Australian Idol

This post is dedicated to my new discovery of the musical wonder and genius of Adam Lopez.
Feel free to check out his website: Adam Lopez
Adam Lopez is an Australian wonder, who currently holds the Guinness Book World Record for the highest note recorded by a male voice.
The female record holder, predictably and certainly deservedly, is Mariah Carey.
Please listen to the snippet of Adam Lopez singing Nessun Dorma
The note that he hits at the end of the clip, for those of you who are musically inclined, is the E-flat above quadruple-high C, which is the very highest note on the standard 88-key piano. IN-freakin'-SANE!!!
A man who's voice can go off the piano!
I have a brand new hero.
He is also working on landing his second Guinness Book Record for the widest vocal range, because his complete 7+ octaves are unmatched by anyone else in the world, with his lowest recorded note being the B-flat below "deep C," which is 2 octaves below middle-C on the standard 88-key piano.

I was so proud of my once 5½ octaves that have, as of late, been reduced to a mere 4 octaves. That's just pitiful compared to this guy. Now I have something to strive for. I am going to remaster my once plentiful whistle-tone register.

Okay. I'm done for now. But just a reminder:
There are only 32 shopping days left until my birthday, and Adam Lopez's CD "Popera" would be a wonderful selection in your online shopping.

Twosday Quiz on Monday

Sorry for you Quiz-haters.
Here's another one:

2x2

Two Names You Go By
1. Todd-Michael
2. Todd (by people who don't respect my wishes)
Two Parts of Your Heritage
1. Polish/German from Mom
2. Irish/Heinz 57 from Dad
(how am I not an alcoholic?)
Two Things That Scare You
1. Republicanism
2. The direction this country is heading.
Two of Your Everyday Essentials
1. Cell phone
2. Contact Lenses
Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now
1. Khaki cargo shorts
2. Green shirt
(the basic staple of my wardrobe)
Two of Your Favorite Bands or Musical Artists (at the moment)
1. My new idol, Adam Lopez
2. The Ten Tenors
Two Things You Want in a Relationship (other than Real Love)
1. Monogamy
2. Honesty
(good thing I have those things now)
Two Truths
1. I have to battle my own mind every day, and more often than I recently thought, regarding my appearance.
2. I am uncomfortable sharing my truths with others.
Two Physical Things that Appeal to You
1. Nice smile.
2. Shorter-than-me-ness.
Two of Your Favorite Hobbies
1. Singing.
2. Reading.
Two Things You Want Really Badly
1. Smart Car.
2. More Money.
Two Places You Want to go on Vacation
1. Kenya.
2. Iceland.
Two Things You Want to Do Before You Die
1. Release a successful album of my own music.
2. Write, produce, and act in the screenplay that's been floating around in my head for a couple of years now.
Two Ways that you are stereotypically a Chick/Guy
1. I have difficulty expressing my feelings.
2. I don't cook or clean without a Congressional directive.
Two Things You Normally Wouldn't Admit
If I normally wouldn't admit it, why would I start now?
Actually, while I don't intentionally hold anything back, I also don't freely volunteer information, so if there's something that you want to know, you'll just have to ask!

Uh-oh! Hotdog!

QUIZ QUIZ QUIZ QUIZ

Quiz alert!!!

I am completely avoiding my own creativity by answering someone else's questions instead.

Thanks, Alyson, for enabling my laziness!

What-were-you-like-in-high-school Quiz

1. What high school did you go to?

Rockville High School, Vernon, Connecticut.

2. What year did you graduate?

1995.

3. What were your favorite band (choose one) or artist(s):

Mariah Carey (still is).

4. What was your favorite outfit?

I think I had more horizontally striped shirts, polos, and T's than the combined total of every other human being on the planet. If it was striped, I wore it. And pleat-rolled blue jeans. Remember pleat-rolling? That was hot.

5. What was up with your hair?

Natural, blond, and longish, with the surfer's-wave-left-handed part. People always called me "Malibu Ken" or "Flock of Seagulls."

6. Who were your best friend(s) at your hs?

Curtis Thompson throughout all 4 years; Alexis Alexander and Jen Kingsdorf were my freshman-year senior-friends; Kate Woods, Liz Pomper, Pam Smith, Renee Butler, Kimmy Godfrey, and Melissa Dombek until they all graduated my junior year; Melinda Melendez my senior year. (When I look at it that way, it looks like I actually had friends, but overall I promise that I didn't...in other words, with the exception of Melinda, they were my best friends, but I was not theirs.)

7. What did you do after school?

I was in essentially every possible after-school club: Service Club, Spanish Club, Environmental Action Group, and Amnesty International among many others, then I would go home and watch my favorite TV shows and movies and be alone while everyone else was having fun and hanging out with live human beings. (Also I was in every band with frequent after school and evening rehearsals, I did a few plays, and I would hit the ice to train for my figure skating.)

8. Where did you work?

I had a paper route until I was 14 (sophomore year), but my first real job was at Tasty Chick when I was 16, then I worked at the Christmas Tree Shoppes until I graduated and moved to Florida.

9. Did you take the bus?

I quit riding the bus in 8th grade because I was picked on so much by the other kids, so I would walk 5 miles home from the middle school every day, but it was cut down to only 2 miles in high school, and because I was so young I didn't get my driver's license until 3 weeks before graduation.

10. Who did you have a crush on?

No one in high school, except I guess for Melinda, but she and I actually dated...gay-what?

11. Who did you date in hs?

Heather Robertson in 10th grade, then Melinda my senior year and through college.

12. Did you fight with your parents?

In public? Never. Behind the closed doors of our house? CONSTANTLY, every day.

13. Did you ever get detention?

No. I was the teachers' pet.

14. Favorite Subject?

Band.

15. Who did you have a CELEBRITY crush on?

Mariah Carey.

16. My Grades were:

Perfect, until the end of senior year when I randomly stopped caring.

17. Did you smoke cigarettes?

NO!!! I never have and I never will; it's the most vile, disgusting thing that any human being can do, besides being a Republican.

18. Did you lug all of your books around in your backpack all day?

No, the backpack was only for lugging the books home. Instead, I carried them in a precariously balanced pile in my arms like a nerd just asking for someone to knock them out of my hands.

19. Did you have a clique?

Can one person be called a clique? Otherwise, I had an "Acquaintance Clique" of people who would eat lunch with me, but never hang out with me after school.

20. Where was your Senior Prom at?

I have no idea. I didn't go.

21. Did you have a Max like "Saved by the Bell"?

No. There was no one that cool, or wannabe-cool.

22. Admit it, were you popular?

Well, I was popular in the way that everyone knew me, but since no one liked me I'd have to say no. Unless you consider the fact that I was the one that everyone loved to hate.

23. Who did you want to be just like?

A specific person in my school? Absolutely no one. I just wish I had the guts to be myself, the real me.

24. What did you want to be when you grew up?

A singer. (I still do.)

25. What was the color of your yearbook?

Some blue-y color, I think it was supposed to look like rippling water (which is funny because my high school was on top of a mountainette) or maybe blue marble...and it was called "Right Here, Right Now" because Jesus Jones, or EMF, or whoever the hell it was that sang that song was just so cool...and I hope you can feel my sarcasm.

26. What were the colors of your school?

Blue and Gold, just like Alyson's.

27. What was your school mascot?

The Rams.

28. Did you have a teacher that you thought was hot?

No. There seems to be a distinct lack of hotness coming from my hometown.

If you are still here reading this, thanks for indulging my self-pity-party trip down memory lane.

The Name Game

This is fun!!!
Non-Quiz from Marcie:
1. YOUR PORN STAR NAME (name of first pet + street you grew up on):
Topper George
2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME (grand parent of same gender's first name + favorite snack):
Leo Chocolate
3. YOUR FASHION DESIGNER NAME (first word you see on your left + favorite restaurant):
September Fazoli
4. YOUR "FLY GIRL/GUY" NAME (first initial + first three letters of your last name):
T. Hay
5. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME (favorite animal + name of high school mascot):
Dolphin Ram (maybe Dolph Ram for short?)
6. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME (middle name + city where you were born):
Blank Vernon (I don't have a middle name)
7. YOUR OPPOSITE SEX NAME (name of sibling/parent [opposite sex] + cell phone company you use):
Dotti Sprint
8. YOUR STAR WARS NAME (first 3 letters of your last name + last 3 letters of mother's maidenname /+/ first 3 letters of your pet's name or the last you had + first3 letters of the town you live in):
Hayppe Geoorl
9. YOUR DRAG QUEEN NAME (first female pet + your mother's maiden name):
Bandit Schweppe

Truly Uninspired

As I notice that the last post I made was exactly two weeks ago, I ponder the reasons why.
It's not as though I have nothing to say.
I didn't even finish the travelogue of my San Francisco trip, nevermind the fact that I also have taken a trip to Las Vegas since then.
Once someone gets me going on a topic it's hard to shut me up.
Maybe it's because I exhaust my creative energies posting comments on others' blogs?
No, I don't dry up that easily.
I can only assume it's because of the enormity of the changes on the horizon.
I have mentioned to a small handful of people that there are huge things in store for the next year or so, but everything is still in the preliminary planning stages.
What that means is that rather than enlightening anyone -- that is to say, anyone who, on the completely off-hand chance, might actually care -- as to what random vagueness I am talking about, I am totally going to leave it hanging.
I am going to finish the travelogue of my San Fran trip.
I am going to post the travelogue of my Las Vegas trip.
I am going to blog about the "Come Out With Pride" parade in downtown Orlando this past Sunday.
I am going to angrily rave about idiot things that idiot people do.
(Stupid asshole ultra-conservative religious group has placed blame for 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and other national tragedies on the fact that Ellen DeGeneres is a lesbian...news at 11. Unfortunately, that is a true story, not just me being funny. How fucking ignant is that?)
I am going to otherwise continue to make fun of people, as I so frequently do.

...but not tonight, because I have to study for a Humanities placement test at school.

Okay, lady, I love you, buh-bye!