i'm so excited! i'm so excited! i'm so scared!
my coworker just asked me to take pictures at her wedding! can i handle that kind of responsibility? what if i mess up? what if i'm great! what if i forget to take the lens cap off! AHHH!
next stop => amazon.com for important professional photog accessories.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
i'll take the compliment
i received an email from a former co-worker today, a cute older filipino lady who's a cross between my grandma and tweety bird. due to office bullshit she no longer works here but has filled her days since grinding daily in various ballroom dance classes and world travel.
anyways, she asked about my acting and mentioned that she thought of me the other day when she went to the sisterhood of the traveling pants 2 because i remind her of america...which only reaffirms my belief that i should have been cast as her older sister in real women have curves and not the gordita from stand and deliver.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
that which i love, i also really suck at
oh man, do i have a lot of work ahead of me.
i had my first group voice lesson on monday. i may have entered fearful yet excited but i sure as hell left scared shitless yet frustrated.
so it started out ok. we sat in a circle and our teacher, the awesome stephanie, had us all introduce ourselves and tell a little about our musical background, why we were there, etc, etc, etc.
-pinay had no musical background/experience (yay!) but did have a karaoke machine at home (uh oh). pinay + karaoke = a lot more experience than you think.
-mild mannered girl had taken the class already
-janis joplin-lite had experience singing with a band and hurt her voice by singing lots of janis joplin songs with no previous training. again, experience.
-nice older white couple (husband & wife) were next. she used to sing in the church choir. he used to play in a band
-so-called stage fright girl can SANG but has stage fright...allegedly.
-me...yeah.
-theatre geek girl studied theatre tech in college. and sang along back stage. she also plays rock band with her friends.
-chick who reminds me of the runaway bride but without the crazy eyes has experience. like lots.
-little man plays multiple instruments and apparently wrote, produced and played on an album.
so, yeah, after intros we had a little warm up. then we learned an easy little blues song called "centerpiece". we all sang it as a group over and over until we learned the words and melody and then we each got a chance to sing a verse into the microphone. since we were all singing together i didn't dwell too much on the part where i messed up. the only mess up in the group. then, the sweat glands started working overdrive when we each had to get up in front of the group and sing the song by ourselves. nice older white husband went first and was OK. since no one volunteered, i went up second. eh, not bad, not great. i may have held at least one note for more than a second. everyone else went and you could tell that each person up was a little better than the last. pinay had some tempo problems but she has a decent voice that will get better with time.
hot messness ensues...
the class is part voice, part performance. for 7 weeks, we'll work on 2-3 songs. at the end of the 7 weeks we will perform 2 songs in a little voice lesson showcase in a public place. i was one of 3 people who brought in the music for a song we wanted to work on. due to some chemical imbalance, i went first. i chose a song that i have loved for more than half my life. a song i practiced for about an hour the night before. this song is part of the soundtrack of my life. it's an r&b classic. a classic that took me 2 notes to step on, burn, pee on, burn again, spit on, then poop on, then i took it to the butcher and had him make sausages out of it.
i won't get into all the hitzness. it was just bad. i might as well have been standing up there naked with boogers hanging out of my nose. i don't think it could have been worse.
as keeks has said, it can only get better. the man is a blithering idiot but he makes sense. it's a class and i'm there to get better, or based on my performance, i'm there to not suck so much. while i'm intimidated by the other students, and my insecurities have risen to orange alert, i don't feel threatened. scared of what's ahead, but not threatened. it's a nurturing environment with an amazingly nice teacher. (who knew germans could be so neat?!?) i also have a really awesome friend in keeks, my musical partner in crime. we conquered the C major scale together and climaxed at 2 madonna concerts. i've been his audience and #1 fan for the mint, rehearsals, or just about anytime he wants to bust out some pentecostal hand waving and wailing while waiting for MUNI. it's his turn now.
most of the pieces i need to become a singer are in place. zen-like patience and hero-like courage will follow.
i had my first group voice lesson on monday. i may have entered fearful yet excited but i sure as hell left scared shitless yet frustrated.
so it started out ok. we sat in a circle and our teacher, the awesome stephanie, had us all introduce ourselves and tell a little about our musical background, why we were there, etc, etc, etc.
-pinay had no musical background/experience (yay!) but did have a karaoke machine at home (uh oh). pinay + karaoke = a lot more experience than you think.
-mild mannered girl had taken the class already
-janis joplin-lite had experience singing with a band and hurt her voice by singing lots of janis joplin songs with no previous training. again, experience.
-nice older white couple (husband & wife) were next. she used to sing in the church choir. he used to play in a band
-so-called stage fright girl can SANG but has stage fright...allegedly.
-me...yeah.
-theatre geek girl studied theatre tech in college. and sang along back stage. she also plays rock band with her friends.
-chick who reminds me of the runaway bride but without the crazy eyes has experience. like lots.
-little man plays multiple instruments and apparently wrote, produced and played on an album.
so, yeah, after intros we had a little warm up. then we learned an easy little blues song called "centerpiece". we all sang it as a group over and over until we learned the words and melody and then we each got a chance to sing a verse into the microphone. since we were all singing together i didn't dwell too much on the part where i messed up. the only mess up in the group. then, the sweat glands started working overdrive when we each had to get up in front of the group and sing the song by ourselves. nice older white husband went first and was OK. since no one volunteered, i went up second. eh, not bad, not great. i may have held at least one note for more than a second. everyone else went and you could tell that each person up was a little better than the last. pinay had some tempo problems but she has a decent voice that will get better with time.
hot messness ensues...
the class is part voice, part performance. for 7 weeks, we'll work on 2-3 songs. at the end of the 7 weeks we will perform 2 songs in a little voice lesson showcase in a public place. i was one of 3 people who brought in the music for a song we wanted to work on. due to some chemical imbalance, i went first. i chose a song that i have loved for more than half my life. a song i practiced for about an hour the night before. this song is part of the soundtrack of my life. it's an r&b classic. a classic that took me 2 notes to step on, burn, pee on, burn again, spit on, then poop on, then i took it to the butcher and had him make sausages out of it.
i won't get into all the hitzness. it was just bad. i might as well have been standing up there naked with boogers hanging out of my nose. i don't think it could have been worse.
as keeks has said, it can only get better. the man is a blithering idiot but he makes sense. it's a class and i'm there to get better, or based on my performance, i'm there to not suck so much. while i'm intimidated by the other students, and my insecurities have risen to orange alert, i don't feel threatened. scared of what's ahead, but not threatened. it's a nurturing environment with an amazingly nice teacher. (who knew germans could be so neat?!?) i also have a really awesome friend in keeks, my musical partner in crime. we conquered the C major scale together and climaxed at 2 madonna concerts. i've been his audience and #1 fan for the mint, rehearsals, or just about anytime he wants to bust out some pentecostal hand waving and wailing while waiting for MUNI. it's his turn now.
most of the pieces i need to become a singer are in place. zen-like patience and hero-like courage will follow.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Monday, August 18, 2008
q.e.p.d. eloy chavez trujillo
i have few memories of my tio eloy. two of the most prominent are of him driving and me telling him where to go. it's weird the things you remember as a kid. the most lucid was in san francisco after 4th of july fireworks at crissy field. we were lost in the avenues and i, ever the smart ass, helpfully kept telling him we lived on 26th STREET, not avenue. the other, more blurry was in mexico city, trying to keep up with my dad, but falling behind due to traffic. it was night, and i remember a well lit tunnel and his dark shadow in the driver's seat.
i was at my grandparents house in mexico for vacation the summer he got sick. one night, i woke up in the middle of the night crying. i didn't know why and couldn't explain it to my grandparents. according to my grandma, i said i was sad and felt like crying. the next day, my mom called with the news that my uncle had passed.
i may not have many memories of him; i don't remember his voice or how he walked. i don't remember the last time i saw him. i do, though, still remember the sense of loss and the sadness i felt then and whenever i wonder where life would have taken him had he been given more time.
i was at my grandparents house in mexico for vacation the summer he got sick. one night, i woke up in the middle of the night crying. i didn't know why and couldn't explain it to my grandparents. according to my grandma, i said i was sad and felt like crying. the next day, my mom called with the news that my uncle had passed.
i may not have many memories of him; i don't remember his voice or how he walked. i don't remember the last time i saw him. i do, though, still remember the sense of loss and the sadness i felt then and whenever i wonder where life would have taken him had he been given more time.
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