About

She looks as if she were thinking of something beyond her punishment- beyond her situation: of something not round nor before her. I have heard of day-dreams- is she in a daydream now? Her eyes are fixed on the floor, but I am sure they do not see it- her sight seems turned in, gone down into her heart: she is looking at what she can remember, I believe; not at what is really present. I wonder what sort of a girl she is- whether good or naughty. (from Jane Eyre)


Hello.
If we've never met before, it's because I'm the girl who's generally sitting in the corner with her nose buried in a book. Buried six feet under, you might say. I love mysteries. ;D

My best friends in the entire world (after my laptop, that is) are Frank and Joe Hardy. I harbor similar affectionate feelings for all of the great detectives: Sherlock Holmes. Lord Peter Wimsey, and Albert Campion.

I belong to that happy class of people who loves tea (all kinds, but my poison of choice is a "blended ice green tea" from a local coffeeshop), rainy afternoons (better yet: a good old-fashioned Kansas thunderstorm), and old vinyl records. A quality somewhat unique to myself is my affection for old books. I could happily live my entire life in a library, or a used book store. I just love that musty smell...
As a matter of fact, I love just about anything old. Top on my wishlist is a pair of saddle shoes. (I had some when I was little, but do you know how hard it is to find saddle shoes in "grown up" sizes?) I'm a "bobbysoxer" through and through... and I'm quite fascinated with Victorian England, as well.

I love going to concerts/plays/operas. The only downside to living in Kansas is that we don't have much of a "fine arts" culture. Happily, I also love taking road trips, whether it's with my dad, or just me and my little truck. =)

Leonard Bernstein is my hero to end all heroes. I adore that man.
Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland are the two greatest, most talented performers that ever lived, and I really admire & respect them.

My so-called love life is restricted to one whopper of a celebrity crush on Broadway star, Douglas Sills. His voice makes me melt like ice cream in July...

My aim in life (oooh, sounds so serious) is to be a successful singer. Recording career, performing artist, you get the idea. Right now, I'm singing lots of classical and jazz/showtunes, and someday I hope I can branch out into folk/rock/pop. I am completely addicted to singing in choirs-- I've been in five-- and my choir directors are some of my favorite people in the world. So far, my biggest musical accomplishment has been releasing a Christmas CD last year (in '06). It's available through my website (which, being a geek in addition to a bookworm, I designed completely by hand), www.click-studios.com

My favorite "hangout" is Aggieville. It's like a miniature, way-cooler, downtown next to Kansas State University. Of course, I couldn't care less about the bars, but it has some wicked shops: ice cream, coffee, clothes, records, used books... you name it, Aggieville has it! ♥

Well, I suppose that's that for this particular biographical write-up. But there's every likelihood that I will come back and rewrite it every now and then.

By the way, I may appear to be engrossed in that book, but by all means come on over and introduce yourself. =)

♥
Chantelle

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KC Lyirc Opera (gorgeous artwork!) Jun 10

Just had to share these gorgeous

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Selections from "Letter To Myself" by Leonard Bernstein

I mean to write my fight with Time
in all its phases; Now, Not Yet
Tomorrow, Since, Before, and While.

I may, as I am apt to do, slip into rhyme,
invent a stanza, add a foot, perhaps forget
to keep a strict tetrameter, or guard my style.
I use this kind of changing verse
to be not chic, but, rather, terse.
E.g., my secretary knows
my life in dull and battered prose;
my friend-confessors have to hear
my problems once or twice a year;
my lovers come to know the facts
in terms of secret, awkward acts;
my critics seem to know so well
the springs that make me tick, and tell
them quite without persuasion, while
they slyly tap their nose, and smile.
It seems, to make a summary,
that everybody knows but me.
I write myself this note, therefore,
If it becomes a gangling bore,
or fails in a constructive sense,
it's I who must do penitence.

For I am hid away, and there
is no one else to tell me where.
I mean to hunt myself, and find
myself, and, finding, be defined,
and, in defining, reexpress
the nature of my singleness.
............

I find there is a sharper sting
than that of failing in one's art,
or being lonely in the spring.
The pain is this: to make the fight
with Time, to tell the days apart,
advance, seek answers, muddle through,
make love, feel growth--and find that you
have finished where you made your start.
As Alice found, you have to run
as fast as you can run, to stay
exactly where you are. So I,
high in my plane, remain in the train.

Well, chalk it up, at least there's one
small thing we know: We've just begun.

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My Music

Movies

Arsenic and Old Lace, West Side Story, A Star is Born (1954), Funny Girl, Gaslight, All About Eve, Pygmalion (1938), Indiana Jones trilogy, The Man with the Golden Arm, East of Eden, Batman Begins, Hoodwinked, Chariots of Fire, Hitchcock (Notorious, Rear Window, Suspicion, etc), The Petrified Forest, Robin and the Seven Hoods

Music

Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Shaun Cassidy, Leonard Bernstein, Barbra Streisand, Barbara Cook, Jennifer Knapp, Charlotte Church, Leontyne Price, Christine Schafer, Anna Netrebko, Renee Fleming, Dawn Upshaw, All Angels, Anita O'Day, George Chakiris, Gardar Thor Cortes, Douglas Sills, TAIT, !Hero the Rock Opera, Nicole Byblow, Judy Collins, Leigh Nash, Eisley, Joss Stone, Frank Sinatra Jr, Natalie Cole, Gustav Mahler, Aaron Copland, Holly Stell, Coldplay, Eric Carmen, Liza Minnelli, Gabriel Peter, Daisy Chute, A Fine Frenzy, Bing Crosby, Secret Society, Abbey Lincoln, Louis Armstrong, Harris Tweed, Jane Monheit, Linda Eder, Josh Groban, Hayley Westenra, Ute Lemper, Vienna Teng, Lucky Soul, Sarah Brightman, Sarah Slean, Sophie Milman, Aled Jones, Lynda Randle, Plumb, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr, Rebecca Luker

Television

The Hardy Boys (1977-1979), Probe (1988)

Books

A. A. Milne (Once on a Time, Four Days Wonder, The Red House Mystery, etc), Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries, Sherlock Holmes mysteries, Hardy Boys mysteries, Albert Campion mysteries, Dashiell Hammett (The Dain Curse), Daphne du Maurier (Frenchman's Creek, Rebecca, The King's General, The Glass Blowers, etc), Jules Verne (Journey to the Center of the Earth), Robert Louis Stevenson, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Leonard Bernstein (Findings, The Joy of Music, The Infinite Variety of Music, etc), The Rest is Noise by Alec Ross, Judy Garland: World's Greatest Entertainer and Judy Garland by John Fricke, Tasha Tudor, Faith God & Rock n' Roll by Mark Joseph, Girl Genius graphic novels, Bernstein Remembered, Montmorency, Chanters of Tremaris trilogy

Interests

singing, piano, reading, writing, criminology, forensics, web design, astronomy, cosmology, musicology, 20th century classical music history & criticism

Actors

Douglas Sills, James Dean, Ingrid Bergman, Leslie Howard, Peter Davison, Parker Stevenson, Shaun Cassidy, Cary Grant, Basil Rathbone, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Kim Novak, Bette Davis, Tom Burlinson, Louise Brooks, Mickey Rooney, Amber Tamblyn, Elizabeth Taylor, Peter Falk

Fanlistings

Dust Bunnies in my Brain Attic

Saddle shoes, Fleur de lis, Thrift stores, Old books & records, Retro & vintage, Computers, Mysteries, Notebooks, Travel, Broadway, Jazz (swinging smoking brass), Steampunk, Victorian England, Iceland, French Revolution, Africa, Psychology of music, Summer, Living in the country, Foreign languages, Long words, Star-gazing, Choir, Independent coffee shops, Blended ice green tea, Theatre, Opera, Libraries, Secret rooms, hidden doorways, Fidgert (Doctor Floyd podcast), Etymology, Suspense and thriller films, Bagpipes, Clarinet, Old maps, Pressed pennies, Lemon cake, Pink, Kittens, Aggieville, World history, Stratemeyer Syndicate, Robin Hood