it’s been a while, mostly because things have been so incredibly busy. i got a job to supplement my income (or lack thereof). application to job offer took all of 48 hours, which in this economy is pretty unheard of. i also got the job in time to work most of half term, and will hopefully get a nice pay cheque before christmas. it’s a flexible contract, which more or less fits in with my studies, and i’m managing to get in one or two 6-hour shifts on an average week. finally, it’s a nice change to being at college 24/7, since things have been getting pretty intensely political of late which doesn’t do my head any good at all.
my head of department appears to have taken a personal interest in my career, which on the one hand is nice because it means i’m at the top of his list for opportunities… on the other hand, it also means he’s been getting far too involved in my day-to-day movements, and sticking his oar in where it’s not even any of his business. he’s gotten on the warpath with me lately because i don’t reply to vocal dept emails IMMEDIATELY, i.e. within the hour, and although i’ve tried to explain it to him that no, i don’t have a blackberry or an iphone or a laptop with wifi and no, i can’t be constantly accessing my emails on the college PCs because there’s always a queue and i have to attend the classes i’m paying for, he still continues to get all arsey about it. he almost lost me my accompanist over some spazout he had regarding an email for a deadline that was -two weeks- away, and the other day he barged into a coaching and made me look totally incompetent in front of my coach over an email he’d never actually sent and which i knew nothing about. seriously.
my phone internet bill is sky-high at the moment – my contract is only for free evenings and weekends wb access, and thanks to him i’m checking multiple times throughout the day an outlook site that is not mobile-friendly. i would bill him for it but he’d probably just tell me to consider the expense a ‘career investment’. :p
auditions and concerts have been plentiful these past few weeks. just had two of the masterclasses i mentioned before; both went pretty well, although that with sarah walker at the wigmore on thurs knackered me out for the one with ann murray in snape maltings on friday. so, i wasn’t on top form for the latter; however she said i had a beautiful voice, excellent coloratura, and said there was nothing wrong with my technique when i complained that it was all over the place :D (that bit was in private tho, obviously wouldn’t start whinging on about that in front of an audience!)
i have more auditions coming up – one for the banff opera as theatre programme on thursday, and another for some scholarship or other the following week. of course my opera school auditions are coming up pretty fast (first/second weeks of dec), and have a lot of prep still to do for those. meep. plus i need to submit an application for the maggie teyte/miriam licette comp. oh and then there’s BYO to apply to, the MBF, and everything else on top. i hate applications. i need a PA to do them all for me. :p
Yay re: auditions!