pretty much all I have to say today.

1. We just closed Six Dead Queens this weekend. I'm gonna miss those ladies. More immediately, though, the usual post-show immune-system shutdown is proceeding about as expected.

2. As a direct result of the first point, I am now going in for my first shift at Planet Access that does not involve an enormous backpack with food, change of clothes, and laptop for going to the theater afterwards. (It's the little things.)

3. I'm going home tomorrow, for almost a whole WEEK.

Source: tuckedstyle.com via Lauren on Pinterest

I might have little-to-no money and about the same amount of upper-respiratory cooperation, but life is good today.

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.

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?

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.

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!

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*

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.

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:

21.

Interesting coincidence: that's both my age today and (roughly) the number of days left to departure. Happy Birthday to me!


For today's post, we have some Dad-advice that I received about this time last year. Technically, it's all from Colin Powell, but came via my father and is all very, very Dad-advice-like in content.


I thought this post would be appropriate because this year, these kinds of injunctions actually mean something to me. I mean, sure, most of us hear this sort of thing from our parents our entire lives, starting at the age of reason if not earlier. (My personal favorite: "If everyone else jumped off a cliff, would you do it too?" This always seemed like an insufferably stupid question to me, as it overlooked a number of important factors - how high is the cliff? Is there special equipment involved? Are we, for example, base-jumping? ...That probably tells you about as much as you can stand about what kind of child I was.) But now I've gotten old enough, and made enough mistakes, to know what they're talking about. 


So. Here we go. (Thanks, Dad. :) 
**

SOLID WORDS FROM COLIN POWELL

The less you associate with some people, the more your life will improve.
Any time you tolerate mediocrity in others, it increases your mediocrity.
An important attribute in successful people is their impatience with negative thinking and negative acting people.
As you grow, your associates will change.
Some of your friends will not want you to go on.
They will want you to stay where they are.
Friends that don't help you climb will want you to crawl.
Your friends will stretch your vision or choke your dream. Those that don't increase you will eventually decrease you.
Never receive counsel from unproductive people.
Never discuss your problems with someone incapable of contributing to the solution, because those who never succeed themselves are always first to tell you how.
Not everyone has a right to speak into your life.
You are certain to get the worst of the bargain when you exchange ideas with the wrong person.
Don't follow anyone who's not going anywhere.
With some people you spend an evening: with others you invest it.
Be careful where you stop to inquire for directions along the road of life.
Wise is the person who fortifies his life with the right friendships.
A mirror reflects a man's face, but what he is really like is shown by the kind of friends he chooses.
The simple but true fact of life is that you become like those with whom you closely associate - for the good and the bad.
In Prosperity Our Friends Know Us. In Adversity We Know Our Friends.

This is applicable to family as well as friends.
Do love, appreciate and be thankful for your family, for they will always be your family no matter what.
Just know that they are human first and though they are family to you, they may be a friend to someone else and will fit somewhere in the criteria above.

Never make someone a priority when you are only an option for them.
If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. 

Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.

33 days.

Thirty-three days. A little over a month. And then, the adventure begins.
One month, to pack, plan, buy, clean, write, send, discuss, gather, fill out, arrange, check, double-check, and wait. How did this happen so fast? I'm hardly ready. Somehow this snuck up on me. There's so much to DO - and so many people to spend time with, to invest in, to get to know (and wish I'd gotten to know better) before I leave for five months.

January 21st, we arrive in London. Before that, there's a stopover in Copenhagen, after a departure from O'Hare International in Chicago, after a five-hour train ride from St. Louis to Chicago. Two days of travel, more or less. It's going to be exhausting, but exhilarating, and even more so if no luggage gets lost along the way (fingers crossed). I'll have to train myself to take at least a few pictures. I may have to buy myself a non-antiquated digital camera, and *then* train myself to take pictures...but we'll see what Christmas brings.

Dear Lord, I'm not ready. But here it comes anyway. It's funny how we pretend time goes in a straight line, when it's perfectly obvious for things like this that it's all balled up and stretched and crazy-tangled together. Most of all, I pray that I'll put this frankly priceless month to good use, and not take it for granted.