A little slice of homie

Atmosphere is coming to London! And I just bought tickets. Some impulse purchases are not to be denied.

To Do List

There's less than a week remaining of this break until my final term at LISPA begins. We'll jump right into two weeks of intensive rehearsals of the best of the pieces we've worked on so far this year, and then perform them for the public from 12-14th June. Then it's back into the rehearsal room for three weeks, during the course of which every person in the Advanced Course (over 50 once you combine both the Morning and Afternoon groups) will work on a piece conceived, devised, directed, and cast by themselves. Those pieces get one airing apiece, in showings that will take up the final two weeks of the programme. The final night will be 17th July; we graduate on the 18th.

Part of me feels like I should be using this break to figure out WHAT THE HELL I'm going to do for my final piece. I have no idea. Or rather, I have several ideas, but none that appeals worlds more than the next. They all appeal. Something musical. Something clown. Something melodrama and political. All of the above?!

What I should worry about more than this is getting enough rest. It's been very busy for a break, and I've managed to schedule plenty of activities in on top of my 40-hr work week. Tonight I'm meeting up with Simon after a too-lengthy hiatus, tomorrow I'm seeing my friend Brona in a show, and I'm hoping to do two more acro classes this week as well. Then I work on Saturday night, of course, and this weekend I MUST CLEAN OUR FILTHY HOUSE. Why? Because my family is coming! My mom and dad and brother and brother's girlfriend will all, at some point, be residing in our cozy little abode, and gosh darn it if that doesn't motivate me to mop the kitchen floor. Mom and Dad, this is how much I love you: I hate to mop. Maybe I'll be able to get the flatmates to pitch in...

Restless as I am

I've changed my mind again. I want to stay in London.

The emotional rollercoaster of work-websurfing

Happy!
My co-worker was being all snarky about how behind the times we Americans are until I pointed out that, though England allows civil unions, they still won't call it marriage. (It's amazing how self-righteous I've gotten about being American since living abroad.) GO CALIFORNIA!!!

Sad and angry.
Now, I myself am an Obama supporter. But that doesn't mean that this article doesn't make me feel outraged, and sick inside... sorry, that's inaccurate. It's not the article that makes me angry. It's the disgusting, disgusting realities behind it. An anti-Hillary organisation called C.U.N.T? Being called a whore and mocked with novelty items for betraying gender stereotypes? Words don't quite do justice to my speechlessness. I've remembered I'm a feminist, and I'm ready to bust some heads. (But I'm still voting for Obama.)

Happy!
Sometimes, a little shared grammar dorkery helps me feel a little better.

Ain't no sunshine

Gemma has left, and taken the gorgeous weather with her. We're back to 15C and rainy. Ew.

It sure was lovely to have her here while she was here, though.

Peace like a river

Libra Horoscope for week of May 8, 2008

"What makes a river so restful to people is that it doesn't have any doubt," wrote columnist Hal Boyle. "It is sure to get where it is going, and it doesn't want to go anywhere else." Your assignment for the rest of 2008, Libra, is to do whatever's necessary to make yourself fit this description. The next eight months will provide unprecedented opportunities to turn yourself into a river flowing toward your destiny with surprisingly sublime freedom.

Place cart before horse, engage

It's two days until the end of term presentation, and I'm feeling strangely calm. Maybe it's because I feature in fewer pieces this term, but that's not a bad thing. As much as I'd love to be performing a clown piece this week, I have my Disney princess send-up, and that's fine with me.

The end of classes and end of term have also brought the happy realisation that I'm really enjoying creation these days. This is particularly good news since we're coming up on a term of nothing but. I still have no idea what my final project will look like, but I'm getting more excited about what it could be.

I've also, of course, been thinking about the summer and the fall and next year. But before I go into those thoughts, some clarification: I think I may have been a bit unclear in my last post when I was talking about being home for six weeks - that was not to say that I'm planning on leaving Minneapolis after six weeks (or that my flight back to London, assuming there is one, will be booked for six weeks after my arrival). Basically, I'm thinking I'll fly home mid-November, which makes six weeks in Minneapolis between my arrival and New Year's, which is the earliest I would consider going anywhere else (and when, ideally, whatever project I'm involved in will start.) So I'm not willfully self-sabotaging my quality of life in Minneapolis; I'm just inarticulate.

Now onto the new thoughts about this summer/fall/next year! There's now the possibility of going to Portugal for the month of October, where Diogo and Jillian will be leading physical theatre workshops and have invited me to help teach. That would leave me the beginning of November to come back to London to say my farewells, however temporary, to this city. (In this precise moment in time [meaning my feelings change regularly] the only thing that really gets me excited about the prospect of staying is if I did the Pedagogical Year at LISPA. But it's too soon for that, and I'm not ready, and I want to perform for awhile anyway, so I'll just come back and do it in a couple of years. Say 2010 or 2011. How does that sound?)
There's also the fact that Erin and Jillian are in the midst of writing grant applications to fund themselves, Jones, and Diogo (and possibly me!) to develop a devised show and subsequently tour it to four Fringe Festivals across the States (Boulder, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, and Philly). In this particular dream, rehearsals would start in early 2009 on the West Coast somewhere (probably Portland, possibly LA), and the show would tour the fringes that late summer/fall, and would be damn near fully funded by grants.

This is not the only possibility for next year, but it's the most concrete one, and is definitely exciting. But far from certain! So don't get excited! This is an idea to be intellectually appreciated at the moment, not heart-set-upon.

Oh, and also Rebecca and Jed will be in Cairo for October. Have I mentioned that I've always wanted to go to Egypt? I should also not get excited about the possibility of having people to hang out with in Cairo.

You know what I am allowed to get excited about, though? Seventy degree and sunny weather predictions for the week (touch wood)! And even more so: Gemma arriving... TOMORROW! Oh the the places we'll go, oh the lists I have made...

Thoughts right now

I'm doing that thing again today when I think about all my friends all over the world and get all warm and fuzzy about them. Facebook is great for this.

I'm also thinking more about going back to the States after school, and what the implications of that move would be. I'm realising that though the people I want to perform with are all over the world, the people I want to perform for are largely in Minneapolis. I also know that if I go back to Minneapolis without a plan I'll feel like I'm back where I started and will get all grumpy and listless and sad. So basically, the dream plan for today is going back to Minneapolis for about 6 weeks, and then working on projects all over the place (all over the States?) for 2009, which I can bring back to Minneapolis for the Fringe Festival or a short run at the Theatre Garage or Bedlam or something. This is all assuming I don't get a work permit, or get married, or otherwise finagle a way to stay abroad. Because apparently I'm obsessed with living far, far away.