Love to Mothers

This is a guest post from Crazed Mind

Mother's Day is right around the corner.  Are you ready?  I know I am...Not!  No not yet...but am working on getting there.  You see I need to know just how do I tell my Mom how much I really do appreciate her.  Hallmark has a new commercial....Tell Me.  It makes me wonder just how to do that.



Let me paint you a rosie pretty picture of my childhood with Mom baking cookies and patting my head.  Or let me tell the truth.  Mom was a busy working woman raising 5 kids that were loud crazy and out of control 90% of the time.  Mom taught me the home truths of life....work hard so you can pay the bills so your kids never worry about the lights being turned off.  Love someone that you have seen their ugly side as it will be the one that is snoring beside you in the middle of the night.  Hug your babies tight because there is a day they wiggle away to play with their friends instead.  And use sun block...you will wrinkle...you will age....you will not like it but you can accept it when the grandbabes run to you screaming....NONNIE!

My Mom taught me that as children we are protected and as adults we protect.  My Mom was tough.  She fought for us as much as we fought with each other.  My Mom most often fell asleep in front of the TV right after serving us dinner because her days started at 5 a.m.  And my Mom did without meals, new shoes and at times even transportation so that we could have what we needed.  I want to tell her....

Thanks for bringing me into this world.

I appreciate all you have done to raise me into a strong woman.

Your beautiful because of the lines in your face.

I love you!  I respect you!  I want to be just like you!

And this year I am just trying to figure out how to get it all written on one lil scrap of paper that will unfold out of a red rose.

We have one of these to share with you too.  One that will be able to tell your mom or special person just what you want them to know.  Now all you have to do is figure out just what you want to tell them too!

Writing again

I've spent a good portion of my day, it seems, getting everything in order for my final end of term conference. It's a one on four meeting between each theater student and the professors during which they review how that student has performed in the previous year. Because this is my last time to meet with them, I'm making a point to gather everything I can - particularly samples of my writing. I've managed to locate one of the monologues I wrote and both the ten minute plays. I'm also going to print out some of my poetry, some of my blog entries, and some of my RP posts so that I will have them in my portfolio if they're ever needed in the future.

Finding the monologues and the poetry had me running all over campus. I also got my paperwork in order from the show I stage managed and pulled together old projects from theater classes as well. On top of all that, I've entered a poetry contest. Now that all that is finished, I need to get my mind off of English and onto Spanish. I can't believe graduation is so close!!!

Coffee Cravings

I am a total coffee addict.  It is like a life line to me.  I do not need it to get going but love it for the flavor and warmth.  Also what a great way to wake up in the morning!

But as a dedicated coffee drinker, I have to have times where I can get it on the go.  And who does it best?  Your right....Starbucks!

So today I am thrilled to offer Two $10 Starbucks e-Gift Cards for giveaway.  I am sure you can find a way to use them in no time at all.  This giveaway will run from May 1st to May 15th.  I want to thank all the blogs that are jumping in on this bandwagon to share.  Great group...I know because we all hang out together over on facebook.  A bunch of chatty patties and pauls we can be sure.  It would be fun if we could all get together at a Starbucks and share.

Here are the girls and boys of the band who brought you this giveaway!

Rants and Raves

Kathleen's Blog Spot     

Ink & Grit 

Love My 2 Dogs 

Coupons and Freebies in TX 

SoCal Coupon Mommy 

Mommy Coupon Swappers

Aunt Rene

Columbia Gorge Coupon Mommy     

The Centsible Family 

The Coupon Hubby

Shore Savings with Patti    

Cny's Extreme Couponing 

Tomboy Tools by Angel 

Plum Crazy About Coupons    

                   

Again with the goals

With graduation two weeks away (!!!) I've gone and set more goals for myself and given myself more personal projects on top of my school work. Smart decision? Probably not. Nevertheless, I'm going to try and get everything done. The current project is a writing portfolio. I'm a little surprised I don't already have one pulled together. However, I'm not precisely shocked, which is somewhat unfortunate. Clearly, I know myself too well and don't always work hard enough on shaking myself out of old habits. With that fact recognized, I'll move on. Discussing my own shortcomings is not the topic of this particular blog entry.

The first thing I need for this writing portfolio is more samples of my writing. I do have a few things - research papers written for class, two one act plays I wrote, poems from creative writing, etc. - but I really need to punch it up and show the range of my talents. I'll be pulling entries from this blog to show some of my personal, non-fiction writing. I also plan to lurk some of my own character posts over at a few of my RP sites (more on this later.) Beyond that, I need to figure it out. I could add my NaNoWriMo wins, but am not 100% sure at the idea of including unedited manuscripts that were written in thirty consecutive days and still aren't finished. Besides the sheer massive outpouring of writing for word count's sake that is NaNo, I don't have the means at present to print out those monstrosities. Maybe I could skim some favorite sections and offer them with a summary of the previous action.

For a lot of the writing portfolio, I intend to pull heavily from my favorite RP site and the one I've been on the longest, Big Damn Verse. I've been a member since before that particular site existed and have served as a member of the admin team since fall of 2007. Going into our seventh year, the site has maintained a lot of the same core group of members and a lot of the same staff. We have seven years of original story lines, characters, etc. built up and plenty more to come. If I'm going to be pulling samples of my writing, I'd be stupid not to be pulling from my other online home.

My other big BDV project is a constant work in progress that I need to get caught up on. It won't happen until after graduation, I'm sure, but it's not impossible. That project is the BDV history. I came up with the idea back in 07 or 08 to summarize each of the episodes the ships run through. This would allow new members to know more about what each ship had been through and what sort of characters might fit in with existing story lines. It would also give veteran members a chance to re-read and examine character story arcs away from the massive amounts of collaborative writing that take place in the in-character threads. It seemed like an easy way to step back and make sure we didn't have too many identical SLs running or spot running themes or view a running storyline arc on its own, etc etc etc. I think I kept up with the project for six months, but that guesstimation might be too generous. Now, I feel like I need to dive back into it because 1. it's a project that can, in theory, be "easily maintained" once it gets up to speed, 2. I still think it would offer new members a tremendous advantage, and 3. bragging rights. If I'm able to catch every BDV history thread up to speed on my own, I will be able to say without any doubt that I've read every IC post on the site. That's the theory, anyway.

So, there we have it, the list of things I'm going to work on when I'm not doing homework or packing or cleaning the apartment. Ha! Wish me luck. I'm afraid I'll need it.





Disclaimer: Big Damn Verse is a Firefly/Serenity based RPG. ALL Firefly, Serenity material including characters, Firefly/Serenity photos & graphics belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, 20th Century Fox, and Universal Studios. The Big Damn Verse is NOT affiliated with any of the above. We make no profit, nor do we ever intend to. Disclaimer text copied from BDV main page.

Freaking out over future plans

I graduate in three weeks. Oh my god. Oh. My. God. 

Because graduation is approaching a lot (read: every spare minute) of my free time has been dedicated to my studies, classes, homework, etc. My days have fallen into a pretty regular pattern. Wake up, get breakfast, go to class, eat lunch, go to class, go home, do homework, eat dinner, do more homework, go to sleep to do it all over again the next day. 

A lot of things have had to fall by the wayside, including my writing, my blogging, my vlogging, and my RPing. I'm less than thrilled, but school has to be my priority because if it isn't, I may not get out and I have to graduate. Six years at one school is long enough.

There are other concerns, of course. I'm getting zero response on my job search and am beginning to get scared. I'm not sure what to do if I don't get a job. The plan, I suppose, would be to seek a masters in theater (most likely in stage management) or seek a masters in creative writing. The advantage to the latter, aside from the strong appeal, is that I could easily get that degree through online classes. 

As for where I'll end up, I suppose only time will tell.

The best laid plans

Today, I had every intention of getting a lot of things done. I made plans to get a vlog recorded. I worked on my mountain of homework. I wrote more cover letter drafts that I will read and send out tomorrow after a good night's sleep. What I actually completed today, on the other hand, included the updating of my resume, an hour long nap I did not plan on taking, and the mountain of homework. Since I wasn't able to vlog today, here's a blog entry. Personally, I'm just thrilled the homework is done. This means I get to spend tomorrow cleaning the apartment and packing as well as taking a Spanish test and writing a speech. Fun times. Always.

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!