What it all means

I thought I'd start off this blog with an explanation of the title. It partly refers to how my current life situation is not what I planned or expected or what other people expected of me. But the real reason for the title is that you can't make me fit into a mold. Let me see if I can make this clearer.

My conservative friends are sometimes surprised by my liberal views. My liberal friends think I'm too conservative.

I have a Master's Degree in Vocal Performance. Most people would think that that means that I love opera and listen to classical music all the time when I am not at work. I have gained an appreciation for opera, and there are some roles I would love to do, but my true loves are art song and musical theatre. And I rarely listen to music after a long day of teaching. My brain needs silence.

Because I'm a singer, people assume that I crave the spotlight. I love to sing and I'm not sure how I'd live without it, but the hunger for applause that so many of my friends and colleagues have just doesn't exist in me.

I am a member of an EXTREMELY family oriented church, but I am currently single and don't see that changing in the near future.

I am a writer. In addition to a crazy 50,000 word project I do every year (see nanowrimo.org) I am involved in a writer's group that meets every 3-4 weeks to discuss writing topics and critique each other's work. The writing, in and of itself, is not quite what some people would expect, but my writer friends are also not getting quite what they'd expect. I think many of them are interested in eventually publishing and think that that is the goal of all writers. I'm not sure they understand that I write because I love to write. It makes me feel good. It's fun. Yes, it would be great to someday get rich from it, but that is not my main goal.

I teach voice lessons and here again, I'm not your normal voice teacher. My students will testify that I am totally nuts, but that's not so strange in the music world. I think what sets me apart is that I view voice lessons from a perspective that might be more expected with a general music or choir teacher. I believe that music is for anyone and I will teach anyone regardless of their talent level.

So, those are a ways that I'm not quite what you'd expect. This is the place where I will explore and celebrate some of the things that make me different and unique.