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.

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):

Treehugging on Earth Day

Actually, the first holiday of the week was Dia del Ernie on Wednesday.  Dia del Ernie is the day we celebrate one of our theatre staff members by wearing plaid (his standard uniform) and having a cookout, a highlight of every spring.  Here are a couple of shots from that day:

See?  Plaid and food.  
Here's a full group shot (Ernie's the one with the impressive white beard):

Thursday was Diadeloso ("Day of the Bear") which is a school wide holiday for the sole purpose of canceling a day of Tuesday/Thursday classes.  This year it happened to fall on Earth Day.  Dia is a prime time for tech rehearsals which means we've been teching instead of playing on that holiday every other year.  Seniors don't work on the last show, so we were able to celebrate our first Dia since coming to Baylor.  We went to the festivities around 11:00am, before most of the booths were even up and running.  Lame.  So we quickly moved onto our picnic lunch that we shared with one of our professors and her daughter.  Lunch was a raucus good time that was followed by a good bit of tree climbing.  There is an area of Baylor that has several very climbable trees (with convienent handholds), so we took one over.  We had one of the best afternoons of our time at college without participating in a single Dia event!  The rest I will tell with pictures:

Kaylee.2

She's back!!  After about three weeks of not seeing Kaylee again, Christina and I assumed that she had moved on and wouldn't be coming back even though we fed her.  Last week I heard a few isolated meows that sounded like her, but never saw the cat that made them.  This Tuesday Christina ran into Kaylee in the parking, gave her a bit of loving, then instead of following, Kaylee actually led Christina to the door of our apartment and invited herself into our apartment.  She is adorable and as precious as ever, and has made the conscious decision to stay with us.  She never bolts for the door like she used to, but lazily watches us come in and spends hardly any time in the windows even though they were her favorite haunts last time.  Unfortunately, Christina and I are met with the same predicament that we cannot keep her past this year.  Know anyone who's looking for an extremely loving and easy to care for cat? 

Photo Hunter: Purple

Following the theatre banquet fall of my freshman year, my friend Kara and I were invited to a cookie decorating party hosted by someone we knew outside the department. We arrived a little late and all dolled up, but enjoyed making use of what was left over. Kara asked for an apron, since it is an essential part of all baking tasks and was presented with this purple patchwork apron. Right before taking this picture to show off her masterpieces, Kara proudly declared, "Eat your heart out, Betty Crocker!"

Photo Hunter

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

The older I get the harder it is to get out, but I had the opportunity last weekend to go to a softball game from the beginning to the end (ooo...ahhh...) Our girls played a solid game, but in the last few innings, the other team had some good plays and we lost 2-1. Still, it was nice to be in the open air and to spend some time under the bright, yellow thing in the sky. A friend of mine plays catcher for Baylor, and I got some great action shots of her to share.

Buffalo Shades

Today was fantastic. I took a road trip with a couple of friends to pick up some furniture. We had an incredibly relaxed day and stopped off at a random, small town bakery that had surprisingly legitimate and delicious pizza. There was also a puny wishing well without water (but with coins...question mark...), a patio in the shape of Texas, and an iron buffalo. I got home just in time for a theatre girls night (Benny and Joon is an excellent movie!), then had dinner with some friends that I don't get to see a whole lot. What more could you ask for?

As we were leaving my apartment complex this morning, I realized that I should have grabbed my sunglasses, but didn't want to go back. Over the course of the trip, I started noticing the copious amount of sunglasses in the truck we were using. Grand total: 6

She's absolutely ridiculous, but she's one of my favorite friends. I'm so lucky to know her.

Time For a Change

Last month, I took a bold step and upgraded my phone from a ghetto, spike-taped masterpiece to a sleek and more highly developed cell. This month, I decided that the next essential upgrade in my life was my hair. I have worn it board straight for practically my entire life and it's generally in a pony tail. Boring! Luckily, there are several people in my major that have random skills including playing the accordian, welding, flamenco dancing, and among them, hair cutting. I finally took the step today to get a styled haircut. Oh, and I threw in a twist.

Yep. That's blue. Dying hair is also included in the list of our department's random skills.

Post cut :) I've never been happier with my hair!

Taking a Break

This weekend I was accused of doing too much without taking a break. This was followed by a concession that I probably do take time for myself, but I never talk about it. Chances are that the first statement is more true, but my answer was that the times of rest or everything-has-gone-according-to-plan are not as interesting to talk about.

Indeed, I have been sitting here for 15 mins trying to figure out how to talk about the first part of Spring Break that I spent bumming around at my sister's house. I had a blast and we had lots of laughs and I have over 100 pictures (only 3 days worth) to prove it, but not a lot of words.

Tradition is well established. There is at least one trip to Kroger, one to Target, a lunch at Chick Fil A, some backyard baseball, and a late night trip "out" that my sister and I take after the kids have gone to bed. The first words I hear each morning tend to be "Aunt Sarah, do you want to play Sequence with me?" (the variation being "Trouble" or "Connect Four" instead of "Sequence"). Oh and I always take 4+ hours to be completely inaccessible while reading one of Rachel's books. These are the things that make my permanent address home and the ideal place for vacations (or weekends, but I tend to think of those as synonyms).

Here are some of the highlights from my sabbatical:


Alex's first T-ball game and the first game I have been able to attend. This is his big contribution on the last play of the game.












David had the foresight to wear his T-shirt that repeats "just one more level..." on the day I took this picture.










Miguel can do anything his brothers can do. Please note that he is missing a shoe.














A night "out" on the town culminated in girly indulgence.

Bella

I never thought I would be a rodent person, but Bella has won my heart. In fact, my emotions on Friday started with confusion, moved to infatuation, then anxiety. The addition of a pet does not upset me, but I was having difficulty understanding the reasoning. On Friday, all I could fabricate are as follows.

Plausible reason #1: Christina had an impluse buy.

Plausible reason #2: Christina's bio-pre-med major required her to take care of a mouse before some lab experiment.

Finally, late in the evening I was able to ask Christina and was happy to learn that Bella was a semi-impromtu present and very definately NOT a lab experiment. I never had much admiration for rodents, including the sterotypical hamster or gerbil, but I am absolutely smitten. It's love at the first sight of her goofy looking spotted clumsiness.

Breaking The Silence

After several weeks of neglect, I am now ready to revisit this blog and give an update on my life that is not given in a picture based on a theme.

Major Event 1:
Cyrano de Bergerac finished up two weeks ago and the performances were impressively smooth. The techs and dresses had been a long and painful process, then the storm suddenly abated. There were a few minor problems throughout, but overall it was quite graceful until our last performance. During the first act, the pit was lowered partway with a step unit leading in and out. At the very end of the act, I was supposed to raise it from backstage so that Cyrano rose while delivering highly inspirational lines and epic music swelled in the background. There is always a moment of hesitation between me pushing the button and the pit raising in which I would never breathe. That last day, my breath was stopped for too long and I realized that the pit was stuck. I ran quickly to the basement and checked the settings - everything was correct. We had an emergency setting for Act 2, so the play proceeded as if nothing was wrong. I flipped the breaker off and back on and we tested the pit during the action. It was working again. For the next scene change, I took a run crew member onstage and we took off the step unit. Awkward! Afterward, we took apart the set and walked away--Cyrano is finished.

Major Event 2:
Finals. A few synonyms: nightmare, delirium, ordeal, tribulation, thorn in my flesh, and, because Merriam Webster gave it to me, bummer. My list at the beginning of the week read 21 projects in 4 1/2 days. The main point is, I survived.

Major Event 3:
I told several of my friends that it would not be enough for me to leave town for Christmas, instead I needed to leave the country. The fortunate happenstance and the basis for this almost-joke is that I am indeed out of the country. Last Tuesday my sister dropped me at the airport for a 24 hour trek to the far east. Emphasis here should be placed on "far." After another delusional day, the semester's woes have finally worn off in exchange for days with the madre, seeing the sights, shopping, and sitting at the apartment. Of course, there are office lunches and a girls (should that be girl'z?) night also in the mix. Now, I am cozy and snug and enjoying the big city life that is decidedly NOT America.

It is likely that I will write again soon, now that vacation has come, but I might be visiting pandas or having tea at a fancy hotel. Regardless, stories and pictures are sure to follow.

Photo Hunter: Wide

For me the most wondrous and widespread thing on earth is the ocean (specifically the Atlantic). So here is my niece and I standing at the brink of the greatest Wide I know.

Photo Hunter

MY ROOMMATE'S BACK!!

To quote my favorite line in Cyrano:

"You're not sad anymore!"

So true. Christina's back!! My apartment is no longer empty!!