Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Happy (Almost) New Year!

With the new year coming so close I thought it would be appropriate to begin thinking of a new year's resolution. Problem with that is I don't just have one, I have many. It seems impossible to come up with one thing and one thing alone so I'll share with you my top ten:

10) Be more adventurous--in everything. My choreography, my weekend activities, clothing, cooking, etc. Even if it's one new thing a month, I'll give it a stab.

9) Take care of my body more--Sure, I spend, oh, at least 15 hours a week dancing, but I know that outside cardio workouts are necessary and that strength builders are, too. It wouldn't hurt to try and manage meals a little better, take time to rest a little more. Maybe get my eyebrows waxed once in a while to keep those caterpillars in line.

8) Connect with friends--I'm terribly at calling friends and returning phone calls. Horrible at it. Ask any of my close ones, they can tell you. This year, I will be better even if it means I have to write myself sticky notes to remember, I will be better!

7) Find a hobby--See, my hobby is my life. I dance. Everything I do, all my thoughts are focused on dancing. I used to joke about this friend I had who only had five conversations topics, some of which coincided with one another therefore minimizing the amount of subjects we could chat about. Sadly, I have also become that person, constantly talking about school and dance, both of which, might I remind you, often coincide with one another. *SIGH* There are plenty of things I want to do (Learn to sew, learn to sketch, play the piano or guitar, pick up photography, cook more often, become a yoga master--well, master it for myself.), but I haven't set aside time to do that. This year, I will.

6) Learn to manage my money--I'm not too bad. Really. I can save like nobody's business. The problem is I have yet to learn how to really budget on paper. In my head I can keep track fairly well, but I think if I sat down and followed a plan, I'd be golden!

5) Be informed--I made this one last year, to read the news more and be up to date on current events. I did pretty well until summer and then I lost all track of the world. Sad part is I keep up better with People and other hollywood buzz--no more! It's a guilty pleasure I'm sure I will continue to follow but it all honesty, I should know more about my own country and have a clue as to what's happening in the world.

4) Count my blessing--everyday. Self explanatory.

3) Continue to laugh--I find that it keeps me from crying when I'm at a loss. Plus its so darn fun to throw your head back, let out the biggest belly laugh possible and continue until you're crying buckets! I love to laugh and I plan right on giggling through this coming (complicated) year.

2) Hug more--I read an article a long time ago that said humans need at least ten hugs a day. Let me tell you, I'm pretty darn sure I ain't been gettin' my ten hugs a day. Expect to get a hug the next time you see me. It has been scientifically proven to boost happy hormones in a person. No, really--I'll have to hunt down those articles to prove it to you now.

1) Be happy--I refuse to let gloom and doom settle into my life much this year. It's all about the positive even in the negative--I will continue to find the spring happiness in every day, I just have to.

Let's see how if I can actually check through all ten this year. In any case, number one should be the easiest goal of my year. Another thing to look forward to in the coming 2010 start off: This time next year I will have my masters and hopefully a job...if not it'll be another adventure. Share some of your New Year's Resolutions if you would! Any tips you think will help out my list? Happy New Year to one and all!

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Life w/o Sleep

There are certain tell tale signs that a person is lacking in sleep. For those of us who ignore said signs or truly are so tired that we are blissfully ignorant of the red flag waving in front of our faces, we embark on perhaps some of the most peculiar moments.


Peculiarity #1: I set myself up to study Sunday for my one and only final test, the rest being, of course, massive projects. Somehow while typing up the additional paper for this particular class I made the grave mistake of closing my eyes...I was out cold for a good 40 minutes before my saving grace of a boyfriend just happened to call and wake my butt up (Thank you, boyfriend, for your impeccable timing.) Back to work I go, furiously writing all I can about modern dance while simultaneously trying to remember names of foreign choreographers and their successes/failures, pupils, and whatnot. And I did yet another stupid thing. I closed my eyes again. This time there was no phone, no alarm, no rambunctious neighbor to stir this sleeping beauty. No, I woke up three hours later to my house lights brightly shining, cold cups of coffee on the table, and a candle STILL burning (it's a miracle I didn't set something on fire--I've left my house twice this week with one still burning. My poor guardian angel must look like she's been through the ringer...). The heavenly glow of my Christmas trees illuminated my body sprawled out on the couch, mouth wide open for catching flies, clutching my History of Dance notes as if I'll learn anything through osmosis. I thank my lucky stars no one had a camera to capture that "breath taking" view of me.

Peculiarity #2: I have come to realize that without much rest a person begins to lose the ability to comprehend their own native language. For the past week I have had to ask people to repeat what they've said multiple times because I swear they are speaking a foreign language. That and it takes about five minutes for a statement to process. Proof--While trying to fix my hair, a hopeless mess right now, in the ladies room last week, my fellow MFA lady, Cassie, began telling me a story. I looked right at her, made sure to pay attention and hang on her every word, conscious smile and nod appropriately when necessary. Did it help? Heck no! I stared at her for a minute after she finished before finally giving up. "Um, Cassie, I'm sorry. Could you repeat that again?" "Sure, what part?" "Oh you know...the whole thing..." Nothing sticks.

Peculiarity #3: While waiting on my cast of ladies to arrive at Starbucks last night for a coffee date, I happened to run into a sorority sister of mine. So excited to see her pretty face I jumped up to say hello and hug her neck. Half-way through our chatting I began to feel buzzing, no, vibrating along the right side of my body. Frantically searching through pockets, stopping mid sentence of relaying my story to her, I couldn't figure out where my dang phone was. As my dear sister watched with a glint of amusement in her eyes, I stripped off my coat and patted down my body searching incessantly for my cell only to realize that my cell phone was indeed in my purse and no where near my body. I'm so caffeinated my own body is vibrating...

Peculiarity #4: While the body is trying to chug along in its sleep deprived state, your emotions will take over all coherent thoughts and logical reasoning causing you to become a raging lunatic at any given moment. Symptoms include crying for no apparent reason, inability to process confusing or vague statements/texts that often leads to panic, frustration and inevitably more crying from lack of being able to think your way out of a paper bag. You are prone to obscenely loud outbursts at simple realizations--beware friends may find you to be hysterical or crazy especially if the outburst happens in a car. While you're driving. Symptoms can last anywhere from two to four hours. Simple solution for the problem: rest and relaxation. As if...

After today I will be taking my own advice, sleeping, trying to catch up so I can at least seem semi-human again. I swear I've never been so scatter brained in my life or felt more like a walking zombie. The good news is I've survived the semester and am now one year away from finishing my masters! Huzzah! And now, I must go make another pot of coffee or I'll have to resort to chewing on coffee grinds. Gross.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

It's Tech Time!

We've survived Christmas Show Blocking weekend and are now immersed in tech week. Surprisingly, this has been the smoothest of all runs I've yet to see at OCU. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop while silently praying it never does.

I've got quite a bit on my plate but I'm working hard to get everything done. If it wasn't for the little things I don't think I'd enjoy this week so much. Yes, there are long hours and yes, it can be frustrating waiting around for hours just to tech one two minute number. Fortunately when you are surrounded by artists, everyone tends to get a little creative.

Case in point: There is a dance in the Christmas show called "Santa's Coming in a Pick-up Truck," and yes, a miniature Santa comes rolling out in a little truck at the end to wish everyone a booming "Ho, ho, ho" chortle. Well, somehow there are squirrels in the dance parked on a box of nuts singing and dancing right along with the rest of cowboys and cowgirls (It's the Christmas show at OCU, anything is possible!). Now in this box is a someone who manipulates these squirrel hand puppets and last night we had an extra little show while waiting for lighting cues to be set.

As I'm sitting there writing out one of my final papers for class, I look up to see Sammy the squirrel and his friend gnawing away at the foam nuts on the box, then they proceeded to break out in a little hand puppet dance and move on to have a conversation with one another. Hilarious, my friends, but then again I'm a sucker for anything similar to a Muppets skit. Who knows if the puppeteer actually expected anyone to watch. In any case, I could not help but burst out in my obnoxiously loud laughter thus catching the attention of the entire theater who then began watching the same improvised show I did. It was great, even Sammy and friends took a little bow for us all. Standing ovation from the dance department!

Another great part of being in the theater? The millions of giant character costumes walking around. I thoroughly enjoy watching a giant teddy bear bust out in Beyonce's "Single Ladies" dance. Have you ever? Only in the arts. What about seeing a giant frosty tump over in the middle of a performance on stage? You have to admit its pretty funny observing a huge snowball roll around helplessly on stage, unable to pick themselves up and then watch him be dragged off stage...hee hee...Remind me to tell you about the flashlight Baby Jesus. Another blog perhaps, have to save some stories for later.

So yes, there are some tedious moments when bringing in a show but there's never a dull moment, that's for darn sure! Happy holidays to one and all!
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