Four More Days, then Holidays!!

Another concert finished! Italian arias tonight...although I did not have to sing them but played the piano for the singers instead. I always prided myself during my music studies on not being a diva, but there is definitely a little diva in there, although she doesn't always show her cards! I enjoy playing the piano, but as I sit there I always feel very "second class" compared to the performer, and wish I were the soloist, even if it scares me to do so and I shake with nervousness!
Winter has really hit us now in the north with -30! The roads are sheer ice, snow that has melted to slush, and then frozen before it could be plowed. Ridiculous! We drive veeeery sloooooowly. It takes my breath away as I walk outside, and if I breathe through my nose, I can feel all the little hairs tweak and begin to freeze...a very odd feeling. If you've never felt the extreme cold, it's worth a shot at least once just for the oddity of it. Beyond that it's just plain cold, and there's nothing much good about that, unless you're a popsicle.
I watched the video of my performance from last night, and I must slap my wrist for being so self critical. The way I see it, most people (unless total narcissists!) don't like looking at themselves on video, or in photos. One of those problems is that we're used to looking at our own mirror images. That is to say, I look at myself backwards, compared to what everyone else sees of me. So, in our photos we think we look a little contorted, because our sideways grins go the wrong way, or we just look "off" because our faces are not perfectly symmetrical.
I confess that I listened intently to my voice, but was so distracted by my double chin that I became very self conscious. Do my lips really look that small when I sing? I looked puckered up, like I had eaten vinegar! And the chin? Well, I was terrified, after having not performed for four years, of making a mistake, and kept my nose in the book. I should have looked up more, but I just needed that crutch. Result? Double chin.
Oh well...it was all worthwhile at the end when I left the stage. Two of the choristers behind me gave each other these cute little "oh, my!" looks, and one lipsynched "she was amazing" and of course this made all the bad stuff fall away.
It took me all evening to figure out how to actually get the camera working...now that I know the basics, I'll hopefully be able to download the clips and put them up sometime this week.
Four more days till Christmas holidays...