Sounding Board

So I have decided that this blog might have a few posts that are going to take on a slightly different direction. A week ago or so I posted about how I wanted to cut a record for the sake of recording what my voice sounds like now for my older self to enjoy. At the time it was just kind of a stray thought and something I wanted to put out there; now it is going to be a little more solid. After spending a fair amount of my life in the music realm I have acquired a lot of different friends, who know a lot of different things about music. I know guitar players, piano players, singers, artists, drum players, ukulele players, photographers, painters, and even a bagpipe player. These people have brightened my life and made it significantly more colorful than it would have been otherwise; and I want to remember them, just as much as I want to remember myself in the here and now. So, here is the dealio:

I, the Singing Ginger, will be recording and releasing an album slated to come out in about a year from now. I don't know what it is going to be called, I don't know what songs are going to be on it, I don't know how the hell I am going to scrape together the money for it, and I don't know if this is actually going to work...but damnit I am going to try! In order to do this I will be posting, on this blog, a type of sounding board deal, where I get to write out all my thoughts and anybody who happens to read this or stumble upon it can comment and give me advice. I don't care if I don't know you, I don't care if you know nothing about music, I don't care if you don't care; if you have a thought you should post it.

For my first sounding board secession I am going to start with the easiest of things: I need an album title. Some of you might be saying "well see where the music takes you and then name it." But, much like a baby, I don't want to raise this thing without giving it a name. Here are some ideas I have had thus far:

-"Range"
-"Roam"
-"A Record of Life Thus Far"
-"Shower Singing"
-"Singing Ginger"
-"Because I Can"
-"When I am 90"
-"Mine"
-"Kitchen Dancing"
-"Dreams and Sweet Nothings"
-"Sounding Board"
-"Damn All of These Titles Sound Cliche"
-"Why Can't I Think Up Any Good Titles?"

The last two are for sure the leaders of the pack right now ;) Actually now that I am seeing them in print I kind of like "Sounding Board" but I am far from settling on that. If you have any ideas, comment on this please.

The biggest problem I forsee happening in this little adventure would be the whole "money" thing. I will be spending about two months in europe this summer studying international politics and will probably end up having to sell all my worldly pocessions just to try and make things work with that. By the time I get back I plan on begging, borrowing and pleading my way into money for books and the like. Luckily, I am going to be living in a relativly cheap apartment and I am going to have a job. On top of this, if the whole plasma thing works out I will have another $320 coming in every month on top of my paycheck. Also on a luckier note, I have expereince being the business manager for a group that cut two records while I was with them, so I am not totally inexperienced in recording land. I am hoping that I can make this thing for about $1,000-$1,200 since I am not planning on having more than about 80 copies made; though if more people want to buy it (yes buy it, I am not giving this thing out for free even if I'm not doing it for profit reasons) than I can always make more copies.

So by-and-by that is all I have right now. But I will make sure to keep posting and let all you wonderful people out there in on what is happening.

~The Singing Ginger
p.s. if you want a tentative list of possible maybe songs, look two posts down and you can see what this might sound like.

The Land of Could's

I feel like posting but I really have no idea what to post. I could talk about my date with floor guy (which went well but I am kind of wondering if he has a problem with physical contact because he won't hold my hand or do an arm around...or try and kiss me...maybe I should take the first step? Eh...no,he should; he is a guy and there are some things guys should just do first.) I could talk about the tattoo I want to get, and will be able to get in less than two months, but won't have the money for. I could talk about how I think I am going to start selling my plasma twice a week because I need the money for Europe and my paycheck is not cutting it right now; and how I am too afraid to tell my parents because I don't think they would approve. I could talk about crew boy and how I think he is wonderfully interesting, but I am thinking not so much into me. I could talk about how I had a really good practice this morning and I think it kind of dictated the rest of the day and how I don't know if that is a bad thing or not. I could talk about how my dorm room is messy. It is really messy. I could talk about how much I miss my family, and singing on a daily basis and a bunch of other things. I could talk about all of these things...but I think I already have. Hope life is swell.

~The Singing Ginger

Range

I had a thought just now I decided it might be fun to share. I think if I end up doing this singing competition I have been a part of for the past 2 years again next year, and if I win, I am going to use the money to cut an album. This is not something that I want to distribute so much as I would like a record of what I can do with my voice right now at this age for when I can no longer do these things and I am no longer this age. I am going to be thinking about what songs I should put on this thing and if anybody has any suggestions please feel free to add on. Right now I have

-"Summer Time" by Etta James
-"Save Your Soul" by Jewel
-"Per La Gloria" by Scarlotti?
-"Chasing Pavement" by Adele
-"Warwick Avenue" by Duffy
-"Sunday Kind of Love" by Etta James
-"Give Me One Reason" by Tracy Chapman
-"Memory" from Cats
-"The Habenera" from Carmen
-"I'll Cover You" from RENT
-"Moondance" by Van Morrison
-"Take Me for What I Am" from RENT
-"I'll Be Seeing You" Nat King Cole
-"Come Together" by The Beatles
-"House of the Rising Sun" by Bob Dylan

Obviously not all of these will be on there and I am sure there will be some stuff not listed but if you have any ideas please feel free to comment. This includes anyone who might not personally know me, or ever heard me sing. Thanks a bunch!

~The Singing Ginger

Bus Post #1

I have decided that since I spend a little bit of time on the bus every month, usually going back home for some reason or another or coming back from home; and since the bus I ride has WiFi that I will take this little bit of downtime to post when I am not sleeping. So consider this Bus Post #1 and I will keep track fo them as we go. They might be a bit shorter (though not so in this case) just because I will want to sleep most times. :)

New News: I got asked on a date! This one was totally out of the blue folks so if you are feeling left out of the loop so was I at the time. He is this really nice guy from my floor and we were hanging out in the study lounge and talking about stuff. He asked if I was seeing any one and me being the girl I am (didn't pick up on anything at this point) said that there were a few guys on the rowing team but that all-in-all most of them view me as one of the guys so I didn't see anything going anywhere. Then I asked him if he had any sorority girls he was looking at (he is in a frat) and he said no. Sometime around this point he said that we should go out and I said that would be a good idea (while trying not to fall out of my chair at the same time.) The interesting thing about this guy is that he is very much not what you would call my "type." He is a fraternity brother, he has no piercing or tattoos, he likes kids and is in the school of education and he is attractive in a very straightforward kind of way (meaning most girls/ gay men would agree he is good looking without much difference between them.) So yeah...it is kind of weird to me and I am still trying to get my balance back, but it is a nice feeling.

Now the real moral/ ethics question here would be whether or not I continue flirting with the guy I like on the rowing team. Here is my inner monologue: "M and I aren't dating yet we have just been on a date and I wouldn't expect him to stop flirting with anyone else he might be attarcted to. On the other hand he went out with my roommate a couple of times in the begining of the year (odd I know) and she was seeing two guys at one time and needless to say did not pick M. On the other hand I am not seeing rowing team guy and we have just been chatting a little bit and I don't even know if he is into me or not (I would guess not from the feelings I have been getting from him, but I really have no idea), on the other hand what happens if something happens with rowing guy and I? What happens if something happens with M and I?

All of this could be avoided with simple thought bubbles that popped up over everybody's head when they think things. Oi, sometimes reality is just not in my favor. :) Keep you updated on the situation. Going to take a nap now.

~The Nomadic Singing Ginger

Righto

Okay so no lie, there have apparently been a few new people who have been reading this little online diary of mine, which kinda freaks me out because I tend to use this site in moments of high emotion and or points of drama. I am hoping that those of you out there reading this (you know who you are) don't take this as some deep look into my personality. Is it a new side of me you may not have seen before? Yes. Is it the whole picture? Far from it.

Alright, so to get on with the post I had a little bit of a revelation today: school is the source of the vast majority of my stress. Ta-Dah! I know most of you are looking at the screen and saying something along the lines of "Thank you Captain Obvious" and/ or "No shit Sherlock" but I don't think I truely got this point until over the break. For those of you just tuning in, I spent my break doing two-a-day practices with the rowing team, that plaus an hour of cardio and some strength trainging and I ahd a pretty busy week off. The kicker was though, I think I was happier for that stretch of time than I have been in a long while. I was litereally having moments when I would be sitting in the boat, or talking with friends or just hanign gout and this wonderful light feeling would come over me and I would just realize that I was amazingly happy. It had nothing to do with teh fact that I was keeping busy, and staying active that was the original source of my stress, but, in fact, school work and how it will effect me and my life and the things I want to do and all fo that fun stuff.

Stress is what utimatly kills most of us and yet we have set up a society that feeds and requires copious amounts of it. Don't get me wrong, I am well aware that life all in its own uninhibitated requires a certin amoung of stress in which it function and flow, but I think we, as humans (and maybe more specifically Americans) go way beyond our daily quota. We put people in an education system that tries to enfource the believe of learning and life long education yet we have grades and papers which cause most learning to be on a memorized basis that is soon lost after it has been implemented in the required fashion. I can not tell you how many teaches I have had that tell me not to "memorize things but to learn them." If you truely wanted me to learn something you would not require that I understand on some sort fo time scale.

I also understand that this woudln't function well either simply because people would then only choose to learn what they liked and believed was important, instead of becoming well rounded individuals...but wait! Isn't this what we do anyway? How many of you could actually re-take and pass all of the tests we went through in highg school? How many of us would be able to pass our college courses without studying once we have graduated? We attain broad knowledge yet only implement and retain the stuff that is useful. Why not just go with that? Why not just have people learn what they need and want to learn to further their lives? I am going to continue this rant a little bit later because I need to sleep now, but I hope that was at least a little something for your mind to snack on.

Happy Almost Saint Patrick's Day
~The Singing Ginger

Unitard

I would just like to say that my two favorite pieces of clothing now are my senior prom dress and my new uni suite. I have been spending my Spring Break in Texas with the crew team and two days ago we received our uni's. These are the one piece suites that we race in and I must say I feel like a super hero every time I put it on. It is THE MOST AMAZING THING EVER!! I finally feel like I am really a part of this team and that I have a new group of friends I will be a part of for life. I love the girls in my boat and the rest of them on the team and the guys are becoming like some twisted form of family. They are all wonderful and I don't know what I would do without them at this point.

This entire break ahs just been wonderful, I am getting to know some people I wasn't as close to and spending even more time with those I like to chill with. Everybody is great and the trip is more than I expected. I will update more when I get back but needless to say this is the happiest I have been in a long while. I hope everything is coming up roses.

~Claire