The Little Joys in Life...

So when I moved to Tucson, I had to get rid of my washer/dryer because I couldn't find an apartment with hookups. So for the first time since my junior year of college I am having to take my laundry to the laundramat. This is NOT my most favorite task because it's expensive, time-consuming, and a little creepy at times...until I found a "wash 'n fold" place where I can drop my clothes off and they do it all! It's a bit more expensive than doing it myself but I decided it's totally worth it for my peace of mind plus I don't have to pay for the soap or anything so when you add that in there it's actually quite comparable. This makes me especially happy because I hate to fold and hang clothes (probably cause I get paid to do it at Ann Taylor LOFT) so the fact that they fold all my clothes into perfect little rectangles make it worth it!

"Rigoletto"

Last night I had tickets to see NKOTB in San Antonio with my good pal Lacy. But it just happened to fall on mid-term week and the plane tickets were crazy expensive so I hesitantly gave up my ticket and my trip back to SA. Luckily, I had the opportunity to go to Phoenix with my fellow Music Ed. TA, Johanna, to see Arizona's professional opera company perform "Rigoletto" by Verdi. It was INCREDIBLE! It is a tragic opera in every sense of the word. I was nearly moved to tears on several occasions.

If you don't know the story. The long and short of it is this:
Rigoletto is a court jester and gets a curse put on him at a party of the Duke's.
Rigoletto has a daughter, Gilda, that no one knows about because he doesn't want her to live a life of shame as he does being a jester.
The Duke, a womanizer, sees her at church (the only public place she is allowed to go) and follows her and they fall in love.
The men from the party find out about Gilda and decide to play their own joke on the jester and kidnap her.
Long story short, Rigoletto pays an assassin to kill the Duke in order to have his revenge.
Gilda comes back to the place where the Duke is dressed as a man (in order to escape the city) and is killed in the Dukes place.
As Rigoletto starts to take the body to the river, he looks to see the dead Duke and discovers his own daughter.

That's the really short version. It was absolutely heart-wrenching. The leads were hired from the Metropolitan Opera in New York and were hands down the best singers I have ever heard! It was wonderful to finally get out and do something I love.

And there's your music history lesson for the day!

The Sun Is Still in the Sky And Shining Above You...

I was sitting here attempting to work on a grad school project when a song by ABBA, "I Have A Dream" came on my itunes. I've been listening to ABBA a lot lately. My sisters and I spent a lot of time singing ABBA at the top of our lungs with my Mom and Grandma Amerine. As I was sitting here listening, I realized that this week is the anniversary of my Grandma's passing in 1991. This probably explains why I've been listening to so much ABBA lately and why I was brought to tears several times watching the musical "Mamma Mia" this weekend. My Grandma was amazing person with, from what I remember at a young age, an amazing amount of courage and endurance.

I've been struggling a lot lately with my decision to move to Tucson, AZ and pursue my Ph.D. I don't particularly like it here and haven't really connected with anyone. It's like I can't stop wanting what I can't have (which is the U of A magically transporting itself to San Antonio). I miss the life I had in San Antonio and have pretty much refused to make Tucson home.

My favorite ABBA song "Chiquitita" sums up dealing with troubling situations in a wonderful way:

Chiquitita, you and I know
How the heartaches come and they go and the scars theyre leaving
Youll be dancing once again and the pain will end
You will have no time for grieving
Chiquitita, you and I cry
But the sun is still in the sky and shining above you
Let me hear you sing once more like you did before
Sing a new song, chiquitita
Try once more like you did before
Sing a new song, chiquitita

I think it's time for me to do exactly this...no wonder Grandma loved this song! I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Updating my Blog on a Friday Night...I'm THAT Cool!

I had every intention of going to a symphony orchestra concert tonight at school but I fell asleep this afternoon and woke up right before it was supposed to start. I would use this as my excuse for having nothing to do but the truth is this is pretty much a typical weekend for me since moving to Tucson. I just haven't really connected with anyone on more than a "see you at school" level. Don't worry...I'm working on it...kind of.

So the other day I'm sitting in my office and a student knocks on my door. He's not my student and I share my office with three other people. He says he's looking for Keith. I don't know who this is but I also haven't met everyone I supposedly share my office with. So I tell him he can come in and wait if he wants. I confirm the building and office number and he says this is his teacher's office hours (I'm pretty sure this isn't the case because I'm here every week at this time). So he sits there awkward for a couple minutes while I continue to pretend to do work on the computer (I was probably checking my email instead).

Then suddenly he gets up and says, "This is the wrong room, sorry" and leaves. I thought it was funny, poor undergrad kid! He probably felt so silly, especially since I confirmed the location and asked him if he was sure he was in the right place. I got a kick out of it!

Some Visitors!!

My brother Wayne and his family drove up to Tucson for a quick visit this weekend. It was great to see them! We took Noah and Julianna (my nephew and niece) to the zoo, grilled some good steaks, and had a great time hanging out. I kept forgetting to take pictures though! Here are a couple (I have to post them, look how cute these kids are?!?!).



Julianna loved watching all the animals!



She's a little monkey herself!



Noah was quite comfortable in my papasan chair! Such a sweet boy!