Sore Throat = More Time = Kanye?

Currently listening to: Runaway - Kanye West

I never realized how much I relied on music to get through the day until this week. In what I remember as being the first time it has ever happened, I lost my voice. It's a little ridiculous how I suddenly had nothing to do. Usually when I'm bored, I play a little guitar and record some music. But now...it's so empty! I was actually angry at myself for not being able to sing...only to realize that the reason I lost it was from overworking it. Well, I've learned my lesson - NEVER overdo it! Other than that, I'm in love with Kanye's new CD. What a comeback! I have to admit, I didn't like the individual tracks at first. My advice? Listen to it non-stop and you'll love it. The individual songs definitely fit together to tell a story, so it's well worth it to give up an hour or so and fall in love with the genius that is Kanye. Who ever criticized 808s just couldn't handle it, and look now. A rave 10/10 review from Pitchfork, #1 on iTunes and suddenly everyone is in love again. I don't even mind the bandwagoning, as long as people are appreciating his work once more. Congrats to Kanye on the success - the album is ILL, you deserve it!

This post brings an end to Thanksgiving break - back to school tomorrow. Fantastic :/

These past few days...

Currently listening to: some random bollywood song playing from a movie in the other room

It's been a crazy two days, to say the least. It may've been the first time I was awake for 24 hours straight. That's right, one entire day. Ah, no big deal. Actually, it wasn't all that amazing a feat. I had district choir all day from 5:00AM to 6:00 PM. Then, I had my first paid gig (!!!) at a convention, followed by a birthday party at one of our closest family friends' house. Of course, this meant that even though the party ended at 11:00PM, we stayed until 3:00AM, and then came back at 4:30 AM to our house. Hectic doesn't even begin to cover what yesterday was like. Running around from one room to the other at district, then going from one place to the other by car...sheesh! It all got me thinking, maybe this is a good thing. My ability to stay up so long might help in college...I've never been one to pull all-nighters, but I guess I can! And it wasn't terrible! I might be a little REM-sleep-deprived, but I did it!

Besides that, yesterday also taught me another lesson - music really is my calling. I really didn't have to care about what I sounded like amidst a crowd of 200 singers, but once the music started, it automatically happened - I was back at Northwestern, back to using those same techniques that were a tremendous help to my understanding of vocal performance. I loved the feeling of knowing that out of all those kids, I was one of the few who really gave it their all, paid attention to every minute detail, be it the tall vowels or tonal quality. It was an awesome realization; any doubt I had in my abilities simply faded from my mind, because for the first time I just sang.

A very fulfilling weekend, indeed!