Day 312-If At First You Don't Succeed

Don't you love the feeling of checking things off your "to do" list? What a relief to know I’ve made a difference in my day, no matter how big or small the task. Of course, it's even better when the list doesn't include things like:

-Drop off drycleaning
-Pick up drycleaning
-Call exterminator (yes, WE HAVE MICE AGAIN!)

And instead, is full of fun to do's like auditioning and cooking. Yep, today’s a double whammy as I’m working on two of the items on my In the Moment list of things to accomplish this year. First off, I will actually be cooking dinner. That’s right, no PBJ or Lean Cuisine or takeout. I’m making pancakes!

While this may seem like an easy feat for some, I’m the girl that had to ask her most patient roommate E how to boil an egg this weekend. And I’ve stayed away from the kitchen for awhile for good reason. Friends and family still haven’t let me live down my other attempts such as the fire I started while baking cookies in middle school. Do not make the mistake of talking to your crush and cooking at the same time. You will turn on broil instead of bake while setting your oven temperature and if you have a gas oven, you will indeed get some hot action, but it’ll likely be coming from subsequent flames rather than from your beau. I will also forever be haunted by the quesadilla dinner I made for friends in college. Instead of the gourmet version I intended to create, they were gourmet-gone-indigestible. They were so saturated in oil that I couldn’t even eat them, and the poor boyfriend of my friend who did keep it down, suffered from a stomach ache the rest of the night. To redeem myself, the next girls’ dinner I made lasagna. Which I forgot to thaw. So after two hours of cooking to no avail, we were forced to eat around the edges.

Since I have lots of practice at not cooking so well, cooking is one of those few tasks where I’m not scared to fail. So tonight, I tackle pancake dinner #2. I practiced on Sunday and got one PERFECT. Then, I got cocky and burnt my second one to a crisp (at least I didn’t set off the fire alarm like I did when frying bacon last week). But I’m now going for the gold aka, two unburnt, digestable, and yummy pancakes. Baby steps, right?

Regardless of my lack of culinary expertise, I can shake off a little smoke in the kitchen and accept the fact I probably won’t be on Top Chef one day, but it’s scary having to sing without knowing I can redeem myself with dance, which is the plan for tonight’s audition. Normally I get casted in a show because they need a dancer in the background and I can sing with the chorus well enough. This audition, however, is for just a choral group so my voice will flying solo when…well, I sing my solo. Then, I have to SIGHT-SING. Here’s a middle C and Go!

Shoot me now……and they might after they hear my rendition of whatever two lines they surprise me with.

Even though it’s a bit like being in front of the firing squad, I’m thinking positive thoughts and not stressing about it surprisingly. I have to say I rarely tell friends when these opportunities arise for fear I’ll fail and won’t make the cut. So this is a big step for me to announce it to the blog without knowing the outcome.

And come to think of it, the fear of failure in auditioning is pretty similar to that in dating. While it’s not personal to them, because you’re just not a right fit for the role, it’s pretty difficult to not take it personally when you put yourself out there.

So you keep moving forward, learning, and marking things off your list. And no matter what, you just have to keep going out when you get a call to audition (or for dinner). Because despite how many times you don't get casted, you never know when you may find the perfect part(ner).

I’m Off the Market (feeling super cheesy) & In the Moment!