Day 25

Went to yoga this morning, and I'm glad I did! Felt great most of the day, although I could have used a nap around 4!

Daily Practice Session:

Today, I went through my music notebook and took out all the music that I never use. Then I re-alphabetized the remainder and added a list of new songs I want to learn when I get better:

1. Aquarius from Hair

2. Sober by Pink

3. Confidence in Me from the Sound of Music

4. See I'm Smiling from The Last 5 Years

5. You Don't Know from Next to Normal

6. Superboy and the Invisible Girl from Next to Normal

just to name a few.

That took me a little over an hour.

Healthy Eating

Meal Description- Breakfast, "White Lightening Omelette", egg whites, chicken, green chile, salsa, guacamole, cheese, little potato bites, a whole wheat english muffin and peppermint tea with honey.

Restaurant or Market- LePeep!

Rating- **** Really yummy, although questionable on calories.

Picture- Gilbert took a picture because I accidentally left the house without my bloggie this morning! So, I will post the picture when I get it.

Healthy Eating

Meal Description- Lunch, Salad with weird name that I don't remember but it had tuna, potatoes, tomatoes, olives, spring mix lettuce, and other yummy stuff in it. And red lentil soup that was pretty freaking awesome.

Restaurant or Market- The Grove

Rating- **** Super fantastic yummy soup. loved it. put winning soup to shame. the salad confused me, but it tasted good.

Charitable Deeds

On Saturday I did two more charitable deeds. In the morning I volunteered for the YMCA at the Health Fair. I handed out a lot of camp merchandise to potential new camper families and did a whole lot of talking about how great camp is and all our wonderful discounts. I do work for camp over the summer, but during the off-season I am a volunteer and I work my butt off! Cool deal that one of my big volunteer thingies for camp happened during the challenge!

Me! Loving Y Camp!

My boss-friend! Loving Y Camp!

Random adorable child wearing a free Camp shirt we gave him that morning!

Later that night I volunteered for the Revolutions International Theatre festival again. This time at the Reptilian Lounge as a change sweeper. It doesn't sound like hard work but it is! Change doesn't submit that easily to sweeping- and there's a whole lot of pressure to get it all swept up and swept well so the performers get all the money they deserve!

Day 24

Daily Practice Session

Today I watched part 5 of the documentary miniseries I've been watching over the past couple days. This part was 1957-1979 and it covered a lot of the musicals that I've at least heard about, which was cool. Fiddler on the Roof, Cabaret, Chicago, Company, West Side Story, Sweeney Todd, Hair, Chorus Line, just to name a few. It was neat hearing all the different stories about how these shows were so radical at the time they were produced. I was surprised to find out that Chicago in its initial run didn't do very well and now it is one of the most well-known musicals of all time! As was West Side Story, which I was more surprised about. It opened the same season as The Music Man, which did much better, probably because it's subject matter was a little more "optimistic".

My favorite little bit that I learned about tonight was about Hair (of course). Hair has been my favorite musical ever since one of my high school friends made me watch it. I remember very clearly the night I first saw it. My friend and her mom were appalled that I had never seen Hair, Tommy, A Chorus Line or Jesus Christ Superstar. So we rented all of them and watched them in the same night. Hair was the last one we watched and I was mesmerized, especially because it was during a time in my life where I was feeling particularly political (with the Iraq war and everything, my dad being shipped off all the time, I was very emotional about it). The next year I had to do a project on the 60's for my history class and I made everyone in my group watch it and I talked a lot about it in my project. Even though there isn't really a good part for me (which is generally what a lot of us base our favorites around! You know it's true!) it is still my favorite musical, and I never get tired of singing a long. I wish I could have seen it in it's initial run, the footage in the documentary was breathtaking and I bet it was just a beautiful experience.

Now that I've said all that, I love musical theatre. I love it down to my core. A friend of mine's girlfriend is an Opera lover and in the early stages of their relationship I spent a lot of time trying to defend musical theatre even though I didn't know very much about it and this girl is literally an Opera encyclopedia! I've discovered, if nothing else, through this process that my love of musical theatre is something I can't describe or defend, it's just in me. When I hear the music, or see a show my heart lifts and in that moment I can't be sad, even if I can't sing a long.

It's getting late so I will have to post my two good deeds from the weekend in tomorrow's blog (The Health Fair and the Reptilian Lounge). Goodnight!

Day 23

Today I went to see the rest of the challengers perform together. It was really great to see everyone and hear how much each of them have improved over the course of this month. They really are all becoming so much stronger, and their performances were really powerful. It was very touching. It did however make me feel even worse for not being healthy enough to complete all of my requirements. Because my friends have all been working so hard and the proof is in their performances. I am so lucky to have such talented and fantastic friends who support me no matter what. I hope that when I'm better I have the willpower to do this all over again even without the promise of prizes- haha! Because I want to see what it can do for me, especially now that I've seen what it has done for my friends.

I'm not exactly sure on how I'm supposed to make up for my missing requirements. Kurt had some ideas but I didn't exactly understand them. Now I'm worried that I waited too long to clear that up, and with only a week left, I'm... I'm just nervous. And feeling a little like I don't deserve it! I'm not trying to be hard on myself, but really, when I saw how hard all my friends have been working it just doesn't seem fair, even though its not my fault. Regardless, I'm not giving up until Kurt tells me to. So here is my stuff for the day:

Daily Practice Session:

Again, not enough time today for me to watch my documentary series! Just something else for me to look forward to tomorrow! Instead, today I did another read over of my Hairspray book, and looked for videos of other people singing Hairspray songs, not just professionals. There are a lot of really bad videos out there, but I found a couple decent ones. I think I've decided that if the audition calls for a song from the show, I will sing "Good Morning Baltimore", even though I think most people going for Tracy are going to do that. I am going to do it anyway, because I think it shows me off the most... but I could do the opening part to "You Can't Stop the Beat" too. I dunno, it's a while away, and like I said I still don't know if I'll be able to sing by then, but I'm trying to remain optimistic.

I also haven't made a decision about my hair yet. I already went darker blonde, and I think if I do go brunette, it wont be dark brunette in case I don't get the part then it will be easy to go back to blonde right away! Also, if I don't get the part I'm chopping all of my hair off. And I mean all of it.

Side Note: Today at Whole Foods a woman recognized me from yoga! How cool is that?!

Day 22- p.s.

I forgot to put this in my last blog! This is the dialogue from a little sketch about Rogers and Hammerstein from the documentary.

A man goes to the ticket vendor to buy a ticket to see a Rogers and Hammerstein show. The woman says it will be $6.60. He asks why it would be so much for one ticket. The vendor explains that the evening shows are $6.60, and the afternoon prices are $4.40. Then:

Man: Well... what are the morning prices? I mean, I don't care how early.

Woman: They don't have any morning performances.

Man: You mean Rogers and Hammerstein don't make any money in the morning?

Woman: No.

Man: Not in the morning, huh? Then why did they write that song about how beautiful it is?

Woman: Well, that's when they take it to the bank!

hahaha... okay I thought it was really funny!

Day 22

Today I volunteered for YMCA Camp Shaver for the Health Fair at Expo New Mexico. As some of you may know, Camp Shaver has been my summer home pretty much since I was 10 years old. Even though I only get paid for my work in the summer, I volunteer year round to promote camp, amongst other things. I believe it is so important for kids to have a summer camp experience and it was wonderful to meet all these new potential campers today! I am a little pressed for time this evening since I am volunteering for the Revolutions International Theatre Festival again tonight, so I will post about the Health Fair and the Festival tomorrow.

Daily Practice Session

Today I got to watch part 3 of Broadway: the American Musical! This episode talked mostly about the union of Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rogers. I didn't realize until today, that these are the people who made me want to be in musicals! The first musical I ever saw was their version of Cinderella (which was made for TV so they didn't talk about it in the documentary). And later, I saw Oklahoma! with my girl scout troupe. I realized that most of my mom's favorite musicals too! Almost all of the musicals that my mom and I watched together when I was a kid were composed by this pair. The episode also talked about Guys and Dolls, which I was lucky enough to play Adelaide in in high school! I have always wished that my voice was more suited to "legit" musicals, because they are so dear to my heart. Perhaps when I get my voice back I can work on figuring out if I can do both!

9 Days Left- Another Overview!

Here's where I'm at as of 1/21/11:

Private Voice Lessons- 1/4

Vocal Coaching Sessions- 0/2

Healthy Meals- 20/25

Dance/Yoga Classes- 10/10

Charitable Deeds- 2/5

See a Performance- 1/1

Learn a New Song- 0/1

Perform a Song- 1/1

I'm doing pretty well for someone who hasn't been able to sing for a little over half the month! I still need 3 Voice lessons (or some form of substitution) and 2 vocal coaching sessions (or some form of substitution), to learn a new song/record it (or some form a substitution) , eat 5 more healthy meals and do 3 more charitable deeds!

I wish I could be doing all the vocal stuff, since this IS a voice challenge after all. I see all of my wonderful friends seeing incredible benefits from working so hard and I feel like other than learning to be more humble, I haven't seen as much good as my friends have.

I have decided that when I get better I am going to do the challenge over again, for myself. I wont post the blog to facebook, but I will keep the blog to keep myself on track.

Day 21

This morning I went to Hot Yoga at 6:30 with my wonderful yoga buddies, and grabbed a quick good-for-me breakfast at Winning. Then I went home and worked up the courage to finally call Dr.Frost, the ENT in Alamogordo. And I am happy to announce the great news- I got an appointment for February 10th! Things are looking up!

I had plans to do more practice head shots with roomie/challenge support group member, Diana. She even got all dolled up and we drove downtown to try out some different settings and when we got to my favorite fence in Albuquerque, I noticed that I had left my memory card at home! So we drove around and scouted out some potential places to shoot on Monday instead.

It's too bad I already finished my "see a live performance" requirement, because I went with Cierra and her boyfriend to see the 505 Mens Barbershop Chorus concert tonight and was completely blown away! It really inspired me to want to join a choir again once I'm healthy. I forgot how much I miss being part of a choir! I was especially impressed by the dynamics and blending... little things that I forget about while working on solo work.

Daily Practice Session

Today I was too busy to watch my documentary! I'm getting sad! So Today I did more Hairspray work. I read through the dialogue in my little book and then looked up different Tracy performances on youtube. I know that I'm not supposed to, but I think I like the Tracy from the movie the best, I think her voice is the nicest. I am trying to figure out how it is that I can BE Tracy, and not ACT cheesey... does that make sense? Bring truth to a cartoony character. It's especially hard because I'm still not certain I will be healthy come audition time.

Healthy Eating

Meal Description – Breakfast- Scrambled eggs, dry wheat toast, peppermint tea w/ honey

Restaurant or Market – Winning Coffee Co.

Rating – **. Boring, and the eggs were a little too "wet" for my taste

Healthy Eating

Meal Description – Dinner- Sonoma Chicken Salad Wrap, Spicy Vegan Pumpkin Soup and a Solixer "Relax" to drink

Restaurant or Market – Whole Foods

Rating – ****, my favorite meal all month. Filled me up, feels good for me... and yummy yummy yummy.