I am here. Here I am.
I have yet again been lax in updating. I used to be so good about getting on here at least two or three times a week. What happened?
In non-romantic terms, my life has been pretty awesome of late. A a month or two ago my sister and I drove up to Chicago to visit my mother while she finished up her training for Aer Lingus (United Airlines, but for Ireland). They are setting up a base in Washington DC, and have hired American flight attendants to do all the flying out of there. My mom is not only out of the terrible job that she most recently had, but this new job will allow her to come home more often. She gets to fly to Europe and work with a company that actually knows what they are doing. Huzzah! But I digress... Chicago! My sister and I drove up on Saturday morning and arrived around noon. My mom (big surprise) was living out by O'Hare in a suburb called Park Ridge. On Saturday we decided to stay in Park Ridge. My mom had a test the next day and didn't want to get back to her room too late. We ate at this awesome little Tai restaurant, and just bummed around this quaint little main street-thingy. Erica and I agreed to take one for the team and see It's Complicated at the local historic movie theatre. It was alright, very chick flicky, but still alright. I have seen worse. On Sunday, Erica and I took the train into downtown to see the Art Institute of Chicago, while my mom aced her test. Naturally I drooled over all the well known stuff: Sunday in the Park, American Gothic, Nighthawks, all the amazing Monets. We also hit up the brand new modern section. It was a huge disapointment. I was thinking that it would be like the Tate Modern or the IMA's modern level. In both of these museums I witnessed a lot of pretentious art, but also some really creative pieces. There wasn't a single art piece in the contemporary art section of the Art Institute of Chicago that I found any creativity in. There was the artist who just wrote a date on a canvas comemorating the date that he wrote a date on a canvas (whut?), and the guy who copied the merrim-webster definiton of words (literally, he copied the page, he didn't paint anything) onto canvas. It was all the fine art of bull shit. However, they did add an architecture section, which was quite cool. They had some amazing models and plans from various periods in architecture, and I really learned to appreciate the difficulty and awesomeness of that medium.
The following weekend Rob, Amanda, Beth, John, my sister, and I drove up to Milford, Michigan for a day of skiing. Amanda's uncle owns a beautiful victorian Mansion up there where we stayed for two nights. Waking up in a four poster bed, in a room straight of of the 18th century, with your sister's cold feet freezing up the bed was as close to living a Jane Austen novel as I will ever get. About fifteen minutes away was a ski resort called Alpine Valley. We all rented some very uncomfortable skiis and hit the slopes. I fell down more times than I can count on my fingers and toes, was mocked by a guy in a chair lift, got some really fantastic bruises, and had a marvelous time doing it. By the end of the day I had graduated from the uuber bunny hill to the Intermediate hill. In between I almost ran into a fence, I did run into some bushes, and I actually started going down one hill backwards. My sister, however, won for funniest fall of the day. Midway down the Intermediate-Advanced hill she lost her ski with the boot attached. It managed to slide down about half the hill on it's own, before running into a bunch of trees. A friendly ten year-old snow boarder managed to fish it out for her. Everyone limped for days, and we all plan to go again next year.
In a week or so, Amanda, Beth, and I will be moving into a house in Broad Ripple. While the bedrooms are far smaller, the kitchen is far bigger (and new!). Also the house is less expensive than our current place and the parking situation is better. Plus, living in the Ripple should be nice.
As far as ye olde career goes, I have hit another dry patch. They gave the promotion that I have been working so hard for, to someone else. The reason: he went over my two immediate bosses heads and told their boss that he wanted it. And he gave it to him! *facepalm* I clearly suck at office politics. I also have been failing at aquiring acting gigs. I mean I have been trying out for anything and everything, and I can't get cast to save my life. Community theatre? Nope. Summer Shakespeare in the park? Nope. I even auditioned for a play where the director said that he was going to cast everyone, and I still didn't get cast (WTF?). Needless to say, my ego is tiny right now. However, it all might have been serendipity, because I was able to sign up for a voice acting class that, if I play my cards right, might open up doors to radio commercials. Get. Hyped. I also just got a call from Hilary (the company manager here at the IRT) today asking me to do a small promotional acting gig for them on April 10th, 11th, and 12th. They apparently liked working with me for the Bonderman, and I am not sneezing at the extra $200 that they are going to pay me either. I feel better now.
In non-romantic terms, my life has been pretty awesome of late. A a month or two ago my sister and I drove up to Chicago to visit my mother while she finished up her training for Aer Lingus (United Airlines, but for Ireland). They are setting up a base in Washington DC, and have hired American flight attendants to do all the flying out of there. My mom is not only out of the terrible job that she most recently had, but this new job will allow her to come home more often. She gets to fly to Europe and work with a company that actually knows what they are doing. Huzzah! But I digress... Chicago! My sister and I drove up on Saturday morning and arrived around noon. My mom (big surprise) was living out by O'Hare in a suburb called Park Ridge. On Saturday we decided to stay in Park Ridge. My mom had a test the next day and didn't want to get back to her room too late. We ate at this awesome little Tai restaurant, and just bummed around this quaint little main street-thingy. Erica and I agreed to take one for the team and see It's Complicated at the local historic movie theatre. It was alright, very chick flicky, but still alright. I have seen worse. On Sunday, Erica and I took the train into downtown to see the Art Institute of Chicago, while my mom aced her test. Naturally I drooled over all the well known stuff: Sunday in the Park, American Gothic, Nighthawks, all the amazing Monets. We also hit up the brand new modern section. It was a huge disapointment. I was thinking that it would be like the Tate Modern or the IMA's modern level. In both of these museums I witnessed a lot of pretentious art, but also some really creative pieces. There wasn't a single art piece in the contemporary art section of the Art Institute of Chicago that I found any creativity in. There was the artist who just wrote a date on a canvas comemorating the date that he wrote a date on a canvas (whut?), and the guy who copied the merrim-webster definiton of words (literally, he copied the page, he didn't paint anything) onto canvas. It was all the fine art of bull shit. However, they did add an architecture section, which was quite cool. They had some amazing models and plans from various periods in architecture, and I really learned to appreciate the difficulty and awesomeness of that medium.
The following weekend Rob, Amanda, Beth, John, my sister, and I drove up to Milford, Michigan for a day of skiing. Amanda's uncle owns a beautiful victorian Mansion up there where we stayed for two nights. Waking up in a four poster bed, in a room straight of of the 18th century, with your sister's cold feet freezing up the bed was as close to living a Jane Austen novel as I will ever get. About fifteen minutes away was a ski resort called Alpine Valley. We all rented some very uncomfortable skiis and hit the slopes. I fell down more times than I can count on my fingers and toes, was mocked by a guy in a chair lift, got some really fantastic bruises, and had a marvelous time doing it. By the end of the day I had graduated from the uuber bunny hill to the Intermediate hill. In between I almost ran into a fence, I did run into some bushes, and I actually started going down one hill backwards. My sister, however, won for funniest fall of the day. Midway down the Intermediate-Advanced hill she lost her ski with the boot attached. It managed to slide down about half the hill on it's own, before running into a bunch of trees. A friendly ten year-old snow boarder managed to fish it out for her. Everyone limped for days, and we all plan to go again next year.
In a week or so, Amanda, Beth, and I will be moving into a house in Broad Ripple. While the bedrooms are far smaller, the kitchen is far bigger (and new!). Also the house is less expensive than our current place and the parking situation is better. Plus, living in the Ripple should be nice.
As far as ye olde career goes, I have hit another dry patch. They gave the promotion that I have been working so hard for, to someone else. The reason: he went over my two immediate bosses heads and told their boss that he wanted it. And he gave it to him! *facepalm* I clearly suck at office politics. I also have been failing at aquiring acting gigs. I mean I have been trying out for anything and everything, and I can't get cast to save my life. Community theatre? Nope. Summer Shakespeare in the park? Nope. I even auditioned for a play where the director said that he was going to cast everyone, and I still didn't get cast (WTF?). Needless to say, my ego is tiny right now. However, it all might have been serendipity, because I was able to sign up for a voice acting class that, if I play my cards right, might open up doors to radio commercials. Get. Hyped. I also just got a call from Hilary (the company manager here at the IRT) today asking me to do a small promotional acting gig for them on April 10th, 11th, and 12th. They apparently liked working with me for the Bonderman, and I am not sneezing at the extra $200 that they are going to pay me either. I feel better now.