The drama picnic was fun and exciting, as it always is. Even though overcast weather could not hinder our usual fun.
Every year when we go to the drama picnic, once in the fall and once in the spring, we always go through Junction City, and every year I see this sign. Every year I say “I really need to take a picture of that sign,” and since I’m a senior this year I thought I’d better get on it. Anyway, here it is…
Well, my first day of classes went quite well. I managed to wake up early and get a lot done (a trend I hope to keep).
Operating Systems seems like it’s going to be fun. Dr. Oldham seems to have a very dry, Shannon-esque sense of humor, but I think he’s going to end up being pretty good. I think this class and Compilers will compliment each other nicely (it will be the term of C!)
Northern Mannerist and Baroque art…well…it’s a Dr. Levin class, I fear it will be the same as all the others. I’m hoping to be able to do my research paper on glass in the time and place, but I don’t know yet.
I also met with Nick and Judith (and Augustine came too) about Art Society stuff for the year. Nick Holmes and I have found ourselves to be co-presidents this year, and I’d really like to do some fun stuff, because last year the club was fairly nonexistent. I think we’re going to try and get Art Society kids to join in on the Anagama kiln that we build every year (and I want to get my own pictures this year!).
I also talked with Matthew today, as he wanted to know all about my adventures at BTF this summer. He was very pleased with me, and told me I should be quite proud of myself. I told him about how much I loved making the wolf heads and dead dog, and how I wanted to make puppets and stuff, to which he responded by conspicuously lifting his clipboard and saying “Well look here, I need some props work for The Yellow Boat this winter, and there will probably be some puppetry work too. I’ll get you a script tomorrow.” x_x Well, I hadn’t had anything planned for winter term anyway, so I guess I’ll look into it.
I was planning on playing Ultimate Frisbee today, but when i put on my shoes, I was painfully reminded that my Achilles tendon is not quite done healing yet, thankyouverymuch. Hmph, it’d best get better soon. I probably will sit out on frisbee for the week at least, but I really want to play.
The evening drew to a close with a nice game of Ghost Recon with D Flo (
Tomorrow will bring me Compilers, and a whole lot of free time which I will hopefully convert into lots of finished work. We shall see.
Aeros was today, and since I only worked load in and load out, I got to watch the show. It’s pretty much a show of Romanian gymnastics, and it really makes one appreciate the full range of movement of the human body. Very cool.
It’s been a rough week, mainly due to the piling of decisions that need to be made. I was expecting it to happen, and tried to prepare for it all of February, but it’s still wearing me down. My room is filthy, full of piles of dirty laundry. It bothers me when I get so busy I neglect my cleanliness.
I guess the worst part is that I’m too busy for this, I have too much stuff to do for me to be in a funk. I think I’ll really be fine, it’s just that my body clock is all messed up and I am overwhelmed, and thus emotionally frail…so much so that when I got back from the load-out, I was planning on hunting down Brendan to hang out. Seeing that he was not online…thus meaning he’s gone to bed, I was so upset that I started crying. Ridiculous! It’s probably just messed up sleeping and eating patterns.
It hasn’t all been bad, though, I got the job offer from Berkshire. I’d gone to see Matthew several times to talk about the job offers and just fretting over how this summer is going to work in general. He helped me out, but as I was leaving his office on Friday, he told me that I should really consider the implications of this job offer, and that I should see about taking some time out of my schedule to celebrate. I’d never thought about that, I guess I was just so busy with the decision-making that I overlooked it. Tomorrow will be very busy as I attempt to catch up on work once again, but I’ll try and make a little time for myself.
A couple weeks ago, I got an email from Mark, announcing that The Musicman, the biggest road show the Norton Center has ever had, was coming. 6 trucks (as opposed to the standard 2) and instead of starting load-in at 8, it started at 6…and ran until 5 that evening. It sounded grueling, but I thought it would be a good experience, and signed up to work both load in, load out, and the show.
Then I remembered this show would happen two days after we got back from SETC x_x
I’m on the props crew this time, and though I love electrics, props has been fun so far. I’ve never worked the show before, but it was lots of fun. It wasn’t full of crazy stressful cues, but there was enough going on that I wasn’t sitting backstage bored out of my mind. Last night went really smoothly, and tonight should go even moreso I think. Plus, in spite of working aaaall day yesterday, I still finished my take-home test in discrete math with no problems.
However, Mark came up to me again and asked if I wanted to work Aeros this Saturday. I promptly agreed to, but now I’m thinking that wasn’t such a good idea. I’m exhausted, I should’ve saved that day to rest. But, the load in and load out won’t be that long or complicated, and I could use the money. I’m really glad that spring break is so close, I’m going to need that whole week to recover.
Anyway, as promised…
SETC wrap-up
The week has started, it will kill me, but more SETC stories first.
Part 2..
Job Contact, Auditions, and the Amazing David Flora
Well, I’m back from SETC *twitch*, it…was…awesome. I’ll have to write about it in manageable chunks, so look for updates and…eventually…pictures.
Tuesday night we gathered behind the Norton Center to begin our journey. My car (consisting of Will, Adam, and Dave Clark) jumped the gun and speeded ahead of the group, acting as scout, and calling the other cars to warn them of monsters, UFOs, a Big Otter, and other such dangers of West Virginia. We managed to grind out most of the trip and made it to Maryland to spend the first night. It was just a 2 hour jaunt to DC the next day ^_^. Anyway, we got to our hotels, got settled in, greeted Matthew and Jeff, registered, and…rested? Hardly. Part 1…
Last night after Brendan and I finished theory homework and when Flora was done with rehearsal, we all went to Walmart for some SETC supply shopping. It really got me excited and in the mood for SETC, I can’t believe it’s already next week! We’ll be leaving Tuesday night, in fact. I bought a nice bag to carry things around in, since I don’t have a purse, and I’d rather not lug my clunky backpack everywhere. I don’t buy new bags often, but when I do, its first hour or so in my possession is usually spent by finding stuff to put in its pockets. Squirt dubbed it a stage manager’s bag, and I guess that will be true, since I’m participating in the 24-hour play festival as a stage manager.
Although I’m preparing as best I can, I know missing two days of classes will put a big dent in my efforts to keep up, even though I feel I’m currently ahead of myself as far as classwork. Still, I’ve talked to all my professors, and they don’t seem to think I’ll have much of a problem. I’m going to try my best to not worry about the missed work and to enjoy the convention. Jeff was explaining to me how the Job Contact event works, and his enthusiasm got me excited in turn. He’s going to help me finalize my resume today.
So, all my nervousness is dripping away and being replaced by excitement. This weekend I’ll devote to getting ahead in my classwork, and making sure my scholarship application to Corning will be ready to send the minute I get back in town. The rest will be packing and preparing and hopping about in excitement.
Oh, let’s just face it, I can’t wait ^_^ My parents even got me a 128 mb memory stick for my camera as a present! How nice! Expect pictures, muahaha!.
For anyone who particularly liked my glass fish…
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2615652319
In other news, February has passed its midpoint! I noticed this today as I was making my calendar for the week, and had a brief moment of panic. The dreaded March-of-decision-making is that much closer. However, after a moment, I calmed down. I think I’ve done well about preparing myself…
-As far as the summer glass class goes, my slides are developed and I should pick them up today. I’m going to give Steve a deadline for my letter of recommendation, and today I’ll ask Sheldon if he’ll write one too. That just leaves the scholarship essay.
-I had Matthew revise my resume, and I’ve rewritten most of it. Today I’ll schedule another appointment to have him look over the second copy. SETC is almost here, but I’m more excited than I am nervous ^_^
-The what-to-do-during-winter-term-next-year issue may already be decided. As much as I’d love to go, I don’t think I can come up with the funds necessary to study in Morocco. However, there is a much cheaper biology trip to the Bahamas that may be affordable. A friend of mine went on it last year and really enjoyed himself. It’s a popular trip, though, and I may not make it in even if I can come up with the deposit money.
I’ve been rigorously setting goals and keeping to them, and I’m proud of myself for that. It’s only been two weeks and I feel like I’ve been back at school for months.
Every time I go to some big thing at Centre–a guest lecturer, a speech, a play of some sort–I always feel invigorated and yet slightly frustrated at the same time. There’s always some incredible insight, or some important message, and I feel wiser for the world. But at the same time, I am always frustrated that I can’t hunt down every person I’ve ever known offline/online/whatever in that exact moment, and drag them there and sit them down and say “You need to see this.” It frustrates me that I can barely convey the message, which is reinforced so much by the experience, which is lost on me all together. It’s not even enough to say “this is an awesome play, go see the movie,” because the experience is just not the same. I suppose it wouldn’t even be the same to drag friends from across the country, it’s more forceful to sit and watch people you know in love in a place where you live draw frighteningly realistic parallels and make you think. The physical presence provided by theater is enough to drive any wavering point straight home.
The Laramie Project was beautiful and intense. Jeff’s sleepless nights and the grueling work of the cast and crew paid off, and I believe it was a very important thing that happened on that stage. It made me think a lot–about hate, about people, about how we do important things in theater, about how we do important things in art. Overall, though, the biggest impact on me was the idea of community.
I’ve never been one to deny the fact that I live in a college bubble, and more often a smaller, more personal bubble. I always say “I live in Louisville, but go to school in Danville,” or sometimes even opt out of the town name and just say “Centre.” I need to realize that I live here, this is where I live, this is a community which I am part of, and I need to take responsibility for that.
There are things going on here that I found out about just last night, that I had *no* idea about. There are places I’ve never been, and my interaction with the people has been limited to say the most. So here’s Wertle’s message of the day:
Physical community is important. No matter how detached you feel from it, how different you are, how little you could care about what’s going on down the street, YOU are a part of your community. You need to find a facet where you can affect it, and you need to take responsibility, because you live there, you are a part of it, you have a chunk of it to uphold. So, off with you now! Go on, take a look outside your window and see what you can. Take a few steps outside the bounds of your campus and figure out where you live. It’s important.
As for me, I have a few goals to set for myself regarding my final year and a half at Centre…or rather, in Danville.
So I declined getting into electrics for the spring show, even with my crescent wrench gnawing longingly at my sleeve. My wrists were scolding me by the end of the day, and I took that as a sign to not push it too far over the limit this term. I’ll save it for road shows.
If anyone’s near Danville tomorrow and Thursday night (I can only think of 2 right now), you should come see The Laramie Project. Directed by Jeff (the one who juggles flaming sticks) and with a killer cast, it should be a good show. Plus, if you visit, I might give you a cookie or something.