A veritable whirlwind

Just as the title suggests, the past few days have been a veritable whirlwind.  Many, many things have been good, even amazing, but not everything.   Lauren and I will be leaving our comfy room at BNB for a smaller one in Dobson.  I shall resign myself to communal bathrooms and try not to let it kill me.  I went to Hannibal today to spend the day with Kat since it'll be the last time I get to see her until I get back from Québec.  I was sad to leave.  Sigh.  This whole "being apart" thing isn't fun.

Oooh, what else?  Let's see . . . oh, yeah.  I get to sing and be coached by one of my favorite singers, Gabrielle Destroismaisons.  It's kind of a long story.  She's been offering four vocal coaching sessions for about $350, which is quite reasonable.  The problem is, I'm a broke college student and can't afford that.  Not only that, but I don't have the means to go to Montréal for weeks in a row.  It's just not possible.  So I was pretty bummed.  Then I received an email from Gabrielle herself (yes, I'm just that cool) saying that, after multiple requests, she was opening up a single group session for $85 on 27 July.  MUCH more doable!  Though I would prefer a one-on-one session, beggars can't be choosers, as my mom likes to say.  I'm just happy and grateful for the opportunity to sing and be coached by her, period.  Lauren and I will probably spend the night and the next day in Montréal, as well, before heading back to Québec City.  While I'm in Montréal, since it might be one of the only times I'll get to go there, I'll also be meeting up with a friend of mine, François, for the first time.  We met online via NaNoWriMo because he saw that I liked a lot of Québécois musicians and he was surprised.  He's cool.  I'm excited.  Woo!

Since Lauren and I are being driven to Québec by her wonderful parents, we're going to have a few days of "tourism time" before we move into our dorms and start classes.  One of things we'll be doing is going to Trois-Rivières to see Emilie-Claire Barlow at Le Festivoix.  She's a lovely jazz singer about whom I only know because she sang with Bruno Pelletier once upon a time.  Lauren and her parents looooove her and they're beyond excited.  I'm happy, too, even though I'm not overly fond of jazz.  I don't mind her jazz. :)

Speaking of concerts, Lauren and I had some pretty damn good news today.  Well.  Apparently, there's been an event up on Bruno Pelletier's Facebook fanpage since late May about a performance in Lévis (a city just across the river from Québec City), and Lauren and I had no idea.  We've been waiting on tenterhooks to see if Bruno would be performing somewhere close by while we're up there.  And he his!  He'll be performing on the evening of our second-to-last day of classes, the day after his birthday, on 8 August.  Technically, it's Bruno Pelletier et le GrosZorchestre, his jazz group, so he will presumably be accompanied by Julie Lamontagne, Richard Irwin, and Dave Watts.  Again, I'm not fond of jazz, but this is Bruno Pelletier.  I don't need any other pretense to see a jazz show.  And Lauren is beyond ecstatic.  She has wanted to see Bruno for years and years, and I was a bum and saw and met him first even though she introduced me to him.  I was a little disappointed that it's not one of his typical shows where he performs his regular stuff, but then I realized: I had my turn.  I was fortunate enough to go to Québec to see Bruno twice in October of 2009 for is Microphonium tour when I was 18.  Not to mention the fact that I got to meet him after both shows.  Bruno's stuff with the GrosZorchestre is very close to Lauren's heart.  She loves jazz, and it was the first stuff of his she found, so this is perfect for her.  I'm so happy that this, of all shows, is her first experience with Bruno.  She has been over the moon with joy about the whole thing.

It happened like this.  The lovely Ekaterina said there was going to be a show in Lévis when we were talking on Facebook.  Apparently this is already common knowledge.  I checked out the website and it turns out it's free, too.  It's a show in the street, literally.  (So we should probably bring some chairs.)  Obviously, no decision needed to be made.  We were going from the moment Ekaterina said it was free.  Unfortunately, Lauren had already left for class.  It was about an hour before I was to leave for Hannibal.  Nonetheless, I texted her and told her to call me asap since I had reeeeally good news.  We got a hold of each other while I was on the road and she was walking back from class, and I told her.  She cried and was hysterically happy, and I wish I could have been there to see her.  She's been in a state of disbelief all day.  I know exactly how she feels.  It's how felt when Sarah invited me to come with her three-and-a-half years ago.  (Something for which I am still and will always be immeasurably grateful).

This all sounds a little one-sided.  I am very excited, too.  I think part of my problem is that, not only has it not kicked in yet, but I'm worried that something will conflict with me going.  Not Lauren; she's going.  But the program in which we're participating at l'Université Laval has us doing, not only an actual French class, but a sort of workshop of our choice.  We submitted our top three choices and will be "sorted" upon arrival. My first choice was a singing workshop in which we would learn, sing, and perform francophone, especially Québécois songs.  The only thing is that I'm paranoid that that final performance will conveniently fall on 8 August since it's the day before the last day.  I have no way of knowing if it will or if I'll even get into the workshop, but the unknown is driving me crazy.  Maybe that's what's preventing me from screaming and jumping up and down and running in circles like I should be.  Hopefully that'll change soon.

Don't get me wrong: I am very excited to see Bruno again.  Immeasurably excited.  I'm just not good at showing it right now.  It's weird.

Anyway.  I leave for Michigan in twelve days.  I'm very excited for that, too.  I'm going to celebrate my grandparents' fiftieth anniversary with them.  I'll get to see my two oldest siblings, Dawn and David, for the first time in nine years, my grandparents for the first time in about two years, and my father, step-mother, step-siblings, and younger sister for the first time in about five.  Pretty crazy.  I'm nervous.  But hey, it's family.