Snow

We finally have some snow! It snowed a lot just before Thanksgiving weekend, and Thanksgiving day and the friday after were both bright, beautiful, blue and white days. Being able to look out the window at work and see sunlight and snow and rolling hills and black branches etched against the blue, blue sky made working for 9 hours on Thanksgiving much more bearable! That, and the fact that I earned twice as much in tips as usual, not to mention I worked about 2 hours longer than I normally do - the specter of Christendom College always dances before my eyes, encouraging me!

For the first time ever, my mom, sister, and I went shopping on Black Friday. I actually had a lot of fun! Just two words of advice: 1. Don't go in a big city, if you can help it (in our town of 30,000, pretty much everyone we saw just looked like they were having fun...none of the crazed shoppers one always hears about...but I hear that in large cities in can be a bit different), and 2. 6: 30 am is just about the perfect time to go! It's early enough that you can have all the fun of getting up while it's still dark out (well, I find that fun, at least! ;)), it's well after the first mad rush, but it's not so late that people have started getting cranky. It was so weird to arrive at the mall at 6:30 am and find it as full as a busy Saturday afternoon! And everyone looked wide awake...that was the funny part! We didn't get anything terribly exciting, but the sales were excellent. When you're a poor student trying to save money for college, saving a few extra dollars is always a priority!

POTO (Phantom of the Opera) rehearsals started this week...my sister and I have been at one of the local high schools every evening from 4:00 to 5:00. It's not been terribly interesting so far, as we've only worked on blocking (which for me means lots of standing around!), but I can already tell it's going to be amazing. I'm really looking forward to starting to work on choreography next week! Oooh, and we also got scripts which we'll get to keep! I just highlighted and sticky-noted mine last night, and it already has copious notes...fun fun...official official! The scenes I'll be in in Act 1 are:
Scene 1: Rehearsal of Hannibal;
Scenes 2 and 3: After the Gala, Angel of Music, Through the Mirror (the ballet girls are in the background stretching, practicing, etc. the entire time);
Scene 5a: The Magic Lasso; and
Scene 7: Il Muto (one of the operas).
In Act 2, I'll be in Scene 1: Masquerade;
possibly Scenes 6 and 7: Don Juan (another of the operas);
and Scene 8: Track Down This Murderer (although I'll just be singing off-stage in that one).
I'm very happy with my part! It's fun because I'm actually a member of the opera company, and there will be tons of stage time!

Well, I really need to go study, write, and stop procrastinating! But before I go, I'll leave you with this beautiful song: Snow, by Loreena McKennitt. Nothing says "winter" to me more than this song.

The words are equally lovely and come from this poem, which is definitely one of my favorite pieces of poetry:

Snow

by Archibald Lampman

White are the far-off plains, and white

The fading forests grow;

The wind dies out along the height,

And denser still the snow,

A gathering weight on roof and tree

Falls down scarce audibly.

The road before me smooths and fills

Apace, and all about

The fences dwindle, and all the hills

Are blotted slowly out;

The naked trees loom spectrally

Into the dim white sky.

The meadows and far-sheeted streams

Lie still without a sound;

Like some soft minister of dreams

The snow fall hoods me round;

In wood and water, earth and air,

A silence everywhere.

Save when at lonely intervals

A farmer's sleigh, urged on,

With rustling runners and sharp bells

Swings by me and is gone;

Or from the empty waste I hear

A sound remote and clear;

The barking of a dog, or call

To cattle, sharply pealed,

Borne echoing from some wayside stall

Or barnyard far afield;

Then all is silent, and the snow

Falls, settling soft and slow.

The evening deepens, and the gray

Folds closer earth and sky;

The world seems shrouded far away,

Its noises sleep, and I,

As secret as yon buried stream

Plod dumbly on, and dream.