It's a Mac world

OK, so I gave in. My new laptop died in St. Gallen, Switzerland. I got back home rejoicing the fact that I still had my old laptop lying around, so at least I could use it. then, get this; I dig it out, I turn it on, I work on it for a couple of hours, It dies! what IS IT with me? some deadly magic touch?... I must be the black widow of all PC's. Now, this shit can NOT happen to me anymore: I just can't handle it very well. not when I am abroad, alone, away. So here's what I did: (fuming and mad) I went to the new Apple store on 58th and Fifth, stormed down the stairs, got me a MacBook, paid, and left. that simple. Ha!! 85% of my opera trovatores swear by their mac. Never a problem, never any grief. So I will give it a try, starting tomorrow on my Philly gig.

I guess the Swiss really are obsessed with time. The 3 (!) different church bells right outside my hotel window, were going off every 15 (!!!) minutes, to mark the hour, and every quarter of an hour in between. (yes, throughout the night as well!) So needless to say, the light- sleeper that I am, I actually didn't really sleep for the entire week. But the lake calmed me down and the music was beautiful and I was pretty impressed with orchestra and with the conductor John Axelrod, who is young and energetic, and as charismatic as all my big time conductor friends. So we had a good musical time together.( And "Bravo" from me to the enthusiastic Luzern audience!)
What went wrong was that my little baby laptop died on me. I think it must be one of my nightmares (other than forgetting my lines in an opera or losing my teeth while singing). But not having my COMPUTER with me, when I need it most; in a foreign land where communication is my savior and Skype, MSN and AOL messengers are like a life line to me; THAT was bad.
Of course, I got over it, got back to the old days tricks: calling cards and renting out strange computers.(where the Z and the Y and the question marks are all misplaced!) But I guess I managed.
So my little one is going to be looked at tomorrow, and I hope it can be revived, although I am more and more convinced that MAC is probably going to be my next love.

It's 10:47 AM in Lucerne. It's 5:47 PM in Tokyo.

OK, OK,I KNOW I am in Lucerne, and it's so beautiful here and all, but today I can tell you:
I am officially jealous of my friends in Japan. {from covers to choreographers to coaches to singers and conductors to plain rich fans! the whole freaking world (but little moi) seems to be there!}
You know,my silly blog was created in my beloved Tokyo. A city I very strangely feel (and funnily enough have ALWAYS felt) longing for; bizarre , deep fascination with that whole Asian thing. I can't really explain it.
So today, after seeing the new photos from the press conference, and reading a bit of a singer's blog who is there too ,I am again feeling bitter for not taking part in the word's most happening operatic event. *A note for Peter Gelb: ok, I am ready! (smooch).

Post flight, Luzern.

After seven little hours on the plane, here I am at this wonderfully charming little town of Lucerne. It is so pretty, and I haven't even walked around yet. I just saw it from the window of my pick up limo (ooh nicey nice!) but I am dead tired, so I will have to do my usual anti - jet leg routine of 3 hours nap and then forced awake- ness until 10 PM local time.
As for my new travel pillow: Sure, it is sweet to have the option of landing your head forward onto a soft (faux suede) surface. It is actually really lovely. I think I am pretty happy with the purchase ($42) generally, although (frankly), I still didn't sleep even for a little minute. But again; Can't blame it on the poor pillow can I ...
PS *Thank God* for the wireless signal going around my tiny little hotel! Sometimes I feel that this is the only thing in life that makes me complete!

Gonna give it a try!

As a frequent traveler, I do everything to ease the hardship of flying, everything from 4 wheel super- suitcases to noise canceling headphones, and now, I saw this wonder at skymall.
It actually makes a lot of sense to me:{ "SkyRest
Travel Pillow. Rest or sleep in comfort in any seat!Tired of restless attemps to
sleep on flights, layovers, train, bus or car trips? Just when you're about to
nod off, your head falls and you're wide awake again! If you find this
frequently happening to you, then you need SkyRest. It works with gravity rather
than against it. Lay your head down on SkyRest's soft pillow top and drift off
to a restful nap. Because it's inflatable, SkyRest is extremely lightweight and
portable. It takes up very little room in your carry-on bag. Simply inflate in a
few minutes and it's ready to use. Inflation and deflation is fast and easy with
special removable deflation valve. This product is an extremely versatile
traveling companion and has even proven effective for use by wheelchair-bound
individuals, allowing them to rest sitting up"} and even though I am taking the risk of being laughed at by the other passengers, I still bought it and will try it on my flight to Zurich on Saturday. Will report my opinion soon!

Birds shmirds!

So this chirping bird I mentioned a few days ago, turned out to be a most annoying cheeky bastard: His favorite spot to 'chirp' really loud (must be a tenor!) is right on our AC outside our bedroom window, and at 6 AM sharp! And don't get me wrong, my husband and I LOVE animals, we adore anything living and cute. Still, getting a wake up call at 6 AM is not what we wished for when we bought a co-op with trees all around it.
So hubbs got up, found a hollow broomstick handle, and now his favorite thing to do is to put little pasta shells inside this handle and with his breath shoot it at the bird! I gotta try it tomorrow morning myself! :)

Benvenuti, Bienvenue,Bruchim Habaim, welcome!

or look here for your prefered language... :) Welcome to my new friends and to re-new friends, (whose blogs I presonally love!) and also to everybody else who stumbled upon my own lame cyber-diary ( It was mainly created for my family and long distance friends ,so I can skip having to write too many personal Emails...) :) but judging by the world traffic I am starting to get, I guess I won't be bitching about other Mezzo's getting pregnant by famous conductors or how this opera world is like a big V.I.P prom and what one needs to do to get invited... lol, only kidding... Now I will HAVE to get all naughty ;D !

early june

New York, early June, our new house is great. We were woken up by a bird this morning, chirping outside our window. The parks are so green, and people tend to smile at me.
I baked a chocolate cake .

The Met in Tokyo

If you are in Tokyo this month, don't miss the Metropolitan Opera on tour. Go see Don Giovanni with such a star-shiny cast (Pape,Neterbko, Kozena etc.) you'll need sunglasses! But the one to watch especially is the man singing the title role, my good friend, the uber talented Erwin Schrott. Click here to listen to Giovanni's serenade (click on "Deh Vieni alla Finestra")

Breathe time

Don't worry. I am still here; Finally home for a few weeks, no big news, therefore not much to say other then: (exhale:) "Ahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"