10.20.2009

all at once

Last week, I decided to be Joan from Mad Men for Halloween and dyed my hair red in a hotel room in Wenatchee, Washington. It, not surprisingly, looked like a four year old had done it, so Saturday I threw down some major cash to get it fixed. It looks pretty firey now, and I'm still adjusting to life as a red-head.


Sunday, Brian and Jon from work were super-heroes and helped me move into my new place. We, amazingly, did it all in one trip (except for a few things I'm going to pick up by car in the next week or so). I'm all moved in and loving living in NE. Goose is a fantastic room mate, $350 for rent is quite nice, and living 5 minutes to and from work is hard to beat.

Then, I got a bug in my brain in the past 24 hours about grad school. Part of it was looking up Deaf Theaters on a whim last night, part of it was looking at some of LJ's pics from grad school, and just thinking about what I really want to do. I've thought a lot about integrating puppets with Deaf Theater, but for some reason had always considered an entertainment/education model as opposed to an outreach program. Today, I started thinking about theater as a tool for education, community building, expression, and linguistic development for Deaf children. How naturally puppets and dance would fit into an outreach program. Also, that grad school would be the perfect forum to develop a model program for my thesis that I could potentially continue with grant support after receiving my degree.

So, I started looking at grad programs. Educational theater programs, interdisciplinary studies programs, MFAs in theater for youth... then I stumbled across this. First of all, just the name makes me drool. Performance as Public Practice? A phrase that succinctly describes my operating theory of creativity as a mode of being, expression, and engagement. Secondly, it seems to have the structure, context, and support I would need, while being open ended enough to allow me to develop my own program of study. Third, it's in Austin! A place I've already toyed with moving because it's close to family, and as a city is pretty stinking rad.

Phew. Exciting to say the very least.

To achieve my goals though, I still want to get certified as an ASL interpreter before moving forward with this, which at this point still means Atlanta for at least the next two years.

The cool thing, is that as I was thinking about applying, I realized that everything I've done up to this point actually contributes to this goal. Bread and Puppet, Playwright, Tears of Joy... I have learned about/participated in community engagement in theater, theater as a tool for social change, theater as a tool for personal development and growth, and entertaining and educational puppetry. I have experience leading workshops in puppetry, performance, movement, character, and playwriting. It is really pretty great to realize there really hasn't been a time since I left college during which I wasn't actively pursuing my insanely varied interests. All of which have lead me to here, now.

So, I'm really feeling in it right now. My ideas about the life and work I want to create are constantly evolving, and I've got to say realizing how all the pieces fit together is pretty neat.

10.16.2009

the best thing that has happened to me in the past couple of weeks


My life has been all kinds of crazy in the past two weeks. When all is said and done Sunday evening, I will be a resident of the delightfully unfinished upstairs room at the Guzetta-Davies household. Yep, I'm moving in with Goose. It's a long depressing, stressful story so let's just focus on the happy ending.

And now, one of the things I will miss most next year when I am no longer employed by Tears of Joy. Mornings that start like this....

10.07.2009

awake

I had the longest day of my life today, and I can't sleep for the life of me. 

I woke up at 6 did three shows at two different schools. That's two unloads, 3 shows, and two loads. Then drove home 4 hours. So, I basically worked from about 7 am to 8 pm. Drank beer while taking a very hot shower. Had house meeting where we told room mate we wanted her to move out. Other liked room mate told me she's looking for a new place within a couple of months. Cried. (not sad cried, stress at the "oh, my god not again with the new housemates. I am so tired of this ch-ch-changing everytime I pay rent" cried) And, now I can't sleep.

So, I just friended a bunch of people on facebook. After I cleaned house last year and whittled my 300+ friend list down to a slim 183, I realized I had been remiss in dismissing certain characters. And I'm bored. And it's midnight and I have a 7 hour drive tomorrow. So, why not? 

It's been a long time since I've been so tired I couldn't sleep and I don't like it. I don't like it one bit. 

10.04.2009

recently

Hey, so tour is revving up nicely. We've finally hit our stride with shows. Other than a few minor fiascos (like a puppet losing a foot midway through our first performance...) we're getting used to the show and life on the road again. It's funny returning to schools, some of which I remember clearly, some of which just blend together with every other school that looks the same. We're trying to tour differently this year too, cooking on the road (with a traveling kitchen comprised of a coffee pot, hot plate, toaster oven, and rice cooker), staying at cheaper places, and coming home as often as possible. AND, I've been bringing Scout on the road with me! It's kind of the best thing ever. He's super chill of course, and it's wonderful to have him with me/not have to worry about finding someone to watch him for me. So, yay work! 

Home life, however, not so great. The verdict is in on new room mate and it's that we all want her to be former room mate. I'm too tired to go into the details of the situation, but needless to say, it's pretty apparent that we want different things from a living situation, so come Tuesday (house meeting) we're asking her to find alternate living arrangements as of November 1. Sigh. On top of all that, one of my other two room mates that I really like, has also informed us that she's moving out. Her friend found a place that's apparently wonderful and 5 minutes from her work. While I am happy for her and completely understand, lord, am I tired of my living situation changing every 4-6 months. I haven't even lived here a year and a half and I've had 11 different room mates! ELEVEN. That's more than my four years of college combined. Sheesh! I guess that's what I get for living in mecca of young hip twenty-somethings always looking for the next big thing. Anyway, I just want to find a couple of folks who are clean and quiet and can pay rent. That is all I care about at this point. I can handle anyone for 8 months as long as they're clean and quiet. 

I've had a lovely quiet weekend at home (two room mates out of town, the other sick in bed). Full of movies (Autism: The Musical!, and Suddenly, Last Summer - both excellent), knitting, podcasts, reading, and catching up with friends. Went to see Funny People with Goose at the Laurelhurst today, and throughly enjoyed it. Have yet to see a Judd Apataw movie that I didn't like. This one was a little darker, but well done. I feel like his movies illustrate that life can be awkward, depressing, and funny at the same time. Good to hang out with Goose as always, and we ran into on of Dave's old room mates outside the theater! Yay small Portland. Also, it seems that seeing movies at Laurelhurst with Goose, which is turning into a weekly thing, is the only time I've been riding my bike lately, so yay for that. 

Haven't been to Quaker meeting in a while. Just haven't been feeling it. I think it's because I heard through the grapevine that some higher up committee was thinking of nominating me for a leadership position, but didn't directly inform me of it. For some reason this really rubbed me the wrong way. After a couple of weeks of thinking about it, I realized it was that that kind of organizational b.s. was one of the reasons I left the church a few years ago. That and the fact that about 20 people always tend to do everything to keep a religious organization running... I dunno. I'm not ready for expectations. If I feel called, yippee, but as soon as someone starts expecting me to step up, it feels too much like being the preacher's daughter all over again. Clearly I've got issues here I've got to figure out, but right now, I'd prefer to figure them out by sleeping in on Sunday mornings and drinking coffee and cleaning the bathroom. 

Boy situation is complicated to the point of silly. Was hanging out casually with a friend in town, but haven't been there in a couple of weeks while simultaneously developing friendship/flirtation/pen pal/phone conversations with a gentlemen in Atlanta. What? Yeah, that's kind of how I feel about it. 

So, let's see. October has thus far brought with it cooler temperatures, rain, the need for two new room mates, root vegetables for roasting, a delightful work situation, and a new knitting project (thanks to pretty wool from Marci!). Not bad.