Thrihyrne

While I do have more minutes than I used to on my phone, I'm going to be changing next month and 'regressing' back to fewer, so I'm getting back into the habit of doing most calls on the weekend, which are free. That's my plan for today, having already spoken to one friend and plans to speak with another two before the day is out. I'm also scheduled to have a physical at the plasma center; since I went off of my meds earlier this year, my psychiatrist had to say I was okay to donate again and apparently I get to have the physical again as well. That's fine; I'm just ready to start having some spending money once more.

The week just got away from me: I attended one documentary film showing with my parents, attended two free Baroque concerts, had my first week with the literacy conversation class, did a lot of knitting, and went to a pure Pilates class yesterday for the first time in... a long time. I am hurting today, both my abs/core muscles and my shoulders/arms (we used a 4 pound medicine ball as part of the class). This feeling has been exacerbated by mowing the lawn this morning with our non-self-propelling mower, and then taking Taffy out for a long walk. The walk was mostly fine until we came across a dog that wasn't restrained in any way. They got along, but I was physically holding on to Taffy's harness, holding her, pulling her away as she jumped and pulled against me to get to the dog. Way too much physical activity involved in me at 120 pounds trying to get the 65 pound wiry dog to go where I want her to go. So I took some ibuprofin once we got home.

This afternoon I'm going to type in my first fic I've written in months and even have somebody signed up to beta it. Yay! And I wish that ink were free so I could print out my monk story from last year to re-read it all, see where I was, and decide where I want to go with it. Toward an ending would be nice. :P I wish that by watching Game of Thrones I would be inspired to my own high fantasy, but instead, I'm just enjoying watching it. I've put in a request for it as an audiobook via interlibrary loan so I can get the full effect of this huge story. Being a Tolkien buff, I'm hoping this series won't be too daunting in terms of geography, peoples and names.

The second sleeve on the cardigan is really coming along; may be done by next week. I have yet to start on the sugar-glider, but soon I won't have any other knitting projects, which is a very strange place to be. Yet another reason to have spending money! Although now that I think about it, I have another project that I last worked on during the England choir tour last summer, and I really should finish it…

Tomorrow morning I'll get to sing a lovely piece by Hildegard of Bingen with a soprano whose voice I simply adore. We really do sound like one voice as we sing the one line together, and I hope that it goes off as well as it sounds when we've been rehearsing. We'll both be more nervous than when we rehearse, but it is summer and there simply aren't that many people in the congregation. Still, it could be quite magical.

… I'm sick. AUGH! I had a day of feeling as though I was swallowing razor blades, and pretending as though everything was fine. By late/early in the morning two nights ago, one of my roommates graciously offered me up some decongestants since, in my fitful sleep, I sounded as though I was drowning. So now I've been getting joking (but very sympathetic) comments about me being the group's newest tenor, or that I'm all of a sudden a smoky-voiced woman. Thanks to Boots I now have a decongestant nasal spray and am feeling much better, though my voice is still for crap. Thankfully I'd not lost my singing voice for our concert yesterday, since in that concert I was in no fewer than three small groups— and my voice held through and had decent vocal quality. Today is a totally free day, which is very appreciated, not the least because we had to be up and on the bus by 7:30 a.m. yesterday. We're in York and there's plenty for me to do, not the least: Medieval Walls to walk on! Minster! Towers!

I can't resize my photos, and it seemed to be a lot of trouble to upload given the erratic strength (but constant, yay) internet access, so I'm going to wait and post pictures when I get back home.

I've been trying to keep up with you all, and hope that things are well for the most part. Must say that I'm so glad to be out of the country!! I so adore being overseas. ♥

With all seriousness, anyone on my flist who lives in the U.K. who'd like to meet me, here are the dates and times for the services/concerts at which I'll be singing this coming week.

Thursday, June 24th: Lunchtime Concert in Lady Chapel of Ely Cathedral - 1:10 p.m.
Saturday, June 26th: Concert in Durham Cathedral – 10:30 a.m.
Monday, June 28th: Evensong in York Minster - 5:15 p.m.
Tuesday, June 29th: Choral Eucharist in Bradford Cathedral - 7:00 p.m.

I'd love to meet you, so if you do come hear us (Trinity Church choir from Staunton, Virginia), please introduce yourself to me afterwards! I think you all know what I look like; I have an icon of me. I'm taking a laptop so I won't be all that AFK, but we will be kept pretty busy. Wish me well and that I don't freak out about flying. :P

Most of you know I've recently joined a choir again, which is just so good for my spirit, I can't begin to tell you. Anyway, I'm back into the fray just in time to begin Lent, and the church where I'm singing, Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, is singing the Duruflé Requiem as part of the Ash Wednesday service this Wednesday the 25th at 7 o'clock. I've sung most of the movements, but I'll definitely have a bit of an adrenaline rush singing it with only three full rehearsals! The choir is good, and actually has more men than women— that's a first for me in any semi-professional choir I've sung in. The guest organist is David Heller. We rehearsed after the service yesterday and our director, John Stege, pointed out the difficulty in the organ part, and Mr. Heller is quite accomplished. My mom is in the AGO (American Guild of Organists) and I grew up attending organ recitals, and even took organ myself for a couple of years, as well as working for an organist/choir director. I can evaluate an organist, anyway, and he's pretty good! There are parts with what must be the super-low 32' stop and the floor truly rumbles underfoot. :)

So for any of your flisters who live in the Portland area, if you observe Lent and want to experience the Requiem in the context of a service, or if you want to ignore the service part and hear the work anyway, I invite you to attend.

Hmmmm. I really do need to make a Portland or pacific northwest icon.