Renaissance Girl

I can't believe I didn't post anything here about Ragnarok performances...yowza. Long story short, they went really well, I am super proud of everyone, am really happy that we managed to pull it off, & am really glad it's over. Even though I loved it. :)
On Sunday we moved the show outside to the Quad--on Friday we learned that due to a scheduling snafu (their words), we had to be struck & gone by Sunday morning. Well, shit. So we annouced to all & sundry that we were doing an acoutstic version in the Quad on Sunday, panicked for a bit, & then opened the show that night. We did two shows Friday night (fantastic audiences both times), & then two shows Saturday night (a little quieter, but still good). Then we struck, which of course went much faster than load in.
& then Andrew, Davey, Robert, Bailey, & Andrew's work friend Michelle (who had come to the show, & is awesome) & I all went to the Elysian for happy hour. We were there for about two hours. Food, drink, post-show loopy-ness, & the best waitress ever, Billie--yeah, I totally got her name & number. This lady sat down & talked with us about planning for the zombie invasion, guys. She's that cool. Plus she let Robert stay even though he's a baby.
So--Sunday--it went super well. It was a very different vibe, but it was still rockin' out, on the steps of the Quad, the actors going totally over the top & the audience loving it. Man, those kids are just so rad.

Catching up on all this stuff is weird...I feel like I am pulling away from the day-to-day blather I used to do. Maybe a phase. Who knows.

Anyway--I have FOUR THINGS LEFT to do before I graduate. Count 'em:
1) Revise my history paper (+ double-check citations at the UW): due Wednesday.
2) Take-home final in Shakespeare: due Wednesday.
3) Turn in the bibliography & receipts from honors project: tomorrow.
4) Paper on Titus Andronicus, agh: due Friday.

The latter is what I am currently procrastinating from....it's interesting stuff, but I feel very blathery about it, & very resistant to writing anything for school anymore, even something about Shakespeare for Billy T. Ah well. I am writing it single-spaced so I can feel more productive when I double-space it.

Also, I am currently obsessed with glasses half full of lemonade and half full of iced tea. This is the best combination ever. EVER. Because it is really hot outside. Really.

Plus I graduate in, uh, eleven days. Did I mention that? Um...anyone hiring? :)

So I can't seem to stop typing the word "bureaucracy" as "bureaucrazy." ...possibly this is a sign?

Update on the vaginas:
Vagina Monologues went amazingly. As Ernie said when he came up to me after opening night, "we did something useful!" Everyone was beautifully spot on, the audience for opening night was in high wild spirits. Saturday Heidi from One by One came to talk, which was fab. The audience was a little more subdued, but still reactive & good. I came Sunday to help with warmups & give my girls cards--& they all gave me flowers & I felt really bad I wasn't staying, but I left anyway, to work on the musical. I heard it went fabulously, & I have no doubts. Man. What a rockin' weekend. :D
Cody asked me to email him a few statements about the show for a piece in the Spectator, & I was effusive & cheesy & it was all totally true.
I need to keep in touch with these ladies. They are fantastic.

In other news, Acting II is proceeding apace, & I still feel like an idiot for ignoring my history...but I continue to do so anyway. I sent Fr. M an email at least, so he's in the loop again. Oh well. Theater ate my brain this quarter....I'm just looking forward to when it can do that, y'know, legitimately.

Leeann left this morning--or rather, I left this morning to go to work & she left some time after that. I took some pictures (she took some others), so expect a full update-y picture-y post when I get those uploaded! Hopefully soon. :) It was grand fun, anyway, & I got to pretend I was on vacation (sort of) in order to show her Seattle & hang out & everything. So hurray!

In other news, I am stupidly busy in weird ways that I feel like...I don't know, these are all things that shouldn't make me busy but somehow are? It's strange. I have a ton of lines to learn for the last three scenes in Acting II, not to mention actually rehearsing those scenes, plus VagMonos this week is stressing me out...I'm superproud of all the women & everyone who's been working on it & I know it's going to turn out all fantastically, but I'm still worried. Ack.

Also, still have not touched history. Need to email Fr. M about that. Plus books I have that I haven't even read yet are starting to be overdue. Uh-oh.

& I met with Ki again on Monday & am about to start in on another draft...this is turning out to be rather different than when we started, which I suppose is what happens when you draft things, but is also a little weird. & I feel behind. Which I guess I will always feel like.

Ah, I am not as depressed as this sounds! Not at all, things are going well, just busily. I have a readthrough for "Wonders of the Swirling Night" tonight, & I am really thrilled about that. Good things are happening.

Am watching Stardust with dad, & therefore not doing my homework. I've forgotten what a brilliantly perfect movie this is! It doesn't try to be anything other than what it is--a fantastic adventure story with wonderful humor--& everyone is obviously having scads of fun.
Some things about it:

1. I really, really want that airship. I want to sail on it. (Fly on it? What would be the proper verb for traveling a la airship?)

2. Seriously, Claire Danes. Why do I not get to be you. I am upset. (There are a couple actresses out there that I really want to steal the careers off of...)

2.5 However, this doesn't mean that I don't think Claire Danes is amazing. Because she is.

3. You know, in all iterations or explanations, he ghost brothers should be really annoying, but they are not. They are hilarious.

4. I'm pretty sure this is the best cast they could have assembled. & a large number of them have ridiculously perfect facial expressions and comedic timing.

5. Charlie Cox is utterly adorable. I mean utterly.

5.5 & his little casual mullenelo at what'shisface (that's what the super-swishy sword move is called) is one of my favorite moments of any film. Actually, that whole sequence where Tristan is being all swashbucklingly dapper, I just melt all over + want to swash some buckles myself at the same time!

6. Yvaine's speech of love to Tristan-the-mouse is one of the sweetest and clearest love speeches I've heard & I adore it. Similarly, their love scene in the inn is equally innocently wonderful.

7. I continue to be totally impressed at how well this story translated to screen with all these changes & yet I love it as much as the book. Well done, people. Well smashingly done!

also, I continue to not care about my history project in the lovely way where I find the subject matter really interesting, but would far rather read about it than write or formulate hypotheses about it. Sigh. Once more to the books....

--but Stardust!

That miracle I was talking about earlier? It turns out it pays to be stubborn & poor, & I'll tell you why: Because Rosa swore to me that Acting II would be in Spring '09, & I planned my finances accordingly (& therefore have no extra money to pay for credits now, when Acting II is actually happening), they are letting me register for Acting II now, Winter '09, & are waiving the fee for five credits.

No. Seriously.

I don't even know what to DO--except, y'know, register & enjoy not having to pay all that extra cash. Haha! Finally, it works out! SU 0, me 1, for once. :D


& now back to working on the script.

(11:11, make a wish.)

I just spent the last hour talking to Carol about my classes & the mess therein. Talking to her made me simultaneously relieved and panicked, since I think we're probably going to make it work, but she brought up a whole other issue I didn't even realize was an issue, causing me to need desperately to talk to Dr. E, who of course is not on campus today. Blargh.

It was very strange walking onto campus this morning--I felt like I had been gone for a very long time. & sitting in Carol's office while she phoned various deans & registrars & so forth, looking at all her set designs & materials & office-like things, for some reason make me really want to get out of school & start working. On something. Anything.

Not that I haven't been feeling that for a while, anyway. Even though it's always tempered with that feeling that if I just stay here & take classes I can hide from any real responsibility...? But that got shot to hell about last year, & dealing with the fiddly-bits & bureaucracy of university life has gotten to far outweigh the fun of taking classes, sadly. So I am pretty ready to be done, all things considered. I will be glad to graduate. I want to start something.

Ah! Have finished my 341 final paper & chronology!

Now I only have to study (probably briefly, since that's how I roll apparently) for my Physics final, then take it tomorrow morning--& I am FINISHED WITH SCHOOL. For now. Still! Almost done! Eeeee!

I feel...productive & useless at the same time? Sort of.

Yesterday Patrick & I went to Elsa's for a reading, which went well I thought (despite the people who flaked, boo to them). I'm excited for the show, which I am not going to say much about since it isn't mine, but suffice to say it will be cool.

& then I met up with Perez, who was full of nervous/bored/restless energy & got me all infected, so we decided to go out & find something interesting to do, dammit....which ended up being walking all the way down Broadway, going into Everyday Music & buying a Starlight Express CD, running into Casey & Colleen, & then walking back. So much for wild nights.

Today we went to review ACT's A Christmas Carol, which was surprisingly fresh given that this is year thirty-three. It was good, & cute, & just what it ought to be.

& then I came home. & have been working on my Galileo paper. Ooooh, I just...it's just all so repulsive, in the literal sense. I am having such a hard time making myself work on anything. It's...fairly dumb. & I also feel sick of complaining about it, too, which is stupid because then bitching about work doesn't really relieve anything either. Sigh. It's almost over.

& callbacks are tomorrow! At least I am excited about that.

Opening weekend so far is going well. I have been getting a fair amount of reading done, actually, while I am pushing projector buttons, so that is nice. It's pretty relaxing up in the booth. Today's between-shows break was spent enjoyably eating pizza (& enchiladas I made this morning!) & chatting in the greenroom, including a half an hour talk about ghosts, swapping stories.

This morning I went to the Prop 8 protest, for a few minutes--I couldn't stay long, but I took some pictures & saw many cool people & I have no doubt it went well. A lot of Broadway was all blocked off when I drove to the theater, & I saw protest-protestors with signs about Jesus. The annoyance I felt was somewhat mitigated by remembering a sign from the rally at the park: "Jesus had 2 dads."


Vagina Monologues are cast! Casting went well, I think. We cast 16 girls (Stephanie was worried about people actually having lines, etc, although I was worried about excluding tons of people...but we compromised). I got to call the ones we cast, which was nice--they all sounded so excited about it. I am less thrilled about turning away so many people...it's the part of casting that is never fun, no matter what. Especially when you know a lot of them. Agh.

Schoolwork: still eating my soul. Moby Dick test: done, I have no idea how I will do. MD final paper: no topic, no impetus except terror of Dr. W. Mock-mock-trial: done, we probably could have put more effort into it, but I just don't care enough. I just want this quarter to be over with already.

Back to work! For another show. Let's break some legs & fingers, & rock some socks.