I get distracted so easily...

So... y'know what's entertaining? looking at the stats for this blog... Apparently this blog has been viewed from Thailand... wow!!! I had no idea! ... ? And once again I'm derailed... where was I going with this post again? Aw man, I think we're lost... ;)

I finally branched out & tried something new at the Boiler Room today: a mango-raspberry Italian Soda--it's rather tasty! :) I may have thrown off the barista though, oops... ;D

I'm also going to try out a church today--it's called "The Rock" & it meets on Friday nights. I'll let ya know later how it goes...

Aaaah, scatterbrainedness... I swear I was sane once upon a time...

Ah well, my apologies you poor readers. It's an extremely short post today. I'm off to finish my Italian Soda & go find this church type thingummy... I want to get there early (for parking) and need to leave myself extra time to get there (for getting lost). So ... yeah... toodles!

And now with screen so blank before me...

I find my mind mirroring the blankness of the screen... This will never do!

'Scuse me for a moment folks, inspiration just tried to run over me & I need to go tend my wounds...

Snap, I love/hate it when this happens... I had a blog post all planned out, but I had to go and eavesdrop on a conversation & now all my thoughts are scattered by a chance word spoken that inspires a whole new plotline...

Picture this: an improv performance in a coffee shop, an alley theatre set-up, even the barista behind the counter is part of the story. Patrons enter knowing a show will take place, but not realizing that it has started when the actors get up from the midst of the staff, or from the midst of the patrons themselves. Perhaps the actors are even seated at the same tables as the patrons--a truly interactive experience, part scripted, part improvisation.

The actors are three: playing characters of all ages--a man and two women.
The story: that of Theatre itself, disguised (as always) in a multiplicity of allegories & metaphors all taking place in a coffee shop. The actors would step in and out of characters, requiring great flexibility.
The props and costumes would be minimal, if any designated at all. The props could be mimed, the costumes would just be streetclothes typically worn by the actors.
The focus would be on the story and the acting.

Perhaps it would be a story of Humanity instead of Theatre... or of Art, or the Church... Perhaps it could be done with only two actors... or with one, or four.... Perhaps...

This is certainly an idea to pursue...

Wow, well that was fun! ;)

The sun is beginning to get low in the sky. It's about 7:30pm now, the Boiler Room is 30 minutes from closing and the light is slanting at a dramatic angle. It's one of my many favorite times of day...

So ... before I got run over... what was I going to write again??? Ah yes, entertaining anecdotes from work...

I actually lost my patience with a customer today. The man could hardly speak English (I lie, he spoke better English than I speak Spanish, so he spoke passably...) so he had a friend of his inquiring after the pillow for him. However, when the man found out what the current price of our pillow was he grew so irate that he took the phone from his friend and proceeded to (try to) rip me a new one. I remained calm and tried to interject over his tirade that the old price he was given (three weeks ago) still held true, all he had to do was drive to one of our vendors & purchase the pillow instead of buying it over the phone. So I gave him the price he wanted, and he calmed a bit to hand the phone back to his friend. So when his friend asked me what the price of the pillow was I was halfway through my quote (alas! I was on the high half... :P) when the irate gentleman ripped the phone away again and tried to lay into me again. He damaged my calm a bit when he accused me of assuming that "because [I] am from Africa you think I must be an idiot!!"... His words, not mine. I proceeded to inform him warmly that due to our conversation being held via telephone, I actually had no idea that he was from Africa, congratulations, and did he want to hear the REST of what I had to say or did he just want to yell some more? He shut up long enough to hear me out, hand the phone back to his friend, and listen via translator instead.

The man bought no pillows...

But I felt rather proud of myself in that I used no profanity either before or after this conversation... *pat on the back*

Anyhoo... that's all for now. I think M is wanting to close up the shop, so I should begin to vacate the premises. Have fun all, see ya later!

Reality

Hello again!

My thanks for your patience during this last week--you brave & valiant folk who actually read these ramblings of mine... ;) I assure you, the week off was highly beneficial & I return to you all the better for it!

I have been struck over and over again by the realization that I live in a city--a beautiful and large city. and each time the realization brings an awe and delight with it that can hardly grasp. I love living here, getting to meet and talk to so many different people, seeing so many different places all within walking distance, adventure questing in a different direction every time--it's all so exciting!

And the theatre, I'm so happy to be involved in theatre in the acting capacity again! I know you tech friends of mine will sniff in scorn, but I can't help where my passions lie. Just know this: I will never forget the tech side of myself & of theatre... I plan to surprise the crew wherever I act ;)

God is good, life is delicious, my only speck of sorrow is that Boyfriend is so far away. This past week with him was bliss, but I sent him back on the train yesterday morning & feel like I've been ... well, I keep getting surprised by the realization that he's not here anymore. But life moves on, and the dance steps continue whilst the music reels away.

My latte today was extra chocolaty. I do like them like that. :)

I had an audition today for which I used a monologue from Jake's Women by Neil Simon. I was in a student-produced production of this show a few years ago--mine was the character of "Karen", the older sister who was at once the voice of reason & of comic relief. It was entertaining, being the comic relief--something I wasn't used to. I think the audition today went well, but I never am entirely certain when it comes to those things. I think the audition goes well but don't get called back--or I think I bombed the audition & get the part, that tends to be my history with predicting these things. After a while I quit trying. I feel like I honored the story and my teachers today, that's all I care for.

Sooo yeah...

I find that I'm dwelling a lot on what Boyfriend and I did while he was here (not THAT you dirty minds, get back up here in the gutter & out of the sewer!).

Wednesday: After work I went home & tried to focus on unpacking and straightening up until I could go pick him up at the train station. His train wasn't due to get in until 10:31 (oddly specific, I know), but I couldn't stand myself anymore & drove over there around 9:50. By the time his train got in I was pacing & ready to run somebody over if they tried to get in the way--but I promise no bystanders were harmed. ;)

Thursday we hung out, unpacked a few boxes, and with the help of a very dear cousin of mine we rearranged my furniture into some semblance of a living space. My bedroom no longer looks like a storage unit & I actually have a usable living room! After our efforts the three of us walked down to JimmyJohn's, ate dinner, and picked up a dozen eggs on the way home.

Friday: We made pancakes! Mind you, I hadn't found my real-person-sized frying pan yet (still haven't actually, I should get on that...), so we made them in my two mini-frying pans (thank you Auntie!!!). Mini-peach-buckwheat pancakes are awesome & between the two of us we demolished all 10. We spent the day lazing around, watching movies, and letting time slip by.

Saturday: I introduced Boyfriend to the very Boiler Room Coffee shop that I'm sitting in now & we enjoyed lunch... Afterwords we ran to the grocery store, picked up essentials, and made chili... well, he made chili...

Are ya bored yet? Sorry if ya are... ;P

Sunday we had lunch at the coffee shop again, then wandered over to the Sculpture gardens, meandered through Loring Park, and got thoroughly soaked when we got caught in the downpour of the afternoon. After we made it back home we recovered from the above-ground swimming session, then headed over to my good friend M's place. We passed a very delightful & often hysterical evening with her & A, playing canasta & bananagrams & generally enjoying the evening, the salsa, and the lemon bars. ;)

Monday we had lunch with one of my big brothers, and then didn't go to the Mall of America. No regrets about that though, we decided to order Caffrey's instead and just stay indoors.

Then the dreaded Tuesday came & I had to see my Boyfriend back to the train station. Now he's back in the land of Lincoln, and I'm wandering around trying not to dwell overmuch on who's not here, but rather on who is going to come again. Also, I'm terribly sorry, but I suck at remembering to take pictures! The only one I got all week was this:

;)

Anyhoo, that's all for now. I'm off to do laundry & unpack... more ... lots more unpacking... Who knew I had so much stuff?!

Mer

I can never write a title until first I've written the post, it just doesn't work like that... :P

Today's the day! I'm so very excited, Boyfriend is coming up to visit me on the train! Woot! ;D So if I seem a bit distracted whilst writing this it's because... I am...


Speaking of, one moment please while I go find out where the train station is... that might be good to know before I actually try to go pick him up... brb.


Whew, there, that's remembered & done... Might've been kinda awful had I forgotten to do that part... Guess what, I'm less than 15 minutes away from the Amtrak station! That's kinda cool...


Today the pillow job was kind of wonderful but terrible all at the same time. Call volume was low & hang-ups were up, which made for a rather depressing sales rate. However, the seating was rearranged so I had more people sitting near me to be able to talk to between calls--I got to discuss the possibility of joining a D&D campaign already in the works... that could be fun... ;) I discovered about midway through the week that all the guys (and a couple of the gals) that I sit near are rather nerdy, so we've had some entertaining conversations since concerning d&d, Star Wars, star trek, Doctor Who, movies, etc. It makes the day interesting...


Le sigh... nothing exciting to write about is coming to mind, so this is when I start storytelling. Bear with me? It could get... interesting...


The people are called by others the Acroni, which means in the old tongue: "Upright Sphinxes." The Acroni had no spoken name for themselves, namely because they did not speak aloud. On their home World all the planet was utterly silent.

Yet the most amazing aspect of the Acroni was not their lack of a voice, but their inspiring eyes. In all other regards these people were utterly unremarkable, but when an Acroni bent their gaze upon any other being it was transfixing. It was as though the Sphinxes of old (who were blind, for their gaze contained all the questions in the Multiverse) walked again and mildly watched the Worlds dance by.


The Acroni were a mild and beautiful people. Having never Fallen, their home was seen as a safe-haven among all the embattled races. They were Healers, and their young ones often made pilgrimages into battle to bring their healing arts to those who needed them most--but they always returned home again when they could.

Whoops, and there's the time. Later all! Drink in the sunshine whilst ya can! 

Air Conditioning

It's really easy to get lost in trying to update this blog... and forget that I was intending to actually write a post... ;) But success! I updated AND am posting new postageness!! Woot!

So yeah, new postageness...

This coffee shop has a really excellent window air-conditioner. I'm kinda resenting it's presence actually, because it's kinda making me wish my latte wasn't the kind with ice in it. It's fracking 90+ degrees outside! WHY AM I SHIVERING?!?!?!  I'm really not that sad about my apartment building not having central air, it seems like that's the only building I walk into that I don't shiver in...

Also, I think I may have a problem. I have been to visit the Boiler Room thrice now, and every time I've ordered the iced latte. The second two times I walked in fully intending to order something else, try something new, that kind of thing. But upon entry I promptly threw such plans out the metaphorical window (I defenestrated them, if you will), and ordered an iced latte instead. I rationalized it to myself, saying I have been denied such joy all my life and am only now discovering it, it's only natural that I should desire to revel for a while, I'll just get one more before trying something new, it's hot outside & that's a tasty cold drink! And besides, I need more calcium, the rice milk is good for me & I'm not really getting that anywhere else in my diet at the moment...

And then I wonder: is this how addictions start? Do I have a problem? Will I ever be able to order anything else here ever? What have I become?? Is there a support group for this kind of thing? Will I become some kind of coffee-shop snob, forever judging places like this based solely on the quality of their iced lattes? Will I never know the joy of the elusive Mango Italian Soda???

Then my rational voice sounds across the confusion (said voice sounds remarkably like Amanda K, by the by...) and reminds me: calm down, it's just a latte. It's not that big a deal.

Does anyone else have conversations like this with themselves??? ... Anyone?? ... Marco?

Before I forget (again) I may not be updating every day for the next week. I'm going to try to update as often as possible, but tomorrow I have a workshop in the evening, and Tuesday I have an audition (!!!), and on Wednesday Boyfriend gets here... After that I have no idea what's happening, I just know I get to spend all week with him and then something else happens after that... I forget what though, I think it's called life or something... ;)


Sometimes I feel like the way my brain sees time is a little strange. I know, theoretically, that time flows in a straight line and progresses in a relatively steady rate, maybe it should look something like this:


---Monday---Tuesday---Wednesday----Next Week------Week After-------Next Month-------Next Year


Or something ish, but my brain tends to think of time more like:


STUFF GETS HERE!! unpacking---workshop---Audition---BOYFRIEND!!---??? meh, don't care right now....


Y'know? I measure time as a series of major and minor events, today has a minor event, there are two minor events happening before the next major event. After the next major event there's some minor events happening, but we'll worry about them then... This way of thinking has been known to get me in trouble before, especially in college when my brain categorized papers & their due dates as "minor events"... oops...


I wonder if they have vegan ice-cream here... I'd be able to eat that... I should really go unpack some, but my apartment is looking kind of daunting right now... Oh my random...


Ah well. I think I may hafta run off for now. That unpacking really should see some progress tonight, since I'll be busy for a while to come. Love to you all! :)

Wandering & Passion

Good grief I'm out of practice at this whole writing thing... Well, no time like the present to remedy that, and the only way I know how is to actually write... Huzzah forced writing! :P

I took a walk today to Target--it's about a 15 minute walk from my new place--and on the way there I saw an older gentleman standing outside an establishment wearing a top-hat and a bright red bowtie. Being the Doctor Who fangirl that I am, my immediate thought was "bowties are cool", my next was "omygoodness I want a top-hat!!" ...

Also on my ramblings I found out that the Wesley Methodist church holds AA meetings every Friday at noon... lol, but I'll let you just imagine how I found that out. ;D And no, I'm not an alcoholic, thanks for the vote of confidence...

 Here's a question for you: how do you measure a person's passion? How do you know where your passion lies & whether you ought to follow it or not?

I ask because I've been contacted several times by a very persuasive lady who is trying to talk me into being a Mary Kay consultant. No, it's not out of the blue, I was helping out my cousin who recently became a consultant for them, and one of the things she is supposed to be doing is recruiting--so I volunteered to have her practice on me. And at first I was rather intrigued, it sounded like it could be fun & worthwhile, so I looked into it closer. Then I had a conversation with Mum & she said something that completely changed my mind.

"You know, you'd end up having to choose between theatre & this, because your evenings would be spoken for."

When I realized that I completely lost all interest. I had to go back and tell the gracious gal that thank you, but I will not be participating. It was interesting because the night I explained my situation to her she had said something about "follow your passions". So when she called me again later that week I simply told her in a straightforward fashion: "My passions lie elsewhere, with theatre, and I have to follow that."

She said she's not giving up, but the poor gal might as well. My mind is made up.

But about passion--I didn't even truly "discover" theatre until, almost on a whim, I decided to major in it in college: "until God told me what He really wants me to do". Six years later, apparently He did, and here I am chasing it as a career and calling it my passion. I told someone shortly after I graduated that if I had to live in a cardboard box to pursue this, I would. Is that passion? I don't know.

I have met several people who truly love what they do--or who are doing what they can in order to reach that goal of doing what they love. I met a gal yesterday who is working three jobs in order to support herself until she can become established in her chosen passion of Graphic Design--that says passion to me. I know people who left friends and family and moved here in order that they might find more opportunities to pursue their art, that says passion to me.

In myself? Am I passionate about theatre? I think I am. I know I love to talk about it, to learn about it, to participate in its creation in almost (almost) any fashion. If you've had a conversation with me about a show I'm working on, have worked on, or am writing I'm sure you'll have noticed the change that occurs. What would I be willing to give up in order to practice this art? Perhaps a better question: what wouldn't I be willing to give up?

That latter question brings to mind another question: what other passions do I have? What defines passion?

Dictionary.com gives one definition as being "any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling". But digging a little deeper, the passion that I'm talking about is a more live-shaping passion. It seems about as ambiguous in our language as the word "love". Well, I suppose that's a given, since the two are sometimes used synonymously...

I think I've come to see the passion as being less of a choice, less of a thought-provoked state than love. Love is a choice, in my mind. In choosing to love someone I choose to put their wants & needs before my own, regardless of how I "feel" at the moment. In this fashion, I may not like a person & might be very angry with them, but having made that choice I put my feelings aside and love them anyway.

Passion strikes me as being more of a drive. It is a baser motivator. Passion is something that I may control my reaction to, but I don't know that I can control its origins. The difference between love born of duty & love born of passion is the one is a choice & the other is a given.

So when I say I am passionate about theatre, I may well be able to go for years without participating in this artform, but I would feel as though the vibrancy of life were halved for the duration of my fast. I can go for a long time without seeing the people I love passionately, but colours grow dim & flavours are less sweet.

For myself one question that haunts is this: I can say I love my God, but am I passionate about Him? Granted, passion ebbs and flows as a result of my being a temporal person for now. And yet... is my Love for Him born of duty? Or does it flame forth from passion? I know which I would rather...

Then again, can Duty itself be a form of Passion? Uffda, there's a whole other discussion.

My question to end this with: where are your passions? And what are you doing about them?

The Boiler Room

The above title is the name of one of my new favorite haunts. It's a coffee shop, and it's a mere 2 blocks away from my new home. They have rice milk (yay lattes that won't kill me!!) and wifi... I think I'm a new regular! ;)

Also, that's right, my NEW home. My last blog post was in September of 2011, and quite a bit has happened since then.... I'll see if I can play catch-up for ya...

Since September of 2011:

My nanny job has run its course. I am no longer seeing to the wants & whims of Boychild & Girlchild. The many stories I found in that venue of employment are varied and hysterical, but I can honestly say I am glad to not have that job anymore. Don't get me wrong, it was fun/ny, and the kiddos had their moments of endearment, but they were two of the strangest children I have ever interacted with. Can you believe, they didn't like stories???? What kind of kid doesn't want to hear a story???? These two, that's who. :S I'm not making that up, the only time I ever managed to get them to listen to a whole story was when Boychild was being such a little jerkface that I had to hold him down just to get him to calm down. And even then he tried really hard not to listen... Weird kids...

Also in that time I stage managed my second professional theatre show. A Streetcar Named Desire was ... definitely a growing experience. I determined once and for all that no, I really and truly do not enjoy stage managing, even if I am awesome at it. I don't care if I can do it well, it's just not for me. So after the closing of that show (in which I worked with some truly spectacular & talented people!!) I resigned my Company Stage Manager position with Theatre Coup d'Etat in order that I might more actively pursue my passions of writing & acting. But if you can you should absolutely go see their coming show: Angels in America: Part I, it's going up this July!

Speaking of acting, there's a different theatre company called Green T Productions that I am in workshops with. We are learning about all kinds of Eastern theatre styles (kabuki, noh, and... flamenco... that's right!) in preparation for the upcoming production of The Hobbit. Auditions for that show are July 1st and I'm so excited! The premise of Green T is to retell classic Western plays with an Eastern twist, so in The Hobbit this would manifest itself with each race having its own unique Eastern style of movement. Also, plans for Smaug sound utterly phenomenal!!!! I'm sure I'll have more to tell about this later... ;)

Wow, that cold-press coffee really does have a lot of caffeine in it... my hands may be twitching a little bit as I'm trying to type... Note to self: maybe I should inquire after the decaf cold-press next time!!! Or drink it a little earlier in the day when I need that extra kick... It might take me a while to calm down!! I seem to be thinking in a lot of caps & exclamation marks, but I'll try not to allow that to influence my writing too much. ;)

Anyhoo, back to catching up...

I have a pretty regular dayjob now. I'm answering inbound sales calls for a pillow company. We sell the most comfortable pillow you could ever own & the last one you'll ever have to buy! ;) Turns out I'm a pretty amazing salesperson too, if I do say so myself... who knew? I'm looking for something a little closer, but this job will certainly do for now... lol, how many props have I said that about before? Now I have a do-fer job... ;)

And new home!! Last Friday I moved into my new apartment, I've been living there for a week, as of tomorrow, and I have loved every moment of it!! Mind you, I don't have much furniture yet--the majority of that will come on Saturday, my parents are kindly bringing it up from Illinois. My new place is a character-filled one-bedroom in a neighborhood in uptown. The building is older, and I have a clawfoot tub!! And my closet is big enough that I routinely open it to see if Narnia has moved into it yet... I'm on the third floor of a building with no elevator, so I'm excited about building up the endurance in my legs again. I keep getting flashbacks to all those classes I took on the fourth floor of the AC at Bethel... I'll be glad to reunite with my couch though :D

One more major event in my life since last I updated... I am no longer single. A new character has entered the cast of this production I call my life, and I shall refer to him from hereon out as Boyfriend. ;) You know who you are... lol. We had our first date on New Year's Eve, and are still going strong. The story is epic and I fully intend on writing the full version down... as soon as I find out what the rest of it is... It's been interesting, he lives in Illinois, and I'm committed to Minnesota for at least another year (the length of my lease), so it's been interesting. Of the over 5 months we've been together we've spent a total of 2 weeks in the same state... but in less than a week he'll be coming to visit me!!!!! I'm so very excited!!!!!! :D He's staying for a whole week, and every time I try to make plans for us to do stuff I get completely distracted by sheer excitement... I suck at pre-planning. But at least I'm pretty good at winging it. ;)

So yeah, as far as events in my own life are concerned, I think that's a relatively concise summary of what's been going on. If you have any desire to know more about something, let me know & I'll try to oblige. ;)

But for now I'm going to post this quick before something happens to dissuade me from doing so. See you all later!! :)