that time

It's that time again, boys and girls.
Last year, I made (and shared) some New Year's resolutions for the first time in my life. Most years, I haven't bothered, because a) my goals and desires fluctuate a lot, and b) I can't fail at something I haven't admitted to trying - right?

(One's at least an understandable excuse, but the other is just really lame. So I'm going to try not to use it anymore.)

Last post, I told you a bit about my 2011, so I won't bore you with any drawn-out reflections. But I will say that it was a pleasant surprise to look back at the resolutions I made, and realize that I may have actually sort of indirectly and occasionally succeeded in them. Here, have a look and tell me what you think.

a quick look backwards

Hello, friends!

Well, here we are, just a couple of days from 2012. I thought for awhile about trying to pull together some kind of Best-Of post, but honestly, my year wasn't nearly that simple.

at last...

Fall 2011: COMPLETE.

I am writing this from my own desk, in my own room back at home, while eating homemade chili and cornbread leftovers and plotting out how much I'm going to charge for all the textbooks that are about to get put up on Amazon. I made it, guys. Kinda thought I was going to die before I got to the break, but I didn't. And it feels SO good.

I have also learned 2 things.

1. I blog a lot more when I cut myself off from Facebook.
2. I am capable of studying much longer and harder than I thought I was. That's good, I guess.

Anyway, there isn't much more of consequence to say at the moment. Thanks for reading, friends.

procrastination!

I love this video. I've no idea who these guys are or what on earth is going on with this story, but it's clever and funny and you can dance to it, and what more does one really ask of a YouTube video?
(Thanks, vocal_bard! I'll see you in a couple days.)

GAME DAY

Source: tvtropes.org via Suzanne on Pinterest

Spanish final this morning. Let's get it.

no hablo espanol.

Spanish final tomorrow morning. Studying all day today. This is about all I have to say about it.

I break for trivia

Yes, ma'am.

Not much to say today, but I have emerged briefly from my books to bring you this, an article called "7 Reasons Why Theatre Makes Our Lives Better."
Granted, these won't be useful if you're looking for something to help you explain to the family why you make no money, and some of them may be sort of obvious to those of us in the thick of things, but still. It's nice to know we've got intellectuals in our ranks who've taken the time to elucidate these things.

Anyway - thanks for stopping by! As a bonus, here is the single most important Spanish phrase you will ever have to know:
"Mantenga su mano del chulo fuerte."
First one to translate it gets five extra-credit points.

success!

Source: failblog.org via Kimberly on Pinterest

Last night was the culmination of almost a semester's work of work for me, my amazing stage manager and our lovely actors, as the one-act play I directed, "The Blueberry Hill Accord", went up for performance!

hope?

Source: bitsotruth.blogspot.com via Lauren on Pinterest

But the real question is, how much do my professors really care about "trying" vs. "succeeding"?

It's been a rotten week for grades, friends. But hey - at least it's Friday!

startin' stuff

Source: fromupnorth.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Like, say, a blog. Or an attempt at being healthy. Or another short story...

And hey, what's less perfect than the week before finals?

something to brighten up a Wednesday.

(Swiped from Terri Windling's blog. Happy Wednesday, friends! You can make it!)


Address Is Approximate from The Theory on Vimeo.

...cue sheepish entrance from stage left...

Of course, it just figures that the only thing motivating me to show my face back here is the fact that I've got a paper to procrastinate about.

Hi, guys!

I'm alive. I'm reading new and exciting things. A lot has happened since I posted last, and most of you have probably moved on to livelier blog-followings, but for anyone who's still holding out, I appreciate you!

it's almost time to hit the road again.

 from pinterest.com

  also from pinterest.com

I have a Pinterest now, guys. Come, share my pretties!

SO META

Last post of the day, guys ... promise ...

Okay, so I just have to share some of the blogs I have been reading with you guys. I blame them entirely for how long it has been (before today, I mean) since I blogged last - I have been trawling through these guys and thinking, "Oh my goodness, how can I become this awesome?!"

(This issue probably has a lot to do with the fact that the majority of the blogs I read have a clear central topic, and here in cactus-town, we definitely don't. But that's a prickly problem for another time.)

Anyway, here's my internet reading list. Enjoy! Click on stuff! And let me know what you think.

a muchness of Dad-advice

I actually posted this once before, but now that I seem to have drummed up a bit of traffic with a former presidential candidate, I'm interested in hearing what you guys think about it: are these rules about your relationships a little harsh? As my internship draws to an end (just two more weeks, guys), I've been thinking a lot about networking vs. just making friends, and although I haven't made a whole lot of distinction between the two up till now, as the Real Working World and the need to get employment connections draws ever closer, I'm thinking I should start being more purposeful about that.

blog what you see: across the street

Here I am!

man, forget church.

I don't feel like going.

Actually, it's a little bit stronger than that - I have been upset at the end of every church service I've attended in this town, and not in a good, sanctifying sort of way. More like in a You Just Wasted Two Hours of My Valuable Sleeping Time With Your Empty Platitudes sort of way. I have an active desire to stay defiantly in bed tomorrow morning, eat Peanut Butter Crunch, and tune into my favorite long-distance preacher, Darrin Patrick, via The Journey's website.

And you know what? You know what? I don't really think I'm wrong to feel this way. Not entirely.

ambition

So, I just started another knitting project (the last one, a nine-foot scarf, made an altogether satisfying birthday present for Josh - "Look! Now you will be warm forever!"), and having reached the monumental accomplishment of figuring out how to "cast on" (that's 'start the darn thing' for you non-knitters out there) without someone here to hold my hand, I've started roaming the internet for inspiration on what I should make this time.

Okay, so full disclosure - with no more than two types of stitch and one enormous scarf to my knitting name, I will probably not be attempting any of these Any Time Soon.
But wouldn't it be awesome if I could???

Pixie hat ... oh, Etsy, why do you torment me? 

friday brain

So I sat down today to write a straightforward blog post, but honestly, between eating, sleeping and being at work, I have nothing of particular interest to report just now. Instead, I'm going to try the "roundup" concept I've seen on some of the other blogs I like to read - or, as I like to put it, "the better pickings of what's been floating around my brain this week."

another day, another dollar

I'm sure that's what these guys are thinking.

Then again, maybe they're thinking, "Mind your own business, giant wench!"

Anyway, I'm off to work - heigh ho, heigh ho.

Happy Wednesday!

it's the little things

...like, free shoes on the green room table at the end of the workday/night. "Free For Taking!" Um, OK.

GAH! LOVE!!!

7 things

...that I have learned in the last seven days.

1. Line notes may be tedious, but if you can get past that, they don't have to be difficult.

2. Professional actors work hard. Like, really hard. And they sacrifice a lot to do what they do.

I'm famous again!

Dunno if you all remember my vlogging friend Michelle, but she's posted another video from our time in London, so if you'd like to see me (complete with a weirdly deep voice that I did not know I had) and Josh talk in a semi-informed manner about English theatre, go on and have a gander. If nothing else, you can see for yourselves that some of us bloggers actually exist in real life.
Thanks for reading (viewing?)!

I found a poem!

...Well, to be honest, I didn't find it by myself. One of the bloggers I read posted it here. It makes me laugh, because it reminds me so much  of my mom. Enjoy!

Staunton, pt. 2: the glamorous life of an intern

Wow, guys. It has been a long while since my life was this busy! I write you in my slender period of free time, after breakfast but before work, longer if I get up early but that's a bit difficult to justify when the workday never ended until 1030pm...

I should say, right now: I love my job. Long hours notwithstanding, I'm having the time of my nerdy little life here at the ASC. We'll get to explaining that in a minute; first, the pictures I promised you!

Staunton, pt. 1: friends from the road

Hello, friends! I write you from Staunton, VA, tiny mountain town and proud "Breadbasket of the Confederacy." So far, the only confederate flags I've seen have been on the tourist brochures ... but I'm sure that'll change, sooner or later.
Anyway, I have a backlog of blog-age for you, so we'll start with what I wrote on the way here, and work our way forward to the present in a post or two, yes? Yes. Here we go.

***

Saturday morning, I jolted out of bed at the inhospitable hour of 5AM, dressed, ate, said goodbye to my family, and had my Dad drive me to the station, for the second time in six months.

wait ... didn't we just do this?

I mean, I did plan this and knew full well it was coming, but the time's flown faster than I thought possible - once again, it's time for me to pack up and get ready to leave town. I've only been home for a month this time, and when I get back, it'll be a scant day and a half (if that) before I leave yet again.

Great grief.

It's Not About the Money, Part Two, Episode 6: Italian is Basically Spanish, Right?

After an impromptu summer vacation ... I’m back! Let the fun times resume. I’ve been owing you guys a EuroBlog for a shamefully long time (last installment was here; the beginning of the series is back there), so we’ll start with that.

***

Last time (ever so long ago), Josh walked you through our last day in Paris. After that massive criss-crossing-the-city adventure (did we mention that the Eiffel and Notre Dame are at opposite ends of town?), to say nothing of our earlier travel traumas, we were more than ready to move on with our trip. Our next set of hostel reservations was in Florence, but since we had been unable to get a train/plane/mule train that went directly there, the plan was to fly into Rome and take the train backwards to Florence, hopefully resuming our original plan of action from that point.

So. Bright and early the next day, we kissed our ghetto little hostel goodbye, fortified ourselves with a good French breakfast, and headed out.

10 things

…that make life worth it.

1. Well-told stories. Really good ones; the kind that make your imagination explode

2. The perfect coffee buzz

3. Amazing Grace

4. Honest conversations that ramble into the wee hours

5. Dancing

update!

Phew… sorry about the long absence, everyone; you know how it is. End of semester, papers to write, packing to put off, last-minute shopping to do, blah blah blah. I'm taking a break from cleaning out my room now, so here's a little update on things:

1. I'm going HOME today!!!!!! 

Well, sort of. Not really today. Actually, I won't properly get there until Tuesday, if you want to get technical about it. Tonight Josh and I take the last train up to Heathrow Airport, because our plane leaves at 6AM and the trains do not run early enough for us to get there in the morning. So, that'll be fun. Wheeee, airport sleepover!

things I learned in Prague

I'd like a side of Elvis with my eggs, please.

Historically, I am not the biggest fan of mornings. Sometimes I wish I was, but I'm not, and people who chirp happily about fresh new beginnings and early birds and so on are generally faced with my sandy-faced, groggy ire until the first cup of coffee hits.

I am, however, a HUGE fan of the dancings. And music that's good for dancing.

It’s Not About the Money, Part One, Episode 4: They Speak Spanish in Paris?

(If you’re just now joining us, the previous chapter in this series is here, and the beginning’s back there. Enjoy!)

Friends, it has been really difficult to buckle down and focus enough to get this post written. As some of you may be aware, there was a kind of a big-deal Wedding downtown this weekend, which, aside from all the obsessing about the Royal Family that’s been going on, has meant that everyone here gets an (at least) four- day weekend. Pretty much a mini-vacation. And now, I have to do work? What?

Anyway – on with our story. For realz now.

not a real post

...Hmm. There's supposed to be something about a trip to Europe in this space, isn't there?

How embarrassing.

I could blame the Wedding (and the four-day weekend).

I could blame the end-of-semester Care Crash.

But honestly, I'm pretty sure it's just another case of procrastination kicking my butt.

Sorry, friends. I will be back tomorrow, though, with coffee and pictures and wit and EVERYTHING.

Until then...thanks for your patience. *sheepish face*

some minor housekeeping and a hurrah

1. I'm trying out a new background and a few tweaks around the blog...let me know what you think!

2. I didn't notice at the time, but that last post was my 50th! On the one hand...kind of embarrassing that it took me three years to get to 50 posts. On the other hand...hey, it's a milestone, all right?

3. I would come up with a few other minorly exciting things, but it's my turn to cook and Josh is going to die if I don't feed him soon. So I have to go now.

It’s Not About the Money, Part One, Episode 2: They Speak Spanish in Paris?

Hello, friends, and welcome to Day Two of our Easter break adventure! (Day One is back here. Today's post is really ridiculously long, but it's half pictures, I promise!)

Yesterday, Josh treated you all to our adventures actually getting out of England and across the Channel to Paris, and also to a wee glimpse of our hostel and the neighborhood immediately surrounding it. For those of you who have had the honor of experiencing St. Louis anywhere south and west of Tower Grove after dark…yeah, it was a bit like that. Just like home, really.

To get back to the story, though – we survived our first night in the ever so aptly-named “Friends Hostel,” and didn’t even have much of a problem with the language barrier…the French language, anyway.

I'm having a stereotypical American moment, and I'm not sorry.

I'm at the pub with my laptop, taking advantage of the free wifi and eavesdropping on other peoples' conversations, and right now, the highlight of my day is the two elderly men chatting across the room from me.

They're at a rickety corner table, big gnarly hands wrapped around their beer glasses, trying to outdo each other with their war stories and nagging-wife woes. And all I can think of is the fact that their accents make them sound exactly like Michael Caine. In a lot of ways, I'm more than ready to go home next month, but I'm going to miss people-watching at the pub.


(I used to know exactly what region Michael Caine is from, but I've since forgotten. So I'll just leave you with a few fangirly pictures and move on with life...)

...ahem. Yes. With the moving on.

It's Not About the Money: Introducing the European Misadventures of Lauren and Josh

This series is named in honor of this song,which was stuck in Josh's head for our whole trip. Beware that British pop music, boys and girls - it will grab your mind and never let go.

Anyway...hello again, everybody! I hope you all had a lovely Easter yesterday, and for those of you who are now getting into the finals crunch: Godspeed. Over here, we're lucky enough to have another week of Easter vacation left still (I believe it has something to do with a certain high-profile wedding happening in London this Friday...), but next week, I'll be finishing up classes myself.

snapshots

Also known as, "various things I've been up to, in an order best characterized as 'more than slightly muddled semi-chronological.'" This post may or may not be my sorry excuse for not posting more often, but if anything piques your interest, feel free to say so in the comments!

blast from the past

12-18-10

There's a fascinating image in Genesis 18 today: Abraham's sitting in the door of his tent, three men appear, and immediately he runs to bow and greet them as 'My Lord'. Not Lords. They don't announce themselves, and he shows no doubt or hesitation about their importance or his duty to serve them. So I wonder: what must they have looked like? Did they approach like angels, bathed in light, eyes fiery, with the lustre of brass on their skin? I don't think they would've had fire-breathing horses or burning swords, given the occasion, but maybe their clothes and sandals were silver and gold?

ten things I must do in the next ten days

...before I leave for Paris!

1. Finish my portfolio for Technical Elements (not due until I get back, but who wants to worry about homework right after vacation?)

2. Write and hand in a research essay for British Life (joy)

3. Get my money changed to Euros

4. Make Eurail reservations (interesting fact - having a pass does not, in fact, guarantee you a seat)

5. Clean my room

6. Pack up my backpack

7. Learn some important phrases (how do you say, "which way to the train station, please" in French?)

8. Pay my rent retainer

9.  Confirm with my hostels (in Paris, Florence and Rome; probably shouldn't forget...)

10. Buy a pair of sunglasses, because they've got this thing called SUN in Italy, amico.

stairway to heaven

These intrepid angels were probably my favorite thing about the abbey in Bath. If you look closely, you can see that a couple of the lower ones have lost their heads, which I suppose makes sense, if you pursue the scenario of an Earth-bound angel to its logical conclusion.
There's a story idea in there, if I would take the time to sit down and write it.

forward thinking

For those of you who may not be aware: I have an internship for this summer!!!
(Well, two months of it, anyway. They're not paying me, so two months is all I could afford:-P)

my whereabouts yesterday

It's strange, but they seem so small in real life...I could almost imagine them as sheepish, embarrassed to be so incomplete and worn down by their absolutely colossal, mystical reputation.

The "minders" at the site don't let you get much closer than this, and one must wonder why - will the stones get spooked and run away if you venture too close?

good intentions

Dear Professor-

I would like to point out that I had every intention of completing the reading for class tomorrow. Unfortunately, this happened:

I'm sure you understand.

Sincerely,

~L

PS Let it never be said that there is no sunshine in England.

Showtime! (Part 2)

Fair warning: this blog post is TOO LONG. I've been fiddling with it for ages, and today I decided to stop stalling and just finish the silly thing, but if you, unlike myself, have NOT been writing and discussing and otherwise obsessing over Frankenstein for the last two weeks, and are not interested in reading about it, feel free to skip this post altogether. I promise not to be offended.

Showtime! (Part 1)

In case any of you haven’t picked it up yet, I’m kind of into theatre.

While I’ve been in London, I’ve (half-accidentally) fallen into the habit of going to see at least one play a week – usually on Thursday nights. Some of them haven’t been very good plays, but the practice has done a lot to help re-ignite my interest in the technique of theatre, expand my understanding of what’s going on in the field right now and, not least, remind me why I’m trying to get into this business at all.

If you’re interested, what follows is a list, with brief reviews, of what I’ve been seeing. Enjoy. I have.

Paddington (sans bears...mostly)

Yesterday I took a trip up to Paddington, and as usual, the trip itself was half the adventure. 

It being the weekend, the tube line I wanted was under “scheduled maintenance,” so I ended up changing trains three times before I reached my destination. (Side note: the Baker Street tube station is really cool – I think they refurbished the old-school design in parts of it, instead of just making over everything in concrete, the result being that large parts of it look like they were torn off of Robert Downey Junior’s Sherlock Holmes movie set. Awesome.) Paddington Station is big, too, big enough that it took fifteen minutes and two sets of directions for me to find the hotel attached to it.

I'm famous!

If you're interested, my friend Michelle has made a video about the academics here in England, which you can see if you mosey on over to her blog. I helped her put it together last weekend, and she's got a bit of on-campus footage on there, too. Enjoy!

attention, please...

I HAVE A SHOW TO WORK ON.

*cue ticker-tape, brass bands, dancing in the streets*

It's called "Comrades" and I have yet to read it, but it's about two poor Italian anarchists in America in the 1920s. The director (Rob) is a student at Kingston, and I contacted him a couple days ago when I first saw the flyer in the theater building, calling for actors and techies and an SM, ASAP. When I showed up to talk to him today, we chit-chatted for a few minutes (mostly about my SMing experience/style), and he hired me on the spot.

!!!!!!!
I am slightly excited about this. Auditions are continuing tomorrow, so I'll be going up to campus to sit in on those...and we perform for three nights at the end of March. It's a fairly tech-heavy show. I'm anticipating a challenge.

I am now full of both ferocity and purpose. Much like Batman. Or Snape.

Note: I did NOT draw this, I found it someplace on the internet - if you know who the artist is, please let me know so I can credit them!

That is all. FOR NOW.

a small adventure

Yesterday, I left the house on a small adventure. A quest, if you will.
See, I packed no hair products when I left the US, and things have been getting...fuzzy, to say the least. My Aunt Fran (who is both understanding and fantastic) is mailing me a jar of the essentials, but we can only guess how long that'll be crossing the Atlantic, and when I looked at myself in the mirror yesterday morning, I could swear it cracked.

So. My very first multi-train journey solo.

the state of my brain this evening

I have been doing a lot - and I really do mean a lot - of reading about theatre, much of it by "men called Peter."
I'm referring to Peter Hall and Peter Brook, authors of The Necessary Theatre and The Empty Space respectively. Both these men are living legends in modern theatre history...and they both work with/around the university I'm currently attending. I'm not sure whether fangirl squealing or terrified paralysis is in order...?

Finally, Brighton. As promised.

(Sorry this post is late...the wifi at my landlady's house has gone on bank holiday or something, so I had to get down to the pub today and mooch theirs to do all my internet-ing.)

This trip was the first for my “British Life and Culture” class. We departed from campus at 930am, piling into two enormous buses for an hour’s drive down to the coast, where we would experience the place they call ‘London-on-Sea.’

Let's get down to business...to defeat the HUNS!

...Okay, not really. Sorry.

But it is the first day of school tomorrow!

I can’t believe I’ve already been here for over a week. But here it is, Sunday night, and I have class in the morning. (Well. Not exactly the morning.) The new schedule will be going thusly:

and the beat goes on...

I'd say it's time for an update, wouldn't you?

This week has been/is going to be a busy one; I'm not sure how often I'll get around to blogging about it, to be honest, so let me just give you the important bits now:

Day One: Complete!

***Almost up to date!***

Last night, I discovered that the mattress Angie put on my bed is one of those fancy mold-around-your-body, warmth-absorbent creatures. And my duvet (I’m pretty sure they call it a duvet here) is probably made of angels’ wings, because it’s just about that soft.

Trains, Planes and Taxis. Also 34 hours of travel.

I’m writing this from my home-for-five-months in England, so that all of you know that I a) am not dead or kidnapped by pirates, and b) haven’t forgotten about my blog. Again.

Anyway, to begin at departure (Thursday): Dad woke me up at 5am to tell me that it was time to go to the train station…and that there were 14 inches of snow on the ground outside. And it was still snowing. Of course, I thought, The one day we get more than six inches, and it’s the day I want to leave the country.

6 days.

Wow - it's been a couple of weeks since I posted anything. A few updates:

1. We are without reliable internet at my house, and this will probably be the case until I leave the country, so further postings over the next week or so will be spotty, at best.
2. Six days to departure.
4. SIX DAYS.
5. Tomorrow I'm going to see this movie, adapted from a play that I worked on about a year ago. The cast and crew are all going together, so no doubt we'll be a fun audience, and it'll be interesting to see how this film differs from the production we put on- for instance, ours had some really funny parts, whereas it looks like this version will be dark all the way through. And, of course, we'll have to see whether this cast (including the ever-brilliant and usually frightening Nicole Kidman) is as interesting to watch as ours. I hope the rest of the theater forgives us.

That's all for now.

New Year's resolutions?

I've always been skeptical about New Year's resolutions. But this year, with so many challenging changes looming on the horizon, I feel inspired to make some. This is a first. But I think they're worthy goals. What do you think?

1. Seek the truth.

2. Take risks. Especially on people.

3. Look for opportunities to learn new things.

Possibly I will elaborate on these in future posts. But I think this will do for now. Happy New Year.