Forsooth?

I'm lying on the couch right now with my laptop resting on a pillow on my lap. Cohen is lying beside me with his head on my chest, snoring away and being as cuddly and sweet as he can possibly be. It's times like this that I can't remember how I lived happily before my basset hound and wireless internet.

Despite the fact that it has been really busy, I've been having a great week. Projects I've finished this week:
-Theory paper in which I applied feminist theories to an episode of The Sopranos. (And I found out today that I got a 95 on it. Holla! Even if I get a "C" on my final--and that's not going to happen--I practically have a guaranteed "A" in that class now) "A"s make me happy. "A"s on papers that I write the night before they are due make me even happier.
-The group project for Dramaturgy. We presented tonight, and even though it wasn't technically a contest, my group totally won.
-My play. I wrote a play! And it's not terrible. I mean, it's not good, but I'm not completely humiliated by the idea of it being read. I'm only somewhat humiliated by the idea of it being read.
-The scene I directed.
-The scene I acted in.
So yeah, it has been crazy, but it has been good.
Directing scenes last night were particularly good. We teched in the afternoon and then performed in the evening. Tech rehearsal was actually my favorite part. I think every theatre person in the world has a love/hate relationship with tech rehearsals. They're usually long and can get really frustrating and boring (especially if you're an actor or a crew member) and spending hour after hour in a mostly-dark theatre doesn't do much good for anyone's sanity, but there's something so incredibly exciting about seeing the full picture for the first time. The set, the lights, the first time you get to hear the sound cues...I get chills every time.
Directing and acting in the same night was interesting. I'm definitely more of a director than an actor. In my book, directing is just so much more exciting. I'm not sure why, especially since acting tends to earn you more glory, but for me it's much more thrilling to sit in the audience and see my creation on the stage than to be on the stage myself. Of course, there's also more stress with directing because once the show starts you have absolutely no control. You can just sit in the audience and hope everything goes according to plan. When I'm acting I don't feel quite as exhilerated, but at least as an actor you still get to retain control over the performance. I like that aspect of it. But given the choice I'd pick directing over acting any day, even if I were equally talented at both (and wow, I'm not. I'm no actress, and I know it! Not that I'm necessarily a great director, either, but I feel much more confident in that arena).
Anyway, Measure for Measure went well. My actors all came through and did an awesome job for me and my professor seemed happy with it overall. And then the show I was in, Speed-the-Play, went over so much better than I thought it would.
I was really worried about it because it is such a complicated show (actually, the show itself probably isn't all that complicated, but my director chose a concept that had us staging it in a complicated way). It's a parody of four David Mamet plays and takes place in dozens of locations, and each of us played three or four different characters. We had five major scene changes in the play, and the actors changed each scene ourselves as sort of a dance performance, so we had to dance around while also remembering what parts of the set needed to change. We each also had three or four different quick costume changes. It was physically exhausting because it was all so fast. Mainly I was just worried that we'd forget some part of the scene change and get everything all mixed up, but somehow we pulled it off. The only problem? We had wooden signs on each portion of the set that we would change to designate the location ("Danny's Apartment" "Bernie's Apartment",etc). On the restaurant portion of the set the sign was sitting on the table. Well, in the last scene when Shanthi and I went to sit down at the table the sign somehow fell and crashed off the platform to the floor below. We were doing the parody of Glengarry Glen Ross at that point, and my actual first line as I sit down is "We're gonna win that fuckin' cadillac, Aaronow." So we sit down at the table, the sign comes crashing down (and I mean CRASHING. LOUDLY) and without even really thinking about it I glanced down at the sign, said, "Fuck it," and then continued with, "We're gonna win that fuckin' cadillac, Aaronow" without missing a beat. I was already in angry cussing guy mode, it just came out! Later once the show was over and I actually had a second to breathe and think about it I realized what I'd done and wondered if maybe I should have just ignored it. But the sign falling was such a big distraction that it didn't seem like one of those "just let it go" moments. That was definitely a moment when it was more wise to acknowledge the problem in character and continue. So that's what I did, without really thinking about it. The funny thing is, everyone got such a kick out of it. People kept coming up to me and saying, "Nice save," and, "That was hilarious," and the usual half dozen people had to comment on how funny it is to hear the word "fuck" come out of my mouth.
Why is that, anyway? Why is it so funny to everyone when I say fuck? In fact, the entire reason I got cast in this show in the first place was because the director just found it so damn funny everytime I said "fuck" and "asshole" and "jack off". Is it that I have a little high pitched voice? Is it the juxtaposition of my freckled girly face and the dirty words? Seriously, I will never, ever understand why people find the whole thing so funny, but it never fails. Every single place I've ever been in my life people expect me to be this innocent, naive person and they're always shocked to find out what I'm really like.

So yeah, directing scenes went well, and the best thing about getting them out of the way the first night is that for the rest of the week all I have to do is watch the rest of them.

Alright, I'm out. But first, here's a laugh: Click on this link and refresh the page until my picture and horrible, horrible quote pop up at the top. Note as you refresh that I am definitely the cutest Celebrity Classic Scholar (not that that's saying much...not that that's saying ANYTHING). Also note that one of those guys has quintuplets (!!!!!). I am so embarrassed by this damn thing. So embarrassed that I have to share it with you! I didn't even know it existed until a few days ago when our department secretary sang out, "I saw you on the computer!!" as I walked into the office and I had to figure out what the heck she was talking about. The thing is, I vaguely remember the e-mail I got telling me to send the committee a picture and a thank you letter so that they could use it in "advertising" to try to lure in more sponsors for the golf tournament. This scholarship pays for most of my tuition each semester so I definitely don't mind writing a thank you letter. But I don't remember writing the cheesiest thank you letter ever written in the history of the universe. My dad maintains that I probably didn't actually write it and they just made up some stuff and attributed it to me, but sadly, I'm sure I did write it. In the right mood (and right before Christmas break, and at 3 or 4 in the morning) I am capable of being just that corny. Also, they've attributed my words to someone named Kristi as well, but yeah. I wrote that nonsense. That's corny enough to even make Kymberli proud!
Oh, and that picture? I already had it cropped to the right size and was too lazy to look for another one, so that's what I sent the committee. Little do they know, that the picture was taken at last year's theatre banquet and just before that picture was taken I had been sitting in a car in the alumni center parking lot chugging beer with Kymberli, Michael, and Jessica because there was no alcohol at the actual banquet. We did the same thing before our graduation ceremony a few weeks later, because we're just classy like that. I'm sure the Celebrity Classic Scholar Committee would be proud of me.

Also note that I am a "Supple Scholar". Sounds vaguely dirty, doesn't it? Anyway, I'm not sure exactly why I've been designated the Supple Scholar, but it means that the scholarship automatically renews next year. One of my professors also let it slip unofficially today that my Fine Arts Department scholarship is going to be renewed as well. So now I'm just waiting to hear about renewal of one more scholarship, but either way those two alone should cover tuition next year, so it's a big relief to have that taken care of again. You might even say it "gives me great peace of mind." Ugh.