Cleaning up

Today is my first real day off since March. Weekends in grad school aren't for relaxing, but catching up on reading you didn't do during the week and doing ginormous projects. A bunch of the company is going on the annual canoe trip today. Normally I'd be all for it. I love canoeing, and goodness knows I could use the exercise. However, my apartment is in desperate need of cleaning. Please do not think I'm living in an absolute stye. That's simply not the case. I just haven't been able to do more than surface cleaning for the last couple months. It's time for me to get down and dirty and clean everything I can reach, though that means I can't dust the tops of my windows. (Memo to self: Buy a step stool.) I'm kind of excited about having a clean apartment. I know that sounds really nerdy. Guilty. I do wish my sister Elizabeth or my friend Lauren were here to sit on my couch while I clean.

I've always liked being able to talk to someone while I clean. When we were littler, Biz would sit on my bed while I rearranged my bedroom. When I moved to college I substituted Biz with Lauren. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find another substitute. Such is life. We can't have it all. (Ah, cliche.)

In this deep clean I'm attempting to pare down my belongings. I have a lot of stuff, and most of it is unnecessary -- at least for right now. I don't have a lot of space to put all this stuff, so what would be my coat closet serves as a glorified storage space. When I moved from Iowa to Cincinnati, I took everything save for a three or for medium-sized boxes with me. Most of the extra stuff consists of books. I have the equivalent of six boxes of printer paper filled with books. I wish I had the shelf space to display them. Some of them are old textbooks that may or may not come in handy later. Some are vintage classics I plan on reading some day, when my reading list isn't dictated by a professor and their discussion schedule. Most of them are musically related books I like to have around for reference. I'm not going to lie, I have pulled out my Grout (you music kids know what I'm talking about) to consult about a date. Anyway, I digress. The point is that I have too much stuff in my modestly sized apartment.

My original thought when moving here was that I would make this place a little more permanent than any of my places in Indianola. Though I was required by the school to move so often. Such is the life of a college student. Fortunately, I'm planning on renewing my lease. That makes this apartment the place I've stayed the longest since living at home during high school. It's kind of unsettling, if you really think about it. Dwelling 19-24+ months in one place is considered long term now. Unfortunately, I don't know where I'll end up after I finish my degree. Will I stay here? Probably not, unless I get a really good offer from a company. Otherwise my thoughts are leading me towards moving to New York City or Chicago.

I realize that like most of my writing, these cities are cliche. However, that's where the operatic action is. So far my plan has shifted to include working with a management firm for a few years and then trying to get a arts administrator position. The idea that opera is an old boys club is reinforced everyday. You have to play the game in order to win. That's just how it goes. Learning that now should save me a world of trouble down the road. That isn't to say if I was offered a really good package at an opera company I wouldn't turn it down. It really depends on where I am at then end of March next year.

Right now my five year plan is similar to a choose your own adventure novel. I have 3-5 options to choose from at all times. I've thought about the management firm option. The Met has a fellowship program where I could work with their guild for a year. It looks more like a development position, but it's the Met. I've thought about becoming an au pair in Europe for a few years. I've also thought about staying in school and getting degree in a foreign language -- I'm partial to French. I've also thought about opening a bakery somewhere, either on one of the coasts or in Europe. I really just need to get through the next 9 months and reevaluate in March. Right now I need to reevaluate the state of my apartment.

Confessional

Dear Fellow Global Citizens,

I have a few confessions for you.

I love cliches. Though they are overused and somewhat unoriginal, cliches are based on truth or a socially accepted wrong idea at the very least. I once had an undergraduate professor tell me my writing was too colloquial – too conversational. That same semester I was praised for my witty insights and colloquial nature by a different professor. It just goes to show you it takes all kinds to make this world. Side bar: I will be colloquial here, but I’ll try to steer clear of the cliches.

I spend far too much time thinking about things I can’t really do anything about like the English language. It makes no sense, and it’s my native language! For instance take the predominant word that is opposite of win and the word that indicates selection: lose and choose. These words both have same “oo” vowel sound, but one has two o’s, while the other only has one. The past tense of choose is chose, which looks like it should be pronounced like lose, but it isn’t. Or perhaps lose should be pronounced like chose. And the past tense of lose is lost. There’s no verb tense of choose that is chost. Also, let’s look at the word loose, which means relaxed, not tight, free, etc. It has the double o that choose has, but it’s not pronounced the same way. No wonder people have so much difficulty learning the English language. It’s messed up.

I am writing this blog post instead of writing any of my four papers. I spent most of the afternoon reading Seth Godin’s Unleashing the Ideavirus for my Direct Marketing book report. Though the book was published ten years ago, rendering some of the references outdated and obsolete, the general premise of the book is great! It talks about how we shouldn’t be marketing at people, but instead using our customers to market for us. Word of mouth market can be so potent. Why not try to get a little control on it and use it for our benefit? I’m sure there will be more on this subject once I write the report.

I don’t really know what I want to do with my life anymore. For the past three and a half years I was convinced I would go to grad school and get my masters degree in arts administration and then slowly work up the ranks in the artistic department of a major opera company in the United States until I become the director of artistic operations. Now that I’ve been in grad school for a year, I’m not sure if that is what I want. I have so many different things that I could do. My latest career idea is to become an au pair in Belgium or France. It would be a great way to see the world and learn a new language. I realize that this last confession sounds like mindless drivel. However, this indecisiveness about my future will likely shape future posts. Perhaps I’ll write something about the process of becoming an au pair. Or maybe I’ll discuss the viability of L3C’s, a relatively new business classification. I just thought I would warn you, fair readers.

Thanks for reading. Let me know your thoughts.

C-

Le Cénacle

This blog is inspired by the 19^th century intellectual group called “Le Cénacle.” The primary purpose of Le Cénacle was to revive the old monarchial spirit, the spirit of mediaeval mystery, spiritual submission in French literature. It first formed around the Deschampes brothers and their Muse Française. Le Cénacle first formed around the Deschamps brothers and their Muse Française. Emile Deschamps translated Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet, wrote some libretti, and produced two plays. Antoni Deschamps wrote the first known literary work inspired by absinthe: Adversus Absynthium, 1847. In 1827 the Cénacle moved to Victor Hugo’s house in the rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs. Over the years memebership included Alfred de Vigny, Alfred de Musset, Prosper Mérimée, Dumas Pere, Victor Hugo, Alphonse de Lamartine, Sainte-Beuve, Théophile Gautier*, Gérard de Nerval* , Petrus Borel*. (These last three were more bohemian Romantics and were known as the Petit Cénacle.) The response that surrounded Hugo’s Hernani (1830) was overwhelming and ended the battle of the Romantics which ceased the conventions of Classicism.

So now that you’ve had your history lesson for the day, let’s talk about why I’m really here. I’ve been blogging/journaling for years, and it’s high time I start writing something consequential as opposed to my normal quibbling. Frankly, the world does not care about my views on the latest celebrity sex scandal, or the lack of sex or scandal in my own life. And truthfully, what’s to say you care about anything I have to say? Well, the fact that you read through a history lesson about a group of intellectuals during the French Romantic period and you’re still reading is a decent indicator that you’re willing to hear me out.

Excuse me while I digress to the matter at hand: why I am writing. I have ideas and thoughts. And presently I have few outlets in which to discuss said thoughts and ideas. I’m a master’s student studying arts administration in a Midwestern city, and over the past nine months I’ve discovered that my opinions are worth less than nothing. They’re almost a toxic asset (Ha! Look at me apply the little accounting knowledge I have.). Too bad I don’t get a bailout. That doesn’t mean what I have to say isn’t important. It just provides evidence against the true ideals of academia. Why have discussion based classes when a professor renders any opinions other than his/her own as moot? It seems to defeat the purpose.

So much for an elevator speech… My Intro professor would be so disappointed. At least she’d approve of the mission, or at least I hope she would. You never can tell with her.

The mission of Le Cénacle is to create an open forum for discussion of both socially relevant and irrelevant topics. I encourage discussion, and dissenting opinions are welcome. I can’t guarantee this blog will be life changing or that everything I post will have any meaning to you. The mission allows for a wide range of topics to be discussed, spanning anywhere from opera to cooking to fly-fishing, to sweat shops in Malaysia. As they say, the world is my oyster. I plan on making a pearl with it.