i'm on a conference call, can't you tell?

dear readers, i write to you this morning while listening to a conference call. this particular conference call involves changes to the asthma control evaluation protocol. usually, my coworker leslie and i sit here and read lucky magazine, but leslie is out today. so, i blog.

i have an audition in new york tomorrow, for tri-cities opera (what's that, you ask? good question, i say.) young artist program. i do not want to go to this audition. there are a few reasons i'm totally "not feeling it," as they say in baltimore and on b.e.t.:

1. i'm not singing well since my last lesson, because something that steve told me seems to be more confusing to me than helpful
2. it's on a saturday, the one precious, precious day off i get a week
3. i have more auditions coming up next thursday and friday, for which i need to be practicing and learning rep
4. emily is coming in from chicago on tuesday evening (!) to audition for the peab and i need to do my best to clean the cat hair off of everything. she's allergic to cats and is coming to baltimore to sing. if you ask her about her allergy, she'll scream "four plus plus plus!" at you and run away.
5. i'm a schmuck and put off buying my train ticket until just now, so i'm going to have to take a taxi from new york penn station to the audition site because i'm getting there literally 30 minutes before my audition time.

as well as these reasons for "not feeling it," the are fun things i'm having to turn down so that i can at least attempt to sing well tomorrow afternoon:

1. wine and small plates with hilary at baltimore's new 'hot spot,' pazo
2. margaritas and a free mexican buffet with courtney and kate at taco fiesta
3. happy hour with my clinically insane (and therefore hilariously fun) coworkers

if i wind up getting this young artist program, it will make a great story to tell opera news: "and then i did my first young artist program, tri-cities opera. you know what's funny? i nearly didn't take this audition. imagine where i'd be then! (grabs fur collar and throws head back in raucous laughter)" probably, though, it's just going to be a pain in the ass which leads to another rejection letter.

two years of auditioning with no success has made me cynical. can you tell?