Update

The party fucking rocked. I LOVE everyone in my FIG. Even people I hardly ever talked to as a freshman. Those especially need to hear it, actually, because I always felt like the people who shared my interests thought I was a total square. That's the image I always project. I promise I love sex and drugs and rock and roll just as much as the next guy! And as I'm somewhat intoxicated, I'll stop this post before I say something I regret.

FARC happens

I'm about to head out to the Stage and Screen FIG reunion party. We could totally be the poster kids for the FIG program. We're mostly all still friends and think that FIG was one of the best things that ever happened to us. I'm so excited! More as events unfold...

Summer time and the livin' is easy

Okay, so it's not quite summer yet, and the livin' isn't quite as easy as I'd like it, but singing that song does make me feel a little better. I'm avoiding my French final, so here's an old Friday Five (I wish I'd done this back before it ended):

What was...


• ...your first grade teacher's name? Mrs. Gross. No kidding. We weren't mean to her, though. I don't think it had occurred to us yet that you could be mean to grownups.
  
  
• ...your favorite Saturday morning cartoon? Belle and Sebastian sticks in my memory. Was that even a Saturday morning cartoon or did it just come on all the time? Also The Little Prince. Which later became my favorite book. I realize the cartoon must have been terrible, but I did love it.
  
  
• ...the name of your very first best friend? Sarah Burr. We went our separate ways after kindergarten. Later I discovered we ended up at the same middle school. I thought about tracking her down, but had very little confidence in the 8th grade and decided it would be better to just let it go.
  
  
• ...your favorite breakfast cereal? Frosted Shredded Wheat. Oh man. That's some good stuff. As far as hot cereal is concerned, my favorite was Ralston. I can't believe it has a website. I'm ordering some right now.
  
  
• ...your favorite thing to do after school? I had a friend name Charlotte and I remember going to her house very frequently. We would play Super Mario Bros. and pretend to be Ninja Turtles. Actually, I played all the turtles. She always got to be April.

So there's some information about my childhood, in case anyone wants it. It's weird to remember that I don't know anyone now who knew me then. Except for my parents. Although even that is debatable.

Somebody get me a drink

After working on Sound Design mostly non-stop (except to sleep, and to eat two meals and turn in a job application) for the last (literal) 24 hours, I am totally done. All I have to do is set levels in the sound booth and then I can go...do some other homework. But that's a big thing to check off the list! I feel a wee bit crazy. I've been sitting in this computer lab since 10:30 this morning, and it's now 8:30. That's...10 hours. Right. I'm getting hammered at the cast party tomorrow.

Ain't it a fine life

I just realized that I'm not sure how I'm going to make ends meet come next month. Everything will be okay after that point, but man...I don't know what to do. I hadn't envisioned myself in this predicament until I was out of college and stranded in a big city somewhere. In that vision I always end up living in a dumpster. How can I already be freaking out about how to make ends meet when I'm 21 years old and still in school? These are supposed to be the best years of my life, goddamnit.

And you know he wants you to

So Advanced Directing scenes are over. Once I turn in my paper on Thursday, I am officially done with that class. I've never been so bummed about a course being over before.

I've learned that directing is totally my bag, baby. I just need to not let my general insecurities as a person filter into my insecurities as a director. I know it makes me terribly neurotic and tiring to work with. My actors were brilliant at not complaining about me in any way that would make me hear them or realize they'd just been talking about me before I came into the room. And for that, I salute them. But yeah, I really want to keep directing. And I think I want to keep working with ritual theatre. We'll see how that goes.

And I seem to be...writing a play?!?! I sat down at my computer last night and started to write. At first it was just a dialogue back and forth, but that quickly turned into a conversation, which turned into a scene - and then I found myself starting to put stage directions in there, and already the plot has started to thicken. Now one of the characters is about to let us (the other character and myself) in on whatever it is he's been sitting on the whole time...it's very exciting. I don't find anything in it that warrents showing it to anyone else, ever. But that could always change. I'll keep you posted. (As though people read this.)

Wait a minute, who's flying the plane?

I know I have all kinds of stuff to do. I know I have my Sound Design final project to finish (by Friday, at the latest - I hope), my Advanced Directing paper to revise, and my Everything-You-Ever-Wanted-to-Know-About-Switzerland-Plus-a-Few-Things-You-Didn't project to assemble - I know I have all these things to do, and they're all due really soon...plus various books I need to finish, peer critiques I need to get written up, and job applications I need to fill out. Somehow, though, it's not happening in the frenzied, nicotine-hazed anxiety attack that I thought it would. I'm just sort of slowly chipping away at it. As if I had time to work that slow. I've been so stressed out that I can't stress out any more, and am, as a result, more mellow than I've been in a long time. Is this a nervous breakdown? And if so, is it okay that I kind of like it?

Also, I had a margarita for breakfast yesterday. I think I just don't care anymore.

However...I did get some writing done last night. A little bit of homework, yes, but I got some actual, fictional, just-for-myself writing done. This is huge. I expect a parade.