Random short anecdotes about who I am as a person. A bad cliff-notes of my life experience so far, and definitely not a weird resume or cover letter. (Unless you want to hire me for something, then yes, it absolutely is. *winks with both eyes*)
Nicole Lopez
(She/Her)
Nicole enjoys singing, playing instruments, listening to music, swimming, cats, making sassy and snarky jokes that tend to only amuse herself, taking walks/hikes only when the weather is just so, sending convoluted text threads to friends faster than they can read and reply, attempting to multitask herself into oblivion, and getting genuinely overexcited about the mundane. Her friends and family love and accept her anyways. As of right now, this photo is still the stock photo of a random professional-looking woman. Perhaps she’ll change it one day.
(Peep my instagram if you want to know what I REALLY look like when I’m catfishing.)
Hi, I’m Nicole – a 27 year old musician and student, who overthinks everything.
I like to think of myself as an organized individual. Right now, in 2020, I’m feeling very mentally disorganized; more than I ever remember feeling like this. I thought a website where I can be free to spew my word vomit (and go back and edit, and re-edit, and re-edit again) to my heart’s content until I reach what I deem ‘decent and concise conclusions,’ might be good for me. A place to start getting my head straight. I need a balance, with places where people can comment for perspective, and places where I can ramble to my heart’s content without comments getting ‘Zucked.’ It’s not fair to my friends and loved ones to lay all of that on them. I definitely need to get into therapy (I think, like a lot of people do) with a professional, but in the meantime, this is how I’ll sort it. Maybe no one will ever see this “About Me,” and they’ll stick to my memes about Harry Potter, or my blog and off of here. Maybe it’s a weird public journal. My train of thought is constantly derailing, and I’m ALWAYS mentally forming the weirdest connections in my mind (hence, my title of the Blog.) If you choose to venture here, expect the unexpected. Expect links where you don’t expect a link to be. (Don’t feel obligated to click them all, but I personally enjoy surprises.) Expect things to change constantly, maybe stagnate for a while, then be totally different when you return, sort of like Pottermore did to me when they completely revamped the website in a way I did not approve of. Welcome to the Rabbit Hole. Welcome to my mind.
(This is a personal reminder to save my drafts more often when editing this page’s introduction. Carry on.)
What I Do with Music
Mostly for fun, but sometimes people agree to pay for me to sing and that’s cool 🙂 Almost all of these activities I enjoy have either ceased or gone online due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This has been especially rough, since they were my main creative outlet. All of these groups of people are wonderful, each in their own way, and I miss the community that came with seeing so many different people.
I sing as a Soprano in Abq Choro Lux, an auditioned choir based in Albuquerque, NM
Sometimes I sing at bars! (Okay, one bar called Urban 360 Pizza where I know the owners and regulars personally.)
Karaoke! I have a freelance gig running Karaoke with mediocre sound equipment. It’s not about sounding great, it’s about letting loose and having a good time. I ALSO regularly attend (or I did) another weekly Karaoke, that my friend Don hosts, with really good sound equipment.
Youtube channel? Possibly coming soon. I don’t have any videos up, but in the meantime you can stalk my subscriptions and judge them. Or be interested! (I rarely unsubscribe from people. I haaaate cancel culture.) I’ve been on youtube, trying to learn more about people with different experiences than my own, for over ten years total, only as a watch account. In 2017, I got an email saying I could upgrade my account to a “Channel” for free, which I didn’t completely understand at the time, but I’m trying to figure out. Also I don’t know how to film or edit or do the lighting… or have the equipment to do so. SO, this page will be in a CONSTANT state of progress. On a related note, my YouTube account photo is from High School… and I don’t know how to change it yet. #EverythingisaConstantStateofProgress #ImLearning #howdoiwordpress #DadHowDoIUseHashtagsHere #AllIKnowisLinksUponLinks
Education (more in-depth than strictly necessary)
Pre-school
(Some Lutheran pre-school)
I vaguely remember my dad saying something about them attempting to register me for a public pre-school, but then a little boy punched me in the face (for reasons unknown) and I cried. So I went to a christian school instead.
K-5, and 7-8
(St. Mary’s Catholic School Belen)
Apparently my parents tried AGAIN to send me to the local public school, but the day they went to register me, a child sadly passed away from a playground accident. So I went to a private school that they really couldn’t afford. And here I need to recognize a privilege. I hated it there, but I got a great education.
What happened in 6th grade…
(Daniel Fernandez Intermediate PUBLIC SCHOOL)
So, I my dad got in a HEATED argument with the principal, and I was withdrawn and put in public school for a year. I thought it was SO FUN because the work was much easier, and I finally made some friends too.
Back to hell. I mean, Catholic School
Kids are mean…
Belen High School
A bit of a culture shock, to be honest. I didn’t have many friends at first because everyone else knew each other from middle and elementary school. I eventually found some people who were really cool, if very different than the people I associated with before.
University of New Mexico
I’ve been working on a bachelor’s degree for 10 years… and I’ve honestly never felt more defeated about it.
What I’ve Done other than Music
(Spoiler; its lots of water related activity and jobs. There is a lot of overlap because I usually held more than one job at any given time)
Swim Team
(Summers 2000 – 2008)
Swimming is fun but I’m not really into the competitive spirit. I mostly like gabbing with my buddies at the swim meets, almost missing my events every time, and getting yelled at by my coach for almost missing events. Once a girl got sick who was supposed to swim the Butterfly stroke, and they forced me to do it and some other girl to do Breaststroke instead. I was really bad at butterfly. We got disqualified because it was so bad, and this put me off of organized sports because I was sad that I let my little relay buddies down (They might not have cared, we were 10.)
Lifeguard at BHS
(Summers 2009 – 2012)
Such a fun in the sun summer job! This is way better than the swim team where all they did was make me swim. Yay friends and splashing around during breaks and too many fast food runs! Which leads to ⤈
Upward Bound
(2009-2011)
I was really confused about why my mom wanted me in this program. It was geared towards helping underprivileged kids succeed and get into college, and at the time, I didn’t KNOW I was underprivileged. It just felt like extra school stuff that I didn’t want to do.
Lifeguard at my College
(2011 – 2019)
A little less fun and more responsibility because we’re trusted adults now. (What.) I learned how to administer oxygen and read a pulse oximeter! They changed the procedure for back-boarding a victim in the water at some point in here but that’s fine. I’m keeping up. Now ⤈
Baby’s First Teaching Job (Swim Lessons) at BHS
(Summer 2011)
Children are terrifying! I’m so glad these are group lessons with a Head Instructor telling us all step-by-step directions.
A Different Kind of Teaching
(2012 – 2019)
So, with my newfound confidence with children, I decided to teach swim lessons at UNM as well. It was initially just because it paid better than guarding, but eventually turned into something I enjoyed. (Most days.) I especially enjoyed teaching adult learners, and helping them get over being afraid of the water.
Head Lifeguard at BHS
(2015 – 2019)
A new job was created to get the lessons more consistent for every student! Since I was teaching around 30 kids a week by this point, and the parents liked my style, I got the job! And another raise! But also way more responsibility
Head Swim Instructor at UNM
(2015 – 2019)
A new job was created to get the lessons more consistent for every student! Since I was teaching around 30 kids a week by this point, and the parents liked my style, I got the job! And another raise! But also way more responsibility
Assistant Manager at UNM
(2017 – 2019)
Another raise! Let me tell you how much I LOVED this job. I loved it so much. I think I really shine in an position where the main job is essentially organizing things. I felt successful. The only problem was that I could not be successful at an administrative job and be successful at school at the same time, so I eventually started floundering in the attempt to juggle so many things, and had to take a demotion to focus on only being a swim instructor and lifeguard. It paid less, but also took up less of my time so I could TRY to fix my school situation.
Office Assistant at a Tow/Locksmith Shop
(September 2020-November 2020)
THIS WAS NOT IDEAL. My boss was a complete jerk, always yelling and verbally berating me. The rest of the employees were awesome, but the last straw was when he threw a file box in a fit of anger after yelling at me for someone else’s mistake.
Beachbody Coach
November 2020- current
I got this job the DAY after I quit my job at the Towing and Locksmith place. I miss teaching water aerobics and swim lessons, and I’m still in school right now!
Curiosity Killed the Cat 
