Happy Birthday!

A few days late, but happy birthday Michael!  Hope it was a blast!

Jersey

Just a note to say I finally made it to Madison and into my dorm room.  I was lucky somehow and ended up in a two-person room without a roommate.  The furniture has been completely rearranged to my liking and I've happily taken over every possible corner and drawer.  It's gorgeous here and quaint; I've already lost count of how many deer I've seen on campus.  I'm too tired to say any more, but I'm happy to be (mostly) settled in.

California Dreamin'

Late in April, I interviewed with South Coast Repertory in California. I was told that they would get back to me within the next week. Well, three weeks later I hadn't heard a thing and just assumed the worst -- I didn't get the job.

This Tuesday, I received a phone call offering me a position.

So. About two weeks after I finish up in New Jersey, I start rehearsals in California. Between September and mid-June I will be assistant stage managing three shows, but they are giving me my own show as well. I am extremely excited and extremely blessed to be a part of this company. I'm afraid that California may take quite a bit of getting used to, but I'm looking forward to the challenge. And hey, my first year out of school and I have some job in theatre. That's better than a lot can say.

Currently, I am making my way to New Jersey -- only a day and a half away from moving in. I'll spend the summer with Shakespeare then make my way to the other side of the country for some more good theatre work. This is the start of Chanis: Coast-to-Coast!

Graduating and Getting Gone

Alright.  An update on this week.

Friday: Most of the family came in for graduation weekend.  I had the opportunity to go out with some of my professors and other seniors for a couple hours while family was occupied, then went to dinner with them.  It started out a bit hectic, but was a nice evening overall.

Saturday: Graduation in the morning which wasn't as tedious as I had expected.  After all the dreading a morning ceremony, I became grateful to get it over with and carry on with my day.  The whole clan went to a steakhouse along the river for lunch.  Good company and a cozy restaurant (good to choose something off the beaten path) and some "green water" for the nephews to play along after the meal.  We even found a duck to feed.  Afterwards, we crammed into my overcrowded living room for a while, then most of the family took off.  My mom stayed and we did a little bit of shopping, a little bit of packing.

Sunday: Church, pack, pack, eat, pack

Monday: Early in the morning my mom and a couple of guy friends helped move me into storage in College Station.  Zach and Stephen are a great team and very friendly movers.  In fact, they were thanking me for giving them something to do.  Freebirds for lunch (yes!) then back to Waco.  Dinner and a movie with a friend, just because we had nothing better to do.

Tuesday & Wednesday: A little bit of erranding, a little bit of packing, quite a bit of the Mentalist.  Also, I got a job. (more on that later)

Thursday: The end of the errands.  Also, I fixed my own cruise control.  That's right.  Who needs big corporate dealerships?  Chevrolet Service Man was clearly not interested in fixing my car and made me order my own part (this may be normal for Chevrolet, but the guy was still rude).  Ordering was simple enough, but I didn't want to go back to the other guy.  When I picked up the part this morning, I saw that it was just a clip in, no fancy wiring involved.  Naturally, I went to the theatre, got a second opinion from the shop foreman and a screwdriver, then I popped out the old switch and installed the new one.  I have a working cruise control, didn't have to pay for labor, and now know to be skeptical of Chevrolet.  All in all, a pretty successful day so far.

Tomorrow is rehearsal dinner, Saturday the wedding, and Sunday I leave town for good.  Busy, busy, but good to be running again!

Master of the Mind

It's been a busy week (go figure), but back to the list!

A few weeks before our sophomore year Victoria Romberg (my freshmen roommate) and I discovered our mutual love of the game "Mastermind."  We played for a while on the gimpy facebook app, but it was nothing compared to the real thing.  Time after time we said that we should get together and play, but guess what, it didn't happen until last Tuesday.  It was a great way to do something fun and reminisce (or, to use a word I'm inventing, "nostalge") before parting ways.  We used the board's scoring system and played to 71, the perfect length for a set of games although 71 is the most random number.  On the way out the door, Victoria discovered my pirate gun (you actually shoot pirates out of the gun) which provided a great deal of entertainment.  We haven't seen each other much since we lived together, so I was grateful we could share the awesomeness that is Mastermind and nostalge a bit.

[scribbles and snapshots]

Hello.  I have started a new blog called [scribbles and snapshots] which is just what as the title suggests.  For this effort, I brought in some friends to help contribute since as you know, the more the merrier!  Check it out and enjoy!

Dam Picnic

My friend Lindsay has made several trips to the Waco Dam over the years and I was always curious to see it.  Once again, we have been planning to do this for a while and finally made it happen this week.  We decided to make a picnic out of it and bring along Anna and Victoria.  We enjoyed our sandwiches and fruit and brownies and the time spent sitting on the wall, watching the waves, and withstanding the wind.  It's a pretty place and I'm glad I finally went, especially with such good people.

Ironically, we had just settled in with our food spread out and ready to dig in when a work truck appeared on the road.  We had to pull everything aside to let them pass.  Oops!

Suspension Bridge Photo Shoot

The suspension bridge is a pretty popular place to go to when there's nothing better to do.  It's picturesque and fun to climb on.  My freshmen year, I saw pictures that a friend took at the suspension bridge before a formal.  It's been in the back of my mind since then to follow her lead.  I finally put an event together and five of us went out on Monday.  The shoot was an absolute success: fun to participate in and fun to see the results.  Most of my pictures are of the four seniors that were there.  Here are some of the best ones:

Sense and Sensibility

I LOVE the movie Sense and Sensibility.  I love it because I am Elinor Dashwood.  Not 'I like her' or 'I could be compared with her' or 'I sympathize with her.'  None of that.  I AM her.  So when my Pride and Prejudice loving ASM (hereafter, Bailey) informed me that she had never seen Sense and Sensibility, I immediately made plans to rectify the situation.  It was one of those things that we talked about all semester and finally made happen the day before she left town.  And as things happen, what started out as a one-on-one encounter turned into a much bigger event.

We sort of gathered up people one at time and ended up with six of us for dinner.  I (actually) cooked chicken and rice for everyone and was fortunate enough to make the right amount for everyone to have as much as they wanted without leftovers.  My dining room table was crowded around for a real meal, the way dining tables are supposed to be used.  It was another great night of girl time.

The two junior girls left after dinner, so I watched the movie with the freshmen triplets (Bailey, Hannah, and Claire) and it was the first time for all of them to see it.  I am pleased to report that they all enjoyed it :)  

The next day, they all moved back home for the summer, so I am especially glad that I had one more night with my precious freshmen girls.  A little bit of home cooking, a little bit of Elinor Dashwood, and a lot of Bailey, Hannah, and Claire makes for a wonderful evening!

I somehow missed taking pictures of this event, so here we are at different times...

Bailey and Claire, my shining stars, at banquet.

Hannah on our super sneaky stealing boxes from WalMart mission.

 

Chick Fil A Milkshakes At Closing Time

My sophomore year, I was an ASM for Picasso at the Lapin Agile and my counterpart ASM was Danielle.  We discovered that we shared a mutual love of Chick-Fil-A milkshakes so on the very, extremely rare occasion that we got out of rehearsal super early, Danielle and I would rush across town for milkshakes.  We usually walked in at about 9:55 and ordered in time for them to close at 10:00.  This tradition continued for the past two years whenever our crazy schedules opened up for a brief window.  

At senior wills, there are usually one or two people that say something like "we got pancakes every Thursday, so find someone else and take them to get pancakes every Thursday and think of me."  I was always skeptical if this actually worked, but Danielle suggested that I will her Chick-Fil-A Milkshakes at closing time, so I did.  We decided that for my last time to participate in the tradition, we'd bring the newbie.  Danielle chose for her companion a now sophomore named Claire and the three of us went last Wednesday (Bailey stowed away, but we like her too so it didn't matter).  

We had a great time laughing and celebrating the close of the year over cookies and cream perfection.  More than a good night with good friends, it was fun to see a bit of a legacy.  Danielle is a precious friend to me and I've so loved having her around these past three years.  Claire is also one of my favorite people so I was excited to be "replaced" by her and not someone else.  It was a blast to spend an evening with these girls and to see how this kind of camaraderie will continue.  

A side note, we actually went rather early (about 8:00) and they started closing down just our section while we were still there (about 9:00).  We avoided the 9:55 rush, but we still did not miss the closing time experience :)

Here's Danielle with the new me (r-l):

Bucket List

A couple weeks ago I made a "bucket list" of things I want to do before leaving Waco.  I thought I would share my list, then share what happens as I fulfill something.  I've done a few of these already, so there'll be several posts tonight.  Here's the list:

*Go to the marina

*Go to the dam with Lindsay

*Take pictures at the suspension bridge

*Watch Sense and Sensibility with Bailey

*Explore the ruined school

*Run through the fountain at the science building

*Take pictures with Judge Baylor

*Get Chick-Fil-A milkshakes with Danielle

*Play Mastermind with Victoria

*Take pictures with the four sophomore year roommates

Stay tuned! 

Yep.

Yep.  Those are shingles.

Yep.  That is a second-story window.

Yep.  That is a duck on the top of my friend's apartment building.

Happy Cinco de Mayo.

Catching Up

What's happened since Earth Day?  Let's see if I remember...

Between Diadeloso and my only class on Fridays being canceled due to the professor being out of town, I took my four-day-weekend and ran with it to Austin.  I spent some lazy days with the brother and sister-in-law and got in a good lunch with a high school friend.

After my lazy weekend, I hit the ground running on the last week.  The time of reckoning came for those last papers and quizzes, as well as gathering information for my contract, doing all the heavy work for my workshop sound design, and getting ready for banquet/senior wills.  I ran in circles for the better part of the week without slowing, but finally got all the big stuff taken care of.

Monday was banquet, which went rather swimmingly.  After banquet, we have a couple of unofficial ceremonies, the most extensive of which is senior wills.  All the seniors have the chance to recognize the underclassmen they are close to by giving them special things within the department, honoring inside jokes, and being sentimental.  It was incredibly surreal to be up there giving the best parts of my life away to my friends, but it was fun also honor them.  

Tuesday was the sound design.  It went pretty well, except that I made the CD when I was still asleep, so one of the effects was off.  I'm glad I can put that on my resumé, but I'm also glad that I can take it off my list.  Now to making a few new memories with my friends, graduating, and getting to New Jersey!

The senior "triplets" at banquet