Archaeology is so cool!
Mood:  happy

I really love my classes this year. I'm learning so much archaeology so fast! I wish I were more motivated to make these blog entries as interesting as my courses are. I'm constantly learning about places I want to visit and mysteries I want to solve. My particular combination of courses is especially nice because they all cover different aspects and levels of the field. With ceramics, I get an in-depth horizontal study of one focused area of analysis applicable worldwide. With the Andes I get the opposite -- a vertical study of all elements in one geographic location. Finally, Foundations presents the history of the discipline in a way that illuminates the approaches we take and that our predecessors have taken in studying the past. They all connect beautifully with one another and some things I learn in one class often appear tangentially or in the background of the others. And it's fun. The world is my sandbox.

Rain Rain Go Away...
It is pouring rain here in the 'Have. It began in earnest around 2 pm and has been surging and resurging ever since. We didn't even get up the nerve to walk to the dining hall, so we ordered Chinese take-out. I'm jsut glad I'm not in Florida. I'm starting to think their ghastly weather this fall is a warning from the climate gods about what will happen if they screw up our election again.

Looks Like I'm Not Such A Loser After All...
Mood:  lazy
Three people got into TUIB.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

One sophomore boy, a freshman girl, and a senior girl.

This really makes last week's obsessing seem very silly.

I'm Getting Really Tired of Coming Up With Titles
I had a wonderful time at the Peabody today. It was the opening of the new giant squid exhibit and a series of kids' activities were put on. Kids dissected squid, helped draw a life-size squid on the pavement outside, made their own squid puppets out of paper and string, tired to throw a sucker-covered ball at an adhesive picture of a squid in with the intent of hitting its eye, and went to a talk about squid. I helped with the puppet making. Kids are wonderful, especially the intellectually curious variety. It made me so happy to see the little girl who knew the names of all the dinosaurs in the Great Hall, where I worked. I absolutely love this job.

That time in September
There's something about Late September that sticks with you. It is almost a season unto itself, neither summer nor fall. Somewhere in the hardening green and the ripe sky and the dying goldenness of everything is a young heart in a young body, standing on the chilly precipice of a rapid aging and awakening, only looking. Looking and realizing that things are to be lost and that all journeyways run through death (though they do not all end there). It is a season of bittersweet begininings, of silent understanding, of held breath before resigned and wordless plunges. And yet the smile of summer remains, and every green moment left will be, if not innocent, sweeter for it.

What I Really Want
Mood:  happy
Did anyone actually believe I was going to get into TUIB? Honestly, I think I was more in love with the idea of it than the reality. I'm not good at perfoming. What I really need is a small, art-oriented group. I've decided to start a creative writing workshopping group, since I can't think of anything more fun. We could meet at a cafe and discuss eachother's work, very Iowa-esque! The only thing I'm strugling with is how to limit the size to 15 people or so while still having it be non-exclusive. I'm getting more and more excited about my writing just thinking about this!

The days go by so slowly...
Mood:  not sure
Now Playing: "I Fought In a War," Belle and Sebastian
The sweet sweet agony of waiting for Tuib results. I have been over-analyzing everything. I have not been very good about sugar consumption since last night, mostly as a result of stress, but I am beginning to think I will get called back and am going to be very strict about it the next few days. Plus, I really need to eat better in general. I've gotten pretty strong from weights and Tai Chi, but I really need to cut down on junk. My roommates are sick of hearing me talk about Tuib. Claudia has decided my current emotional state is most akin to "lovesick." I'm in the sighing-after-boy-and-wondering-if-he-will-call phase. Except said boy has been replaced by a singing group.

There's so much drama going on across the hall. I'm so glad I don't have a boyfriend. I'll take a singing group any day.

GAAAAAAghhhahhfhhfhaididjijddfreakingnervousnessisstillheregaaaaa
Mood:  sharp
Now Playing: Nothing, only echoes of my TUIB audition
I am so, so ,so jittery when I should be relieved. (Note: There is no mood icon for "jittery," or even "nervous," nor is there one for "relieved." I only chose "sharp" because I sang House of the Rising Sun a half step higher than TUIB actually sings it. Get it? It's a pun. If anything this is a good thing.)

So how did it go? I'm still having difficulty typing. I wish I had done worse, in some ways, because now I've tricked half my brain (and worse, half my heart) into thinking I have a shot, when in reality I probably don't. Basically, it went fine.

I was slightly put off by the fact that the order of things went warmup-quartet-solo rather than warmup-solo-quartet. This messed me up because based on my warmup, the Tuibsters assigned me an alto part for the quartet, which is (a) harder for me to do in my current vocal state (b) harder for me to do while blending, since I either have a weakish alto or a powerful alto, the latter of which would have been too strong to use, I think, and (c) harder to do because I wanted to be sure I was ready to hit the high notes of my solo. The quartet went fine, but if I'd been prepared for it I'd have done better, I think.

The solo went well. I'm sure I was trembling uncontrollably, and I stopped a verse from the end because of a passing siren, but I never really faltered. It wasn't flawless, but I think they were quite impressed. In that sense, I'm glad it was last. They might interpret my earlier hesitation and nervous banter as pure nerves, which is mostly true. The girl before me really wasn't good at all (yay for eavesdropping), so I felt ok. Unfortunately, I have no idea if I handled the rhythm well at all, since I was too nervous to notice. Why am I such a stressball? I hope that practicing the song so much pulled me through.

I'm so nervous because we hear about callbacks at the end of the whole freaking week! I would say that getting called back is a serious possibility, since they were likely left with a positive but tentative impression of me. My strategy is to prepare an alto piece so they can hear what it was they wanted to hear from me last time.

If I were certain I would not get called back, I would resume my consumption of caffeine, dairy, and dessert. But of course I have to give myself an A minus, and that means I have to work harder than ever until I know for sure.

A side note: Emily's boyfriend Nick, who is an accomplished pianist, asked me what I was auditioning for. When I told him he said, "Oh really? I didn't know they had auditions. I thought they just took anyone who came." I really wanted to hit him, but I didn't.

Tangled Up In Doom
My voice felt better this morning, but has since gotten a little rougher. I'm so distracted right now and I can't focus. I wish I didn't have to audition tomorrow! Aaaaaahhhhh! I especially wish I didn't have to do a presentation in class tomorrow, which will wear out my voice. I found out that I have to do a warm up and warm down at the audition, which I hate because I sound really bad warming up. My range doesn't work that way. I guess that's because I'm not a very good singer. It'll be so nice when this is over.

Folkin' Amazing...
Just in from the New Haven Folk Festival, featuring Arlo Guthrie and our very own TUIB. Arlo was great, and had some the best stage banter I'd ever seen. He was hilarious! He told wonderul, silly stories about his songs and his dad and the president...ah. The concert was so long! I'm exhausted. There were two groups that performed between TUIB and Arlo, and they were good. In fact, one of them was amazing -- Four Bitchin' Babes. They were all mothers who have had solo careers and came together to form this group, and their lyrics were extremely humorous. I wish I had a brain cell left to remember some examples. Well, it was awesome. It was supposed to be outside in a park but got moved to the middle school auditorium (much nicer than any high school auditorium I'd ever seen, by the way) due to Ivan fallout. It was so rainy this morning! I was afraid to go outside!

There are two concerts I want to go to next week at Toad's (Dar Williams and They Might Be Giants), but I think I should rest my voice as much as possible. I met two more people who are trying out for TUIB. Endurance beyond hope, that's all I've got. :)

Good night.