Day 16

Daily Practice
2 hours
I went to Bettina's tech class and then stayed for her performance class.  In performance class I worked on A Whole New World to get ready for my industry audition tomorrow.  I also performed the first verse of Defying Gravity for the first time. 

Notes: Bettina told me that my character for AWNW was too "sweet".  Although it's a pretty song, I need to find a way to fight against the sweetness of the piano and bring a more exciting character to the performance.  When I did DG, she said she saw more of that aggressive character that she was looking for, and she wants me to apply that to my first song. 

In class I sat next to a girl who was an incredible singer, and she said she just started getting formal training a week ago.  I told her that her mix voice was beautiful, and I couldn't believe she didn't have any training.  She said that she used to practice the "quack" sound every day, and she would even sing whole songs on the word "quack" to help her work on her mask resonance.

So to finish up my practice for the day, I came home and sang through several songs using the "meow" sound and then switching to the words and still exaggerating the cheekbone placement.  I'm trying to add more songs to my practice circle, so I started playing with Hopelessly Devoted, You Can't Hurry Love, and Save the Best for Last.

Healthy Meal 27

 Tuna salad







Charitable Deed 1

After recently retiring from my 8-month stint with waiting tables, I woke up at 4:30am this morning to return to the food service industry-- but this time with joy and excitement in my heart.  For many years, I've struggled with a desire to serve people who are homeless and hungry, but always having a different excuse for not getting involved.  Today was a first step as I went to St. Bartholomew's Church to serve a warm breakfast to anyone who chose to come.  What I loved about the church was that they had us set up 36 place settings, and allowed men and women to come in and sit for as long as they wanted.  Once someone left, a new person was welcomed in to have a seat.  No one was rushed, and seconds and thirds were given upon request.  Ladies walked around the room with carafes offering more apple juice and hot coffee, and as our guests left, they were encouraged to take baggies with tuna sandwiches and cereal bars with them for later in the day.  And if they wanted extra sandwiches, all they had to do was ask.  I couldn't get over how laissez-faire the whole process seemed to be.  I suppose I was expecting people to be herded through a line and scolded for asking for more than their fair share-- as if they should simply be grateful that we were doing this great service for them... but perhaps I was projecting those expectations from the darkness in my heart... 

I just couldn't understand how everyone was going to be served endlessly without us running out of food, but to my great surprise, we had leftovers by the end of the meal, and we were trying to give extra food away!  And as always is the case in these situations, I walked away humbled and enlightened... 


Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, "Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here."  [Jesus] replied, "You give them something to eat."  They answered, "We have only five loaves of bread and two fish." (About five thousand men were there.)  But he said to his disciples, "Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each."  The disciples did so, and everybody sat down.  Taking the five loaves and two fish and looking up to the heaven, he gave thanks and broke them.  Then he gave them to the disciples to set before the people.  They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.  Luke 9:12-17