Livejournal UPDATE on Life
So, while my updates may make it seem like my entire life has been this paper, I actually do other things too. I just don't have time to write about them.
But now that the paper is in and I'm taking the rest of the night off, I do! I actually needed every last minute of work time on that thing though. I pulled an all-nighter Tuesday, and on Wednesday night I was up til 4am finishing. Then I slept til noon, and woke up to edit and write the intro and conclusion. And the works cited, which I nearly forgot to do. I worked right up until 4pm before class! I was shocked when I got to class, that of the 7 masters students, I was one of only THREE that actually got to 30 pages. One had 26 pages, one had 27, one had 20, and one girl had only 17. HOW on earth does your masters-student brain let you think 20 or 17 is acceptable when the assignment is for 30 pages? Hopefully that won't hurt her grade too badly, considering that this was supposed to be a rough draft. But he did say a complete draft, one you would be proud to submit as a final paper. The three phd students all had complete papers and excellent presentations. I am glad my paper and presentation were more along those lines than along those of over half my MA peers.
As I said, the presentation went really well, which is nice because I came off smart-like and I always want the PhD students to respect me. I was especially happy when after class Andrew (aka, will tippin's nerdy twin) told me that he thought my topic sounded really interesting and wanted to read it. **Academic squeal!** Once I make some edits, I may email it to him. Hopefully he won't think it's bad.
And today, we went through that Gothic Cursive homework from last week. OH MAN. That was rough, but it felt like such a brain puzzle! And when some things were explained about the lettering system, suddenly I could read a lot more of it! I actually had a lot of fun in class. We sorted out issues l like, if there is what appears to be a 'g' at the beginning of a word, it means the word starts with 'con' or 'com' but if there's a g at the end of a word, it means it ends in 'us.' Who knew. Also, words that look like they start in B actually start with either V or S. stuff like that is helpful to know for transcribing purposes. Hopefully the next bit of it will go more smoothly.
Let's see now, what's up besides grad school.
DEATHTRAP! On Friday, Danielle and I went to see the Theatre Guild of Webster Groves's production of DEATHTRAP (!!!!) - Casey was asked to be their fight choreographer! What an honor, and he certainly did his job well! The fights were the ONLY good part of the play! That's not fair really. The wife did well. Everyone else was miserable, and I was so aware they were Acting. Except for in the fights! They looked VERY real! Casey must have coached them a lot, (he talked about that each night) because it was the only part of their performances that was believable! Usually its the other way around - acting's great and the stage combat is a little fake looking. But not the case at all. I am still convinced the foot stomp was real. The old people audience was the worst part. OH MY GOD they were worse than kids in kindergarten! TALKING through the WHOLE PLAY, being diseased, and opening SO MANY cellophane-wrapped candies! Danielle and I fled the theatre to discuss their behavior! My god. Oh, and the intermission cookies were great. I concluded that Danielle would have been a MUCH MUCH better Helga than the girl in this production, and would have made that character SO much funnier. Anyway, you could tell how much they really appreciated having Casey's help with this production, considering how well they displayed his picture with the director and assistant director on the board and giving him a bio in the program. It was a wonderful bio. It really warms my heart to be thanked in it.
PS - you should netflix the michael caine christopher reeve movie version of Deathtrap - SO exciting and entertaining!!!
Okay. that's done, what to talk about now.
Guess what I've gotten in the mail recently? If you guessed a pre-lit Christmas tree and a cooler full of frozen meat, then you're right!!! Hilarious but wonderful presents from my family. My Grammie sent me a 4.5 foot christmas tree for my first apartment. It's lovely and I can't wait to set it up. And for Christmas my parents sent us a whole bunch of meats! Frozen stuff from Omaha Steaks! Like steaks and burgers and stuffed chicken things and twice baked potatoes! YUMMO! What a delicious present. And what fantastic things to get in the mail.
Ok, I'm done for now. Much more is going on, and I have an up-and-coming theatre company starting in my apartment! Must discuss Denali later though - it's relaxo time. After that paper and the Gothic Cursive, I am taking the night OFF. I cleaned the kitchen, and I am watching Love Actually with Danielle. I love that we all live together, because it's fun to chill and watch this with her - if I were alone in this apartment when Casey's at rehearsal and work all day and all night, I'd be a very lonely grad student. Nice to have a live-in friend as well as live-in boyfriend.
But now that the paper is in and I'm taking the rest of the night off, I do! I actually needed every last minute of work time on that thing though. I pulled an all-nighter Tuesday, and on Wednesday night I was up til 4am finishing. Then I slept til noon, and woke up to edit and write the intro and conclusion. And the works cited, which I nearly forgot to do. I worked right up until 4pm before class! I was shocked when I got to class, that of the 7 masters students, I was one of only THREE that actually got to 30 pages. One had 26 pages, one had 27, one had 20, and one girl had only 17. HOW on earth does your masters-student brain let you think 20 or 17 is acceptable when the assignment is for 30 pages? Hopefully that won't hurt her grade too badly, considering that this was supposed to be a rough draft. But he did say a complete draft, one you would be proud to submit as a final paper. The three phd students all had complete papers and excellent presentations. I am glad my paper and presentation were more along those lines than along those of over half my MA peers.
As I said, the presentation went really well, which is nice because I came off smart-like and I always want the PhD students to respect me. I was especially happy when after class Andrew (aka, will tippin's nerdy twin) told me that he thought my topic sounded really interesting and wanted to read it. **Academic squeal!** Once I make some edits, I may email it to him. Hopefully he won't think it's bad.
And today, we went through that Gothic Cursive homework from last week. OH MAN. That was rough, but it felt like such a brain puzzle! And when some things were explained about the lettering system, suddenly I could read a lot more of it! I actually had a lot of fun in class. We sorted out issues l like, if there is what appears to be a 'g' at the beginning of a word, it means the word starts with 'con' or 'com' but if there's a g at the end of a word, it means it ends in 'us.' Who knew. Also, words that look like they start in B actually start with either V or S. stuff like that is helpful to know for transcribing purposes. Hopefully the next bit of it will go more smoothly.
Let's see now, what's up besides grad school.
DEATHTRAP! On Friday, Danielle and I went to see the Theatre Guild of Webster Groves's production of DEATHTRAP (!!!!) - Casey was asked to be their fight choreographer! What an honor, and he certainly did his job well! The fights were the ONLY good part of the play! That's not fair really. The wife did well. Everyone else was miserable, and I was so aware they were Acting. Except for in the fights! They looked VERY real! Casey must have coached them a lot, (he talked about that each night) because it was the only part of their performances that was believable! Usually its the other way around - acting's great and the stage combat is a little fake looking. But not the case at all. I am still convinced the foot stomp was real. The old people audience was the worst part. OH MY GOD they were worse than kids in kindergarten! TALKING through the WHOLE PLAY, being diseased, and opening SO MANY cellophane-wrapped candies! Danielle and I fled the theatre to discuss their behavior! My god. Oh, and the intermission cookies were great. I concluded that Danielle would have been a MUCH MUCH better Helga than the girl in this production, and would have made that character SO much funnier. Anyway, you could tell how much they really appreciated having Casey's help with this production, considering how well they displayed his picture with the director and assistant director on the board and giving him a bio in the program. It was a wonderful bio. It really warms my heart to be thanked in it.
PS - you should netflix the michael caine christopher reeve movie version of Deathtrap - SO exciting and entertaining!!!
Okay. that's done, what to talk about now.
Guess what I've gotten in the mail recently? If you guessed a pre-lit Christmas tree and a cooler full of frozen meat, then you're right!!! Hilarious but wonderful presents from my family. My Grammie sent me a 4.5 foot christmas tree for my first apartment. It's lovely and I can't wait to set it up. And for Christmas my parents sent us a whole bunch of meats! Frozen stuff from Omaha Steaks! Like steaks and burgers and stuffed chicken things and twice baked potatoes! YUMMO! What a delicious present. And what fantastic things to get in the mail.
Ok, I'm done for now. Much more is going on, and I have an up-and-coming theatre company starting in my apartment! Must discuss Denali later though - it's relaxo time. After that paper and the Gothic Cursive, I am taking the night OFF. I cleaned the kitchen, and I am watching Love Actually with Danielle. I love that we all live together, because it's fun to chill and watch this with her - if I were alone in this apartment when Casey's at rehearsal and work all day and all night, I'd be a very lonely grad student. Nice to have a live-in friend as well as live-in boyfriend.