Cravings And Indulgences

Healthy and otherwise...


I can't blame it on The Cramp Fairy.  This has been the week after her visit.  I don't know what's been my problem this week, but my appetite has been out of control!  Not so much in the amounts I've been eating, but in the things I have been wanting to eat.  And I will admit to some unusual... indulgences.  I was fine over my weekend, but once my working week started, it seemed like I developed some really strong and strange food cravings.  And no, I am most definitely not pregnant.

We hear and read about premenstrual syndrome.  Is there such a thing as postmenstrual syndrome?  I know the week after The Cramp Fairy visits I usually have headaches.  This week also heralded the arrival of The Humility Pimple in one of its more glaring appearances of late.  I just feel discombobulated and out of sorts right now.  Fortunately my weekend is now underway and I can try to get myself back on the healthy wagon!

As much as anything I probably just need some decent rest.  Last Sunday I sang a solo in 2 church services, followed by the annual spring concert with my chamber group in which I also had a solo.  Even for me it was a lot of solo singing in one day.  And I enjoyed it all.  Aside from the normal activities I had an extra practice Thursday night with my chorus.  Friday night I attended a poetry reading by my college English professor, so I had a couple of late nights followed by early mornings.  And with allergy season in full swing and the fatigue that sometimes comes with those symptoms, I think it's all just started to catch up with me.

Back to the concert last Sunday, I had The Hubs take his video camera to record my solo.  It's impossible to judge what I sound like just from hearing the sounds as I make them, and I wanted to hear what my voice is sounding like since surgery and weight loss.  Such a drastic change in size can make for changes in the voice as well, and especially since singing feels so different now, I was curious to hear if it sounds as different as it feels.

Aside from a few issues with tuning where I was a little sharp, I sounded pretty good, considering.  The piece I sang seems to sit in a bit of a lower, more mellow part of my range, rather than the higher, brighter portion.  As a result of the key, my age and at least in part from the weight loss, my voice seems to sound a little fuller and richer.  At least it did on Sunday.  Who knows what a different song in a different key on a different day might produce?

As I give more careful thought to it, I realize that the creative process in my life is something I have always craved.  Webster's definition for the word "crave" includes " to yearn for", and I think that is accurate to describe my need/desire for creativity in my life.  I need it, not just to enjoy others' pursuits, but to participate in making my own.  Hearing my professor reading from his work the other night woke up something in a different, non-musical part of my creative spirit, and I find myself thinking more poetically as a result.  It's been forever since I wrote a poem (and I will be the first to admit that most of my poetry is not very good!).  Still, I think it might be good for me to start exploring this part of myself again, to indulge this poetic craving...to feed this part of my creative soul.

Who knows what future blog posts may hold?  Couplets, limericks and pantoums may be forthcoming!  All I know is this: a longtime friend told me years ago that all creative and artistic people have more than one outlet for expression, and I have seen this to be true over and over again.  Singers who write poems, poets who paint, painters who make pottery, potters who dance, dancers who play instruments...the possibilities are limitless.  But we all have this in common, that while we may have a primary focus of our art and craft, there are always more things that we enjoy doing and benefit from.  I am primarily a singer.  But I also enjoy writing, scrapbooking, cardmaking and photography.  As the spring concert season draws to a close, I hope to spend the summer exploring some of these other pursuits... indulging some of my other cravings.