The moment you walk into a public restroom stall and see urine not only splattered onto the seat, but all over the walls of the stall. Gross!
This could have been 1 of two things:
A. A squatter.
B. An unsupervised little boy.
I'm leaning towards B.
In all seriousness, people need to learn to clean up after themselves and/or their children!
Friday, August 31, 2012
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
The Human Guinea Pig
I'm starting to feel like my doctor thinks of me as a Human Guinea Pig. Every couple years, he puts me on a new medicine. Today, he started me on another one. Maybe this one will do what he thinks it should.
Really?
Really?
Monday, August 27, 2012
Expectations of an Adult
I don't know if it's just me or my age group, or maybe it's everyone. I feel I have all of these expectations put on me as an adult. Some days, I'm just in survival mode. Can I make it through the day without hurting myself or someone else. Other days, I feel truly successful! I made it to work! All of the bills are paid! I have a roof over my head!
Does anyone else feel this way? Or is it just me?
Does anyone else feel this way? Or is it just me?
Sunday, August 26, 2012
System of a Down: A Random Love
I am a musician, and a classical opera sing to boot! I'm also obsessed with pop divas. I have this random love for the band System of a Down. I admit it! I love listening to the harmonies. The lead singer's voice is phenomenal! This band isn't for the faint of heart! (If you don't like cussing among other things, don't listen!)
You might think, "Such a sweet girl! She sings opera and show choir music. Why would she be obsessed with System of a Down?!?"
This band is so operatic! I can listen to them for hours on end. The other day I was listening to them and thinking, I would love to start a band where my operatic voice isn't shunned. Then, I start to realize, how there's a double standard with male and female opera singers. It's O.K. for male singers in the pop/rock genre to sound like opera singers. Besides System of a Down, there's Josh Groban, Il Divo, Muse, and many other male singers with operatic style voices that have successful "Pop Music" careers. When I look at female singers with that style of voice, I see a handful who are very successful, like Kristin Chenoweth, Sandy Patty, and young people, like Charlotte Church and Jackie Evancho. After Charlotte grew up, the novelty of a 13 year old singing opera wore off, and she's not heard of anymore. I hope little Jackie Evancho can survive that stigma! Women who are not "Belters" are chastised for having too much vibrato. I've been there. I know.
Has anyone else experienced this?
So, who's with me?! Who wants to start and operatic rock band with a female lead singer?
You might think, "Such a sweet girl! She sings opera and show choir music. Why would she be obsessed with System of a Down?!?"
This band is so operatic! I can listen to them for hours on end. The other day I was listening to them and thinking, I would love to start a band where my operatic voice isn't shunned. Then, I start to realize, how there's a double standard with male and female opera singers. It's O.K. for male singers in the pop/rock genre to sound like opera singers. Besides System of a Down, there's Josh Groban, Il Divo, Muse, and many other male singers with operatic style voices that have successful "Pop Music" careers. When I look at female singers with that style of voice, I see a handful who are very successful, like Kristin Chenoweth, Sandy Patty, and young people, like Charlotte Church and Jackie Evancho. After Charlotte grew up, the novelty of a 13 year old singing opera wore off, and she's not heard of anymore. I hope little Jackie Evancho can survive that stigma! Women who are not "Belters" are chastised for having too much vibrato. I've been there. I know.
Has anyone else experienced this?
So, who's with me?! Who wants to start and operatic rock band with a female lead singer?
Friday, August 24, 2012
Corn Mo: You Know, that guy who plays the accordian!
I was talking to some friends about Ben Folds. One of them said, "Ya, this guy with an accordion opened for him! He was crazy!"
I said, "Ya, that was Corn Mo!!! He's amazing!"
If you've ever seen Corn Mo perform, you know who he is! He had a couple years where he was Ben Folds' opening act. (And if you know me, you know I LOVE Ben!)
My personal favorite Corn Mo song is "Hava Nagila Monster."
I've seen numerous Corn Mo performances, basically because I've seen Ben so many times! One performance, I remember, Corn Mo was playing his accordion, and had a cymbal on the ground in front of him. He tied a drum stick into his shoelace and would hit the cymbal with it. That was awesome!
For some reason, Corn Mo has been on my mind since that conversation a week ago, so, I thought I would make that public.
And this is a random memory from Pechin!
I said, "Ya, that was Corn Mo!!! He's amazing!"
If you've ever seen Corn Mo perform, you know who he is! He had a couple years where he was Ben Folds' opening act. (And if you know me, you know I LOVE Ben!)
My personal favorite Corn Mo song is "Hava Nagila Monster."
I've seen numerous Corn Mo performances, basically because I've seen Ben so many times! One performance, I remember, Corn Mo was playing his accordion, and had a cymbal on the ground in front of him. He tied a drum stick into his shoelace and would hit the cymbal with it. That was awesome!
For some reason, Corn Mo has been on my mind since that conversation a week ago, so, I thought I would make that public.
And this is a random memory from Pechin!
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
To Go To College or Not To Go To College
When you were in high school, did you feel like you had options when you graduated? I didn't. I was expected to go to college. That's just what everyone did after high school. If you didn't, you were a failure.
Nobody explained to me at any point, as a teenager, how expensive it is to go to college. No one explained to me that "Financial Aid" really meant LOANS that will take the rest of my life to pay off!
I was at most a mediocre high school student. I'm shocked that I graduated. I passed most of my classes in high school, but that's about it. I got A's in all of my music classes and drama classes, and that's probably what kept me afloat as a student. It's probably the only reason I stayed in school, to participate in those activities.
Even though there are hundreds upon hundreds of colleges, I only applied to one. My drama teacher had graduated from Indiana State University. He had taken his students there every year for their Theater and Drama Day. That was my exposure to the school. As soon as I found out that they had a music degree, I knew that's where I was going. No one encouraged me to check anything else out. Luckily, I got into the school and into the music department. Maybe they took everyone with a pulse at that time. All I knew I wanted to do was sing!
After my first two years of college, I realized how much debt I was getting into, but as a Dialysis patient on the transplant waiting list, I had to keep going to school. That way, I could stay on my mom's insurance. By the time I was in my third year of college, I figured out, I have a passion for doing hair. I could have gone to a two year or less trade school and been licensed to do hair!
With all of my health issues, and again, the fact that I'm a mediocre student at best, it took me six and a half years to finish my course work. With my internship, that turned it into seven years. I got loans every single year to survive.
Right now, my college loan debt is around $48,000. That does not include the credit cards that I charged my college books and groceries to. I am slowly working to pay off all of that debt. In 2004, my father's reaction to my debt was, "Declare Bankruptcy! It's the only way you are going to survive!" Well, I didn't do that. I'm slowly working my way out of debt. It's going to take some time, but it's happening.
I almost feel duped as a teenager, being told, the only way to make it in life is to go to college! No one once ever said to me, "Hey, did you know there are trade schools with two year degrees?" or "Maybe you shouldn't get yourself in that much debt. College is really expensive!"
Would I have listened to any of these comments at the time?
These days, are teenagers told how much it costs to go to college? Is "Financial Aid" really explained to them in a manor that says, this is more debt?
Nobody explained to me at any point, as a teenager, how expensive it is to go to college. No one explained to me that "Financial Aid" really meant LOANS that will take the rest of my life to pay off!
I was at most a mediocre high school student. I'm shocked that I graduated. I passed most of my classes in high school, but that's about it. I got A's in all of my music classes and drama classes, and that's probably what kept me afloat as a student. It's probably the only reason I stayed in school, to participate in those activities.
Even though there are hundreds upon hundreds of colleges, I only applied to one. My drama teacher had graduated from Indiana State University. He had taken his students there every year for their Theater and Drama Day. That was my exposure to the school. As soon as I found out that they had a music degree, I knew that's where I was going. No one encouraged me to check anything else out. Luckily, I got into the school and into the music department. Maybe they took everyone with a pulse at that time. All I knew I wanted to do was sing!
After my first two years of college, I realized how much debt I was getting into, but as a Dialysis patient on the transplant waiting list, I had to keep going to school. That way, I could stay on my mom's insurance. By the time I was in my third year of college, I figured out, I have a passion for doing hair. I could have gone to a two year or less trade school and been licensed to do hair!
With all of my health issues, and again, the fact that I'm a mediocre student at best, it took me six and a half years to finish my course work. With my internship, that turned it into seven years. I got loans every single year to survive.
Right now, my college loan debt is around $48,000. That does not include the credit cards that I charged my college books and groceries to. I am slowly working to pay off all of that debt. In 2004, my father's reaction to my debt was, "Declare Bankruptcy! It's the only way you are going to survive!" Well, I didn't do that. I'm slowly working my way out of debt. It's going to take some time, but it's happening.
I almost feel duped as a teenager, being told, the only way to make it in life is to go to college! No one once ever said to me, "Hey, did you know there are trade schools with two year degrees?" or "Maybe you shouldn't get yourself in that much debt. College is really expensive!"
Would I have listened to any of these comments at the time?
These days, are teenagers told how much it costs to go to college? Is "Financial Aid" really explained to them in a manor that says, this is more debt?
Monday, July 9, 2012
Disney World, the trip worth taking!
In the Fall, Ian and I took a trip to Disney World. It was amazing! So amazing, I keep asking him when we're going back! We spent eight nights and nine days in the Disney World Resort, and every moment was awesome!
One of my favorite things about Disney World were the Extra Magic Hours! If you stay on Disney property, they have the parks open for extra hours for the guests. During these Extra Magic Hours, you get to ride all of the main attractions without all of the extra people that are there during the day. This is so much fun! Ian and I figured this out by accident. I mean, we were told what they were, but just ended up being in the right park the second night we were there! We were in Hollywood Studios eating dinner at the Sci-Fi Diner, and when we were done, the park was still open! I got to ride my favorite ride, Star Tours, 8 or 9 times in a row that night! That was awesome! I recommend, anyone that's going, take advantage of the Extra Magic Hours!
When you go to Disney, I totally recommend getting the dining plan! We actually got a code for a free dining plan when we went. The dining plan we used had one quick service meal, one table service meal, and one snack a day per person. We maybe spent $150 total on food! Almost every meal was amazing! One of my personal favorite meals was eating at the Coral Reef restaurant in Epcot. The Coral Reef has a gigantic tank full of sea life you can watch while eating sea food! I know, it sounds all wrong! But it was so beautiful! An awesome sea turtle sat next to us and slept for our entire meal! We also experienced the Aloha Show, the Sci-Fi Drive In Diner, and the Liberty Tree Inn. All we had to pay for were the tips. I had a friend that went with her family a couple weeks ago. Her family paid for the dining plan, and she said, they saved over $500. Trust me, you will never go hungry with the dining plan. Dessert comes with every meal!
My favorite experience from the entire trip was the "Festival of the Lion King." This show lasted about a half hour. It's located in the Animal Kingdom. People line up for it at least a half hour ahead of start time. There are puppets and people dressed as the animals. It's an interactive experience from beginning to end. The characters talk to the audience and make them part of the show! They have the audience make the sounds of Wart Hogs, Elephants, Giraffes, and Lions. Then, they tell the story of the "Lion King" through a musical review. I cried both times we saw it!
Going to Disney is definitely the trip worth taking. We plan on going again soon! I would recommending going at least once B.C. (Before Children). We got to enjoy so many things on our own time. The Happiest Place on Earth is worth every penny we spent!
One of my favorite things about Disney World were the Extra Magic Hours! If you stay on Disney property, they have the parks open for extra hours for the guests. During these Extra Magic Hours, you get to ride all of the main attractions without all of the extra people that are there during the day. This is so much fun! Ian and I figured this out by accident. I mean, we were told what they were, but just ended up being in the right park the second night we were there! We were in Hollywood Studios eating dinner at the Sci-Fi Diner, and when we were done, the park was still open! I got to ride my favorite ride, Star Tours, 8 or 9 times in a row that night! That was awesome! I recommend, anyone that's going, take advantage of the Extra Magic Hours!
Cinderella's Castle Decorated for Christmas
Liberty Tree Inn Dessert
Festival of the Lion King Flying Monkeys
Going to Disney is definitely the trip worth taking. We plan on going again soon! I would recommending going at least once B.C. (Before Children). We got to enjoy so many things on our own time. The Happiest Place on Earth is worth every penny we spent!
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