Calm waters

Things here are starting to look like they might calm down. Logically, I'm thinking this simply because I'm heading to campus tomorrow...or I'm thinking this way to avoid thinking about heading to campus tomorrow. There's really no telling. I'm looking forward to the move - really I am. This will ensure a lot more time to hang out with friends, a lot less time spent commuting, and, coincidentally, a lot less money going towards gas for my new/old 'Stang.

However, I'm really going to miss a lot about home. Never mind that I'm less than an hour's drive away. I'll miss my oh so sweet and logical mother who is my best friend and my coach. She has always helped me stay on task and I've done the same for her.


I'll miss cutting up and joking around with my stepdad, who I call Elrond. I can always go to either of those two any time I have a problem. Despite his demanding work schedule, working two jobs and holding an assistant manager position at one, Elrond always makes time for me and anything he knows is important to me or Mom.

I'll even miss my hard-as-nails grandma, never mind what I might say to the contrary. A lot of the time, her heart's in the right place. She still needs to teach me how to cheat good when we play games. ;) I guess her secret is number crunching; after all, she always acts as the score-keeper.

I'm going to miss our awesome neighbor Nessa and her family. Her kids are so sweet - if they don't keep up with their homework and do what is asked of them, I'll come home just to straighten them out. Nessa has always lent an ear if I find myself needing to get away or get hacked off at Mom or just want to yammer about Twilight. We've got an open door policy between our two households and I don't think we could've asked for better neighbors. I can only hope my roommate and suite-mates will be half as sweet. :)

I'm also going to miss TV. The best I can get in the dorms is basic cable, which is hardly worth the effort. While I don't watch TV all that often, I do have shows I follow: House MD, Top Chef, Project Runway, Top Design, Shear Genius, Solitary, Criss Angel Mindfreak, and Wife Swap to be specific. (I know it sounds like I'm a reality TV junkie, but I swear I'm not.) Although I say I'll miss this, logic and experience both tell me that I won't have time. My first semester on campus, although I still didn't get much done, I don't remember ever touching the TV. Besides, why haul the heavy thing and put it the only place it'll fit - the top of the closet - just so I'll have to climb onto my end table whenever I want to turn it on? Such a headache (plus a backache for Elrond, who is glad I'm on the first floor) when my laptop is lighter, more conveniently placed, and much more portable if I want to lounge on my bed while browsing youtube.

I'll miss my two year old half sister, who lives with my Dad. Yeah, I know I can come home every weekend if I wanted and visit her. I could even come home and take her back to school with me for the weekend, I bet. Still, I'm just going to miss being able to go to Dad's house anytime I want and see her big blue eyes and her smile and hear her yell "Sissy!" before rattling off the names of all five of our dogs, asking if she can go see them. My world revolves around that little angel anytime she's near me. Who could resist this face?


So, tomorrow, I will leave the safety and familiar routine that is my home to go to school, go back to theater, and hang out with some real characters. My best friend, for one, who just got his own apartment and is so proud of his new place that I just find it adorable. This guy is like my other half when I'm at school. Each of us is the other's eyes and ears amongst our gossipy classmates. Not that we're not just as bad. ;)


It'll be good to see the professors too. I actually miss a few of my teachers! Namely my theater teachers. The department head is, I'm almost sorry to say, the only man with a walk that can be described as "fussy." The more irritated he gets, the fussier his walk. Then, there's Ms. Glitter, who I didn't have in class last semester and whose quirkiness I have missed so much! She's teaching two of my classes this spring. :D I just hope my ADD can tolerate her constant verbal flitting from subject to subject during class. She's very easily distracted (might be ADD too?) and the students take full advantage of it since we get no such luck with the dept. head. Our newest prof just joined the department last semester and I wish I had her this spring. Not that I won't still see her, of course. She's the sound specialist and boy did she teach me a lot last fall! The last one of the bunch is the costume shop supervisor, who I've never been taught by in a classroom setting. Since I'll be learning how to sew (groan...) I'll get to spend more time with her too.

Oh, I can't wait to get back to school!

Drama belongs onstage

Anyone who has been reading Nessa's blog or my Mom's blog has no doubt been following a lot of what's been going on. Mom reminded me I needed to blog and that I sure as heck had plenty to blog about, so here we go: the one subject I didn't want to discuss here. This is my view on these issues. Nothing more.

I hate it when real life starts to feel like some sort of stupid soap opera. So much drama has been revolving around these four little angels: two year old twins, their four year old brother, and six year old sister. Although its been revolving around them, nobody who has been directly involved (their family, the people who are supposed to care) has cared at all about those same kids, instead putting them in the middle of a tug-of-war. They're not releasing any information about what condition the children's father is in, although they've allegedly been in town the past four days instead of at the hospital while we had the kids.

They've got them now. I'm sure they'll be taken out of the state and away from their Mom as soon as the courts allow it. These poor kids have been in such turmoil these days, never knowing what they'll be doing or where they'll be from one day to the next, not having any sort of routine, asking questions about whichever parents they're not with. The rumor mills in our super-small town have been churning and chugging away; I'm doing all I can to ignore the predictions of what's going to happen, what did happen, and who did what to whom.

Right now, I'm trying my hardest to keep my focus on this coming weekend. I'll be moving back to campus, away from whatever fallout this might have later. I'll be able to get back into my regular routine at school. Boy, is this semester going to be a busy one! Here's a glimpse at my schedule, which I may end up detailing in a later blog.

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday: Spanish is first at 9 am. Joy. Ever so much joy and rapture. *eyeroll* At 10, I go to Tech II and get to learn about costuming. (Pardon me while I groan piteously.) At 11 is language lab, followed by an hour break for lunch, then three hours worth of lab work for my theater classes. School day officially ends at four.

Tuesday, Thursday: First up is the theater department's writing intensive course, theory & criticism at 9:25 am. Seems I plugged my two most difficult classes into my morning routine. This is good, I keep reminding myself, because I'm generally more focused in my morning classes. At 10:50, I'll go to makeup design, which I am so looking forward to. Maybe the professor can tell me something about putting on makeup that won't disappear once I put my glasses on... These are my short days, ending with health at 1:00 and 2:15 signaling the day's academic end.

What a way to start 2009...

The holidays in ten sentences

What an enjoyable, relaxing holiday I've had! On Christmas Day, we visited my stepdad's family and my stepbrother came to town to announce his recruitment into the Army, which has us all both proud and nervous. I made out like a bandit in the gift department, even without counting the car amongst my presents. Some of my favorites included the kick-ass pair of boots, the brand new iPod, the perfume, the old books, and the giant stuffed shrimp.

The books are amazing, all of them first editions with copyright dates ranging from 1875 to 1912 and subjects ranging from a beginning Spanish dictionary to etiquette to a brief study of the ancient Romans to works by Washington Irving and Herman Melville. However, I've been neglecting this blog, which I hope to stop shunting aside and procrastinating over. The final count on baked goods was 66 dozen and the leftovers from X-mas dinner are slowly being emptied from the fridge. My Twilight reading has progressed, although I'm using audiobooks, which is irritating and makes comprehension difficult. The cabinet I built, which measures 6' x 4' x 1' and is made of medium density fiberboard, is still on the porch; I hope to get it inside and anchored to the wall this weekend. Although I'm still nervous about a lot of things, not the lest of which is the fear of flaking out and failing, I can't wait to get back to school and back to my usual schedule.

My poor abandoned blog!

Image of Serenity by Gaslight pulled from www.fireflyfans.net

Holidays, Vampires, Mustangs, and Finals

Well, it's that time of year again. Contrary to the music I've recently added to my blog, I'm not referencing the holidays. No, instead, I'm talking about finals: those dreaded, generally cumulative exams all college students must slough through before Christmas Break, an interim period that stretches just long enough to ensure complete insanity and non-comprehension when everyone returns to school in January. Those first few days of classes, the green room is always so filled, so noisy, so chaotic, you can hardly tel one conversation from the other. These days, this close to the end of the semester, it's the exact opposite.

Gripes abut professors, moans over going to class as textbooks are opened, seniors frantic to graduate rather than spend another semester in school, all this seems to lessen and increase at the same time as the semester winds down. Some people, myself included, are alternating between studying and procrastinating, planning our study schedules around our exams. Others are already making holiday plans. I've recently learned two of my friends from school live in Austin, which was cool to find out. More good news: I got a new (old) car, an '86 Mustang Capri. It's not much of a looker at all, but I love it. We had some bad luck today, though.

Today was my first day of exams and man, was it crazy! I got a flat on the way to school, which was ever so much fun, especially since I was worried I would be late to my first test. After making phone calls to my best friend and my Mom, who called my cousin, I eventually got to school...just in time to discover that my 11:30 exam which I've been studying for all weekend is in fact scheduled for...tomorrow.

Yeah. That was fun.

After that, I proceeded to the scene shop to work on the cabinet I'm building for my technical theater class. This time tomorrow, it will be sitting in the dining room, probably being painted since I ran out of time. The final for that class is 8 a.m. tomorrow, followed by the history final I thought I had today.

Despite my moment of complete foolishness, I did remember one of my exams, thank god. This afternoon, I took my final for English, a one-question essay test we were allowed to use the text for. To make things even easier, we were able to choose from about twenty questions, so I could afford to be picky. ;)

On Thursday I have my last exam which is for Spanish. *cringe* Oh, how I dread that one. After that exam, however, I'll be finished for the semester and will just have to wait for grades to be posted. Once I finish my finals, I'll also get to get back to my latest recreational reading: the Twilight series. I've only read the first book so far - in two days as a matter of fact - and can't wait to read the rest. I don't ever see myself owning the books, but I'm enjoying reading them.

So, what book did you read last? Did you like it? What's next on your reading list? When did you last have car trouble? I hope everyone find their 'knight in shining armor' to help them off the side of the road.

Happy holidays; try not to run over anything your tires won't like! ;)

Auditions and Thanksgiving

"Acting is a sport. On stage you must be ready to move like a tennis player on his toes. Your concentration must be keen, your reflexes sharp; your body and mind are in top gear, the chase is on. Acting is energy. In the theatre people pay to see energy." - Clive Swift

What a week its been! Monday and Tuesday, I was heavily occupied with auditions for my school's production for West Side Story. As a techie who has never 'gone into the light' as an actress while in college, this was a very big step for me. As a person who rarely speaks up in front of people, can't dance, and never ever ever sings in front of people, my mere presence at auditions was downright monumental. I was one of sixty-six people there to audition, all of us feeding off one another's energy and nervousness. The open auditions meant there were a lot of non-theater people there; twenty-something people from the theater department showed up that I saw.

Once everyone filled out contact information sheets and signed a contract, we split in half with one group learning a small amount of coraeography ten people at a time and the rest giving cold reading in groups of two or three. I started with the cold reading where I was teamed with two other girls and read as Rosalia. After that, I waited nervously for my turn to dance and eventually went into the workshop theater with nine other people.

The coreographer showed us some "simple" coreography for the song 'Cool.' Of the ten people in that room, I was the only one who didn't get it. I just stood there at times, trying to figure out what I needed to do to get to the next position. The fact that the coreography was stylized a lot like the movie didn't help. After that lovely little failure, I drove home with my tail between my legs, constantly reminding myself that at least I had tried and telling myself that no matter how badly I'd screwed up, I would go to the next evening's auditions. If nothing else, this would prove to the director and to me that I could do what was required for the audition.

The next night, Tuesday, was much easier since it was the singing audition. I may not be able to dance, but I can sing and I like to think I can act. My song was from Avenue Q. If I say so myself, I nailed that portion of the audition. Everyone has had to wait through Thanksgiving break since results won't be posted until Monday. Now I'm not sure which way I want things to go: whether I want a role on-stage or not.

Over Thanksgiving break, I went to my Dad's family reunion with my dad, step-mom, and two year old half-sister. It was a lot of fun. I've also received a new car: an '86 Mustang Capri. It's not the prettiest with its cancer gray color, but I'm slowly getting used to it and really enjoying it. Wednesday, I have an exam in Spanish and a final in Tech. All in all, it'll be a fun week.

Verbalism on the letter V

So apparently there's this new fad of blogs based around a letter of the alphabet. My mom's done it, as have several other people, so I asked Mom to give me a letter. We picked randomly with a very sophisticated piece of equipment - Mom held up my laptop and I shut my eyes and pointed at the keyboard. The result (after hitting two number keys) was the letter V. So, here we go.

Valentines candies

I love munching on these little candy hearts every February. So many sweet little messages and so much variety: I've had chewy conversation hearts, tart ones, sweet tarts, and jumbo sized ones. People don't generally give me chocolate around Valentines Day; they give me conversation hearts.

Valise

With all the traveling I do this semester, I actually had a bag of extra clothes in the car just in case I ever had to stay the night. During the run of Godspell, I was stranded on campus because my car went belly up - on tech weekend, prefect timing. :P Next semester, I'll be living in the dorms, so there'll be no more packing for a night of couch-dwelling.

Vampires

Ah, these creatures of the night have triggered such a craze recently! I haven't had a chance to read the Twilight series yet, but have always loved Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles...until she tried to turn Lestat into a Christian...

Vacation

I think I know what this word means... Right now, I'm on Thanksgiving break, which is only two and a half days - Wednesday at noon through Friday. Christmas break will be much nicer since I've got about a month off.

Ventriloquist

Jeff Dunham is a hilarious ventriloquist. Anyone unfamiliar with this name needs to set aside a few hours with youtube at least. My favorite puppet is Peanut, though Achmed the Dead Terrorist runs a very close second.

Victory

Arguably the best 'v' word out there. Who doesn't love the feeling of victory, the rush of winning, being the best? Yeah, I thought so. ;)

Vanilla

A delicious flavoring...or - if you travel the "right" circles - a hilarious joke about "the normals."

Victor/Victoria

Excellent musical that can be complicated if you try and describe it to someone else. It's a show about a female who's masquerading as a man who's pretending to be a woman.

Value

As this image shows, most women will do anything for a good sale. I look for bargains and have noticed a lot of strange things: like how a $10 pair of shoes from WalMart will last easily five times as long as a $50 or $200 pair of name-brand shoes. Why a person would spend $200 on a pair of shoes is beyond me...

Varec

This is also known as seaweed or kelp. So delicious when wrapped around sticky rice and raw fish or added into a good egg drop soup with some tofu. Seaweed salad is another excellent dish.

Vanish

Pictured above is illusionist, escape artist, and mindfreak Criss Angel. Anyone unfamiliar with this man's modern day mysticism needs to spend some time on youtube or catch a showing of his reality show, Mindfreak. He's doing a show with Cirque du Solei this year; I'd just about do anything to get to see a live show or just see him in Las Vegas.

Vanessa

As soon as I got the letter 'v' this word came to mind. Nessa lives across the street and she's such a wonderful neighbor and an amazing friend. She's got a big heart, a wonderful sense of humor, and a bad habit of putting other people first. ;) It's said to save the best for last and I figure that's just what I've done. Love you, Nessa! *hugs*

Tags and giveaways

Another great giveaway is being offered at Sunshine and Lemonade, this one geared especially towards Twilight fans. I haven't been sucked into this fandom...yet...but it's growing harder and harder to resist as I grow more and more curious. Right now, I'm trying to decide which of my friends I can hit up to borrow the series and read it since certain other friends have hinted at bodily harm if I don't give it a chance. ;)

Next on the docket is taking care of this tagging issue. Apparently, my Mom tagged me, so I must pass on the favor.

The rules are simple. I link back to the person who tagged me (done above), share 7 random facts about myself, tag seven random people, and let them know they've been tagged by commenting on their blogs.

First up: seven random facts about me.

1. After high school, I tried going into the Navy - stress on the word 'tried.' Only making it through three weeks of an eight week boot camp, I was sent back to the civilian world with an OTH (Other Than Honorable) discharge. After a year in the work force, I headed off to college and haven't heard from Uncle Sam since.

2. I love role-playing. Dungeons & Dragons, White Wolf games, or play-by-post websites. One site I've been on for three years now, the only role-playing site I really visit anymore, has a weekly 'tradition' of sorts that started when I lived on campus in fall of '06. Every Friday is YouTube night: we go to YouTube and browse different vids, normally Firefly based, and share the URLs in the shout box. What started between myself and an equally bored administrator has since become almost site-wide.

3. I have automatonophobia, a fear of dummies, animatronic figures, wax figures, etc. When did I learn this? Standing in a mental health hospital turned museum surrounded by 20+ wax figures. Yeah. That was entertaining.

4. I love trying new foods. Sushi, dolma (stuffed grapevine leaves), manacotti, naan (East Indian flatbread), matzo... The list goes on and on; I'm a true 'foodie.'

5. I played clarinet for seven years and am one of a handful in my family with musical talent. Those who have heard me claim I can sing, but I don't do it all that often. With rehearsals for West Side Story coming up next week, this may change. ;)

6. I love live theater and I got to go see Stomp last night! The show was absolutely amazing and well worth the $5 I paid for my ticket. I went with my school's theater department and we had a bake sale during our last show. That money, combined with a group discount, and some help from the department's financial backers let to a spectacular show for a wonderfully college-friendly price.

7. I was diagnosed with adult ADD last year. Very interesting since the Navy diagnosed me as having OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) tendencies before they sent me home. When these two work against each other it can be...fun. Since I enjoy learning the 'why' behind things, this helped explain an awful lot for me.

Alright, facts done! (It's only take me three days to write this. How's that for ADD?) Now, to tag.

First up is Redneck Mommy. I don't recall just what took me to this blog, but I've loved reading it. Some of these posts have had me cracking up!

Next up is Rhea. This woman has an interesting take on life and a good eye for pictures. Her blog is well worth a look and has become part of my morning routine.

Pink Ink is another must tag in my book. This is one of the newest on my list of blogs to read and I'm so glad it's on my list. Keep working at that novel; you've already surpassed me and Mom!

We're now on day four of working on this blog and I need four more tags.

Waking Spirits

As promised, this blog will focus on the Cemetery Walk. It was held on Nov. 2 and was absolutely wonderful to see. A good majority of the actors and actresses involved were from my school and the theater department helped with all the costuming. Although we showed up later and ended up missing one performance, all the monologues and duologues we saw were wonderfully delivered and most were very well written. The first performance we saw was of Josh and Harriet Lucas, played by my friends Van and Courtney.


Don't these costumes look great? Josh and Harriet were some of the first black residents of this cemetery until they were moved to an all Negro cemetery at the suggestion of Ms. Pearl Wylie Cage, a woman who lived with all kinds of powerful connections, working for the "greater good" as she saw it. (Pictured on the right)


According to Ms. Cage - whose actress moved around too quickly for me to get many clear shots - the cemetery's colored residents had to move so that the cemetery could expand. This part was very well cast, the actress well coached. She played the part very well.

Of course, my favorite monologue of the day (also the best of the nine we saw) was delivered by Mr. Bernie Connally and written by yours truly. Bernie Connally lived in the small town of Selden with his mother, grandmother, and stepfather Francis Marion "F.M." Snow. The two men butted heads constantly, F.M. unable to understand exactly why his stepson always had his nose in some book. While Bernie was always seen with his books, F.M. was just as meticulous: he was never without his hunting dogs, his rifle, or his double-bladed axe. One November evening when Bernie was about 20 years old, F.M. met him coming home from a trip into Stephenville to sell lumber to local farmers. Joining his stepson in the wagon, the two remained quiet, each still fuming over a fight that had taken place earlier that day.

As Bernie turned, perhaps to speak to his stepfather, he was shot in the back, a second bullet going through his chest. His body fell to the ground, loaded into the back of the wagon by Snow, who continued towards home, stopping near an old abandoned farmhouse long enough to decapitate his stepson and leave the head in a tow sack in the cellar. It was found by two local hunters and, soon enough, was put on display in the local funeral home. The hope was that someone could identify the head. In the space of a few hours, Bernie became the missing child of some 200 couples, many coming from Houston and Ft. Worth in search of their sons.

Finally, Bernie was correctly identified. The farm was searched from top to bottom and Snow was eventually convicted of three counts of first degree murder; not only had he decapitated Bernie, but he'd shot his wife and mother in law. Using the axe, he chopped their bodies like kindling and burned them in the stove. He agreed to go with the Sheriff on the grounds he wouldn't be hanged. "Little did F.M. know, hanging had been outlawed [in the county] two days before." He went to the electric chair.

Any ghost stories in your area? In your family? What's your favorite urban legend?

Sophomore slump and chaotic calendars

This week has been so strange; for some reason, I've been losing track of days. This Tuesday, I didn't realize until almost lunch-time that it was Tuesday and Stop Kiss would open that night. Wednesday, I thought it was Monday, and yesterday I'm not sure I knew what day it was. I've also had music from Godspell in my head all week long, which is really unusual since we've finished that play and it would normally be out of my head by now. Doing follow-spot and being on headset for the production didn't help since the songs are layered with cue calls from the stage manager. Oh, well. Maybe I'll get my head screwed on straight by Monday...

School's going pretty well, I think. Thanks to the beauty of a professor who believes in and uses the curve grading system, my Spanish test got bumped from a C to a B. Lately, I've been thinking a lot about my decision to do a dual major and whether or not I want to continue with it, whether or not I can continue with it. On my drive home yesterday, realization hit me over the head like a bolt of lightening. I'm a sophomore in college. I've hit the dreaded sophomore slump! That thought explained everything: my doubts about the future, doubts about my decisions, boredom in class, and all the rest of it. I'm so glad I figured out a cause of sorts. This means that next time I start doubting and second guessing myself, I can take a mental step back and say "wait. You know why you're doing this; things are getting stressful. Just let it go and keep doing what you have to do."

I'll blog more later, including the promised pictures of the cemetery walk. Tomorrow I've got Stop Kiss at 7:30 with strike immediately following the performance and next Sunday, I get to go see Stomp!