It's like reading a reality show! Day-to-Day goings on of a post-college photographer, singer and dreamer, trying to lose 100lbs and survive in New York City.
Today was a pretty awesome day! I started out cleaning my house some and then went and took headshots for a beautiful young actress, went home and cleaned some more and then met Diana at Maple Street Dance Space in Nob Hill for an African Dance class!
The picture above is the inside of Maple Street Dance Space, its from their website, but next time I'm gonna take my own pictures of the outside and stuff. It's a beautiful space and the people there were so nice and inviting. I'm usually kind of scared to go to dance class because the people there have (in general) been doing it longer than I have and I usually have a really hard time picking things up. But this place is so great, everyone was at varying degrees of awesome, and they all had more experience than both Diana and myself (clearly- it was our first time!) but they all seemed excited to see new people. It built on itself too, like it started out with the most basic and then got harder and harder but by the time it was at its hardest, you were just having fun. I was complimented by several people in the class on my rhythm, they were surprised that it was my first African Dance class and couldn't believe that I hadn't have much dance training at all. This has really boosted my confidence and has made me want to take more and more dance classes. Maple Street has Adult Beginners Ballet class too, and its taught by the same woman who teaches African Dance, so I'm definitely going to check that out too so I can get my basics down. I can't believe how much fun I had tonight and I'm for sure going back again and again.
I was supposed to go to yoga with my sister afterward, but she wanted to go shoe shopping and go eat dinner instead. I figured this was okay because I had just been dancing, and we went to Sweet Tomatoes. I've been really good about not spending money unless I have to (gas, bills, groceries) in the past couple weeks so I let myself go out to eat with Amy, and it's salad haha.
So much has happened since my last post, some toward the NYC goal and some not.
My sister and I took a short trip down to Alamogordo, NM to visit my mom and step dad. It was nice. My sister and I had a really great talk on the way down there. We talked about things we had never talked to each other about. It was surprising, and enlightening and I feel a lot closer to her now. During our full day there, my sister wanted to learn how to shoot my step dad's guns, and I tagged along (I mean, every one else was going). I wasn't very interested in it, but I wanted to be with my family so I went too. I shot his rifle, because I have shot and taught others how to shoot the rifles at camp. I mean the camp ones were air rifles, but it was essentially the same. My sister had a ton of fun with that, and she's a pretty good shot too. Afterward we went to lunch at the fanciest restaurant in Alamogordo. And after that my mom and I upgraded my phone (it's pretty neat, I'm still getting used to it though) and then we all went to White Sands to watch the sunset. We were all so exhausted on the way back that my step dad even fell asleep in the car.
The ride back home was only a little more stressful, because we got a late start and accidentally made a wrong turn and drove in the wrong direction for twenty minutes... and then had to spend another twenty minutes going all the way back to Tularosa. So it took us about an hour longer to get home than usual, but in the end it was a really nice trip with my sister.
Kenneth and I have been starting to sell some of our stuff on Craigslist (the stuff we didnt think would do so well at a yard sale). So far we've sold Kenneth's Dungeons & Dragons books for $400, which is super awesome. And Kenneth got a bonus for referring me to ARCA, and we were able to put that in our savings as well. I also put my very last paycheck from Campfire USA in our savings account today. The number's getting higher and it's starting to look like we're not so screwed. We still have a long way to go, but it's not looking so dismal anymore :)
If anyone has ever been to my house and seen something they wanted (like if you really love our couch or or tv...) shoot me an email and let me know and maybe we can just sell it to you :) We will be having a yard sale (the yard is TBA) before we leave for our trip next month and everything must go!
I also decided that it's time for me to get a second job, because I'm only getting part time hours at ARCA and instead of picking up 40 hours there, I could get a second job and make a little more money (thats what I was doing with Campfire USA). I've also decided that its time for me to get some serving experience. I've done childcare and retail already and could probably get a job doing one of those when we get to New York. I could also work for an agency like ARCA, but I want to have as much work experience as possible so that in the event that I want to work as a server in New York, I'll have a better chance. But its really important for me to have my weekday evenings free, so I want to work at a restaurant that does breakfast/lunch. I was inspired by my friend Christie who just moved to New York City in January- when she lived here she worked at Cracker Barrel. So I went in today and applied, I talked to a manager right away who seemed impressed with my application, liked the fact that I knew Christie (asked how she was doing) and said he would give me a call by Friday to schedule a formal interview. I also applied at the Range. Either tomorrow or Wednesday I'm also going to apply at Weck's, and look at some other breakfast joints close(ish) to my house.
My friend Amy came with me to my last voice lesson because she wanted to see how a voice lesson typically goes with my teacher. It was really fun, but I wondered afterward if I behaved differently because she was there. Was I performing? It was odd, but I still got some good work done. What I really need to do is pick five songs for my audition book that I do really well and then work on them with Donna until they're perfect. I wish my printer was working because there are some pieces of music that I need to get off my computer to work on with Donna. Also, once I work on something else with her I'll record another video with Paul.
So that's it! I went on a trip with my sister, had another voice lesson and put some more money in the bank. I just keep on keeping on. As always, thanks for reading and if you ever feel inspired to pitch in to help me achieve my dream of moving to New York City, you can click the ChipIn widget below to donate. Thanks!
Last week, my voice teacher was out of town so I didn't have a lesson. Instead I chose to take a vocal coaching session from the esteemed Mr. Paul Roth, which was fun, but now I've got to really get back to relearning my vocal technique. I'm afraid that I forgot a lot of what Donna was teaching me... it's been only a week I know, but sometimes it's hard for me to get the feeling/placement/breathing/everything else right without someone there who knows what I'm doing wrong when something doesn't sound right.
I had to make a very difficult decision this past weekend. I had to choose between working the weekend or taking it off to audition for a show. It's so important to me that I do a show before I leave Albuquerque, but so far I havent had much luck since my surgery, and we're fighting so hard to raise all the money we need that I decided it would be foolish to take the time off work for something that I might not even get. At this point I've chosen to work and continue taking voice lessons.
This weekend, Kenneth and I went to the joint birthday party of Gilbert and Jessica F., it was very fun, but also was a super great networking night. I met someone new who loves my photography and wants to have headshots done, and I made a deal with a dancer friend to trade photography work for private dance lessons (Lord knows, I need them!) Also, I asked Jess out on a girl-date to get to know her better. She is super talented and has already lived in New York once (and is moving back out there soon), so I know she will have super awesome advice and wisdom to share with me... also I've known her for so long and we've never hung out just us, and I've decided that sucks and we should be better friends. Thankfully she agreed :)
This weekend I got really into my book about living in New York and I highlighted important websites and information I found helpful. I dog-eared the pages about which neighborhoods in Brooklyn I wouldn't mind living in. I do wish, though, that this book had more information about cost... when I was reading about the different neighborhoods it didn't once mention anything like "this neighborhood is affordable" or "this neighborhood is pricey". And it's a little out-dated, I was reminded when I read a passage that mentioned what hell it is to drive through Time Square... but you can't drive through Time Square anymore, it's all one big sidewalk now!
Today, I took it easy. I ate really well and went on a couple walks with Sebastian. I had a short training at the ARCA home I work for, and did a bunch of internet apartment hunting. I looked at craigslist postings for Brooklyn and looked at sublet.com (a website my book recommended). I looked at apartments in the neighborhoods I had dogeared in my book. I quickly discovered which neighborhoods are pricey and which are affordable haha! Also, Kenneth and I are toying with the idea of finding a month-to-month sublet or renting just a room for a month or two while we look for an apartment we want to sign a lease to. We're finding rooms available as late as August 1st for 600-900 a month, which is a steal. And if there are openings like that right now, I can only imagine that if we continue to look we will find something when we're ready to move out there.
I woke up really early this morning with a killer charlie horse cramp in my calf and its still sore from it. So I'm gonna drink a bunch of water and wrap it in my heating pad and try to get some sleep. Thanks for reading and I'll be sure to post about my voice lesson tomorrow :) See ya!
As always, thanks to my ChipIn supporters!!!
And in case you're curious, here is a link to my tumblr page, which I use as my online photography portfolio: http://iamjwphotography.tumblr.com/
Today I watched SMASH for the first time (I know, I know, I'm waaay behind everyone else) and it's so strange watching it from my perspective. I may never get that far, and it's funny because I find myself getting kind of jealous watching it. Like, I want to be there so bad and I want to be auditioning and going to dance class and going out with my friends and be in New York. And I know I will be soon enough. In one of the episodes I watched today was the song "Crazy Dreams" by Carrie Underwood and while I thought it was cute, one line stood out to me:
Never let a bad day be enough to talk you into giving up
I'll have to keep reminding myself that while I'm still struggling every day to figure out to raise this money and keep working on my voice and my body, that this means more to me than anything else I've done. In fact, every accomplishment has only been a stepping stone to get me to this point.
Once I imported my new videosto my computer and listened to them again, I've decided that I sounded better on the recorder than I do on my computer... haha. and lame. So I may only post one of them. I don't know yet. I know I'm over critical of myself, but it takes a lot of courage to put videos of yourself singing on youtube. And I dont want to just put up anything, I want to make sure that its my best.
If you want to support me and Kenneth in our move but you don't want to just donate money for nothing, we totally understand. From now on, I'll also be accepting payments for headshots and other photography work through our chipIn widget (my paypal). Thanks so much to everyone whose contributed so far!
This weekend at Hasting's I found a book called NYC: An Owner's Manual. It's really cool, and it was used for $3.00 so I bought it and flipped through it. It has a lot of advice about moving to New York, how to get apartments, what to expect from each neighborhood in different boroughs, and then it goes into what to do once you get there- how to get jobs, insurance, where to do your laundry, where to meet friends, etc. I've only barely looked at it so far, but I'll let you know if it does any good in helping Kenneth and I plan our whirlwind, weeklong "vacation" to find a place to live and scope out jobs coming up next month.
I realized today that next month is the last month I'll be paying rent in Albuquerque, and it felt real and scary and exciting all at the same time.
Saturday night I had a vocal coaching session with the incredibly talented and always hilarious/insightful Mr. Paul Roth. We worked on a couple songs I've been working on with my voice teacher and then recorded some videos (that I will post later this week). Last night I listened to all 50 minutes of video I took Saturday night and kind of liked what I heard. It's rare that any singer, even the best ones, enjoy the way they sound recorded. I kind of liked listening to myself, but I think it's because compared to how I used to sound (kind of husky and smokey sounding because of that damn cyst) I sound a lot more clean and bright. I still have a ton of work to do on my voice (high belt? a little scary!) but I am very proud of where I am right now. So I'm excited to post those videos and see what other people think.
Tonight I went back to hot yoga with my sister and her friends. It's been almost three months since i've been (because I couldn't go to early morning classes because I worked and I didnt want to go in the evening because I had to wake up so early to go to work haha). I felt awful because while the class wasn't particularly difficult (about average, as far as the yoga goes) it was suuuuuper hot because there were a lot of people there and I found it really hard to breath, which stopped my practice entirely and I had to just sit or stand to catch my breath and clear my head/refocus.
In yoga tonight the teacher had us dedicate the class to someone. I went through my brain files and picked a number of different people. Like a little wheel of fortune wheel, only instead of dollar amounts it had my friends/family's faces on it. I landed on my good friend from high school Amanda Torres (used to be Sloan but she got married). I've been thinking about her a lot lately, even though I haven't seen her in over a year (her and her husband came and saw me in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee) She started posting earlier this year on facebook about how she and her husband were going to adopt a baby and he's finally here today. When I saw his little face on facebook I started to cry, Amanda is going to be such a wonderful mother and he is the luckiest baby in the whole world to have a family like the them! Congratulations Mama Amanda :)
Tomorrow I'm going back on phase 1 of my diet (the strict part) because while on phase 2 I stopped losing weight. I didn't gain any (thank goodness) but I stopping losing. So I'm gonna do two more weeks on phase one and then try phase two again. Also I'm going back to yoga in the morning with my sister, then I'm going to meet the newest member of our family- my step mom's baby great dane, Pheobe!!!! This is going to be a wonderful week off from work... but I'm still working on finding more hours at ARCA or getting a second supplementary job for the rest of the summer. Gotta earn that money!
As always, thanks for reading and please if you have an extra buck or four, feel free to ChipIn!!!!!
