Day 16

Hey guys. Hope you all had good weekends! It has been such a long and crazy week two. I have felt like I have gotten a lot done but have also put a lot on my plate. I need to do a better job of managing what I can and can't do. The next two weeks I need to make sure to have a little bit more sleep and I hope to make it through this challenge! Today I was bummed about missing the brunch but I had picked up a shift at the bar Saturday night and hadn't made it home from work that morning until around 4 a.m. I woke up at 9 Sunday a.m. feeling pretty awful and didn't want to show up to the brunch making everyone else sick. I think I just worked myself too much this week. I need to know when to say no to working at the bar. It's easy money and I love the social aspect, but now that I work full time I just need to say no for my own sanity. 




Daily Practice Session

Technical Concepts -Did a light warm up today after I had rested/caught up on much needed sleep. New warm ups, lip trills, goo goos, yogi bear, baby cries, na na's, mixing in chest voice, middle voice, head voice, breathing/strengthening exercises.
Minutes - 25 

Repertoire - Sara Barielles, Gravity, Chrous Line, Nothing (Looked up several versions on Youtube for character ideas) 
Minutes – 40 

Successes – Honestly, that I even got through it today. But then I remembered that I had had so many successes this week and I have already made it halfway and there is no point in giving up now.

Areas for improvement – Getting enough sleep each night. 

Notes: I did get out of the house for an hour today to work with the lovely Christie Carter on my Henry the IV monologue. I have been struggling with it and she was so helpful. I wanted to give a little thank you to her for that because I really appreciated that. It was miserably hot and I was a tired/sick mess so, thank you, dude for doing that for me! 



Okay, finally, as I have been promising for the last three or four days, here are the posts about the charitable deeds...


Charitable Deed Number 1


Delivering food to women who live in the "International Zone" at the La Mesa Presbyterian Church. Every other Tuesday, a friend I know through my job at the law office takes food from Ned's on the Rio Grande to Hispanic women who live in what we all know as the "War Zone" on the south side of Central. The city is now trying to rename this area of the city to the "International Zone." The La Mesa Presbyterian Church holds a meeting every other Tuesday for young Hispanic mothers who live area of town to help them get their children into school, provide them with food, clothes, homes, etc. What I helped with on Tuesday was picking up the food from Ned's on the Rio Grande and delivering it to their meeting at the church. 

First we stopped at Ned's on the Rio Grande to pick up the Tacos, beans, rice, chips, salsa, and garnish for the meeting. It took a few trips to load the food. It also took a few different times tries trying to arrange the trays in the car before we figured out which way made the most sense. ha. 

dramatic salsa spill! 

... which made us 15 minutes late... 

Once we got to the church we helped unload the food and serve it to the women at the meeting. Since we were late I didn't want to interrupt their meeting to take any actual pictures with myself and any of the women but when I go back next week I will make sure them add to my blog! It was a great experience for my first charitable deed, and it was interesting to go into the "War Zone" because I definitely don't go there under normal circumstances, and it made me very grateful for all the nice things that I have in my life. 

Charitable Deed Number 2

Homeless Court

On Wednesday, I volunteered at The Bernalillo Metropolitan County Court Homeless Court with Naomi Salazar. This was by far one of the most eye opening experiences I have had since I have been working in the defense community in the last two years. The Homeless Court is set up at the Saint Martin's Homeless Shelter in the back room. 

St. Martin's Homeless Shelter is on Third Street and Mountain, downtown just down the street from the Metro Courthouse not far from where I work. I heard about this opportunity from my friend Naomi Salazar, a defense attorney who represents the homeless people who are required to appear at Homeless Court at St. Martins. Homeless Court was originally set up by Judge Victoria Grant as an alternative to regular court for the Homeless people in Bernalillo County. Homeless people who are regularly attending drug or alcohol counseling, have some steady form of income, and have a place to stay, can come to court and have prior misdemeanor charges worked out with the judge so they can be put on the right track towards sobriety and a better life. 

I helped Naomi with asking her clients all the preliminary questions once they got to the shelter: 

1. How long have you been in counseling?

2. Do you have a steady income, how much, how often, etc.

3. Where do you live?

4.Do you have social security?
5. Food stamps?


The interesting thing about Homeless Court was hearing the stories about people who had just recently been living on the streets and who had literally pulled themselves out of the gutter to try to make a better life for themselves. It made me think about how when I am stressing about the things I stress about there are people out there who have genuinely worse problems than I do. It really made me reevaluate life for the rest of the day.


I could only take pictures before court started because of the private nature of the cases, so unfortunately there are very few pictures for this one... I hope that's okay... 

Judge Benavidez's Secretary and Clerk before he entered the courtroom that was setup in the back of St. Martins Homeless Shelter

The courtroom, and Judge's Bench where Judge Edward Benavidez heard the Defendant's cases.