Happy Halloween, and other stories...
Before I begin this post, give me a moment to stretch back into a vast, prolonged sigh of relief. Ahhhhhhhh. Ok, sorry about that. It's just so nice to feel that I have, finally, truly, at long last, or at least for the moment, emerged from the mad vortex of the past, hm, say seven and a half years or so of my life. I actually walked to school today! That's a half hour each way, one hour out of my day I was able to dedicate to frivolous, non-productive activity I could achieve in my car in five minutes. It was pretty much pouring as I did this, but I've wanted to walk to school since I moved into the W-Min house, and today was the first day i've even been able to consider the possibility, so by gum, I seized it before it could slip through my grasp. Mmm, so pleasant and peaceful, rain or no rain.
Other fun activities in the glorious new leisure time I've discovered over the past few days:
~ I went to visit Coach and Coach Singer in their cozy new temporary abode on their forest-y Washington property, anticipating only the end of the rains to build their long-awaited home. A grand and glorious weekend, complete with bonfires, marshmallow roasting, stargazing, run/bike riding, trailer toilet adventures, rain gutter construction, the invention of a delicious culinary concoction alliterarily appelated "Curry Couscous Chocolate Chicken Concagination with Compost (aka veggies) and a Cherry On Top", and the viewing of the second half of Branagh's Hamlet with Coach's AP English seniors.
~ Helped manage the auditions for the Directing class' one-acts, which I did in large part to restrain myself from actually auditioning and interfering with this freedom I am now so thankfully enjoying. My favorite part was helping to facilitate the casting process, providing the directors with outside eyes and my previous experience with the compromises and juggling of actors requisite to multi-show casting.
~ Ushered for the mainstage production of Romeo and Juliet, which was quite well-done, with particularly lovely costumes and a really fun set, and lots of play-up on all the sexual innuendo in the script, much to the dismay of the fourth-grade teachers who wanted to expose their students to some Shakespeare and didn't really read the play with that sort of context in mind.
~ Tutored at the 7th Street Learning Center, my church's middle school tutoring program, teaching a boy how to calculate local noon.
~ Decorated for the W-Min House's Halloween bash (photos to be posted), which I attended dressed as Rain (ibid). The party was a wild success, complete with creepy dry ice fog, yummy treats, a dance party in the basement, a costume contest (I won for Most Creative), and some rousing games of Apples to Apples and Twister.
~ Helped throw a Halloween-themed birthday party for an 8-year-old boy and his 13 neighborhood friends, with four other girls from my school (housemates Jess and Lahlae, and two other girls from Lighthouse). Utilized my dramatic skills to tell a spooky story, watched the kids bob for apples and donuts, eat cake, open presents, bash each other with balloon swords, etc. So much fun!!!
~ Handed out candy to the costumed neighborhood children. Hooray!
~ Looked at a number of potential writing residencies I am considering applying to for my upcoming year, still shrouded in mystery, of trying to spend some serious time writing. There are apparently a whole bunch of them, many of which will pay for your food, housing, and even travel. So, we'll see where I go from here.
~ We had a pretty spirited Senior Theatre Festival class this week, as we're getting down to the wire in terms of having to pick which plays we'll actually be producing. Next week is the deadline, so we spent this week's class talking about a few hypothetical possibilities, and trying to figure out if any four plays will make all eighteen seniors happy. No immediately obvious solutions, but definitely some promising possibilities.
All other aspects of life are going well. My new Bible study group is particularly wonderful--so far we've had two very interesting discussions on worship and prayer, and this week we're talking about what it means to love/be loved by God. The House and its inhabitants are wonderful as usual. Oh, goodness, we have three House birthdays within a week, and last night, for Jess' birthday, one of the TCM interns cooked the whole house this fabulous gourmet meal of pork roast, beans and carrots, salad, bread with garlic spread, mashed potatoes, mashed corn, and chocolate covered strawberries. It was absolutely amazing! Tonight is Lahlae's birthday, and she's cooking salmon. I think my birthday meal will be slightly less fancy, but no less delicious--macaroni and cheese casserole. One more week and I'll be 21--crazy!
That's all for now. Go in peace!
Other fun activities in the glorious new leisure time I've discovered over the past few days:
~ I went to visit Coach and Coach Singer in their cozy new temporary abode on their forest-y Washington property, anticipating only the end of the rains to build their long-awaited home. A grand and glorious weekend, complete with bonfires, marshmallow roasting, stargazing, run/bike riding, trailer toilet adventures, rain gutter construction, the invention of a delicious culinary concoction alliterarily appelated "Curry Couscous Chocolate Chicken Concagination with Compost (aka veggies) and a Cherry On Top", and the viewing of the second half of Branagh's Hamlet with Coach's AP English seniors.
~ Helped manage the auditions for the Directing class' one-acts, which I did in large part to restrain myself from actually auditioning and interfering with this freedom I am now so thankfully enjoying. My favorite part was helping to facilitate the casting process, providing the directors with outside eyes and my previous experience with the compromises and juggling of actors requisite to multi-show casting.
~ Ushered for the mainstage production of Romeo and Juliet, which was quite well-done, with particularly lovely costumes and a really fun set, and lots of play-up on all the sexual innuendo in the script, much to the dismay of the fourth-grade teachers who wanted to expose their students to some Shakespeare and didn't really read the play with that sort of context in mind.
~ Tutored at the 7th Street Learning Center, my church's middle school tutoring program, teaching a boy how to calculate local noon.
~ Decorated for the W-Min House's Halloween bash (photos to be posted), which I attended dressed as Rain (ibid). The party was a wild success, complete with creepy dry ice fog, yummy treats, a dance party in the basement, a costume contest (I won for Most Creative), and some rousing games of Apples to Apples and Twister.
~ Helped throw a Halloween-themed birthday party for an 8-year-old boy and his 13 neighborhood friends, with four other girls from my school (housemates Jess and Lahlae, and two other girls from Lighthouse). Utilized my dramatic skills to tell a spooky story, watched the kids bob for apples and donuts, eat cake, open presents, bash each other with balloon swords, etc. So much fun!!!
~ Handed out candy to the costumed neighborhood children. Hooray!
~ Looked at a number of potential writing residencies I am considering applying to for my upcoming year, still shrouded in mystery, of trying to spend some serious time writing. There are apparently a whole bunch of them, many of which will pay for your food, housing, and even travel. So, we'll see where I go from here.
~ We had a pretty spirited Senior Theatre Festival class this week, as we're getting down to the wire in terms of having to pick which plays we'll actually be producing. Next week is the deadline, so we spent this week's class talking about a few hypothetical possibilities, and trying to figure out if any four plays will make all eighteen seniors happy. No immediately obvious solutions, but definitely some promising possibilities.
All other aspects of life are going well. My new Bible study group is particularly wonderful--so far we've had two very interesting discussions on worship and prayer, and this week we're talking about what it means to love/be loved by God. The House and its inhabitants are wonderful as usual. Oh, goodness, we have three House birthdays within a week, and last night, for Jess' birthday, one of the TCM interns cooked the whole house this fabulous gourmet meal of pork roast, beans and carrots, salad, bread with garlic spread, mashed potatoes, mashed corn, and chocolate covered strawberries. It was absolutely amazing! Tonight is Lahlae's birthday, and she's cooking salmon. I think my birthday meal will be slightly less fancy, but no less delicious--macaroni and cheese casserole. One more week and I'll be 21--crazy!
That's all for now. Go in peace!
posted by the Everyday Anthropologist at 1:41 PM
1 Comments:
Happy Birthday!
--Uncle Bruce
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