Carol BelleA website full of music and non-sequiturs – Home of Selene Audion

Hey people! New pics from a show I had last week! I just LOVE to dress my avi up in different outfits… and sometimes I repeat myself because I have favorites. Ooh! And did you know that I invested in a photo studio system! I need to rent a place somewhere to set it up! It’s 40+ prims!

Yay, fake world photography! It’s still fun and creative, though. I’m having quite a bit of fun!

So far I’ve only met the nicest people on Second Life. I’ve been online for just over a month – barely – and I’m already being followed by people who love to hear me sing. I mean, they really love it! I feel so happy and encouraged, and I just want to keep going.

Not only that, but I think I had a good lesson last time with my Maestra! There are some days I feel I could do better, but this time I think I took the lesson the way I needed to and actually learned something. The soft pallet is naturally raised when it’s relaxed. I never knew that. So of course, relaxing all my muscles in my mouth, my throat, my tongue, makes the sound come out more . . . well, a little more like it’s supposed to. I’m not there yet, but it felt good feeling what I may be able to do more of in the future!

And I also want to plug my good friends in SL, who are also performers.

Cailidgh Spires = Lovely UK guitarist and singer, acoustic performer and dear friend.

Mudge Barbara = Acoustic guitarist and comedian. He makes me laugh all the time. <3

Harry Frychester = Jazz, blues, country, and sounds like a very schmexy Harry Connick Jr.

Best for last:

CelticMaidenWarrior Lancaster = plays a 12 string guitar and usually sings some of my favorite songs without her knowing they’re my favorites. She’s the absolute best and I love her very dearly, for her kindness and her fantastic music that makes me tear up. <3 She’s become kind of like my Second Life Mom. *squee*

I love you all, dear good friends! And I’m sure I’m bound to make more friends as time goes by in Second Life, and First Life too! One of these days I’ll kick my ass up onto a real stage again, and maybe record it with my Flip camera so you all can see how much I can embarrass myself!

Today we’re going to explore the unfair business practices of GaiaOnline. This is not unfamiliar territory to me, as I used to be employed by an equally nefarious company of the same nature, with a GM team that was just as thick-headed and small-brained.

I liked (past-tense) GaiaOnline, first of all, because it was cute. It was a social hang out place for kids and teens, but I didn’t do much socializing there. Probably because I’m 27 and not a kid. I just liked dressing up my avatar (just like Second Life, only more cartoony/anime) and maybe do some character portraits for people. I wanted a character portrait of my own avi, so I set up an art contest.

I had done it before, and it ended well, and everything. This is done in the forums section of their website.

After a while, I decide to set up another art contest, but some times goes by and I don’t get too many interested parties. I think I had three entries after two months, and just decided to cancel the contest and give those three entrants all equal prizes of Monthly Collectible envelopes that I have a bunch of.

I thought I made it clear that the contest was canceled, and that was my mistake that I readily admit to. I don’t log into Gaia for another six months or so.

After that period of time, I get a message saying my account was banned for scamming. Scamming!? Me???

As it turns out, the art contest had been left open, and people entered, and complained at my lack of response, and so on. The problem is that I was never contacted about it. I was “PMed” (Private Messaged) via the website, but no one sent me an email outside of the website to tell me there was a problem. And then I was banned, and now their policy says that I need to remain banned instead of dealing with these disgruntled people.

So, I think their business practice is thoughtless and base by not having contacted me directly prior to the banning, and after trying to get through to their GM team about the issue where I wasn’t actually contacted, they remain stubborn with their decision.

GaiaOnline is a website for children, and they’ll treat you like one even if you aren’t. It’s not worth the trouble anymore, and so I’m writing here to partly vent and partly warn.

It’s upsetting to know you’ve been banned like some criminal when you really haven’t done anything wrong.

GaiaOnline. You suck.

So far my day is off to a glorious start.

Starting with this horrible nightmare I had last night that involved falling through thin ice and sinking like a stone as I stared helplessly and frantically up at the cause of my soon-to-be-quick demise, I end up waking up to a racing heart, utterly convinced that I was about to die. Thankfully, I woke up in my own bed and next to my sleeping husband. Catching my breath, I was about ready to settle back down when another lovely occurrence in nature visited.

The song “I Enjoy Being A Girl” could NOT have been written by one. Lies!! LIES!

So I took something for discomfort, went back to bed, and slept . . . past the appointment I was supposed to have with my acupuncturist. They called, and I didn’t call back yet because I’m just not in the mood to deal with anyone. Even Husband is getting a bit of a cold shoulder this morning, but I can’t help it. I’m annoyed. I’d rather give him the cold shoulder than bite his head off, and he understands this.

But okay, so nightmare, Girl-itis, missed appointment, and then I settle with my laptop trying to put a CAPTCHA on my contact form page. I fail. I just can’t figure out coding. I hate coding. I’m not a programmer or coder or anything and I would never claim to be. I can fake a little CSS now and then, but this just pisses me off! It makes me want to poke my own eyes out.

I don’t want a complex captcha… just a human verifier thing. You know those “Are you human?” questions? I want one. A simple one. And I just want to activate it as a plugin and have it work. *cries* Why have the Internet Gods forsaken me?!

At least one good thing happened: I built a nice fire. With snow coming now, a fire in the morning (or early afternoon, as the case may be) is very nice. I feel like knitting.

Knitting I can do. Crochet I can do. They’re simple, they’re repetitive, and I’m not making noises that disappoint me. The other day I had a lesson with Maestra. There was an obvious lack of strength, and maybe it’s just me losing confidence again, when I don’t hit the high notes with the power I need to. Maestra’s never negative to me, though, and always tells me that I sound good. She’s very kind. I think she understands I have confidence issues.

Baby steps.

Some pics taken the other day at some friends’ shows. Cailidgh Spires and Mudge Barbara were on consecutively, and I was there for moral support. It was fun! Then we went skydiving.

So it’s still morning here and I’m trying to decide what to do with my time. I try to use my time in the mornings to do a little computer organizing . . . going through my files, my lists, songs, maybe even rehearsing. But as atypical as this may seem, I’m lazy.

I probably shouldn’t say lazy. It makes me look bad. But I did just wake up, and why does it feel like my coffee hasn’t kicked in yet? This morning may require a double dose of caffeine.

The snow is coming down at last, and it’s making up for lost time. All winter; barely any snow. Finally heading towards the end of January, we’re getting dumped on. Looks like it may be at least a few inches. And it’s supposed to last all week. My delightful Maestra is expecting me today for our first lesson in almost a month! But now it may be that I won’t be able to get out of our road (we live on a long dirt road, all the way at the bottom).

I definitely know my own car won’t make it. But my husband’s might, and so then I’ll be able to go to my lesson. I missed last week because of a stupid and very annoying stomach ache that wouldn’t go away for two weeks (I’m better now, thank goodness). And then the two weeks prior to that, my Maestra was away for the holidays. I’m not happy with this missing of lessons thing…

And what’s terribly funny and ironic is that before my lesson, say an hour or so, I get horrible jitters. Lessons are for learning, making mistakes, and learning from them. I know I’m going to make unpleasant sounds with my voice, reaching for some high note I’m not ready for, or trying to improve on a sound, repeating it in different vowels . . . and thinking to myself how retarded I must sound. Then I’m thinking, “What am I doing here?”

Let’s face it: I’ll never be an opera singer. Not really. I can fake an aria or something, but that doesn’t mean it’ll sound like it’s supposed to. My goal is not to study in a conservatory or music school. It’s not going to happen, and so I’m accepting that. But I’m also having the hardest time figuring out what I should be doing with my voice? Sure, it’s okay and I can sing like Ariel (on a good day) . . . but what? Is Disney going to hire me or something? Let’s be real here.

I’m also not (currently) a songwriter. I have no music theory, and I can barely play piano – by ear. That doesn’t help much when you need to know which notes go with which. My husband has all the music theory, but no ear, so he gets into his “nutty professor” mode and starts raving excitedly about “The Circle of Fifths” just before lamenting over not having learned an instrument himself.

So what? I sing songs other people wrote. I know people do this and are quite popular in the music world by doing it. I’m not really Barbara Streisand either, though (and, actually, I think she does also write music… but I can’t say for sure). If I were to describe the kind of voice I have, I would say it’s a high voice with a childlike quality to it (I’m using someone else’s descriptive), a fast vibrato and a strength in the mid-range with less child and more earthy tones. So, I’m like a singing pixie or sprite . . . or something. Some fantasy forest creature seems appropriate.

And that’s me.

Any ideas?

Hey everyone!

I’ve already put this out there for my family and friends, but now I’m gonna post it here too! I need suggestions for new material and/or maybe something you want to hear me sing?

I have my song list available on this site, and I want to make it BIGGER!!! Send me your suggestions for songs to carol@carolbelle.com or post them in a comment.

And don’t forget to write in through Skype during a show if you want to give me an IM with a requested song. ^.^ I’m all cool like that.

I think I’m just not used to blogging. I should probably be writing in more regularly, but I’m never really sure what to write about. What is my blog about, anyway? Me, probably, and my hobbies, and my music. Ick, how narcissistic. I hate talking about me, and coming across and narcissist, but then again – what else are blogs like this for? Okay, Carol, stop worrying about it and write something already.

I watched a movie today. By myself, which is unusual. But my husband doesn’t do movies (usually – he made the exception for Avatar), and after he complained last night through the first half hour of Julie & Julia about how awful the movie was (despite how much he still loves Meryl Streep), I gave up and turned it off. But I love cooking shows and/or movies, so I had to watch it anyway, and did so this morning. It was fun, and I was empathizing somewhat with the character of Julie (played by Amy Adams). She started a blog about something she loved, she was close to turning thirty, etc…

I find myself asking what I should be writing about that wouldn’t be too personal, but would still be interesting. I’m still not sure, but I’ll just keep doing the random thing until I figure it out.

On Saturday, I got all adventurous with my own cooking interests and made Biscuits with Sausage Country White Gravy. From scratch. Oh, and it was good. I found the biscuit recipe on a website called oldfashionedliving.com, and the recipe for the gravy I found on allrecipes.com.

Baking Powder Biscuits by Brenda Hyde

“Homemade biscuits are so easy to make, and if you follow a few simple rules, they will always turn out fluffy and delicious. I use what I call the Grandma Method. I don’t use a pastry cutter, or a fork, I use my clean hands to work in the butter with the flour. It’s messy, but it works for me. Whether you do this or another method, it’s important not to overwork your biscuit dough. Mix until it’s all moistened, and then GENTLY fold it over rather than kneading, then roll it out, or pat into shapes.”

2 cups sifted flour
2 tsp. baking powder
4 tablespoons butter or shortening
1/2 tsp. salt
about 3/4 cup milk

Sift Flour once, measure, add baking powder and salt, and sift again. Cut in shortening or butter. (this is where I use my hands by rubbing the butter into the flour). Add milk gradually, stirring until soft dough is formed. Turn out on slightly floured board and lightly “knead” for 30 seconds, enough to shape. Roll 1/2 inch thick and cut with 2 inch floured biscuit cutter. Bake on ungreased sheet in a 400 degree oven for 12-15 minutes. Makes 12 biscuits. You can also make tiny tea biscuits that are only 1 1/2 inches wide with a small cutter or glass bottom. These are great served with tea, jam or honey. Makes 24.

…………………

To make the gravy, cook half a pound of your favorite ground sausage (we like Jimmy Dean) in a large skillet. Break it all up as best as you can while it’s frying. It gets easier to break up after it’s browned a little. Then you add a little milk, and sprinkle in a little flour at a time as it simmers. Make sure the heat is LOW at this point. I think I only used a few fistfuls of flour and it started to thicken. Mix in all that flour with a fork!

Salt and pepper to taste. Serve sausage gravy liberally over fresh-baked, open-faced biscuits.

Yummy!

Woot! I get to sing to a room full of Russian folks this morning at 10am PST at a place called SOUL’Z*BAR. They’re mad for showtunes, apparently!

Later, though, I sing again at Club Midnight Blue at 5pm PST. It’s on the schedule, but I think it’s a good idea to post something too.