Recents

News for the week: I auditioned for parts in various radio plays this week, and so far I've been cast in two different shows. In one I have two parts - I'm a completely psycho villain lady (kind of a no-brainer - my read for this was TOTALLY nuts) as well as a rookie-cop/novice vampire hunter (from somewhere in the US South, as apparently the directors liked the accent I pulled out on a whim). In the other I'm 'normal', just someone who works for a government agency that censors movies (pretty much all of them). Good times. I love radio plays, as there is minimal rehearsal time and a performance that lives forever... Evidently the plays are part of a contest, so it'll be fun to see how we do!

* * * * *

I joined the RSPB. I couldn't help it, I was seduced into it by this:

SO. CUTE. I went over to the table to find out how to get one, and walked away having agreed to pay a small monthly contribution for the care and protection of birds and tigers and rainforests and all kinds of other nature-y things. The last time I got a stuffed animal for signing up for something hasn't worked out so well - it was my first credit card (so young, so naive). I'm hoping that the much cuter tiger doesn't turn out to be nearly so dangerous. He should have a name. Anybody got any ideas? What does he look like to you?

Besides, CUTE, that is.

Update

I keep meaning to blog, but I've been hit with a new round of 'no Internet access at home' and it's hard to stick to the To-Do List when vegging between lectures while at school. Eh. Also, I've been working on my dramaturgy blog (http://dramaturgytalk.blogspot.com/) which is part of my website (DramaturgyTalk.org*) and you're free to check out both/either. Today I started with an optional lecture on Verbatim Theatre (theatre built from the words of interviewees, event participants - no changing the words!), went right into a seminar on the Sarah Kane play 4:48 psychosis, and then headed to a Philosophy of Art lecture on "Two-Dimensional Versus Three-Dimensional Pictorial Design" which just sounded interesting. And then I came back to the post-graduate study room and blogged about it.

Seriously.

WHO AM I?

I don't even know, but I'm having a great time.

The hair has grown to the point that it goes completely wack-tastic under a hat, so a 'bad hair' hat day is, in the end, a hair DISASTER day (but it's covered by a hat, so it's just funny). My half-dozen cowlicks are coming out to play - I'm about to invest in hair gel (already!) because whole sections are regularly doing totally different fuzzy things than other sections. I've been terrible about taking 'progress' pictures - I did a tiny trim over my ears with nail scissors, and I'm back to considering the wigs since the way the hair is growing makes my head look lumpy. (Now you know why I haven't been taking the progress pictures.)

Things are good, my lecturers are awesome, I'm really enjoying my classmates, and ANY SECOND NOW my student loan and passport are going to show up (though not together, they're coming from different places) so that I can travel.

Next weekend I'll either be going to Turkey (see above re: passport/funds!) or back to The Doctor Who Adventure in London, and sometime soon (come on, Internet!) I'll start posting pictures from my Canterbury trekking. (The white cliffs of Dover are calling this weekend...)

Cheers!



* If the link doesn't work for some reason, you can also get to my website here: www.wix.com/cydlets/dramaturgy-talk.

Stuff

I'm not sure how much more evidence I can take.

Seriously, though, the Angel Gabriel with the accordion was my favorite.

I just saw a funny, beautifully acted, incredibly well-crafted show that had been devised by marvelously talented, creative performers, and... nothing. I just didn't get it. I got the jokes, appreciated the clever twists, marveled at the ingenious staging, and I have no idea why they were doing what they were doing. I understood the basic story. I can't see why they produced it the way they did. I can't get my head around even possible interpretations for some of the movement patterns and music. Other people on my course saw the same show and loved it ("best bit of theatre I've seen in London!" "worth every penny!" etc...) but I didn't. I enjoyed it. Because I could make no real sense out of it, however, I did not love it.

I still have no desire to make experimental theatre, and it looks like that's not changing anytime soon.

* * * * *

This week, it's 6:40. No joke.

* * * * *

Walking down the street just now, I saw a well-dressed middle-aged Asian man coming up the (ugh, fine!) footpath with his coral-orange Polo shirt pulled out of his slacks and folded up around his pecs so that his stomach was bare. Just strolling up the street in dress shoes in Hampstead (not Soho!) sunning his midsection. People are so weird.

* * * * *

I AM excited about charting out a way to do Sophocles' Antigone with only three actors (since that's all the Greeks would have used, plus the Chorus). Apparently, when I say I'm more interested in 'traditional' theatre, I mean HARDCORE 'tradtional' theatre.

* * * * *

I, too, am looking for sense in the
BBC's programming. No luck.

I'm going to go build a website, apply for another MA program, prepare to teach a new song to the Primary, give myself a pedicure, and (soonishly) watch Doctor Who. Yep, it's Saturday!

The (Fake) Pandorica Opens

If you understand the post title reference, you are as big a geek as I am (if not bigger) and I love you for it. If not, read on and you'll probably have forgotten all about it by the time you get to the end.

* * * * *

So initially, this year's blog goal was to write one more post each month than the one before it. April, for various reasons (mainly that my brain pretty much shut down over my term break) has not seen much commitment to that goal. Anytime now, knowing as I do that in order to improve one's skills as a writer one must write regularly - say, EVERY DAY - I'll go for another round of "30 in 30" (posts in days) and reset my goal. In the meantime, I'll try to act like this actually is some sort of journal and jot some things down.

(Note: what IS this blog, anyway? Obviously it's not actually a journal, since I don't write here all that regularly, or record much in the way of daily minutiae or much of a range of experiences - much like Facebook status updates, I really don't like reporting on depressing or seriously upsetting phases/incidents/mood swings ((no, really, I don't. Go back and check. I have the occasional rant happening, but even when serious it's written with a hefty stab at humorous effect)). I try not to gripe, especially not about people, because I have a near-pathological fear of hurting someone's feelings.

So it's not truly about my life, other than the fact that the things I do manage to write about are things that happen to me, usually isolated events... I need to go and look back through my archives. At one point I had several "features" going on and a certain format to my blog posts that I kind of miss. Sorry. Just thinking out loud. Or "out loud", rather.)

If I am going to be more journal-oriented, I definitely need to write here more often. At various jobs I've had whenever people would ask me how my weekend was, it would always take me a minute or two to remember just what happened over the weekend - no matter how exciting or how boring the weekend had been, by Monday it was always OVER. Kind of like my stance on embarrassing moments - I know I've had them, and that I continue to have them, but a) I don't get embarrassed about much of anything anymore (a theatre life can do that to a person) and b) within a day or less I don't think about the incident anyway. I think that may make it a little tougher to have an interesting blog - people seem to LOVE reading about embarrassing things that have happened to other people. Hmmm, there's an idea...

* * * * *

ANYWAY, for most of April I was "on holiday" back in the States, and I LOVED it. It was really amazing waiting in the Customs line at the Dallas airport and bemusedly feeling the difference between the US and the UK. I had a terrific time visiting with family members - it's so nice to realize that you really have missed them. I spent a couple of class periods teaching a dear friend's high school drama class (I love giving feedback on classwork, and I am pretty darn good at it. Score!). I got to work for a few days at my old job at Hale Theatre, which was very fun, and though I had planned to be very helpful to the tax preparers (my dad and my brother) and their assistants (Mom and sis-in-law) I really actually just stayed out of their way and occasionally provided treats.  I spent a lot of time shopping, and brought back a second suitcase full of supplies to prove it. The best times were spent hanging out with my good friend Sara and my new BFFMallorie - I think before a week was up we felt like we'd known each other forever. Then Stephanie came up from Vegas for the weekend... SO. MUCH. FUN. Anyone who doesn't know smart, funny, silly, awesome girls like these three has not LIVED.

All of this means that I didn't get to any of the work I needed to be doing to for school - one research session, yes, but nothing on the papers, presentations, or other projects I ought to have been doing. That's been the focus of this week, which makes a nice balance to The Wedding hoopla that has inundated the town.

You know what I'm talking about, right?

These flags (and T-shirts, and mugs, and tea tins, and...) are EVERYWHERE. (I even brought Sara a commemorative tea towel for her birthday, just because... well, you know. Best white elephant present ever.) No, I won't be getting up at 3 AM to go stake out a place on the procession route. You can watch the whole wedding on TV, for pete's sake - and since Friday (the Wedding) and the following Monday (post-wedding-reception-wannabe hangover recovery?) are both Bank Holidays, there won't be much else to do but follow along and write school papers.

So that's going on - I've been writing, watching movies (Prince of Egypt always surprises me with how good it sort of is, and the Will and Kate Love Story TV Movie was not as surprising as it should have been with how terrible it was), staying up late and loving it (I don't know why it's been so fun lately - maybe I just needed to stop beating myself up about it?), and then - today:

I went to the Doctor Who Experience.

(Theme song here - I am determined to download a ringtone ASAP.)

It was a blast. I've really only been a fan since Season 5 (which is only counting from the 9th Doctor, Christopher Eccleston, then three seasons with David Tennant - whom I haven't really seen but people swear is the BEST DOCTOR EVER - and on to the current, 11th, Doctor, Matt Smith, who I like just fine, thank you very much. First episode of Season 6 aired a few days ago) but I have thoroughly enjoyed it - and I was very pleased that a large chunk of the exhibit/"Experience" has to do with the current Doctor. There are some displays from episodes in Season 5, and then you basically walk into an "extra" episode of the show. You go into the TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimenion in Space - it's the coolest time machine ever, and it looks like a British 1950's police box), a Dalek (evil robots) ship, the massive spaceship that houses all of Britain in the future (seriously), and the ancient chamber that holds the second Pandorica (because they made another one, just in case, and didn't even change the color. As the Doctor says, "BO-RING"). Except it's not boring, it's totally fun, and 3D, and Matt Smith is great, and the whole thing is beautifully designed.

And then there's an exhibition that has displays of objects and monsters from the entire history of the show, outfits of all ten Doctors and several of the Companions, behind-the-scenes stuff, and a gift shop. Yes, I have the program, a limited-edition poster of Cybermen marching on London, a lanyard, and my own Sonic Screwdriver. For reals (as they say) my inner (and outer) geek is so, so happy.

This may be as close to the 11th Doctor as I'll get. I'll take it.

Churchill's underground war room. With Dalek.

The 9th and 10th Doctor's TARDIS control room. (Erm, it kinda blows up.)

y  

A Dalek that's color-coordinated with my hair!

* * * * *

And, on the way home, I saw a graffiti artist at work. He's probably getting paid for this, but still - interesting.

Guilt Update

I feel badly that I haven't been posting - in all honesty, it hasn't been all that exciting, though. Here's what I've got:

- Someone told a friend of mine that UK Masters' degrees were cake. Someone (meaning: my friend's source) was smoking crack.  These last two weeks have been NUTS. Stress, crazy, exhausted, hard!  The fact that one of my two research groups is nine girls and one (gay) guy is probably not helping.

- I don't think I'm ready for a PhD. I think I'll be looking into another MA degree (as I'm also not ready to move back to the States anytime soon) to help me get headed in the right direction, then maybe work for a couple of years to prep and pay down student loans, and THEN get a PhD.

- I bought the air mattress, and a friend came and stayed for two nights.  She's vouching for its comfort level.  Now taking visitors!

- While she was here, we saw an excellently-acted show (that was structurally a little vague and with language I could have done without - seriously, why are playwrights so uncreative when it comes to language?  Grrr), and an amazing show that will be opening soon in New York - if you are in NY in the next year or so and have the chance to see War Horse, DO IT.

- I lost an earring.  This is only notable because it was an earring that I have lost at least twice before that has always turned up.  I even took the earrings out during an exercise in the afternoon and was surprised they were both still there - then when I got home late that night one was gone.  It has apparently made a successful break for freedom and still hasn't shown up.  If it reappears a few weeks/months from now I will frame the set or make them into refrigerator magnets or something, and write an entire post of philosophical/metaphysical commentary.  Third time's the charm!

- I also bought a pair of earrings that turned out to be too heavy - I broke them down, rebuilt them, and they are now perfect.  I miss jewelry design.

- I was planning to travel more this term - it doesn't look like that's going to happen. (See first item on list.) Third term! I will be back in the States for the holiday break in April - Conference (International resident, baby!), changeover at Hale, sister-in-law's new baby... good times. (Also, Cheetos. It is CRAZY how much I miss Cheetos!)

- Happy Chinese/Lunar New Year!  I stayed up late Wednesday night, as this was supposed to mean my parents would live longer (you're welcome!), and I managed to buy a new outfit that included a bright red shirt. (New clothes, and/or red.)

- The ward has a group of students attending who are studying in London until April - naturally, at least one of the girls is an excellent pianist. I have been practicing, but I thought this meant I was off the hook until April... not so much.  They've been leaving before Relief Society (attending the singles' ward is my guess) and I got drafted to play today.  It wasn't pretty.

- Other than that, the meetings and classes continue to be excellent, and the people continue to be quirkily adorable!

- I have a faux-mink (cheap, but it feels niiiiice) throw on my bed, and it makes the Sunday afternoon nap a real treat.

- Now I'm just babbling, because I'm tired.  Time to go - another wacky week ahead, starting with a Monday morning Movement class that will be mostly yoga, which likely means that the next message for the chiropractor I'm trying to get an appointment with will be a little more... urgent.  Snooty. Possibly begging.

Ah, Monday.

What I've Been Up To

Happy Christmas! I can't believe it's only been three months (give or take) since I moved to London - in some ways it feels like two weeks, in others like I've been here for years. I STILL have not managed to get a handle on consistent Internet service, which I cling to as my excuse for not blogging as I'd promised. It is definitely the reason I haven't posted pictures. THIS IS GOING TO CHANGE. I'm moving in a week and a half, to a place that is bigger, safer, and closer to school than the room I've got now. AND THERE WILL BE INTERNET ACCESS THAT IS RELIABLE AND SECURE. The end.

So what have I actually been doing? Well. That's a good question. I'm not doing what I thought I'd be doing, that's for sure - I'm doing what I never imagined I would, in large part because I'd never even heard of it before. Lemme esplain.

How many of you have heard the term "devised theatre"? If any of you raised your hands, you're further ahead than I was when I arrived (especially since I started a week late, after getting here two weeks early, but that's been covered). I found out fairly quickly that Central is known for its "experimental" theatre program, but it took me a while to figure out what that meant. My program (Advanced Theatre Practice) at this particular school is concerned with "devising" theatre, or basically coming up with a show from scratch. No script, no story, nothing - the theatre "makers" in my group are learning how to generate ideas and materials and collect fragments that could be developed into a piece of theatre of some kind. It's really just as vague as it sounds. My group of 30+ split into three "clusters" at the beginning of the term: Performance Practices (movement studies, basically), Scenography (staging, tech, and design) and Composition (directing and dramaturgy). We met with these smaller groups two mornings a week, and then with everyone the remaining mornings and afternoons. I've been working in my Composition Cluster (10 of us) for the last two+ months doing writing exercises to generate text, creating physicalizations of ideas and feelings, and building short performances that are then combined with others' to develop new, longer pieces.

The afternoons have been taken up with Practitioner Studies - artists from theatre companies (all experimental, generally devised - yes, people evidently pay to watch this kind of thing) have been coming in to work with us in two-week blocks to introduce us to their methods of creating and overseeing us as we generate performances. These sessions have been successful to widely varying degrees. We've worked on "immersive" theatre, where the audience becomes an involved part of the show; "site-specific" theatre, in which the performances are based on and generated from the locations; "telematic" theatre, or "theatre from a distance" which involves technology and major elements of the performance happening somewhere other than where the audience is (and which, as a session, was a major disaster - thanks to the presenter - and probably should not be counted as a real theatrical genre, even though we managed to create some very interesting work). It's been a huge mixed bag. On the whole, though, my group is pretty great and we've usually managed to find something new and learn something valuable in every unit.

The best has been my Composition Cluster. No one is teaching me anything about dramaturgy in the way I'd hoped to learn about it (what's been done, how does a dramaturg function in Europe and elsewhere, etc..) but I am learning how to create a show, how to discover new material and generate ideas and explore things in very different kinds of ways, how to structure and assemble the bits that come up. I'll have to teach myself how to be a "traditional" dramaturg, but this program is showing me how to work with other creative people. One of the best things we did in my cluster was a two-day series in which our cluster-leader (sounds a little sci-fi - she was the teacher, or lecturer, but those really aren't accurate descriptions) had to be gone and left us project instructions to follow on our own. We each got an envelope with very specific directions, and had to make decisions about what and how to follow them. The cool part was that no one seriously considered at any point leaving or totally overthrowing the instructions, and in the end we had a completely brilliant, fascinating "play" session where we improvised a group piece using everyone's sounds, text, gestures, sequences and the new ideas that came out of all the things we had made that day. SO great.

My favorite piece of work with the large group was actually the last - we had all created final presentations to be "assessed" (graded, essentially) for our cluster work, and for the last week of the term our group leader (head of our program) assigned us to split into smaller groups, come up with common themes or "enthusiasms" from our various work over the term, and devise a piece based on those ideas. Our group talked over our presentations and put together a list of common ideas and things we liked, and then developed a lovely piece in which we each had a ball of red yarn ("wool", if you're British, but it really was just regular yarn) which represented our separate journeys. We took the yarn and rolled it and tossed it and strung it all around the room - and not coincidentally, around all the other members of our course. We liked the physicalization of the idea that all the individual work we had done this term was connected to all the other people in the course, that theatre and our journeys were linking us all together in a great web. We used Perpetuum Mobile by the Penguin Café Orchestra as the soundtrack for our movement - as the music wound down we all came back to the center of our web and began tying ourselves into it, weaving and twisting the string all around the six in the group. Then we finished with lines from a poem about string theory, delighting the geeks in the room (myself included, as I'm the one who came up with string theory - via Einstein - as a source for our piece). The whole thing was joyful and playful - it could have been oppressive and scary, really, but we knew we wanted it to be happy and fun and inclusive, and it was. This is the piece that I would be most interested in continuing and expanding, and maybe we will at some point.

Over the break I'll be packing and working on various projects - we have a paper due based on what we learned this term, and I need to get set up for next term and our work in a Research Group. We have three in my group - we’re going to be researching how to develop a performance through the interaction of specific roles: Director, Dramaturg, and Performer, so I'll be spending the next few weeks reading like crazy and determining what my work as a Dramaturg actually IS. I'm planning to interview working dramaturgs over the next term (and maybe see if I can talk someone into a residency or internship), and it kind of feels like I'll be doing a self-generated BA in Dramaturgy along with the MA in Advanced Theatre Practice. Also, it will be nice to have a little time for sight-seeing - I've seen 14 shows since I've been here, and only been to the Albert and Victoria Museum for a few hours. The most sight-seeing I've done was on a "research walk" - a marvelous field trip our cluster took that consisted of walking around London's South Bank for three hours, stopping to write occasionally about what we were seeing. It was AWESOME, and we didn't even go in anywhere! (I do have pictures of that.)

I really should have more "Welcome to London" posts up soon - I'm planning a Globe tour and a sunset London Eye excursion ASAP. Now if the snow would just melt so that the trains will run so that I can actually get to all these places…

* * * * *

In other news, flapjack (not pancakes, but a chewy oat-y bar cookie - like a really buttery granola bar) is delicious. Cadbury Fingers cookies are my new favorite treat. The English are not nearly as interested in ice cream as Americans - I've never seen more than four flavors of Ben & Jerry's or Haagen Daas in any one place, and never any other than those four flavors anywhere else. People don't actually drink tea nearly as much as you'd think (coffee, fizzy drinks, etc…, instead). Street markets are everywhere. I still haven't tried fish 'n chips. Brits love to hear Americans trying to sound British, generally so they can laugh at their accents. I've been "love"d and "darling"ed more times than I can count, by men and women alike. Everyone drinks, all the time - alcohol aisles take up a fifth of any grocery store, and they are fascinated by the fact that I don't. Almost none of the Brits I've talked to (and I'm at a drama school) can do a credible American accent (neiner, neiner). My favorite quote from the term comes from one of my course-mates: "Now that I'm talking, I'd like to say something." My next-favorite quote comes from one of our favorite lecturers, in Cultural Landscapes: "You are all vile, horrible people." (You had to be there.) I am 98% certain that I do, indeed, need a PhD, so another project for the break will be coming up with a research proposal and finding the right school. I'm thinking about going to Italy for my birthday, and yes - I am smirking at all of you because I can actually do it.

More to come!

Thanksgiving Cheer(s)

So, I guess I forgot to add the very important addendum at the end of my last post: even with all the idiocy I managed to produce, I still got here to London, and I'm learning all kinds of things and meeting great people and seeing lots of theatre (yes, I am now consistently spelling that word British-ly, and feeling just slightly pretentious every time I do. Phoo).

Obviously, the fact that I'm here is a miracle, so yay for miracles!

Thanksgiving in London was a blast - the Brits in my program made a point of wishing every American student in the group a "Happy Thanksgiving!" as we came in to class Thursday morning. (Yes, it was weird having class on Thanksgiving.) They were just as, if not more than, excited about this "extra" holiday than we were! A guy in my program was hosting a Thanksgiving dinner and everyone was invited - we ended up with about 35 people from two different theatre programs (which is a word I just cannot bring myself to use the British spelling for) crammed into a nice/tiny little house with all different kinds of foods, both "traditional American" and British contributions. We laughed, ate, climbed all over each other, stuffed ourselves with turkey, mashed potatoes, candied yams, and mush (mashed-up vegetables - much tastier than it sounds). Just like your family dinner! I even made an apple pie from scratch (mainly because you can't get canned pie filling over here) and it worked out much better than it had any right to. (Also, you can become the party hero by bringing the extra apple slices - because naturally, you'll end up with about double the amount you need - and caramel sauce/dip. It was like the second coming of chocolate.)

While we were eating, I got everyone to experience the "tradition" of naming one thing they were grateful for. There were lots of people who were thankful for friends, for the chance to experience the holiday, just for being together and having fun. That really summed up the whole night, and was wonderful.

Nearly as wonderful was the other "tradition" I got everyone to participate in: at my family's Thanksgiving gatherings, we always sing a special song after the meal. We've done it for as long as I can remember, and it brings a warm glow to the heart. Everyone jumped in enthusiastically on the chorus, which goes like this:

Oh, Mister, Mister Johnny Brubeck

How could you be so mean?

I told you you'd be sorry for inventing that machine.

Now all the neighbors' cats and dogs will never more be seen,

They'll all be ground to sausages

In Johnny Brubeck's machine!

Touching, right?

* * * * *

And other reasons to be thankful: the new Josh Groban CD came in the mail this morning, it's sunny in London today, I have a couple of appointments lined up to look at rooms (I'm going to be moving again - also a good thing), and I'm seeing Jersey Boys (the Musical) tonight!

Thanks to all of you for reading and caring and occasionally commenting and supporting me in this craziness! Loves!

An Advanced Degree in Life (Or, Travel Planning)

I suspect that the lesson I'm supposed to be learning here is "Read everything. Research everything. Plan ahead (Really)."

- I moved to London. It took my mother and myself two full days to pack, and then my two brothers and various other family members jumped in and contributed to the final result, which was: two suitcases at 50 lbs, one smallish extra-bag fee (and not one big one I was expecting), and no overage charges. Sweet!

- Met the coolest future roomate EVER, found a place to live. Not so excited about the location, at least now have someplace to stay while searching for something closer to the school.

- Blind dumb optimism FAIL: you may not, in fact, get an international student visa while you are already in the country you're trying to legally move to. Doesn't matter how nonchalant or encouraging school staff are, either - it's still not going to work.

- Packing a suitcase less than a week after you've unpacked it bites.

- It's slightly depressing to meet lots of fabulous people who are official members of your MA and know you won't see them again for a week. You hope, pathetically, that they will remember you (and that you'll actually get back. Please please please!!!).

- Being squished into an inside seat on a chintzy airline that you did NOT sign up for with no room for your feet or carry-on under the seat also pretty much bites. The funny vegan neighbor who's impressed with your bladder control is at least a small plus.

- It's a mental and emotional blow to arrive at your destination knowing that the whole thing is riding on a wing and a prayer (shut up, I know) and discovering that an otherwise forgotten Federal Holiday is going to cost you a rather important day, knocking off half a wing and at least quadrupling the intensity of the prayer. A flight change and the attendant fee, plus the expense of loitering in New York for yet another useless day is likely. The credit card can't take much more of this.

- The late-night desk attendant at my old but perfectly acceptable hotel in a fairly scary area is a font of useful, though nearly unintelligble, information. I used to be good with accents.

- A PSA: LEGGINGS ARE NOT PANTS. FOOTLESS TIGHTS ARE NOT PANTS. MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE - WEAR PANTS.

My bed in the hotel room is nearly as big as the room - but I'm willing to bet just from sitting on it that it's going to be more comfortable than my bed back in London. So, there is that. I should have lots of down time in the next few days, and if I can get an Internet connection I might be able to get my journal entries from the last week or so posted. Plus pictures. And maybe get a T-shirt made: KEEP ON KEEPIN' ON. Just for fun.

Son, Be A Dentist...

Today was awesome because:

- it was a good hair day.

- I had a really yummy lunch with friends, and there was enough left over to make a just-as-tasty dinner.

- my bestest friend gave me Glee for my birthday present - and she did it after risking life and limb and barely surviving a Costco flash mob when a shipment of the DVDs suddenly came available.

- I got a very nice raise, my second day on the job. (Awww, yeah.)

- I still have several pounds of solid Cadbury chocolate sitting on the kitchen counter... It still isn't open, which is good, but it could be at any moment, which is better.

- it finished off with mad PowerPoint skills and Girl Scout Cookie Samoa Ice Cream. (Projecting a little here...) (Must restock ice cream ASAP.)

*happy sigh*

Older, But Not Dead Yet

So, there's this song from Spamalot...

Moving on.

Hi. It's been, like, three weeks since I blogged. Sorry. I could blame the bronchitis, Christmas, excessive movie watching, changeover, drugs (prescription), Christmas gift panic, RS lesson, freaky weather, New Year's, and whatever I've got that's been beating me around the ears for the last few days for the lag, but I won't. It's probably just pure laziness.

* I will be posting a Major Movie (Post-)Holiday Review blog soon.

* It's my birthday for another 65 minutes. Then can we not talk about it for at least a year? Thanks. (This will be deferred for those of you who are buying me meals in the next few days. Love ya.)

* I have decided that from now on holidays will belong to friends and family, and my birthday will belong to someplace warm. Preferably tropical, but otherwise exotic/scenic will do.

* My friends are very cool people.

* Angel Food Cake is what you get when you pour happiness in a pan and bake it.

* You'd think my family members could sing better than they can. It's OK, it was totally adorable anyway.

* I have at least one more update for my "100 Goals" list on its way.

* I have finally decided that there will be no more blind dates. I'm not at all opposed to meeting new guys, but I'm not going to expect them to pay for anything when they don't know what I do or my stance on generic ice cream.

* I'll be starting a new blog shortly: This is my year for non-fiction (rules to follow) and I'm going to document the experience separately.

*Birthday headaches suck. Birthday balloons, cakes, cards, Facebook greetings, texts, voicemails, and presents (cash and/or gift cards) do not. At all.

More to come!

Watch out for falling turtles,

Cyd

No News Makes for Boring Headlines - Sorry

No news is usually because there's way too much going on to actually have time to talk about it, even though it's not particularly newsworthy. Maybe I should take classes on tabloid journalism, so that I'd always have something to write about here. Anyway, in this case, no news is because:

- Changeover week at the theatre. Old show out, new show in - usual schedule: 10 days. This changeover: 4 days (because my boss refuses to work Thanksgiving). We did a great job with prep beforehand though (IMHYAO), so no-one's tried to staple anyone else to the hydraulic lift. Yet.

- Thanksgiving! Yay! (except see above). We're borrowing a tradition from my friend Sara's family and doing "pie all day" - after Sunday's Music and the Spoken Word, though, I suggested we do a "Pay It Forward Pie Day" (because I am extraordinarily dorky and I also really liked the broadcast). Every time you have a piece of pie on Thursday (and you can have one whenever you'd like) you either: 1) write down something nice you'll do for someone else that day and put it in a jar, or 2) go find something nice to do for someone else and then write it down and put it in the jar. Apple pie for breakfast - Mom and I are ready to go.

- My sister and her family are coming for the holiday - they'll be staying in the basement with me, which means that most of the last few days have been spent digging through the mountain of storage boxes that filled the Big Room (this is it's actual name) and sorting and re-packing fewer boxes to go in the storage room (also it's actual name; not to be confused with the Food Storage Room - apparently, we're a very literal group). It's... kind of amazing, really - furniture arranged, kitchen area cleaned, carpet vacuumed... it even looks like someplace I'd want to live. (If it wasn't in my parents basement, that is.) I'm excited to see the kids (for the .03 minutes I'll have to spare thanks to Item #1) and my sis and Mom and I are dragging Dad and the b-i-l to New Moon Friday morning. (Truth be told, the guys are not all that reluctant. HA.) Most people are a little surprised and even alarmed that I haven't seen the movie yet - it opened THURSDAY AT MIDNIGHT, after all.

- The plan was to have all my family Christmas presents ready by Thanksgiving, since I've got my sister's family. That... didn't QUITE work, but hopefully the things I'll take care of later will be light and mail-able.

- I'm judging the Reflections Contest entries for the local elementary (my old school! I still totally know the song!) in Film/Video, and Music. I remember writing a song for a Reflections contest, and singing it into a TAPE RECORDER, and moving on the next round and singing it for actual people, and thinking I was pretty cool. Who knows, maybe I was.

Wow, I feel old.

- And.... Still determined to give up fiction come January (decided to use December to re-read favorites and get caught up on books I'd had "back ordered"; the family wants to start another weight-loss contest, which is great, except that the prize has been suggested as a family vacation and some are leaning towards a year-long competition with a vacay in January 2011 so that people have time to save up... and I fully expect to be in England, so - no good. I definitely need to lose the weight, though. I started eating chocolate again after a few weeks away, and it MESSED with my digestive system - evidently, I should only be eating very expensive chocolate, which does not make my tummy nearly as unhappy. I broke tonight (after vacuuming a few miles of carpet in the Big Room) and had ice cream for the first time in over a month, but only because it was Schwann's Chocolate Chip, purchased at my instigation and in honor of the holiday. These days, an ice cream sighting like that in our freezer is as rare as spotting a single, upwardly mobile, aesthetically pleasing man over the age of 30 in the Salt Lake valley - and twice as satisfying. (Zing!) After Thanksgiving and Changeover are over I'm getting things back in order and getting back into my jeans. And finding another/additional job. And getting back to work on my book project. And sorting out my filing cabinet. And getting into grad school, with grants and scholarships to pay for it.

I've got to get up for work in about 5 hours, so I'm off - tomorrow I'll finish Marley's chains and politely turn down a print bid and probably paint stuff and OD on Glee songs, since those are pretty much all I've got on my Ipod right now.

* * * * *

I ganked this quote from a friend's blog - I'm working on both. (I'm not saying this post is in any way indicative of either, but I'm trying!)

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.

— Benjamin Franklin

Creepy Week Continues

Day 3 (Tuesday): Went with the traditional black-and-orange jewelry, and got into a great conversation about books with my "office"mate (heh). This reminded me that LM Montgomery (she of Anne of Green Gables fame) also had a bunch of short stories collected into volumes, one of which was themed for all things mystical and/or creepy. My favorite story is "The Tryst of the White Lady", about a boy who sees and is ensnared by the family ghost (a beautiful flirt murdered on her wedding day) and his subsequent return as he unexpectedly rescues a real, live girl. The collection's really only moderately creepy, but very atmospheric. Then watched Corpse Bride - it always surprises me just how beautiful that odd and freaky little show is... love the dead folk, love the art design, and the butterflies at the end always make me cry.

Day 4 (Wednesday): Strangely, this week already feels about 8 days long. Not sure why. The black nail polish is chipping rather horrifically, even after a patch job last night (this is one reason why I don't usually put polish on my fingernails). Must re-do before Saturday. Helped my amazingly awesome cousin by putting together a pretty cool (if I do say so myself) Prince Charming costume for her pretty awesome husband... one of the perks to working at a theatre is easy access to the costume stores! Made at least a little progress on my own costume, with help on my wig from a very talented employee (another perk: people who know and are VERY good at wigs). Oddly, not in the mood to watch anything - read a murder mystery instead ("Shakespeare and Smythe"! Very fun!) and called it thematic enough to count.

A Quick Note

Just wanted to mention that I did, in fact, get video of the tent and quilts in action; and that after three attempts I have been completely unable to upload the video. Seriously, I left my computer processing the upload for over 8 hours before I finally gave up. So you're either going to have to take my word for the awesome that is the CUTENESS, or go see the show. (You can trust me, but really - go see it. Still a few weeks left!)

The Drama Queen Sleeps Tonight

In which we shall see: "incendiary", "intrinsically", "foreseeable", dazzle, psychological trauma, "faceted", and underwater basket weaving. And Daylight Savings.

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I feel like I should be getting something of substance posted here, a sociological rant or political commentary or something... maybe I should add that to my list of goals: "Post something substantial and/or incendiary at least once a week." Is there a good number that goes with that?

In the interests of going along with that whole "journal" concept, here's where I'm at - still looking for a job (or two - though in all honesty I haven't been looking very hard since I am intrinsically a lazy person and REALLY need to do something about that); still looking at new schools for a graduate program (I've requested an interview date for one school, and have three more possibilities to check out - so there's at least a little more progress than the job thing); I have given up ice cream for the foreseeable future, and have managed to stick to it for several weeks now; I really need to find a date for Halloween, since I have two tickets to "Thriller" and a great idea for a costume, if I ever get it finished; I conducted a Young Women's choir last week for a Stake Excellence night and am apparently pretty good at it, or at least, "interesting"; and I have finally managed to get most of my "office" de-junked. I still have to throw away the junk, but it has definitively been categorized as "junk". This, people, is my exciting life. Try not to be too dazzled.

Also, I auditioned today - I honestly figured I wouldn't be cast, because I am technically too old for the part for which I auditioned, but too young for the other two female characters in the show. I decided it would just be a good experience to audition, and keep "potential actor" a fresh aspect of myself for the producers. Well, I got called back after all - and not only did I get called back for the part for which I auditioned, I also got called back for at least one of the two older female parts for which I did not audition. See, the director of this play is the same one that directed a production in which I was cast as a sixty-year-old society matron, so unfortunately the production team knows I can play age well. (I say "unfortunately" because that first show ended up being quite psychologically traumatic, culminating when I attended a performance of the succeeding show and was not recognized by the usher, even though I had been single-cast and was in every performance. Once the usher realized the part I'd played, his surprised response was, "Oh! You're actually pretty!") Of course I will take whatever part I'm given, if I'm cast, and I will work hard at it and make it as faceted and interesting and funny as absolutely possible. It's just callbacks, after all, and anything can happen.

Obviously, I really need to get a life - possibly one that includes football, or ice-climbing, or yoga, or business-management classes. Maybe underwater basket weaving.



FYI: Since I only had two or so people respond to my potential giveaway, I think I'll be tabling it and holding out for a Thanksgiving or Christmas giveaway. That, and Halloween is in a week and see above re: lazy.

Also, just in case you were wondering, Daylight Savings happens on November 1st this year, a week from tomorrow. I know I was trying to figure out when it was going to happen! You're welcome.

Oh, AND: Flat Stanley came with me to the audition today, and he was a big hit. He's got a decent shot at at part, except that his traveling schedule REALLY conflicts with rehearsals and performances. Ah, well. He also got a backstage tour - though of the dressing rooms he only got to go in the boys'. Naturally.

Because I Have Nothing Else To Do (Ha): UPDATE

* I wish there were more of a need out here for people who create props for shows. I suppose that's something to look into...

* I love Glee. I'm finding it funny, and touching, and sooooo high school - more than anything, I just love the music. (And the singing/dancing. AWESOME.)

* I helped coach a former student on a monologue last night, and today I watched a Shakespeare Showcase that had me absolutely ITCHING to sit down with those kids, tear their pieces apart, and help them build them back up. I miss my high schoolers. I miss talented, dedicated, sweet, funny, stupid, wonderful teenagers. It's kind of a weird feeling. (I was attacked by several in the parking lot when I arrived, and then a whole bunch more when I got in the building, which was FANTASTIC.)

* I'm heading down to the Shakespeare Competition in Cedar tomorrow, for no real reason other than I needed a break, wanted to hang out with my friend, and decided to tag along.

* Phaidra and I REALLY need to write that book(s)/direct a show together/start that theater school ASAP. We'll get the book done before I go to grad school, she can have her second kid while I'm gone, and then we'll get cracking on that school when I get back. The show(s) will happen (again) eventually. She's the best, and we do make a good team.

* I should be packing. Gotta go check the laundry.

* I'm thinking about maybe creating a sandwich-board sign to wear during the weekend in Cedar, offering my services as director/coach/substitute drama teacher. Too desperate? No such thing these days? That's what I thought.

* Had a terrific conversation with a friend this week where I ended up being her sounding board and pitching all kinds of ideas for reality TV shows. Honestly, I think some of them could really work.

* I'm wondering: how does one go about becoming a stand-up comedian? Are there classes for that sort of thing? Do you just watch a bunch of other stand-up comics and then try to pick a different angle? Is it OK to make things up and then sell them as your own "experiences"?

* My back/hip has been out the last couple of days, and I've been spending time on a heating pad. It's been sooooo nice, and has been much easier than scrambling to get to the chiropractor. That heating pad is heading south with me for the weekend.

* I've reluctantly decided that ice cream is my Achilles' Heel, and the focus of the worst/most destructive co-dependent relationship I will ever have. And once I go get another bowl of the Schwann's Chocolate Chip that's sitting upstairs in the freezer (you don't even KNOW), I will swear off of the devil's ambrosia for good. (Or until I've earned a treat. Although it will NOT live in my freezer ever again - Cold Stone, you might need to take out the restraining order against me NOW. Please.)

* I really do (heart) irony.


ETA: I'm kind of thinking I want to do a give-away - it's what all the cool bloggers are up to these days! I don't have sponsors or anything, so I'd have to offer jewelry (or random theatre props, or maybe bizarre poetry, or video of myself lip-synching to a Glee song...) that I'd make... Fortuately, it's October, and I have some really fun Halloween-y sterling silver beads and charms. Is that something any of you would be interested in?

The News RE: Me

I'm sick. Darn these end-of-summer colds, anyway!

I auditioned and got a callback for a Christmas show, even with the above nasal and bronchial (???) problems. Score!

I can see some of you now, going "Huh? Christmas show? In the UK?"

I'm not going to grad school this fall. Yes, the plane leaves Wednesday. No, I won't be on it.




(a pause to absorb)

Now, this isn't bad news, it's not good news, it's just news (well, maybe it's good-and-bad news, or "disappointing-with-a-postive-side" news... ANYWAY) so no need to panic or get overly excited. (No engagement or death in the family or anything like that.) It's a weird feeling, knowing I'm not going now - but I'm OK. Here's what happened: It was a fairly bumpy process just getting into the grad school - I started really late, and didn't know anything about how to go about it. I had a wonderful cousin who did a lot of legwork for me (or I wouldn't have gotten accepted at all, I'm sure) but the Student Visa process was a confusing headache, the finances required all kinds of juggling, and I wasn't able to get on-campus housing (or any private housing, even with help from the local - UK - bishop).

This past week I got two emails from the school - one from Admin, saying, "You don't have a visa (although that did show up the next day), you don't have housing, are you sure you're coming? Please defer until next year." The other was from the Drama Department with an agenda concerning the pre-session seminars they hold for the post-grads that included course descriptions, and as I read them over I realized they had nothing to do with anything I was interested in. I called the school and found out I had been accepted into the wrong program. (Yes, I felt like a major idiot for figuring that out so late, and the lady I was talking to, though still very polite, confirmed that impression.) I emailed the program (or, "programme") director and he described for me the Drama Research program, which is the one I'd originally applied for. He agreed to let me switch programs - and mentioned that if I did, I'd be the only student in the program. Oy. And even then, Drama Research is still not specifically the work I want to be doing in theater.

So - I decided that what I should do is to take the next year and A) get into the program I really want, the Dramaturgy Masters Degree, B) get other people to pay for this degree, since I now know where to apply for grants and scholarships (it was way too late to apply for any of them this year), and C) find housing much further in advance than say, three weeks before I arrive. I plan to work like crazy this year to build up savings, hit up local theatres to work on shows to build up experience, and do fun new things with friends and good things for other people to keep me from getting discouraged or bored.*

Thanks so much to everyone who has been so supportive and excited for me! It's still going to happen - there'll just be a detour first!

* For example, some friends and I went to the British Tea Shoppe in Salt Lake for a going-away party that turned into a Happy "Talk Like a Pirate Day" Party but was really just an excuse to hang out, and it was delicious. Then we strolled around the neighborhood for a while and checked out houses, explored this funky little sculpture park, and ended up eating some really fantastic Thai food. See? Fun! New! Totally not boring!

Updates

Current Events

Work: I'm still working on Scarlet Pimpernel at the Hale (sorry, Shanna, I keep remembering and then forgetting - argh! - that I need to call you back!) and recently have been handling "notes". There are a series of messages that get passed from Marguerite to Chauvelin, and from Chauvelin to Marguerite, and from Percy to his crew. The ones from M to C and vice-versa are now filled with a variety of insults, some in bad French, one involving "your mother", and one that just says "You suck." I really hope the actors take the time to read them all, because one of them is going to make someone bust up laughing, I just know it. I also created a bunch of SP "calling cards" - I am now fairly awesome at drawing a scarlet pimpernel flower. That's my work you'll see pinned to the guillotine! Today I also worked on (surprise!) some new body bags. (Seriously. Who knew that specialty would come up so often?) Tomorrow I hope to help start painting the large carousel horses for the opening number - we've already glittered and bejeweled the living heck out of four medium-sized ones.

Grad School: I interviewed with one school (FYI: six AM here is one PM over there) and had a great conversation with a very nice lady. Eventually, we figured out that I had applied to the wrong program, and I should probably talk to their admissions officer about switching over to the right one... but if I decided to try the program I accidentally applied to, she was offering me a spot anyway. Heh. The admissions guy finally emailed me back and said all the places were taken in the program I really wanted, but he'd hold my application for next year (*sigh*), so now I am torn. I'm still waiting to hear back from the other school I applied to, though, and trying to figure out whom I can call and pester (politely) there.

Other: The hair situation is not getting any better - I'm hating the cut/cuts more with each passing day, and am thinking the solution may be to go for a dramatic short/spiky look and come as close to starting over as I realistically can, without actually shaving (though I'm still VERY tempted). I plan to see Harry Potter 6 again on Saturday. I will be jogging and cutting sugar again shortly - this time I'm waiting for the pain in my neck to ease up (no, that's not a euphemism) that was caused by the wrenching it received for the first time ever on Jet Star 2 at Lagoon. I'm so old. I'm hoping to start work shortly on putting together a book with a friend of mine, and I'd like to get into Spanish and dance classes before I leave for school in the fall (fingers crossed, making it very hard to type). I'm slightly panicked by the fact that I saw "Back to School" supplies on sale at Walmart today, though I should probably be relieved they weren't setting up those displays back in May. I got the new Daughtry album today - I may talk myself into getting up and running in the morning as a reason to listen to it. My headache's finally going away, and it's time for me to go to bed. Later!