the weekend in review

I've been trying to live a lifestyle that's a little more conducive to creativity lately, which mainly means wasting less time with all the technology in my life. I've done all right so far -- I've been reading more, and I wrote some things on Saturday (I say "things" because I'm not sure what they are. Essays? Stories? Musings?). I also printed up some flash cards with music notes on them to practice my sight reading. I'm going to need to laminate them somehow, I can already tell. I had them in my back pocket most of Saturday night (I took them with me to my St. Patrick's Day festivities to practice on the bus) and the edges have turned blue and rounded from my jeans. Hooray for clear packaging tape...

My St. Patrick's Day: I changed plans at sort of the last minute. I was going to catch a play that evening then meet up with my friend Jay and some other theater people afterward, but while trying to make dinner plans with my friend Regina, I was invited to join her, Maureen, and Chris for some festivities in Federal Hill. I'd never been partying down in Fed Hill before, and I decided I was more in the mood to talk with friends than watch a play by myself, so I ate some food at home then off I went.

It was a great night of drinking, Hawaiian BBQ pizza, talking, and dancing. Lots of dancing (it doesn't look like a place to dance, and who knows, maybe usually it isn't, but Saturday night it was an excellent venue). Perhaps a little-known fact about me: I would go every weekend if I had people to accompany me. That is not an exaggeration.

Anyway, it was a good night, capstoned by Regina's failed attempt to steal a cement pig (it was too heavy and I was laughing too much to be any help even if I'd wanted to). So, we took our picture next to it instead. I wonder what the owners thought when they found it in the middle of the sidewalk the next day.

the theater just won't leave me alone

People ask me all the time (based on my unusual height) whether I play basketball (or, occasionally, volleyball). My answer is, of course, no; I was (am) an art nerd. Back in high school I was in drama club. I was onstage a few times in various plays and dinner shows. I won best supporting actress in our Moscars. I helped build/paint sets and went with the rest of the club to acquire costume pieces from various thrift stores. Once or twice, I even dressed as a bobcat and played in a State Park.

In college, I took one theater class that required service hours in the department (which mostly involved cleaning out the warehouse-like costume/props/set room). I tried out for one play and didn't get a part. I was disappointed but not broken-hearted; I was starting to focus more on visual art and especially writing. In fact, my degree is in creative writing.

Then I got to Baltimore.

My friend Dave works as a G.A. in the theater here at UB doing tech stuff. My first semester in the program, he badgered me into taking on an Assistant Stage Manager position for the production of The Laramie Project. So I did. I enjoyed the experience; met some cool people and whatnot. It was fun to be part of the production without the stress of being on stage (I was mostly in charge of placing props/costumes and keeping track of the actors backstage).

Well, two more semesters go by. I have my hands in a little of just about everything: I'm working a retail job, doing work-study at the university library, running the student newspaper, and then being accepted for the G.A. position at OTS [see previous post]. I run into Kimberley, the theater coordinator, who tells me that they're looking for an ASM for The Exonerated, and that a few people involved in the production (who also were in Laramie) were asking about me. And I, like a crazy person, was like, "Send me the schedule! Maybe I can work it in!" Even she was surprised that I was actually considering it. But we talked back and forth, and she decided that she'd hire two ASMs so that I didn't have to be there for everything.

So I'm back in the theater. And the people involved with this show are incredible -- the ones I talked to seemed to have their hands in everything. The director's the daughter of a famous comedian and she's just taken over as artistic director for a local theater, plus she's got her own one-woman show (which she wrote) going to NYC next month and another she directed showing in Chicago. One of the actors I befriended studied musical theater at NYU then lived in Paris for six months and is now involved with at least three different shows simultaneously. Yet another is basically the quintessential performance artist: he plays piano and guitar, he sings in a band (which is apparently well-known locally) and is part of the decorating crew at Charm City Cakes. Others have TV acting credits and music and dancing and poetry and writing credits... it's exhausting. And inspiring.

Well, the play ran last weekend, and the cast party was Saturday night. So it's over, and while I love having my evenings free (well, some of them) I am bummed that I likely won't cross paths with most of them again (because who wants to be that pest on facebook going, "So, what's new?" all the time. I mean, I might anyway, but still).

But, Kimberley approached me during production and asked if I'd like to take over as her G.A. next year. After some pondering (the schedule likely won't be conducive to a social life, but my future at OTS is still sort of uncertain, and it wouldn't break my heart to get away from the desk job life) I accepted the position.

Her squeal of delight pretty much sealed it for me (who doesn't like to feel wanted? :P ). I don't know what I'm getting myself into, fully, but it looks like I'll be regularly involved with the theater for a couple more years now.

I'm feeling pretty excited about the possibilities, though.

Anybody out there?

Time to shake the dust off this here blog, I guess, largely because my new job leaves me a lot of time to kill.

Yes, I have joined the realm of the "grown-ups" and have acquired a real desk job. I have my own cubicle in an office and everything (I have my own phone extension! Wow!).

I've been here for three weeks now and have yet to decorate the cube at all. I only actually think about it while I'm here, staring at the blank walls hued in various shades of white and grey. The woman in the cubicle next to me has plants and a lamp and a little office supply organizer (pens and pencils and scissors, oh my) and photos of a cat, presumably hers. I don't know how long she or any of the other employees have been here; I just know it's longer than I have. I suppose I could spend some of my downtime shopping for office decorations and supplies on Amazon... but I digress.

So the new job is actually only part time, and is actually an assistantship. Which means although my average hourly wage (according to my time sheet) is $3.06, they're paying for six credits of graduate tuition this semester (which would bring the average up to -- well, I don't know, but a lot more than $3.06). I work for technology services, which sounds really fancy, but thus far has meant spending a lot of time in my cubicle, at my computer, waiting for assignments which involve making small changes to the university website. For example, I added a question mark to an FAQ entry which lacked one, and added the second "M" back into "commuter" at the top of a title page.

Yes, some (most) of my assignments have been more involved than this. But I still have a lot of downtime. I've invested some of that time into learning Adobe Illustrater (and by "learning," I mean "becoming frustrated by") from a book. So far, this is what I've made:



A priceless gem waiting to be discovered by the design world, I know (wow! A flower in the sky!?). The book itself is actually rather helpful, despite being two versions behind the 5.1 I've been given (I've also acquired a couple of new skills in Photoshop, but those were mostly by searching the "Help" box and wading through a lot of useless results).

So anyway, I'm at my own desk in my own cube with my own phone (which never rings) and I've met most of the other people here (thanks to my boss, who is actually pretty cool) but they're all roughly a decade older than I am, and they often have important meetings in the conference room nearby (which means I got to snag some of the leftover candy afterward) and I try not to spend too much time on Facebook since my computer screen is visible from the doorway.

So, you shall be privy to my time-killing activities via this blog.

The annual tradition continues.

1.What did you do in 2011 that you'd never done before? Took a train to Boston; visited Wisconsin (Milwaukee, mainly); went to AWP; worked three jobs; signed up for Netflix; did a research project at the Smithsonian archives (for my dad); learned how to knit.

2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions and will you make more for next year? I never remember my New Year's resolutions. Maybe I should start writing them here. This year I've so far resolved to read at least one poem per day. I guess I've already broken it though, since I came up with it on the 2nd. The other was to write something new every week -- a poem, short story, or piece of flash fiction. We'll see how it goes.

3. What countries did you visit? None. Just the one I live in.

4. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011? A "real" job.

5. What date from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? Rockabilly Fest in Vegas in April. Rum Rush on Hamilton St. in July. Caleb and Elaine's wedding. The narrow, winding roads and wonderful book stores all over Boston and the hot, hot heat in Milwaukee (along with their fantastic art museum). The chaos of AWP and the ridiculous happy hour parties at Mex. Not specific dates, just events/moments.

6. What was your biggest achievement of the year? My 4.0 GPA during a semester with two classes and three jobs. Somehow I still managed to sleep and have a social life in there too.

7. What was your biggest failure? Not being published anywhere (or really submitting anything).

8. Did you suffer illness or injury? Nothing a little antibiotic or cold medicine didn't cure.

9. Whose behavior merited celebration? Jake's, for sticking by me through the whole long-distance thing.
10. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Jake's, for not moving out here with me. :P

11. Where did most of your money go? Aside from rent, probably toward things I didn't need. Also, books.

12. What song will always remind you of 2011? Most of the songs on the first Florence + the Machine album. Also maybe "Lonely Boy" by the Black Keys. And "Heart Skips a Beat" by Olly Murs.

13. Compared to last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? I think happier, though the long-distance relationship isn't getting any easier.
ii. thinner or fatter? Thinner, by just a few pounds.
iii. richer or poorer? Well, I make more money.

14. What do you wish you'd done more of? Art. And travelling.

15. What do you wish you'd done less of? Wasting time on Facebook.

16. How did you spend Christmas? The day began at Jake's parent's and ended at my grandparent's with my mom. There was food and present-opening.

17. Did you fall in love in 2011? Not with anyone new.

18. What was your favorite TV program? I realize that I'll probably get some crap for this (as I already have), but Glee. It's such a fun show! I also watched/rewatched every episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

19. What was the best book you read? I couldn't name just one. I read a lot of books this year. Among the most memorable: The Help, The Kite Runner, The Bible (largely in part because it took me the whole year to read), The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Water for Elephants, and Firefly Lane.

20. What was your greatest musical discovery of 2011? Florence + the Machine. And Foster the People.

21. What did you want and get? Another job. A new computer and monitor, and a(nother) new camera.

22. What did you want and not get? A trip to NYC or New Orleans for New Year's Eve.

23. What was your favorite film of this year? Sticking solely to movies released in 2011, I really liked The Adjustment Bureau and The Help. The movie Water for Elephants was pretty good too. And, I liked the 8th Harry Potter, and the first part of Breaking Dawn was better than I expected.

24. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I spent the day in Washington D.C. with my friend/former roommate Maureen and a couple of her friends. We went to an Ethiopian restaurant for lunch and then to the Smithsonian. Also to a cupcake shop. I didn't do any real drinking/partying. I turned 25.

25. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Not having to take out thousands of dollars in student loans.

26. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011? Unmonitored. I didn't really think too much about it until the end of the year.

27. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Hm. None, really.

28. Who was the best new person you met? Probably Kay, my new roommate, though I met some pretty cool kids through my friend Jon when he moved to Hampden.

29. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011: I don't know that there's a single, standout lesson, but I did learn a lot about being alone vs. being lonely, and a lot more about how to be truly independent. I discovered that a lot of my opinions and worldviews are heavily influenced by my friends, and I've come a long way in discovering what I personally believe.

30. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. "I must become, the lion-hearted girl..."

Why, facebook, why?

I haven't shared this blog with any of my friends on facebook yet (or anywhere else, for that matter) because they would get tired of checking day after day (as if I would be so fortunate) to find that I've failed to update. Or maybe knowing that they check would motivate me to post. That might be an idea worth entertaining.

But I'm here today for a break from facebook. Lately I've realized that my facebook newsfeed has become tiresome; this was even before all of the trite, I'm-posting-to-be-part-of-the-community-and-to-prove-I-care Sept 11 updates. The reason is just that: it's all talk. People "raise awareness" with bullshit double-entendre "this is where I keep my purse but it sounds like where I have sex" posts, rant and rave about perceived injustices that they will never actually do anything about, and repeatedly bombard the web with their various beliefs-du-jour (or lack thereof). Don't tell me how I'm only a true friend if I repost your autism awareness blurb. I know autism exists, and I agree that it's unfortunate. Spamming my (equally as informed) friends' walls isn't going to change the situation. Go donate money to a charity or volunteer in a classroom, then talk to me about that. WITH YOUR OWN WORDS. Not someone else's that you took 6.4 seconds to copy and paste.

Proud of/thankful for our troups? Send them something. Even if it's just a note. It's lonely and dangerous over there.

In my own newsfeed, I would rather hear about the (mundane) goings-on of people's lives. I'm not opposed to using facebook as a medium for discussion. In fact, I think it's great for that -- when people are willing to actually discuss things instead of attacking each other from behind the safety of their I-Pad (which still happens, sadly). I'm also all for the posting of news stories you find interesting. Most of my friends/family members are in another state at least 11 hours away from me (honestly though, how many of you do I get to regularly interact with even when we are in the same geographic location?) Yes, post ridiculous pictures of your cat! Talk about the movie you saw and hated. Tell me how running out of Cheerios (or new episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer) has ruined your life. Heck, I would rather read a "just did one load of laundry and putting another load in now LOL" post than a "copy and paste this to your newsfeed if" post because it's actually about YOU.

Isn't that the point of facebook, after all?

Don't talk about the weather though. Especially if it's doing something "crazy" (rain? snow? whoa!) out there. Because chances are, 56 other people in your neighborhood are signing on to facebook RIGHT NOW to post the same thing, and they're on my newsfeed too. If the only answer to "what's on your mind?" that you can come up with is "wow, a thunderstorm!" then please just BACK AWAY FROM THE TEXTING DEVICE.

I also hate song lyrics as status updates (exception: when the song/video is also posted). But I'll choose my battles wisely.

I apparently failed to mention previously that I'd be spending the summer in Michigan, but that was the plan and I am currently executing it. I've been here for about a week and a half, and I have to say it's nice to be back among my people (haha, that kind of makes it sound like I'm part of a tribe). I do have some friends to miss in Baltimore, but the city lacks a good coffee shop (or I just haven't discovered it yet).

A few updates:

1) We finally got a router for our apartment a few weeks ago, which means I can no longer realistically use this as an excuse for not updating.

2) Vegas was awesome, and exhausting. I took over 400 pictures, some of which are on facebook. My roommate, my mother and I were there for about six days, during which time we wandered up and down the strip, through as many hotels and casinos as we could handle before becoming overstimulated, attended a weekend rockabilly festival, and spent time with my brother, sister-in-law, and two nephews (one of whom I met for the first time -- he's eight months old). Also, ate way more Sbarro's in a week's time than I ever care to repeat, because it was the cheapest meal option.

Jake was supposed to accompany us to Vegas, but then realized that the trip overlapped his exam week. So he came to Baltimore the week after instead. I, unfortunately, spent a large part of his visit working on my final portfolios. I spent the remainder of it feeling too burnt out to be worthwhile company (or so it seemed to me), but he assured me that it was fine and that he'd known I was going to be busy. He's pretty good at entertaining himself, via computer or book. We did get to D.C. for a day (coincidentally, we'd planned the trip for the day Bin Laden was killed, but we didn't partake in any sort of... celebrating). We did some research for my dad at the Smithsonian, had dinner, and visited the Lincoln, FDR, and Jefferson memorials. FDR's was quite lovely -- a landscaped series of stone work and waterfalls. Very peaceful (despite the large group of children wandering through on field trip).

And I turned in the last of two portfolios one week ago today, which means I have absolutely nothing to do (besides part-time work at the library). I'm already feeling aimless. Going to have to come up with some kind of summer project.