her two children) were in Cartuja, they stayed in a monastery. The place had been inhabited by monks just a few years before but the government had driven them out and repossessed the land for their own use. Now foreigners took up residence in the monk’s cells. What a strange place for Chopin and George Sand to stay!

I’ll be honest: I really don’t understand their relationship (yet). It is so utterly complex and the facts are muddled and cloudy; I can’t seem to get a clear fix on what actually went on. This relationship has obviously intrigued others; there are a great many books written on the subject and during the course of every thing written on Chopin, George Sand is brought up. And vice versa. They are both “famous” in their own respects. I suppose it is a curiosity that two celebrities (of two different worlds) would have had an affair, but the interest in this relationship seems to extend past that. I can’t put my finger on it. Not yet. This is one of my summer projects: figure out the Chopin/George Sand relationship.

Meanwhile, I’m excited to listen to the music that Chopin wrote while residing here. Majorca is so exotic— so singular a place. I cannot wait to hear what sort of music it inspired. More to come.

Just to get an idea, here is one of George Sand's description of the place: (she is such a good writer!)

"How lovely were those tricks of light we used to see when oblique rays would find a way through the crannies of the rocks, or slide between the different peaks, to pick out alternating crests of gold and purple in the middle distance! Sometimes our cypresses, those jet-black obelisks which served to set-off the background of the picture, would bathe their tips in this flaming sea, and the clusters of dates on our palm-trees would seem like bunches of great rubies, while one great line of shadow sweeping down athwart the valley cut it into two quite separate zones-- the one, flooded with the brilliance of a summer's light, the other blue and cold, and to the sight uncompromisingly a winter's landscape.

"It is one of those views which overpower the spectator because they leave nothing more to be desired, nothing to the imagination. Nature has already created everything which poet and painter could envisage in their dreams. An immense whole, an infinity of details, an inexhaustible variety; a welter of mingling shapes; clearcut outlines, dim depths-- oh, everything is there already and there is nothing left at all for art to add! As for me, I have never been more conscious of the inadequacy of words than during the hours which I spent gazing out from the Cartuja."

from Chopin and George Sand in Majorca by Bartolome Ferra; trans. James Webb, Haskell House 1974

Omgosh, this semester is officially and finally OVER! Thank God!

I just handed in my 96-page honors project; that means SPRING 09 IS COMPLETE. Ah! I can't believe how amazing this feels. It's disgusting outside but I feel like I could coax the sun out with my enthusiasm.

What a change this is from the last month. Before Monday, my life was hell for three weeks. Terrible. I was so happy when it all turned around on Monday with my huge C Level Petition/Jury. It was a turning point moment: a Shakespearean "point of no return." It could have gone really bad (which would have jeopardized the rest of my career, aka my life) or I could have broken through the three-week slump and done amazing. There was no in-between.

Thank God it was the latter. I did fantastically. I got an A and I was emphatically approved into the performance program by all four judges. Yes!

Now summer can begin. :) Here's the music that helped me get through the end of the semester:
Head over Heels (In This Life) - Switchfoot
Even Angels Cry - Jars of Clay
Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen - Mahler (Translation: The world lost me long ago)
Hanging by a Moment - Lifehouse
Awakening - Switchfoot
Cinque...dieci...venti... - Mozart (opening duet from The Marriage of Figaro)

For those of you who have been paying attention the past few months:

( On writing, art, and self-discovery )
But enough philosophy! I hope you all have a great summer and good luck to anyone who still has school/finals.

Toi, toi, toi!

Songs that I'm currently grooving to:

Inevitable - Anberlin
Head over Heels - Switchfoot
Non so piu cosa son cosa faccio - Mozart
Waiting for the World to Fall - Jars of Clay
Hanging by a Moment - Lifehouse


Things that I can't get out of my head:

Mozart
the crazy amount of work that I have to finish
Tammy
next year's opera/Isabel
summer - my potential Austria trip, sinus surgery, and orchestra gig
Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier)
Kathryn Janeway
SLEEP


People that I especially love at this moment (no slights intended):

Katy
Rachel
Dad
Mom (alpha proofreader!)
Mozart
Alyssa McCristall


Reasons to rejoice at the end of the semester:

NO MORE EARTRAINING!
surviving two semesters of Krasner
NO MORE KEYBOARD HARMONY CLASS!
petition = over!
opera = decided (hopefully)
PRETZELS!!

Oh, Heather...  I thought I was the weirdest kid ever.  Apparently having me for an older sister makes her the weirdest kid ever.

I asked her what opera she wanted to see with me next season.  What does she answer?  Marriage of Figaro?  No.  Barber of Seville?  No.  FILLE DU REGIMENT?  No!  She wants to go see Der Rosenkavalier.  A 13 year old wants to sit through 3+ hours of Strauss!  Just listen to about 3 seconds of this music and you'll know what I mean: Final Trio.  This kid blows my mind.  She LOVES all those operas that I mentioned before and they're so much more...listener-friendly.  But no, she wants to see Rosenkavalier.  Crazy...

George and I shared a piano again in Keyboard Harmony.  That class cracks me up every time.  The Professor had George playing the melody while I was playing the accompaniment but we were on the wrong sides of the piano so we had to cross arms.  Good times.  Then I started fooling around and singing the (tenor) excerpt that we were playing the accompaniment to.  Then the Professor made me sing the tenor part!  George kindly sang with me and it was so funny.  It was from La Traviata: real Italian-love-song sounding.  Too funny.

We have Music 20 in about 5 minutes.  Apparently it's all improv music with an improv painter making art while the musicians are playing.  Total improv experience.  We'll see how it works out...  It's rather dramatic.  The program says "Alea One [the group] does not exist as this program note is being written.  It will exist only when it does exist.  It is a group improvisation.  The musicians have not memorized or "practiced their parts."  The artist has not planned her painting."  Oooooo...  I'm interested to see this (although I don't know if I want to watch it for an hour and a half...).  We shall see...

Well, I get to sit with Rachel and Katy.  That makes it all worth it.

How's the world right now?  Pretty okay.  I got through my huge music history test today; there was only one prepared score that I was a bit unsure about.  Otherwise...my strategic studying worked!  Thanks Mom + myself.  :)

I have a competition a week from Saturday.  *bites nails*  I now have my Orfeo recit memorized (yay!).  That only leaves the Mahler.  OHHH, you guys need to check out some Mahler if you don't know who he is.  AMAZING.  He creates such mood...it's really incredible.  This song is about how the narrator is "dead to the world" and how wonderful it is to be in that private domain of art or whatever it is that takes you away.  The singer is Jessye Norman, who's hot stuff at the moment because Carnegie is doing this huge thing on African-American musicians.  She rocks big time.

But, non-music...I've been thinking a lot lately about the future and such.  I plan to strike out after college and, if all goes well, have a career.  Something that people have been asking me: what's more important to me-- having a family or a career?  In other words, will I give up my dream for a family?

I might be wrong, but this seems like a "girl" question.  Guys can have their career and a family most of the time, but it's a bit harder for a woman.  I'm not saying that you can't have both.  It's just that with my career choice, it's a lot harder to reconcile the two, especially early on.  Am I willing to wait?  What's the right thing to do?  What do I care about more?

They always say that in the end it's the people who matter and I agree with that 100%.  But I also think that we have a duty to use what we've been given to the fullest extent possible.  I want to be productive.  I want to DO something.  Do we all have this drive to do something more than the usual?  To break out of the ordinary and do something that will matter...that's bigger than just me.  That's what I want.

And that want is just the inevitable conclusion of my passion.  I love music.  I cannot escape it-- it is with me all the time.  I couldn't abandon it even if I wanted to.  It's built into me.  You can't walk away from what's inside of you.

So...questions, questions, questions...I guess I'll just keep pushing ahead and worry about these things when they happen.  Sometimes it's good to decide ahead of time and other times it's better to just wait and watch.

I felt like Tohru this New Year's because I almost spent it by myself. I was too sick to go out with my family. My mom offered to stay home with me but I didn't want her to miss out on the party, so I told her I'd go to Kirstie's. Which I did.

It was fun. We did all the usual stuff: performed surgery (aka made cookies), watched Mean Girls, and made fun of the Jonas Brothers and John Adams on Youtube. We tended the fire while the electricity/heat was out. Quite an adventure. All the "adults" were mad but we liked having the electricity out. It's fun. I guess we're still kids.

We exchanged Christmas/birthday presents. (haha) I gave Kirstie some very thoughtful t-shirts and she got me MUSIC! I am now the proud owner of the complete La Clemenza di Tito (which I've taken out of the library about once every two months) and a Susan Graham CD that ROCKS. I'll probably do an entire review on the CD on my other blog once I've absorbed it all, but for now all I can say is that she never ceases to amaze me. She really is incredible.

It was weird to be away from my family on New Year's, but I was with my other family, so it's okay. Randi was like, "I'm so glad we could have you." The Cummings were babysitting me. :)

I hope everyone had a great New Year's and that 2009 holds tons of amazing things for you all.

Much love!
~K

Another year come, enjoyed, and going. So much happened this year! I think it's really good to look back over the year and remember. I meant to do this before, but 2008 wasn't over until tonight, so I'm glad I waited. Things happen right up to the end. So, here's my 2008 in review, a meme stolen (as usual) from mcollinknight


( 2008 in Review )

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:


You give me every broken dream,
I'll give you restoration.
Come and trade in all your hatred for
A brand new motivation.
This Love is all the power we need
To sound out a revelation.
We join our hands and all agree tonight
For one thing...our salvation.
~New Wave Revolution - Rock 'n' Roll Worship Circus

Happy New Year, everyone. May your 2009 be filled with joy and blessings and new challenges to overcome. Life is the greatest adventure; enjoy it.