thankful

i was not going to write this post, but sitting around my family playing blokus makes me thankful. thankful that i have a fun family that drinks and cusses. that enjoys each other and plays all in good fun. i am thankful to have a good group of friends and the ability to travel.

i am thankful to have the opportunities to do just about anything i want. that really empowers me. i am so worried about what i am doing when i graduate that i need to realize what i want and then just do it.

gosh, that's amazing.

and lastly, thanks for reading and taking this journey with me.

a little wander

it's hard to be believe, but i was actually productive today. i got up early after a late night of partying with some of the theatre geeks and watched nita little give her mock presentation for the faculty and search committee of the Ohio State dance department. when i got home i hit the computer and worked on my voice take-home exam, a bit of memorization for acting and movement, choreography of the trojan women for movement and a little word twist on facebook.

last night i had some of the gang over for dinner before angry red drum, the first department show of the year and my apartment is pretty clean. it's amazing how much more efficient i am when my place is clean and tidy.

i took an afternoon break and rode to tony's place to borrow his wok since brett made dinner tonight at my place and then anne, brett, tim and amy's boy friend shawn dined here before seeing the show tonight. they just left and the quiet is nice. i am full and swilled a bit of gin and wine, plus a swig of espresso with a little carolans.

we will be going out after the show, so i have about an hour and a half to re-tidy and get dressed.

tomorrow i must compete my work and do laundry. actually i am not even sure what i'm wearing tonight. it will be interesting.

Another Round

in the effort of protection, I am just checking to see who's out there reading. If you want to continue reading along at home, please let me know. If I don't hear from you by a week from today - November 25, I will remove access.

Collaboration!

For those that know me, I am a sucker for collaboration. Even my solo exploration for my thesis I found a way to work with a live musician. And today, Nita suggested that she create a laugh score for me to do. For our movement pieces this quarter I have been spending a little time with Brett. After our first Laban project, Brett asked me if I would work with him. I was flattered and more than happy to share my expertise with him. However, once we got in the studio, I found him really challenging me and forcing me to raise the stakes.

My movement piece that explored the Laban qualities of Sustained, Abrupt, Pendular and Vibratory became a road trip where I get a flat tire to an intern at a hospital who has to drive from Davis to San Francisco with a donor heart. Yes, there is a car accident and I am forced to attempt to change the tire, but I went from a ho-hum road trip to a drive with a mission. In class, we each show our pieces and I was commended for something and thanked Brett. I got over the fact that he didn't do the same for me, but was a little reluctant to meet with him again today to work for the third time -- on our next assignment.

"Using the concepts of space, time and force, create a dramatic piece which explores and illuminates four stages of development: toddler, adolescent, adult and elder. Try to capture the essence of each stage."

My idea was to do sleep rituals with a person through the stages. When got to Hickey Gym, Brett was meditating so I started working on my own. When he was done I asked if he would like to play for a while and then talk or just discuss our pieces first. We decided to play for a while, but it seemed early on that Brett was stuck. I told him my idea and then his idea was not to portray these characters in different stages, but to be the caregiver of someone in each of those stages. The conversation quickly switched to Brett being the caregiver for all of my characters. We then choreographed the entire piece together. We did that twice and then each showed our part to the other.

-- A father/daughter playing tag with the Dad missing catching the child into story time and sleep
-- A daughter with minimal interaction with Dad, who after IMing with her boyfriend decides to sneak out of the house
-- A husband and wife getting ready for bed. Bathroom rituals that become flirtatious and seductive that leads to undressing and the start of sex before the baby cries
-- The wife and the soothing of the crying baby
-- An elderly woman praying before bed, as her caregiver prepares her evening pills. He administers the pills and tucks her in. He leaves the room to consider his own aging

It's a beautiful little piece. Well, actually it's not so little. It's just under 10 minutes long. We will each show them separately and are curious if we will be asked to show them together. I'm guessing that by the adults the class will totally know it's from the same piece.

I'm excited to see what happens.

Full on a Friday

Since I just gorged on sushi from Davis Sushi on 2nd Street, there's not much else that's in my brain. I have lots to do, but now I just want to take a nap. I actually said aloud "I think I need an assistant" today. I don't think that's accurate, but it certainly would be good to get my life organized so I can be more efficient. I wonder how much it would cost to fly Erin up here to help me organize. Hmmm. Be right back.

Okay, I did a little looking and I realized that I really have to get off my fat ass and do a bit of cleaning and organizing myself. I know that Christine offered a while back, but she's got her hands full. I just called her to hear about her update, but left a message. Sitting down on the floor drew both my kitties and about a 10 minute petting session.

See, I can't even get the blog written!

Things are coming along, however. I am getting my assignments done, but not really looking ahead. I really need to memorize the scene from August: Osage County for Jade's acting class and read the rest of Freeing the Natural Voice for Lisa's voice class. I also need to read The Trojan Women for Mary Beth's movement class and play with lighting ideas for Romeo & Juliet based on Candice's concepts. I really hate the disorganization in that class. On Monday, I presented my lighting concept for Romeo & Juliet and started going into set ideas. Then it was thrown on me that Candice would be "directing" the paper project and I would be lighting her concept with Josh doing scenic and Sarah costumes. At the end of her concept about individual vs. society she writes, "Lighting, although less critical, can only help to emphasis the concept by providing contrasting looks through angle and color. " I was slightly offended. So this exchange followed.

Me:
thanks for this candice. in terms of the proposal, it's certainly do-able and meaty. however, I would avoid phrases like "although less critical" as used in the last sentence. that really puts down the importance of what I'm doing and the role of a lighting designer.

Candice:
Oh ok. I did not mean that at all. I will revise : ( I was trying to make it not as concrete in order to make you not do all your work over again it came out wrong. Sorry sorry!

This quarter I feel like there is more social time. There are more MFAs living in Davis so more opportunity for getting together and letting our hair down. It really balances out the stressful class time. And I have to say I think I may be playing a little harder than I'm working. This will all shift next quarter when I add a production into the mix. Also with the band, there's other adventures. I'm curious to know what will happen with it. I went to Wyatt's on Wednesday and learned 3 new songs. As far as I know we don't have another gig scheduled, but Wyatt is working on it. With so much going out and drinking I do have to be careful about spending and caloric intake. I mean I don't want to be a poor fatty.

So, it's almost 4 - so, 3 hours before the Art Walk with Josh and Sarah. Plenty of time to read for 90 minutes and clean for 70. And then switch to personal clean-up before a night out on the town.

Later!

A little hooky

So today after a really bad MFA thesis presentation meeting I decided to have lunch with my classmate Tim and that lunch became lunch and a beer which became lunch, beer, skipping glass and going wine tasting. I know, a crazy transition. But since I have never missed a class since I started grad school I thought was a owed an afternoon.

I am currently at Tim's and a few of our MFA posse will be over in an hour or so and we'll eat dinner and watch a movie or two and take a dip in the hot tub.

What a life I lead, huh?

I cannot believe I've reached the end of another week. And after our fucked up meeting today that makes me just want to work harder on my thesis. Tomorrow I get a well deserved massage and then meet with a small team of people in one of the computer labs so I can figure out how to grade my class online. We switched to a new system this quarter and I need to figure out how to communicate with my students and grade them in the same system. Over the summer I used two different systems and I am just lazy this quarter or perhaps I just want to be more efficient.

I'll post pictures soon to keep you updated on the craziness of the quarter. I think I need a nap, but that's not gonna happen.

Poops!

Halloween Shenanigans!

I have to say that I LOVE the first years.  They are making the experience here much more social and fun. Especially since my 2 closest friends - Christine and Tony are in relationship and I never see them a home body I am not. It's also great to have so many MFAs in Davis. With the lack of trust exercises in the classroom, we are making up for it outside of class.

Last night was Josh Steadman's Halloween Party in Sacramento. Brett lost track of time so instead of leaving Davis at 8:30, Amy Cole and I waited for him in his driveway and a hurried and out of breath Brett jumped in the car at 9. Josh called us as we were getting on the entrance to 80 saying he was bored. The party was popping, but he didn't know anyone. He needed a little saving. The rain on the road caused me to miss our exit, so we called Josh and found our way. His apartment was cute and they had fun decorating. After looking around there were very few people that I wanted to talk to. The only guys in my age category were gay. Apparently one of them was Maria Shriver's Chief of Staff. I really should have started a conversation. Amy and I were prepped to pull out an old poll that Amy Barratt and I did at a Dad's Garage party year ago. Walk around and ask people their preferred word for male or female genitalia. I know, I know a little immature, but I'm sure it would perpetuate some good conversations.

Instead of making the rounds and getting to know new people, Brett, Josh, Tim, Amy, Anne, John Iacovelli and I left to shake our groove thing at the gay bar, Faces. I really have no idea what time it was. I only had one strong vodka drink, but I was really tipsy. We danced for a while and watched the scantily clad men dance up on the pillars. After a few hours of bumping and grinding we took a breather by the pool. It was cold and rainy and man, I was tired. The lights came on in the bar. It was 4AM and we headed back to our cars.

My feet hurt and I was exhausted. I slept until 11:30AM this morning and due to the rain, I swear I could stay in bed all day. Too bad I have to clean up for Lynne and Bill's return curtain adventure and start doing work for Voice and Movement. Miss Lonely Hearts plays tonight at a party at a farm. I wonder if the rain will keep us away.

When do I get that nap?