Andiam al Italia!
I'm off to Italy this evening, as seems to now be my yearly tradition at some point every summer. As has also become tradition, it means I'll be working far from home on my birthday. Seriously, with my kind of work, I haven't celebrated a normal birthday among friends around home since I turned 19. Every year I seem to be traveling and in the middle of a production.
Still, Italy is not exactly a bad place to spend your birthday. I'll be there to sing Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi, one of the Puccini Trittico operas (on which I pontificated extensively on a couple of years ago here). Gianni Schicchi is the comedic one, so it's going to be a lot of fun. It's also got one of the most difficult arias a tenor can sing. I seem to be making it my business to sing the most difficult tenor repertoire lately. Anyway, it's the first time I've sung the role, and I'm looking forward to it.
I arrive a few days before rehearsals begin, and that will leave me a few days to relax, which I'm really going to enjoy, particularly on my birthday. I plan to spend the day on the beach and drink a lot of good wine. ;)
Still, Italy is not exactly a bad place to spend your birthday. I'll be there to sing Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi, one of the Puccini Trittico operas (on which I pontificated extensively on a couple of years ago here). Gianni Schicchi is the comedic one, so it's going to be a lot of fun. It's also got one of the most difficult arias a tenor can sing. I seem to be making it my business to sing the most difficult tenor repertoire lately. Anyway, it's the first time I've sung the role, and I'm looking forward to it.
I arrive a few days before rehearsals begin, and that will leave me a few days to relax, which I'm really going to enjoy, particularly on my birthday. I plan to spend the day on the beach and drink a lot of good wine. ;)

excited
geeky
jubilant
hot
aggravated
giddy
sick