"Almost Famous"

The funniest/niftiest thing happened this afternoon up at UNC. I dropped by to see my advisor in the afternoon, and he handed me a videotape and asked if I recognized it. The label said "Colorado Arts Alliance" and I knew it was the arts advocacy video that Channel 9 did my senior year in high school (back in 1996) in which I am featured, interviewed, etc. Apparently he's been showing this video to a particular music ed class of his for years, but hadn't shown it since I came to UNC. He played it for his class this morning and several of the undergrads recognized me from last semester's guitar class. Dr. Harding was just as surprised as they were!

Just last week, another of my professors referred to my 2-year-old amazon.com review on a new textbook she's added to the course.

It makes me smile. And it makes me feel like I've been around forever!

Should I have known?

I was reading the Denver Post this evening - an article about Michelle Kwan acting as a US Diplomat in China. One otherwise unexceptional sentence caught my attention.... did anyone else know that she's a student at University of Denver?

It's great to be back!

I'm happy to be back on campus again. My first class this morning was stellar. I knew I was going to enjoy it before the prof ever said a word. He went to the board and wrote a list of about 15 different ways we could address him including nicknames he has apparently acquired along the way, and of course, concluding with "hey you!" I've been concerned about this class simply because it's 2 hours long and I have trouble focussing on anything that long, but this fella held my attention the whole time. I'm going to enjoy this class. (McKnights? Jensens? Any of you ever have Dr. Jacobs for Foundations of Education?)

I got to campus early today because I overestimated how long it would take me to run my errands. So, I went to the UC with the intent of eating lunch, checking email, and visiting the bookstore. I accomplished none of these things. There was a fair of sorts in the commons area of different companies and school organizations advertising. I started with a free chair massage. I eventually walked out with a cup, a t-shirt, a highlighter, ink pen, cookie, water bottle, water bottle holder, lotion, candy and coupons. Not bad!

I got to the bookstore later on and finally acquired the UNC Christmas tree ornament I've been wanting. :-)

Around the world in.... a lifetime?

I have always wanted to create a map of the states I've visited! How wonderful that someone came up with an easy way to do it! (Thanks for the tip, Rog & Meli!)


I have visited 62% of the US states! :-)
create your own visited states map


Wow.... it's a BIG world out there!! Not counting the US, of course, I have visited 8 countries.
create your own visited countries map

I should have my mom do this - she's really been all over the place on her diving trips!

A busy semester ahead

School starts for me again on Monday. I'm looking forward to it because I have some great classes lined up. I cut back a little this semester, though. I'm taking four classes instead of five, and 10 credit hours instead of 11. I think eliminating the 1 credit course will help a lot, especially since those always seem to require as much effort as the 2 and 3 credit courses. The class I opted out of this time around was brass techniques - I think Eric will appreciate not having to listen to me learn to play the trumpet. I was very successful last semester in all of my classes, despite having to stay two weeks ahead of everything so I could go to Rome. But I was so busy, I rarely had time to spend with my husband. I decided I would rather spend an extra semester at it and live a more balanced life in the meanwhile. Between not having the Rome trip and having fewer classes, I should be more available.

Of course, I will have my hands full with NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing). I've been on the board for the CO/WY chapter for the last year and a half as the VP of Website Development (aka Webmistress). In the fall, I plan to step up as VP of Auditions, as well - although I will hand off the website if someone else wants to run it. Technically, I will need to be elected to the Auditions Chair role, but I will be working with the current Chair this spring for this year's auditions, so I will have a huge advantage if anyone else is self-punishing enough to want to run against me. The annual auditions are a huge undertaking, but I think I will enjoy it because it will be like a giant sudoku - arranging all the judges, accompanists and singers into rooms and time-slots so that none overlap. I'm looking forward to it - it seems like my cup of tea. But that will definitely take some time this spring.

I am also putting together the program for Loveland Opera Theatre's spring show, which take a surprisingly large chunk of time. I wasn't able to be in the show because it is too much on top of grad school, but I can still contribute by doing the program. I've done all the other programs since the company's inception, so it makes sense.

So, anyhow, that's what I've got planned for the spring. I'll schedule the studio recital for mid-May to early June so I don't have to worry about it on top of all the other stuff.

Buried treasures....

Eric and I are in Ohio visiting my Dad. Yesterday we rode the motorcycles to South Lawn Cemetery in Coshocton and introduced Eric to my grandparents, great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents. We spent today bailing out the flooding basement, which involved moving some boxes out of the way, and in the process I found a number of special things, including more letters from my grandad when he was working in Nepal for the United Nations, and three of his UN passports; also my grandfather's, grandmother's and great-grandmother's high school diplomas and confirmation certificates, and my great-grandparents' marriage license, news articles, old photographs and other assorted treasures. So, flooding basements are not all bad, I guess.