the end of an era...has already happened.

Hello friends,

Recently, I've had a couple of friends complain that I haven't updated this blog in forever, and when was there going to be another post? After I had gotten over my mild shock at the fact that they were actually reading it, I realized that it's only polite to let you all know what's going on.
So, here 'tis - and, by the way, if you are reading this, thanks for hanging out so long!

I started this blog way back in 2009, when I was but a wee freshman in college and laboring under the delusion that I had something significant to say (I did not, but that didn't keep me from saying it, oh no indeed). I kept it up, more or less, through eight semesters, one ill-advised relationship, four months abroad, a couple internships, several jobs, and more tiny breakdowns and quiet panic attacks than I care to count. Sometimes, it's been nice to feel like there might be someone out there even passingly interested in what's going on with my life, or who might sympathize with my problems - and other times, it's been a super handy way to keep up with family and friends who are too far away to have any other way of knowing what I'm up to.

A lot has changed since freshman year, though (thank goodness)! College is well behind me now; I have a two jobs, an apartment, a professional resume and a serious partner. I'm a very different person than I was in college, and I have very different things to say. It's been surprisingly difficult to admit that while blogging here with Valentine, though, and so, as of a few months ago, my time blogging here has come to an end. If you'd like to follow me in my writings elsewhere, my email's right up there in my bio - let me know! If not, though, I still appreciate your presence this long.

As always, thanks for reading. Onward and upward!

So Apparently Being An Adult Means You Can’t Ride in the Grocery Cart OR The Laundry Basket, aka This Sucks, and To Top It All Off, the Laundromat Doesn’t Have WiFi

Happy Thor’s Day, people of the internet!

META-THOR.

Full disclosure - I am actually writing this ahead of time, on Wednesday. Also, in case you hadn’t guessed, I am sitting at the laundromat down the street from our apartment, waiting for my clothes to dry and being slowly and gently fleeced in the meantime. (It costs at least five dollars for us to do two weeks of laundry down here. Can you imagine? Five whole dollars. That’s almost as much as I paid in library fines yesterday.)

{insert something clever here}

Good afternoon and Happy Wednesday, people of the internet!

At one point, I drafted a terribly long and thinky and super-seriously overblown blog post meant to reintroduce myself in this space, but then I lost it in an explosion of visitors and overdue paperwork. In the long run, I'm glad I did, because it was so awful, guys. Suffice to say that I'm back, I've got a whole pile of new and exciting and slightly different things I might be writing about, and I will also include the occasional life update, as it occurs to me, because it's been brought to my attention that certain of you would sure like to know I am still alive. Fair enough!

For now, though...because they are definitely more interesting than me rambling on in the abstract about where my head's been lately...delicious links!

AFP being awesome (as per usual)

If we know each other very well at all, you will already be aware of my mad fangirling feels about Amanda Palmer. This is a link to her blog post thanking all the people who helped with her recent TED Talk (which was lovely and you should watch it if you haven't already!), and I am pretty much in love with how she does music, celebrity, vulnerability, people and life in general. Especially in this instance - it's not usually that sexy to talk in detail about all the little random people who have held you up on your way to rockstar-dom (literally or figuratively), but she makes a point of it, and yes, she makes it sexy. Here's the creative process, she says - no, there's no loner genius here; instead it's a hundred drafts and a thousand cups of tea and a million listening, critiquing, encouraging friends. Read her. Listen to her. Love her. Join the movement. You're welcome.

The Middle.

I've been following this blogger named Jamie The Very Worst Missionary for awhile now, off and on, and aside from being a refreshingly Real person (dude, she talks about poop way too much to be a proper Christian blogger; it's great), she occasionally hosts her awesome friends to talk about important things - in this case, God, Jewish holidays, categories, and living in the tension. I'm not Jewish, but I live on the Christianity spectrum, and the philosophy behind this post feels a lot like the places my God And The Universe-related thoughts have been exploring lately.

Vintage.Black.Glamour.

I think the title says it all, really. I could try to come up with something profound about blackness and beauty and portrayals as they change over time, but I think we're all smart enough to just mentally fill that in...

In other news, the show I'm stage managing closes on Sunday (that went fast!), I've got at least two more projects lined up for after that, and life is goooood, if slightly hectic! Thanks for reading, friends. Be back in a bit.

~L

5. book you wish you could live in

Enter Stage Left: the best thing ever.

(more or less) everything you need to know for your trip to the border. 

This is only one of the most recent books in the great grand shared-world anthology series that is the Bordertown books, but it's the one I got started on. First book I ever contemplated stealing from the library, as a matter of fact (I didn't). Now that I'm older and have something resembling a half-decent income, I've moved on to collecting them in (usually) more legitimate ways.

MORE updates on various endeavors! (now with 25% more endeavors and a 300% increase in funny pictures!)

Right, so I feel that the title of this blog post may require some explanation.

Over the course of my blogging existence, Blogger.com has been keeping tabs on my stats - things like where my site traffic comes from, where my audience is reading from (as of today, I seem to have almost as many readers in Russia as I do in the U.S. - thanks, Russia!), and which posts they view the most.

This last, in particular, is incredibly unpredictable. Today I looked up and saw that my most popular post of all time - all time, mind you, since this little cactus' very beginnings - is this one.

Dear readers. I love you. But I have to admit, you mystify me.
Don't get me wrong; it's great that you find my life-updates so interesting! But...what about the koala bears? The combovers? What about Magic Bracelet man? Has everyone forgotten the Magic Bracelet man???

Source: someecards.com via Lauren on Pinterest

there's no such thing as a weekend anymore.

Good morning, internet friends!

Woke up this morning with this song playing in my head; thought I'd share it with you.



This morning I restarted work on a story that I'm really excited about, but also kind of intimidated by. I also outlined a 5-minute play that I've been commissioned to write by the end of next week. It's been awhile since I devoted real time to fiction writing, so I'm a little rusty, but right now I'm just getting words on the page.

In other news, I have a couple of phone interviews for next week, and at least two potential employers waiting on standby to see whether the money works out. I can't be more specific than that just yet, but I am very hopeful.

Happy weekend, everyone, and thanks for reading. I hope to have happy announcements soon...

a lame apology + a video that is the opposite of lame

Hey, guys.

Well, first thing's first - as you've all no doubt noticed, my follow-through could use some work. Like, a lot. Last Wednesday I sat down to write the promised blog post, and my brain froze up like a deer in headlights (and the fact that I hadn't actually done any work that day probably didn't help). You ever get that thing, you know, that really really lame thing, where you're so scared of screwing up that you don't try in the first place?

Yep. That's pretty much my M.O. Am working on it. But it still crops up from time to time. I'm sorry about that, and I'll try to do better moving forward.

ANYway, on to much cooler things, yes?

5 Things I Learned from Production Managing the New Works Festival

Truth.

back again

Hello, friends!
So, it's been awhile since I wrote here, but Blogger tells me you've been visiting a lot anyway, which is nice to see. I've said this before, but seriously, guys - if there's something in particular you'd like me to do a blog post about, let me know and I'll do it. I'm interested in what interests you.

Anyway, here are the highlights of what I've been up to since we last talked.

1. I finished my last week of undergraduate classes. (woot!)
2. I production managed a play festival.
3. I got published.
4. I received (and signed) my contract for this summer with New York Stage and Film.
5. I went to an amazing end-of-the-year banquet with 50 or so of my closest theatre department friends. (Seriously, it was amazing. You should probably be jealous.)

The senior class, all dolled up in our banquet finery.
Photo taken by Anna Selle, courtesy of Cassandra White.

There are a bunch of things I could write about recent events, but they will definitely not all fit into one post. So I'm going to break them up, and hopefully get through the interesting stuff while it's still current/relevant. In the meantime: I hope you're having a lovely weekend, and thanks for reading!

just keep on truckin'...

Happy Tuesday After Easter! Which, if you're in school, is a lot like Happy Monday!, because we all got Monday off but probably didn't do anything sensible with it, e.g. the homework that is due this week, or in the next three weeks (feels like: eight seconds) before the end of the semester, and graduation. Time to get a move on, I guess.

Here are a few interesting tidbits from my before-breakfast internet woolgathering research:

Why it sometimes really sucks to be a female on the internet (unless, of course, you are as unfailingly sweet and nice as A Cactus Named Valentine): Promixa Thule points out some internet masochism that doesn't have anything to do with porn.

Kris Rusch on being in the arts (she writes primarily towards writers, but I think the advice works for all of us liberal arts kids) and how not to give up on yourself. Or if you have, how to get back on track.

A video about Snow White and the Huntsman costumes, which I would have loved to be a part of making, because they are gorgeous!

The most adorable thing in the world:

Source: urlybits.com via Joshua on Pinterest

That's all for now. Thanks for reading, happy Tuesday, and may the odds (for graduation, at least) be ever in  your favor...

I need an attention span upgrade.

Hello, friends!

At this moment, I have six blogs and two Google docs I'm switching back and forth between reading, simultaneiously writing a shockingly overdue letter to a dear (and patient) friend, glancing occasionally at my Bio textbook, and trying to get in the mental headspace to edit some intriguing new shorts by my favorite writer to cuddle with.

Also, it's really pretty outside and I wish I was there. But I have so much work to do!
Naturally, that makes Right Now an excellent time to update the blog.

7 things

...that have been awesome about today.

Source: smleggett.blogspot.com via Emily on Pinterest

an experiment

So, a couple of posts ago, I talked about how I'm writing short stories this year. Well, right now I'm working on something that shows all the signs of turning into a novella (much against my will, mind you), and a couple of experimental things that, for lack of a better term, I'm calling text message stories.

Here's the first section of one. At the moment, it's called "P + E: A Love Story In Text Messages." If you read it, please let me know what you think! I haven't decided whether I'll finish it, but so far it's been fun and easy to write.
Thanks for reading, friends.

updates on various endeavors

This is my mantra for the year, and not just at the gym, although it does run though my head while I'm trying to work off those delicious Christmas cookies that I once consumed with gleeful abandon and now regret with every particle of my soul. No, no. This sentiment - that doing something towards your goals is always better than not trying at all, even if you're not accomplishing a whole lot - can be applied to a couple of other things I'm attempting right now.

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?

...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!

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.

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."

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!