Thursday, April 30, 2009

What is it that impels me to tell you these things...?

The plays are eating up my life, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I'm having a lot of fun, though yesterday was hard. I didn't get home until 10, and I had my contacts in, which gave me somewhat of a headache, as they aren't adjusted for my astigmatism. I should have gone with the better, stronger ones instead of the dailies, as it makes more of a difference than I thought it would. Today was still very long, but it went better.

I learned something shocking today. Not all libraries have books! I met a guy who goes to a college that's library consists of a room with some documents and a hard drive to download other documents. I didn't realize that when I look for library jobs I should make sure that I will actually be working in a library with books housed in a decent sized building.

We have the regional Bible quiz this weekend in Indianapolis. Yay! That should be fun. It will be my last quiz, as I cannot go to nationals. I have to work. Sigh. I have had such a fun time coaching and working with the quizzers.

I should go. Things to do.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Sunshine is a ridiculous name for a bagel.

I am posting from my future institution of higher education, and it is absolutely gorgeous down here! They have leaves, and red buds and flowering trees, and chlorophyll filled grass. It is also the Little 500 weekend, but it's not too bad so far. I didn't realize that I picked this weekend to come down. I looked at 3 apartments today. It is a daunting task, as there is such an abundance of places. I feel like I'm limiting myself, but I also don't feel like just going to random places willy nilly. The places I looked at were all recommended, so that is good.


I am in the music library listening to Beethoven's 5th Symphony. I had the 3rd movement going through my head earlier. Victry is mine, victry is mine... :-)

Now I'm listening to Elgar.

I'm getting excited about this fall. I realized that part of the post-school difficulty might be because I have been a student my entire life, excepting the first six years and now the past one year. It is difficult to all of a sudden be an adult when school is all you've known. I think that I'm looking forward to school again, though it will be hard to be back on the "I always have something to do that is hanging over my head" sometimes followed with the "but I'm going to ignore it for now and have a life." Don't worry, it always gets done. :-) I am mainly looking forward to being back in a community of peers and having friends in the same vicinity. I'm going to miss my work and church families though. Everything is mixed and bittersweet.

P.S. The title theme is quotes from the one act plays.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

I Knew It!

While the Auto Waits is an O. Henry story. I hadn't read it before, but it had his style and literary signature all over it. Now I'm doubly excited that I get to act out a story by one of my favorite authors!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

The Tinkling of the Ice in My Champaign Glass Nearly Drives Me Mad

The title is a line from one of my plays.

I'm tired. I can't believe how busy April is, and I can't believe how absolutely quickly it is going, flying, zooming. I'm starting to get into rehearsals for the plays that I'm in. There's one I still haven't been contacted about, but my part is small, so it should be ok, though I'd like to see the script. I am having a great time with this, and I especially like the main play that I'm in. I get it better now that I've acted it out instead of just reading it. The guy I'm playing opposite is nice and it's just fun. It's just kind of crazy, and it is such an O. Henry story. I love it. :-) O. Henry is one of my favorite short story writers, along with James Thurber and Flannery O'Connor. (Sorry Tessa)

I'm getting kind of stressed with needing to search for apartments and get things together for IU. I have decided. I am going to IU this fall, but I need to register and find an apartment, and tell them I'm coming for sure... Sigh. And I really don't have the energy for it. I'm afraid that I may be getting sick, and that cannot happen. It just cannot. Not until after the plays anyway. I think the main thing is my sleep is a bit off. I didn't get to sleep in at all this weekend, and now I'm getting set on an earlier wake up schedule than I'd prefer. I also didn't get to recuperate from Easter too much, either, so it all adds up.

I would appreciate your prayers for these next few weeks.

Blessings.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Tea Day, Tax Day

I was watching the news coverage of the Tea Parties on some news channel, PIX or something. It is a more local channel, not like Fox or CNN. They were talking about the original tea party, where the people were taxed without a vote, and the news guy said this: "These people of course did have a vote, but they lost." I couldn't believe he said that, and I had to share. He said it in such a matter of fact, news guy way. Cold hearted. Besides, how does he know that some of those protesters didn't vote for Obama and now regret it? But it made me laugh.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Backwards and Forwards and Upsidedownsideways

I had a wonderful Easter weekend with my family, but it was way too short. I wish I had more time with them. I was bummed about coming back, but the drive back was better than I thought it would be; I wasn't depressed like I thought I'd be. My grandparents have season tickets to travelogues hosted by the Rotary Club, and they were showing one on Saturday. Grandpa asked me if I wanted to go, and I almost said no, but it was on Scotland, and since I want to go there sometime, I figured it would be good to learn a little about the land. So, my dad, brother, and I went with my grandparents. I am almost positive that my dad, brother, and I were the three youngest people there, and my brother and I were the youngest people there by fifty years, excluding my dad and one other couple who might have been around my parents' age. I thought it would be a video showing the landscape and cities of Scotland with a voice over narrator. However, they start introducing someone, and I wasn't sure what was going on. My brother leans over and says "It's going to be slides." At this point, with a two hour production ahead of me, I thought "What have I got myself into?" Thankfully, it was not slides. Instead, they showed footage from a couple's travels in Scotland and France with a live narrator, so he read the narration from a podium off screen. Being a travelogue, it was very tame, but it was ok. I'm so glad it wasn't slides. :-)

Earlier on Saturday, my grandpa, dad, brother, and I went to Gander Mountain and Barnes and Nobles. I hadn't been to Barnes and Nobles in a long time, and I got three books: My Antonia by Willa Cather, Firmin by Sam Savage, and Who Will Write Our History: Rediscovering a Hidden Archive from the Warsaw Ghetto by Samuel D. Kassow. The last book I simply had to buy because when I saw it, I started tearing up. In Barnes and Nobles. In front of my dad and grandpa. It was kind of embarrassing. I did a history fair project on the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising my senior year of high school, and that event in history means a lot to me. Firmin is the book I'm really excited about though. It's a fictional story, and the main character is a rat. I'm not exactly sure what it's about, but he lives in the basement of a bookstore, and one of the blurbs on the back says "Delicious. Firmin is a book that is written for Readers, that is, for people who have the book passion and for whom books are as real as anything else in life. Realer, perhaps." Donna Leon. Yeah, that kind of describes me. :-)

I don't feel like doing anything that I should do. Drat.

Monday, April 6, 2009

April is the Cruelest Month

Today we had a spring snowstorm. I greatly dislike spring snowstorms, as they mostly bring disaster and sorrow. Today, I am without power, and it probably won't be restored until tomorrow afternoon. There has also been a devasting fatal accident today involving children. April is cruel. (Though I have to admit I didn't think of it until I saw it on other people's facebook statuses.) So, I'm hanging out in the library. I bought a book by James Thurber at the paperback store, and it is hilarious. I had read some Thurber before, but I had forgotten how good and funny he can be. I do enjoy his work.

We had chocolate cupcakes at work today, and I was reminded of my visit with friends this fall when we had chocolate cake for breakfast and listening to Bill Cosby's "Chocolate Cake" sketch. That is a wonderful memory.

This is going to be a busy month. I have so much to do, and I need to figure out what exactly is going on with my weekends. I also need to apartment hunt. Not looking forward to that, but I have gotten some good advice. It helps that I know people down there. :-)

I have my first play rehearsal on Thursday. Yay! Not many guys auditioned, so we are waiting for a male lead for the main play that I'm in.

Blessings.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Dear Readers

What is one of your favorite quotes? I'd like to collect some quotes, and I'd appreciate some help. So, please leave a comment with a funny or inspirational or literary or biblical quote.

Thanks!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

There's No Business Like Show Business

Well, I received a call today from one of the directors, and I am going to be in 4 of the 10 plays, with the lead role in one of them. I'm so excited! It's funny because the play in which I have the lead is not one that we read for at the audition. It sounds pretty good though, kind of like an O. Henry story. (Who, by the way, is one of my favorite short story writers. Highly recommended.)

Work is getting a bit difficult. I'm down to the really hard pieces, and they are getting difficult to research and even identify. I can't believe that I'm on the home stretch, 3/4 done. It's going to be hard to tear up the roots I've laid down and move on. I wanted to put down some roots, and I knew it would be hard, but it is worth it. I'm going to miss the church. And by church I mean the people, not the building. We are the church, who meet in a building. Also, I went to the women's ministry movie night and saw Fireproof. It was pretty good, though I can't really relate yet.

Blessings.