July, July, July-y-y-y!

At some point I'm going to get better at blogging...instead of forgetting I have a blog and only posting every two months.

So, I have a different job now. I'm still working for Gaylord Entertainment (yes, Gaylord, haha, go ahead and giggle) but they've opened a new restaurant in close association with the Grand Ole Opry called "Opry Backstage Grill". The main premise of this place is that it's supposed to feel like you're hanging out backstage at the Opry...and eating food, hence the name. The coolest part is that in addition to waiting tables, I will also be performing a number of classic and modern country hits on the stage at the restaurant! My favorite song on the list we get to choose from is definitely "Sleeping Single in a Double Bed" by Barbara Mandrell. If you haven't heard this song - well, youtube that shiz and prepare to be amazed ;-)

No but seriously, I'm excited for this job, both to be singing and for the prospect of Opry members themselves coming in to eat at the restaurant! According to the management, this is a thing that's going to happen regularly. We have our grand opening probably in August and I guess they're trying to get as many Opry members to attend as possible. So that's pretty exciting. If nothing else, I'm excited to be waiting tables instead of being a hostess, as this will almost assuredly mean mo' money (mo' problems). Also the food is delicious, AND locally sourced, which I definitely approve.

Also RACH RICH is gonna come visit me and bring the Pintometer, which WILL DEFINITELY BE THE BEST THING EVER. Nashville has Percy Priest instead of the beach, and a downtown so tourist-filled it sometimes makes you wanna cry, but Nashville also has me and my love for both Rachel and her giant beast of a dog :-)

Also my parents are coming to fetch me a bed, so I can actually sleep in my room in a real, queen-sized, big girl bed. Look out, I'm moving up in the world.

Also my cousins Kathy and Saul have finally gotten to adopt their precious baby girl, to be named Kailani. This is her on Saul's shoulder. Can't wait to meet her!



All in all, I'm happy with the way things have worked out this summer. Oh also, I turned 24 a couple weeks back. Feels about the same as 23. :-)

...Or, why I am a terrible blogger.

Every time I sit down to write one of these things, it feels silly and pointless. Does anybody but me (and possibly my mom) care about my blog? But then, a realization - the point of this is not so others can read about my oh-so-fascinating life. The point is that I have a record of the way I was feeling and the minute, day to day activities I did that brought me to wherever I am the next time I read it. Hopefully someday I'll have something really interesting and fantastic to write about that people'll want to read. Until then, this.

Today seemed as good an occasion as any other to write a blog entry. I had my first real live professional theatre audition today! That's right, I auditioned for the good folks at Tennessee Repertory Theatre. Now, my only audition experiences so far in life have been at the collegiate and regional/community levels, so I don't really know what to expect as far as an outcome is concerned. I do know, however, that I was remarkably un-nervous and didn't forget a single word of either monologue. I sounded awesome on my song and got a compliment on how awesome my shoes were. Pretty much all I could ask for.

Then I went to work wearing my audition outfit. Two men and two lesbians complimented my appearance. Score!

Living here is so strange. I have literally no idea what I'm going to be doing in the next year, five years, ten years. But that's something that hasn't changed. My days here consist of working at Wildhorse, looking up auditions online, biking around East Nashville, watching TV on Netflix, googling Shea Weber, and playing piano. And of course singing. Always singing. I hope something comes of my audition, but if nothing does, I'm proud that I went and I'm glad that I've gone over my first milestone - auditioning for pro theatre (that isn't Light Opera OK, which in my world doesn't count). Aaaaand scene.

This is where I am.

It's time for this blog to become real again.

HELLO WORLD. I live in Nashville now.

I got a job today, at the Wildhorse Saloon. I work for Opryland, y'all!

I moved to Nashville hoping for change - not the Obama-style, grand scheme type of change, but just a personal need for a little growth and newness in my life. I've come to the South hoping to find it.

And so far...I like it? It's a little too soon to tell, I suppose. I've only been here a week and a half. I've got three roommates - my Tulsa friend Jessie, and two other girls, Colleen and Natalie. We all get along pretty well, helped along possibly by the fact that I've made dinner every night this week (buy your friends with food. totally works.)

I'm going to visit Rachel in Wilmington. That's gonna RULE. There will be so much karaoke it's not even funny.

I've practiced piano everyday this week...and by practiced I mean taken out all my Broadway sheet music and pathetically attempted to sight read. I'm totally getting better. Should be able to play Sondheim by the end of the month.

Blog to follow with tales of my cruise with the incomparable Peter Brennan.

I'm bad at this.

Life gets harder and harder. And more worrisome.

But here I am anyway, in a show after saying I wasn't going to do any for awhile, in Tulsa after swearing I'd leave after graduation, living with my parents after thinking I wouldn't again. It's not bad though, just a little...blah.

I've got a restless spirit. Someone told me that once, and I think they meant it as a bad thing (in fact, I know they did, but that's beside the point). For me though, I'm just not content to settle until I know I've got a good version of myself. I want to see things and experience things. I can't imagine a worse existence than to wake up everyday and feel like a log in a stagnant pond. I just want motion and new people and fun.

But I can see how it's a bad thing too - I'm bad at committing to things...and people. I've been meaning to write more, and I can't make myself sit down and start. I know I need to save my money (in order to have those new experiences I've been craving) but I'm so excited to have expendable income for the first time in so long that I buy lots of things that I don't need.

Gah. This is the angsty-est blog ever. Shut up Karli.

So, a blog.

I haven't had a blog since I was in Prague. But now I want to write another. I think I feel a new chapter (era, season?) beginning in my life, and so I want to document it. Feel free to read it. Or not. Though it would be more fun for me if you did.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes! Turn and face the strain, ch-ch-changeh-ehs--that's why I'm writing this blog. Suddenly, after 19 years of being in school, I find myself not in school, and with no clear plan of ever returning.

I have a BA in musical theatre. It's really doing me a lot of good, because I'm now working as a receptionist in a salon. My training's coming in handy. Answering calls, talking to people...I did both of those things in college. Yep.

Anyway, life is changing. I don't really know what steps to take next, whether to stay in Tulsa or move to the beach with my biffles Rajangajangas...or to Nashvegas with Schultz, or to just fly back over to Ireland and busk on the streets like Glen Hansard. Though I'd have to grow a ginger beard for that last one, so maybe not.

The job I've got is all right, but dealing with entitled people all day can really get old fast. The worst people to me are the ones who call and say, "Hi, this is Patricia Hollis," and then just stop talking, expecting you to know exactly who she is, when her appointment is, who it's with, and when she wants to move it to. These people apparently don't realize that we make hundreds of appointments with hundreds of people. Somehow, they think that we should recognize them for the specialfriend they are. People are crazy. There are seriously customers who pay $60 every three DAYS to get their hair styled with an "Advanced Master" stylist. What. the. crap.

Anyway, there are times when the job can be boring, stressful, irritating, and depressing. At best, it's mediocre. But I am making money, which is nice. And I am moving over to the actual salon instead of being in the call center, so hopefully that'll be better. And if not, maybe it's good to not have anything keeping me in Tulsa. Because I'm ready to move on. I think.