Lunched today at a French cafe. On Bastille Day, even! It was all plus yummy croissants and fabulous bisques all minus bloody revolutions and guillotines. It was good.
_
respond?
07:49:12 PM,
Tuesday 14 July 2009
-
Lunch with colleagues (and an interesting day at work) and dinner with friends (and a fairly good run of the Birds). Sushi and Trio in one day. I don't know how I can stand it.
_
respond?
04:40:03 AM,
Tuesday 14 July 2009
-
"Specifically, Republicans on the committee will grouse that as a Latina woman, Judge Sotomayor suffers from an excess of identity and a dangerous surplus of politics."
-Dahlia Lithwick
heh.
_
respond?
04:09:04 AM,
Monday 13 July 2009
-
Sonia Sotomayor looks like my Aunt Wilma. Just one more reason to like her.
_
respond?
04:03:02 AM,
Monday 13 July 2009
-
Gods help me, I'm looking at Ph.D. programs.
_
respond?
03:43:41 AM,
Monday 13 July 2009
-
Ohhhh, Bird, Bird, Bird,
Bird is the Word!
_
respond?
11:15:52 AM,
Saturday 11 July 2009
-
And this is just...sad and strange. A camp has grown up under a bridge because local laws restrict where registered sex offenders live. Its a problem, but its also a place that parole officers recommend because its the only place to go. Link.
_
respond?
05:59:46 AM,
Saturday 11 July 2009
-
Whales. I'm not a scientist, as such, but there are times that I would love to go do what scientists in the field do. It might just be the charismatic megafauna talking, but whales are really neat.
_
respond?
05:54:27 AM,
Saturday 11 July 2009
-
Interesting. The 911 call I made last night did not get saved to my phone's call memory. I don't know if this is to prevent accidental redials or to protect people who call 911 from snooping people (probably more the former than the latter), but its still interesting.
Also interesting, when I typed in 911, it came up with a red "emergency" legend.
Finally, its interesting that we still say dial and redial even though we do neither.
_
respond?
07:53:17 PM,
Friday 10 July 2009
-
Another interview! This time in Grain Valley. Not til the 20th, but still. Exciting!
Its only taken until the end of summer, and the return on applications to interviews is low, but at least I'm at the point where I don't feel totally gypped. Four interviews is much closer to the number previous years than two, so, happier.
Of course, if Paseo decides to hire me, it will be moot, but I'll burn that bridge when I come to it.
_
respond?
07:43:54 PM,
Friday 10 July 2009
-
So, tonight was...fun, in that way that's not really fun at all, and then it was genuinely fun as we released our tensions over food.
The long and short of it is, a group of young people grabbed a purse from the backstage area of our rehearsal space, which, being outdoors in a park and all, is hard to secure. They didn't go far, and were quickly overtaken by several members of the cast, and, while the purse was recovered with all its contents, one of the guys on the cast got beat up by the thieves when he caught up with them.
The police were called, and an ambulance, and we never finished the second act, because the theft took place right in the middle of my line basically announcing the finale. There was an immediate outcry and the pursuit and recovery and the cops and the drama and all, and the end of the play went up in smoke. Maybe tomorrow we'll actually get all the way through the play. After all, we only open on Saturday.
So, while I'm glad that the purse was recovered, I'm sad that a friend and colleague was attacked, and I'm mad that anyone would have the nerve to do something like that to a group of people who are attempting to preserve the cultural heritage of our society.
Afterwards, a couple of us went to a local diner and washed our hands and soothed ourselves with fatty foods and laughed and laughed and laughed, because we needed it.
I'm glad I have friends, and I'm thankful for that today. Without them, life wouldn't be worth living.
_
respond?
05:07:52 AM,
Friday 10 July 2009
-
Today I learned something: it is impossible to eat an ice cream cone on a hot day without making a mess if you have facial hair. The whole thing probably looked like a facial.
_
respond?
09:25:54 PM,
Thursday 9 July 2009
-
I took my portfolio to my director today, and asked his opinion. He praised it to the skies, and said, if anything, there was too much. That's nice, because my fear had been that people might look at it and say, "This is it?"
Thinking about it, however, I think that too much is better than too little, especially in this case. This portfolio really combines at least three different portfolios for me, maybe even four: My work as a director, a teacher, an actor and an artist. In almost any other situation, those are all separate things, and its only because I am a teacher wanting to teach an art which includes directing and acting that it makes sense to combine all these various ideas into one place.
So I have a portfolio which is probably more complete than it needs to be, which is good, and impressive as well. I probably should get a better binder to put it in, a lime-green 3-ring with the words "Photo Album" embossed in gold is maybe not the best choice, but other than that, I think I'm ready to rock and roll.
_
respond?
05:47:40 AM,
Wednesday 8 July 2009
-
My feet are so filthy its disgusting. Covered in dust which I don't even want to think about where the dust came from. It makes me more sympathetic to Jesus and Mary Magdelene washing his feet with that expensive oil, it truly does.
_
respond?
05:24:44 AM,
Wednesday 8 July 2009
-
12 hours later, and I think my portfolio is actually in a place where I could show it to someone and be confident that it is representative of my experience as an actor, director and teacher. I'm still missing one large section (Scotland!) and I would like to add original artifacts, like programs and posters, but I need to find them first. On the whole, however, a very productive 12 hours, even if all I did was rearrange little bits of paper and pictures.
_
respond?
07:17:09 AM,
Tuesday 7 July 2009
-
How did it get to be 1 o'clock?
Oh, yes - I did some work on my portfolio. It actually is coming together quite nicely. I still need to include the two trips I took with the high school, to New York and to Scotland. I think that probably comes under "teaching". I also should add some shows I did at UMKC, although the only photos I can find with me in them for Henry V has my face completely blocked. Bah. I'm wondering, for those shows, and shows where I was just a stage hand, should I try to find "the photo" that encapsulates the show? I'm going to try to find programs, but I don't know how fruitful that search will be. I keep everything, but then, I can't find anything.
Last question: what is the protocol for writing introductions in a portfolio? It seems like a good idea, and when I've done teaching portfolios, I've always had to provide an statement of academic context, so it can't hurt to put my work into some sort of context, I just don't know what.
_
respond?
05:58:55 AM,
Tuesday 7 July 2009
-
I've been working on putting together a portfolio for my interview on Thursday. I have two "professional" portfolios, showcasing various bits of my work as a teacher/student. I don't have a portfolio showcasing my work as an actor (its called a resume, isn't it?) or a director. So, I'm scrambling to find things which show the breadth of my work. Scouring my computer has resulted in a lot of stuff, mostly pictures. Scouring the internet has, likewise, yielded some results. I've put together the beginning of what may be a nice collection, although I'm still missing two pretty important pieces (and by missing, I mean, I have to print them out and arrange them).
As long as and hard as scouring the electronic universe, I also have scads of boxes with files and papers to go through. I was lucky, because as I was looking for something else the other day, I came across my notebooks for The Wasps and The Miser. If I can go through my vast piles of paper and find some old programs and fliers, I should be in pretty good shape. The process of looking, however, is daunting, with no guarantee of finding anything. Plus, some of my stuff is stored in my sister's basement. Why is nothing stored in one easy to sort, organized place? Oh, yeah...
I'm going to be taking my portfolio to rehearsal tomorrow, and ask my director if he has any suggestions on how it can be improved. I'm pretty happy with what I have so far. I hope, if nothing else, that it will be a wash, or, optimistically, a genuine positive.
_
respond?
01:42:00 AM,
Tuesday 7 July 2009
-
If that spider doesn't stop crawling all over my monitor, I'm going to have squish it.
_
respond?
11:50:01 PM,
Monday 6 July 2009
-
Also, when searching for files, multiple computers (work, school, home) are a hindrance, because I know I have photos of X, Y and Z, but I don't know where they're stored.
On the plus side, having a working printer is wonderful. I'm able to print things out as soon as I find them. The pile of physical material to go into the portfolio is getting bigger, which is a nice feeling.
_
respond?
11:10:27 PM,
Monday 6 July 2009
-
Well that was embarrassing.
I was looking at a photo of several of us at Aromi during Croquet 2 years ago, and I saw some fat bastard sitting in the group, and I thought, "Who the hell is that?" and I looked closer, and it was me.
I'm going to go crawl under a rock now.
_
respond?
08:34:49 PM,
Monday 6 July 2009
-
So I am desperately trying to pull files from my computer that I can put into an Artistic Portfolio, something which I should have done years ago, but never got around to it. And while I have found some files, the overriding conclusion is that I have so much space and so many hard drives and backed up drives that I could be "walking" right by files which are useful and never even know it. Also, even if I sat down and tried to sort through my computer, just so there would be a place for everything and everything in its place, it would still take forever.
Le sigh.
_
respond?
06:52:48 PM,
Monday 6 July 2009
-
I'VE GOT AN INTERVIEW ON THURSDAY!
Paseo Academy of the Fine and Performing Arts!
W00T!
_
respond?
06:10:46 PM,
Monday 6 July 2009
-
I finally went over to the dark side and joined Facebook. One more social networking site to now keep track of. With any luck, Facebook will be less annoying than MySpace, yes?
What I really want is an aggregating website that will keep track of all the social networking sites and put them all in one place for me. I may have said this before, but that would be the most useful thing for me. Or maybe not. It might just allow me to ignore my social networks more efficiently.
_
respond?
04:58:32 AM,
Monday 6 July 2009
-
So the bike route I've been taking is, in fact, closer to nine miles round trip, rather than the eight I thought. Its still taking me a little less than an hour to do the whole circuit, so I think its about the right distance.
Tonight I went biking with a friend. We met up at a halfway point between our houses, and then biked south and had dinner at a local pizza joint. It was good. Coming back, the big hill which last week gave me a lot of trouble, tonight was almost easy. I don't know if its because I'm in better shape, because its cooler, or because I had a rest in between the there and back trips, or some combination, but coming home was much easier tonight.
Going to try to go again tomorrow with my friend. Its nice to have someone to ride with, and since I don't have rehearsal tomorrow night, will be a good thing.
_
respond?
04:01:31 AM,
Monday 6 July 2009
-
I am bouncing around like a bouncing around thing. Also, very very bored. Its all of a thing.
_
respond?
02:54:35 AM,
Sunday 5 July 2009
-
It comes to me that the only reason we eat lobster is because its not socially acceptable to just eat straight butter.
_
respond?
07:27:04 PM,
Friday 3 July 2009
-
I was thinking about this on the post below, and then forgot to mention it. Another one of my goals is that I would like to get my Ph.D. When I got my BA, I swore off school. "Never again" were my exact words, but continuing my education has been on the forefront of my mind for some time now, even beyond my recent graduation. Part of that is economic. As a teacher, raises are linked to continuing education. The only way to get the uppermost brackets is to get a Ph.D. So that's certainly part of it. But there is another part, which is the joy of learning. I worked harder on my MA than on anything else I've ever done, and it has been immensely satisfying. I think pursuing a Ph.D. would also be personally enriching an rewarding.
_
respond?
09:14:15 PM,
Thursday 2 July 2009
-
I had lunch with a cute today.
Sadly, it wasn't a date - he just wanted to sell me financial planning services, but he's the son of a coworker, and this is his first job out of college (he just graduated) so I thought "Why not?" If it had been a date, it still would have been weird, because, co-workers son. Anyway, I got a free lunch out of it
One thing he asked me, which stuck with me, was, "What are your goals?" He was asking in the context of financial planning, but its still a good question, and I think, pertinent to me right now.
What are my goals?
For the past several years, I two overarching goals in my life: Get certified to teach theater and get my degree. Since January, I have been adding teaching certificates, so that now, in addition to Speech and Theater, I can also teach English (high school) and math (middle school). In May,I graduated with my masters degree.
At the present time, I have one goal: get a job. That's pretty pressing, but ultimately short term. Very short term. I hope to have a job by the end of the month, or next month at latest.
So, I'm back to the bigger question - What are my goals?
On the job front, I want a job, and I want one now. But more importantly, I want a job I like in a school I like in a city I like living in. These aspects will depend greatly on what I'm teaching and where. Place is probably the most important part of the equation. If I'm living in a city I like, I can more easily deal with a job or school that is less than ideal. If the city is less than ideal, the job itself better be perfect. The reality is, however, that I may have to "trade up" several times in order to secure the best job in the best place. Right now, though I have a degree, I am lacking in experience. As I gain experience, I'll have more flexibility in choosing a better job.
Next, is finding a place to live. I love my parents. I'm greatful I was able to stay with them, that I had that option. Without them, I don't know if I would have been able to get my degree or seriously pursue my present profession. It would have been much harder at a minimum. But, as much as I love them and appreciate them, I need to move out, and I know they need me to move out, too. I need my own space that is my space. Right now, and for the foreseeable future, that means an apartment, probably without a roommate. Eventually a house might come into the question, but since I'm young, single, without children, an apartment makes more economic sense.
The problem with this goal, however, is that it is entirely dependent on goal #1. Unless I find work, I won't be able to get my own place. Until I find work, I won't even know where I'll be living. Looking for an apartment now is beyond useless, because I could be in St. Louis in August, or Alaska, or New York. Room follows work.
My next several goals also more or less dependent on finding work (or else, dependent on where that work is). I want to start being active in the community again. I miss having friends and socializing, and for a time, that was mostly being done through theater. My friends were actors, and we did plays and so on, and I want to start doing that again. I've enjoyed working on a play this summer immensely, and I want to keep doing it. Establish roots, network, all that good stuff. The problem is, its hard to establish roots when you might be uprooted at any moment. This goal, too, will have to be put in abeyance until I am more settled.
Related to the above goal, I'd like to start dating again, start thinking about a family. The family concept is a little fuzzy, because my friends have been and are my family, but its all tied up in one little knot. I want to be out there.
Fourthly, I want to make an effort to pay off my student loans. As part of my bankruptcy paperwork, I had to look at what I owed, and while I knew it was a lot, the amount was still surprising. I need to pay those off, but I won't be able to until I have permanent work. Also, some of the Student Lenders have just pissed me off, and so the faster I pay them off, the sooner I will never have to deal with them again. Same with the car, although I am halfway through the five year contract, so it will be paid off in short order.
And that's it. I don't have any longer term goals. I might like to buy a house one day. I might like to be able to just do theater, which might be possible if I could retire early. But I can't even think about either until goal one uppage is complete.
It bothered me, a little, writing this that every goal also came with an obstacle. As an actor, I find it darkly amusing, because actor's are always told to "play the obstacle," but the reality is, I don't think listing the obstacle was a way of avoiding the ultimate goal (which is my fear), I think listing the obstacle is acknowledging reality (a word I used a lot, I think). Of course, if I were rationalizing, I would say the exact same thing, so who knows.
My bottom line is that at present I have two short term goals (find a job, find a place to live) and two medium term/on-going goals (find the best job in the best place, find friends/family).
I know these goals are doable and I am confident some are even imminent, but I am not sure, necessarily, if there is something more I can do to make my goals realities, which is frustrating. I'll find a job, I'll get a place to live, I know I will, but until then, I am left treading water. I know the shore is there, and I know the direction, I just can't see it yet.
_
respond?
08:50:21 PM,
Thursday 2 July 2009
-
WRT this, I still like Bartleby, and it is an incredible resource, escpecially if you want older texts like Shakespeare or other authors. However, without the American Heritage Dictionary, I will probably no longer visit Bartleby that often. I am also doubly annoyed because I have lost my favorite online dictionary, and I really really hope there is something better than Dictionary.com out there, because I hate Dictionary.com.
_
respond?
09:45:35 PM,
Wednesday 1 July 2009
-
Bartleby evidently no longer carries The American Heritage Dictionary. Bartleby has just incurred my wrath.
_
respond?
09:41:25 PM,
Wednesday 1 July 2009
-
Some private musings.
_
respond?
09:40:33 PM,
Wednesday 1 July 2009
-
The Birds
Opens July 11th at 7:30 AM!
_
respond?
11:04:15 PM,
Tuesday 30 June 2009
-
Today I:
Did everything already mentioned below.
Plus:
Shower
Lunch
Meeting
Dishes
_
respond?
09:33:35 PM,
Tuesday 30 June 2009
-
Today I:
Sent an inquiry about a possible teaching job at a Community College in Kansas.
Re-applied to a position which I had applied to back in April.
Rode my bike for an hour.
Mowed the back yard, the front yard, and both neighbor's front yard.
Folded laundry and put away cloths.
Made my bed.
Walked the dog.
Dealt with a missing check.
Still to come:
Meeting at 1:30.
Rehearsal at 6:30.
Shower.
Dishes.
Lunch.
(Not necessarily in that order.)
_
respond?
04:11:10 PM,
Tuesday 30 June 2009
-
Today probably should be counted as a productive day. I Got Things Done. I have a rehearsal coming up. I kept busy and not wallowing, so yeah, productive.
Go me.
_
respond?
10:27:48 PM,
Monday 29 June 2009
-
My sleep cycle is so messed up.
_
respond?
05:06:44 PM,
Monday 29 June 2009
-
