It's definitely been an entire month since I've written here. I've only posted three times this quarter. I legitimately enjoy blogging, but my lack of writing made me think about why I haven't been keeping up here as much. And, really, it's because I've been busy and happy and social and so focused on living my life that I just have not sat down to write about it. So I'm doing a sort of review of all the things that happened this quarter. This numbered list has headings, so if you don't want to read the whole life update, you can find the things that interest you.
1. School. Lots of school happened. Or not. I was in four classes, 2 theater and 2 sociology, and not all of them met all the time or had tons of work. I loved my theater classes to death. They were wonderful, I learned tons, and had so much fun along the way. I despised one of my sociology classes, but the other was my thesis seminar.
Thesis is such a thing in my life; I'm coming close to being halfway through the data collection phase. It is due in 88 days and that freaks me out a little, but it's going to be great. I really do like my project. Since I'm approved by the Institutional Review Board, I might share that final product here. But then again, maybe not. We'll see how I'm feeling about it in March. FUN FACT: My thesis is due the day of Dance Marathon, so there will be a thousand-person 30-hour dance party to celebrate the conclusion of my capstone project. Yippee.
2. Theater. I unequivocally and unabashedly did a lot of theater. I am going to have worked on at least 50 shows by the time I graduate, and that number is a wonderful and scary thing. I saw a lot of shows for free by virtue of working on them and taking advantage of opportunities to go to open dress rehearsals, and I think that was a pretty fun way to go. I was the master electrician on Urinetown and Happy Birthday, Wanda June, and I designed the lights for With Two Wings. I also helped out on Man of La Mancha, G-d of Carnage, The 39 Steps, and Alice in Wonderland. I saw The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Hundred Dresses, and Pride and Prejudice from the theater department.
I've been working quite a lot on getting the prep done for this year's Dolphin Show, for which I am the master electrician (with a co-ME). That's taken a lot of mental energy, and I have spent a lot of time in that particular theater space mostly for funsies because I love the people and the space but also for research. It's a pretty huge job, but the thing I figured out this quarter is that I actually kind of know what I'm doing and that people look to me to be knowledgeable. It takes a very short amount of time to go from being the clueless newbie to being the respected, knowledgeable authority. I was actually introduced to someone as "the best master electrician on campus" during Wanda June tech, and that kind of freaked me out because some of my friends are just as good if not better than I am. It's nice to have that reputation, though. I think I measure age in theater, so now I'm feeling pretty old as a senior.
3. Music. I finally got on the Spotify wagon. I mostly listen to The Mountain Goats and PigPen Theatre Co., but there are some fantastic Disney soundtracks there, too. And musicals. A friend recommended one called Dogfight, and it was really good. Beautiful singing and orchestration.There's not much else to say. I've really gotten into those two bands, though. The Mountain Goats have great lyrics and PigPen is good for focusing and background listening. PigPen also happens to be a group with a fantastic story and creation process, so I just kind of like them on principle. One of them is from my hometown, so I like them even more.
4. Books. I did not read very much this quarter. I re-read the first two Divergent books in preparation for Allegiant to come out, and then I read that, and it was compelling, but not quite what I was hoping for. There was a character who died unnecessarily and it got into a sci-fi conspiracy thing that felt a little forced to me. I switched over to reading my school books (Gang Leader for a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh is actually really good) after those novels because I didn't have any others with me, but I am now doing a re-read of The Catcher in the Rye. I like it better now that I'm not totally offended by the amount of swearing. Eighth grade Stephanie was not prepared for that.
5. TV. I am caught up on How I Met Your Mother and Parks and Recreation. I stayed current with Agents of SHIELD, and I like the show. It's super fun to watch a Joss Whedon program as it airs, and his wit is everywhere. Plus, superheroes are fun. And the show is really about humanity, so nothing to complain about there. I adored the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special. They really paid homage to the legacy of the series, and the plot twist was totally accounted for to keep the canon intact. If the fans were freaking out too much to hear those lines, then they need to re-watch and calm down. I also watched a show called Dance Academy. It was an Australian teen drama about the National Academy of Dance. It was like Center Stage but with Australian teenagers dealing with life stuff and ballet. I secretly wish I were a ballerina. I think that's it.
6. Movies. I only went to the movies to see Catching Fire (and the Doctor Who simulcast; so much cosplay, so much fun!). I loved the adaptation as much as I enjoyed the first film. I watched The Polar Express for the first time, and I found the animation of scenery and still humans to be brilliant, but faces and bodies in motion were very much in the uncanny valley. I've been in a Disney rediscovery phase with some of my friends, so I've watched The Aristocats, Hercules, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Tangled in that context. Alan Menken is a genius; end of story. I guess Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella and the live broadcast of The Sound of Music fall into this category as well. Cinderella: great. Sound of Music: not so great.
7. Coffee. Coffee is delicious. Just felt like making that statement.
8. Soda. Is nearly out of my life. I've taken to drinking water and seltzer water instead of sugar free cola. I took a week off to do a caffeine cleanse, and then the idea of pouring highly artificial liquids into my body became less appealing. And fizzy water is pretty darn delicious. I think it's good that I drink less soda, but a cherry coke zero is still my comfort food.
9. Friends. I have great ones. I have people who I can unquestioningly text just because, people who I can hang out with for hours that feel like minutes, people who are ridiculously supportive of everything I'm doing, and people with unending faith in my ability to succeed. People who know me well enough that they can name the things that I'm struggling with before I figure it out. I truly appreciate the great people in my life. I take a while to be comfortable and confident that my friends are actually my friends, and it's hard to express how much my friends mean to me. It's a lot.
I think this is also the section where I should write about all the new people I've met this quarter. I met so many fantastic new people this term. Freshmen and upperclassmen with whom I have never interacted, and I am just so impressed by how kind, funny, and talented these people are. Special shout out to Team Alpha and the Ducklings (which would be a fantastic band name; please don't steal it), my mentees, and my Dolphreshmen. You all made this a very special quarter and I enjoy knowing you.
I was remarkably social this quarter. I went to parties, which I never do, and I just spent time with people rather than Netflix. (I also spent time with Netflix. Let's be honest). I just put myself in the mindset of prioritizing social life over sleep, which I can definitely feel, but it is certainly the right choice for me at this time.
10. Because who stops a list at 9? Miscellaneous Life. I think there are some subheadings here, since this whole post is about life. My dorm is so completely wonderful this year. I really like my room; it is my home. And the entire house was renovated, so the common areas and kitchens are absolutely gorgeous. I can also control the heating/air conditioning in my room, so that's great.
I rate a lot of things on some sort of graded scale. Like I have a 1-10 for stress/anxiety/frustration and a "meh"-"no don't do that" for climbing on things in theaters. I think I baseline at a 3 and can count on one hand the times I've hit a 10. It happened once this quarter, the day before the first part of my second degree test, and the day of my driving test. I like scales; they let me rate things against a baseline and be scientific about where I stand.
I only went to the gym once, but I think the amount of running around I did for theater stuff kind of balanced it out. I am still healthy and strong, but maybe not as strong as if I had kept training somehow. I'll get back to that over winter break, and I've already worked out (haha...punny) that I can manage to go to the gym before class every day in the winter, and I will probably actually follow through on forcing myself to do so.
I also realized that, looking back over all of college, while my choices, abilities, and competencies may have changed over time, there is still a core of who I am in all of those versions of myself. I know that some of the things I think and do now are the opposite of how I was as a freshman (see the friends section of this post and being comfortable/confident), but I have no doubt in my mind that every choice I made along the way to getting where I am now was the right choice for me. Context matters, and as my context changes, so do the decisions I make, and I am very okay with that.
I'm going to call this done. List made. I think that sums things up quite nicely.
Today is awesome because I am done with this term and have three weeks at home to relax, sleep, be with my family and friends, and make serious progress on my thesis at an actually relaxed pace. Happy winter break.
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