A lot has happened in the past few days.
1. I became a counselor for Freshman Fest.
2. I declared a Global Health Minor.
3. I declared a Theater Minor.
4. I got my next dorm room.
5. I've been in an awesome tech week.
And it's only Wednesday. I have more exciting things coming up, but there's been a lot so far.
Today is awesome because everything is falling into place in my life.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Springtime Sights
First, I saw the bare trees.
Then I saw the yellow balloon caught in the branches.
Then I realized that there were buds on those branches.
And the buds will open into beautiful flowers in a matter of weeks.
All of this, juxtaposed against the bluest sky.
This is why I love Spring.
Then I saw the yellow balloon caught in the branches.
Then I realized that there were buds on those branches.
And the buds will open into beautiful flowers in a matter of weeks.
All of this, juxtaposed against the bluest sky.
This is why I love Spring.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Tales from MY Tech Table
Yeah. I have my own tech table, complete with power strip, light, music stand, and everything I need to work the show: script, laptop, post-its, writing utensils, and Gummy Bear (the dog). The coolest part of this show is how my experience and role have changed.
I'm the Assistant Lighting Designer (ALD) for a musical right now, and it's totally cool. My job is to be in charge of the spotlights and keep everything organized for our designer. This time, he's a professional instead of a fellow student because the show is through the Theater Department at school. The coolest part about this show? It's entirely student-written, as in script, music, lyrics, orchestration...all of it.
I really like living in lights land. It's a fun place with awesome people and really cool work.
We're in tech right now, and everything is coming together so well. We just added the orchestra, and it makes such a HUGE difference. It just makes everything sound so much fuller and better. I like the songs I didn't initially like just because the orchestra makes it sound better.
I'm preparing for some sleeplessness due to being so busy, but it's totally worth it.
Today is awesome because I had breakfast with my friend and the show is a good experience.
I'm the Assistant Lighting Designer (ALD) for a musical right now, and it's totally cool. My job is to be in charge of the spotlights and keep everything organized for our designer. This time, he's a professional instead of a fellow student because the show is through the Theater Department at school. The coolest part about this show? It's entirely student-written, as in script, music, lyrics, orchestration...all of it.
I really like living in lights land. It's a fun place with awesome people and really cool work.
We're in tech right now, and everything is coming together so well. We just added the orchestra, and it makes such a HUGE difference. It just makes everything sound so much fuller and better. I like the songs I didn't initially like just because the orchestra makes it sound better.
I'm preparing for some sleeplessness due to being so busy, but it's totally worth it.
Today is awesome because I had breakfast with my friend and the show is a good experience.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Adverts and Britons
The thing I love about not having a TV at school is that I no longer watch hour-long programs that are 25% commercials. I hate adverts (yes I'm breaking my own rule and using a British term). The problem I'm having is that ads are everywhere, not just on TV. They're on Google, YouTube, Facebook, Blogs (not mine, but still), in my e-mail, on the ground at school. I can't escape and I hate the constant feeling of people, corporations, and institutions trying to manipulate my decisions.
This has been most tiring recently on Facebook. Many of my friends do theater; not a big deal. There is always an event for each show and promotional event; also not a big deal. Where it starts getting tricky is when these events are coming up and every status on my newsfeed is a friend advertising his or her production. I know what you're doing; you don't need to flash it in my face every time I log on to see what's new in people's lives.
What happened to Facebook being purely social? We all got upset when there started being ads and schools and corporations on the site, so how is advertising an event at a university any different than spamming my TV shows with minute upon minute of commercials? I'm getting tired of it.
The reason this post is titled "Adverts and Britons" is (a) because I think of my British friend from middle school using the word "adverts" and I always liked it; (b) since I wrote about advertising, the adverts part makes sense; and (c) because the word "advert" makes me think of British people, which makes me think of Doctor Who, which has the season 6 premiere next Saturday. 10 days until the return of the Doctor, Amy, Rory, and the TARDIS (which is the embodiment of Einstien's theories, but that's another story).
This week has been really weird. I've been living in perpetual Wednesdays, so while everything is good, something is just off.
Today is awesome because I was very productive in my fortress of solitude (and that took a really long time to think of...see the weirdness of my week?).
This has been most tiring recently on Facebook. Many of my friends do theater; not a big deal. There is always an event for each show and promotional event; also not a big deal. Where it starts getting tricky is when these events are coming up and every status on my newsfeed is a friend advertising his or her production. I know what you're doing; you don't need to flash it in my face every time I log on to see what's new in people's lives.
What happened to Facebook being purely social? We all got upset when there started being ads and schools and corporations on the site, so how is advertising an event at a university any different than spamming my TV shows with minute upon minute of commercials? I'm getting tired of it.
The reason this post is titled "Adverts and Britons" is (a) because I think of my British friend from middle school using the word "adverts" and I always liked it; (b) since I wrote about advertising, the adverts part makes sense; and (c) because the word "advert" makes me think of British people, which makes me think of Doctor Who, which has the season 6 premiere next Saturday. 10 days until the return of the Doctor, Amy, Rory, and the TARDIS (which is the embodiment of Einstien's theories, but that's another story).
This week has been really weird. I've been living in perpetual Wednesdays, so while everything is good, something is just off.
Today is awesome because I was very productive in my fortress of solitude (and that took a really long time to think of...see the weirdness of my week?).
Monday, April 4, 2011
Mysteries and Not Wearing Pants
I think it started when I was really little with the Mary-Kate and Ashely series of mysteries. These videos were kid-friendly detective stories with girls I could relate to as the detectives. And they were musical. What more could I want?
My love of mysteries took a literary turn at the end of eighth grade when I began reading Agatha Christie. In my English class, we had read And Then There Were None, which was the creepiest thing in the world, yet I loved it. Since it was still middle school, we had a creative project for our Agatha Christie unit, and I, along with two of my friends, made an original puppet show in her style. I wrote the script, one girl made the puppet theater, the other made the puppets, and we all voice-acted. My story was called "Poirot Nodded" and we made sure that the puppet could nod, since this was a phrase Christie used a lot. After that unit, I read a different Agatha Christie book each week for probably six or seven weeks. That's a lot of books!
Nowadays, I enjoy mystery television shows. My favorites are NCIS, NCIS Los Angeles, and Doctor Who. These aren't classic whodunnits like the others, but they're still really good.
Why does my love of mystery fiction matter? Well, I like to think it has helped me be a better problem-solver in real life. I think about the types of "evidence" I leave behind and use the "clues" to figure out, say, where my lip balm is. Did I have it in a backpack? Which one? My pocket? What was I wearing? When did I use it? That type of thing.
I also use my detective skills to determine medical causation. For instance, I currently have a mystery bruise on a very strange part of my foot, the arch/instep area. I found it on Sunday around 2:00, and I know that it wasn't there on Saturday. With this reasoning, I know that it's source is either from something theatrical I did on Sunday or from somebody stepping on my foot at my dorm's formal on Saturday night. See? Detective work.
Ok. Random ranty blog done.
I want to thank any of you who have consistently been reading what I write. I have 1,055 views on my blog, and it makes me feel so accomplished to have created content that over a thousand people have cared enough to look at. I will probably keep informing you of my stats because it never ceases to amaze me that anyone at all would want to read my content. Thank you.
Today is awesome because I didn't wear pants (which is really my way of saying I wore a skirt, but it just sounds funnier to say it the other way).
My love of mysteries took a literary turn at the end of eighth grade when I began reading Agatha Christie. In my English class, we had read And Then There Were None, which was the creepiest thing in the world, yet I loved it. Since it was still middle school, we had a creative project for our Agatha Christie unit, and I, along with two of my friends, made an original puppet show in her style. I wrote the script, one girl made the puppet theater, the other made the puppets, and we all voice-acted. My story was called "Poirot Nodded" and we made sure that the puppet could nod, since this was a phrase Christie used a lot. After that unit, I read a different Agatha Christie book each week for probably six or seven weeks. That's a lot of books!
Nowadays, I enjoy mystery television shows. My favorites are NCIS, NCIS Los Angeles, and Doctor Who. These aren't classic whodunnits like the others, but they're still really good.
Why does my love of mystery fiction matter? Well, I like to think it has helped me be a better problem-solver in real life. I think about the types of "evidence" I leave behind and use the "clues" to figure out, say, where my lip balm is. Did I have it in a backpack? Which one? My pocket? What was I wearing? When did I use it? That type of thing.
I also use my detective skills to determine medical causation. For instance, I currently have a mystery bruise on a very strange part of my foot, the arch/instep area. I found it on Sunday around 2:00, and I know that it wasn't there on Saturday. With this reasoning, I know that it's source is either from something theatrical I did on Sunday or from somebody stepping on my foot at my dorm's formal on Saturday night. See? Detective work.
Ok. Random ranty blog done.
I want to thank any of you who have consistently been reading what I write. I have 1,055 views on my blog, and it makes me feel so accomplished to have created content that over a thousand people have cared enough to look at. I will probably keep informing you of my stats because it never ceases to amaze me that anyone at all would want to read my content. Thank you.
Today is awesome because I didn't wear pants (which is really my way of saying I wore a skirt, but it just sounds funnier to say it the other way).
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Performances? For a CLASS? What is my life?!?
I'm taking a course called "Analysis and Performance of Literature." It is freaking awesome, but puzzles me so much because it's so different from anything I have ever taken. Every single course except for this one has been within the college of arts and sciences at my university, but this one is from the school of communication. Comm is just a completely different mindset in class than arts and sciences.
We started our first class by playing games. This never happens and it was awesome! Then we took attendance and my prof did an example of the first type of performance we have to do, a personal narrative. I wrote mine about Tae Kwon Do because it's something important to me and it's fairly unique. We then watched a short film called Drunk Germans and did a critique of it. Tonight (right after I write this) I'm going to the mandatory performance hour where we will see former students perform the types of pieces we will have to do this quarter.
I am thoroughly puzzled by and in love with this class. It's adding amazing balance to my schedule because it is so different from the serious formal lectures I've been attending, and it's a lot like Forensics, which is something I love to bits. I'm excited to see where this goes.
Another class that's staying with me outside the classroom is my physics class, but for a very different reason. I listen to nerdy music; this is not a secret, but when I'm reading and I come across a word that's in a science-related song, the song gets stuck in my head. I've been walking around with "Strange Charm" and "Fermi Paradox," both by Hank Green, stuck in my head. The first song is about quarks and the second is about, you guessed it, the Fermi Paradox (Given the size of the universe, there must be other living beings, so why can't we find them?). They are catchy and make the complex concepts make sense, and I appreciate that, but I can't continue with these in my head. They are starting to drive me nuts.
My other classes are great. My English professor is a strong believer in technology/the internet and is giving us the option of doing a project to go on her professional website about Victorian Drama instead of writing a paper, and my Sociology class on Global Health and Transnational Social Movements is amazing so far. We've begun by discussing Haiti and Partners in Health, which are topics I find fascinating.
I just wanted to write about school while it's still new and exciting.
And if anyone is wondering, I will not be doing BEDA.
Today is awesome because I'm feeling inspired.
We started our first class by playing games. This never happens and it was awesome! Then we took attendance and my prof did an example of the first type of performance we have to do, a personal narrative. I wrote mine about Tae Kwon Do because it's something important to me and it's fairly unique. We then watched a short film called Drunk Germans and did a critique of it. Tonight (right after I write this) I'm going to the mandatory performance hour where we will see former students perform the types of pieces we will have to do this quarter.
I am thoroughly puzzled by and in love with this class. It's adding amazing balance to my schedule because it is so different from the serious formal lectures I've been attending, and it's a lot like Forensics, which is something I love to bits. I'm excited to see where this goes.
Another class that's staying with me outside the classroom is my physics class, but for a very different reason. I listen to nerdy music; this is not a secret, but when I'm reading and I come across a word that's in a science-related song, the song gets stuck in my head. I've been walking around with "Strange Charm" and "Fermi Paradox," both by Hank Green, stuck in my head. The first song is about quarks and the second is about, you guessed it, the Fermi Paradox (Given the size of the universe, there must be other living beings, so why can't we find them?). They are catchy and make the complex concepts make sense, and I appreciate that, but I can't continue with these in my head. They are starting to drive me nuts.
My other classes are great. My English professor is a strong believer in technology/the internet and is giving us the option of doing a project to go on her professional website about Victorian Drama instead of writing a paper, and my Sociology class on Global Health and Transnational Social Movements is amazing so far. We've begun by discussing Haiti and Partners in Health, which are topics I find fascinating.
I just wanted to write about school while it's still new and exciting.
And if anyone is wondering, I will not be doing BEDA.
Today is awesome because I'm feeling inspired.
Monday, March 28, 2011
5 Subtle Ways Theater has Inflitrated My Life and an Update
I've written a lot about theater, particularly through the Ragtime process. It's something I love doing at school, I have made amazing friends as a result, and I've learned a lot about the scope of that particular artistic process, electrics, and my own interests. While I cannot share a life-changing revelation at this moment, I can list a few ways that the things I've learned through participating in theater have infiltrated my life (and I know you like lists, so here we go).
1. All leftover tape ends up on my pants. This is after a month of sticking extra pieces of gaff tape there just because it's convenient. About a week ago, I was helping a friend in Tae Kwon Do who hurt her wrist by taping it for her. I had a bit of extra tape when I was done, and I stuck it to my pants without even thinking about it. And I was in my uniform, so that was kind of strange.
2. I think a lot more about lighting. Whether I'm just walking down the sidewalk during the sunset, noticing the color and angle of how the natural light hits the trees and buildings, creating such beauty in both light and shadow, or wondering what type of mover is a hundred feet away from me while I'm watching a performance, or finally understanding the setup of my high school auditorium, it's something I notice even more than before (and until this year I think I noticed more than the average person anyway).
3. I actually like Mondays. Mondays are when I randomly show up at productions to help out, and participating in something different every week gives my calendar character and keeps me busy. It also helps keep each week feeling fresh and new.
4. I take different types of risks now. Before Ragtime, I wasn't a huge fan of ladders, but now I don't think twice about climbing them to work with electrics. I think challenging myself and taking risks is a good thing, but sometimes it makes me stupid. Like when I stood on a balcony ledge to hang and focus some lights. Questionable choice, but so fun it was worth it.
5. Whenever I work with a cable (and now I call everything a cable), I coil and tie it properly. When I was packing my chargers to come back to school, I coiled each one and the used old hair ribbons to tie clove-hitch knots to secure the coils. Admittedly, this was partially because I ran out of rubber bands, but still.
I guess my Spring Quarter update is that my first two classes seem like they're going to be pretty awesome (I have to read an excerpt from "Song of Myself" for my Physics class? I love Whitman!). I've got my other classes tomorrow, so we'll see about those.
Guitar is still happening, just not as much. I learned two songs yesterday because I finally united guitar and capo. One of them was wrock, so that's really exciting.
I'm kind of annoyed about some slight injuries from two particular TKD classes over break. I can pinpoint the exact moment my wrists and ankles were strained, and it's still affecting me. I'm mostly disappointed that the conditioning I worked on went away, but I'll do the physical therapy and get that strength back. I have my black belt staring at me as I sit on my bed in my dorm, so it's a reminder of everything I am capable of, the work I've done, and the discipline and spirit I need moving forward. Having two weeks back at my home school has reintegrated the black belt and martial arts mentality into my life, and I needed that.
Today is awesome because I saw friends that I've been missing, have a very promising quarter ahead of me, and finished watching Doctor Who!
1. All leftover tape ends up on my pants. This is after a month of sticking extra pieces of gaff tape there just because it's convenient. About a week ago, I was helping a friend in Tae Kwon Do who hurt her wrist by taping it for her. I had a bit of extra tape when I was done, and I stuck it to my pants without even thinking about it. And I was in my uniform, so that was kind of strange.
2. I think a lot more about lighting. Whether I'm just walking down the sidewalk during the sunset, noticing the color and angle of how the natural light hits the trees and buildings, creating such beauty in both light and shadow, or wondering what type of mover is a hundred feet away from me while I'm watching a performance, or finally understanding the setup of my high school auditorium, it's something I notice even more than before (and until this year I think I noticed more than the average person anyway).
3. I actually like Mondays. Mondays are when I randomly show up at productions to help out, and participating in something different every week gives my calendar character and keeps me busy. It also helps keep each week feeling fresh and new.
4. I take different types of risks now. Before Ragtime, I wasn't a huge fan of ladders, but now I don't think twice about climbing them to work with electrics. I think challenging myself and taking risks is a good thing, but sometimes it makes me stupid. Like when I stood on a balcony ledge to hang and focus some lights. Questionable choice, but so fun it was worth it.
5. Whenever I work with a cable (and now I call everything a cable), I coil and tie it properly. When I was packing my chargers to come back to school, I coiled each one and the used old hair ribbons to tie clove-hitch knots to secure the coils. Admittedly, this was partially because I ran out of rubber bands, but still.
I guess my Spring Quarter update is that my first two classes seem like they're going to be pretty awesome (I have to read an excerpt from "Song of Myself" for my Physics class? I love Whitman!). I've got my other classes tomorrow, so we'll see about those.
Guitar is still happening, just not as much. I learned two songs yesterday because I finally united guitar and capo. One of them was wrock, so that's really exciting.
I'm kind of annoyed about some slight injuries from two particular TKD classes over break. I can pinpoint the exact moment my wrists and ankles were strained, and it's still affecting me. I'm mostly disappointed that the conditioning I worked on went away, but I'll do the physical therapy and get that strength back. I have my black belt staring at me as I sit on my bed in my dorm, so it's a reminder of everything I am capable of, the work I've done, and the discipline and spirit I need moving forward. Having two weeks back at my home school has reintegrated the black belt and martial arts mentality into my life, and I needed that.
Today is awesome because I saw friends that I've been missing, have a very promising quarter ahead of me, and finished watching Doctor Who!
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