So much to do...

A Director's Initial Thoughts

Today was my first directorial debut. I think it went very well. My actors put in three weeks of hard work and they did a fantastic job. The show I chose to direct was "Same Time, Next Year" by Bernard Slade. I decided to focus only on the second act because I felt it had a better story to it and could stand alone if necessary. Right before my show was set to begin, I was so nervous. Despite the nerves, everything got set up in time and Mom, Dad, Other Mom, and Poppa were all there - all parental units accounted for. I have to say, one of the coolest feelings was the moments before the show, when we were getting the stage set. Everyone was helping everyone else, which is how things always work in my theater department. The cool feeling, for me, was when my peers were looking to me, as director of the show, to find out what set pieces I needed and exactly how they needed to be placed, etc. It was a very surreal moment that justified the authority I had as director of the show. There were a few flubs during the performance, but they were fairly minor and it all ran smoothly. I am so very proud of my actors for their hard work and dedication. This is one of the best ways I can imagine to cap off my final semester of college.

Showtime Approaches

Well, here we go. The play I've been directing opens for its one performance tomorrow at 5pm. I'm really looking forward to it. My actors know their lines and their blocking and things are going to be awesome. Next week will probably be difficult. It seems like a lot of things are being put off in the department because of the one-acts, which means that next week we get to pull everything together for the next main-stage production. After that, the semester starts winding down and then all I'll have to worry about are finals. And finding a job.

The job hunt is a big concern right now. None of the theaters I've been contacting have responded. I'm going to start calling on Monday to follow up. I'm also sending out even more resumes. My goal for this week is to be able to work on my writing as well as keeping up with homework and passing my classes. It's been a while since I was able to write and I miss it. What I'm going to write I'm not sure yet. Only time will tell, I suppose.

Update from a soon to be college grad

Well, this has certainly been a busy month. I'm directing a one act play that performs this Saturday and am I ever nervous! When I'm not in rehearsal, I'm working on homework, which has not led to much in the way of blog fodder. Having time to blog is, of course, an issue in itself. Since I'm sitting in the green room waiting for class to start, I thought I would type up a quick entry to show that I'm still around. I can't believe I graduate in a month!

Habits for Life

I will be twenty-five in nine days. For the last month, my approaching birthday has alternately been a cause of stress (twentyFIVE!) and a passing thought (while I freak out about homework instead.) Because I'm growing bored of all this freaking out, I've decided to make a list of some of the habits I've developed that I'm grateful for. A lot of people my age (generally referenced as "twenty-somethings") are spending a lot of time "finding themselves" through working, attending classes, or both. Frankly, I'm more than ready to begin the next stage of my life and it's thanks to many of these habits that I know I am ready.

Sleep schedule - I've seen people look at me like I'm crazy when I use this phrase. I don't understand why, cause it's not complex. I don't stay up til four a.m. and then drag myself to class after just a few hours of sleep. I don't stay up all night working on a homework assignment or studying for a test. I get at least six hours of sleep a night.

Budgeting - There's still money in my bank account! Win! I know how much is there! Double win! When I spend money, I do still have a habit of over-spending, but my shopping sprees aren't very common. After a shopping spree, I spend nothing for several months. Of course, I also live in an on-campus apartment and have no bills, so that makes it easier to spend no money.

Finishing things on time - To be fair, there are times I finish things right before they're due (I am still a college student) but I am breaking that habit. I can say, proudly, that I have never stayed up all night to complete a school assignment.

Focusing my energy where it's needed - I'm not a partier. Never have been. I'm not a big fan of clubs or bars or anything of the sort. Because of this, I'm able to focus on what I want or need to focus on. My attention is on school or my writing or my goals, not on going out and getting bombed.

Relationship drama not found - Okay, story. My freshman year a friend asked me for advice. I told her, honestly, that she didn't want my advice. After saying this three times, I gave in and allowed her to tell me the problem. What it amounted to was "I like this person but he doesn't like me and this other guy texted me and I don't know what he means and etc. etc. etc." Me: "Keep in mind, I told you that you don't want my advice." Friend: "Yes, I do. Please." Me: "Okay. You asked for it. First of all, the person you like doesn't like you. Does not like you. You're wasting your energy. If you want to know what the text message meant, ask the guy. To his face. Also, we have a test tomorrow, so you might want to study for that first." Yeah, I can be a little bit of a wet blanket, but my feet are on the ground and I'm not crying over some break-up or whatever.

Determination and follow-through - If (WHEN) I pass my classes this semester, I graduate in May. I've been here since 2006 and I graduate in May. In one year (after a semester of suspension that led to my ADD diagnosis) I brought my GPA up from a .93 to a 2.6 and now I graduate in May.

Yes, I am ready to get out of school and start the next phase of my life. Maybe with these habits, I can make it in the real world.

Chicken Soup Epiphanies

During a study break, I opened one of the handful of Chicken Soup books I own. Shockingly, it was one I hadn't read - an entire book dedicated to resolutions. I started flipping through, reading some stories and skimming others, when perspective crept up out of nowhere and slapped me across the face. Resolutions, if you think about it, are nothing more than setting goals. This is something I always try to do, but don't always succeed on.

Two stories in particular caught my eye. In one, the writer resolved to stop watching television. She estimated that she had added six years to her life by filling former tv time with other activities. In the other, a writing student passed on the wisdom of his teacher. "[A rejection letter is just] proof that you're writing." As I read this, I heard a click as the truth of the simple statement sunk in. Now, this statement is over my desk in the hopes that one day I will begin collecting rejection letters of my own.

It seems both interesting and ironic that I should read a story about gaining free time and about the craft I so love on the same night that I made a significant move to clear my own schedule. No, I didn't drop out of school. I narrowed my personal extracurricular activities, specifically my involvement in online role-plays. If I can get up the guts to make the big leap, as of tomorrow I will only be on one RP site. I will only have one online distraction/commitment to maintain and I know the people there will wait for me.

In making this decision, I'm dropping about ten RP characters (the number would have been unthinkable had I done this six months ago.) As an avid RPer, this is a pretty big deal for me. I've been taking part in RPs for ten years. Am I ready to quit entirely? No, but I don't think I'll ever quit entirely. Today, however, I've decided to move away from any RP groups I participate in that I don't get anything out of. If playing my characters is nothing but a time-filler, the sort of thing I could do with my eyes closed or in my sleep, if I have no plots to play or characters to build off of, I'm leaving that group.

It's time I take my spare time seriously and do what I actually want to do.

Enough Already

I'm beginning to wonder if there's some law nobody told me about that says a person's body has to fall apart before they turn twenty-five. It could be some sick, twisted coming of age thing, a test to see if I can face the rigors of adulthood - since, apparently, six years in college with ADD isn't enough. Even if this isn't true, it doesn't change the fact that I've been sick for almost a week and the timing just plain sucks.

On February 29th, exactly one month before my 25th birthday, I started feeling a little ick. Flu like symptoms, very sore throat, and a dry cough. I started taking vitamins, took a couple days off from school, and figured the weekend would help this blow over. Now, it's been almost a week and I'm still sick, running a fever, and suffering from random nosebleeds that aren't really unusual, just annoying. Nosebleeds I'm used to - except the one I had Saturday that lasted over an hour. That wasn't fun. Still, it can be worked around. I'm keeping towels nearby and some saline to keep things from totally drying out.

Today, I gave in and went to the doctor. Basic questions were asked and answered - multiple times. My ears, nose, throat, and breathing were all examined. I was told I had a viral infection and a sore spot in the roof of my mouth. A prescription was written and I took it to get filled. Now, I get to take bactrim (in generic form) and cough syrup with codeine and have instructions to return if my symptoms have no cleared up by Friday. I know I can only take the cough syrup at the end of the day because codeine turns me goofy. The drugs I'm not sure about. I know it won't hurt me to take them. Then I read this on a website: "[This drug] will not treat a viral infection such as the common cold or flu."

Um... What?

Anyway, I'm now taking a drug that may or may not help me and looking forward to spending my evenings in a codeine laced stupor. Other than that, I'm digging myself out of the growing pile of homework and generally just trying to keep myself together.

Awesome speech project

In a week or two (we have not been given specific dates yet, which makes planning difficult), I have to give an informative speech in my business communications class. Because it's better to speak on something you're interested in, I've chosen to give a speech about vloggers who use YouTube to promote their businesses/charities/personal ideologies/philanthropies. I'm going to limit my 4-6 minute speech to a focus on people whose primary fame is on YouTube; namely, Alex Day, the vlogbrothers, John and Hank Green, and their Project for Awesome (P4A) and StickAid, co-founded by Charlie McDonnell (charlieissocoollike) and Myles Dyer (blade376). I will also include, in the beginning of my speech, a brief overview of the history of vlogging.

Hopefully, I'll be able to record/recreate my speech on my own youtube channel, InkandGrit.

I don't think I've ever been more excited/nervous about a simple class project. Wish me luck!

Busy, busy

Wow. Blogging. I remember this.

Life has been moving on and doing it so fast I'm just trying to keep up. I spent all of last week (was it only last week?) as a pledge for Alpha Psi Omega, the national theater honors fraternity, and was officially inducted on Sunday February 12. This was actually my second invitation to join, though it was my first time to become a pledge. I am so thrilled to finally be a part of Alpha Psi Omega! Another cool piece of news: I will be graduating with my big (the fraternity member who is acting as a mentor while I'm new to the group) in May. I thought that was really cool.

After Pledge Week ended, everybody started focusing on the musical we have opening next week. A bug of some sort has also started circling the department, which isn't cool at all. Once the show closes, I'm hoping to get a chance to go home and visit my parents, my pets, etc. before insanity descends again.

In March, I face my advanced directing class senior project. I get to direct and design a forty minute one act play with a maximum rehearsal time of forty-five hours over four weeks. That should be interesting, to say the least.This weekend, as usual, I get to live in the theater while we enter into the mad dash to get everything finished before opening night. Next week, during the run of the show, there'll be a lot of the same. I'm on light crew, running a spotlight, and on the hair and make-up crew. Here's hoping everything goes smoothly.

Glad to be back to blogging. I hope I can make more time for this and get back to doing it regularly.

Life in a Soundbite Society

In my vlog this evening, I talked about a comment that was made by one of my professors. She claimed we live in a soundbite society, that many people these days are so bombarded by technology and constant streams of information that we're essentially drowning in it (my words) and, because of this, we can only pay attention to brief snippets. These brief snippets are essentially what causes us to form our opinions about much bigger issues (her words) and this isn't necessarily a good thing - more on that in the vlog.

Another big issue I have with today's no attention span society is the prevalence of buzz words like attention deficit disorder. I myself am diagnosed with ADD and have been learning how to live with it for the past six years of my life. In my experience, it seems like every time I share my diagnosis with someone on campus, there's always That Person. "Oh, wow. I think I've got ADD too. I mean, I can't pay attention to anything for very long."

Excuse me? You think you've got ADD just because you have a short attention span? Please educate yourself before lumping the two of us in the same group. There is more to ADD than an inability to focus. Hyperfocus, for example, is one of the truly awesome things about ADD. If the only evidence you have re: your "diagnosis" is an inability to focus/multi-task, I'm sorry but I'd appreciate it if you butt out on my disorder.

In my experience, ADD is turning into something of a buzz word. I'm wondering whether it is, perhaps, over-diagnosed as a side effect of our collective shrinking attention span or under-diagnosed for the same reason. There are people these days who can't pay attention to a fifty minute lecture, who can't wait three minutes for a microwave to cook food, who can't be bothered to read a book and must instead gather their facts from an abridgment, a film, or cliff notes. Do all of these people have ADD? I believe that is statistically impossible, though I've done no research on the stats. It just seems like a far too large number, hypothetically.

So, I wonder: is ADD over-diagnosed because nobody can pay attention to anything longer than three minutes or under-diagnosed because the symptoms aren't always noticed in today's "soundbite society"?