Spring Break...

...is nearly over. This was the busiest spring break I can remember. I worked on campus and finished up my internship at Seattle Opera four of the five days. On Tuesday, I "conducted" my first informational interview with a really great PR manager, and--for many reasons--I'm really glad that I did it.

It's difficult to describe how I feel right now on this Good Friday. A continuum from happiness to sadness, perhaps. Happy about my scholarship. Happy about my grades (yeah, I 4.0ed the quarter for the first time at UW). Happy that I had such a great time at the Opera. Sad that my internship has ended. Sad when I think about Lolo. Sad (or maybe just tired) that my break's almost over 'cause I really could use more sleep. Sad (but hopeful) about Jesus' death. I realize that I don't talk about religion all that much. It's something I usually keep private, but I know what it means to me:

At a time like this, I'm reminded just how much my faith in God keeps me going. Especially when the highs and lows come at the same time.

Dear Lolo Ven,

I love you and sorely miss you.

May you rest in peace.

Your granddaughter,
Alli

"Lay down your head and sleep, sleep.
I'll be your pillow, soft and deep.
Leave me your troubles, I will keep
Your days gone by, your days gone by...

Lay down your head and sleep, sleep.
I will be pleased your soul to keep.
Give yourself over to the deep
Of days gone by, of days gone by."

(Jeanine Tesori and Brian Crawley, "Lay Down Your Head")

Random bits o' tumbleweed

They're ba-ack... My allergies, that is. I'm sneezing more, and I have a headache. Greaaaat.

Poo on you... A bird pooped on my hand on my way to church this morning. It was Disgusting with a capital D. Miraculously, I didn't get pooped on anywhere else. At least, I hope not. The greeters at church asked, "How are you?" and all I could breathlessly reply was, "Pretty good." I didn't want to take the time to say I was desperately in need of washing my hands! ;)

Just what I needed... Church: Does a body--and soul--good.

Denied... I hoped to get bubble tea from Yunnie's today. That's my favorite bubble tea place on the Ave. Who knew they were closed on Sundays?!? That's lost business for ya. My honey milk tea craving will have to wait for another day.

Crunch time... I have a final tomorrow. Am listening to my music examples. Wish me luck!

Metro Woes

Argh, I don't know that I'll ever out and out praise public transportation. It's good most of the time, but it takes one late bus to get the *grumble grumble* out of people--myself included. I waited over half an hour for my bus this afternoon. Half a freakin' hour. This isn't the first time the bus has been severely tardy. Different route, but still. I guess matters were made worse when I witnessed a heated verbal exchange at the bus stop, and it wasn't pretty. I think if I hadn't kept myself preoccupied analyzing what the man was yelling (chalk it up to my being a communication major, taking speech codes and language classes), I would have been traumatized. And he wasn't even yelling at me.

I miss my car. But even if I had it here, I guess I'd complain about the cost of parking. *grumble grumble* :) I like typing *grumble grumble*. You should try it some time.

I'm flying high, defying gravity

Oh, you have no idea how big of a burden has been lifted off me! The paper has been turned in, the speech has been delivered, the questions have been asked and answered. I was really nervous during my speech (and even stumbled a bit), but I recovered during my Q&A time. When the hour was over, my professor told our group that he heard very interesting speeches. After hearing 40 this week, he could have zoned out, but he gave the 10 of us a collective compliment. I take that as a good sign. Phew! As for me, I'm just glad it's over. :)

Am going to see another concert tonight. This time it's the combined choruses and orchestra. Two years ago, I was part of the chorus singing on stage, and tonight I'll be out in the audience. It's kinda cool to think that I've been on the performing side, even if it was only for a brief time.

Finals, I'm ready for you! (Ha ha, not really, but I will be.)

It's here

The last week of class. I think this week will be more stressful than finals. Argh! I've got a paper and speech to write. I was in a groove, reading at -- appropriate enough -- Suzzallo Reading Room, but I had to stop for an officer's meeting at 4 p.m.. Two hours later, I haven't found my way back to schoolwork. *sigh* Oh well.

That's not why I wanted to blog. Hehehe. I just wanted to say that I won $28.50 at Muckleshoot Casino on Friday! Mom, Dad, and I had seafood pho (mmm) and then gambled a little bit. I didn't have any money, so Mom gave me $20. We all played the same slot machine game (I can never remember its name). I got to "party" for the first time and doubled my points, but then Dad started hovering over me and I started losing. No joke. LOL! :) I switched machines a little later and nearly lost. I was down around 100 points when I got to "party" again and I kept touching presents (that amount to points) on the screen like there was no tomorrow, eventually "party pooped," but ended up winning $48.50! Of course, I had to give back the original $20 to Mom. Anyway, it was pretty sweet. As a family, we still lost and the house won. Ah, gambling. :)

Me encanta la opera Florencia en el Amazonas

Wow. I saw Florencia in the Amazon tonight with Mom. First we attended the pre-performance lecture, which was informative and entertaining (humor-wise and piano-wise!). Then, of course, came the performance. Wow. Wow, wow, wow. Everything came together so well: the music, singing, dancing, sets, lights, props, special effects... everything. The lecturer talked about a German concept about the collaboration of art. Whatever that German word was, it was right on the mark.

The singers were fantastic. I'm still amazed that they can project so well without the aid of microphones. That's probably one of *the* coolest things about opera, and I'll never get over it. I don't want to! I hesistate to point out favorites among the singers. They were all so powerful and are a solid cast. Ooh, special props to the chorus that sang from the sides of McCaw Hall. Talk about surround sound! :))

I *loved* hearing the music live. Daniel Catan's music is so amazing. I don't know, it makes you feel alive (not that any of us are dead), but if you listen to Florencia, you'll know what I mean. You actually hear and feel the pulse in the music, and the soaring phrases are breathtaking.

The opera was visually stunning. I normally don't comment on sets, lights, costumes, but how can I not? The boat could turn 360 degrees. The moving lights on the stagefloor really DID look like the moving river! The butterfly transformation at the end was beautiful. :)

Ah, there are no adequate words to describe everything...

The good news

I wasn't joking when I said I was addicted to tvtome.com. Well, it turns out that "Lost" won't be airing new episodes for the rest of March, which means I can watch "American Dreams" this month without conflict (my roommate watches "Lost"). Yay!

Still here

I haven't dropped off the face of the planet or anything like that. :) Have just been swamped lately, and I *still* have plenty to do before finals roll around.

Oscars were enjoyable enough. For the one category I actually cared about (best song), neither of my favorites won. Oh well. I ended up watching six hours of Oscar-related TV (yikes), and I swear I saw Josh's manager and vocal coach on the ABC post-Oscar coverage. LOL! That was worth it. Just picture me squinting at my TV (good ol' TV!) hoping to see Josh and at least getting to see David Romano and Brian Avnet (or very good lookalikes), and then you'll understand.

I saw a jazz concert on Monday with one of my clustermates. We saw three UW groups perform at Meany. Dannnng, they're talented. It's fun watching the other performers onstage react to the soloists. They look like they are having the best time listening to each other and playing with each other. Everyone's smiling, moving to the beat, nodding their heads... something to show that they're groovin'. :)

Don't have much else to report. Ooh, I get to see Florencia on Saturday! So excited. So I've been to my first opera workshop. And I've been to my first opera dress rehearsal. This is the real deal: my first opera opera. Ooh, note to self (and Mom): don't forget the binoculars. :)