Getting Back to Theater

Some moss in my yard, taken today on a walk.

    
Remember how I was writing about how exhausted I was? well I'm going into my second week out of theater and I want back in. Thankfully I don't have long to wait, cast lists for the musical were posted today, and the first read through and crew meeting is tomorrow after school tomorrow. We will be performing the older musical Hello Dolly, a strong contrast to last year's Legally Blonde, although still featuring a strong female lead.
     Enough about that though, there will be plenty of musical posts later when I am essentially living in the theater once again (something I can barely contain my excitement for, home life is so boring.) Since nothing that major has happened to me in the past few weeks, despite finding out one of my pet geese is a male (and the other is a female), which has led to a bit of, a... goose aggression. My mind right now is essentially a mixture of two things. 1.) focus on the present, pass the test Wednesday, and study hard for everything, and figure out next year. Fast. I want to travel so badly, and I will, but first I need to get a summer job, and then find something to do next year, I need something to do. I have a couple of ideas, work on a organic farm, join a traveling theater group, get an internship, but I'm so preoccupied with my current school dealing it seems like to much to handle. Fourth quarter is only two more weeks though, and then I'll focus on next year. Hopefully. If anyone has any suggestions, offers, or ideas, please post in the comments (which is now enabled for anyone to comment). Now the time reaches Midnight, and it's only Monday night, so it's off to sleep for me. Good night everyone, and check back in soon for some actually interesting stories! 

A New Home and Family

I'm laying in bed right now, curled up under a pile a blankets, with an additional cat sleeping upon my feet. My hair still smells of hairspray and my cheeks are smooth from the layer of stage makeup I never bothered to wash off when I got home past midnight.
Opening night is over, we got through the weeks of intense rehearsal, the late night homework sessions, eating dinner together in the mostly empty cafeteria, the flying costume changes (getting some from a full suit to a tux in under 30 seconds), that was my personal job. And now for the next 12 hours we perform. Not literally the next 12 hours, it's Saturday and we have two performances left. An afternoon and evening, and then a cast party, so my day shall end late again, I wonder when I will ever get a full nights sleep.
Despite how exhausting, stressful, and everything else the play is I don't regret it for a single moment. The friends one makes during theater productions are everlasting. You know you can rely on them for anything because of what you've been through. In this production I need to write about my dear friend and fellow costumer. We've vaguely known each other since I was a freshman because I was first in band with her older sister. Then her sister left and she came into band, and we became friends at a certain level. We got closer over the Florida band trip last winter when we stayed together in the hotel, and even more so because of our joint talent in braiding hair, which had us working together during band season. But in the past few weeks I now feel safe calling her one of my closest friends at school. I know she would (and does) do anything she can for me, and I the same for her. Not to mention how well we work together. We always joke how we're on the same wavelength and it's true! She says something and I'll finish the sentence, she starts to ask for something and I've already handed it to her. It's really fun to be with a person you can relate to so well.
Finally the theater itself. It has become the same level of sacred for me as a temple. Sitting back stage for hour and hours on end. In mostly darkness, cords and cables in an orderly tangle above my head lowering and raising flies and curtains, the random pieces of set placed here and there from previous shows. The panel of dark forest, the pink from a Legally Blonde house, a staircase from Phantom. I sit back there and feel calm, safe, relaxed. It's become my second home, the people my second family, and then tonight I'm going out and giving my all.

A New Home and Family

I'm laying in bed right now, curled up under a pile a blankets, with an additional cat sleeping upon my feet. My hair still smells of hairspray and my cheeks are smooth from the layer of stage makeup I never bothered to wash off when I got home past midnight.
Opening night is over, we got through the weeks of intense rehearsal, the late night homework sessions, eating dinner together in the mostly empty cafeteria, the flying costume changes (getting some from a full suit to a tux in under 30 seconds), that was my personal job. And now for the next 12 hours we perform. Not literally the next 12 hours, it's Saturday and we have two performances left. An afternoon and evening, and then a cast party, so my day shall end late again, I wonder when I will ever get a full nights sleep.
Despite how exhausting, stressful, and everything else the play is I don't regret it for a single moment. The friends one makes during theater productions are everlasting. You know you can rely on them for anything because of what you've been through. In this production I need to write about my dear friend and fellow costumer. We've vaguely known each other since I was a freshman because I was first in band with her older sister. Then her sister left and she came into band, and we became friends at a certain level. We got closer over the Florida band trip last winter when we stayed together in the hotel, and even more so because of our joint talent in braiding hair, which had us working together during band season. But in the past few weeks I now feel safe calling her one of my closest friends at school. I know she would (and does) do anything she can for me, and I the same for her. Not to mention how well we work together. We always joke how we're on the same wavelength and it's true! She says something and I'll finish the sentence, she starts to ask for something and I've already handed it to her. It's really fun to be with a person you can relate to so well.
Finally the theater itself. It has become the same level of sacred for me as a temple. Sitting back stage for hour and hours on end. In mostly darkness, cords and cables in an orderly tangle above my head lowering and raising flies and curtains, the random pieces of set placed here and there from previous shows. The panel of dark forest, the pink from a Legally Blonde house, a staircase from Phantom. I sit back there and feel calm, safe, relaxed. It's become my second home, the people my second family, and then tonight I'm going out and giving my all.

Cranky Day

Taken at the last Kumba Mela in Haridwar by Yours Truly

So I've been avoiding the temple lately. I'll just start with that. It hasn't been completely deliberate, I mean I was practically living at school the last week, but i've been ducking out of going on the weekends when I can. I am not exactly sure why I have been doing this, there isn't a specific thing... but point if I haven't been going, and it's not completely because I've been busy. Well I woke up today knowing I had a long and tedious day ahead, even though it was the weekend I had four tests to study for, and a temple event to film, besides my normal weekend chores, to the say the least I woke up cranky. So by one I was done with all the homework I could handle for a day (chemistry and pre calculous are intense), so I cleaned the goose house, and the bathroom, and the guinea pig house, and sat  with the geese for a while, who while not as friendly as dogs, stay close to me cooing like doves. Then I went back inside and was informed of the afternoon duties I needed to perform (only if I wanted to for the temple) immediately I snapped into full out crankster mode again to the point were mum left, slamming the door behind her. I didn't didn't didn't want to go, but I did. I went and when I got into the temple, and the gorgeous colors, and smell of incense hit me I couldn't help but smile.
      So the day happened, and I filmed the event, and made a fantastic video (I say that without ego, it's literally the best video I've ever made for the temple.) and now I am tired and will go to bed. I'm not sure what the point of this entry was, that at heart I love the temple still? That I get super cranky when I have to do anything I don't want to do? that I can make wonderful videos on a time constraint  (It took me about two hours, less then the normal five.) I'm not sure, I guess just watch the video, get a glimpse of my life, and be happy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93dHJHpAwDs

Paradoxes of Life

Two weeks ago one of my AP Language vocab words was paradox, but now, just two weeks later, I am living through one. The play has almost reached its climax, we have one and a half more weeks of rehearsals, all of these from 3:30 pm to 9:00 pm. Since our school day starts at 7:30 am, home feels like a faraway fantasy much less sleep. The last two days have been a simple matter of living in the present and not thinking ahead, just to stay a float in my complex school life. Two AP classes, then math and science which NORMALLY takes perfect concentration to master, then of course staying social and civil to people when all you want to do is fall apart. And yet, even as I write this I'm not complaining, it's true I feel my mind and body is being physically drawn and stretched over the ends or the earth, that I can't think about the next day and not groan, but that's where the paradox comes in. The more I am being pushed to my limits the more excited I get, the more enthusiastic about life, and more serious and focused on what needs to be done. Make four videos simultaneously in Video Production? Sure! Start taking another class, online in a new format? Why not? Of course I understand this probably adds even more strain, but when I am in control of craziness in my life I relish it. I flourish and grow from it, the more things the better! Of course I'm going to crash soon, but for now I'm going strong and it's going good.