"A dandy came in with a bottle of gin"
Wow. I have been meaning to post forever and keep forgetting. A lot has happened since I last sat down and updated this thing.
Vagina Monologues, way back over a month ago, went really, really well. I got a shout-out in the Badger Herald about it, from someone who says that, while they know I was faking onstage, they'd be happy to make me make those sounds for real anyday. Jo framed it. It is now hanging in our bathroom next to the sink. I miss the VagMons girls. We got really close really fast working on that show, and now I don't see them. I have a bunch of pictures, and I'll probably post some here at some point or another -- Lorah took them, and they're excellent. I felt really proud of my performance after that show. Not just like I'd been a part of something good, but like I, personally, had done good work. I love doing true ensemble shows, with everyone working together and supporting each other, but I'll admit sometimes it feels wonderful just to know the audience noticed me. So yes. That was good.
After that I did some frenzied catch up work for school, and then soon it was time for a visit from the Boy. And I don't know how much I ought to say about that because really, I will embarrass myself. I basically took my spring break two weeks early, skipped most of my classes, didn't do any work, and just ran around town with him while he reconnected with friends here. It was awkward but not unpleasant hanging out with his ex and her now-boyfriend, although I wish I could say I'd had the brains to cover up some of the more vicious bite marks I had at the time. We slept a lot. I think that's just how he lives; he works and works and works and then when he gets time off he sleeps like a corpse for a few days. So by the time he got his vacation and came to see me he was exhausted. I just tend to find a way to get my sleep one way or another -- sometimes that means waiting a little, but more often than not I just make time. But I was tired too, and even when I wasn't, it was nice just to curl up together, to be comfortable and not worry about anything else in the world. I didn't want to go do anything else, it was too nice just to be together.
Also! While he was here Duncan Sheik (who he'd toured with for a few months as lighting
designer) had a concert in town, so, since he knew the Union Theatre already and wanted to say hi to the band, he ran light board for them. I spent the day hanging around in the house and backstage while lighting cues got set and sound checks got run, and I met Lauren Pritchard. I also met Duncan Sheik, but he was very distracted at the time. Lauren Pritchard, however, is super friendly and adorable, and I wanted to put her in a box and take her home.
At the concert they played lots of songs from Whisper House, Sheik's new show. It's set during WWII, and it's about a little boy whose fighter pilot father is shot down. So he's sent to live with his aunt, a lighthouse keeper, and there's a singing band of ghosts. The ghosts only ever sing, the actors (the actual characters) only ever speak and never sing. I'm not sure how they'll make that work (what do the actors do while the ghosts are singing? Sit and listen politely to the music only one of them is supposed to be able to hear?) but the music was good. And WWII and lighthouses and ghosts? I think they just threw together a bunch of stuff I've been obsessed with at some point.
Alas, the visit eventually had to end. Unfortunately, having spent about nine months apart before that had kind of . . . normalized the distance, I guess, so now I'm remembering that it's actually really weird never seeing him and it sucks. We are being very sulky now about it, and it's a bit embarrassing.
So, then another week of frantically catching up on classes. My Dramatic Lit prof has an intellectual crush on me, I swear. After handing back my paper she pulled me aside and basically said as long as I fill out the theatre scholarship forms she'll definitely be working to get me something, if my exam is anywhere near as good as the paper. (I wrote that paper in two and a half hours, including searching for textual support. This is the upside to basically writing papers in your head on everything you read as you read it.) The Friday before break I went to a friend's 21st birthday party, things got a bit crazy, and now I am very irritable about everyone ever knowing my business. I want a wrench so I can dismantle the UTA gossip machine, please.
Then it was spring break! Only that didn't go so well. I burned my hand really badly at work the first Saturday, and had to go home. Sunday night I got to hang out with Mark and Tobin while they were in town, which was lovely. Monday I think was just boring. Tuesday I worked, which was fine, and then that night I got horribly, horribly ill and stayed that way until yesterday. Wednesday I spilled a glass of water on my laptop, which is now dead. I checked one out from the library to write a paper, which is why I've got a computer to write this up on. But I don't know how long it'll be until I've got a working one of my very own again. But yeah, I'm glad I took my time off while the boy was here, because I didn't get it during actual break. All the catching up on schoolwork I meant to do got lost because I was curled up with the flu, shivering and feverish and without a computer. I had to call into work twice, so I didn't get the hours I was counting on.
This makes everything sound just miserable, but I swear, things are mostly good! I'm a little bitter about the epic failure of my spring break, that's all. Also, I'm kind of randomly homesick, which doesn't happen very often. I just really fucking adore my family (and the friends we've adopted into it -- hi, Sarah) and right now it makes me sad not to be with them in a way I've largely avoided since being at school. I guess being away is starting to feel more permanent. Not that I'll never go back to MN, but I feel so much less sure that I will.
Right now, though? Right now I'm just happy to be well. After last week, my good health is enough to make everything beautiful.
Ack! I have to go print a paper and get to class. Class, how ridiculous is that?
Vagina Monologues, way back over a month ago, went really, really well. I got a shout-out in the Badger Herald about it, from someone who says that, while they know I was faking onstage, they'd be happy to make me make those sounds for real anyday. Jo framed it. It is now hanging in our bathroom next to the sink. I miss the VagMons girls. We got really close really fast working on that show, and now I don't see them. I have a bunch of pictures, and I'll probably post some here at some point or another -- Lorah took them, and they're excellent. I felt really proud of my performance after that show. Not just like I'd been a part of something good, but like I, personally, had done good work. I love doing true ensemble shows, with everyone working together and supporting each other, but I'll admit sometimes it feels wonderful just to know the audience noticed me. So yes. That was good.
After that I did some frenzied catch up work for school, and then soon it was time for a visit from the Boy. And I don't know how much I ought to say about that because really, I will embarrass myself. I basically took my spring break two weeks early, skipped most of my classes, didn't do any work, and just ran around town with him while he reconnected with friends here. It was awkward but not unpleasant hanging out with his ex and her now-boyfriend, although I wish I could say I'd had the brains to cover up some of the more vicious bite marks I had at the time. We slept a lot. I think that's just how he lives; he works and works and works and then when he gets time off he sleeps like a corpse for a few days. So by the time he got his vacation and came to see me he was exhausted. I just tend to find a way to get my sleep one way or another -- sometimes that means waiting a little, but more often than not I just make time. But I was tired too, and even when I wasn't, it was nice just to curl up together, to be comfortable and not worry about anything else in the world. I didn't want to go do anything else, it was too nice just to be together.
Also! While he was here Duncan Sheik (who he'd toured with for a few months as lighting
designer) had a concert in town, so, since he knew the Union Theatre already and wanted to say hi to the band, he ran light board for them. I spent the day hanging around in the house and backstage while lighting cues got set and sound checks got run, and I met Lauren Pritchard. I also met Duncan Sheik, but he was very distracted at the time. Lauren Pritchard, however, is super friendly and adorable, and I wanted to put her in a box and take her home.
At the concert they played lots of songs from Whisper House, Sheik's new show. It's set during WWII, and it's about a little boy whose fighter pilot father is shot down. So he's sent to live with his aunt, a lighthouse keeper, and there's a singing band of ghosts. The ghosts only ever sing, the actors (the actual characters) only ever speak and never sing. I'm not sure how they'll make that work (what do the actors do while the ghosts are singing? Sit and listen politely to the music only one of them is supposed to be able to hear?) but the music was good. And WWII and lighthouses and ghosts? I think they just threw together a bunch of stuff I've been obsessed with at some point.
Alas, the visit eventually had to end. Unfortunately, having spent about nine months apart before that had kind of . . . normalized the distance, I guess, so now I'm remembering that it's actually really weird never seeing him and it sucks. We are being very sulky now about it, and it's a bit embarrassing.
So, then another week of frantically catching up on classes. My Dramatic Lit prof has an intellectual crush on me, I swear. After handing back my paper she pulled me aside and basically said as long as I fill out the theatre scholarship forms she'll definitely be working to get me something, if my exam is anywhere near as good as the paper. (I wrote that paper in two and a half hours, including searching for textual support. This is the upside to basically writing papers in your head on everything you read as you read it.) The Friday before break I went to a friend's 21st birthday party, things got a bit crazy, and now I am very irritable about everyone ever knowing my business. I want a wrench so I can dismantle the UTA gossip machine, please.
Then it was spring break! Only that didn't go so well. I burned my hand really badly at work the first Saturday, and had to go home. Sunday night I got to hang out with Mark and Tobin while they were in town, which was lovely. Monday I think was just boring. Tuesday I worked, which was fine, and then that night I got horribly, horribly ill and stayed that way until yesterday. Wednesday I spilled a glass of water on my laptop, which is now dead. I checked one out from the library to write a paper, which is why I've got a computer to write this up on. But I don't know how long it'll be until I've got a working one of my very own again. But yeah, I'm glad I took my time off while the boy was here, because I didn't get it during actual break. All the catching up on schoolwork I meant to do got lost because I was curled up with the flu, shivering and feverish and without a computer. I had to call into work twice, so I didn't get the hours I was counting on.
This makes everything sound just miserable, but I swear, things are mostly good! I'm a little bitter about the epic failure of my spring break, that's all. Also, I'm kind of randomly homesick, which doesn't happen very often. I just really fucking adore my family (and the friends we've adopted into it -- hi, Sarah) and right now it makes me sad not to be with them in a way I've largely avoided since being at school. I guess being away is starting to feel more permanent. Not that I'll never go back to MN, but I feel so much less sure that I will.
Right now, though? Right now I'm just happy to be well. After last week, my good health is enough to make everything beautiful.
Ack! I have to go print a paper and get to class. Class, how ridiculous is that?