LA County Fair

All that discussion of food with Deb and Jill has got me thinking about the LA county fair again. I went for the first time last weekend and it was pretty fun. The best part, of course, was the food. I had a barbecued turkey leg and it was sublime. I think I can eat two of those at a time (alright I can imagine doing it). And we had funnel cake (another carnival favorite of mine), deep fried snickers bar (but of course, you just have to), fried avocados (a little disappointing), hawaiian shaved ice and beer. If only my stomach was bigger.
And I love the animals! Was almost tempted to go into the petting zoo, where they had the cutest little donkey. Though I have to admit I don't see the point of showing rabbits and chickens. And the pig races! I thought the little piglets would just meander around but they really know how to race! The vendors are neat too, trying to sell us overpriced gadgets. I didn't buy anything, but they were nice to see. My personal favorite was the home soda maker. Absolutely useless, but a cool item nonetheless.

Doggie sweater

finally finished my design for the doggie sweater for Eric's chihuahua. Actually its his mom's dog, but I thought it would be cool for him to sport a Tennessee Volunteers sweater this football season. I sure hope it fits the dog. Of course, I should really be working on the apps for the other jobs I'm applying to. Ugh!
EHD wants a cat bed too. V says that it can be grounds for harassment...ha ha.

The app is in. Now I wait.

The essay is coming along slowly, and I am way too tired. Time for some zzzzs.

Life as a soprano

Started my lessons with my new voice teacher yesterday. It's interesting, switching teachers, for as DN said, there are as many ways of teaching voice as there are voice teachers. That said, some of the things that Kathleen does is definitely counter to what I have learned from Alma. But one thing is for certain--it appears that my days as a mezzo are over. I managed to eke out a high Eb yesterday! Whoa is that even possible? So I will be exploring more soprano repertoire with her, and she thought that we could put together a few arias so I can start thinking about auditioning for opera roles and participate in voice competitions. Cool, I say, if I only I have more time in a day.

We also started choir practice yesterday. Also my first day as a soprano in a new section. Several of my friends in the alto section said "I always thought you were a soprano." It's a little strange, I'm not used much to singing in head voice and all the high As and Bs, so it is a different challenge. Not to mention I have never SUNG the Messiah in soprano, so I have to relearn all the notes. But thankfully soprano is always the easier part to pick up such that even my very limited sight reading skills can manage.

The job app process is tough. All the little details that I have to pay attention to. On the third draft of my resume, and still have a lot to do on the cover letter and short essay.

Career Change?

There's this opportunity that has come up--a really good job, and I have decided to apply. My NJ friend T has been a great help regarding this topic as he is familiar with the field. The job itself sound very interesting, and the pay is good. I have never really been on a job interview, I am a little nervous about the whole thing, but first I have to get the app in so that I can even get an interview. We'll see. Deadline is this friday so I don't have much time to stress and get it done. Also figured that if I am going to apply to this company, I might as well try the other leaders in the field too. So far I am keeping this low key; R is the only one at work who knows.

I think it would be a good experience for me, both the interview process and perhaps even an offer! But I also think that I am getting further and further away from science with each step of the way. I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand I do really like science, but the day to day experiments are really getting to me. I figure I'll cross the bridge when I get there.

L'orangerie

Took Eric to L'orangerie in West Hollywood for his birthday dinner. We ate way too much food but it was fun and the food was good. I like going out to these ultra gourmet dinners once in a while, if only they weren't so expensive!
So we ate:
Foie gras terrine
Shrimp and crab salad
Poached lobster
Pan fried Turbot
Cheese plate
Apple tart
Chocolate souffle
and a bottle of white wine
Yeah that was a lot of food.

Labor Day

I have this new addiction to watching TV series on DVD. I'm not usually around to watch every single episode of a TV show just beacuse. But since I discovered DVDs for all the shows, I have been watching them, sometimes hours at a time, without commercials. To be honest, I find it much better than watching them during the season. This way, I don't have to wait till the next week to find out what happens, simply go to the next episode.

So how did I spend my labor day weekend:
Went to Redondo beach. Rode my bike along the beach, then at crab at one of the Korean owned establishments on the pier.
Cleaned, organized, cleaned some more. I have this urge to put things in order.
Think about the fact that I have to go back to work tomorrow....urgh!