A Few Days Late, But...

Happy Fourth of July.

Tomorrow

Hey, guys!

My friend Tori over at Song of the Day is out of town tomorrow, so I will be posting for her blog on here tomorrow.

Look for my "song of the day" here tomorrow, and check out Tori's blog at http://momentarylapseofmusic.blogspot.com.

...What?

After months of hiding, I am proud (well, maybe not proud...) to announce my return to the blogosphere.

The past few months have been busy. And when they weren't busy, I was lazy.

I'm still lazy.

Anyway, since February, I've played a major role in my first university main-stage show, assistant directed my first community theater show, designed a set, seen Star Trek, traveled back and forth between school and home, held my three-year-old niece during a tornado and cooked chicken spaghetti.

Oh, and I finished my second year of college.

Weird, right?

So it's summer break now--at least until Tuesday, when I start my summer class (boo).

Summer means that it's time for me to
1. get some real writing done--I have about 20,000 words on the novel that I started for NaNoWriMo and lots of fun places to go with that
2. muddle my way through a science class--Again, boo.
And
3. find a job.

Exciting stuff.

But, even with that stuff to do, I still have more free time than usual. We'll see if I can match last summer's posts.

Summer Winds Down

My summer at home is about to end: I move back to my school in about a week. And that'll mean course work and shows and all that sort of thing.

Anyway, I know I've let this blog slide this month-- there's been other stuff on my mind and, honestly, there hasn't been much worth blogging about. But I do have a couple of posts planned. They should be up soon. Ish.

I haven't been blogging, but I have been writing a little bit on something or other every day (except Sundays). If I come up with anything worthwhile, I might post some of it on here.

That said, I hope everyone's having a great summer-- even if it is almost over.

Summer Reading

I've always been a voracious reader. This summer, I've consumed even more books than usual.

Here's the list of what I've read since May. The ones that were being reread are marked with an "R."

Tennessee Williams--Four Plays (Summer and Smoke, Orpheus Descending, Suddenly Last Summer, Period of Adjustment)
Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss (R)
Talk to the Hand by Lynne Truss (R)
Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz (R)
Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz (R)
Forever Odd by Dean Koontz (R)
Brother Odd by Dean Koontz (R)
Odd Hours by Dean Koontz
Gone With the Wind by Margret Mitchell
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey (R)
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (I know, I know...)
New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
The Innocent Man by John Grisham
Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
White Oleander by Janet Fitch
In Odd We Trust Dean Koontz and Queenie Chan

Currently reading: As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

So, yeah. For not being busy, I've been pretty busy. Well, I've told you what I've been reading. What have you been reading?

Jist a Girl Who Cain't Say No

(Yes, that is an Oklahoma! reference. I know you're all shocked-- I certainly am. I hate that show.

But I digress.)

Last night, while I was eating dinner, the music minister from my church at home called me to ask if I'd be willing to sing with an ensemble Sunday morning. It was a last minute thing--which I have a hard time with, since I like to over prepare before I go in front of people-- and the group was going to get together to rehearse Wednesday night.

My mind immediately created a list of all of the things that I'd rather be doing Wednesday night. And it wasn't a short list-- let me tell you.

"Well, I can still do it," I thought. "I probably won't have to go to rehearsal; it's never hard to find the alto part in that sort of stuff."

I agreed to do it.

She told me she'd like for me to sing second soprano.

Here's the thing-- I can sing soprano. I can. But I don't really like it, and I'm much better with alto. I'm more alto than soprano, and almost more tenor than alto.

I was working fast to come up with a reasonable excuse for not joining the ensemble when she told me that she was having a hard time finding someone willing to sing the part.

"Wow," I thought. "Guilt trip, much?"

So I'm singing second soprano in an ensemble this Sunday. It could be worse, I know.

But still, sometimes it would be nice to be able to say no.

Best Stress Relief Ever

My job stresses me out.

Not because it's hard. It isn't. At all.

It does require that I be suspicious of people (there's a post about this somewhere on here, I think), which is not something I'm good at. I like to think that people are generally telling the truth.

Anyway, sitting at my desk for eight hours being suspicious and (at times) rude--you have to get the solicitors off the phone somehow-- stresses me out.

I'd love to be able to go home and collapse on the couch to unwind, but I'm not wired that way. If I lay down on the couch, I'll just think of a million and one things that I have to do.

Or Mom will tell me to get out of her spot. Either way, relaxing that way is out.

Some people who know me well might say that I should draw or write or sing to calm my nerves, but that doesn't work for me either. Those things all carry their own different stresses. (Especially writing, now that I'm working on a story for a competition--yikes!)

So all of that leaves me in a bit of a pickle. What can I do to de-stress?

My parents have a dog--a big, beautiful mutt-- that they don't get out to play with very often. Last week, I grabbed a tennis ball and went into the back yard to spend some time with the dog.

As the title says: best stress relief EVER.

The wonderful thing about dogs is that they realize that humans need to give love as much as get it. Petting and playing with a dog is the most relaxing thing in the world.

Even when you do have to remind the dog that a tennis ball is not the same thing as food (poor thing kept trying to eat the tennis ball--that's probably a good indication that she doesn't get played with anywhere near enough).

Now my problem is solved. Pretty great, isn't it?


see more dog pictures

This looks so much like Hershey! (I love my dog.)

Surprise!

I have some free time and a plan right now, so it looks like you're getting a post today.

Aren't you lucky.

One of my guilty pleasures is a show on Fox called So You Think You Can Dance. I took dance when I was a kid, and, for a while, I was really into it. Then I discovered theatre, and that was the end of that.

But I digress.

Anyway, I've watched one full season (the one when Benjie won) and all of this season so far, and one thing I have learned is that I love Mia Michaels's choreography.

Like, LOVE it. Really.

Check it out.

Mia won an Emmy for this one. (Ignore the extra stuff--this is about the dance)


And this was on last Wednesday's episode.


Pretty cool, no?

Anyway, as much as I love her choreography, she gets on my nerves as a judge. And there are several people (and by several, I mean two) who I know agree with me. I think my sister had it right when she said that Mia watches a dance and judges it based on how she would have choreographed it and not on the dance itself.

It doesn't matter, though. I watch for the dances. Even the ones not choreographed by Mia Michaels are sometimes (most of the time, but not always--last night was really a bad night)great.



So now you know one of my deep, dark secrets. Well, I make no apologies.

At least I don't watch Hell's Kitchen. *cough*Josh*cough*

Preparing

June might be a bit early to start hording furniture and such for an August move, but that's not stopping me from doing it.

I'm setting aside Saturdays to hit local yard sales-- there's been some luck with that already: my folks and I found a nice table and four chairs for $25.

Thriftiness is a real issue with all of this. Tori and I can't swim in our big vault of gold like Scrooge McDuck, so we have to furnish our apartment on a budget.

Which means that our place will be a fine example of Great American Left-Overs.

It's surprising how everything's coming together, though. Nothing we have so far is particularly fancy and I doubt that we'd be able to go to some antiques expert and find out that the dresser we pulled out of my parents' garage is now worth millions of dollars, but the stuff we have is charming in its own odd way.

I guess this experience isn't uncommon-- first apartments are probably supposed to have that vaguely confused here-and-there look. But it's a first for me. I've never had a place of my own to furnish as I please (er... within the budget).

It's kinda nice, even if everything does have to be second-hand (and sometimes third- or fourth-hand).

Another Blog Post. Um...huzzah?

So I've made it to 19 post (about 14 more than I usually make it to on a blog).

Unfortunately, I have no interesting subject for this post. At all.

My summer is going smoothly enough-- I sold it in exchange for money and a place to live (yes, I have a job now; make your joke and move on). Life at my parents' house is excruciatingly boring, but I knew it would be. I've been home for a week today, and I'm already planning my first trip back to my other home.

I've seen Casablanca now. So that makes, what, five movies in my whole life?

Pretty exciting stuff, on the whole.

Or not.

Whatever.

And that's my 19th blog post.

Slow curtain, the end.

So

So, after much drama, my roommate and I have an apartment for next school year.

Her dad had been giving us a hard time about getting one-- apparently we're incapable of taking care of ourselves without the supervision of a dorm staff. He seemed to be under the impression that, as soon as we got our own place, we'd fall into a life of debauchery.

But that's all behind us now. We've signed a lease and paid a deposit; it looks like we're set, for the time being, at least.

And with that, the school year is wrapping up. I finished the last of my classes today and my last play of the year was last night (and went very well, all things considered); all that's left is finals. Well, that, and moving out (which is going to quite an experience, I think... I can't quite believe the amount of useless stuff I've accumulated over the past few months).

When I leave for the summer, I'll be going home to an 8-5 job and life with my parents (which isn't bad, but it won't allow for the kind of freedom that I've become accustomed to). It'll be different; I'm sure of that.

But, then, variety is the spice of life, right?

....

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