BREAKTIME

It's time for THE BEST DAY OF THE WEEK!

Happy Thorsday!
And for bonus points: Agent Coulson!

8. book that scares you

[Real quick, guys: I just got off of work and, after a block or two of vacillating, decided to come to Starbucks and do work instead of going home and eating dinner/watching Grey's Anatomy.

I had no sooner opened up my computer than one of the baristas came up to my table and, without a word, handed me a latte.
Sign: accepted!]

*

Hello, friends! Long time, no see.
If you've been following along with this li'l books series, you know by now that sometimes I have difficulty making decisions. Today's post illustrates another situation where, much like the Favorite Young Adult Book post, I'm probably just getting hung up on semantics.

a tribute.

Sometimes I get horribly lonely here. Mostly it hits in the mornings - I'll think, if I never even get out of bed today, who will notice or care?, and What's the point if moving away from home if everywhere I go, no matter how cool, my loneliness comes with me?

But then I realize that I'm not really alone, not ever - and it's not because I live in a warm fuzzy awareness of the Divine presence or something, because let's be honest, I'm not that spiritual. It is because I am deeply, humblingly aware of how much help I have had to get even this far in life, how much support and unconditional love it takes to get me through every singe day, up to and including this one. Even though they aren't with me, I walk all day with my family.

this happens.

It's a grey, drippy, moody sort of day. Considering the glorious red-and-gold autumness we had all the last week, this feels like a very definite turning point. As they say; winter is coming.
Under these circumstances, I have very little choice - I stay indoors and bake, and drink coffee, and clean out my desk, and listen to hours and hours of NPR.

I think I'm turning into my father, guys.

Source: greenlikebathwater.tumblr.com via Shel on Pinterest

because exploitation of traumatic adolescent memories is totally OK when they're your own, right?

Yeah, I definitely just spent forty-five minutes talking to a stranger about the hairy, pimply, socially awkward and clique-clueless exploits of my youth. She's writing her dissertation on Mean Girls. (Yes, it's exactly what it sounds like.)

But I did get a $10 Starbucks giftcard out of it. And at this time of year, when everything at Starbucks is all pumpkin-spicey and amazing, you can't tell me that's not at least mostly worth it.

NO REGRETS.

today is an excellent day.

For the following reasons:

1. My Amanda Palmer CD came.

It's just. So. I can't even. ACK.
GORGEOUSNESS.

and now, the hard part. (or, GAH YETIS ARE EVERYWHERE)

Hello, my lovely readers.
While I have not actually been ambushed and devoured by yetis cleverly disguised as snowdrifts (or rather, it being 86 degrees in Chicago today, city buses), it is certainly beginning to feel like it.

We all know that moving to a new place - and following your dreams, and being a grownup, and blah blah blah all those associated things - is hard. People who have done so tell you this all the time. It is a widely accepted fact in most of the circles I move in, including but not limited to theatre people, middle-class folk, recent college grads, and In-Denial Twelve-Year-Olds Anonymous.
What most of us don't realize until it is much, much too late, is that simply being told this is not doing diddly to prepare us for the reality. We think, "Okay, it's gonna be hard. That's okay! I will be strong! I will believe in myself! I am a Strong, Independent, More-Or-Less-Grown-Up Professional, and I can totally do this!"

Hold up there, tiger. Here are five real for real things that you had better be ready for.
You're welcome.

all I need is a sidearm.

Source: imgfave.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Weekends are for other people.
Sorry for the lack of post yesterday, guys; you've no doubt noticed that this internship is doing mad damage to my blogging energies. BUT today is a new one and there is a large cup of coffee somewhere just waiting to become one with my nervous system.

To paraphrase one of Tolkien's trolls (I think?): "Tech today, tech yesterday, and &$!@$# if it don't look like tech tomorrow."
Bringin' it.
Happy Saturday!

NYS&F: Day 1

Hello, friends!

I write you from my lunch break, because there was no way I would have had time to blog, eat and dress this morning. I don't know what it is - maybe it's the change in elevation or something - but I've been sleeping like a rock here in Poughkeepsie. Consequently, mornings are difficult.

Monday roundup

Good morning, friends, and happy Monday!

Source: Uploaded by user via Betty on Pinterest

good ideas come to those who walk

It is true; I keep forgetting it but it's true. Whenever I am out on a walk, it's as if my brain, realizing that I am now preoccupied, seizes its chance to take whatever challenges or questions I've been mulling over and excitedly rips them to bits, making way for a perfectly simple and elegant solution that I really should have seen all along.

This is, of course, as opposed to my brain's usual behavior while I'm sitting at my desk trying to get to work, which is something along the lines of "Oh, wait, what? Did you want something? Mmmm, coffee. MOAR COFFEE. Oh look, a gif of a chicken falling over!" Etc. 

In a related story, I once had some friends who would go for walks - like, serious middle-of-the-day, let's-hike-on-and-on-for-miles-type-walks - all the freaking time. And sometimes I'd go along for solidarity's sake, but the whole time I'd be thinking, "What is the matter with you people? Where are we even going? Why do you all make me feel so fat? WHY IS THERE NO COFFEE?"

Well. Now I get it. And I'm seeing someone about the whole coffee thing, since that's clearly an issue...

tech week, day seven: long live tech week

Source: thedaybookblog.com via Lauren on Pinterest

[Oh, I hope not, Psychotic Baby. I sincerely hope not.]

Well, friends, this is about the end of it - after tonight, we're into show week.
As with most of the shows I've worked on, it seems simultaneously an eternity and no time at all since we first started. And now it's nearly over! Surreal. Especially since this will be my last show here at Truman (#10, at least?), before I graduate and go on to (hopefully) bigger and better things. It's a bit bittersweet, I guess, if you look at it that way.

Anyway, let's not get bogged down in the Scary Future Thinkings. Here are 10 things I learned during tech week for No Exit.

Tech week: day four

Today I thought to myself, "You know, maybe I should slow down a bit. Ease up off the caffeine until it's really, really necessary." And it seemed like a sensible idea.
Then I fell asleep, facefirst in my Bio textbook, at ten in the morning.

Source: icanhascheezburger.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Maybe it's just me, but the French Roast tastes unusually good today...

In other news, I really don't have any other news, because it is gorgeous outside and really, who can concentrate on to-do lists when we're getting 80-degree sunshine in March? It's definitely been a blow-off day. I'll pay for it tomorrow. I'll see you kids then!

tech week: day two

Source: imgfave.com via Lauren on Pinterest

I really, really didn't want to get out of bed this morning. But it's hard to argue with that reasoning. Technically, I have gotten 10 hours of sleep in the last 48, so I shouldn't have anything to complain about, but it's hard to remember that when your day starts and ends in the wee hours.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.’

pricey coffee (and other respectable addictions)

I have decided (especially given the events of my last blog post) that it's high time I started living more within my Broke Theatre Student means. There's no time like the present to start living frugally, considering that a) in the present economy, it'll be necessary sooner or later, and b) I want to start fattening up my travel budget.

Here, then, is a list of things I plan to get rid of/downsize indefinitely:

• (Pricey Coffee) The biggest and sweetest offender on my list; this is going to be hard, as the Starbucks caramel macchiato literally sings my name every time I pass that delicious, wallet-eating coffeeshop. Also the white chocolate mocha. And the chai tea. And just about everything else on the menu...Folgers homemade, here I come. If I get really ambitious, I might even quit altogether and switch to tea. Or is that any cheaper, really?


• (Unlimited Texting) All right, so I don't actually have unlimited texting, although that would be pretty awesome. But I'm still forking over something like $50 for my phone bill every month, and it is causing my bank account some serious pain. Basically, I need to research a cheaper cell phone plan.


• (Sleeping Late) This one's kind of a reach, but darn it, I have a lot that needs to get done and sleeping until noon tends to mean a low-productivity day for me. If I'm going to come up with some alternative sources of income, this needs to change.


• (iTunes) Fortunately, hulu and pandora should be my friends on this one, since I don't have to own their videos/music to enjoy. Unless it's something really awesome...like dc Talk, say...


• (Discretionary Spending) Some ice cream here, a pair of earrings there, a cup of coffee, a movie ticket or a pair of shoes...man, that stuff stacks up. Fortunately, my friends are not real big shoppers, so this one isn't as bad as it could be, but I need to start keeping a record.

I think that's enough for now. Baby steps and all. And if this doesn't work, I could always take the Calvin and Hobbes approach. WWCD (What Would Calvin Do)? That's a scary thought...