I arrived last night. I was escorted to my lonely hotel room where I was greeted with red roses, a card, and a candle. I love the candle, by the way. It’s cider scented… “Mulled Cider” to be exact. There was also a Cosmopolitan magazine on my bed. How sweet? I truly feel very blessed. We really are getting rockstar treatment.

Today we have our first production rehearsal. I’m still trying to wake up from the dream… to be continued.

Summer was great.

Fast forward to present–

I am taking a break from college this semester. I landed a gig with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. This has been the most exciting point in my career so far. I have gone through such a transformation. I like to call it my “Rockstar Transformation”. Part of that transformation is supposed to entail giving up the blogosphere, according to Paul O’Neill, “Rockstars don’t Twitter.” However, my journey must be recorded. Who knows when my next posting will be anyway? Furthermore, every bit of this new season in my life has been fantastic. I feel extremely blessed to be working with such talented people and I cannot wait for the tour to begin.

It’s also extremely vindicating… I have always been my own bully, as well as skeptical of the intentions of others. I never could take a compliment when it came to my art. Now that I’ve got everyone else convinced… I’m working on myself.

On the topic of love though, I just want to say how much I miss the love we experience in grade school. I miss sneaking out of my house to go hang out with my friends. I miss feeling like my world was in shambles because he was there and I was elsewhere and we had nobody to drive us somewhere. I miss my first kiss and feeling like, “I shouldn’t be doing this.” Staying up all night with boys, playing video games. Now, it’s like so what if my mom finds out. Gossip no longer has something to talk about. We all grew up. The good ol’ days left back home in picture frames. What about that night we went driving? No license, no lights. You know, we all could have died that night. We probably would have preferred it had we known what was coming the next day. I think I would have died happily, in that backseat. In your arms, everything was always okay. God, where does the time go? We used to have the world at our feet. Some of us can’t even stand on our own two now. I look at my little cousin like I don’t understand what he’s going through… but I really do. It makes me wonder about what my mother never told me and what she always knew. It makes me wonder if not saying anything is the same thing I’m supposed to do. I judge the rising generation as if they’re growing up too fast, but aren’t I just looking through the eyes of my past? Did I mention how time flies? They say, “Ignorance is bliss.” Back then, we knew it all. Now, I wish I didn’t know so much. I look back on all the pictures and notes grayed with ink from passing. I think to myself, “God, we were so naive, but dammit if we weren’t happy.” No matter the drama that was plaguing our lives at any given time… we had to have been the happiest we’d ever been. There’s no way the lives we lead now could ever touch the ones we lead then. Care-free and chauffeured.

Yea, but on the topic of love though, it didn’t used to be what it is now.

We really did see stars. Yea, you know who you are.

I had a really nice conversation with an old friend yesterday and was so vindicating. The city challenges me so much. The stipulation for most is that  it can be easy to lose focus. I’ve found Manhattan to have the reciprocal effect on me. I am incredibly motivated all the time and always on top of everything. I sound so annoying… Haha. I am just extremely surprised by it all. I can’t help but focus on everything. My grades reflect that. :] I feel like a genius! Ha but I probably sound like, dare I say it, a bimbo getting an education.

Anyway, the important thing is that I am happy. And I have so many people to thank for that. They know who they are…

A few snapshots: These are a little dated but for those of you who don’t have Facebook…

Mo (Monica) and I in a sketchy van. It was the shuttle to an event for her big brother. That ride was absolutely, hilariously terrifying. We had so much fun that night. The event was a lot like Fan Plan!

Here’s the common area of my place of residence! Haha cute, huh? Thanks, Mom and Poppi.

Homecoming Weekend! My family came and visited. I was miserable the entire weekend because I was sick, but I got to spend a lot of time with the family. My little cousin and I got matching shirts at a street fair after I went to the doctor. :] Love you, Austin.

Halloween. Red Hat Society Lady, and to the locals, Carmen Sandiego. I was disappointed with the overall festivities because they were rained on. I still had my fun though.

Some guy supposedly in a marathon… cheater.

Another debate fired up on the Facebook of Natalya Rose.

Topic: EVOLUTION… Let’s see. I posted “Natalya Rose believes in evolution?” less than an hour ago and we’re at 37 responses and counting. No frivolous “likes” either, all commentary. I might post it for those of you who aren’t my “friends”… after reading.

It’s a video!

Click here.

How the world of internet social networking interacts… These people don’t even know one another. Obviously, the only thing they have in common is they all know me (and maybe they all like peanut butter). What can I say? I should be proud to have such a wide variety of friends. What do we call this, OB? Radial networking integrated? I do miss your Sociology class.

For the record, George Washington Carver gets more credit for  peanut butter than Barack Obama. However, his relationship to peanut butter is debatable too…