Following Your Heart

I want to be a Filmmaker... any ideas as to how?

I want to travel the world... how can I go about funding it?

Arts Whaaaat?!

So, staff meeting at Matrix today the BAS funding cuts were mentioned. I already knew about that because my roommate's school was severely affected by the cut in funding, in fact their entire after school program was cut and they now have to figure out how to give their students an after school program with NO money what so ever. Hmm that could be tough. (and less than a week later after all of the programs had canceled all of their grant programs, they reinstated it... pardon my language but how f***ed up is that?!)

This topic snowballed into Michigan politics. A group of Republicans in the Michigan Legislature want to deal with Michigan's debt problems by merely making program cuts... basically cutting Arts, Literature and History out of Michigan. (Again I ask WTF... for the record I have used that word more since I have been in Michigan than any other time in my life.) What is life with out these basic elements? Boring and uncultured...

A few questions come to mind:

1. why not take cuts from your own fat pay check?
2. higher taxes for the good of the community or cutting programs to save money? I go for bettering the community... every time
3. Why are you trying to eliminate culturally enriching elements of life? The only good that comes of that is the rich get richer, the poor stay poor and people who once had a voice through these mediums no longer do.... hmmm I see a directional trend here...

I am beginning to think I need to get out of Michigan while I still can.

Subliminal Messaging

so as a costume designer I find that it is my responsibility to slip little subtleties in to my shows... Like the gang colors are purple and white, and the kings crowns are purple and gold. Shout out to JMU!

Has Spring Sprung...

..Or has the icy snare of winter maintained its grasp upon the world?

I have never been one for the season of spring, and I still maintain that spring is an evil temptress. With its warm days and wintry undertones, it repeatedly toys with your being. The rebirth of flowers and trees, though essential to the environment and life, bring pollen and allergies: itchy scratchy eyes, stuffy nose, and multiple sneezes that don't leave until the middle of June. Appealing as it is, Spring is like a Siren... leading unsuspecting sailors to their demise.

It has caught me in its snare this year. The icy cold Michigan winter has led me to cling on to the idea of Spring at the first signs of warm weather. Curse YOU, Michigan. I never had this problem in Virginia. The winters, though temperatures danced around40 and dipped down to 30, 20, and even 10, never stayed consistently cold. Our cold weeks were balanced out with warmer weeks. That crazy Virginia weather... we were probably killing the environment, with the flip flopping weather I mean... but what state isn't now a days?

Honestly, one small sign of warm weather and I was dressing like it was spring already. And, what did it do today? Snow, it snowed today... two days from the first day of spring. Man, if it is going to snow I want a BIG snow, not some sissy "ha ha you think its spring, but it's not yet" kind of snow.

Until then, I guess I will just sit back and hope that spring decides to spring soon... and I mean real soon.

A Saint Patrick's Day Treat

Here in Michigan the Saint Patty's Day celebrations begin the Sunday before March 17th and end the Saturday after. So, basically what I am saying is that all the Irish in Detroit and its surrounding areas will be trashed for the next two weeks, and since everyone is Irish on Saint Patrick's Day... well you get the idea.

Around 2pm, the parade started a few blocks from my house, so the JVs came over to play and watch the parade. It was Ghetto, and tacky and silly, but it was fun. It took me almost the whole Parade to finally catch a set of beads, but I did... stupid Tim kept getting in my way. Anita, Mary and Nile left the parade early, which left me and the JVs to wander Michigan Avenue. Probably a bad idea, all of us together cause trouble... a lot of it (case in point: Saturday night).

We head back to their house; the intention is to drink beer in honor of St. Patty's celebrations and some were going to hookah. Alas we were the most unmotivated people in the world on Sunday because none of that happened. We did finally walk to the store an buy beer, though we never drank it. The most productive thing that happened that day was Tim getting a text message from Brett asking how many were coming to the show (he had invited us the day before). That encouraged 4 of us to make dinner, and get ready to leave.

There was a bit of a scare when Tim, Sheila, Shannan and I were waiting for Brett to come and get us into the show. Finally he did, and snuck (or is it sneaked) us into the show under the cover of students who were there to observe the workings of a high tech sound board. Rock on!

Following the show, we thanked Brett immensely for the wonderful weekend adventure and bid him good luck and fare well.

What a weekend... 2 nights of RENT, St. Patrick's Day antics, costume shopping, teaching and fun.

No Day But Today

Let me just throw it out there: you know its been a great weekend when you are 10 times more tired on Monday morning when you wake up, than on you were on Friday afternoon after a week of 10 hour work days. This is the best feeling of exhaustion one could have.

Waiting in line for rush RENT tickets.... $0 (All Day)
Rent Tickets-- Front Row....................... $20
Sharpies and Poster Board...................... $5

Helping the sound guy say goodbye to the guitarist, and then being showed up by one of the actresses-- PRICELESS


Allow me to explain...

Saturday after my 5 year old acting class, I went with Tim and Sheila to wait in line for rush RENT tickets. $20 for front row, who in their right mind would pass that up? Despite the fact that I am low on funds, this is certainly a worthwhile expense. We arrive at 2pm to wait, and were the only ones there for at least 2 hours. Around 3:30, Josh and Pontiac Shannon join us in line. We still had 2.5 hours to wait. I am always amused that I bring stuff to do while waiting and then just end up talking.

Around 5:30, we are at T minus 30. Tim had taught us a game called Aardvark. A guy walks out, Brett and clearly a techie for RENT, and asks if anyone can help him. Before anyone can process what he asked, Tim jumps up and volunteers. Brett explains to Tim the plot, but an artist is needed... fortunately a member of Tim's party can draw (aka Me). He text messages Tim something before Tim agrees to go out and get him poster board and sharpies. Once Tim is off, he reveals all to us. As it turns out, it is the guitarist's last show and Brett wants to send him off with posters. Our role was to help him make the posters in exchange for... a Backstage tour (!!!).

We get the tickets, Tim returns and we go on our tour. My God was it Heaven. Being back stage of such an incredible show was amazing.... I mean just knowing what goes into a show and then seeing it live just makes the experience even more magical.

After that, we completed out part of the bargain and made the two posters... and at T minus 15, the posters launch. Josh holds up the Baskin Robbin's one (I'll be your 32nd flavor of the week... apparently the guitarist was a bit of a player) and Tim holds up the master card commercial one. Everyone on stage got a kick out of it, and as a matter of fact so did the audience. Mission Accomplished! And, Tim gets a text message... Brett asking the group of us to come bug him during intermission. So, we go up, chat a bit, see the sound board again, thank him ... and he invites us to go out and play after the show with who ever on the cast and crew wants to go out.

Group Meeting: should we go home and hookah after the show... or take advantage of this possibly interesting adventure... fully knowing that it could just be us and the sound guy... ADVENTURE!

After the show... which was amazing by the way, front row was totally worth it! We go and meet him by the backstage door and make plans. In the process we talk to some of the cast, including Maureen who showed our goodbye signs up by flashing Casey the guitarist. The plan is for us to first stop by home, grab a bite to eat, and meet them at their hotel in Dearborn. How lame... they are staying out in Dearborn because the producers don't want them to be in danger or anything.

We leave the JV house after everyone has eaten with three cars... there are only 8 of us going... but it is likely that we will need to provide some transportation. When we get there, we pick them up and head out. We opt for a little mom and pop bar that is cute, fairly empty and who they reckon will be stoked that the cast and crew of RENT came to their bar. They were right, the group of us got free shots. Most of our group leaves around 1:30... they are tired and want to go home. Tim, Sheila and I end up staying a couple more hours because we decided to take their invitation and go hang out with them at their hotel for a while. When we get back to the hotel, it really is just chillaxin but fun none the less. The three of us get home at 5am adjusted time.

I think the life of a roadie is totally the life for me... note to self, I need to talk to Elaine about traveling theatre as either a costumer, a stage manager, or light tech. Could be fun for a while.

Oh, the adventure does not stop there...

How to do Everything: 101

Finding time to do everything is tough. Take it from someone who over and over again tries to do absolutely everything she possibly can in order to take in life. I do realize that you do not have to attempt to do it all to have a fulfilling life, but sometimes I think that if I don't I might miss something, or over look a precious opportunity that may never look my way again. Sure, my thinking is a bit extreme, but that is how I feel sometimes.

The first rule in attempting to do everything is: be open to possibilities.
Things don't always work out as we may have planned for them to. It seems as if every time I try to schedule myself back to back, something happens and I have to change my plans. Don't be afraid to just let things happen. That is the natural course of action, isn't it?

For example: Last night I intended to go to a free Paolo Nutini showcase after rehearsal. Because it was free there is the chance that I would not get in, but was I willing to take that chance? Of course I was. So I e-mail one of the sponsoring radio station's DJs to ask what time he was going to go on so that I could see if I would be able to make it when I got off rehearsal. He said Paolo was to take the stage around 9. It was definitely worth me taking the chance. So after rehearsal, I grabbed Josh and Megan and we hit the road for Ferndale. By the time we got there, because of snow and accidents, it was 9:10pm and there was already a line of people 20 deep waiting to get into the show in the event that someone left. BUMMER!
Plan one foiled, so the three of us walk around the corner to this little coffee shop that is having an open mic night. The performers there, though not the most talented, certainly proved to be entertaining. Josh now has plans to return to this coffee shop with a fo-whiny high school boy act. Said event will be hilarious.

I come to find out the next morning, when I re-mailed the DJ, that because of my initial e-mail I was put on a guest list for the show. This is certainly useful information for future events. So not only did this serve to be a fun adventure, but the River continues to Rock in my opinion.


In a way, no this is not doing everything... but it certainly is attempting to, and attempting can only open up future possibilities. In my mind the secret to doing everything is knowing that as long as you try, the possibilities are endless.

Welcome to the Real World

I never expected to have a glamorous job here at Mercy Education Project. I'd be doing a little bit of tutoring and then helping out wherever I could. You can imagine, then, my surprise to actually be excited when I saw an event planning opportunity that I could help out with. I mean I've done catering and event planning for 5 + years now, I know a thing or two about the process.

I was overly optimistic about this project though. I thought I would actually have a nice role in planning this whole shindig... I am now laughing at my stupidity. What do I get to do? I get to compile a list of restaurants and hotels to solicit gift certificates for an auction. Woo Hoo!

This is about how I feel right now:


Yup... that's how I feel.