Confessions of a Young Composer

I'm Graduationed!

2007-05-06T00:41:35Z

Woohoo! I is college graduate!

OH MY GOSH!

2007-03-28T01:05:40Z

Everyone has to see the new TMNT movie. It is the best thing ever. SO many memories! SO very good! All the familiar sights: Leo and Raph arguing, Don being Mr. Gadget, Mike being comic relief, April and Casey being cute, and Splinter being indescribably awesome. I'm grinning so hard my face hurts! I loved it like crazy! It make me so happy!

My first opera premieres a week from tonight! I go crazy! So excited!

*sighs* Thank you, God, for being awesome.

Weird stuff

2007-03-08T05:54:40Z

I missed LOST because our TV won't turn on.

I just realized I can touch my nose with my tongue.

And I'm supposed to be writing a paper.

Water pumps, Sweet Tarts, One-way Streets, Radio Broadcasts. Cars, Carmen, and...'Canegra?

2007-03-03T23:30:12Z

So my car needs a new water pump, and therefore my acquisition of it has been delayed two weeks. I'd rather have it in working condition, but...I have errands to run, and it's hard to get rides all the time.

A friend and I got tickets for last night's performance of Bizet's Carmen. We got on the road, and things were going well until she started offering me large Sweet Tarts. I didn't actually want any, but decided to be polite and eat them whenever she offered. My third piece got inhaled and lodged in my throat. This was a potentially bad situation, seeing as how it was very much large enough to block my airway if so it decided, and it hurt like crazy. My friend, feeling very guilty, pulled into a McDonalds to get me something to drink. I sat there in the car waiting for her for about twenty seconds before it occured to me that, if this thing shifted and I started choking, there wouldn't be anyone around to do the Heimlich.

I went inside.

Fortunately, a cup of good ol' Coca-Cola did the trick, and the offending candy was dislodged and swallowed.

We had a lovely time at Macaroni Grill upon arriving in town. We were on a very tight schedule, though, and things got thrown off by the broken stoplight two blocks down. Never mind, we still barely had enough time to make it. We parked in a garage and ran for three blocks in the cold to the center where I bought the tickets, presumably where the opera would be held.

Nope. We were in the wrong place. So we walked back to the car, and my friend had an asthma attack. She puffed her inhaler, and I suddenly laughed.

"God does not want us to have a good day. That is the only explanation for this."

By the time we arrived at the actual place where the opera was being performed, we were half an hour late. The ticket guy informed me that the tickets they were holding in "Will Call" were gone already, but believe me when I told him our (very good) seat numbers. We were seated and the opera passed without further ado (my parents and another friend were there, and since I don't see them very often, that was a big reason I was so anxious to make it).

We had no idea how to get back afterwards. My friend, the driver, drove around a bit, then tried to turn around. She ended up turning the wrong way on a Busy-As-A-Ticket-Seller-At-A-Showing-Of-Titanic one-way street. And turned off immediately. Just as immediate was the response of the cop who happened to see.

I'll bet she was regretting that glass of wine at dinner, although it had been hours since then.

After some talking, we managed to convince him that we were Just That Stupid, and got directions back to the highway along with a warning.

So now I know Murphy's Law first-hand.

Now, onto the opera, which was very good.

The Cast:

Carmen was very, very good, smooth-voiced and charismatic. The Don Jose was the other standout cast member, with or without the slightly wobbly vibrato. They played well off each other, both very talented actors. The last scene was pretty intense (evidenced by me bursting into giggles just before Don Jose stabs Carmen to death and whispering to my friend, "I can't feel my legs!"), although they made Jose a little too insane, I thought--he was wearing an oversized shirt, the floppy sleeves of which he kept nervously twisting around his wrists and playing with, like a child.

Also very, very good were the Mercedes and the Frasquita, and the Smugglers' Quintet was incredibly charming. Less good were the rather lightweight Escamillo and Zuriga, but still relatively pleasant. I don't mean to be crude, but the only way I can think that the Micaela got her role was by sleeping with the casting guy. She was small-voiced, shrill, and inconsistent, and her acting did nothing to redeem her. Surely they had another soprano who could have filled the role (not the Frasquita, though--she was perfect for her role, which is more interesting and musical than Micaela, even if Micaela gets the aria).

Also, I caught the Met's Simon Boccanegra on the radio today (with Hampson, Gheorghiu, Furlanetto, Giordani, etc.), and taped it. There are several reasons I am happy I did so.

1. Ferruccio Furlanetto. Will he ever do something that's not amazing? I desperately wished I could be there to see him--I almost cried during "Piango perche mi parla" just listening to him. His "Il lacerato spirito" was glorious. You don't get this with any voice type besides basses--he sounds better now in his late fifties than he did twenty years ago. He and Hampson sound magical together, as well.

2. Thomas Hampson. His voice has gained weight, and while he's still a lyric baritone, he doesn't float anymore. Which is good, if he's going to keep singing Verdi. No, he's not a "Verdi baritone," but he's a baritone who can sing Verdi, and he sounded just wonderful this afternoon.

3. It's Simon Boccanegra!

4. Fabio Luisi, the conductor? He know what he doin'. The Met orchestra made gorgeous sounds all the way through.

Things I'm not so crazy about:

Marcello Giordani. Maybe he was having an off-day. When he was doing well, he was fabulous. When he was doing badly, he tore at the air unpleasantly. Lovely voice, but doing nothing to shake me from my "Where Have All the Tenors Gone?" position.

Everything else was quite amazing. Angela Gheorghiu is not my favorite, but still lovely. I would have loved to see this production.

Zounds!

2007-02-28T05:16:10Z

So Saturday my friend berates me for sending her the fourth chapter of my story, which has a cliffhanger at the end, but not the fifth. Afterwards, I sit, finish chapter five, and chapter six, and start chapter seven. Last night, in spite of the amount of homework I have to do, I made it a good way into chapter nine. I'm starting to get a little obsessed.

Friday night I'm seeing Bizet's Carmen with some friends. I haven't seen this one since I was a child. Can't wait. Will probably post a review afterwards, just 'cause.

It's a story!

2007-02-22T00:10:43Z

I have the first four chapters of a story up at FictionPress, so...people go read. And give me feedback. It should be fun.

Title: Lost Aceitha

Genre: Young adult action/adventure/fantasy/historical

Summary: Patrick's late uncle has left his nephew an odd inheritance. This leads to a series of clues left all over the Caribbean and a mystical family secret, and pirate Captain Lennox, Patrick's former captain, is willing to kill to find out what it is.

Carcarcar!

2007-02-21T03:47:29Z

My parents just bought an SUV. They're giving me their old car. I'mgettingacar!

*does Dance of Yay*

FictionPress!

2007-02-18T20:08:23Z

I actually have a FictionPress account now! So everyone still paying any attention to me whatsoever who liked my fan fiction will be able to read some of my original fiction in a few days. My account name is Achipiquon Que.

I know it's been a while since I updated, but I've been awfully busy. I was actually just leafing through my journal and realizing that I really do need to get a FictionPress account. It is my senior year, and I don't exactly have a lot of time to write stories, but it would be good to put stuff up and possibly have a few readers give me some feedback (plus the "ur story sux get ur tubz tyd u hor" comments which are inevitable). Some stories I'm thinking of putting up once I am able include a young-adult high seas historical/fantasy adventure, a darker modern fantasy, and a realistic fiction story about a modern female composer.

I don't write things set in medieval fantasy worlds (not ones that are round, anyway) with beautiful, graceful elves and spitting, cave-dwelling dwarfs with Scottish accents. I do not roll dice to determine moves in fights. I do not have half-races (half-Elves, half-Orcs, etc.) or even fantasy races at all in the stories I mentioned above (although a friend and I are working on a rather unconventional fantasy story which comes close to cliche but has managed to sidestep it so far). My female characters are neither damsels in distress nor tough-as-nails pieces of meat (except in one case, I think, and she's just scary). My stories do not include overbearing mentors or Dark Lords. In other words, it is unlikely that you have read fifty stories like mine before. I have fun writing them, though, so that might mean that they're still interesting.

At least one has romance, though. Just 'cause I'm single doesn't mean I'm totally averse to it.

So if it interests thee, I'd appreciate the support. No one likes to feel like their efforts are totally pointless. It'll be a few days afore I'm allowed to put anything up, but I thought I'd give you a heads-up. I know I got some enthusiastic supporters for my fan fiction, so I sort of though...stop rambling, Achi. Okay.

And by the way...LOST? Charlie? I'm nervous and excited. Nervous 'cause...yeah. Excited 'cause it seems like this should open up some cool story possibilities for him.

Bizzahness! Irritating fantasy cliches

2007-02-04T18:12:23Z

1. "I still have two books to go before I finish my story." (can't write just one book)
Examples: Every fantasy author ever.

2. "Andreileshac'nanispaz! You have until I count to three!" (Authors who name their characters bizarre names that no parent in any world could want to call their child.)
Examples: "Lauralanthalasa" is the best one I can think of, although I am also very fond of "Drizzt."

3. "I know she's an elf because she's so dang hot!" (Books besides Tolkien's where Elves are the most beautiful race on the planet.)
Examples: Eragon, Shannara, everywhere else.

4. "I prophesy that the bad guy and the good guy will meet, and one of them will die!" (Generic Given Mistaken for a Prophecy Syndrome)
Examples: Wheel of Time series, Harry Potter, The Belgariad

5. "I don't get a speech before I die because I'm the bad guy." (Parting Speech Rule)
Examples: Allanon in the Shannara books gets a speech, but the Warlock Lord doesn't.

6. "Beware the Dark Lord!" (Dark Lord Compulsive Disorder)
Examples: Do ya need 'em?

7. "HE'S CAPTURED! Then escapes really easily." (the no-risk policy)
Examples: Anything written by David Eddings

8. "I'm a cross between two different races! Where do I belong! Crisis!"
Examples: Tracy Hickman's Tanis

9. "No one expected the things in store for him." (Random Nobody born to do Great Things)
Examples: Eragon, Garion, Shea Ohmsford, Rand, Karigan

10. "Hi-ho!" (cave-living dwarfs)
Examples: EVERYWHERE!

11. "Let's roll the dice and see what happens next!" (D&D ripoff ideas)
Examples: Dragonlance

12. "I am too drained of energy! I cannot use magic!" (can't come up with a better way to limit magic)
Examples: It's all over the place.

13. "Kay's sells magic rings now." (magic talismans which are the key to everything)
Examples: If it has the suffix "-stone," (Arkenstone) or a capitalized "Orb," (Dragon Orb), you're in trouble.

14. "I'll tell you everything you need to know...when I feel like you're ready." (overbearing mentor)
Examples: Belgarath, that one guy in Eragon, Allanon

15. "Why don't we just call it a 'birthday?'" (fake names for common dates)
Examples: Turnday? DAY OF LIFE GIFT?

16. "Take care of her for me if I die." (Death spoiler)
Examples: I can't actually think of any, but you know the line.

17. "I'll take a little of Tolkien, a little Brooks, just a smidgen of Lewis, some Beagle, a bit of LeGuin..." (Smorgasbord writing)
Examples: Paolini

18. "I don't care what you think would make it better! It's MY story!" (author apt to disappoint readers)
Examples: Most writers like this never even get published.

19. "Wow, my books are really popular! I've hit a gold mine! I could write these forever and just keep getting richer and richer!" (Robert Jordan Complex)
Examples: I'm just saying I gave up on Robert Jordan a long time ago.

20. "Why would I need distinct personalities in my characters when my WORLD is just so darn cool?" (Anne McCaffrey's Philosophy of Writing)
Examples: Raymond E. Feist, Katherine Kurtz

and finally...

21. "If your boobs sag, no saving the world for you!" (Over 25 Questing Limit)
Examples: You know 'em.

(Cross-posted to my Xanga and MySpace)

LOST

2006-10-19T02:04:57Z

So how does Desmond know about things before they happen?

VERY cool episode, by the way.

Hehah!

2006-09-09T15:35:31Z

Did I not tell you that this would happen?

And, in other news, MY OPERA IS GETTING PERFORMED NEXT SEMESTER YAYYYZ!

Gragh

2006-09-05T20:48:27Z

You know you have a really pathetic life when you realize you've gotten really good at Solitaire.

I've been dealing with general frustrations including being forced to switch voice teachers (this is my senior year, I don't have time for this) and putting up with those people who are perpetually stuck in high school.

Other than that, everything's great. I'm in a house off-campus this year, so yay, and I'm also the lead in the opera we're doing this semester. I'm pretty okay with all that.

Living in a house is great. You can clean your own bathroom and eat good food, and sleep in your own little room, and take a shower without wearing flip-flops, and practice your music, and yell, and watch geeky movies with the volume all the way up.

And I'm also on the third chapter of a brand new fiction novel. Not fanfic, I'm afraid, but it's still fun to work on. It's sort of a cross between Pirates of the Caribbean and Indiana Jones.

It's been a while

2006-08-18T17:12:58Z

...but I'm alive. Odd stuff happened this summer. Got an emerald for singing to someone. Mouse died in the air conditioning of the car. All in all, not a bad summer.

Serenade, LOST, and Don Carlo

2006-04-09T17:08:27Z

I had my recital the other night. I sang Ganymed by Schubert and Non mi dir by Mozart. It went well, I think, although I'm getting a little tired of the rep.

LOST the other night:

1. Hurley and Libby: cute or creeeepy?

2. See you in another life, brother? GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

3. It was very satisfying to see Sawyer get what he needed after a remark like that. Yay for Hurley.

Okay, Verdi's an incredibly amazing opera composer. Rigoletto is definitely one of my favorite operas. Thing is, he wrote this one ridiculously long opera called Don Carlo which just has to be one of the most draining opera experiences you'll ever have, simply because it's nearly four hours of a tenor and a soprano wailing high notes together even though they only met each other briefly so how could they possibly be in love (deliberate run-on sentence there, forgive me, folks)? The whole first act is them meeting, realizing they're arranged to marry each other, and talking about how much they love each other, then finding out she's really going to marry his dad (awkward). So basically, the first act is a soprano-tenor duet.

The second act is more set-up and exposition. The tenor's best friend, the baritone, reaffirms his brotherly bond with the tenor and will support him, then the king of Spain (Philip II, a bass, and the tenor's dad) catches up with the baritone and labels him as a trusted confidante, even though the baritone is working against him simply by supporting the revolutionary tenor.

The third act ends with a bunch of people being burned at the stake--this is the Spanish Inquisition, after all. Interestingly enough, the auto-da-fe takes place during the king's coronation--in the middle of his reign.

The fourth act starts the good stuff. The king turns out to be a conflicted, complicated guy who is incredibly lonely and old and he knows his wife doesn't love him and he sings the most gut-wrenching aria you've ever heard. Darn him, why couldn't he just be evil? It'd be less complicated if we could just plain hate him. Anyway, apparently he's expecting the Spanish Inquisition, and the Grand Inquisitor shows up and tells him to kill his son (the tenor) and the baritone. The king kinda has to go along with it, you know? 'Cause the Grand Inquisitor's a scary kind of guy. Anyway, the queen runs in and is freaking out that her jewel box was stolen, and the king has it, and he sees a picture of the tenor in it and accuses her of adultery and she faints and he calls for help and it turns out that the queen's lady-in-waiting took the box and planted suspicions in the king's mind because she's in love with the tenor and hates that the tenor loves the queen. The Queen's okay with this, believe it or not, until the lady-in-waiting says "But I slept with the king!" So she gets fired, but not without a lengthy and dramatic aria.

The baritone dies (as per normal). The queen is going to die. She and the tenor duet a lot. Some dead guy pops out of a tombstone and drags the tenor off to heaven. The end.

Twisted, slightly weird opera, with lots of tenor-soprano duets, but I can't seem to get the music out of my head. I mean, gosh, it's amazing stuff. I don't listen to the tenor-soprano duets (you're cured of any great fascination with them after hearing the constant tenor-soprano duet that is Lakme), but some of the other stuff is simply astounding. Seriously, the king's aria might be the saddest aria I've ever heard (although Senza Mamma from Suor Angelica by Puccini gives it tough competition). What is my fascination with an opera I barely even like to see?

OH MY GOSH SHOOT ME IN THE HEAD PLEASE!

2006-04-05T04:44:30Z

My roommate watches Disney channel ALL THE TIME AND THIS HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL VIDEO IS ON AGAIN AND IT'S DRIVING ME ABSOLUTELY CRAZY!

There, it's over, but it'll be stuck in my head forever.

achipiquonque @ 2006-03-28T18:33:00

2006-03-28T23:31:34Z

I hate kidney stones. And waiting seven hours in the emergency room.

Stuff

2006-03-23T03:53:00Z

So the first day of spring was heralded by an inch of wet, nasty snow and cold winds. It's not much warmer now, although all the snow has melted. I love living between two very different climates.

LOST tonight:

1. Is there anyone who doesn't think Henry's an Other, or at least working for them?

2. Hunh. A sympathetic Ana-Lucia. Whoda thunk.

3. SKKRNRRNKKPHHPPPPF! Preview!

4. That voice at the end of the preview? Familiar. As in, Desmond familiar.

5. I love Sun. I hope she's telling the truth. I doubt she is.

Um, some guy left me his number on my tray at the cafeteria when I was away from the table getting some hot chocolate (mmmmmmmmm). I don't know him, never met him, but I looked him up on the university website and found him on the baseball team roster. He's a freshman. I'm not sure if I'm amused, flattered, or creeped out. He left me two separate notes at two separate times (once again when I took my tray up), so he must have been watching me most of the time, which is creepy.

Here's a meme. I find amusement in it, as my highest bowling score is 19.

achipiquonque's LJ stalker is erinlin!

erinlin is stalking you because you are really good at bowling. They are also stalking you in real life. Look out!

LJ Stalker Finder
From Go-Quiz.com

Some opera obession and LOST

2006-03-04T02:56:59Z

I think I got a friend addicted to Beverly Sills (opera diva extraordinaire). Since he's a real freak about coloratura sopranos (the ones that can sing lots of notes really fast), I'm not surprised he now loves her, especially as he was introduced to her via my tape of "Barber of Seville" that features her as Rosina (the leading lady). I was a little weirded out that he didn't seem too crazy about Samuel Ramey (one of the best bass-baritones of the last half a century), and a little stung that he didn't like Alan Titus as Figaro. Then again, my friend is a baritone, and you naturally tend to be a little harsher with people of your own voice type, as you know more of what should be going on. Not that my friend has any right in the universe to criticize Samuel Ramey.

So my voice teacher decided that "Non mi dir" wasn't enough and gave me "Caro nome." For the record, "Non mi dir" is a really tough aria that leaves you breathless, exhausted, and a little dizzy at the end. "Caro nome" is harder. I mean, it's Mozart vs. Verdi here--Mozart may well have been the best opera composer ever (depends on opinion, although his Don Giovanni is said to be the best opera ever written), but Verdi is, in general, much harder to sing. He's also decided to let me work on another Verdi--an incredible soprano-baritone duet from La Traviata, which I'm really excited about.

Barber of Seville was great fun last weekend, but I was completely thrilled with the season this company will have next: La Boheme, Lucia di Lammermoor, and Les Pecheurs des Perles. While the first two are unbelievably depressing (the first one is what Rent was based off of, except Boheme has a tragic ending), I've never seen the last one, although since it's Bizet and it contains that incredible tenor-baritone duet and the plot doesn't look too tragic, I'm sure I'll love it. Actually, they're all operas I'm fairly familiar with but have never seen, so this'll be great.

1. So the Others as we thought of them do not exist--they're just Dharma people posing as scruffy-looking creeps. Cool.

2. So Claire was drugged and pliable all through her captivity. No wonder she didn't remember it.

3. Preview--Sun pregnant. That'll be the most gorgeous baby ever.

4. I really liked this episode. There were real answers to this one, and I'm loving Danielle.

This is not right

2006-03-02T02:05:11Z

LOST is supposed to be on right now, and the stupid basketball game is just going into overtime. The announcers assured me that we will see the program in its entirety, but how long will I have to wait? Why couldn't MU have just lost?

Gripegripegripegripegripe...

Ah, beautiful evening, window open. I shall focus on that. Yay for fair weather.

I feel like flying

2006-03-01T20:18:48Z

It's a gorgeous day today. You know those kinds of days where you want to do everything wonderful that you ever imagined doing? Where you want to flap your arms and fly across the ocean to see places you've never seen? Where you want to stop wondering if that cute guy who works at Starbucks will ask you out and have him ask you out? Where you want to take a shower in a waterfall far, far from civilization, as deep in the green velvet forest as possible where no one will disturb you?

It's a Loreena McKennitt music kind of day. Maybe an Enya "Wild Child" kind of day. I love having a glimpse of spring as winter nears its end. I love spring, as my blooming African violets and seventy-degree weather remind me. It's one of those days where you want to run to a clearing in a forest somewhere and dance under the moon, like you see in all those fantasy paintings.

I love days like these.

Gugh

2006-02-27T04:32:48Z

My ears are getting shocked by my headphones when they're plugged into my computer. My brother says I need to get a sound card.

Barber of Seville was fun, even though the costumes were a cross between Newsies and Pirates of the Caribbean (we even had Captain Jack Figaro, complete with sleazy moustache and messy black hair). The Rosina was a mezzo, which is a rare treat. Even the Count Almaviva had rare personality--he appeared to be having a lot of fun. The Don Basilio was a really good bass.

Whoo, gosh

2006-02-22T15:15:35Z

May not get to do Puss in Boots next year. The reason is because the only woman in the school whom I think could perform the role refused it. Which leaves me in a tight spot. I may have to look outside the school for someone, which means I'd probably have to pay them. As if I didn't already have enough knots in my back.

The composition part of my brain is working great again, finally. I'm working on a string quartet and want to start a concert aria. These are coming along with other projects I have in the works. And my teacher still wants me to write a sonata, although the truth is, I'm not crazy about instrument-piano stuff--it's boring to me. If it's going to be a sonata for an instrument, I don't want it to be accompanied by a piano.

I'm such a vocal composer. I love to write for voices. Nowadays, that might be a good thing. Everyone's so crazy about writing for instruments these days.

Conducting pains

2006-02-17T18:11:52Z

This morning was spent videotaping myself conducting (it's for a class). Since I'm not the greatest with digital technology, I had a rough time getting the dang camera to record in the first place, and then I had a hard time getting the tape out of the camera. As weird as it sounds, it wore me out.

Still, it's not so bad. Yesterday was spent singing almost nonstop. There were extra rehearsals for both choirs I'm in. I was exhausted by the end of the night.

Gonna be gone this weekend doing choir stuff. I don't know how I'll get all my homework done, and I've got tons of it. Which means I'd better stop LJ-ing and start doing it.

Pizza meme

2006-02-16T18:07:56Z

This one's kinda old, I think, but it's good.

Everything Pizza

Diverse and adaptable
You enjoy the full buffet of life
It's hard to you play favorites with friends... or flavors
There's very little that you dislike!

What's Your Pizza Personality?

Actually, my favorite kind of pizza is what I like to call "junk pizza." It has every conceivable topping except sausage (for some reason, I can't stand the stuff). That means everything from pepperoni to pineapple, bell peppers to banana peppers. All kinds of flavors. I love it.

LOST and opera

2006-02-16T17:32:39Z

LOST last night:

1. I really, really don't like Sawyer. Seriously.

2. Hiero...what?

3. While torture is always difficult to justify, I totally agree with what Sayid said at the end. Everyone seems to have forgotten.

4. I intensely dislike Locke.

5. The tree frog was so cute! G'dah! Poor Mrs. Tree Frog (someone needs to make a Mrs. Tree Frog icon).

6. So the U.S. taught Iraq how to torture people? No, I don't have a problem with that at all! [/sarcasm]

I didn't dislike the episode, but I did have some issues with it, the greatest of which was #6 there.

Lately, I've been wondering about a second opera project to begin once I finish Puss in Boots. I don't know what to make the opera about. Does anyone have any ideas? If you went to an opera, what would you want it to be about?

In other news, I am conceptualizing and beginning to write an oratorio. Which is neat.