Hey everybody! It's that time of the week again. This week has been full of ups and downs for me. Unfortunately I still haven't heard anything from anyone about jobs (fingers crossed for next week though!) and the waiting game, as usual, is very annoying and stressful especially since I have a limited budget to survive on. However, I am keeping positive about things as you'll see when I speak about friday. But first, a little Culture Shock.

Culture Shock

So last Sunday, Ang and I went to this thing called "Opera On Tap." It originated in New York where these opera students would go to dive bars and sing opera solos as if they were singing a musical number (like what they do at Joe's Pub in NY). They would all drink and make sure everyone else was drinking as well and it's supposed to be a good time by all! The concept is great! I recorded a little bit:

So like I said, the concept is great...however the execution was less than what I was hoping for. It was hard for them to find a good location for the first LA performance and they ended up going to a high-end bar, not the best place to showcase the cool/creative mixture of classical "high-end" music with drunken bar members. It also didn't help them that the showcase started at 6 so people weren't really drinking a lot. Also the audience was soooo uptight that it ruined the fun atmosphere. I was eating (something you should be able to do in a bar atmosphere) and everyone was staring at me cause I was clinking my fork on the plate accidentally.

Anyway, the talent was fantastic, I just wish it was executed in a better, more relaxed/chill manner.



Musical Musings

You'll hear about the whole Silverstein mess in a moment...



Celebrity Sightings

None this week, I didn't get out much. But I do have friends that saw Jane Lynch at a coffee shop!

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Back to the blog.

So as I said before, this week was full of ups and downs. Friday was the worst. It has been two weeks and I've not heard anything from Anita, so especially Friday I was upset at my lack-of-employment. I also heard from the folks at the Shel Silverstein Estate. They told me that I did not have permission to use the poetry as lyrics for a set of art songs I had composed. I spoke with my mom on Skype and we were talking about people I'm meeting and I said to her "I'm really sick of meeting people just to further myself professionally. I'd like to, for once while I'm out here, meet some friends that I don't 'use'." And then I sort of broke down emotionally at the realization of the fact that this is a whole new world to me and I have myself to fall back on at the end of the day. My moving out here was either really brave or really stupid. Either way, I don't and won't end up a failure at this venture.

And then my day started to look up. Ang, Claire and I decided to watch The Truman Show. It was the first time I've seen it and I have to say it is definitely in the top favorites of mine now! It was fantastic and it was a nice reprieve from my too-much-reality-to-handle mindset. It put a couple of things into perspective. It gave me confidence knowing that I CAN do this. And I changed my outlook from one of negative to one of positive about the Silverstein poetry and am now re-orchestrating them for piano and cello!

This moving across the country is a very bold move and not easy, but as long as you have confidence and the will power to stick it out and work on the transition, you can make it :) I am so far! And hey, I finally have gotten used to the idea that I live here!

So here's to hope for next week and the positive things that will come from it!