backwards procrastination

For some reason the most impending music-learning is always the last thing I am really interested in practicing or learning day-to-day.

Instead, I've been reading about and listening and looking into original materials that make up 2010-#2-opera that I have exactly a year from now to learn and start to put onstage.

In advance of my upcoming trip overseas, I find myself in the unlucky position of having to kill a few trees and make many photocopies of every single aria that could possibly be asked for while I'm abroad and auditioning.

It's not enough to have the 6 that I always offer (plus the other 6 in the binder that I could just as easily offer)...I'll have to add about 10 or so--the secondary arias from roles that I've done completely, the lesser known repertoire that is not asked for as often in the US, but may be of interest over there, the soubrett-y roles that I could easily sing if asked, and definitely have learned, but have no reason to offer in auditions because I have better starter-aria choices.
However...they all may be asked for....for ANY reason...and so, I'm taking them with me.

What I should probably ALSO take is a zipdrive with everything as a PDF (now that would really be an undertaking)...in case I need extra music, lose something along the way, or just don't feel like carrying all of that paper about.

I'm HOPING to take just one aria binder (I know this will turn into 2, 1inch binders)...and also upcoming operas 1-3...but MAYBE (and this is depending on how badly I feel for the environment or how bored I get at the photocopier), JUST the pages that I sing in? I know, I know..that's horrible. But I'm familiar enough with all of the shows that just having my own music would be terribly helpful, and not such sacrilege ...and really for the second two it's about recit. Which I can do without music...I'll need something to study on those long train rides.

Oh yes, speaking of long train rides, I settled on a Eurail pass. 15 days within 2 months- unlimited countries. I'll only be there for 5.5 weeks, so that means that even if I go roundtrip to Amsterdam, Paris, Vienna, and Zurich, I still have enough rides to get from Berlin to Leipzig to Dusseldorf to Munich and back to Berlin.

So there it is.
I'm excited, but haven't even thought about it since I still have 2 performances here, PACKING, unpacking, voice lesson, auditions in NYC, repacking, not forgetting anything, and getting on an airplane!