Day 20

This morning I woke up begrudgingly, picked my friend/boss Fred up and went to Hot Yoga. To my surprise I was greeted by not only the wonderful Rebecca Widmayer, our incredible instructor, but also by Jonathan Ragsdale (a new face at the yoga studio), Kirsten Buckels and Fernando Larranaga! The place was packed, and if all goes as planned, eventually it will be filled with all challengers!

After yoga we all went out for a healthy breakfast and then met up with Cierra Sweet to volunteer with the incredible people at the VSA Arts Center. It was something that I needed, a lot. More on that in a bit.

After our volunteer session we all went out to lunch (except Cierra, she had to go to school) and then to our theories class together! It was the happiest I've been since this stuff with my voice got scary last week. Of course, after class my voice decided it was done for the day. So- in conclusion I have learned that until I see the doctor, I can't have too much fun.

Daily Practice Session

I didn't have time to watch my hour long documentary segment today! I was really looking forward to it, but I have a class that meets once a week on Thursday nights that I had to go to. Instead of watching the documentary, I studied my Hairspray music. I have this really neat little book that has all the entire libretto in there. I still don't know if I will be healthy by the time auditions roll around, but until I know for sure that I wont be, I want to keep a positive attitude and keep working on preparing myself. I read through the dialogue and when it got to the songs, I listened to them and read a long.

I am starting to think more about Tracy as a real person, and will start character work on her soon.

Minutes: 30

My Live Performance

Date/time - 1/15/11 @ 10:30pm

Show/Venue - Revolutions International Theatre Festival Reptilian Lounge

Program or Song Choice – God Bless the USA by Lee Greenwood

What did you most enjoy? – My song was a collaboration of me and my roommates, Skye and Diana who are incredibly talented, versatile performers. We decided to satirize the popular stereotype of the "my country is better than yours" American. I absolutely love performing and even though I was under the weather and I suffered greatly, I still sounded great and made people laugh, which is the best high.

What did you find challenging and why? – We didn't know that the theatre was going to be set in alley. We were prepared for thrust or proscenium, but it was in freaking alley! So I never quite knew where to look and that was awkward. Also, I had spent the day on vocal rest due to quite scary hoarseness. It was a bad idea for me to sing that night. And I knew it deep down, and Kurt made sure I knew it before and after I performed.

Observations and Remembrances – I'm both happy and sad about my decision to perform last Saturday. It has taken me until now to reflect on it and make sure that I post it on the blog. I do not have photographs or video of the performance, the person I asked forgot! But it's okay :), I wasn't sure if Kurt was going to count it anyway- BUT he was there so I hope everyone just takes our word for it! I have learned my lesson and haven't sung a note since.

Healthy Eating

Meal Description – Breakfast- egg white omelet with salad greens, hot peppermint tea with honey, dry wheat toast and water.

Restaurant or Market – Flying Star

Rating – **** Freaking tasty. I was surprised at the tastiness of this breakfast.

Healthy Eating

Meal Description – Lunch- Guava Kombucha, sweet potato chip/cracker thingies, salad w/ turkey, ham, some sort of vinaigrette, spring mix, hard boiled egg, and tons of fresh herbs.

Restaurant or Market – The Co-Op they just opened in the bookstore!

Rating – Um... those chips were like a bajillion stars, the yummiest of the yummiest. But I wasn't a fan of the salad, I thought it was herb heavy. In my opinion there should be more lettuce than parsley!

Me and Gilbert had matching salads, I took the onions/tomatoes off of mine just in case I have acid reflux, and we shared those yummy chips!

Charitable Deeds

Today a group of us went to volunteer at the VSA Arts Center working with individuals with disabilities. We were put in the dance class. They are already in the middle of their semester so we were joining them a little late. They were learning about space today, how to use their own space when they stage their site-specific dance piece. It was wonderful to see how enthusiastic this group was about art, and how excited they were to learn and dance. They loved that JRags was a dancer, he was definitely the star out of our group.They loved that he does Hip Hop!

What really touched me about spending time with these people, was that I realized how selfish and childish I have been behaving about my voice issues. We spent the first half of the morning watching the teacher explain facing forward, backward, side to side and your diagonals. It was uplifting to watch their faces light up when they could figure it out, and heart breaking to watch them struggling to comprehend something that we don't even think about. I take for granted all the wonderful things I was given, and just because one part of my health, no matter how important it is to me, isn't doing so well, I still need to make sure to be thankful for the rest of it.

The second half of the class was more "fun", we warmed up and danced around. We practiced leading with different body parts (elbows, noses and butts!). I gave out some great elbow high-fives! I can't wait to go back next week and spend more time with these spectacular and inspiring individuals.

We had so much fun today, can't you tell? :)