Monday, October 16, 2006

exhale!

wow. I feel sort of like I've been holding my breath for a week!

First of all... I walked over 10 miles - mostly in the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas... trying to figure out where in the heck the north tower was in relation to Harmony Bazaar, and then back, and then to Monaco Tower (where our room was) and back... and it wasn't 'til the day before I leave that I figure out the short cut... but now I don't feel guilty about not walking (as in exercise walking) in the mornings... yay!

SALT quartet was crowned International Champion quartet -- they were awesome! Rich-Tones won the chorus contest, over Melodeers (2nd) and North Metro (3rd). Ladies from Velvet Hills chorus (Colorado Springs, CO) were the nicest gals I met, and I have huge bruises on my hips from the small stadium seats.

I only bought 2 CD's (YAY! - 25 years of "High Society" and the 2nd CD of "The Buzz"), and some gel thingeys for my shoes, which did help a lot with some of the foot issues I have.

I ate soup in my room two nights, and taking all the extra crap is well worth it, and as much as I loved spending 16 hours driving to and fro with my pals, I missed having the access to independence (i.e., my own car). I'm glad I had the time with SA and SU, though, as I learned lots of inside information, and just generally added 'good things' to my knowledge base of barbershop and of the SAI organization in general.

I got to see some of the ladies from Forth Valley Chorus:
















That's me, Moira, Elaine & Moyra in the hallway of the Riviera, after my quartet sang for them :D.

My two quartet buddies were busy with Scottsdale chorus stuff, and my roomie quartet buddy saw good friends of hers from Harborlights Chorus, so we all had a full week! I'm blessed that I was able to bunk in with my pal from Pepperdine; as well as stay an extra night in the hotel that I should have paid for -- so many things I want to do when I start earning money (like pay people back!!!)

The week was long, but it went by so fast! Getting back to real life is just a bother.

I think I want to simplify, yet do these things that are not simple.

I got sick on Wednesday ~ I think it was a combination of not enough sleep and being overheated -- and 10,000 germs, smoke & more people. I'm feeling better today!

How does one get rid of that feeling of wanting and needing to do more?!

Friday, October 06, 2006

Vegas Baby!

Two more sleeps and I leave for Vegas for Sweet Adelines International - International Contest & Convention!! I'm making my packing list, praying for money to arrive in the mail ;-), trying to think of all the things I'll want to have with me and will they fit in my suitcase(s)? I've call my Pepperdine Pal who'll I'll be catching up with after too many years, meeting his 4 year old son, and re-connecting.

I'll be meeting up with 3 awesome Scottish gals with whom I sang with while a member of Forth Valley Chorus in Edinburgh, Scotland... and soaking in barbershop!

You can listen to fabby Scottish quartet ~ Mac4 here! Excellent!!!

So I'll be gone for awhile --

Whoo hoo!!!

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Why Am I Still Up?

I'm tired... chorus was good, even though I sat around most of the night.

Gotta get on those ticket sales!

Met some friends at Starbucks afterwards, and that was much fun -- mmmmm bananas & cream Frappacino :D -- with a crumble coffeecake *drool*.

Found a friend of mine's blog tonight ~ I knew she was reading lots of blogs, but didn't know she had one -- so she's now a link on the side :waves to Vonnie:.

Yesterday I walked 30 minutes on the treadmill -- oh so righteous! Today I only did 16 minutes... but I'm doing the best I can at the moment, and I'm not beating myself up about it (miracle of miracles...).

I spent yesterday reading up on goal setting -- and something struck me that I probably have heard a zillion times, but you know that 'a-HA!' that comes when you finally really GET something... the quote I read was something like: "That which does not take you closer to your goal takes you in the opposite direction" -- well duh. Every time I make a decision, I need to consider in what direction will my efforts go -toward or against my objective. It hit me right, and I decided I am going to stop scrapping for my client, as my music goals are the ones I want to focus on, and scrapping for her is taking away the time I want to spend on developing the music. By this time next year I want to be working full time singing for the retirement communities. I have a financial number goal in my head, and I hope I'm in a position that will allow me to quit my 'structured' job.

The other thing I really never paid much attention to (probably due to youth... peering at 40 is helping me realize half of it - it being whatever it is - doesn't/won't matter) is that my values need to be in line with what I think my goal/objective is. This relates to me being the people pleaser and saying yes to something because someone else has said I'd be good at it, or because they can "really see you [me] doing that..." - making decisions based on what others think/feel/want has clouded my vision for myself.

Basically, I don't know what I want. I'm finally admitting that yes, I'm creative (ask me about my pantry shelves...), yes, I have a gift for singing that I still don't understand fully how my singing affects people. But if you dont' know what you want, well -- you've already got it. My vision for my life, even when viewed through the gifts and passions God has give me, has been cloudy. I'm not sure what I want for myself - so really thinking about what I value, what I want to give my time to, and what motivates me -- all of that is processing and I'm writing it out.

And I think, "It's not about me." -- and that really helped me focus on my music goals, and the gift that I can share with the senior audiences - what the seniors at my former job would say to me and about me -- and how much they've expressed their love for what they say I give them when I sing for them. I've been resisting it - fear of responsibility, fear of being forced to be persistent, of having to follow through, fear of committment. But I've been praying about what direction/path my life is supposed to take since I can't remember, and I believe God is showing me that through committing to music as my vocation and my career, I will develop the self-discipline and obedience that I've been lacking. I'm obeying.

Yes, I'm a later bloomer, always have been. It's taken me awhile to believe in myself. But every day I get closer.

Can we say, "God Is An Awesome God!!" ?

Monday, October 02, 2006

I liked this enough to post it

I got this in an email ~ thought there were some things worth sharing. I don't know where the part credited to Ben Stein stops... I edited some bits at the end that induces guilt by implying I'm not a good Christian if I don't forward emails like this as easily as I forward email jokes. For the record - I never send anything to everyone in my email address book.

I always try take out the 'send this to 8 people in 8 minutes or else' crap at the bottom of sentiments I like and want to pass on. It is like sales ~ don't sell to me ~ if I want it, I'll buy it -- or I'll ask more questions to gather more information to see if I want it. If the email is something I want to share, I'll share it. If it ain't, I'm not gonna pass it on. Nor do I return emails asking for it to be returned to the sender (except for the 'getting to know you' emails, I like those when I have time :D ). *why?!* Why send them something you know they already have? :rolling my eyes!:

But I digress.

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary


Next confession:
I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don' t feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution, and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him?

I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too.

But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her "How could God let something like this Happen?" (regarding Katrina)

Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives.

And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?"

In light of recent events...terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK.

Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about and we said OK.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW."