Day 29... I think this should be it?!

Oh my goodness I can't believe this is the end! With an exception of daily singing for Day 30 before the brunch tomorrow... I had three more things to accomplish today to complete the challenge, and I am happy to say that I was successful in doing so. After a rough and emotional day yesterday, I was worried that I might not get what I needed to get done today, but I made it happen, and regardless of the outcome of the competition tomorrow, I came out of this challenge a better person, a more confident singer, and a more mature and happy adult who knows a little bit more about herself and there isn't a better way to come out of January than that.


Charitable Deed Number 5
I got a good night sleep for the first night in a while and enjoyed sleeping in for the first time in forever.
So this was actually the only charitable deed I had had planned from day one, but from what you can see from the before picture picture of my closet posted below, I had managed to put this off until the last day... I am blessed and lucky enough to have acquired a ridiculous amount of clothes/shoes/sweaters/jackets/you name it. Normally, I purge my closet and take my clothes to Buffalo Exchange and trade them for new clothes or just get the money that I don't even need. This time, I decided to donate my clothes to the Barrett House, where the clothes/shoes go to women/children who actually need them.

Over the last few weeks my closet has gotten out of control. Normally, I am really organized, and can't live in a space that isn't completely clean and neat. Between working full time, rehearsing monologues, and getting a new job at the bar, I have lost all sense of organization in my closet. Shoes have been thrown all over the place and every time I look in there is makes me nauseated... Okay, I'm embarrassed I am even posting this on the internet but here it is... 

I started organizing my closet into what I wanted to give away and what I wanted to keep. This included shoes, shirts, dresses, shorts, jackets/sweaters and pants. I started at 10:00 and by 11:30 my closet was organized and the clothes that I wanted to donate were ready to be put in bags and loaded into my car. I snapped a photo first...

My cat Wabba was amongst the midst of shoes. I love her like she is my own child. It's ridiculous.

I ended up donating about twenty pairs of shoes, at least ten sweaters/jackets, and about ten shirts. I loaded everything into the bags and into my car and I headed to the Barrett House. I was really happy to donate all the things I never wear and that just sit in my closet to people who can use them and who need them. I am going to do that from now on. No more Buffalo Exchange for me ever again! 

After I left The Barrett House I ran straight to my 10th and final yoga class for this challenge. 

Dance/Personal Fitness Number 10

Date/time - January 29th, 2011 12:30

Type of class – Yoga II/III

Difficulty Level - Advanced

Studio and Instructor – Sports and Wellness, Pam H

What did you most enjoy? – I most enjoyed going to yoga straight after doing a charitable deed. It felt really great to do that and then going to yoga right after was really invigorating. I know that I need to slow down and let myself rest, but sometimes the only place I want to be is yoga, and today was definitely one of those days.

What did you find challenging and why? – Sometimes diving forwards into forward bend and then coming back up my vision would get really blurry for about a half second, kind of like when you wake up in the morning and get out of bed too fast. It happened twice and then the third time it lasted about 3 seconds and it kind of felt surreal. I went into childs pose and stayed there until I felt like I could practice again.

Observations – From now on when I do those forward dives I think I need to do them slower, the head rush I think is happening because I am going up or down too fast. Other than that it was a great practice, and I loved shavasana again.

After yoga, I continued my busy day with a stop to UNM to work on monologues and then met up with Paul for my last coaching session. 

Coaching Session Number 2

Date/time - January 29, 2011 5:45

Instructor - Paul Roth
Minutes- 60

Repertoire - A Chorus Line, Nothing, Spring Awakening, Mama Who Bore Me, and Gravity, No Good Deed

Points covered – We talked a lot about what happened during my little breakdown yesterday and how much better I was feeling today. We then went over Mama, then moved to Nothing. Went over slate real fast, then talked about legistics for the URTA audition. Then we moved to No Good Deed, and went through the music page by page, and Paul explained the music to me in terms of how to read it because I am terrible at reading music, which is what I was struggling with yesterday when we were learning it. Ryan came in at the end of my session, and I got to show him Nothing, and he seemed to like it, and it was so nice showing someone else what I am taking to URTA and NYU. I wasn't nervous at all. Sweeeet.

Notes: It was a great lesson. I absolutely love Paul. He is an amazing teacher and friend. He makes me feel so genuinely good about myself as a person and performer. I hope I can be that inspiring in other peoples lives some day!  

We had to make it good.

Daily Practice Session... second to last one!

Technical Concepts - Normal warm up, this time I did before I worked on monologues, which also helped with character warm ups.. added the me-ow and vowel scales that Kurt had introduced me to yesterday.
Minutes - 40 minutes

Repertoire - A Chorus Line, Nothing, Spring Awakening, Mama Who Bore Me, Wicked, No Good Deed
Minutes – 28

Successes – Finally figured out the vowel scale thing that I could not wrap my head around yesterday. That really frustrated me beyond anything normal during my session with Kurt last time we tried it. Today I worked on it slow and had more than three hours of sleep and, hey, it actually wasn't that hard. ha.

Areas for improvement – I had the actual vowels down in the scales but I was still getting "breathy" in head voice, and was having a hard time mixing up there. So I still will need a lot of work on that.

Notes: Singing for 29 days in a row I have been able to tell such a difference in the way my voice sounds and even feels. I rarely ever feel like I'm straining or trying hard to get the sound that I want, and it is so nice. 

Charitable Deed Number 4

Okay, this might be the longest blog of all time, but now I am going back and writing about my charitable deed number 4 which was volunteering at the Revolutions International Theatre Festival Kick-Off Party on January 11th and last night, January the 28th. The Kick-Off Party, I was originally planning on bartending, but there was a mix up, and I was asked to help with the info table, which was just as fun! I was at the front door, and greeted guests as the came in and offered them programs and told them about the Festival and answered any questions they had about the party, festival, Triclock Company, etc. Last night, I volunteered as a bartender (my specialty, haha) for the Moot and Something opening night reception. I got there early to help set up the reception. Tables, beer kegs, food, drinks, coffee, candles, lights, etc. Once the reception started, I helped serve Tractor Brewery beer, and after it ended I helped move the reception downstairs for the late night reception. 

Here is a pic of my volunteer shirt and a program from the festival. My phone died last night before I could snap any pictures bartending, and Jenni sent me pics this morning from the opening night party. Unfortunately I am super computer un-savy and couldn't get them to save...so here is a link to her blog from that day, which she was nice enough to have added pictures of me to! Jenni, you are the best! 

http://jens30days.blogspot.com/2011/01/day-11.html

OKAY... I think that's it. One more day of singing and it's over. It's been amazing. Special thank you's to my friend Sonia who text me every night to remind me to blog, my Mom who constantly puts up with my ridiculousness, Paul Roth, for making me feel amazing about myself every time I see you, all the other challengers, and especially Kurt Robinson. This is all because of you. Honestly. 

See you all tomorrow!!