Vicky

Have you ever seen the Parent Trap? It's one of my favorite movies, but it may be hitting a little too close to home this weekend. In an infamous scene in the movie, the twins swindle their parents into taking them on a weekend backpacking trip in the hopes that they will rekindle their lost love. But a wrench is thrown into the plan when, instead of the Mom, the evil fiancee Vicky goes on the trip as the female/mother companion. Needless to say, the city girl did not do well on the trip and ended up throwing a big temper tantrum before storming out of the woods, and out of the Dad's life forever. I'm not planning on tantrums or storming anywhere, but this city girl is heading out backpacking for the first time ever this weekend. And I'm about as jumpy as Vicky was in the movie.

I'm sitting across from our packed bags. Joe and I are meeting another couple this afternoon and then we're driving out to the Olympic Penninsula for a three-day adventure. Joe has had to pretty much walk me through the steps of preparation, and my singular contribution so far has been hemming his backpacking pants and making those two cotton sleeping bag storage sacks you see on the couch there.




















I'm probably making a mountain out of a molehill, because Joe has great friends and I know he would never put me in a situation where I would feel unsafe. And although that bag looks big and heavy, it doesn't seem much heavier than the suitcases I schlepped around Europe for three months when I was auditioning in 2006. So I'm going to swallow my apprehension and dive into the experience and I think we all will have a lot of fun this weekend.

I just wish the forests had flushing toilets. :)

Hard to be a hermit

I have developed into kind of a homebody in the last couple years. Since my job at the theater was so physically and mentally strenuous, home has become my sanctuary of peace and stillness. I like sitting on a comfy couch with a cup of tea and a knitting project for hours on end. I enjoy watching Home and Garden television while I putter in the kitchen. And (gasp!) I don't even mind doing laundry and cleaning, because it means I get to be at home, which is one of my favorite places to be.

My temporary home in Seattle is a condo whose building is under renovation. So far the renovations have consisted of a lot of concrete removal. With jackhammers. And air compressors. And jack-hammering. And throwing pieces of concrete into a large, resonant metal container. And some jack-hammering. And all of this renovating is making it hard to be a happy little hermit.




















Job-hunting takes up a considerable amount of my time during the day, but after I've reached my point of super-saturation with job announcements, resumes, and cover letters, I want to practice my music for an upcoming performance or sit quietly and knit. And I have found that I don't enjoy knitting or practicing as much when the sound of jackhammers are mixed into the equation.


























The renovations are coming along nicely and it's very interesting to see the workers' progress day after day. But it has forced me to get out of the house more often and venture downtown to practice. And I've noticed that although I continue to lust after yarn and stash it away, my desire to knit has decreased exponentially.

Maybe because it's partially because there is so much more to do and see in Seattle. Maybe it's because I spend more of my free time with my friends and family. Or maybe it's the jackhammers. And the fact that the neighbors are under renovation as well.

Sometimes pictures speak volumes

Remember my post from yesterday about "going green?" Yeah, this is the billboard I saw at South Lake Union yesterday. Ugh. "Emeralder?" You have to be kidding me.




















I was gifted a birthday experience by Monica and Tyra that I redeemed yesterday. Shopping at the Ballard Goodwill, dinner at La Isla, and dessert at Cupcake Royale!




















Only in Seattle, baby. Do you see the quality of this latte? People, listen to me. Stop buying espresso beverages that are made by someone merely pushing a button on a machine. There is seriously no comparison to this.

Going green is nothing new

I had no idea that "going green" was so popular in the United States. Of all the reverse culture shock experiences I've had in the last month (yeah, I've been back for a month already!) this one is the most widespread.

I guess it's a good thing that being eco-friendly is so shi-shi and hip, but it's also kind of sad that Americans have to make something designer and trendy in order for it to catch people's attention. Because if you just think back two generations, this whole "green" nonsense would have been common sense for everyone based on the simple fact that reducing waste and reusing what you have saves money. My Grandma had a "slop bucket" that all her food waste went into, and it was kept out on the back porch until it got full, and then it was emptied on the "slop pile." Nowadays, a "slop pile" is called composting, and makes your garden just as happy no matter what the name. But the bottom line is that my Grandparents got free fertilizer and only had to pay for a five-gallon garbage can to be emptied once a week.

And my Grandpa owned a salvage business, where he tore down old houses by hand and reclaimed the materials to resell to people remodeling older homes in the area. People would come to him for doorknobs, window panes, toilets, and lots of lumber. And even though my Grandpa was vastly reducing the amount of waste going into a landfill, the bottom line for him was that he earned money for his work.

After a couple generations of consuming insanity, where single serving packages became the norm and the media (mostly television) seduced Americans into thinking "the more the better," we are finally turning back to depression-era and WWII-era thinking. Just with the 21st century spin from the media. I think it's great that America is waking up to the fact that we as a society don't need so many new "things" in order to be happy, but I'm just ready for "green" to be an everyday part of life and not some trendy badge that the cool kids all want to wear.

Ahorn sheep festival

Remember this yarn from my posting a few days ago? It is beautiful, squishy, all-natural wool I bought back in July at a sheep festival in Ahorn, a small town just a few miles from Coburg. It was a total bargain at 3.50 Euro per skein, but smelled, eh, a bit "sheepy," so I had to keep it in a vacuum-tight bag until I was ready to deal with it.

Here are some sheep hanging out with their brethren at the sheep festival in Ahorn. Will you take a look at those gorgeous stone buildings in the background? The grounds where the festival was held is part museum, part artist worker colony, and part festival space. And that building on the left is the kitchen for the beer garden. Because no festival is complete without a beer garden.

And in the case of the Ahorn sheep festival, it wouldn't be complete without a lot of these guys! There was a man to my right taking this sheep's picture and I swear he was smiling for the camera. Just look at that grin!

And since this is a German festival, there was also the requisite INSANE parent. (This issue really could be its own post. I've seen this a LOT in Germany.) Take a look at this small child. That's her mother in the denim shirt to her right. Yes, the mother put her child into the pen with the sheep. And not just this pen. When the girl had properly terrorized the sheep in one pen, the mother would gather her daughter (of course, by climbing into the pen as well), and plunk her down in another pen. The sheep were freaked out, as were a lot of the human visitors. Thank goodness the startled sheep didn't trample her in the scuffle she caused.

Not only were there a lot of sheep, but each pen had a wooden sign (see those on the right there?) with a whole lot of information about the sheep featured in the pen. It was all very informative, I'm sure, but when I went to this festival I was about four days away from moving back to the U.S. and I was kind of over reading in German. But the pictures on the boards were pretty! :)

This little out building really caught my attention, mainly because I don't know what it is. Is it a smoke house? A fire hut? I'm not really sure. But those stone walls? Those are really nifty. And I bet that little mystery house isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Right, so back to (in my opinion) the best part about a sheep festival: yarn! Since the yarn was so sheepy, I needed to give it a wash. I've never actually washed just yarn before, but there was no way I could bring this yarn around with me in its current odorous state, so I just kind of winged it.

Here are the four hanks soaking in the tub, which is filled with cool water and some ivory soap that I gently swished around. I let the yarn soak for about 15 minutes in the water and then drained the soapy water. After moving two hanks out of the water, I added clear rinse water and got most of the soap out of the hanks.

After letting the yarn drip dry in the tub for about 30 minutes, I gently rolled the hanks in a towel and hung them up on hangers on the shower bar. The sheepy smell is pretty much gone, but wet wool always has a bit of a musty odor, so I won't be totally sure until the yarn is completely dry.

I am not totally sure what weight this yarn is, so I'm going to have to fiddle with a few different needle sizes to see what I can knit with it. But I've had my eye on this really cool poncho for a long time and I think the wool might be just right for it:

Photo courtesy of: http://www.straw.com/cpy/patterns/capelet_aranmarl.html

And since the wool is natural and undyed, I could even dye the yarn or finished garment to make it whatever color I want!

Yarn

The boxes that finally arrived in Olympia were like big (if somewhat mangled) Christmas presents. I packed and shipped them so many weeks ago that I admit I might have forgotten exactly what was inside. Well, let me rephrase that. I remembered about the clothes and shoes and papers, but I might have, sort have, forgotten about the yarn.

That's why, now that my yarn is once again living all together in peace and harmony, it has grown to quite a large stash. Seriously people, this amount of yarn could keep me busy for at least 5 months. If I had two broken legs and couldn't do anything but sit around the house and knit.




















The reason my stash is now so large is actually a result of the domino effect. When I got ready to move waaaay back in early July, I was working on this cabled tank project. I was determined to get it done before I started another project. However, I came to realize that following the two different cable patterns and simultaneously decreasing for the neckline was making me even more stressed out than moving.




















So I set that project aside for some easy, breezy socks in these bright and cheerful colors. The pattern was very simple and the knitting was portable enough that I could keep it in my carry-on bag on the airplane. But the problem with these projects was, once I got back to the U.S., the simplicity of the pattern started to bore me. And who needs wool socks in the middle of summer anyway???




















Then came the trip down to my parents' house, where I found several unfinished projects that were just screaming to be ripped out and the yarn reused for something else.

And then my boxes came from Germany, containing quite a bit of yarn that I had leftover from two sweater projects, and this bag of undyed yarn. This yarn deserves a post of its own, so I'll save that for another day.




















But before my yarn arrived in Olympia, I could no longer resist the urge to go to my favorite yarn store in Seatttle: the Weaving Works in the U District. People, brace yourselves. This yarn store is SO large and wonderful that I had to mentally prepare myself before going in. And I think my preparation paid off, because I only walked away with 100 grams of this yummy spring green yarn, and 500 grams of the wine-colored stuff.

























Now, by this point you probably think I have taken complete leave of my senses. However, I assure you that I do have very specific projects lined up for each of the yans I just showed you. I don't like to buy yarn with no project in mind, so there is a 100% chance this yarn will transform into a beautiful knitted object sometime in the near future.

Kind of like this project, that I finished up last night. It's a teaser photo and I can't show you exactly what it is now, but I'll post more photos soon. Don't you just love the pumpkins???

The boxes have arrived!

Although I've been back in Seattle for four weeks now, my international move is not quite completed. I still have to wait for my last paycheck from the Landestheater to close my bank account, and my landlady is holding a portion of my deposit until the year-end utility bills arrive and are calculated for my unit. But I got a step closer to tying up my moving loose ends yesterday when the third box I shipped from Germany finally arrived on my parents' doorstep.

Just as a reminder, here is what two of the three boxes looked like when I shipped them out on July 16th:

























And here's what that same box looked like when it arrived in Olympia almost one month later:




















Yep, pretty bad. And these are (were?) heavy-duty packing boxes I bought from a packing and shipping store in Coburg to ensure this very type of damage wouldn't occur.




















Luckily, the items in this box didn't fall out or get lost, but a few items were pretty banged up when they finally arrived. My Christmas pyramid, which is one of my prized finds from Coburg, apparently has a couple angels who got knocked off and some of the candle holders are chipped. These dings aren't structural, and the pyramid should be able to be repaired, but it just makes me disappointed in the postal system. I paid around $100.00 (US) per box to send my items to America, and I was told they would arrive in eight to 10 business days. Assuming I would get what I paid for, I never expected to wait this long, or have my boxes (and contents) mangled in the process.

I think one of the kookiest issues in this whole shipping process was the fact that after my boxes arrived in America, I assumed that DHL would then deliver the packages, since the DHL logo was stamped on the shipping labels. However, after my boxes were underway for two weeks and I still hadn't received them, I tried to track the packages using my tracking numbers on the DHL America website. And they didn't work. Hrmm.

After calling DHL America, they transferred me to DHL International, because they couldn't figure out my issue. And after being bounced around to a few different representatives, someone at DHL International finally told me that since I shipped my boxes with the Deutsche Post, they would become property of the United States Postal Service once they got to America, so DHL couldn't help me at all. Huh.

So, I called the U.S.P.S. and the first representative I spoke to said I should call DHL. And after explaining my recent phone call to DHL, in which I was directed to the U.S.P.S., she then transferred me to someone in their international claims department. After I explained the situation to the second woman, she told me that my tracking numbers wouldn't work (since they originated in Germany) and there was no way I would be able to figure out when my boxes would arrive. It wasn't the stellar customer service I was expecting, to say the least. The one useful piece of information she did give me was that the 8-10 day estimate for delivery was very optimistic and usually customs slows down the delivery process by at least a week.

At this point I felt a little helpless. I mean, what's the point of paying all that money to ship a box when the tracking number won't work after the box leaves Germany???

After gathering my wits, I looked around on the Deutsche Post website and found an international claims contact form. I gave them my (seemingly useless) tracking numbers, and explained the DHL/U.S.P.S. runaround I had just been through, and sent my message off. A few days later I received a response from the Deutsche Post with revised tracking numbers for the United States, which I could use on the U.S.P.S. website. The tracking information on the website was vague, but at least I had a glimmer of hope that I would eventually receive my boxes.

The first two boxes arrived soon after this whole phone tag/tracking number debacle, but the third box was still not anywhere to be found. So on Monday I went to the post office with my original packing receipt and the e-mail from the Deutsche Post in hand. The employee was really nice and went into the back to look up the tracking number in his computer. He even brought my Dad and me into the back room to show us that, according to the tracking number, my package was still in Germany. Wha??

According to the number, the box never left Frankfurt customs. Oy veh.

But, since Murphy's Law or fate or irony or something was working in its demented and silly way, that same box arrived in Olympia just two days after that visit to the post office. Sigh. Live and learn, my friends! Next time you do an international move, send your boxes as cargo on the same airplane you are flying in!!

Tomorrow I'll show you some other prized items that came in those boxes: yarn! :)

I love the library

I am currently at one my favorite places in Seattle: the central branch of the Seattle Public Library. I am on the eighth floor, drinking a coffee I bought downstairs in the library cafe, using a free computer station to check my e-mail and update my blog. In a few minutes I am going to go practice in one of the free practice rooms that are available for reservation. And when I'm done practicing, I am going to head to the knitting section and peruse the pattern books for inspiration.




















Above photo:
http://architectook.net/wp-content/gallery/seattle-public-library/Seattle%20Public%20Library16.jpg


The architecture of the building is only one of the many ammentities of this place. In addition to all the wonderful things like a gift shop, cafe, and free practice rooms, the central branch also has these huge, open spaces for reading and relaxing.



















Above photo:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4d/Seattle_Public_Library.jpg/800px-Seattle_Public_Library.jpg

Even the bathrooms are wonderful and squeaky clean! I would highly recommend coming to the library the next time you have a free afternoon. But plan on staying several hours, because there is a lot to see! For instance, take a stop in the foreign language section where there are custom-carved hardwood floors. They look like a printing press, with different lines of famous literature in dozens of language carved backwards (hence the printing press style) covering the floor. Or take a ride on the neon yellow escalators. Or hang out in the reading lounge on the 10th floor and get an amazing view of Seattle. Or just take the guided tour and see it all at once! But definitely come here, this place is one of Seattle's real gems.





















Above photo:
http://www.law.seattleu.edu/llsa/nllsac/Seattle%20Public%20Library.jpg

Proud Auntie post

I got to spend my Saturday playing Auntie down in Federal Way with my friend Maureen and her adorable little girl, who is now six months old.






















Have you ever seen such a beautiful baby? I didn't think so. And this one is the whole package. She is not only gorgeous, but she's very smart and also really strong.




















And look at her adorable little feetsies!! Maureen and I took her to Dash Point State Park to beat the heat and this little girl really liked the sand.




















I bet it took Mom awhile to get all those little grains out of her curious hands.




















And here's Mommy and Baby. It was so fun to spend the day with these two girls and see what an amazing bond they already have.

Outhouse makeover

The Lakehouse was purchased by my great-great-grandparents around 1920 and the house itself is nearly 100 years old. Considering its age and rural location, it's no surprise to find an outhouse down a winding little path about 100 feet from the back porch.

After decades of use, the little outhouse started leaning to the side, turning a fairly normal activity of visiting the potty into a mini adventure of bravery. So, when a trio of able-bodied menfolk were there last week, they put their heads together to give the outhouse a makeover.

Here they are on Sunday afternoon examining the status of the outhouse. That's My Dad, my Uncle, and Joe.

























There was quite a bit of knocking, shaking, rattling, and general examination of the outhouse's stability that afternoon, but alas, the actual repairs didn't start until the next day. Their prognosis of the outhouse's strength didn't give me a great sense of security when I had to use the outhouse between Sunday afternoon and Monday morning.
























By the way, if you family members (because I'm assuming only family would want them) want copies of these pictures, either click on the pictures to enlarge and then right-click to save, or e-mail me.)

Right. So bright and early Sunday morning, the makeover began. The menfolk removed some of the side planks to reveal the posts, which appeared to be responsible for the tipping. Using two jacks, they raised the outhouse to a more level position and inserted new support posts.




















Then they cleared away the temporary boards that were providing a landing in front of the outhouse.




















And then my Dad and Joe constructed a frame for a new landing that they nailed onto the front of the outhouse. The Lakehouse had oodles of lumber for this project and they menfolk were able to salvage all the wood they used for this project.




















After the frame was nailed in place, they used gravel to backfill underneath the frame to add extra support and stability.




















The next step was to nail planks onto the frame to make a nice landing.




















The finishing touches were installing flashing on the back of the outhouse to keep critters away, and a few more boards nailed to the side of the new landing to close the gap.

























Ah, the sweet smell (er, I mean smile) of success! :)

The end of my vacay

Joe and I made it to my family's lake cabin by early Saturday afternoon and within a few minutes we were swimming in the chilly water of Lake Coeur d'Alene.




















I really love our family's rickety little cabin on the water, although this trip showed us that the house is really starting to display its oldness.




















So while I was enjoying the gorgeous view from the deck,

























(there's the deck)




















The menfolk set about shoring up the cabin's outhouse, which in recent years has started to lean to the side. We actually started leaving the door open when it was in use so there would be a faster exit. Yeesh! So while the men spent all day Monday making outhouse repairs,

























I was busy sitting on the porch swing and knitting. It's a mystery project that I can't tell you about quite yet.




















By the way, check out the width of this board for the porch swing. They don't saw boards this wide anymore, so you can really see the age. This is a great knitting spot.

























I also started another knitting project. It's not a secret project, but I don't really know what it is yet. I'll keep you posted.




















There were so many wildflowers blooming along the path down to the water.




















Even though it is old and creaky and kind of run-down, I still love the Lakehouse. I'm actually kind of glad that the real estate market is kind of slow and I might be able to squeak in one more visit before our family says goodbye to it.




















-------------------------------------------------

But that's it, folks! That was the end of my vacation. Now that I've been back in the United States for three weeks I've decided it is time to start looking to the future, and that means employment. I finished my resume, wrote a cover letter, did a little networking at the U.W. athletic department today, and applied for a job listing I found on Craig's List. It's exciting to take a step in a new direction and I'll keep you updated on my employment status. :)

Pollyanna strikes again

I really do think my subconscious believes there are 36 hours in one day and not 24. Getting our ducks in a row and heading to my family's lake cabin was not an option today, so Joe is spending the day in meetings and at his office while I cook and bake and shop and pack for our trip. My cookies are done and the potato salad is pretty close. My grocery shopping is almost complete and my packing is getting started. But since the lakehouse is very primitive, I need to plan entertainment. I am very content to sit on the dock and swim and space out when the sun is up and shining, but we also need to plan for cool weather and nighttime. There is no TV or internet at the lake. I think there is a radio, and cell phone reception is kind of sketchy, but existant. So that leaves me some time after the sun sets behind the hills to catch up on my knitting projects.

I haven't done much knitting since I arrived back in Seattle. I think it's partly due to exhaustion from jetlag and culture shock (believe me, culture shock can really zap your energy!), but also because a lot of my free time has been spent (gasp!) with real people and I haven't felt the urge to bring my knitting along when I'm hanging out with family or friends. However, I do have some yarn and unfinished projects that are begging to be taken to the lake.

I started this sock a couple days before leaving Coburg. I knit a bit on the flight from London to Seattle and in my exhausted state, dropped a stitch right when I made the gusset. I didn't find the mistake until several days later, meaning I had to slowly rip out the rounds until I got back to the dropped stitch. I've knit a little more of the sock on the bus, but I can really only knit comfortably in a moving vehicle if we're driving in a straight line and not turning a lot, like big buses tend to do on a route through suburbia.




















When I was at my parents' house last weekend I raided my knitting stash and found a LOT of unfinished, random pieces of knitting. Those four balls are what's left over after I mercilessly ripped them out and rewound the yarn. I brought the stash back to Seattle and am hoping to find something to do with it.




















There's really not a lot of yarn to work with, but maybe I could make a pair of slippers...




















Or a (very) sassy shoulderette....




















Or maybe some gloves or a handbag...




















Or maybe a hat and neck warmer!




















Or maybe I'll just wing it and knit something of my own design. Either way, when Joe and I finally get on the road tomorrow morning for the lake, I'll have my knitting stash in tow for the quiet moments I am sure to encounter once we arrive.

28 is great!

Today is my 28th birthday and so far has been a wonderful day. I've grown accustomed to two birthday traditions on my special day each year: 1) my parents calling me and singing "Happy Birthday" into the phone, and 2) my dad telling the story of the circumstances surrounding my birth. This year he included a new detail, which was that he and my Mom bought a house, sold a house, my Dad got a new job, and I was born all within a five day span back in 1980. Wow. And I thought moving across the world was overwhelming! I think birthdays are super, and it's so great to get phone calls and e-mails (Garrie and Maggiee--thanks for the photo!!) and stay in touch with friends and family. It does feel a little strange to find myself smack dab in the middle of my late twenties, but overall I'm really happy about getting closer to 30. (Yes yes, okay, for all you readers over 30 you can go ahead and laugh at me now. I'm imagining you patting my head right this second.)

Tomorrow Joe and I are heading to my family's lake cabin on Coeur d' alene lake in Idaho, which means my blog will be silent for several days. So to keep you entertained during my absence, I thought I'd leave you with a few more "reverse culture shock" tidbits from the last week or so.

People never say goodbye when you leave a store.
This is a very subtle, but still kind of jarring form of culture shock. In Germany when you go into a store, you are normally greeted by the sales clerk. It doesn't always happen, but usually so. However, if you make a purchase, the clerk always thanks you and says goodbye. In America the clerks ALWAYS greet the customers and say hello, but after I make a purchase, they say thank you, but never goodbye. Even if I say goodbye to them, they never respond. In the two weeks I've been back I've done a fair amount of purchasing and not one clerk has said goodbye to me. Is that weird?

Strangers talk to each other all the time.
I have come into contact with a large number of strangers over the last several days, what with riding the bus and spending time in public places like the library and shopping centers. But what shocks me is the amount of interaction between people who don't know each other. For instance, today I rode the bus down to Bellevue to have lunch with a friend and there was a very lively conversation happening around me between two Australian tourists and three American locals. It all started when the Aussies were having difficulty figuring out which stop to take to get to their hotel and morphed into a conversation about the politics and economics of the U.S. and Australia. I cringed on the inside and felt that the topics were totally inappropriate for complete strangers, but they didn't seem to mind at all.

On the other hand, I had a lovely conversation with a lady (actually, she was also Australian, but lives in Bellevue) on my bus ride home and we had a very nice visit about things like the weather and which side of the road to drive on. It was a great way to pass the time on the bus, but again, that kind of thing just wouldn't happen in Germany.

Public toilets have teeny doors.
Have you noticed that restroom stall doors in America are getting smaller? Not only that, but in order to close the door you have to perform a small acrobatic act to get the door closed behind you without falling into the toilet? In Germany, many public bathrooms have separate "mini rooms" for each toilet, with doors that close and completely seal you off from your neighbors. And if the stalls are "open," there are only a few inches on the top or the bottom of the door that lets air and light in or out. A word to the wise: if you are squeamish about people peeking in your bathroom stall, do NOT use the public toilets at Pike Place Market in Seattle.

I love this land of ice cubes and free water.
Today I was out and about and didn't have a water bottle in my purse, but it wasn't really a big deal, because there were public drinking fountains all over the place. What a luxury! And when I go out to eat, the waiter brings me water with plentiful ice cubes without me having to ask! And sometimes even a straw!! Seriously, this is not a phenomenon you would find anywhere in Germany. I love water, and Seattle's water is so much softer and yummier than the water in Coburg, but it's even lovlier when it's readily available and free. :)

Okay, off to get ready for my dinner date! See you next week!

An opera singer's nightmare

Last week I went out with Joe and some of his coworkers after work. I was under the assumption we would get some drinks and appetizers and then head our separate ways. But then a dreaded word was mentioned: karaoke.

For a lot of people, this activity sounds like fun, but for a classically-trained opera singer, it is a total nightmare. I've sung in front of 40,000 people at the University of Washington's commencement ceremony. Twice. And a snippet of me singing was even included in an interview on NPR, which aired all over the country during the station's peak listening time. And these activities didn't really faze me. But standing in front of a group of tipsy bar patrons can trigger stage fright like no other venue.

The reason is, I am a classically-trained singer. Before I perform I pick out my music, practice it diligently alone and with an accompanist, and usually memorize it. On the day of a performance, I make sure I'm warmed up and I mentally prepare myself to perform. But karaoke doesn't really give me the chance to do any of that. Usually the preparation is filling out a slip of paper with your song selection, and then taking a large gulp of whatever I'm drinking before heading up to the microphone.

Oh right, and that brings me to my next point. Microphones. Opera singers don't sing into a microphone. We're never taught how, and it's weird. Usually it really throws off your breathing and support, not to mention the freakiness of hearing your voice in a monitor.

But the most terrifying part of karaoke to an opera singer is the song selection. I can sing a lot of popular songs, and many of them I even have memorized. But since my voice has been the way I've earned my money for the last two years, I want whatever I sing in public to sound good. And a lot of pop songs do not sound good when I sing them. The range is usually weird, and a lot of the time it's hard to put the brakes on vibrato and that "opera singer sound."

So, when Joe's coworkers suggested singing karaoke last week, I was less than enthusiastic. Actually, I had planned on not singing at all. But after a lot of requests from Joe's friends and a quick peek in the song book, I gave in and chose a song. And the reason is because they had songs from Cabaret in the book.

It might be a little unfair that among the everyday, normal singers that got up that night to sing, I chose to sing a song that I had not only practiced, but rehearsed for about 10 weeks and sang professionally at a theater in Germany. But I do have a little bit of diva in my blood, and there was no way I was going up in front of Joe's coworkers unprepared.

My name was called and I went up to the microphone and started the song. I was really nervous, but eventually the performer in me turned on and I lost myself in the sassy, saucy lyrics to "Don't tell Mama" from Cabaret. I am still not that great with a microphone, but by keeping it on the stand and not moving around a lot, I was able to mimic the sound I got from wearing a cordless mic in Coburg. And after the song was over, I felt a wave of relief when I looked out into the audience and saw some gaping faces and Joe beaming at his cheering co-workers. Whew. But really, karaoke is a nightmare.

Camnesia

Is it boring to read posts with no pictures?

I'm a big fan of posting pictures on my blog, but I haven't taken one single shot since I got back to the country. The main reason is that my camera battery is dead and I'm too lazy to find my charger and charge it. But the other people in my life have taken some great shots of so many cool things I've done and seen in the last week! But I'm too lazy to ask them to e-mail the photos to me.

Are you seeing a pattern developing here?

So in keeping with my lazy theme, there are no photos to delight you today, but here are a few snippets of how I spent my weekend:

* I rode the bus to Olympia and it was very easy, fast, and convenient. I will definitely do it again.
* I had a small heart attack when I looked into my parents' attic and guest room and realized that I still own so. much. stuff. Sigh. Looks like more packing, sorting and moving is in my future.
* Joe baked me the most delicious birthday cake ever and delivered it to Olympia on Saturday. It tasted SO yummy!
* The amount of family bonding I experienced between Friday and Sunday was terrific, but also insane. My family is really loud. And really boisterous. And tons of fun.
* Tyra won the coffee cake contest at the Thurston County Fair!!! It's the most awesome coffee cake ever.
* The coffee cake Joe and I baked made it to the finals as well, which was super.
* Traffic on I-5 is a pain in the tushie.

So there you have it! Once this wave of laziness passes, I'll plug in my camera and take some pictures of some very old knitting projects I rescued from my parents' house over the weekend. That's another thing I haven't really done since returning to America. Lazy summer. It's good. :)