The Laramie Project

Tonight I saw the final preview of The Laramie Project that my school is putting on. My first reaction was "amazing!" It was put on in the black box theatre, so it was really intimate. I don't think the actors were even wearing stage makeup. The way the audience was set up there were several rows of seating right in front of the performance space, and two rows on either side, so it was a bit of a half-assed theatre in the round. I was sitting in the front row stage right, so there were times when I was behind the actors, which was interesting.

(I realize I'm typing this somewhat like a school paper, but that's because I plan to use these first reactions as a reference in a paper I need to write about it.)

Anyway, the set was extremely minimal, consisting only of three levels of platforms and a few chairs and tables. This allowed the space to be used as any location necessary. The whole concept of the show was that they were reenacting interviews taken by the citizens of Laramie, Wyoming, right after the attack on Matthew Shepherd, so there were a lot of locations, but none of these locations were described in much detail. The lighting played a lot into setting the scene and pulling focus from one spot to another, and the only times when the space was entirely dark was at the ends of Acts one and two.

In an ensemble show like this where all of the actors play multiple characters, the actors did a good job in differentiating each of their characters to the audience. The mannerisms of each character distinguished them each from all of the others, in accordance with the subtle costume changes.

Afterword, there was a small talk-back session with the director, and it was really interesting to hear his comments on the show. Apparently, he was actually able to talk with the playwright and several of the other members of the theater company that conducted the interviews, and he got the playwrights permission to change a couple of the scenes that were meant to be held on the phone into in person confrontations. That was pretty cool to learn.

I actually started to cry a little during Dennis Shepherd's speech in Act three about how one of the guys that killed Matthew deserved to die, but he wanted him to live and remember what he did to his son. That was a really emotional moment, especially because the lighting was really low, and there was a blue light behind him that made everything seem more dramatic. Very intense.

Anyway, I have to get to bed or my roommate will probably kill me in the morning when she has to wake up for her 8 AM class and I get to sleep in.

Days until NaNo starts: 2

You can always go back home...

So I retract my previous statement of a few months ago about not being able to call that place that my parents own "home" anymore because I went there over the weekend, and as soon as I stepped inside on Thursday evening, I thought "I'm HOME!"

So yes, last weekend was lovely almost in an "escape from reality" sort of way. I got to see my family, and I got to see my three best friends who all just happened to stay at home. I contemplated transferring to UCSC to be closer to home, but then I thought of all the new friends I'm making here and how I want to have time to get to know them, and how much progress I'm making in the whole "becoming an adult" thing. I think I'll feel much better about being here once I'm not in a dorm room anymore. The lack of furry pets and privacy is kicking my ass. I just have to reassure myself that it is only until June. Of course, with that mentality, I will waste my entire year and look back on my Freshman year of college wondering "what did I do that year??"

Anyway, I'm back in those dorms now, and my roommate still hasn't shown up from her trip home this weekend. I have to say, this whole college experience reminds me so much of Looking For Alaska with the no smoking or alcohol, but some people do it anyway, and the people who live close enough are the "Weekday Warriors." Yeah, I have little private geek-out sessions. All the time.

I think if things don't change soon, I am going to start demanding hugs. I miss those. I used to get hugs every day, and now I don't get any hugs at all. This needs to change.

My writing style is always so fragmented, I've noticed... I start really strongly on one topic, and then start to ricochet off onto other completely unrelated topics that only I could connect. Oh well.

I still haven't finished my Halloween costume. I need a pair of wings, a magic wand, and sudden zombie makeup skillz. I am least worried about the last part. I have no idea where costume stores are around here. Why are bus routes so confusing?

Days until NaNo: 7

Some Adjustment

I actually managed to finish all of my homework that is due tomorrow before the sun set, which is a feat that I don't think I've accomplished since middle school, assuming I had homework due the next day. Even now I'm in such disbelief that I need to check the calender again to make sure.

And it seems that I've completed one assignment for Wednesday by beginning another for Wednesday. Life is awesome right now!

Oh wait, there is some reading for tomorrow, but it's only 20 pages, and I can skim. I have a few hours between classes where I can finish that, so it's no big deal. Woo hoo!

After forgetting about one assignment in one class, I've realized that missing assignments is not the end of the world. That one assignment was worth pretty much a maximum of 5% of my grade, and it occurred to me that I no longer need to aim for straight A's. At this point, no one cares what my exact GPA is, as long as I'm passing. I already have the accomplishment of straight A's throughout Middle and High School, and at this point I'm not trying to get into a good college anymore because I'm already attending a great one. I really just need to pass and I'll be fine. That way of thinking helps me feel a lot less stressed.

NaNo You Didn't

After years of hearing about it from a friend who was participation, I have finally taken the step to sign up for NaNoWriMo this year. I've been wanting to do it, but every year I have some excuse or something. Last year, that excuse was applying for colleges. But now, since I am in college, that is hardly an excuse anymore, and I can't think of any other reason why I shouldn't. So here I go, attempting to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. Wish me luck.

Free Write

I was feeling stuck while doing a homework blog, so I decided to do a free write to get the juices flowing. I thought I'd share it here.

I really just need to type whatever I think of right now just to get my thoughts out and clear my head and to get myself typing and get the juices flowing and everything. Whew, I’m surprised that last sentence doesn’t catch as a run-on. Whatever, it doesn’t matter anyway, the most important thing right now is to not stop typing and hope something comes out of it. Perhaps this is something I can do while I’m doing NaNo, if I decide to do that, which is partially ridiculous that I said “if” because I’ve already made up my mind to do it, so I really just need to sign up to make it official and it’s so exciting because I’ll actually have a semi long-term project to work on that’s not school related, but might help my writing in some way. I really don’t know what to say right now and I should have done this in One Note so that I don’t have to actually save this but still have it saved. I can’t believe that by just writing about nothing I’ve already got a higher word count than the blog that I’m supposed to be writing, and I think it’s really stupid that we’re assigned to write blogs that are like essays because really that just takes all the fun out of blogging, and I don’t think that anyone would really ever write a blog about analyzing literature. Blogs are written about fun things like fashion and what I ate today or cooked, and they’re not about analyzing literature, they’re supposed to be like online diaries that anyone can read. Sure, some of them have specific purpose, but I don’t like writing blogs like that, I just want to splurge out all my feelings for the world to see. I want to be able to freely write what I feel and not what I’m told. This just turns me into a big ball of frustration and anger, and frustrated and angry me is not something I want to be all the time, and this is making me be that. I don’t like it, I don’t like having to write as a form of effective communication. Well, actually scratch that, I do like writing as an effective form of communication, just not to analyze rhetoric. I’m still not entirely sure on the concept of rhetoric. It just doesn’t make sense to me, it hasn’t clicked yet. This is really annoying and frustrating and I should stop writing this so that I can write my blog and glossary entry so I have time to get my fish tomorrow. Even though I still have an hour before my class after Brittney leaves for her class, so we’ll be back with some time, but still.

Creative Block (again?)

I would like more than anything to create something funny and exciting for YouTube right now. Something with an actual script and a storyline that requires specific hair and makeup and actual editing instead of just jumpcuts. I would be really happy to do that. But I really have no idea what to do.

I don't think this is the first time I've encountered this problem. In fact, I think I was in this very same situation over the summer

Wait, never mind all of that. I just had an idea!

We'll see if anything comes of in within the next couple of hours. If anyone actually read this thing, then this might be an exciting insight into my thought process. You would know hours before anyone on YouTube did that I was posting a new video soon! You'd be the insiders who knew everything ahead of time. If only you actually existed.

Still Haunting Me

I don't think I ever mentioned it in my blog, but ever since I started working on The Wizard of Oz this summer, references to the show have been haunting me. That wasn't exactly unexpected because it seems like every time I do a show, I become hyper-aware of things referring to it, and usually see some parody of it in Family Guy or something (i.e., when we did Brigadoon, somebody saw the episode with a reference to that on closing night). However, since Oz is such a well-known show, there are references to it everywhere. Especially in late night cartoons like Family Guy and Robot Chicken, which happened to be on right when I got back, so I would watch them. There are at least three episodes each that reference Oz. And then, I saw at least two comic strips in my paper with references. There was a point in time when I saw Oz references on a daily basis, and not even just during the show.

And even now, still, there are things about The Wizard of Oz everywhere. There is a poster downstairs with a drawing of Dorothy that says "There's no place like Prado..." (Prado is the name of my hall), and today I just signed up to audition for The Wiz. If I get into that, I think the references may never stop.

Summer Brain Rot

I am so not used to this whole 'formal writing' thing anymore! Now that school has started again, I need to start answering questions and write somewhat-coherent an thoughtful drama journals, but it seems like I've completely lost all ability to do that over the summer. I can write about myself and what's going on in my life for days, but once it actually needs to be read by someone for a purpose, I fall apart. Not to mention that I'm out of my comfort zone and I rarely have any time completely alone anymore. And I need to cut my nails, they're making it hard to type...

Other than the needing to write things thing, college life has been fun. I've been socializing and making friends. I think I may have mentioned that in all my other posts since I've gotten here, but whatever. Yesterday my whole hall watched Singing in the Rain out in the common room. And speaking of common rooms, I joined the Harry Potter club on Wednesday. I'm a Ravenclaw.

I still haven't had a chance to work out since I got here, so I have no idea what's going on in the way of weight and health. Although, I've noticed I don't really snack as much here, mostly because I haven't paid for any of the food and I feel weird taking it. Except for the granola bars; I picked those out and if my roommate's mom hadn't just up and bought everything, I would have paid for them myself. And I've been getting more and more bold about making myself a sandwich or something from our "pantry" if I'm hungry and don't feel like going to the commons to eat. I think tomorrow I'm going to try to go for a run around the park or something.