| Saturday, August 1st, 2009 |
| 1:16 am |
I can has kitten
So I have a new member of my family as of today. A beautiful black and grey tabby named Bella (after Bella Wilfur in Our Mutual Friend by Dickens). She is 2.5 months old and is beautiful, sweet and playful. I adopted her from a local shelter here in KCMO named Wayside Waifs. She keeps wanting to walk all over my laptop. But I instantly fell in love with her when I met her. Current Mood:  happyCurrent Music: the jingle of Bella's collar |
| Thursday, December 11th, 2008 |
| 3:09 am |
Done
With the exception of sending my stage manager for Albert Herring (comic chamber opera by Benjamin Britten) my final version of the props run sheet for said show for her to proof I am done with my first semester of graduate school. I feel like I've really accomplished something and I definitely learned a whole bunch just in the past four months. I've continually shown myself that I made the right decision in not only going to grad school, but choosing the program that I did. I've made some good friends, enjoyed my classes and worked on 2 fantastic productions. Despite the fact that I've enjoyed the semester I am really looking forward to having a whole month off to do with what I will. And the first thing I'm doing is spending 5 whole days in NYC seeing shows and visiting friends. It would be longer, but I opted to take the train from Kansas City to New York rather than fly. It's going to be an adventure and some of my friends here in KC are mocking for it, but I think it will be fun. After NYC I then go to Santa Barbara, CA for Christmas (as my parents are there and not at home in Nashville, TN), then to Palm Desert for New Years with my grandparents and my aunt (mom's sister), uncle & cousin (or cousins, not sure if the older one is coming). Then my dad and I are roadtripping from Palm Desert to Nashville which should be fun. This will be followed by a few days in Nashville where I try to see a bunch of people in a short amount of time. Then back to KC on Jan 10th and classes start Jan 12th. It will be a fun winter break. Oh and I'm really looking forward to the opera production I'm working on next semester. We are doing Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte and the director is setting it in the era of Jane Austen. This is the first opera I've worked on in its original language (that wasn't English) so that will be a challenge, but I'm not too worried. I shouldn't have any trouble following Italian. Current Mood:  relievedCurrent Music: infomercial on tv |
| Wednesday, November 5th, 2008 |
| 12:56 am |
Yes We Can! Yes We Did!
This was the first election in which I actually voted on election day instead of early. There was something about this election that made me avidly want to go vote today. I also voted for the first time outside of TN. I chose to register here in Missouri so my vote had a chance to count. Tennessee always goes Republican and Missouri as you know is a swing state. They still haven't called it, but it's leaning towards McCain. I went to the polls at 9am this morning, book in hand (I, Claudius by Robert Graves) prepared to wait in line and was surprised to be in and out in 10 minutes. I'm looking forward to Inauguration Day when this truly feels real. Right now I'm still feeling in a bit of a dream state. I've never been prouder to be an American. Current Mood:  ecstatic |
| Saturday, October 18th, 2008 |
| 11:44 pm |
Politicalness
So Obama had a rally here in Kansas City today. I made it over there in time to hear him speak. Wasn't actually able to physically see him due to the number of people who were there and the direction he was facing, but just getting to hear him speak again was incredibly inspiring. I really hope that the American people make the right decision on November 4th when they elect our next president. I know who I'll be voting for and it's nice to know my vote will actually count in this election since Missouri is a swing state. Voting Democrat in Tennessee doesn't do a whole lot as the state always goes Republican. Getting down off my political soap box now. Current Mood:  contemplativeCurrent Music: television commercials |
| Thursday, October 9th, 2008 |
| 6:26 pm |
Yom Kippur
I forgive all who have hurt or offended me in the last year and I ask for forgiveness from all whom I have hurt or offended. Current Mood: contemplativeCurrent Music: the air conditioner blowing |
| Sunday, September 7th, 2008 |
| 7:49 pm |
thoughts & exciting times
So a quick report on grad school: 3 weeks in. So far so good. Still adjusting to being a student again. Need to figure out a way to deal with my horrible desire to procrastinate. Enjoying all my classes and I feel like I'm really learning a lot. Constantly being reminded that I made the best decision when I decided to go back to school. Man of La Mancha: The show I'm ASMing on right now. For those of you non theatre people that's short for Assistant Stage Manager. It's going to be so awesome. The concept for the set & costumes is industrial goth. We're entering our 3rd full week of rehearsal and its going so well. I wish everyone I know could see it. Our cast is phenomenal (vocally & actingwise). Friday night we did nothing but fight choreography which is always fun to watch. So suffice it to say I'm having a blast working on the show. Finally, I was in the same room as Chita Rivera this past Thursday. Yes, the musical theatre legend Chita Rivera. She was in town to do a benefit (either for the university or for Kansas City Rep) and offered to do something special for UMKC. So she did a Q&A with the theatre, dance & musical theatre students for about an hour & 15 minutes in one of the dance studios. It was so amazing just to be in the same room with her and listen to her talk. She was very inspiring and very down to earth. I'm still overwhelmed that I got to have such an opportunity. Current Mood: thoughtfulCurrent Music: commercials |
| Friday, August 15th, 2008 |
| 10:17 pm |
settling in
Just a quick word. I'm getting settled in in Kansas City. Slowly learning my way around. I can get myself to school and to the grocery store and to Walgreens. Still have a few boxes to unpack and items to buy for my apartment (like a futon), but will have that done soon. Had orientation today which was interesting. Part of it included all the 1st year stage managers (there are 4 of us) being shown how to use the copy machine. Bonded immediately with the other 1st years stage managers which is fantastic. There are 2 other girls and 1 guy plus me. Classes start Monday. Off tomorrow so will be running some errands and doing laundry. Auditions for Man of La Mancha are Sunday and Monday with rehearsals probably starting on Tuesday. I'm just an assistant stage manager this year which is going to be nice. Especially after my harrowing stage management experience from this summer. Suffice it to say I will never do community theatre again. Will post again probably after I've made it through the first week of classes. Current Mood: excitedCurrent Music: days of our lives (on soapnet) |
| Saturday, June 21st, 2008 |
| 11:06 pm |
Eddie Izzard
So I'm still in awe of the fact that I got to see Eddie Izzard live last night at the Ryman here in Nashville. It was a fracking amazing show. Haven't laughed that much in quite awhile. It was all new material with the occasional reference to previous things which the audience lapped up. It was so great to be surrounded by people who are obviously just as big fans as I am and who have the same amount of respect for him as an artist. He wasn't in drag, but that really isn't an integral part of his show. It's his facial expressions, sound effects and timing that make him so funny. And some of the most absurd parts of the show were the funniest. Highlights included giraffe charades, a new take on the Noah's ark story, and a discussion on the 10 commandments. If you are a fan I highly recommend getting out to see this show if you can. He's about halfway through his American tour, but he still has stops to make in NYC and LA. You can check out the tour dates on www.eddieizzard.co.uk. I know they'll probably make a DVD of it, but there really is nothing like getting to see him live. Current Mood: ecstaticCurrent Music: nothing |
| Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 |
| 8:50 pm |
thrilled
So I am now the proud owner (or will be after Thursday) of a 2006 Saturn ION. I'm pretty psyched. This is replacing my 1995 Saturn SL1 so it's definitely an upgrade. This along with the fact that I'll be moving to Kansas City, MO in August to start my MFA in stage management has really made this a great year so far. And it's only going to get better. Current Mood: ecstaticCurrent Music: hell's kitchen |
| Tuesday, March 11th, 2008 |
| 9:09 pm |
exciting news
Just posting a quick grad school update. I heard yesterday that I've been accepted into my top choice program so I'll definitely be leaving Nashville in August. I'm so thrilled and excited that I can't truly put it into words. It hasn't completely hit me yet, but it's coming in stages. I'm sure once I have the official letter in hand it will become more real to me. Now the countdown begins. Current Mood: excitedCurrent Music: american idol butchering the beatles |
| Saturday, January 26th, 2008 |
| 10:15 pm |
home on saturday night
Just wanted to post a quick update on the whole grad school thing. I just got my preliminary interview schedule for URTA next Saturday. I have 4 interviews. One of the schools (which happens to be one of my top choices) even called me last week to tell me how interested they are in me. So suffice it to say I'm pretty psyched and incredibly nervous. I'm going shopping tomorrow with my mom for some appropriate interview clothes which should be fun. Please think lots of postive thoughts for me next Saturday. Oh & for my fellow sci fi fans I just finished watching the Battlestar Galactic miniseries. I had heard such great things about it and I finally decided to check it out. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I am looking forward to receiving the next two discs of season one from Netflix. Finally I just recently finished The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory and I really enjoyed it. This inspired me to request the rest of her historical fiction from my local library. I just started The Queen's Fool and so far it's quite good. I'm not sure how I feel about the upcoming movie version of The Other Boleyn Girl, but then again in my experience the book is usually better than the movie. Finishing that book has also made me really interested in the truth behind Mary Boleyn's affair with Henry VIII along with Anne Boleyn's story. Well off to bed now to get rid of this annoying migraine. Current Mood:  pensive |
| Monday, January 14th, 2008 |
| 9:09 pm |
shiny
Wow, it's been almost a year since I posted anything. Didn't mean to let that much time go by. But then again I never was good at keeping a diary. Anyway 2 things that make today wonderful. 1. I'm finally the proud owner of both Firefly, the series, and Serenity on DVD. This makes me smile. 2. It looks like I'm getting at least one grad school interview. It's making this whole application process real to me. As in I might actually be going back to school in the fall. I will of course try to update as the process continues. Because of 2 I will be flying to Chicago the first weekend in February to attend URTA for said interview (and hopefully a few more). There are 5 programs I am applying to and I should be hearing in the next week which ones I'm going to be interview by on the 2nd. You're probably wondering at this point what I'm planning on going back to school to study. Well to answer that question after holding down a full time job and freelance stage managing on the side I have finally decided to get my MFA in Stage Management. After that I'm hoping to be able to find a full time job in the theatre. Current Mood: pleasedCurrent Music: Firefly theme as sung by Joss Whedon & Nathan Fillion on the commentary |
| Wednesday, March 28th, 2007 |
| 9:02 pm |
life update
so the past few months have been a little busy. 1. I stage managed my last show for Vanderbilt Opera Theatre. We did an opera version of Tartuffe by Moliere. The opera was written in the 80s by Kirke Mechem. It was not that great an opera musically. But thankfully the plot is good and Moliere's words are good. Unfortunately the composer did his own translation of the play so the libretto could have been better. If only he had used the Richard Wilbur translation. However, it was a great experience to end my tenure with VOT on. The set was the biggest one we've ever had and the costumes were beautiful. We have the most amazing costume designer. 2. I completed one application for graduate school. I applied to the University of Maryland at College Park. My reasoning behind picking that program was its vicinity to the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC and the fact that their English dept is strong in the Renaissance. Unfortunately I was not accepted. I just got the letter today. I am disappointed, but the letter stated I could contact the department for more information on specifica aspects of my application. So that should give me a better idea of what I need to do the next time I apply. I'll probably contact them next week once I've gotten over my disappointment. 3. Currently I'm working on my other grad school application. I'm applying to a program at King's College, University of London. Its entitled Shakesperean Studies: Text and Playhouse. Its a joint program between King's College and the Globe Theatre. They wanted a critical paper on Shakespeare or his contemporaries. Unfortunately I didn't have anything like that from undergrad. So I'm writing a paper on Hamlet. It started as a paper on the production of Hamlet I want to direct, but I'm having to write it from a critical perspective. I'm having a good time and if anyone wants to know more feel free to e-mail me. 4. Work is going well and I feel good about my decision to move to the Maryland/DC area in August if I don't get into the London program (they only accept 20 students). I feel its time to take the next step and move to a new place. And I have family in Bethesda and friends in DC so it seems like a good choice. The plan is to work and take some classes at one of the various universities and reapply to grad schools for the fall of 2009. I would go for 2008, but I won't have enough time to improve my transcript in one semester. Right now I'm looking forward to next week as my aunt and my 11 year old cousin will be visiting from Germany. Current Mood:  disappointedCurrent Music: tv commercials |
| Wednesday, December 6th, 2006 |
| 8:43 pm |
One Step Down
So I survived the GREs with pretty respectable scores. 660 Verbal and 620 Quantitative. I also felt pretty good about my essays, but we'll see if the GRE readers agree with me. I should know in a couple of weeks for sure. Now I just need to write my personal statement and come up with a 10-15 pg critical paper on Shakespeare and I'll be done with my applications. Thanks for all the kind thoughts. I could feel the positive energy while I was taking the test. Current Mood: pleasedCurrent Music: One Tree Hill on TV |
| 12:04 am |
scary standardized testing
if you read this before 12:30pm CST or between 12:30 and 4:30pm CST tomorrow (as in Wed Dec 6th) please send good positive thoughts my way as I will be taking the GREs during that time. I feel pretty confident about it. I've been averaging in the upper 600s on the Verbal portion of the practice tests I've been taking which I feel is pretty good. I would love to break 700, but I'm not sure that's going to happen. It'll just help my grad school apps tremendously if I do well on the test. I'm not particularly concerned about the math portion as I'm applying to grad programs in English Lit. Anyway, positive thoughts would be appreciated. And thankfully I will know my verbal and math scores as soon as I complete the test. If I had to wait 4-6 weeks I think I might go a little crazy. Current Mood:  determinedCurrent Music: none |
| Thursday, October 26th, 2006 |
| 12:25 am |
sickness
So its been 4 months since I last posted anything. Unfortunately my job is taking up more of my life than it should considering its not my career. And I'm trying to get my act together in terms of applying to grad school. I'm scheduled to take the GREs on December 6th and my first application is due by January 5th. Still need to figure out who to ask to write my other recommendations. Unfortunately I don't have any other college professors to ask. Anyway I've been sick since Friday night with a cold. Newest symptom added today was a cough. I took Monday off and have been working short days yesterday and today. I really just want to get better cause I hate being sick. I've been enjoying hearing about the Fall Quest game. It sounds like it was an amazing game. It makes me wish even more that I could have been there, but I know I made the right financial decision. I waited to long to buy a plane ticket and just couldn't afford to make the trip. Hopefully I can make it up for something in the spring besides Reunion at Wesleyan. On a much happier note my sister is going to be home for a whole week for Thanksgiving so I'm really excited about that. Current Mood:  sickCurrent Music: America's Next Top Model |
| Saturday, June 24th, 2006 |
| 11:59 pm |
random thoughts
so its been over a month since my last update. life has been busy. well make that work has been busy and has been overwhelming me slightly. i finally had to remind myself that i wasn't the head of my department and i didn't get paid enough to worry this much about what's going on at work. i learned the hard way that i can't fix everything. in other news i'm still trying to figure out where to apply for grad school. top choice is king's college in london. they have a fantastic one year joint program with the globe theatre which is a masters in english focused in shakespeare. which would suit me perfectly. my fall back is belmont university which would mean staying here in nashville which i am not 100% thrilled about, but am accepting of it. its really just a back up plan in case i don't get in any where else. i'm also looking at umass. and trying to find one or two more programs to apply to. still need to take the GRE and GRE subject tests. find 1-2 more people to write letters for me. its going to be a long next 6 months, but the results will definitely be worth it. if anyone knows of schools with good masters programs in english and are specifically good at the renaissance please let me know. off to california in just over a week. fun in the sun and on the beach courtesy of my wonderful parents who are taking us on a family vacation for the first time in years. much happiness and sun will abound. Current Mood: chipperCurrent Music: food network on tv |
| Tuesday, May 23rd, 2006 |
| 11:50 pm |
happiness is . . .
so in less than 48 hours i will be in middletown for reunion. i'm really looking forward to being off work and out of nashville for a few days. and of course i can't wait to see everyone (those i haven't seen since last year and those i just saw a couple of months ago). i'm not the same person emotionally or physically that i was a year ago and especially not the same person i was in college. i've done a lot of growing up since i graduated and i've also finally worked through all emotional baggage i was carrying around from high school through college. its amazing what happens when you realize that most of what you think went on is all in your head. i'm not going to go into detail because that would take up way too much time and space. if you want to know more feel free to ask. so i'll be back from ct next monday. hopefully refreshed by spending time with people i hold near and dear to my heart, the siblings that i chose who are just as important to me as my biological sister. Current Mood: contemplativeCurrent Music: alias theme |
| Monday, May 8th, 2006 |
| 10:52 pm |
sanity almost back
so i haven't posted in awhile. mainly due to the grad school course i've been taking this semester kinda kicking my butt along with work which has become more stressful in the past three months than in the entire year and a half that i've worked there. anywho i had my last class tonight. now i just have to get the paper turned in. technically it was due today, but i had to ask for an extension. it will be turned in by thursday and then i will have my life back. its hard writing a 15-20 page paper on a novel you don't like. the hope is that now that class is over and once paper is in that my life will be less stressful. though i've discovered the best way for me to deal with said stress is to blow things up on the computer. hence my readdiction to starcraft and my new addition to warcraft. any game in which you can continually poke an orc and get it to say "i'm not that kind of orc" is a good one in my book. that and the exploding livestock. i have not tried world of warcraft yet, though a good friend of mine is trying to get me to, as i know it will suck away even more of my limited free time. finally i'm looking forward to continuing with season 2 of 24 from netflix and reading jonathan strange and mr. norrell which i'm only a few chapters into, but am enjoying. i've owned the book since october when i bought it in the airport on my way home from CT after behind enemy lines. i attempted to read it on the airplane and promptly fell asleep after a few pages. my interest in the book being outwayed by my body's desire for sleep. since then it has sat on my shelf waiting patiently for me to read it. now is the time. only 1 week til my birthday and 2.5 weeks til i'm back in ct for reunion. can't wait to see everyone. can't wait to just get out of town for awhile. Current Mood: pensiveCurrent Music: sounds of warcraft |
| Tuesday, April 11th, 2006 |
| 9:24 pm |
long & salty
I was going to entitle this entry short & sweet as I didn't intend it to be long, but I realized that I didn't have much to say that will be sweet. Unfortunately it turned into a longish rant. So it got renamed. So I'm finally over my allergy attack. It took a total of 6 days for me to feel almost 100% healthy again. I'm still a little sniffly, but at least I'm not having to take Sudafed or my prescription decongestant anymore. And I'm seeing my allergist tomorrow for my annual visit. On the downside I had to get an extension on my midterm since I didn't have it done for last night due to aforementioned illness and the difficulty of handling a full time job and class on literary theory which happens to be a topic I don't particularly care for. Not exactly sure why I chose this class, but I didn't really know what I was getting myself into. I'm still hitting myself for not signing up for the 19th Brit Lit class which was my other option and in which I'm sure I would be having a fabulous time. But I have learned a valuable lesson from all of this. I will be applying to grad schools that are not in Nashville or in the South (I intend to be within striking distance of CT, as in no more than a reasonable car ride away rather than a plane, unless of course I end up in London, as there are those of you who I would like to see on a more regular basis and maybe outside of this imaginary world we play in) and I will not be working full time while in said program regardless of where I go to school. I accept that I will have to work some in order to survive, but I will not try to work 40hrs and carry a full time grad school load. For me that equals insanity when I can't even handle 1 class. Okay this entry is going on longer than I intended. Regardless to say that on top of illness and school my job has become more stressful over the past couple of months. I'm the second most senior member of my department and I'm practically the assistant team leader (we call it team leader instead of manager, but its essentially the same thing). But anyway the issue right now is that we managed to get rid of the problem employee and then another person stepped up to take that person's place as the problem in our dept. Its just been an incredible frustrating past few weeks. One can only hope it will get better, but I'm afraid I just can't see it happening. Finally I must say I am very thankful for my newfound obsession with 24 as it is keeping me slightly more sane than I would be otherwise. I'm done with season 1 and just started season 2. Thank you Netflix. Current Mood:  frustratedCurrent Music: "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change" OCS |