I don't know how I managed to be so busy this past week. Monday, I helped at a friend's tech week; Tuesday, I had a bunch of meetings; Wednesday, I had a baking party, Harry Potter trivia night, and munchies at my res college; Thursday, I visited a friend in the hospital; and Friday was a normal, busy Friday. I'm not in tech week; this shouldn't happen!
Anyway, I really wanted to post about the Harry Potter trivia night. Each week, there's a trivia night to raise money for Dance Marathon. You go, pay $5 to play (which goes to your team/committee fundraising total), and play for the chance to win prizes. I had to go to Harry Potter week, and my team from my committee was one of our co-chairs and a friend of mine who went to LeakyCon.
He was wearing a Lauren Fairweather "My muggle friends just don't understand" t-shirt, and I was wearing my "It's pronounced leviosa, NOT leviosa" shirt and Gryffindor tie (I was channeling Hermione). Our team name was "Ministry of Magic" (after the band).
Each question was asked, he and I would make eye contact, nod, and he would write down the answer we were both thinking while our teammate laughed at how ridiculous we were. Even though we didn't win (not quite sure how that happened...), it was really fun to celebrate the series once again.
I hope they do a Doctor Who week :)
Other than that, I've been chugging along, doing tons of homework, and prepping for my next tech week, which starts tomorrow. It's my first lighting design, I think it's a good show for a first design, and I'm ready to go. I think. The problem is I've never done this before, so I know how the overall process works, but I've always been an assistant or ME, never the designer. It just kind of stinks that I'll be doing this without my dominant hand, but I've got a supportive team who will help me get it done.
Ok, back to getting ahead on homework. I need that to be the least of my stresses this week!
Today is awesome because I'm going to '90s karaoke at a cupcake shop.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Saturday, October 22, 2011
This Week...What?
Oh, boy. These last two weeks have been insane between school, tech week, and dealing with my broken hand. Yeah, it's broken after all. A nondisplaced fracture to the hook of the hamate, which basically translates to there being a crack in the bone that just needs to grow back together. Oddly enough, I haven't felt any pain at the site of the break, so at least I've been spared that.
I'm a pretty positive person, at I try to be, and I don't like to share my negativity with the outside world, but the process of finding out my hand was broken was long, drawn out, and torturous. I went to my two health service appointments last week, but then they called me back in and put me through a 5-hour ordeal that involved more x-rays and a ct scan at an offsite hospital. Then I was sent to a hand specialist downtown, but I had to get up at 6 to get on a bus at 7 so I could be at my appointment at 8. Not. Fun. I got there, only to find out that I was the one who was supposed to bring my ct in, which nobody told me and I didn't know to ask. I had another ridiculous day of doctor-going this past Tuesday, when the diagnosis was finally made. I'm pretty fed up with the health system, and I don't want to deal with it anymore.
My treatment is to wear a molded splint that I'm allowed to take off for showering and typing. My friend decorated it with bandaids: one has a unicorn and rainbows and the other is a comic book-like "pow," which spices things up and makes me really happy.
I really appreciate how wonderful and supportive my friends have been. Having them encourage me throughout this process has reminded me what amazing people are in my life, and I couldn't have imagined a better group of people.
So, on to tech week. I hated feeling useless and incapacitated, but I did a lot of teaching during hang/cable and was able to assist with focus, some programming, and taking notes from various angles. The team for I Love You Because has been such a fun and talented group to work with, and I'm really proud of the work we've all done. It's such a fun show!!
School has been...interesting. I've really lost patience with all of my classes, and this is just exacerbated by the fact that I missed some while dealing with doctors. The best thing that's happened this week was that my Theatre Design midterm project was a success. It was part writing, part art, and my art project was consistent with my writing AND my professor/classmates understood what I was going for with that visual representation. It was so cool to hear them say the things I had been thinking of as I was creating.
Another cool thing I did this week was sit down with a friend and make a light plot for the show I'm designing. I'm still really nervous about taking on this kind of project, especially since I can't do any of the electrics myself, so my vocabulary around what I'm doing is somewhat circuitous and awkward. I have yet to call it "my show" and I'm very self-conscious about talking about it with my friends. I'm just afraid it's going to be terrible, and while a first attempt at anything isn't necessarily going to be awesome, I really don't want it to be totally awful. I'll probably be more excited about it as I get closer and more confident in what I'm doing, but for now, I'm awkward about it.
I think that sums things up. Oh, wait! I got a t-shirt this week that was designed by a friend of mine who has her own t-shirt business! When she asked me if I had any design ideas, I told her that I trust her because I'd seen some of her other designs, and they are gorgeous. She made me a black shirt that says in metallic silver writing "it's pronounced leviosa not leviosa" with the word "leviosa" in dictionary phonetic spelling and there's a floating feather. Everyone who had seen it thought I had requested that, but the fact that she made me a shirt with a Hermione quote without me asking her to makes the shirt even more awesome!!! I love it.
Today is awesome because I'm catching up on studying, homework, and blogging; possibly going to the homecoming game; and probably celebrating the show with the team tonight.
I'm a pretty positive person, at I try to be, and I don't like to share my negativity with the outside world, but the process of finding out my hand was broken was long, drawn out, and torturous. I went to my two health service appointments last week, but then they called me back in and put me through a 5-hour ordeal that involved more x-rays and a ct scan at an offsite hospital. Then I was sent to a hand specialist downtown, but I had to get up at 6 to get on a bus at 7 so I could be at my appointment at 8. Not. Fun. I got there, only to find out that I was the one who was supposed to bring my ct in, which nobody told me and I didn't know to ask. I had another ridiculous day of doctor-going this past Tuesday, when the diagnosis was finally made. I'm pretty fed up with the health system, and I don't want to deal with it anymore.
My treatment is to wear a molded splint that I'm allowed to take off for showering and typing. My friend decorated it with bandaids: one has a unicorn and rainbows and the other is a comic book-like "pow," which spices things up and makes me really happy.
I really appreciate how wonderful and supportive my friends have been. Having them encourage me throughout this process has reminded me what amazing people are in my life, and I couldn't have imagined a better group of people.
So, on to tech week. I hated feeling useless and incapacitated, but I did a lot of teaching during hang/cable and was able to assist with focus, some programming, and taking notes from various angles. The team for I Love You Because has been such a fun and talented group to work with, and I'm really proud of the work we've all done. It's such a fun show!!
School has been...interesting. I've really lost patience with all of my classes, and this is just exacerbated by the fact that I missed some while dealing with doctors. The best thing that's happened this week was that my Theatre Design midterm project was a success. It was part writing, part art, and my art project was consistent with my writing AND my professor/classmates understood what I was going for with that visual representation. It was so cool to hear them say the things I had been thinking of as I was creating.
Another cool thing I did this week was sit down with a friend and make a light plot for the show I'm designing. I'm still really nervous about taking on this kind of project, especially since I can't do any of the electrics myself, so my vocabulary around what I'm doing is somewhat circuitous and awkward. I have yet to call it "my show" and I'm very self-conscious about talking about it with my friends. I'm just afraid it's going to be terrible, and while a first attempt at anything isn't necessarily going to be awesome, I really don't want it to be totally awful. I'll probably be more excited about it as I get closer and more confident in what I'm doing, but for now, I'm awkward about it.
I think that sums things up. Oh, wait! I got a t-shirt this week that was designed by a friend of mine who has her own t-shirt business! When she asked me if I had any design ideas, I told her that I trust her because I'd seen some of her other designs, and they are gorgeous. She made me a black shirt that says in metallic silver writing "it's pronounced leviosa not leviosa" with the word "leviosa" in dictionary phonetic spelling and there's a floating feather. Everyone who had seen it thought I had requested that, but the fact that she made me a shirt with a Hermione quote without me asking her to makes the shirt even more awesome!!! I love it.
Today is awesome because I'm catching up on studying, homework, and blogging; possibly going to the homecoming game; and probably celebrating the show with the team tonight.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
5 Things That Require Two Hands
On Sunday, instead of my usual blogging exploits, I was loading in for tech week. However, in the process of getting a heavy bit of equipment off of the truck and into the space, it fell and my wrist broke its fall. Luckily, neither I nor the stuff is broken, but my hand/wrist/forearm area is severely bruised and ridiculously swollen, and there's some pretty bruising on my foot as well (but nothing worse than I've gotten from kicking an elbow in tae kwon do). As a result of losing the use of my right hand (yes, that's the dominant one), I've decided to write a post about 5 things I usually take for granted that really do require two hands.
1. Tying my shoes. I tried to tie my sneakers on Monday, but they kept coming untied because I couldn't pull the bow tight enough to hold. I eventually had a friend tie them for me, but I've been wearing slip-on shoes ever since.
2. Putting my hair in a ponytail. Really, doing anything to my hair. I've been wearing headbands to keep it out of my face, but I really wish I could pull it back.
3. Putting on deodorant. I get through one side then realize I can't grip with my injured hand. Let's just say, I have indeed been wearing deodorant, but it's been applied in creative ways.
4. Doing a task while carrying something. Since my usable hand is doing the carrying, I can't carry another thing or, say, open a door while there is something in my hand. Usually I can manage with an elbow or a hip, but it's still kind of annoying.
5. Belting my pants. It took a day for me to be able to put pants on without the hand hurting, but I can't even think of how I can wear a belt as well.
Another thing I can't do right now is write, but that's only a problem when I need to take an exam so far. Typing is okay, but I have a quiz on Monday for which I will most likely be sloppily circling answers with my left hand.
I want to say that the accident is nobody's fault. We were all experienced techies doing a routine task, and it was a freak incident. There is no one to blame, and I'm not mad at anyone. Nobody else should be angry or guilty because I'm not, and I'm the only one who got hurt. I'm over the fact that it happened, and now I'm living with the reality of the injury, end of story.
Yesterday, I had the fascinating experience of writing a paper about the construction of illness while going through the process of constructing my own illness identity for this situation. I have decided that I'm just a resilient person. As one friend said, "We've learned that we can't break Steph." We came pretty close, but even if it were broken, I'd bounce back anyway because I hate the idea of taking on a victimized illness identity. I am a strong, independent person, and if I have to do that with one hand for a while, so be it.
But, really, I want the swelling to go away. Stupid hematoma.
Today is awesome because my doctor unceremoniously chucked the plaster monstrosity I'd been wearing and upgraded me to a fancy velcro wrist brace that looks relatively normal. (See the adjustment of "awesome" brought about by the illness identity? Love sociology.)
1. Tying my shoes. I tried to tie my sneakers on Monday, but they kept coming untied because I couldn't pull the bow tight enough to hold. I eventually had a friend tie them for me, but I've been wearing slip-on shoes ever since.
2. Putting my hair in a ponytail. Really, doing anything to my hair. I've been wearing headbands to keep it out of my face, but I really wish I could pull it back.
3. Putting on deodorant. I get through one side then realize I can't grip with my injured hand. Let's just say, I have indeed been wearing deodorant, but it's been applied in creative ways.
4. Doing a task while carrying something. Since my usable hand is doing the carrying, I can't carry another thing or, say, open a door while there is something in my hand. Usually I can manage with an elbow or a hip, but it's still kind of annoying.
5. Belting my pants. It took a day for me to be able to put pants on without the hand hurting, but I can't even think of how I can wear a belt as well.
Another thing I can't do right now is write, but that's only a problem when I need to take an exam so far. Typing is okay, but I have a quiz on Monday for which I will most likely be sloppily circling answers with my left hand.
I want to say that the accident is nobody's fault. We were all experienced techies doing a routine task, and it was a freak incident. There is no one to blame, and I'm not mad at anyone. Nobody else should be angry or guilty because I'm not, and I'm the only one who got hurt. I'm over the fact that it happened, and now I'm living with the reality of the injury, end of story.
Yesterday, I had the fascinating experience of writing a paper about the construction of illness while going through the process of constructing my own illness identity for this situation. I have decided that I'm just a resilient person. As one friend said, "We've learned that we can't break Steph." We came pretty close, but even if it were broken, I'd bounce back anyway because I hate the idea of taking on a victimized illness identity. I am a strong, independent person, and if I have to do that with one hand for a while, so be it.
But, really, I want the swelling to go away. Stupid hematoma.
Today is awesome because my doctor unceremoniously chucked the plaster monstrosity I'd been wearing and upgraded me to a fancy velcro wrist brace that looks relatively normal. (See the adjustment of "awesome" brought about by the illness identity? Love sociology.)
Sunday, October 2, 2011
BIG Happenings This Week!
This is my 121st blog post :)
Monday: Not too exciting...classes, swimming...I learned how to use Stata (a computer program) for my statistics class and was able to complete my homework, which was cool
Tuesday: Most ridiculous day ever! I was awakened at 7:55AM by somebody opening the fire door and then again at 8:23 when people were screaming in the hallway. I got up when my alarm went off at 9:03 to find that I had received 10 e-mails overnight, which took me a good 30 minutes to read, which made me 15 minutes late to the gym, but I was still done with my workout/cleanup by 11. I had a meeting with a co-leader at 12, a meeting at 2, a meeting with a producer/friend at 2:30 during which he persuaded me to lighting design his show (my first design...I'm pretty scared but kind of cautiously excited; I just don't want it to be terrible but I have no idea what I'm doing), then I had class at 3:30, a prod meeting for the show I had just signed on to at 5 (right after class), a mandatory dorm meeting at 7, a follow-up meeting to the noon meeting at 8 that led up to the committee meeting at 8:30, then a prod meeting for a show I had already been working on at 10:30. To top it all off, I had an endless stream of e-mail throughout the day. It was exhaustingly busy, I went to bed feeling entirely overwhelmed, but then things got better.
Wednesday: A far more relaxed day. Hardly any e-mail, 2 classes, a swim, and then it was a holiday.
Thursday: In the morning I observed the holiday, which involved chanting at services in front of a bunch of people, which made me super nervous, but I think it went well. Then I had class at 3:30 and more holiday at night. I was really looking forward to a night with no commitments, but I had a prod meeting for a third show at 10:30 where the plot for which I am the master electrician was revealed. Oh, and in the middle of the day it was decided that I'm going home next weekend for the holiday. It's going to be an oddly short visit and very concentrated, but I'm looking forward to it.
Friday: I had theater class! The professor is so dynamic in person and was really funny during lecture. In his excitement about shapes, he declared that the area of a 4x4 square is 8, which we students corrected him on, but there were funnies like that throughout class. I had lunch with friends, and then we made collages in lab. The assignment was pretty cool; use two identical images of Alice to portray the growing/shrinking scene from Alice in Wonderland. I had a lot of fun! Then I spent a peaceful evening eating amazing food with a great friend from home.
Saturday: I got up, got my bike fixed (it broke on Wednesday), stained floorboards for a set with friends, then did theater design homework for 4 hours. I had to make 8 tracing paper overlays of 2 works of art (4 per work, each one highlighting an element or principle of design), and by the time I was done my hands and face were covered in graphite, and I hadn't even noticed that I'd been drawing for 2 hours. The other hours were spent finding and writing about images that exemplify elements or principles of design. At night, I tried to see a musical with some friends, but we got shut out and ended up chilling in a dorm room instead. When I got home, I went to the vending machine for a package of jammie dodgers and watched the new episode of Doctor Who, which was AMAZING!!! Too bad it's the season finale. I'm psyched for the Christmas special!!! Oh, and I brewed a potion.
Sunday: Homework in the morning, ECO meeting, more homework, then Big Bite Night. Big Bite Night is an event in town where restaurants give out free samples. We hit about 20 places, and every place we didn't eat was by choice or they were closed. I went with three friends, and it was an afternoon of good food and great friends. I even ran into an alumna who I didn't expect to see, and that made me so happy!! Tonight, I'm doing work (or avoiding it), and chilling before another full week.
Today is awesome because of copious amounts of free food and spending lots of time with amazing friends!
Monday: Not too exciting...classes, swimming...I learned how to use Stata (a computer program) for my statistics class and was able to complete my homework, which was cool
Tuesday: Most ridiculous day ever! I was awakened at 7:55AM by somebody opening the fire door and then again at 8:23 when people were screaming in the hallway. I got up when my alarm went off at 9:03 to find that I had received 10 e-mails overnight, which took me a good 30 minutes to read, which made me 15 minutes late to the gym, but I was still done with my workout/cleanup by 11. I had a meeting with a co-leader at 12, a meeting at 2, a meeting with a producer/friend at 2:30 during which he persuaded me to lighting design his show (my first design...I'm pretty scared but kind of cautiously excited; I just don't want it to be terrible but I have no idea what I'm doing), then I had class at 3:30, a prod meeting for the show I had just signed on to at 5 (right after class), a mandatory dorm meeting at 7, a follow-up meeting to the noon meeting at 8 that led up to the committee meeting at 8:30, then a prod meeting for a show I had already been working on at 10:30. To top it all off, I had an endless stream of e-mail throughout the day. It was exhaustingly busy, I went to bed feeling entirely overwhelmed, but then things got better.
Wednesday: A far more relaxed day. Hardly any e-mail, 2 classes, a swim, and then it was a holiday.
Thursday: In the morning I observed the holiday, which involved chanting at services in front of a bunch of people, which made me super nervous, but I think it went well. Then I had class at 3:30 and more holiday at night. I was really looking forward to a night with no commitments, but I had a prod meeting for a third show at 10:30 where the plot for which I am the master electrician was revealed. Oh, and in the middle of the day it was decided that I'm going home next weekend for the holiday. It's going to be an oddly short visit and very concentrated, but I'm looking forward to it.
Friday: I had theater class! The professor is so dynamic in person and was really funny during lecture. In his excitement about shapes, he declared that the area of a 4x4 square is 8, which we students corrected him on, but there were funnies like that throughout class. I had lunch with friends, and then we made collages in lab. The assignment was pretty cool; use two identical images of Alice to portray the growing/shrinking scene from Alice in Wonderland. I had a lot of fun! Then I spent a peaceful evening eating amazing food with a great friend from home.
Saturday: I got up, got my bike fixed (it broke on Wednesday), stained floorboards for a set with friends, then did theater design homework for 4 hours. I had to make 8 tracing paper overlays of 2 works of art (4 per work, each one highlighting an element or principle of design), and by the time I was done my hands and face were covered in graphite, and I hadn't even noticed that I'd been drawing for 2 hours. The other hours were spent finding and writing about images that exemplify elements or principles of design. At night, I tried to see a musical with some friends, but we got shut out and ended up chilling in a dorm room instead. When I got home, I went to the vending machine for a package of jammie dodgers and watched the new episode of Doctor Who, which was AMAZING!!! Too bad it's the season finale. I'm psyched for the Christmas special!!! Oh, and I brewed a potion.
Sunday: Homework in the morning, ECO meeting, more homework, then Big Bite Night. Big Bite Night is an event in town where restaurants give out free samples. We hit about 20 places, and every place we didn't eat was by choice or they were closed. I went with three friends, and it was an afternoon of good food and great friends. I even ran into an alumna who I didn't expect to see, and that made me so happy!! Tonight, I'm doing work (or avoiding it), and chilling before another full week.
Today is awesome because of copious amounts of free food and spending lots of time with amazing friends!
Monday, September 26, 2011
Classes and Pottermore
Oh, hey, blog. It's been a while. Well, a week, but it feels like much longer since so much happens in a week!
I started classes last week, and I like what I'm taking. Three of my classes are very similar: Intro to Epidemiology; Health, Biomedicine, Culture, and Society; and Analysis and Interpretation of Social Data (aka Stats). Basically 3/4 of my courses are in the areas of medical sociology and statistics, so it blends together a bit, but it also reinforces the material across the classes.
My fourth class is Intro to Theatre Design (yes, the department here uses the pretentious "re" spelling), in which our first 2-hour lecture was over skype and the professor read us the syllabus for an hour and talked about point and line for the other hour. In lab, we moved our pencils on paper in rhythm with six different songs. I'm either going to understand the design process by the end or feel like it was an entire waste of time, but it's a requirement for my minor, so it won't really be a waste of any sort.
Workload seems manageable so far, just a bunch of reading and weekly assignments for stats, epi, and theater. I also have meetings on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays that stand for most of the quarter in addition to a Friday evening commitment, so I'm kept pretty busy.
On Saturday night, I got my Pottermore e-mail just as I was leaving to go see a play. I saw the play (which was funny, but probably not something I needed to see as much as I had thought), then came home, got a bag of jammy dodgers from the vending machine to eat as I watched Doctor Who (what an episode!), and then I spent 3-4 hours on Pottermore.
I finally know what it is!
The site has illustrations and animations for the big moments in each chapter of the Harry Potter books. For instance, in the first chapter, we get a profile of Privet Drive, Dumbledore and the deluminator, and Hagrid and the motorcycle. You can click through the scenes, which makes it more interactive, and at a certain point you get to shop in Diagon Alley, get your wand, and get sorted into your Hogwarts house. There is a ton of new writing from JK Rowling about how she conceptualized characters and places, including new profiles and backstories for most characters.
I'm in Ravenclaw and my wand is 10 3/4 in. Laurel, Phoenix Feather Core, Hard.
Today is awesome because I had a good swim, and am on top of my coursework so I can blog and play on Pottermore. And maybe start new seasons of Buffy and Angel (I finished 5/2 respectively this weekend).
I started classes last week, and I like what I'm taking. Three of my classes are very similar: Intro to Epidemiology; Health, Biomedicine, Culture, and Society; and Analysis and Interpretation of Social Data (aka Stats). Basically 3/4 of my courses are in the areas of medical sociology and statistics, so it blends together a bit, but it also reinforces the material across the classes.
My fourth class is Intro to Theatre Design (yes, the department here uses the pretentious "re" spelling), in which our first 2-hour lecture was over skype and the professor read us the syllabus for an hour and talked about point and line for the other hour. In lab, we moved our pencils on paper in rhythm with six different songs. I'm either going to understand the design process by the end or feel like it was an entire waste of time, but it's a requirement for my minor, so it won't really be a waste of any sort.
Workload seems manageable so far, just a bunch of reading and weekly assignments for stats, epi, and theater. I also have meetings on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays that stand for most of the quarter in addition to a Friday evening commitment, so I'm kept pretty busy.
On Saturday night, I got my Pottermore e-mail just as I was leaving to go see a play. I saw the play (which was funny, but probably not something I needed to see as much as I had thought), then came home, got a bag of jammy dodgers from the vending machine to eat as I watched Doctor Who (what an episode!), and then I spent 3-4 hours on Pottermore.
I finally know what it is!
The site has illustrations and animations for the big moments in each chapter of the Harry Potter books. For instance, in the first chapter, we get a profile of Privet Drive, Dumbledore and the deluminator, and Hagrid and the motorcycle. You can click through the scenes, which makes it more interactive, and at a certain point you get to shop in Diagon Alley, get your wand, and get sorted into your Hogwarts house. There is a ton of new writing from JK Rowling about how she conceptualized characters and places, including new profiles and backstories for most characters.
I'm in Ravenclaw and my wand is 10 3/4 in. Laurel, Phoenix Feather Core, Hard.
Today is awesome because I had a good swim, and am on top of my coursework so I can blog and play on Pottermore. And maybe start new seasons of Buffy and Angel (I finished 5/2 respectively this weekend).
Monday, September 19, 2011
A New Dorm Room for a New Year
This year, I'm living in a single in a building of singles. My building has two dining halls and a c-store inside, so that's really nice. I have a door that goes right to my floor that I can use 8AM-8PM, but it's alarmed overnight, and then I have to go to the second floor to get across to my tower of the building.
My room came with a desk, a dresser, an armoir, overhead lighting, air conditioning, and a loftable bed. My bed is three notches up and I have a nice amount of storage space underneath. Three walls of my room are painted an off-white color, and the fourth wall is brick. I brought a fridge, a mirror, a floor lamp, and some storage bins that function as extra surfaces.
The furniture here is so much nicer than where I was last year! I may not have an excess of floor space, but what I have is enough for me to be happy and comfortable. Command hooks and Bed, Bath, and Beyond storage bins are my best friends in terms of creating space. I have a place for everything and I feel organized. Plus, my bed seems bigger this year, and I brought some cute throw pillows that add to the effect.
I put decorations on all of my walls. The wall that has the door and the armoir has my framed collage poster from last year. The one to the left of the door, where I have my desk and dresser, has my Eragon, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book release, and Hunger Games posters. I can't hang anything on the brick wall because the tape won't stick, but the third painted wall, where my bed is, is becoming a wall of stuff. I have show posters, 6 8"x8" collages of photos from the past year, and these adorable owl mirrors. I didn't mean to make a wall of stuff, and I'm dreading taking it down in the spring, but it's really nice. And there's plenty more room for posters from the shows I work on this year :)
I feel really great about my space. There's something about having a home that is solely mine is really satisfying and makes me proud. My building has a reputation for being prisonlike, antisocial, and having small uncomfortable rooms, but I really like it here. My hall is pretty good about leaving our doors open, so I'm anticipating it'll be more social than I had initially thought. I actually had classes with two of the girls on my hall last year, so I already know people. My CA has been making a huge effort to chat with everyone, so I'm feeling very positive about the next year. It could just be that this is an average experience that seems amazing because I was expecting something so terrible, but I'm enjoying my new dorm. And we tend to have free food a lot. Like, a whole lot.
All in all, I'm happy with my home for the year. All that's left is for classes to start...
Today is awesome because I saw a show that was fun incarnate, and three of my friends who graduated last year came out to see it, so I got to see them and that was really nice.
My room came with a desk, a dresser, an armoir, overhead lighting, air conditioning, and a loftable bed. My bed is three notches up and I have a nice amount of storage space underneath. Three walls of my room are painted an off-white color, and the fourth wall is brick. I brought a fridge, a mirror, a floor lamp, and some storage bins that function as extra surfaces.
The furniture here is so much nicer than where I was last year! I may not have an excess of floor space, but what I have is enough for me to be happy and comfortable. Command hooks and Bed, Bath, and Beyond storage bins are my best friends in terms of creating space. I have a place for everything and I feel organized. Plus, my bed seems bigger this year, and I brought some cute throw pillows that add to the effect.
I put decorations on all of my walls. The wall that has the door and the armoir has my framed collage poster from last year. The one to the left of the door, where I have my desk and dresser, has my Eragon, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book release, and Hunger Games posters. I can't hang anything on the brick wall because the tape won't stick, but the third painted wall, where my bed is, is becoming a wall of stuff. I have show posters, 6 8"x8" collages of photos from the past year, and these adorable owl mirrors. I didn't mean to make a wall of stuff, and I'm dreading taking it down in the spring, but it's really nice. And there's plenty more room for posters from the shows I work on this year :)
I feel really great about my space. There's something about having a home that is solely mine is really satisfying and makes me proud. My building has a reputation for being prisonlike, antisocial, and having small uncomfortable rooms, but I really like it here. My hall is pretty good about leaving our doors open, so I'm anticipating it'll be more social than I had initially thought. I actually had classes with two of the girls on my hall last year, so I already know people. My CA has been making a huge effort to chat with everyone, so I'm feeling very positive about the next year. It could just be that this is an average experience that seems amazing because I was expecting something so terrible, but I'm enjoying my new dorm. And we tend to have free food a lot. Like, a whole lot.
All in all, I'm happy with my home for the year. All that's left is for classes to start...
Today is awesome because I saw a show that was fun incarnate, and three of my friends who graduated last year came out to see it, so I got to see them and that was really nice.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Pippin
So much has happened in the last 4 days!!! I had the entire run of Pippin and I moved into my dorm for the year. Since I'm still adjusting to my dorm, and this post would be WAY too long if I wrote about both events, I'm going to write another post just about that process once I'm settled a bit more.
I really didn't get to stop from the moment I left my house until just now. Wednesday and Thursday of last week, we had dress rehearsals during the day. On Wednesday, I had dinner at my friends' apartment, and their cooking was amazing. After dinner, we watched a movie, then I had to go back to the theater for some final fixings.
On Thursday, I got up, packed everything up, and dragged my suitcase back to the theater for the day. We had the dress, then my dad picked up my stuff, but there wasn't room for me in the car, so I had to walk to the hotel. Upon my arrival, I was able to organize myself for the next 24 hours, take a shower, and get dressed for the 10:30PM opening performance. My entire family went out to dinner, then I had a bit of time to chat with my mom before heading to the show.
Opening night was CRAZY!!! The box office had oversold tickets, so we had to add chairs and let people sit on the floor in front of the first row of seats. As a crew member, I loved seeing how an audience changes the energy of the show that I had been watching all week. The performance was amazing, the audience was great, and I was so happy with the product that this team had put together.
Friday, we had a double header. After spending the day moving in, I had to lead a program from 6-7:30 then book it over to the theater to run the board for the 8:00 and 11:00 shows. It was a typical mid-run night: smaller audiences, and everyone fell into the rhythm a bit more. Still, it was brilliant and fun, and another proud night for all involved.
Saturday was a matinee (2PM) and an evening show (8PM). The matinee had a much older population (grandparents), so it felt very different because they react differently than the collegiate audience does. However, the weather was amazing, so stepping outside during intermission and after the show felt so good. It was warm and sunny as opposed to cold and nighttime, so that helped with the energy.
Our closing was as epic as our opening. The house managers had to split the admission line and ended up turning away 40-50 people who hadn't preordered tickets. There were two people who crawled in through the bathroom window because they wanted to see the show so badly! I felt a bit more pressure at this show because my family was there and I wanted to impress them; the designer was there, so he would know if I messed up; and it was the last chance to get it right. I hit all the "Go"s, so any mistakes were a calling error, and it felt good to know I did my job correctly.
There was a photo call after the performance, and I hate photo calls. I had to keep bringing up various light cues for the different moments, but they kept skipping around the play, so I had trouble keeping up. I went a bit crazy, but after a stop at 7-Eleven, we had a fun cast party with cake, Catchphrase, and the orchestra's interpretation of Pippin.
Today, I just finished strike. It was remarkably easy, but I think that's also because I go into strike with the expectation that it will be long, tedious, and difficult every time. The cast was really helpful, and I didn't have to coil any heavy cables! Taking down the pipes was annoying, but the teamwork was great.
I think my favorite thing about working on this show was that everyone knew each other. There are so many productions when there is a huge divide between cast and crew, but the people who spent tech week together during runs and performances really worked together. I find that as a lighting person, I observe the actors and know all their names because I have to in order to do my job, but to them I'm just that lighting person and they don't know my name or what I actually do. This cast was so great about knowing who I was and what I did, so it was a really pleasant process to be a part of. And the show was freaking awesome.
I also really liked having Gummy Bear and Sparring Bear at my tech table. I have made a comic of Sparring Bear in tech week, but I haven't had a chance to get it onto my computer.
I am a bit concerned about having started the school year so busy because I don't really know how to handle having down time yet. I'll figure it out, but it's weird to be able to chill in my room for an extended period of time that isn't after midnight.
Today is awesome because strike was easy, I'm seeing free theater with a friend tonight, and I've got some time to just relax.
I really didn't get to stop from the moment I left my house until just now. Wednesday and Thursday of last week, we had dress rehearsals during the day. On Wednesday, I had dinner at my friends' apartment, and their cooking was amazing. After dinner, we watched a movie, then I had to go back to the theater for some final fixings.
On Thursday, I got up, packed everything up, and dragged my suitcase back to the theater for the day. We had the dress, then my dad picked up my stuff, but there wasn't room for me in the car, so I had to walk to the hotel. Upon my arrival, I was able to organize myself for the next 24 hours, take a shower, and get dressed for the 10:30PM opening performance. My entire family went out to dinner, then I had a bit of time to chat with my mom before heading to the show.
Opening night was CRAZY!!! The box office had oversold tickets, so we had to add chairs and let people sit on the floor in front of the first row of seats. As a crew member, I loved seeing how an audience changes the energy of the show that I had been watching all week. The performance was amazing, the audience was great, and I was so happy with the product that this team had put together.
Friday, we had a double header. After spending the day moving in, I had to lead a program from 6-7:30 then book it over to the theater to run the board for the 8:00 and 11:00 shows. It was a typical mid-run night: smaller audiences, and everyone fell into the rhythm a bit more. Still, it was brilliant and fun, and another proud night for all involved.
Saturday was a matinee (2PM) and an evening show (8PM). The matinee had a much older population (grandparents), so it felt very different because they react differently than the collegiate audience does. However, the weather was amazing, so stepping outside during intermission and after the show felt so good. It was warm and sunny as opposed to cold and nighttime, so that helped with the energy.
Our closing was as epic as our opening. The house managers had to split the admission line and ended up turning away 40-50 people who hadn't preordered tickets. There were two people who crawled in through the bathroom window because they wanted to see the show so badly! I felt a bit more pressure at this show because my family was there and I wanted to impress them; the designer was there, so he would know if I messed up; and it was the last chance to get it right. I hit all the "Go"s, so any mistakes were a calling error, and it felt good to know I did my job correctly.
There was a photo call after the performance, and I hate photo calls. I had to keep bringing up various light cues for the different moments, but they kept skipping around the play, so I had trouble keeping up. I went a bit crazy, but after a stop at 7-Eleven, we had a fun cast party with cake, Catchphrase, and the orchestra's interpretation of Pippin.
Today, I just finished strike. It was remarkably easy, but I think that's also because I go into strike with the expectation that it will be long, tedious, and difficult every time. The cast was really helpful, and I didn't have to coil any heavy cables! Taking down the pipes was annoying, but the teamwork was great.
I think my favorite thing about working on this show was that everyone knew each other. There are so many productions when there is a huge divide between cast and crew, but the people who spent tech week together during runs and performances really worked together. I find that as a lighting person, I observe the actors and know all their names because I have to in order to do my job, but to them I'm just that lighting person and they don't know my name or what I actually do. This cast was so great about knowing who I was and what I did, so it was a really pleasant process to be a part of. And the show was freaking awesome.
I also really liked having Gummy Bear and Sparring Bear at my tech table. I have made a comic of Sparring Bear in tech week, but I haven't had a chance to get it onto my computer.
I am a bit concerned about having started the school year so busy because I don't really know how to handle having down time yet. I'll figure it out, but it's weird to be able to chill in my room for an extended period of time that isn't after midnight.
Today is awesome because strike was easy, I'm seeing free theater with a friend tonight, and I've got some time to just relax.
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