A couple of weeks ago, I went to Voicetrax, a voice-over training school in Sausalito and wrote about my experience for the Pacific Sun:

As with most people, I don’t like hearing the sound of my voice. Even though I know that my voice sounds different in my head than it does to other people, hearing it played back to me is always a little unsettling. So, standing in a recording booth behind a microphone, about to record a mock voice-over audition at Voicetrax, a voice acting school in Sausalito, is a tad uncomfortable for me. It doesn’t help that outside the booth, a room full of advanced students is listening to my every word.

I’m supposed to read a monologue where tap water tries to convince the listener that it is better, cheaper and fresher than bottled water. Through a window in the booth, I can see Samantha Paris, owner of Voicetrax, sitting behind recording equipment. A successful actress who was the voice of Roxy in the 1980s cartoon show Jem and the Holograms, Paris is a compact and bright-eyed woman in her late 40s.

Through a speaker, she tells me to practice reading the monologue before we record it. The mic goes off and it’s suddenly quiet in the booth. I look down at the script in front of me. “Hi, it’s me, Water,” I mumble, trying to summon high school drama class to my mind.

More here.

I know I’m putting a lot of videos up here lately, but man, you want to see this:

More amazing animal videos here.

Last week, I voted, ate lobster, interviewed the woman who did the voice of Jem, celebrated my husband’s promotion at work, and went to the California Academy of Sciences with Marcia. My life is odd. Also: awesome.

My pictures of the museum didn’t turn out, but luckily Marcia’s did. Although the museum if kind of pricey to get into, it is well worth it because of the center core of it where you walk up three stories looking down into a fish aquarium while butterflies flap around you and light on people’s hands. It’s small for a museum of its type, but everything is well-chosen and interesting to look at. I particularly liked the Ghost Shrimp, shrimp that is completely see-through.

Here are some of Marcia’s pictures:

This last one is of the museum’s living roof, which I will be writing for the Pacific Sun in the near future…

My birthday is next month. Please buy me a baby hippo. Thank you.

When I saw Barack Obama for the first time, I thought that he seemed like a good candidate, but I also thought that there was no way Americans would ever elect a black president. I guess you proved me wrong, Country. Well played.

I am absolutely thrilled we have an educated, intelligent, and well-spoken president again. Especially the well-spoken part. His speech last night? Almost made me cry because it sounded so pretty. One thing that has grieved me the most about Bush is that he has destroyed our reputation in most of the world. When he speaks, Obama gives me hope that our reputation can be restored.

Overall, I would say this election is as close to how I vote as I’m likely to ever get. It’s kind of shocking after voting for the last eight years and seeing the opposite results get in every time. With the exception of my fellow Californians agreeing to let the government continue to spend like a drunken sailor, I’m pretty darn happy and feel a renewed pleasure in the USA this morning.

I love this chick….