College auditions, Wedding planning, Music, and Dance

 Sorry it's been a while since I last posted. Things have been crazy around here, mainly because of school. I've recently discovered that my dance classes this semester are demanding more essays and papers than they did last semester, so the only things I've been able to find time to write are these essays. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up on posts during Spring Break.

A new semester has begun, and if things go according to plan, this will be my last semester at Kingwood college. I've only got two more classes to take; government two, and public speaking, along with my other music and dance classes. I still don't know where I'll be transferring to, but I have four options: University of Texas at Austin, Sam Houston State University, University of North Texas, and Texas Tech. I had an audition for UT Austin on Saturday, and I had my audition for Sam Houston on the 8th. According to an email I received from a woman at Texas Tech, I don't need to audition to be part of the theatre program, but the details are still fuzzy on that, and University of North Texas doesn't require an audition for the theatre department either, so that's definitely an option for me. January 19 I had my audition at UT Austin, and now it's out of my hands; I did the best I could, and they said I should hear back soon from them. If I don't get in there, it won't be a big deal. After all, I've got three other options. Of course, I'm going to want to visit the campuses soon, and start filling out applications, while at the same time trying to graduate with my associates from Kingwood, and plan my wedding.

There's still quite a bit to get done with planning the wedding. We've got five months left, and the majority of the hard stuff is already done: got the ceremony and reception venue, my dress, Eric's outfit, the outfits for the groomsmen, and my bridesmaid have all gotten there dresses, although now I don't know if one of them is even wants to be in the wedding anymore, so I might end up getting someone else. All we really have left is the cake, food for the reception, decorations, find a florist, send out the invitations, figure out where we want to go for our honeymoon, and finalize our music list. It's a lot left to do, but I know it will get everything done in time.

As for school at the moment, well... let's just say I can't wait to graduate this semester. Lately I've been feeling that I just don't belong in the music department, mainly because most of my friends are really into opera and classical music. While that's all and good, if you were to take a look at my MP3 player, you would immediately notice an abundance of soundtracks from musicals, no instrumental music (well, that's not entirely true, but the majority isn't instrumental) and absolutely no opera music (unless if you want to consider the soundtrack from Les Miserables to be an opera, then yes, I have that). I'm starting to wonder if maybe my calling might be elsewhere, possibly dance or theatre. I've wondered this for a while now, and it's really starting to weigh on my mind as I'm getting ready to transfer and start a new life. Sure, I love to sing, but is that what I'm meant to do? I just don't feel fulfilled by it any more...

As for dance, I've been discovering that, while I may not be the smoothest dancer out on the floor or know much technique, I do love doing it, and I'm wondering if this might be what I'm supposed to do. Because of Ms. Llanes, I've seen a different side to dance. It's not just a physical activity you do with your body, but it is poetry written through the body; it is an expressive and beautiful art form that can be used to speak louder than words. While it can be exhausting, it is also rewarding, and when all else fails, it is a great form of therapy. When you just don't know what to say or how to explain it, dance can help you express yourself. People think that, in order to dance you have to look a certain way or have a certain body shape. Not true. I used to think that too; I used to think that only people who weigh less than 100 pounds could be dancers, and that you had to have had years and years of training in order to dance in front of people. Absolutely not true. While years of practice and experience do come in handy, you don't have to know anything about dance in order to choreograph a dance, and you definitely don't have to weigh less than 100 pounds. One of the beautiful things about dance is that, no matter who you are, what you look like, where you've come from, dance is for everyone. You can use dance to tell your story, like I did this past semester when I made my debut into the dance world with my first dance solo that I choreographed by myself.

Anyway, enough about that. I've also come to the conclusion that, for a twenty-three year old, I sure as hell take a lot of medication and vitamins. This morning as I was taking my pills, I noticed that I have three different types of vitamins I take (hair, skin, and nail vitamins, Lysine, and calcium), my allergy medication, and most recently glucosamine for the knee problems I've been having. Good grief, I'm not even fifty yet and I'm already falling apart!

I'm still waiting to hear back from UT Austin, and hopefully I will hear back this week from Sam Houston. If I don't get in either of those schools, I'll be making a trip up to Lubbock to visit Texas Tech, and possibly UNT. On an different note, Valentines Day is this week, and Eric says he has a surprise for me. Because Wednesday is his day off, that will be our Valentines Day, so I'm excited to see what he has planned for us :-)

Well, I suppose that is enough for now. I can't promise the next time I will post an update, but I will try my best to have one by the end of the week. I've got a lot planned for this weekend; cake tasting and going with my sister to pick out her maid of honor dress on Saturday, and also working on invitations either on Saturday or Sunday. Until next time, dear readers, ciao!