On Così fan Tutte: Aside from being stressful, it's really neat working on a Big Role like Guglielmo. I'm on stage for probably about 1.5 hours, I have a whole character arc, and I get to come up with a whole concept of how this guy thinks & stands & moves & adapts. It's been a lot of fun, and while it's a work in progress, it's been coming along pretty well!
On Exercise: I'm weight training again, since I wish to avoid being a girly man, so that means 3000 calories a day (Incidentally, you might think 3000 calories a day is fun, but you would be incorrect. 2500 calories a day is fun. 3000 calories a day is 500 calories more than fun per day.) Also I've discovered EDT aka "Escalating Density Training" aka 'days 1-7: Hey this is cool, days 8+: Holygod what am I doing to myself?'. EDT is based on a clever idea where you pick 2 exercises, set a stopwatch for 15 minutes, and do as many repetitions of those two exercises you can in 15 minutes. Then you have to beat yourself the next time you do it. So the first time you relax and think about how cool it is not to have to worry about sets or reps, and then the next time you realize that you don't get to relax anymore, and then the next time (or sometimes even the second time), it sounds like you're being chased by a bear and will actually die from exhaustion until the timer goes off, if you ask Melanie. Anyway, fun.
That's alls I got for now. Have a good day -Gabe
Friday, May 2, 2008
Musings
Ok ok ok ok ok
Starting way back in March...
Went back home for Easter (As did Melanie, to the east coast), but not before I spent a good 3 days doing various things with our Temple (they were running a big European reform jew conference thingy). Home was fun and fairly short. Saw family, ate things, saw Emily & Nick, went to the long beach aquarium(kind of sucks), fixed my stupid digital recorder thingy, ate more things, and left for New York and then Vienna.
Arriving back in Vienna, I spent a few days helping my friend Chris teach Japanese kids English. For the record, Japanese kids are cute, and have awesome lunch boxes that are infinitely superior to the lunch boxes of non-Japanese kids, and also they are obsessed with riding on your shoulders. Other early April events involved setting up Sofia's birthday party, a recital(Melanie) of Brahms and Barber songs, lots of dessert making, and Spring!
Spring in Vienna is really quite beautiful, and the reason people make such a big deal about Spring is that Winter kind of sucks a whole lot and then suddenly it's Spring. Anyway, I can use my comfy snazzy LA jacket most of the time now, and some days, I don't even need a jacket! I wear one anyways, because that's just too weird.
April has been getting increasingly challenging since it began, as we're getting close to our Opera, Cosi fan Tutte, which means it's important that we be as stressed as possible. This has been great fun (/sarcasm). On April 14th, I began my Work-O-Matic plan, which so far has meant I've only missed 4 days of practicing and 2 days of exercise since then. This also has been great fun (/sarcasm). My friend Michael and his friend Alexis (I suppose my new friend Alexis, I should say) came to visit, and we had lots of fun (/not sarcasm), chatted through the evenings and had lots of passover kosher food (yay).
Currently, each week is going to be an insane work fest up through the opera. Somehow we'll need to figure out our summer plans in Italy, be hosts to Krysta & Kenneth, Chuck & Andrea, & my friend Noah, sing a masterclass at the Musikverein (tomorrow!), sing an opera or two, and continue to be healthy and happy and all that. Wish us luck
And there's your post. I hope you liked it.
Oh yeah, pictures (click on them to go to Flickr and see the rest of them):
