Day 17

Today I finally made the call to get my appointment with the ENT. The first doctor I called was a surgery only line, so I skipped down to the next phone number (for those of you who don't know, I have a list of ENTs in Albuquerque who take my insurance, so I was just calling everyone!) and I called that number. They said the next appointment was in May and then gave me two other phone numbers to call and get a closer appointment. Sadly, those two numbers didn't take my insurance. So I called my dad and he has been so great and helpful because I have been just too emotional over this whole thing. He got me the appointment for May 3rd, which is a very long time from now. He called the other doctors on the list and left messages (they were probably closed for MLK day). I hope that I can get an appointment sooner than May, and I'm trying to remain optimistic that I will.

In the mean time I am going to treat myself as if I have acid reflux and allergies. If none of the doctors in Albuquerque can see me, I am going to look at doctors in Alamogordo and Las Cruces (there aren't any ENTs in Santa Fe that take my insurance). I just want to know whats wrong and deal with it. Until then, I have to take it easy, even if it means I wont be able to fulfill all the requirements for the challenge.

The only requirements that I am going to have a hard time getting done are my last three voice lessons, the two vocal coaching sessions (had to cancel my Paul time due to my vocal dysfunction, as well as a lesson with Ms.Lina) And the recording a new song one will be difficult too. Luckily I got my live performance done, even though I don't have documentation on it. I will post about it soon!

Daily Practice Session

Today, since it is still not safe for me to vocalize, I watched part 1 of a documentary mini-series called "Broadway: the American Musical" on instant Netflix. I am going to watch the different parts of this documentary every day as part of my daily devotion to myself and the challenge.

The first part of this documentary focuses primarily on Broadway from 1893-1927. I learned about Ziegfeld and the follies, minstrel shows, rowdy Bowery theaters and a little bit about operettas all leading up to Showboat. They also talked about what living as an actor was like before Equity and the actors strike that lead to work unions for actors, musicians, and techies. It was really cool, that was something I had never thought about before.

One of my favorite bits about this part of the documentary was one of the theatre historians said, "you can talk about Broadway in two parts, everything before Showboat, and everything after Showboat". Before Showboat, broadway was either straight plays, dramatic operettas (usually foreign) or follies-type comedy shows with little songs and comedic interludes and no real plot line. Showboat was different because it was purely American, had serious subject matter (racial issues), and had a plot line that was the same throughout.

This part of the documentary has inspired me to 1)learn how to tap and 2) learn more about the history of the American musical!

The documentary is hosted by Julie Andrews, who I love and adore. It was a little difficult to watch because (as some of you may already know) Julie Andrew had vocal nodes in the 90's, got surgery to remove them and lost her singing voice forever. So it was bittersweet, a woman who went through something that is similar to what i'm going through (we don't know if I have nodes or not, lets hope I don't! But the dysfunction is shitty nonetheless) but talking about something that I love so much.

I look forward to watching part 2 tomorrow, 1919-1933!

Dance/Personal Fitness

Date/time - 1/17/11 6:30am

Type of class – Hot Vinyasa

Difficulty Level - All Levels, more beginner this morning

Studio and Instructor – Blissful Spirits Hot Yoga with Nicole Velasquez

What did you most enjoy? – I was just happy to be back in yoga. I took the weekend off, and was starting to feel sluggish, so this was a good pick-me up. I am finding that in some poses I am starting to be able to not have to modify and I am getting more flexible. Some poses, of course, are still hard for me.

What did you find challenging and why? – Okay this is kind of weird, but today I had a spot in the room that was close to the side mirror and that was good because I could make sure I was keeping my back straight and everything, but it was also really bad because today was the first day I felt really self conscious in class. Usually I think "whatever if I'm fat, at least I'm here!" but today I just hated the way my tummy looked in the mirror, even though I can see my legs slimming down, and my pants are all fitting looser, my tummy is still gross (i know it's only been two weeks, blah blah) so today the most challenging thing was just not being able to let go fully because of my own self image.

Observations – This was my 10th yoga/dance class! So I will not be taking any more photographs or blogging about my yoga... well I might a little bit, but I wont be doing the templates anymore. As far the challenge requirement is concerned, CHECK! You're welcome :)