31 March 2009

I am here, tonight, to make lists. I'm sort of in stress major mode for no reason in particular. I'm worried about graduate school, even though its an entire year away. I'm worried about making a portfolio. I'm worried about not getting in to graduate school. I'm worried about what I'm suppose to do if I don't get in to graduate school. I'm worried about what classes to take next Autumn. I'm worried about driving to camp. I'm worried about the weird dreams I keep having about people dying. (Morbid, I know. What the hell is wrong with me sometimes?) I'm worried that tonight I will be woken up by people screaming outside my window again. Its not healthy, is it? Doubtful.

I mean, I'm not obsessing. Its just things that tend to work their way into my thoughts during the day, and make me worried. I'm just a worrying sort of people. So when I'm sort of stressed, I like to make lists. I'm going to make lists of good things, because positive lists are the best.

5 Things I Enjoy About Working in Theatre
1. The freedom to create anything, really, on stage.
2. The ability to take the audience into a completely different world for a short amount of time.
3. The people I've met in the theatrical world, and how everyone seems to have a completely different idea on how to do things.
4. Being about to listen to musical soundtracks without seeming like a completely nutcase.
5. Being apart of a medium in which being creative is good, having new ideas is embraced, and uniqueness is treasured.

So I found this song today, and I know its going to sound stupid but it really hit home for me in some ways. I like it. Here are the lyrics.


Die, Vampire, Die! from [Title of Show]

Susan:
There are some people in the world who say that writing stories,
or composing music or dancing sparkly dances is easy for them.
Nothing interferes with their ability to create.
While I celebrate their creative freedom,
a little part of me just wants to punch those motherfuckers in the teeth.
This song, I sing this song for you guys and for all the rest of us. Help me out y’all
Backup:
We’ll sing backup
Susan:
You have a story to tell, a novel you keep in a drawer.
Backup:
Old sock drawer!
Susan:
You have a painting to paint, but you lazy like an old French whore
Backup:
Je suis whore
Susan:
You have a movie to make, Shrinky Dinks you can bake
but you best grab a stake, cause,
in sweep the vampires, in creep the vampires, knee deep in vampires,
Filling you with doubt. Insecurity, ‘bout what you art should be
in sweep the vampires
All:
Die vampire
Susan:
You sketched that turtle you saw in an ad on late-night cable TV
Backup:
Tippy Turtle!
Susan:
But your fourth grade teacher said
Female Backup:
You can’t draw
Susan:
Aww, those vampires just won’t let you be
Backup:
Fuck you Ms. Johnson, Word!
Susan:
And when they come run like hell, see those bats in your belfry, then call on Van Helsing.
Susan:
In swoosh
Backup:
Ooh, the vampires
Susan:
in a whoosh
Backup:
ooh, the vampires,
Susan:
Babaganoosh
Backup:
ooh, all the vampires
Susan:
Filling you with thoughts of
Backup:
Self consciousness
Susan:
Feelings of
Backup:
Worthlessness
Susan:
They’ll make you
Backup:
Second guess
Die vam-
All:
-pire!
There are so many vampires, inside, outside, and nationwide,
it helps to recognize them with this vampire hunting guide!
Listen closely,
a vampire is any person or thought or feeling
that stands between you and your creative self expression,
but they can assume many seductive forms.
Here’s a few of them!
Backup:
Tell us Susan!
Susan:
First up are you pygmy vampires.
They’ll swarm around you head like gnats and say things like:
Backup:
Your teeth need whitening
You went to state school?
You sound weird
All:
Shakespeare, Sondheim, Sedaris
Susan:
Did it before you and better than you, or they might say that you cannot
sing good enough to be in a musical, or they might say:
Backup:
Ooh, your song’s derivative,
Ooh, your song’s derivative,
Ooh, your song’s derivative,

Susan:
To keep that song from you! Just tell them:
Backup:
Die vampire, die!
Susan:
Brothers and sisters, next up is the air freshener vampire,
she might look like you mama, or your old fat-ass, fat aunt Fanny.
She smells something unpleasant in what you’re creating.
She’ll urge you to:

It with some pine fresh smell ’em ups.
The air freshener vampire doesn’t want you to write about
Backup:
bad language, blood, or blow jobs

She wants you to clean it up and clean it out.
Which will leave your work toothless, gutless, and crotchless
but, you’ll be left with two tight paragraphs,
All kittens that your grandma would be so proud of.
You look at that air freshener vampire in her fat ass, fat old fuckin’ face and you say

The last vampire is the mother of all vampires and that is the vampire of despair.
It’ll wake you up at 4am to say things like:
Backup:
Who do you think you’re kidding?
You look like a fool.
No matter how hard you try, you’ll never be good enough
Susan:
Why is it that if some dude walked up to me on the subway platform
and said these things, I’d think he was a mentally ill asshole,
but if the vampire inside my head says it,
It’s the voice of reason.
Backup:
You have a story to tell, pull your novel out of that sock drawer!
You have a painting to paint, you best paint it and then paint some more!

Susan:
Oh baby, you must escape and grab it by the nape of its neck, by the trachea
fuckin’ break it, go on drive a stake in,
Yeah there’s no mistaking, now you’re shake and bakin’
All:
Die, vampire
I said, “Die, vampire”
I said, “Now die vam-pi-re, die!”
In fly the vampires, oh my the vampires, then die the vampires,
filling you with life, creativity, all that you heart should be, out go the vampires
Die vampire, die vampire, die vampire, die!

20 March

So for those of you that don't know, I am on a tour of the east coast currently. Reason?

College searching.

I'll start at the beginning.

We left on Wednesday (18 March) and drove. And drove... and kept driving. And where did we end up? Yes, my friends, the place I'm always rambling on about, the place I can't wait to get back to, the place that anyone else might find to be rather boring but I find it amazing...

Tannersville, PA. Home to Camp Lindenmere.

I drove past Gabel's, and Turkey Hill, and Mr. Z's. I drove up the hill and went by camp. It was actually sort of strange, really, to be there when I knew no one was inside the camp. It looks weird without kids running around, and the trapeze isn't there. Only 95 days until I get to go back. I can't wait.

However, I didn't linger in Tannersville long. I mostly just drove through to see it... as weird as that sounds. It made me happy to see it all again and relieve a million memories from the summer. After Tannersville, I went to goo old Scranton to spend the night. My dog refused to go into the hotel. He actually made me stand out in the rain as he looked around the parking lot for about ten minutes. I ended up picking him up and bringing him inside.

The next day, we headed off to Connecticut, heading through Hartford and going straight to Storrs, CT... home of University of Connecticut. I was plesantly sureprised with their campus, though, in some ways it reminded me of a combination of a smushed down OSU and a prettier version of BGSU. I feel like it'd be a good school, and I'd be happy there... I'd just really like to go to a school that doesn't belong to a conference with "Big" in the title... you know? I mean, I'm going to a state school right now and I would just like something different. However, it'd all come down to which school gives me the best deal, so, I can safely say I think it'd be a good place.

After a trip to UConn, we headed back towards Hartford and to our hotel in East Windsor. We had a delicious dinner at the Maine Seafood Restaurant. And then I watched Grey's. And Skins.

Today was the day I was waiting for: Yale Day. If I could pick any school to go to, it'd be to Yale. It was just as amazing as I had predicted it to be. I stood outside their theatre building and just sort of... stared. Yale is my big goal. I don't know if it'll happen, but I'm going to try as hard as I can to make it happen.

After Yale, we headed towards Rhode Island, driving along backroads the entire way. Gorgeous little town after town. I proclaimed I would live in all of them. We stopped in one at a tiny dinner... and sat next to the three most annoying children ever. One shoved my mother when we were trying to leave the restaurant. I usually like kids. I didn't like those.

In Rhode Island, we went to Newport because I wanted to see the big houses. Oh my god. They are amazing. I can't believe anyone would actually want to live in something like that, but looking at them was more than enough. They were absolutely gorgeous. Highlight was seeing-- well, sort of seeing-- The Breakers. We couldn't get up close, but saw it through the front gate. Its huge. Its austentatious... but its also gorgeous. I'm going back. I'm seeing inside.

Tonight is a slow night back at the hotel. Charlie is tuckered out, and is currently asleep next to me (taking of most of the bed, I might add!) Tomorrow we're off to Massachuetts to check out UMass, Harvard, and Brandeis. Pictures coming soon!