You know that dinner theatre that I was doing change-overs at every couple months for a chunk of extra cash? Well, um, maybe you don't since I never posted about it, but it used to be a nice way to get an extra couple hundred dollars every two months. Turns out they folded on January 3rd, so I'm not going to have the $200 I expected to have next week. I can afford not to buy any text books for three of my classes, since one of those three doesn't actually have any except for the MLA book that's on it's way, and I can easily share in the other two, but I need at least $75 for the book and supplies for my directing for the camera class; that's a book, a tripod, DV tapes and blank DVD's, which I'm sharing with Nate to repay him for sharing the hundred dollar textbook for Realsim. Because of my low shop hours this semester, I'm only making $80 every two weeks; and those paychecks don't start until two weeks from yesterday.
On the financial bright side, I get to enter a competition against the 5 other theatre majors for a $7000 aid adjustment to next year's tuition costs. I don't think I have much of a chance since the department clearly likes everyone of those people a bit more than they like me, but I'm trying all the same. I'm going to completely sharpen and polish "Speak the Speech." Shirley gave me a measure of hope yesterday when she handed it to me to read in the realism class. I don't know if it was intentional, but I'm hoping it was because she remembered I used it as an audition piece for her show my freshman year, and noticed that I had been kind of pessimistic about my place in the department. It was kind of like the moment that Michael awarded Pam the whitest shoes dundee, only it was in class instead of Chili's, so no one was drunk, and instead of an acceptance speech, I read a monologue from Hamlet. There was clapping, though.
Friends. Couple. Married. Scientist. Rocks.
25 January 2009
If I'm wrong, no one knows.
This Blog has been unhealthily silent for a long time, so I think I'll post about something I've been meaning to for the past week.
I'm assistant directing for an entirely student run production of Romeo and Juliet. It's the first show put together by the student group "The Shakesperiments." In the intervening time between auditions and actually beginning rehearsal, I had developed doubts about our capabilities to put on a fully-realized show. Between our Paris dropping out (replaced by yours truly) , realizations about the difficulty of working within our space (we're performing in the school's Underground, every college has one), and second guessing some casting decisions, I just had worries about whether or not we could actually handle a massive project as this. The rehearsal process has changed that. Despite the fact that more people want to play director than our actual director, and despite the fact that our cast is made up almost entirely by first years, everyone involved has really pulled together, and we've got the first half of the show blocked in 4 days. Nina is a very capable director, even if working with a large ensemble gets to her sometimes. That seems to be what I'm around for, keeping track of the large groups of people that might make her forget things. Sometimes it's been difficult maintaining the "assistant" part of assistant directing; I've made an effort sometimes to remove my own opinions on how the show should be put together and just help her direct her own vision, inserting my ideas only when she needs them. In our last rehearsal, she stayed in one location working with small groups while I worked with our fight choreographer and the ensemble upstairs. We've got some pretty awesome and involved brawls, and I've sort of been recruited as acting fight captain, meaning that when the ensemble is called but not working, I help them run through the beginning fight sequence. The whole experience has been very rewarding so far, I'm proud of everyone's level of professionalism, and I'm looking forward to a very good looking show.
Friends. Couple. Married. Scientist. Rocks.
I'm assistant directing for an entirely student run production of Romeo and Juliet. It's the first show put together by the student group "The Shakesperiments." In the intervening time between auditions and actually beginning rehearsal, I had developed doubts about our capabilities to put on a fully-realized show. Between our Paris dropping out (replaced by yours truly) , realizations about the difficulty of working within our space (we're performing in the school's Underground, every college has one), and second guessing some casting decisions, I just had worries about whether or not we could actually handle a massive project as this. The rehearsal process has changed that. Despite the fact that more people want to play director than our actual director, and despite the fact that our cast is made up almost entirely by first years, everyone involved has really pulled together, and we've got the first half of the show blocked in 4 days. Nina is a very capable director, even if working with a large ensemble gets to her sometimes. That seems to be what I'm around for, keeping track of the large groups of people that might make her forget things. Sometimes it's been difficult maintaining the "assistant" part of assistant directing; I've made an effort sometimes to remove my own opinions on how the show should be put together and just help her direct her own vision, inserting my ideas only when she needs them. In our last rehearsal, she stayed in one location working with small groups while I worked with our fight choreographer and the ensemble upstairs. We've got some pretty awesome and involved brawls, and I've sort of been recruited as acting fight captain, meaning that when the ensemble is called but not working, I help them run through the beginning fight sequence. The whole experience has been very rewarding so far, I'm proud of everyone's level of professionalism, and I'm looking forward to a very good looking show.
Friends. Couple. Married. Scientist. Rocks.
08 January 2009
In which Nathan, who may or may not be drunk at the time of posting, vents his frustrations
A few hours ago I told Marten that I was a different person when I wasn't around people I knew - confident, outgoing, maybe a little cocky. That was true when I said it. It is true in an academic setting, or any setting where I can actually talk to people.
It turns out the new me still hates parties. Nor do I suddenly understand grinding. There's a ritual to it, an etiquette that baffles me. Does one wait for some sort of physical clue as an invitation? Or does one simply start rubbing their body against another person without asking? Cause that just feels weird to me. And not very courteous. I want to be like, "Hey, do you mind if I start rubbing my genitals against you? No? Alright then." But of course you can't do that because the music is too loud. I don't know how people pick up women at these parties. It's impossible to talk. Do they just dance until they're exhausted then go somewhere and have sex? Like, do people seriously do that? "Cause I can't. I never could. I won't even touch a girl without her expressed permission, which I think is my problem.
But is that really a problem? I was raised to think that women like to be treated with respect and dignity and in most settings it seems to me that kissing someone without their permission would still come off as creepy. So how does this stuff happen? Everybody talks about it as if they've done it, but the details are never clear to me.
I think the more important question, though, is why I keep trying to be someone I can't be. Tonight I made a serious effort. I also made a fool of myself, of course. I drank, I danced like an idiot. It didn't fucking work. I'm not an asshole and I'm not James Bond and I can't be either of those people. The only way I'm ever going to have sex with someone is by being in a committed relationship with them that will probably last at least two or three years. And I ought to be okay with that, but I'm not. I want to be promiscuous dammit! Is there any way to be promiscuous with being an asshole?
So that is my rant. I left the party after about an hour of pretending to have fun and went home to blog. Maybe get some work done. I made a big noise about getting laid and the intended recipient wouldn't actually give me the time of day. Shit happens.
My next post will be a lot happier. It will talk about the academic part of the festival which, frankly rocked. Or has so far. I'll let you know.
Friends. Couple. Married. Scientist. Rocks.
It turns out the new me still hates parties. Nor do I suddenly understand grinding. There's a ritual to it, an etiquette that baffles me. Does one wait for some sort of physical clue as an invitation? Or does one simply start rubbing their body against another person without asking? Cause that just feels weird to me. And not very courteous. I want to be like, "Hey, do you mind if I start rubbing my genitals against you? No? Alright then." But of course you can't do that because the music is too loud. I don't know how people pick up women at these parties. It's impossible to talk. Do they just dance until they're exhausted then go somewhere and have sex? Like, do people seriously do that? "Cause I can't. I never could. I won't even touch a girl without her expressed permission, which I think is my problem.
But is that really a problem? I was raised to think that women like to be treated with respect and dignity and in most settings it seems to me that kissing someone without their permission would still come off as creepy. So how does this stuff happen? Everybody talks about it as if they've done it, but the details are never clear to me.
I think the more important question, though, is why I keep trying to be someone I can't be. Tonight I made a serious effort. I also made a fool of myself, of course. I drank, I danced like an idiot. It didn't fucking work. I'm not an asshole and I'm not James Bond and I can't be either of those people. The only way I'm ever going to have sex with someone is by being in a committed relationship with them that will probably last at least two or three years. And I ought to be okay with that, but I'm not. I want to be promiscuous dammit! Is there any way to be promiscuous with being an asshole?
So that is my rant. I left the party after about an hour of pretending to have fun and went home to blog. Maybe get some work done. I made a big noise about getting laid and the intended recipient wouldn't actually give me the time of day. Shit happens.
My next post will be a lot happier. It will talk about the academic part of the festival which, frankly rocked. Or has so far. I'll let you know.
Friends. Couple. Married. Scientist. Rocks.
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