PSU Homecoming 2009

My first PSU football experience included decent weather and a win. My second and last PSU football experience for the season was during the Homecoming weekend. The weather wasn't exactly cooperating that weekend. We had our first snowfall. One of the pictures included with this post is the view across the street from my apartment window. There's nothing like waking up to 3+ inches of snow in mid-October in Central Pennsylvania, eh?

John, a friend of mine, crashed on my futon for the weekend. (He was officially my first overnight guest who was NOT related to me!) There was a nice group present from the PSU Alumni Association, Greater Pittsburgh Chapter throughout the weekend. We began our weekend adventure with the Homecoming parade, then attended the alumni reception at Hintz Alumni Center (where I promptly sat in with the band on vocals as soon as I walked through the door!), and then enjoyed all that the weekend had to offer - visits to a variety of establishments, the football game, good food, and great company.

Voice Masterclass - October 14, 2009

One of my personal goals for this calendar year was to become a better singer, and continue to study voice during the remainder of my graduate work. I've been quite fortunate in this area. In the past spring semester, I studied with Professor Richard Kennedy. This semester, I've been placed with Amelia Rollings, a graduate student in the voice department. A graduate student studying with another graduate student isn't unusual, but it doesn't happen often.

I'm learning many different things this semester with my new teacher, Amelia Rollings. The first thing that I'm learning is how to REALLY belt in a healthy way. One of the other interesting things that I'm learning is that classical singing style is not disconnected from belting style. I'm also learning how to execute both styles equally well. Amelia's teaching style is grounded in some pretty current research and I'm looking forward to bringing as much of this back home as is possible.

As part of the requirements for voice lessons this semester, I had to participate in a voice masterclass. The selection that I performed for the masterclass is "I Am What I Am" from the musical, "La Cage Aux Folles" or "The Birdcage". The graduate student-teachers were quite helpful to all the students that evening, and it was fun to listen to all of the different music that everyone's been working on since the start of the semester. The clip is here for you to view - - not the best quality, but what can ya do when servers have limits, right? Anyhow...

I'm looking forward to the rest of the semester and all that I will learn from my upcoming lessons with Amelia. I hope that you enjoy the video and if you're in the area on the evening of December 2nd, that's when we're having our studio recital!

Fun in Grad School...yes it does happen

How do we have fun in grad school? Well, between the classes, research projects, article writing, voice lessons (for me), meetings and graduate colloquium, we do find some time for fun. A few things that we've managed to do this semester include: PSU football game watching parties, karaoke night, Graduate Student Association dinner, cooking dinner for each other, conducting informal polls/research, seeing concerts...and there is much more to come because there is plenty of time left in the semester!

I've made some new friends this semester as well. Natalie is a new master of music education student. Sue is a civil engineering graduate student and one of Natalie's roommates. Stephanie is another one of Natalie's roommates. Teri is a new doctoral student, and Chuck is also a new master's student.

Jess and I are continuing to hang out, walk a mile or so together daily, and work on an article for publication with Tzu-Yi. We all try to get together when we can. It's tough scheduling though! Everyone's busy taking classes, teaching classes, and doing some sort of homework or research.

As the semester progresses, I'm sure that I'll post more of our adventures and fun times. Stay tuned!!!

Heidi's 1st Penn State Football Experience

The fall semester is flying by. The school work is going well and each day is an adventure. I have part-time work in a flower shop in downtown State College; it gives me a spending money and keeps me from sleeping until noon on a daily basis...I know most high school students would LOVE to be able to do that. Anyhow...

On Saturday, October 10, 2009, I attended my first Penn State football game. Paul and his brother, Chris, drove in from Pittsburgh late the night before. The game was against Eastern Illinois, so a win was greatly anticipated. The weather was chilly and gray at first, but became pretty sunny by the end of the fourth quarter.

Stopping at the Joe Pa statue was something I'd never done. I'd driven past it many times when going to and from campus, so we actually made it a point to stop and make the most of the photo opportunity.

The game was great. The win that we anticipated came true. I loved the Blue Band's half-time performance. It made me realize that I'm not exactly a BAD drill writer, just not a corps style drill writer!

After the game, Chris bought a new hat and sweatshirt, and we honored his request to go to the Meyer Dairy Store/Restaurant for ice cream. I enjoyed the overall experience. It was a good day.

The New Apartment - Bellefonte

So, this week, I (Heidi) said "Good-bye" to my apartment in Vairo Village and "Hello" to my new apartment in Bellefonte. It's a little bit bigger than my Vairo apartment as it actually has one bedroom, and I like it a lot because it reminds me a little of the house in which I grew up...meaning paneling on the walls in the living room area, work needing to be done to update the space, but in a very quiet area with friendly and helpful neighbors.

I don't mind being out-of-town a little bit, but I think the setting will help me concentrate more on writing and studying to finish my degree work.

I also have to say that having an actual bedroom again means that I get to sleep in a real bed...and that was something that I missed during the course of the past Spring semester.

Well, until next time, have fun and take care!

Memorial Weekend: Family Events Galore

The weekend of Memorial Day brought several events. Heidi, her sister, Brea, and their father, George, traveled to the Philadelphia area to attend Amanda Fedinetz's wedding on Saturday. Few members of the Fedinetz family were able to attend due to health, family and other reasons, but the bride (Amanda) was very grateful to those of her family who could attend. It was beautiful, albeit hot, for the event and all in attendance enjoyed the day. George and Heidi drove throughout the night to get home for Sunday, so that they could easily attend the next event: a family picnic/reunion of sorts for the Zombek's & Nichols' families. Again blessed with some beautiful weather, all in attendance were able to enjoy the afternoon. Memorial Day itself brought much needed home time for Paul and Heidi. They worked on "Operation Curb Appeal" from late morning to early evening, trimming shrubbery, cleaning up the trimmings, digging out the dead plant-life and putting in the new plant-life. A picture of the summer-ready exterior will soon be posted.

The creative genius of Paul and Heidi's minds lent Grandma Zombek and Uncle Nick a video camera so that they could contribute to Heidi's on-going geneaology research. Heidi is anxious to watch/listen to the video and transcribe the audio to synthesize the stories that make her family history interesting.

While it was somewhat of an exhausting weekend, it was nice to spend time with members of both sides of the family. The weather was cooperative, the food was scrumptious, and the fellowship shared was great.

Girls' Weekend 2009

There are many things that you do not get to do when you are a full-time band director. One of these things is having an entirely free weekend to spend with some of your friends at a given get-away destination. Since I'd been living in State College, a few of my friends from the PSU Alumni Association, Greater Pittsburgh Chapter, thought it would be great to have a Girls' weekend. The rules were simple: No work, no husbands/boyfriends, no children, no pets, no thinking, just fun and relaxing.

Friday, March 28th, while I finished with all of my obligations and pre-planned events, Kathy, Kathy and Laura got settled into their room, went shopping and ate. I picked them up for an evening of people watching at one of State College's local establishments. Fun was had by all.

Saturday led us to painting pottery at 2000 Degrees, some more dining, watching the Pens win and then watching Pitt lose. As a Penn Stater, are we surprised? Nah...

Sunday brought us to do some more minor shopping, a stop at the Berkey Creamery, and our final lunch at Otto's Pub and Brewery.

There was not a time when we weren't laughing. As appropriate, we reminded ourselves of the rules (like when we attempted to think), and maintained them as much as possible. Thanks Laura, Kathy M., and Kathy K. for a great time!

Notable quotes:
How Laura orders food, "I'd like two slices of people, please...wait, I mean pizza!"
How Kathy M. orders food, "The beer-brained dunken chicken looks good...oh, my god...I meant beer-brined drunken chicken!"