The city that never sleeps....Day 22

Vocalizations: 30 minutes

I am definitely sick... the glands are up and I feel like my throat is closing in on itself... Not congested, just inflamed with an awesome asthma-style cough! So I took it easy on some sirens, trying to achieve closure in the vocal chords...It was REALLY hard, I was certain I wouldnt have a voice at the end of today. lip trills, hums, all in a mezzo area. When I'm sick both my soprano and lower register's are the first to go.

Live Performance
So in the early hours of the morning...approx 2am I sang at Duplex Cabaret Open mic night in the West Village. I was hoping that my voice would stay with me...atleast till the end of the song, as I could tell it was starting to go last night when It was hurting to talk, let alone sing.
Anyway I sang "A Way Back to Then" from Title Of Show. This is a brand new song, so I had not really sung it in yet, but I like a challenge so I just thought "oh well, what have I got to lose? other than my voice?" I had some timing issues with the accompanist (my fault, not his) but we recovered together. He is amazing, I don't know how he sight-reads...but he does!!! Also I forgot the lyric in the first line...AND I went flat on some notes hahaha...wow! maybe I shouldn't be sharing this performance!
Well, you live...you learn! I need to modify the shape when I belt higher so I don't slide under the note.
I was sick, I sang...and here it is:

If you want to watch it, copy and paste this youtube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kDL0KxzNsk

Got home from Duplex at 3.10am, only to wake up at 5.30am to volunteer for:


Charitable deed #4
The Pancreatic Cancer Walk "Purple Stride Manhattan". I left at 6am got on the wrong train, ended p in Harlem (I was clearly sleep deprived!!!) Caught another 2 trains and ended up in the right place Riverside Drive on the UWS. I was originally on the Registration table, then moved to T-shirt distribution, then back to Registration. There was a huge turn out...so much so that we ran out of EVERYTHING! T-shirts, ribbons, placards (that walkers/runners would wear that read "I am walking for..." and they would write the name of the loved one who was battling pancreatic cancer or lost their life to pancreatic cancer. It was a shame that not everyone got a T-shirt (as there was a sea of purple) but on the upside, the were hundreds of people so I hope they raised their goal of $460,000!

The park at 6.30am 

 So quiet and gorgeous...

 Registration check-in
(Did I mention it was freeeeeeeeezing?! Hence the layers of clothing and jackets underneath my volunteer T-shirt)

 Just before the walk begins..

The crowd was down the entire drive:)

Dinner:

Spinach and ricotta pie with baked veggies from Gigi's on 72nd and Amsterdam:)

My thoughts today...

The event today was massive! But not organized very well, I think they under-estimated how big the turn-out would be, even though hundreds pre-registered online. I feel like this challenge is pulling me in a direction that I never saw coming. I feel inspired by not only the great causes these events are being co-ordinated in aid of...but the amount of people happy to reach-out. The walkers, the volunteers... everyone! I really want to somehow be a part of this. I want to find a cause or a way in which I can give back, contribute, educate or fund-raise to keep this part of me alive. Everyone feels compassion and it is here at these events that you truly see it and feel it.

I want to find where my passion is (other than singing and performing) what area that this kind of charity work will keep me motivated and driven to do more? I am probably not making any sense...but I want to look at where I am heading in 5 years time. I want to be associated with events or charites or causes that will truly help people, not a short term fix, but a long-term solution to some of the biggest problems homelessness, sex-trafficking, hunger...I'm not deluded into thinking that I can single handedly fix these issues, but I do believe that we need to reach out and help one another more than we do. Humanity has turned from being a community and helping one another to survive, to being survival of the fittest, making it a competition...it shouldn't be, but it is. I don't know how I (as a single person) can help, but I want to, I want to find a way in which I feel that I am contributing to others, to a community. Being in an industry that is all about how "I" look, how"I" sound...it's not going to be fulfilling unless I can give back, and take a step outside of my bubble and see the "big picture".

So it is quite late...I am very sleep deprived, and I want to (as cliche as it sounds) make the world a better place hahaahha...I want to make my life significant, I think the only way that can be possible is by affecting the lives of others... I am not sure how I (personally) can do that, but I will discover it.

Like I said before, this challenge is changing me...