HelloHiHelloThere!

Joining TFA New Mexico!

2009-05-19T15:56:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

I've got a new blog that tracks my experiences during Teach For America: New Mexico. I'll be teaching elementary school on an Indian reservation in Gallup, so keep in touch by visiting www.DarbyOnTheRes.blogspot.com.

Yay!

Tech

2009-05-08T11:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday may have been the last day I will ever tech a show. HOW WEIRD IS THAT?! I may never ever work on tech for theatre ever again. SO STRANGE.

You Better Read This

2009-04-02T14:09:00.001-07:00

No one reads this, but you know what? THAT'S OK. It's fun for me to think things and then write them and then realize that no one caresssss. It's fun. It's awesome. I'm alright with it.

Excuse me, I need a kleenex.

JUST KIDDING!

Today, I tried to fix a vacuum and I failed. How do you replace the belt? I watched a YouTube video about it, but it didn't help very much. Why would someone post a video about how to fix a vacuum belt? Obviously there's a demand (case in point: me), but it makes me wonder how people even EXISTED before the internet?

Dan O'Brien Alert #5

2008-11-17T15:52:00.000-08:00

Dan submitted for a role in the Vegas Cirque du Soleil show LOVE. Here's his submission video....and I'm in it too!

See the Sites

2008-11-10T11:44:00.000-08:00

Here are some websites that I love and thought you might enjoy:

www.WomenBeTrippin.com

My friend, Jake, and two of his buddies created a site to explore why women are crazy. Sometimes, I must admit, we really, really are. If you need a laugh, go here.

www.SarahRhoadsPhoto.SquareSpace.com

This is a blog created by a husband and wife photography team based out of Seattle that shoots (among other things) engagement and wedding photos. Their stuff is beautiful and Sarah's music taste is awesome. If you need to see some pretty photos, go here.

www.Myspace.com/BeerAndTacos

My brother, Sean, ROCKS and his music is even better. He has been playing guitar since we were little kids and he is a constant source of inspiration for me. If you need to have your mind blown, go here.

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

2008-11-03T13:44:00.000-08:00

It feels like everyone in the world has already read this book and I’m happy to say that I’ve finally joined the club! Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff…and it’s all small stuff is a fantastic book by Richard Carlson about finding inner peace by keeping little things from taking over your life. The author provides 100 ways to calm down and learn to put things in perspective by making small daily changes.

I gobbled up everything he wrote about and was inspired to change my thought processes instantly, but I think Point #54 resonated the most, so I wanted to share it with you…

54. UNDERSTAND THE STATEMENT, “WHEREVER YOU GO, THERE YOU ARE”
(This is the title of another book that I’ve also heard of, but never read)

The author explains that a common obstacle along the path to inner peace is our tendency to believe that if we were somewhere else – on vacation, with another partner, in a different career, a different home, a different circumstance – somehow we would be happier and more content. In reality, we wouldn’t! He explains, “The truth is, if you have destructive mental habits – if you get annoyed and bothered easily, if you feel angry and frustrated a great deal of the time, or if you’re constantly wishing things were different, these identical tendencies will follow you, wherever you go.”

My brain does this a lot. I often find myself ragging on Los Angeles and thinking that if I just lived in a different city, my life might be better, or if I finally went to grad school, I’d feel more accomplished, or if I worked in a different industry, I’d meet “better” people…this kind of wishful thinking can snowball in my brain endlessly. After reading this book and devoting some time to self reflection about my own thought processes, I’ve realized that the more I focus on being ok with where I am (instead of where I’d rather be), the more at peace I am with myself.

The author goes on to say, “Someone once asked me, ‘What are people like in California?’ I asked him, ‘What are people like in your home state?’ He replied, ‘Selfish and greedy.’ I told him that he would probably find the people in California to be selfish and greedy.”

This concept has really turned my thinking upside down. I hope that I can move forward feeling empowered by the knowledge that my attitude towards my surroundings and the people that I interact with will directly affect my experiences and my happiness with my current place in life.

Why?

2008-10-17T20:11:00.000-07:00

Why do I love the show, Jon & Kate Plus 8 so much? I don't watch very much tv, but now that I have the DVR thing, I can't get enough of this show. It's about a husband and wife who have two sets of multiples: twins and sextuplets. Each episode is about something pretty basic..."Twins Turn 7," "Beach Trip," "Housekeeper Hunt" and so on. Sounds boring, but I swear it is the greatest show ever. I know every child's name. I even know their birth order. Am I just weird? What is it about this show that makes it so captivating?

(A FEW DAYS LATER)

Ok, so it's a few days after I started writing this entry. Since then, I've spent some time online researching the show and what people think about it. I was sad to find that there are some rumors (which seem pretty legit) that Kate is a psycho who has hired hands all over the place, cooking organic meals, folding laundry, playing with the kids, etc. That ruins the entire show! You're supposed to believe that they're a struggling family, but they're not and now I am upset.

There is really no purpose to this entry, I just wanted you to know that my Jon & Kate Plus 8 bubble burst.

Barnstormers Promo!

2008-09-30T14:50:00.000-07:00

Here's the video I just made for the camp!!!!

These are a few of my favorite things!

2008-09-19T11:20:00.000-07:00

I can't focus at all today. Work is not an option. So, I've decided to write a list of things that I like:

1. Popping those plastic packing bubbles that you use to protect glass.
2. Picking wax off of candlestick holders. Also, pouring glue on your fingers, letting it dry and then picking it off. Also, sticking fingers in hot wax, letting the wax dry even though it burns and then picking it off.
3. Partially melted rocky road ice cream.
4. Getting out of the pool and lying on really hot concrete.
5. Christmas time in Seattle (think chai tea and freezing ferries).
6. Lightning and thunder when you're inside....rain too.
7. Bonfires/campfires of any kind, especially with guitars and good friends.
8. Post-it notes, paper clips, file folders, to-do lists and other organizer-type items that are arguably unnecessary.
9. Playing board games with wine. Well, with people...People that are drinking wine.
10. Ipod shuffles that fit my mood perfectly.
11. Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds. I could eat that for every meal, every day for the rest of my life.
12. Meeting inspiring people who are passionate about what they do.
13. Listening to my brother play guitar.
14. Long walks leading to farmer's markets.
15. Blogging at work.

Dan O'Brien Alert #4

2008-09-16T13:56:00.001-07:00

Dan O'Brien ACTUALLY checked my facebook profile today. I had to tell him how to do it, but it happened all the same.

Bad Apple

2008-09-12T12:31:00.000-07:00

Matt Damon talks about Palin....

Trim a little off the top

2008-09-06T07:30:00.000-07:00

My hang up with plastic surgery is that it feels like cheating. When you're born, you are dealt certain cards and that should be IT. You shouldn't get to trade in a few of them to make your hand better...that is CHEATING. People should be learning to love their bodies exactly the way that they are. If they DON'T, they should be using the money they would have spent on surgery to see a therapist. Doesn't the desire to risk your life in order to fit social standards of beauty ("feel better about yourself" as many say) indicate that there's something emotionally wrong with you?

"I'm doing this for me...because I want to feel better about myself." A lot of women use these lines to pretend (to others and probably to themselves as well) that they don't care what other people think about their bodies. Bullllllllshit. That just cannot be true. Of COURSE you care about what other people think, are you superhuman? Even the most emotionally stable and confident people care at least a little about how they are perceived by others. Take apart that statement, "I want to feel better about myself"...Your solution to this problem is to lie down on a table, fall into a drug induced coma and allow a perfect stranger to take a knife to your FACE and BOOBS??? Aren't there less life-threatening ways to feel better about yourself?

Forget RISK, I haven't even gotten into why plastic surgery is absurd in terms of pure COST. (I know I am getting riled up when the caps lock comes in). Nose jobs cost anywhere from $3,000-$8,000. Breast Augmentation: $4,000. Liposuction: $8,000. Facelift= $9,000. Are you kidding me? Use that money to get a massage and read a good self-help book! Afterwards, you'll have a lot left over to use to, I don't know, make the world a better place? ANYTHING would be more worthwhile.

To be fair, I admit that I've thought about what fun it would be to change certain things about my body, but then I stop taking CRAZY LADY DRUGS and remember that the way I feel about myself on the outside is a direct reflection of how healthy I am on the inside.

Palin? Really?

2008-08-30T15:15:00.000-07:00

Here are some fun facts about McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin:

1. She thinks global warming is a hoax
2. She supports the teaching of creationism in public schools
3. She's opposed to abortion, even in the case of rape and incest
-member of Feminists for Life of America (largest and most visible
pro-life feminist organization)
4. In July of this year, she asked CNBC anchor Larry Kudlow, "What is it exactly that the vice president does all day?"
5. She strongly promoted oil and natural gas resource development in Alaska and supports the drilling of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Reserve
6. In May 2008, she objected to the decision to list polar bears as an endangered species. (I just wanted to include that one because I like polar bears)
7. She supports the death penalty
8. She opposes same-sex marriage (she supported the 1998 constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage)
9. She is a life member of the National Rifle Association, and is popular among gun rights activists

If you ask me, McCain's got a winner on his hands.

Obamarama

2008-08-28T14:41:00.000-07:00

Michelle Obama's speech was phenomenal. She gives me hope.

Um...

2008-08-18T20:14:00.001-07:00

can't stop smiling... :-)

Too quiet

2008-07-28T19:08:00.001-07:00

So I was alllll excited for today because it's the first day off that I've had in a while, but now that it's here, I kind of hate it. I feel like I am going through withdrawal. I miss the screaming and the crying and the laughing and the questions. It's really weird. A camper called me today and I was so excited just to talk to her. Now I am lying on the couch in our living room and I've run out of things to do online. Thankfully, we have load-in for another show tomorrow. Soooo, it's back to the theatre I go.

Would You Rather...

2008-07-25T23:16:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is the last day of camp. I will not cry, I will not cry, I will not cry....
I think my favorite camper quotes happened today in the car while Andrew (a counselor) and I were driving the kids home....

Camper: Would you rather...lick peanut butter off a hobo's foot...or kiss Andrew??
(Andrew and I look @ each other - ARE THOSE COMPARABLE?!)

Camper: Would you rather...eat a raw egg OR sleep with your ex-boyfriend?
Me (thinking): YOU ARE 9 YEARS OLD!

Camper (to Andrew): Would you rather...kiss a boy or...eat a smashed up face?

Dan O'Brien Alert #3

2008-07-19T23:40:00.000-07:00

Camper: Where does Dan live?
Me: Near the theatre.
Camper: Where does Culli live?
Me: With Dan.
Campers in unison: Ewwww...I bet their house smells like armpits!!!!

I Heart La Quinta

2008-07-13T22:40:00.000-07:00

Lots of sun and a pool filled with bathwater....

Reading....

...until it was too hot to sit down....

Overall, a pretty sweet 4th of July :-)

Can't.... Sleep....

2008-07-09T00:21:00.000-07:00

I have to wake up in less than six hours to go pick up the kids, but I can't force myself to fall asleep. I've tried pretty much everything. When I can't sleep, I usually check my email 86 times, close my computer, read, check my email again, close my computer, lie in bed thinking of everything I have to do tomorrow and concentrating on not checking my email again.

Today I interviewed each camper so that I could compile bios for their show program. My 3 questions:

1. What is an interesting/fun fact about you? My favorite answers included, "I am smart because I know a lot of things" (6 yr old)..."I was born good at math" (8 yr old) and "I think I will turn into a werewolf when I turn 13" (other 6 yr old).

2. What's your favorite thing about camp? "The counselors are pretty and handsome"..."Camp is a place where people respect me" (I am not making that quote up!)..."I get to pretend to be someone else for a while"....."My favorite thing about camp is Werewolf Boy!" (same 6 yr old above who thinks one of our counselors is a werewolf because he is hairy)

3. Who would you like to thank? "My baby turtle"

Willy, Charlie & Veruca

2008-07-01T00:50:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow (or today actually) we will tell the kids what part they will be playing. I really hope nobody cries!

An Aching Kind of Growing...

2008-06-28T19:16:00.000-07:00

I just read a really interesting passage in East of Eden that reminded me of something I distinctly remember going through as a child.

When a child first catches adults out - when it first walks into his grave little head that adults do not have divine intelligence, that their judgments are not always wise, their thinking true, their sentences just - his world falls into panic desolation. The gods are fallen and all safety gone. And there is one sure thing about the fall of gods: they do not fall a little; they crash and shatter or sink deeply into green muck. It is a tedious job to build them up again: they never quite shine. And the child's world is never quite whole again. It is an aching kind of growing.

I'm not sure exactly when it was that I realized this, but the feeling was very distinct and stuck with me. One random day, something made me realize that the adults in my life were not the all-knowing, super-human people that I always thought they were. I suddenly knew that there would not be a specific time/date when I would become an adult and I became very sad. It is a painful process to grow up and thinking about this only makes me worry more about our campers, who probably came to this realization much earlier in life than I did. I guess knowing the truth is a good thing, but neverthelss, it makes me sad to think about what a shortened childhood some of these kids have.

Please no!

2008-06-25T20:21:00.001-07:00

Touch my body
Put me on the floor
Wrestle me around
Play with me some more
Touch my body
Throw me on the bed
I just wanna make you feel
Like you never did.
Touch my body
Let me wrap my thighs
All around your waist
Just a little taste
Touch my body
Know you love my curves
Come on and give me what I deserve
And touch my body.

8 year olds in the camp sing these Mariah Carey lyrics at the top of their lungs. SERIOUSLY??

I wish today was tomorrow.

2008-06-22T19:53:00.000-07:00

If today was tomorrow, I'd be done with the first day of camp and I'd be so much more at ease! I keep writing to-do lists, checking them off and then making more to-do lists. The only box left to check is "Do the first day of camp." What a beautiful box that will be to check.

I never realized as a kid how nervous my teachers must have been on the first day of school. I always thought it was only nerve-racking for the kids, but the teacher's the one who has to make everybody comfortable and happy. It's stressful!

I just hope that everything goes well, the kids get up in time for their carpool, enjoy the camp and go home safely.

FINGERS CROSSED!

My Super Sweet Sixteen...

2008-06-18T20:40:00.000-07:00

...super friggin sucks. I used to think that show was amusing, but now it just makes me sick. I saw the end of an episode today and the birthday boy received a $16,000 check and an Escalade. $16,000???? That is almost HALF of what I make in an entire year. The kid barely even smiled when he got it. My friend suggested that they alter the show so that they get a huge Sweet Sixteen party and then they have to serve in the Army or the Peace Corps for two years afterwards. I'd watch that show.

Dan O'Brien Alert #2 (I swore I would keep this up and I will deliver on that promise)

2008-06-15T22:41:00.000-07:00

Here are three interesting facts about my favorite Irish man:

1. He does not like beans and usually won't eat them
2. He is full of strange facts, which he whips out at even stranger times (He knows every movie that Edward Furlong was in!)
3. He thinks friendship is solidified when you can fart in someone's face.

Dan O'Brien Alert #1

2008-06-04T16:05:00.000-07:00

Today, we discovered that Dan O'Brien is a "very sexy man".......check out this review:

http://stagescenela.com/html/blowin_of_baile_gall.html

Seattle Sasquatch Extravaganza

2008-06-01T14:21:00.000-07:00

A few weekends ago I went to an amazing music festival at the Gorge near Seattle with the lovely Pamela. It was a beautiful summer day and it made me miss Washington so much. We got to see Beirut, The Fleet Foxes, The New Pornographers, Dave Bazan (but only from afar between New Porno's set), M.I.A. and Okkervil River. The best act by far was Okkervil River (you can kind of see them in the pic below).

They completely rocked out and the entire audience was jumping around and singing along. The National was supposed to play, but their bus broke down on the way to the festival so they had Rainn Wilson come and talk to the audience for a few minutes instead. During the concert, we sat behind this girl who spent the entire show digging in her boyfriend's face. I am not kidding, she was digging around his face while he was just casually talking about something. This went on for hours. They practically never sat up to see the acts....she just dug around for hours.
Pam and I took off before Modest Mouse and REM because we're not huge fans and we wanted to beat the traffic, which was a reallllllly good idea in the end because it started to rain and the scary-dark drive back to Seattle took about 3 hours. Overall, I had such a good time. I wish Seattle was closer!

You're jealous.

2008-05-29T22:19:00.000-07:00

Since working in theatre I have learned how to make the following things:

1. fake hardwood floors
2. a wood dinosaur body
3. a bed that turns into a bookshelf
4. a life-sized corpse

Useful info, no?

Back to our roots...

2008-05-26T00:49:00.000-07:00

Sean and I recorded a Woodie Guthrie song together last week late at night. We got a little Texas in there so I thought you might enjoy. Here it is:

White Gold is White Gold

2008-05-14T22:00:00.000-07:00

Milk consumption fell 14 percent between 1981-2006 and as a result, the California Milk Processor Board (GOT MILK? people) recently launched a new ad campaign featuring sexy rockstar beast, White Gold. He is officially my husband.

The aim is to get more adolescents to drink milk instead of less nutritious options like juice and soda. I'm not sure how effective this ad campaign will be, but it's hilarious and at least it'll make more people want to play a milk guitar, which is fantastic.

A lie is a lie!

2008-05-10T15:37:00.000-07:00

A very outspoken, Catholic acquaintance of mine forwarded me an email the other day entitled "Planned Parenthood Racism." The body of the email said:

You've got to see this and talk to your friends about it!!!

The video features a number of people speaking in Washington, D.C. at some sort of rally about defunding Planned Parenthood. If you don't feel like watching it, here's an extremely short summary:

1. The video begins with Kristan Hawkins (Students for Life of America), who talks about an incident in which an actor pretending to be racist called the Planned Parenthood Director of Development in Idaho, offered to contribute to the organization and said (among other things), “The less black kids, the better” (implying that he wanted his money to go towards black abortions). The director responded, “Understandable, understandable.”

Hawkins describes a similar conversation between an actor and an administrative assistant at a Planned Parenthood in Ohio, in which the employee responded, “For whatever reason, we will accept the money.”

2. Hawkins goes on to say that the founder of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger, stated in 1939, “We don’t want the word to get out that we want to exterminate the Negro population.” (Whoa!)

The next clip shows Rev. Clenard Childress demanding the firing of these Planned Parenthood employees. (Right on, these people SHOULD be fired).

3. Dr. Lillie Epps wraps up the video with her “Angry Black Woman” diatribe that I personally find pointless. She starts off by saying that she got an abortion at age 26 in the Planned Parenthood directly behind the podium where she stands. She goes on to say that she got her second abortion in the same location. Halfway into her speech she describes a conversation during which a Planned Parenthood employee said, “We’re going to take care of that problem for you and after today, you won’t have to worry about that problem anymore.”
She concludes with, “A lie is a lie! I don’t care how you dress it up! There have been lies told here across America in millions of Planned Parenthoods. If we don’t stop abortion in the African American community, we will not have a generation to come.”

Here are a few things that bother me about this video and this entire argument (the numbers match the sections above – oh how organized I am!):

1. As an employee of a nonprofit, I have a pretty good understanding of the obstacles that these organizations face in terms of funding. What I know is that more than half of what you do as an employee of a nonprofit is fundraise. Trust me, you shouldn’t work for a nonprofit if you want to live comfortably. They are always struggling for financial support, whether they’ve been around for 1 year or 100 years. Duh, they are not-for-profit. To call a nonprofit and offer to donate a large sum of money as a trick is just cruel. They’re going to take it whether you’re loony or not, because you know what? They need it! AND, they can pretty much do whatever they want with that money. So when a guy calls up, talking nonsense about donating money in order to have less black kids, I would HOPE that they would take that asshole’s money. We don’t want a racist guy like that running around with thousands of dollars to spare, who knows what he would do with it! The Planned Parenthood employees that Hawkins mentions should have put that “racist” in his place, but I don’t think they were wrong to accept the money…just wrong for holding their tongues.
2. Important Side Note - I have concluded that Margaret Sanger (Planned Parenthood founder) is immensely messed up and I am glad she is dead. Upon further investigation, I uncovered a lot about this crazy lady. Namely, that she was a lunatic eugenicist who, according to a study by the Life Research Institute, wrote a book called The Pivot Civilization in which she called for the elimination of human weeds: "for the cessation of charity, for the segregation of morons, misfits, and maladjusted," and for the sterilization of "genetically inferior races." So I learned something today. The founder of Planned Parenthood was ridiculously racist and it is very likely that she created Planned Parenthood with the goal of eliminating a number of minority groups. My questions is: Does Margaret Sanger’s eugenicist agenda define Planned Parenthood today, 70 years later? I honestly don’t know, but I hope not. This might call for another blog when I have the energy…
3. Dr. Lillie Epps’ speech got me fired up. This woman chose to have an abortion…TWICE. Even after feeling the emotional effects of the first abortion, she went and got another one. She tries to say that Planned Parenthood guaranteed that all her problems would go away, but didn’t she find out this wasn’t true after her first go-around? The fact that she is black has nothing to do with her decision to abort two fetuses. She is an adult and she should act like one. On another note, I agree with what I think Epps is trying to say (though she doesn't quite articulate it) in the sense that I think Planned Parenthood should make a concerted effort to educate young women about the devastating emotional effects of abortion. Ultimately though Epps, you got pregnant, you got an abortion, you deal with the effects.
4. To tag on to the last point, what really angers me is that this video is quite obviously an anti-abortion rant fest that latched on to a weak argument against Planned Parenthood. I am hesitant to conclude that Planned Parenthood is racist because 3 ignorant people responded poorly to prank calls and the founder was a flat-out psycho. Maybe it’s true (I sincerely hope not), but their arguments have so many holes, it just seems like they’re fishing for a way to say what they really mean, which is: I don’t like abortion (though, I might get one or two now and then).

I’ll end by saying that I am pro-choice (in case you’re wondering). If I were to get pregnant today, however, I would not get an abortion. That’s how I roll. It has to do with my own preferences and my basic understanding of the emotional effects of the procedure. Many of my friends and family are pro-life so I understand the arguments and I even agree with a number of the key points. That said, I value the right for a woman to choose what she does with her body too much to be swayed to the other side. Ultimately, it was an interesting email that provided for a pleasant night in a coffee shop.

Thoughts?

Can't Sleep!

2008-04-28T02:32:00.000-07:00

So many couples that I meet depress me. The girls are always nagging the guys and the guys always seem annoyed. Why would you stay in a relationship like that?! There is this particularly naggy couple that I know and I always wonder what they were like when they first met because they don't seem to love each other at all, they don't even seem to LIKE each other. It's sad to think that long ago when they didn't know each other or live together, he was charming and she was sweet and then once they got together, they stopped giving a shit and realized they didn't have to be nice anymore because the whole game was over and they started incessantly nagging each other. It is so depressing. I know a bunch of couples like that too. It's so unnecessary. BREAK UP! Do better!

I can't sleep at all. ever. it sucks.

I worked on the world's WORST staged reading today. I am serious, this show had absolutely no plot and no point. Most of the dialogue was on cell phones. I wanted to shoot myself. I felt embarrassed to be alive...that's how bad it was.

Now I can't sleep and it's killing me because I am really really tired, but my mind won't stop.

I HATE Wednesdays

2008-04-23T21:46:00.000-07:00

I cannot handle Wednesday nights. I think I need to sign up for a class or make sure to work late or take a lot of drugs because Wednesday nights are the bane of my existence right now.

Maybe this will become my new time for writing long-winded blogs that nobody actually reads! HOORAY!

Right now I am sitting on the couch with my roommate's boyfriend watching SuperNanny. Yeah, that's right, you're jealous. I'm the craziest 24 year old in town - it's all about booze and sex for me.

Farewell Facebook

2008-03-23T00:12:00.000-07:00

So I de-activated my facebook a few weeks ago. It feels so good! I had been thinking about doing it for awhile, but kept putting it off. It was only when I realized how much time I was wasting debating whether or not I should de-activate, that I realized I should not have to think this hard about a stupid website! So I quit. (Actually, Dan owns my profile, but it's basically the same). Hooray for shaking bad habits!

When it rains, it pours

2008-03-20T01:19:00.000-07:00

I feel like I am pretty good at counting my blessings, but I just have to say that 2008 has not been treating me well so far!

Get ready for an extremely long sentence:
First, I deal with the end of yet another relationship, which is just annoying and takes more time than I want/should be necessary, then I take on WAY too much at work to compensate for said end of relationship, which makes me horribly sleep deprived and out of shape so that I can barely drive straight, during which time, I have major surgery on my head to remove five cists (for some unknown reason, I assume this won't be a big deal because, well, I AM RETARDED) and I am knocked out for a solid week (shocker!) because the staples in my head are so tight that I can't lie down for more than two hours to sleep, during which time, the incisions get infected, which knocks me out for a few more weeks, all of this while still working 8am - 1am every day, which is more than I've ever worked in my life. THEN just as things start looking a little better and the head wounds are graduating from "infected" to "inflamed" and my sexy bald spots begin to appear (really boosting my confidence in the relationship department), weird situations develop at work, which are super distracting and not for online sharing, but nonetheless, lead to the decision to move away from the girls I've lived with for over 4 years, which might not sound that stressful, but that's probably because you don't know how poor I am, living on my own is definitely not a small undertaking, then to top allllll of that off, tonight I got MUGGED.

Yep, that's right. I got mugged. I was walking to my car behind the theatre after having coffee with a volunteer for the summer camp and heard someone running really fast behind me and saw a shadow on the wall. In the split second before he touched me, I thought, "Shit. This is what it's like to get mugged." And then I did. He grabbed my arm and swung me in a circle about three times, threw me on the ground and then ran off with my purse, wallet and cell phone. The whole time I was yelling "No" in a voice that didn't sound like mine and afterwards I was shaking like a leaf.

So basically, that's been my year so far. Despite all of this, I know how good I have it and I am so thankful for the things that I have and my wonderful family, but SERIOUSLY....CUT A BALD GIRL A BREAK!

"You cannot see your reflection in running water, only in still water"

2008-02-17T00:11:00.000-08:00

Lately, I've been thinking a lot lately about myself spiritually...yeah? What? Anyway, it's strange to say "spiritually" because I haven't thought about where I stand in that arena for a long time...but I am reading an interesting memoir and spending a lot of time at home (with staples in my head!), so I've been doing some thinking.

Everything began when I read this passage (and then the pages following): "I'm tired of being a skeptic, I'm irritated by spiritual prudence and I feel bored and parched by empirical debate. I don't want to hear it anymore. I couldn't care less about evidence and proof and assurances. I just want God." When I read that, I thought, "Excluding the last sentence, that's how I feel!" That's when I got to thinking...

As a kid, I considered myself religious and I very much believed in God. I went to a Christian camp in Arkansas and there were moments there where I truly and deeply felt a connection to what I thought to be God. As I grew older, my faith wavered. I enjoyed Youth Group and I went to church, but I began to doubt things that I had always accepted to be true without question. College was a major turning point. I basically decided that religion was bullshit - God was invented to make people feel better about their shitty lives- I was done. I was almost embarrassed to talk about faith, fearing that I would appear brain-washed or stupid or naive. I still feel that way today.

Over the past few months though (and realistically, probably longer than that), I've realized that I have an overwhelming and powerful desire to believe in something and the desire won't go away. I don't know what that "something" is and I'm not even suggesting that it is God, but I feel that I need something to believe in if I am ever going to find true happiness. Whether that be God or love or sacred cows, it doesn't seem to matter at this point.

I haven't finished the book yet, but I think the author is ultimately saying that we find God within ourselves. She literally says, "God dwells within you as you yourself, exactly the way you are." I think that the more I think about it, the more I agree. When I sit in my bed, about to go to sleep and I write in my journal, I'm really sitting down to ask questions of myself....to challenge my own thoughts....to calm my heart and comfort my soul before I have to start another day. My parents taught me that God existed to walk beside me...to guide me through the light and dark. Really, I am my own guide. I know it sounds SO extremely cheesy, and maybe even obvious, but I am. And I don't have to make some massive, dramatic change of character or renounce my individuality in order to find a "God" or to find a specific something to believe in. If I just sit quietly and really think about it, I think I've already found it.

It's been a while...

2008-01-11T11:09:00.000-08:00

I haven't written in a long time, but I recently read something that I feel like talking about and since I don't feel like working today, I might as well.

I recently spent a rainy Sunday with my mom and little brother and came across a book called This I Believe. It's a compilation of essays from a program on NPR, which encourages people to write, share and discuss the core values that guide their daily lives. The project is based on the popular 1950s radio series of the same name hosted by Edward R. Murrow. Anyway, as I flipped through the book, which I later purchased, I came across one particular essay by Deirdre Sullivan that meant a lot to me. Here it is:

Always Go to the Funeral

I believe in always going to the funeral. My father taught me that.

The first time he said it directly to me, I was 16 and trying to get out of going to calling hours for Miss Emerson, my old fifth grade math teacher. I did not want to go. My father was unequivocal. "Dee," he said, "you're going. Always go to the funeral. Do it for the family."

So my dad waited outside while I went in. It was worse than I thought it would be: I was the only kid there. When the condolence line deposited me in front of Miss Emerson's shell-shocked parents, I stammered out, "Sorry about all this," and stalked away. But, for that deeply weird expression of sympathy delivered 20 years ago, Miss Emerson's mother still remembers my name and always says hello with tearing eyes.

That was the first time I went un-chaperoned, but my parents had been taking us kids to funerals and calling hours as a matter of course for years. By the time I was 16, I had been to five or six funerals. I remember two things from the funeral circuit: bottomless dishes of free mints and my father saying on the ride home, "You can't come in without going out, kids. Always go to the funeral."

Sounds simple -- when someone dies, get in your car and go to calling hours or the funeral. That, I can do. But I think a personal philosophy of going to funerals means more than that.

"Always go to the funeral" means that I have to do the right thing when I really, really don't feel like it. I have to remind myself of it when I could make some small gesture, but I don't really have to and I definitely don't want to. I'm talking about those things that represent only inconvenience to me, but the world to the other guy. You know, the painfully under-attended birthday party. The hospital visit during happy hour. The Shiva call for one of my ex's uncles. In my humdrum life, the daily battle hasn't been good versus evil. It's hardly so epic. Most days, my real battle is doing good versus doing nothing.

In going to funerals, I've come to believe that while I wait to make a grand heroic gesture, I should just stick to the small inconveniences that let me share in life's inevitable, occasional calamity.

On a cold April night three years ago, my father died a quiet death from cancer. His funeral was on a Wednesday, middle of the workweek. I had been numb for days when, for some reason, during the funeral, I turned and looked back at the folks in the church. The memory of it still takes my breath away. The most human, powerful and humbling thing I've ever seen was a church at 3:00 on a Wednesday full of inconvenienced people who believe in going to the funeral.

After reading the essay twice, I was crying and I didn't really know why. I don't know if being selfish is a prerequisite for being in your early 20's, but it certainly seems like it lately. I include myself in this criticism. I'm so saddened by selfishness and I can't decide if it's the industry I'm in, the city or the people I choose to be around. I guess all I can do is surround myself with good, loving people and it's something I haven't been doing lately.

OPENING NIGHT!

2007-08-02T09:09:00.001-07:00

LDSIBGVLOWUYB CIQWENCILWRGBLUABCWKEMNGUYlnivgiyerbnviuenwgmslkvm cwiorbhiyrtnvaw!!!!!!

This is it! The kids perform in front of a live audience for the first time - this afternoon! AH! I could barely sleep last night I was so nervous. Yesterday we had a pretty sloppy run-through, but I think they are ready. I am so proud of them. AHHHH! I just want everything to go smoothly.....please please please.

Rough

2007-07-26T21:47:00.000-07:00

One of our kids came to camp and couldn't sit down. At first I thought she was just being annoying, but she was actually unable to sit. She had to lie on her stomach all day and couldn't do any of our dances. At one point she lifted her shirt on accident, uncovering a bunch of purple bruises on her stomach. I asked her what was wrong and she said she fell. I talked to the supervisor of our partner program and he says she really did fall, but it's disturbing and I'm still debating what I should do about it. My heart just aches for these kids....especially when I get frustrated at them for losing focus or forgetting to memorize their lines because WHAT AM I THINKING?! Of course they can't memorize their lines. It's nearly impossible when they have such troubled homes.

On a completely different note.......here is my favorite camper quote to date:

Alexis (7 yrs old): Last night my little brother (2 yr old) dreamed that he was Martin Luther King Jr.

................................oh wait, no..........that was Elmo.

Circus!

2007-07-19T00:09:00.000-07:00

Only 8 more rehearsals until the show. The kids did their first run-through today and I was quite impressed. They are forgetting a lot of lines, but they were able to stumble through it without a lot of help, which is a good sign. Tomorrow we are building the set and taking them to the circus!

Made in Asia

2007-07-16T23:22:00.000-07:00

So it turns out the little boy's Aunt was lying! The triplets saw the boys running around the neighborhood the other day. This makes me even more sad for the boys because I think they really liked camp, but it wasn't the "cool" thing to do. UGH. So dumb.

The girls were so hilarious on the ride to camp today. I went on the freeway for the first time and D pointed to the cars ahead and said, "I've always wondered who is at the very front of the freeway. Someday, when I'm grown, I'm going to wake up really early and be the first one in front of everyone." Her sister jumped in saying, "Yeah! I've always wondered that too! Also, how did all of these streets get here? It must have taken FOREVER to make them......like at least 30 years, right?" I'm around kids so often now that I started thinking, "YEAH. When WERE these roads made? It must have been a million years ago."

Then S started talking about how everything she owns seems to be made in China to which D said, "Yeah, why can't something be made in Asia or Egyptian or something???"

Things to think about, guys.

Big smiles

2007-07-12T22:49:00.001-07:00

This week has been so crazy and the wedding hasn't even happened yet. I had to skip work on Wednesday to throw the bachelorette party and - of course - shit went down at the camp while I was gone. The Reverend that helps me transport the kids called to say that our oldest boy and lead character got in a fight with his Aunt and had to move to Washington with his dad THAT DAY. I couldn't believe it. I almost cried. He was so excited about learning his lines and he just got completely ripped from his home. It was absolutely heartbreaking. It also meant that his little brother, our youngest camper, wasn't going to come to camp anymore either. He was by far the funniest little kid ever. I am so sad.

Anyway, I came back to work at the end of camp today after the Bridesmaids Luncheon and the kids all rushed over to give me a hug. I wasn't wearing my couselor clothes so they thought I was very glamorous and grabbed at my hair a lot. They all wanted to show me the new dance they learned while I was away. It was SO ADORABLE. Seriously. Everyone was smiling ear to ear as they danced. Even the little boys were enthusiastic (they always act like they hate performing). I started to tear up as they finished the song. They were so proud of themselves and so excited to show me what they had learned. I just can't believe these kids could barely talk to each other two weeks ago. Moments like those make this camp worthwhile.

shut up

2007-07-09T21:49:00.000-07:00

Certain people are determined to be unhappy. No matter what you do to please them, they find a way to stay completely miserable. I always feel like the person responsible for making sure that everyone else is having a good time. Maybe it's the big sister in me or maybe it's just my personality. Dan and I talked about it at work this morning. He and I are very similar in this respect. We are generally happy and positive people. Other people, are not. It's annoying. It's even more annoying because I feel like it's my job to make it better and it's not my job! Why do I feel that way??

Bastille Day

2007-07-09T00:49:00.000-07:00

My best friend is getting married in 6 days and I am a bridesmaid in her wedding. 6 days. I can't believe it! In less than a year, they hope to have a child. It's so strange to me. I'll be going out to a bar while they'll be at home with a baby. Completely weird.

eww

2007-07-02T10:11:00.000-07:00

This theatre smells like rotten sandwiches.

Germans

2007-06-28T11:45:00.000-07:00

When my brothers and I were little we used to play a game called Mary & Joseph (hmmm....wonder where we got those names...). In the game we were orphans running away from Nazis. My mom eventually changed "Nazis" to "nuns" because we were screaming "Nazi!" in public and that wasn't going over so well. We had no idea what Nazis were, but we knew they were bad.

Yesterday I was driving three of our campers from Compton to the theatre and they were chatting with each other in the back seat. Occasionally as they were talking, the boys would randomly say, "German" and the conversation would continue. It happened a bunch of times so I asked the oldest boy, Tyquone, why they were doing that. He explained by saying, "Whenever someone says something really stupid, we say 'German' and hit them in the head." I asked him why and he said it was just something they always did.

Interesting.

Umbrella (ella ella ella)

2007-06-25T21:45:00.001-07:00

That I have the energy to type right now is a small miracle. Camp was exhausting. The kids in the scholarship program showed up 35 minutes late and then their ride was an hour late picking them up. So…..that was exciting. The camp ends at 5:00pm and we completely ran out of activities at 3:45pm. I can’t believe it’s only Monday.

Anyway, now for the reason I am writing. Kids today are so different than I remember. I know that’s probably obvious considering I was a kid more than ten years ago, but I was surprised by a lot of things today and thought I would share.

First off, before I get to the thing that shocked me the most, I want to say that I hate sidekicks and cell phones. The kids were literally attached to their gadgets all day. It was impossible to compete with the texting and AIMing and ringtone dancing. At the end of the day, the counselors unanimously agreed to confiscate all electronics at the beginning of each day of camp. Good decision, counselors.

The thing that upset me the most occurred while playing a game of “Concentration.” In this game, the kids clap a rhythm while calling out categories. So, someone starts the clapping with the category “colors” and each person says a color to the beat. If you say the same color as someone else, you’re out. There is no reason you need to know how to play the game, but maybe now you can play it at work (woo hoo!). Anyway, one of the categories was “Favorite Artists.” The kids listed: Rihanna, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and Paris Hilton. I wanted to cry.

It’s not that I was surprised. I honestly expected it. All we hear about on the news and the radio is Paris, Britney and Justin. One’s in jail, one’s completely lost it and… Justin’s fine I guess….but seriously, come on.

If these are the artists influencing kids today, I just don’t know what to say. When I was ten, my favorite band was Green Day. My friends liked oldies like the Beatles and the Beach Boys. I’m not trying to act like I was this wonderfully cultured genius child (haha because Green Day makes you that way), but I think it’s safe to say that it’s pretty messed up that these kids idolize such trash. I mean, Rihanna’s big song right now goes like this: “Oooh baby it’s raining/baby come into me/come into me, it’s raining.”

Really? Ohhh wait, I get it. Clearly she’s trying to protect us from adverse weather. What else could “come into me” mean?

Maybe this is part of the reason none of the kids can sing even the simplest melody (like “Row Your Boat”). They do, however, have amazing rhythm. Maybe it’s the reason our 12-year-old campers were talking about blowjobs. I don't know.

Though I’m sure music is the least of their problems and probably not the direct cause of their behavior, it’s most definitely disconcerting.

camp camp camp

2007-06-24T20:26:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we start the theatre camp that I'm heading up. I am nervous. We took an infant/child CPR course today. I'm really glad I'm certified now, but I do not ever want to do CPR on anyone. Did you know that if you blow too hard into a person's mouth, the air goes into the stomach and the person vomits? I had no idea that could happen. Then you not only have an unconsciousness problem, you also have a choking on vomit problem and there is an entirely different procedure for choking.

Anyway, I'm nervous and I hope nobody chokes or passes out tomorrow. As long as kids show up and we all get out alive, I will consider camp a success.

Anonymous M.D.

2007-06-12T17:05:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago, I read an interesting book called "Unprotected: A Campus Psychiatrist Reveals How Political Correctness in Her Profession Endangers Every Student." My Catholic/socially conservative friend recommended it to me, so I assumed the subject would lean in that direction, but I was determined to keep an open mind and started reading. You know when you find out about something amazing and you feel like you have to tell EVERYBODY what you have learned...? That's what happened to me. The author, Anonymous M.D., paints such an accurate picture of the college experience in today’s world - it's incredible. I want every woman I know to read this. She uses medical evidence to argue that the American Psychiatric Association is overly concerned with being politically correct, which ultimately forces psychiatrists to focus on the physical well-being of young college women rather than their emotional well-being. She discusses fertility, abortion, STDs, religion...pretty much everything. The best thing about the book is that she seems to understand my generation and knows how to argue with us. We've been taught to rely on fact and she uses nothing but scientific evidence to support her main points. The only real downside is that she mentions that she is religious. I didn't like that because it is completely unnecessary and probably turns a lot of people off, which is a shame because the book is fascinating. Here is a quick overview from the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (I shortened it a bit):

According to a 2004 survey by the American College Health Association, nearly half of all college students report having felt so depressed at school that they have had trouble functioning. The National Survey of Counseling Center Directors revealed last year that nine percent of all students sought help at their college mental health center. Many suffer eating disorders, self-mutilation, binge-drinking, the stress of boyfriends, exams, and broad-spectrum angst.

In this sobering expose, Dr. A argues that the culture on campus--and in her profession--is so steeped in political correctness that it hamstrings the ability of therapists to help college students. The doctor's frustration steams off every page: "We ask about child abuse, but not last week's hook-ups," she laments. "We want to know how many cigarettes and coffees she's had each day, but not how many abortions in her past. We consider the stress caused by parental expectations and rising tuition, but neglect the anguish of herpes, the hazards of promiscuity, and the looming fertility issues for women who put their career first."

In the training workshops she attends, Dr. A would like to see less focus on sexual experimentation and social oppression in the counseling of young people and more consideration of meaning, hope, and purpose. "Many would benefit from being less self-absorbed, not more," she says. Indeed, the general sensibility on campus, as the author paints it, is a jumble of mixed messages.

A cardiologist, she argues, feels perfectly justified in offering judgments about a patient's sedentary lifestyle. The truth may hurt, but no one worries that a fat man with hypertension will be offended by being told he should lose weight and exercise. But if a mental health physician has the gall to suggest to a young female patient displaying serious symptoms of depression that she might improve the quality of her life if she changes her casual attitude toward sex—well, that crosses the line. That's a value judgment and not medicine, she is likely to be told. Anonymous begs to differ. "I argue as a scientist," she says, "with biological facts, not biblical ones. Forget Leviticus—as you'll see, my data is from The New England Journal of Medicine and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

Anyway, I thought of this book again last night, went online to see how people are reviewing it and made some frustrating discoveries. Judging from their comments, it seemed that most of the reviewers hadn’t even read it. They were immediately turned off by the fact that the author argues that men and women are fundamentally different. As a result, they completely write everything off. I was so mad.

What made me the most upset is that I had to try really hard to find reviews at all. This book isn't sold in stores and hasn't gotten a lot of attention. everyone should read it, especially if you're still in college. It really rang true for me and if anything, it provides for some interesting discussion.

Weird occurrences at the Lyric lately...

2007-06-11T16:20:00.000-07:00

Lady walks in with extremely spaced-out look on her face and smells of alcohol. She asks me if we are a counseling service. I tell her we are a theatre. She looks around. Looks at Dan. Asks me again and I tell her again that we are a theatre. She leaves. Five seconds later she walks back in. Same look on her face. She asks me if we are a counseling service in the exact same tone as if she has never seen me in her life. Seriously, it was like her memory was erased - so friggin WEIRD.

Lady walks in with pile of socks...
To me: "Do you want to buy some socks?"
me: "No thanks"
To Dan: "Do YOU want to buy some socks?"
dan: "Um, no...thank you"
Lady leaves theatre.

Man with cowboy hat walks into theatre and immediately goes to the back. Dan and I follow. Man is clearly in the bathroom. Comes out of bathroom and walks toward front door without looking at either of us.
Me: "Excuse me sir, can I help you? Did you just need to use the bathroom?"
Man (exposing a mouth with no teeth): "Yeah. Unless you wanna sit down and talk about it."
Me: speechless

Lady comes to the door with 5 yr old kid.
Lady: Is this 520 North La Brea?
Me: yes, this is the Lyric Theatre
Lady: 5-2-0 North La Brea?
Me: Yes
Lady: I need to talk to Hazel
Me: Sorry, you must have the wrong address. I don't know a Hazel
(shows me a piece of paper with Hazel's name and number on it)
Lady: Can you call Hazel and tell her I am here?
Me: No...I'm sorry...I don't....
(awkward silence)
Me: You can call her on our phone if you like...
(She gets on the phone, calls Hazel, it's ringing, she puts the phone over to me)
Lady: Can you tell Hazel I'm here?
Me (thinking): WTF?! WHO IS HAZEL???

Guy comes into the theatre and pays for a $25 ticket in CHANGE. (not that weird, but wanted to write it cuz it's annoying)

OK......be prepared because this next story is BY FAR the strangest occurrence to date:

A man runs inside during the day. Dan calls out to see if he needs something. The man is in a huge hurry and says, "Can i PLEASE use your bathroom??" and rushes to the back. Without a chance to say no (we are not a public toilet!), Dan watches him run to the back.
Neither of us think anything of it until later when an audience member comes up to Dan and tells him that we need to seriously clean up the bathroom area.
Dan goes back and there is SHIT EVERYWHERE. Not kidding. e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e. we are talking IN THE SINK, guys.....in...the....sink.

WTF??????? Who runs in, shits everywhere and leaves? I mean really!?!?!!? Poor Dan had to clean it. Seriously....so ridiculous.

Darby Downer

2007-06-04T15:37:00.000-07:00

I recently went to a party and had a pretty long conversation with a girl who is currently a sophomore in college. We talked about the usual stuff like jobs, majors, our goals, etc etc…..all the stuff you always feel like you need to say when you initially meet someone. It was a pretty normal interaction, nothing out of the ordinary, but for some reason, I can’t get the conversation out of mind.

She was talking about all of her plans for the future – she wants to go abroad for this amount of time and study in Washington D.C. for this amount of time and get this and this degree and go to this grad school (fyi - when you say it repeatedly, “this” becomes a weird word)…..and the whole time her excitement was making me feel so very old. I was just like her when I was a sophomore! I had everything planned out years ahead of time. Then she asked me about my dreams and aspirations. I told her that I have the job that I’ve wanted to have for years and I’m pretty happy with it. The conversation suddenly went silent. There was sort of a “that’s it?!” look on her face, like I should have something more to say. I felt like I should elaborate in some way to make my life somehow more…important? Legitimate? I wanted to say something like, “but I plan to go to Nigeria to work at an orphanage and then after that I’m going to get my Masters at Stanford and then blah blah blah (insert really cool life things here).”

As an insecure 20-something going through the usual what-the-hell-am-I-doing-with-my-life phase (well, more of a constant state of being than a phase), I realized that I’ve been feeling weird lately because I’m no longer looking for the next thing to do. School is just a period of time where you wait for real life and since I’m not in school anymore, I’m in real life and I’m not waiting anymore. This sensation is so weird and new. I’ve been in school for 17 years and I don’t really know how to act now that it’s over. My immediate reaction is to apply to grad school and postpone the inevitable. Everybody’s doing it, so I probably should too. But I am basically happy with my job and that’s a really good thing. I’m not saying I am completely satisfied at all times and have no desire to do anything else, but I am essentially happy at the moment with my professional life (personal life aside). I think it just feels strange not to be applying for something or studying for some enormous test.

Maybe I am just paranoid (and that is probably the case because she was a really nice girl), but I felt like this girl was thinking, “I’m not going to be like her, I am going to do great things.” But I wanted to say to her, “I AM doing great things!” She might have all these grand plans, but are a thousand amazing dreams better than one? Her excitement annoyed me. I wanted to tell her to chill out, but then why would I want to squash such happy (if naïve) optimism? I’m not Scrooge and I’m not bitter……but everything that I’ve typed so far would suggest that I am bitter. I am mad at her optimism and he 5-year plan and her plans to go abroad.

So I guess what I am saying is that maybe this conversation disturbed me so much because I’m not as happy with my job as I initially thought. Or maybe I am happy, but I’m just feeling restless because I’ve been trained (throughout my time in school) to constantly search for the next project (“on to the next club!” Corey would say). I don’t know, but I’m still thinking about it.

Sundays

2007-04-29T15:53:00.000-07:00

Sundays are so depressing to me, especially when it's grey outside. I have so much stuff I have to clean right now, but no motivation to do so. Ugh, it's already 4pm. I haven't done anything productive. Good job me! Why am I blogging right now?

On the subject of relationships

2007-04-21T20:19:00.000-07:00

I hate when people drop all their friends when they start a relationship. That's what you do when you're in high school and you're too naive to know how dumb that is. I mean, really. We're old enough now to understand that there is a balance. Being with each other 24 hours a day just can't be healthy.

Besides, when you get dumped or you break it off or cheat on each other, or i don't know....move to opposite sides of the world, you'll suddenly realize how few friends you've kept and then you'll be sad when none of them come running back....and you don't want that.

A year later

2007-04-20T23:30:00.000-07:00

Wow. It's been almost two years since I have been on this thing. How different things are today than they were then! All of the seniors at USC are finished with classes in 4 days. 4 DAYS! That means it's been a year since I've graduated! An entire year of adulthood. NUTS.

Lots of things have changed.....I have a baby cousin now. Her name is Cocorro, which means "heart" in Japanese. It's hilarious to watch her grow. All of my other cousins are my age, so I can't get enough of how small she is. When you watch her, you can actually see her brain developing. She had her first real Easter this year and sort of understood the concept of hunting for eggs. We had to show her where they were, but she seemed to have fun grabbing them and putting them in her mouth. So did Cookie (our dog) who seemed to use the eggs as a elaborate scheme to get into the house. She would take an egg in her mouth, go up to the glass doors so I could see that she had an egg, and then dart into the house once i came outside to grab the egg from her. You'd think I would be able to outsmart old Mrs. Cookie and shut the door after me, but.....it's like in 101 Dalmatians where all the owners are exactly like their pets....i'm kinda slowwwww like Cookie too.

Other things have changed, but they're pretty normal changes.....new house, new job, new stuff going on....it's ok, i don't need to tell you all of it. Anyway, I think I'll start keeping this up again on those nights where I find myself sitting and thinking too much so you'll prolly find out anyway.

I think i'll change the name of the blog though. gotta think of a good name!

Los Angeles!

2005-08-01T01:15:00.000-07:00

OH MY GOD! I am coming home today!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHH. I can't believe that my summer is over! WHOA. I have had the most amazing experiences on this trip and made lifetime friends.

Last night in the hostel I was sleeping soundly when suddenly our roommate (he just graduated from Oregon State) sat up and started screaming, "Don't touch that! Don't touch it! NO!" over and over. I assumed that he was sleep talking, but then he got out of bed and started to check all of his stuff. It was kind of scary because I thought he was accusing me of stealing, but apparently he was sleep walking "as usual." Oh the joys of hostel living.

Anyway, I have to go pack and get ready to return to my family! YAY! I am so excited to see you mom and dad and Sean. Mike, I will see you in a few days too! SO EXCITED! Thanks to everyone who sent me messages on this blog and spent time reading it, I hope it was entertaining. I love you all so so so so so much! BYE!

No more classes!?

2005-07-29T09:09:00.000-07:00

Oh my gosh!!! I am done with classes! WHOA. Today we gave all of our teachers presents and James Bundy (my modern teacher) got teary-eyed and said we were the only group who had ever given him a present. We made him a t-shirt that said "how did that feel?" (he always says that after a scene) and on the back it said "off you go" (which is always what he says before you start a scene). I will REALLY miss him. He is by far the best acting teacher I have ever had and we all became very close to him.

To celebrate the end of classes today, my acting group (we are called Lorca) went and played an awesome game of laser tag at a local game place. We also rode one of those mechanical bulls...so fun. Tomorrow is open day when parents and friends come to watch us in our classes. I am playing Cassius in a scene from Julius Caesar and Olga in a scene from Chekov's Three Sisters. I can't believe it is already open day! AH! I am sad, but SO excited to go home at the same time. Only a few more meals of fish pie and cabbage.

Time to head back to school and get ready for all the celebrating! Miss you! Oh, and Dad, that parrot article was hilarious!

Monday

2005-07-25T11:22:00.000-07:00

The talent show was hilarious! Everyone was so entertaining....no kidding(!), I guess we ARE at an acting school. After the show, we all went out to a dance club and chilled with some British folk--fun fun fun. British people think that Americans are bad dancers and Americans think the same about them, so it is kind of funny to see them interact at clubs.

I can't believe I am coming home so soon! I can't figure out how to read my plane ticket though, so I am going to go to the nearest STA and figure it out. OH, I learned some new funny English phrases! My teacher once said that someone's performance was "the bee's knees" (meaning good) and she told another student to "put some welly" into her performance (meaning gusto or something?). Anyway, that was random.

Alrighty, time for a Question and Answer session with a London director. Cheerio!

One more week!

2005-07-22T11:15:00.000-07:00

No worries everyone, I am doing ok. They apparently found 4 more bombs on the tubes in London, which is very scary considering the fact that I will be ON those tubes in a week, but otherwise I am doing well. I only have one more week left!!!!! I can't believe that! It feels like I never lived anywhere else. It is going to be so strange to go back home, but it'll be so wonderful too.

Man, one thing I will NOT miss is the food. Every day we are fed red meat slop on rice and it is so gross. The worst part about it is that it is basically a variation of beef stew, which (as you well know) I hate with a burning passion. The desserts are delicious though, so I just tough it out through dinner to get to the sweet stuff.

Classes have been going well and I am still in awe of my modern acting teacher. I feel like I am a little bit smarter about life every time he speaks. I love it. Tonight we are having a talent show in the main dining hall and I get to see a bunch of my friends sing and dance and all kinds of fun stuff. I'm not performing because I wasn't in the mood to audition, but it should be fun to see the show they've put together.

I think I am going to go try to steal some non-beefy maybe chocolate item right now! Miss you all!

Sunny Sundays

2005-07-17T05:45:00.000-07:00

Thank God for Sundays! Today is so beautiful and despite the fact that I have tons of work to do, I feel so content and happy. Yesterday I saw A Midsummer Night's Dream in an outdoor theatre and I really enjoyed it. I have some good friends here who go to Fordham College in New York...they are very laid back theatre people, which I love. Well, this post is small, but I just wanted to say hi. I miss home!

Ol' Julius

2005-07-14T13:15:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure where the title for this post came from....I guess I just have Julius Caesar on the brain. Classes have been going great. I have the most amazing modern acting teacher. His name is James Bundy and he is the dean of the Yale Drama School. I can't even describe how much I have learned from this guy in the last two weeks. Everything he says is so clear and understandable and AMAZING. He can take a scene that is already amazing and make it 500 MILLION times better. I feel so lucky to be in his class.

My Shakespeare class is ok, though I am often frustrated by my extremely British and crazy teacher, who is actually an actress, not a teacher. The other day she made me recite my sonnet while kicking a shoe around and swaying back and forth. I am sure there was a lesson to be learned from that exercise, but I would sure like to know what it was! I also have a class called physical where we are doing some really funny exercises with masks.

In other news it is extremely hot here and I am boiling to death as we speak. It is so beautiful though, so that makes up for everything. Alrighty, gotta run and memorize a new sonnet!

Flashback...

2005-07-10T04:40:00.000-07:00

Thanks so much for the messages and good thoughts....this week has been crazy and scary. Most of us here at school had no idea what was going on because we do not have internet or television, so we all got extremely scared when we were silenced at lunch for an announcement....definite flashback to September 11th. A lot of our teachers live/have families in London, so everyone was on eggshells that day, but it seems that all is well. I was freaking out because I had been on the tube that blew up only 5 days earlier. Such a scary world right now.

In lighter news, school is great. Today we have a question and answer session with David Schwimmer, who is a BADA alum. Right now I am working on Julius Ceasar and Chekov's Uncle Vanya. We have class everyday from 8am to 6pm, so I am generally exhausted all the time, but having so much fun. I have become friends some kids from Boston College and all kinds of other places in the states.

The things that have been going on lately really make me stop and think about the people that I love. Kisses and hugs to everyone... I hope all is well!

Auditions (dun dun DUN)

2005-07-03T02:26:00.000-07:00

Auditions went well, thankfully. Despite what I said earlier, we are not being split into beginning and advanced acting - yay. Instead they are splitting us into 9 different groups of 14 people. We will be doing scenes and working with those 14 people for the entire term. I think this method is a LOT better because it is harder for people to form cliques, etc. My audition was yesterday at 11 a.m. and I find out what group I am in today at 3 p.m. We are having a big party tonight at the school to meet the faculty and get ready for the first day of class.

Last night was really fun and I got to know a lot of people. We went to see "War of the Worlds," which was an ok movie and then we went out to a club. Everybody finally got a chance to relax and dance with each other. I became friends with a random girl named Annika who is from Oxford and she helped me work on a cockney accent. Then she really wanted to have a sword fight with imaginary machetes (no idea how to spell that word), so we did...hahaha. When I read that sentence, I can tell you are thinking "what???" but no worries guys, I escaped the machete fight unharmed. After the club we went back to Balliol and played some serious frisbee (flashback to ICS-awww) out on the lawn and looked at the stars and chatted about the program to come that we all know nothing about.

Tomorrow is July 4th and Michael Simkin is coming to visit me! Have fun in Washington D.C. Mom, Dad, Sean and Mike. I hope you're feeling better Mike!

I made it!

2005-07-01T07:46:00.001-07:00

I finally made it to Oxford after many trains, underground tunnels and buses. It is good to hear people speaking English again. On the train ride from Paris I was seated next to a bald Hungarian man with an enormous white beard. He was really nice and we tried to talk, but my Hungarian is rusty. He kept asking "Is London bella?" After lots of sign language and topic changes, I managed to communicate that he would need to change his Euros to pounds and he was grateful. Very nice guy.

My room here at Oxford is exactly like a room in Harry Potter....so exciting! My window overlooks a graveyard though. I originally thought I was next to a resident advisor because there is a huge bag of condoms on the door next to mine, but that room is apparently called the JCR and it is where we have all of our meetings. Jessica Kaplan's room is VERY CREEPY. It used to be the "sick room" so it has a hallway and creepy bathtub room. The whole place makes the hair on your neck stand up....looks like I got lucky.

Tonight we are having a meeting in the JCR and then a big group dinner in the dining hall. The campus is really old and beautiful. The area seems nice too and one of my favorite British eating places, Pret a Manger, is right around the corner. Tomorrow we have auditions, so I better go practice!

OXFORD

2005-06-30T13:49:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow morning I take off for Oxford! AH! I am feeling much better now, though I have a pretty bad cough. Hopefully it will clear up soon....I am taking some pills for it. I am excited about the next program, but a little overwhelmed! I will write again when I get there!!!! Miss you all!

Fever in Paris

2005-06-27T02:20:00.000-07:00

Well I made it safely to Paris, but realized I had been awake for 42 hours by the time I went to sleep. I woke up thinking I was sleeping on a bunch of pockets and realized I had a fever. Thank God I came to Paris because I called Kate and she and Dan took care of me. Today I feel much much better, but still a little strange. The more I sleep the better, so I am trying to do a lot of that.

Paris is not the same without the group, but it is still amazing and beautiful. Hopefully I can get back into the swing of things tomorrow. Miss you all!

Sniffles

2005-06-25T02:54:00.000-07:00

Everybody is gone. I am so sad! How can you go from constant contact with 11 other people for 5 weeks and then suddenly have no one? This is definitely hard to get used to.

I take off for a train to Paris in 20 minutes so I better get going. I will never EVER EVER forget this amazing trip.......hopefully my next entry will be more upbeat.

Hiking in the Alps...

2005-06-22T16:34:00.000-07:00

I spent today hiking in the most beautiful mountain ever. Zach and I took off on a train this morning and arrived in Sierre after an hour and hopped on a bus for a small town that starts with a V (can't remember). On the bus ride up the mountain a bunch of French kids were singing some really pretty songs in the back. After the pretty French songs they started singing Maroon 5 and the singing all went downhill from there. Once we got to the little town we headed off on a random trail toward St. Luc. Little did we know that the hike we were about to take would last for hours because of detours, but it was sooooooo worth it.

At one point along the trail we came to a little meadow where it sounded like there were sprinklers and we were a little perplexed. The "sprinklers" were actually thousands of crickets that covered the entire ground and leapt up as we walked. We could literally put our hands out and grab them. After walking through the forest for a while we suddenly came across this enormous meadow with a little wooden shack in the middle and when we turned around, our mouths literally dropped at the view of the Swiss Alps. It was so beautiful. We took millions of pictures and Zach took a video of me running in circles like Maria in "The Sound of Music."

After about three hours we started getting worried because our hike was only supposed to last an hour and we had nothing to eat or drink. We began to hear a tiny tinkling of bells ahead of us, which we hoped meant that a village was near. As we wandered forward we realized that it was a group of cows with cowbells around their necks.....they were so cute! The sound of the bells reminded me of reading Heidi when I was 11 and dreaming of living on a farm in Switzerland. It is funny because everything that happens here is like a story book.

Once we passed the cows we heard the sound of water and got excited to cool off from the heat of the hike. The river turned out to be absolutely freezing so we only put our feet in, but it felt good nevertheless. Finally after TONS of walking, we came upon St. Luc and stumbled into the first restaurant we could find. The food there was SO good! I don't know if it was that good because I was starving or because hiking makes you feel like you've earned it or what, but it was sooooooo delicious. We had warm goat cheese on toast and ham and pepperoni and salad.....yum yum yum.

With full stomachs we wandered over to the bus stop and lay out in a field as we waited for the bus to come. What an amazing day. I am the luckiest girl on the planet. I am smiling as I type this because I am still excited by these adventures. Wow. With that, I think I will go to sleep. Love you all! Goodnight.

Flying high!

2005-06-21T13:27:00.000-07:00

Today I jumped off a mountain! Yep yep yep. After some serious convincing, I went paragliding with a bunch of the girls and it was so incredible. You are basically strapped on to a guy who is holding a parachute and you run down this little hill and suddenly take off into the air 4,000 feet above the ground. It was so peaceful and beautiful and the sun was setting and ahhhhhhhhhhhhh it was crazy. I took lots and lots of pictures and even a video. Coolest thing ever! Anyway, I have to work on a paper now....only a few more days of the program left!!!!!

Nestle

2005-06-21T06:05:00.000-07:00

I just got back from our last site visit...NESTLE! It was the best venue we have been too....hehehehe. They fed us a three course meal! Most places don't even give us water! We got a salad, chicken with mushrooms and noodles and the most amazing sorbets. I haven't eaten that well in a loooooong time. Afterwards we got to shop for any Swiss chocolate that we wanted!!!! So fun! I felt like Augustus Gloop in Willy Wonka.

The sun is shining as usual here and the birds are chirping and Geneva is still as amazing as it was the first day. Tonight I am doing the most amazing thing on the planet, but I will not give it away for now to keep up the suspense......

Last night we all went out to a pub and had delicious sandwiches and laughed about good times. On the way back to the hotel I jumped into Lake Geneva in my clothes because it was so hot. It was a full moon and the water was so refreshing. I think I have found Heaven.

SO wierd!

2005-06-19T06:23:00.000-07:00

Christiana was searching the net and randomly found this picture of our group at the European Broadcast Union....we visited them on Friday!!! Visit this site http://www.ebu.ch/en/union/news/2005/tcm_6-38578.php to see a picture....I am on the left, but you can barely see me. This is so funny!

Kayaking

2005-06-18T08:51:00.000-07:00

How do I even begin to describe the day I have just had....? After sleeping in and having a delicious breakfast, I went kayaking on Lake Geneva with a bunch of people from the group. I could not stop gasping at the scenery. There was an enormous tree growing in the middle of the lake so we kayaked over. When I got to the tree (kind of like a willow), I paddled through some of the branches and underneath into this little area where the water was crystal clear and the sun was shining through the canopy..........SO AMAZING. The air was perfect, the water was perfect, the tree was perfect...AHGHHHH! How have I never seen these things before??? After staring at the tree for a good amount of time, I paddled out to the rest of the group and we connected our kayaks and swam around in the cool water. It was so refreshing and surreal. We kept asking each other "WHERE ARE WE?.....oh, that's right.....SWITZERLAND!"

Afterwards we took a bus back to the hotel and ate bread and cheese and cookies outside in the sun with a view of the mountains. I have never been more relaxed in my entire life. Then Michele, Zach and I wandered down to the lake to feed the ducks, but ended up swimming again and chatting on a bench in the fresh air.

Tonight we are going to a popular club in Laussane (do not know how to spell that), which should be fun. I think I will go lounge around now and take a nap....I can't believe I am saying all of this! I am in frikin GENEVA! Miss you all and I hope L.A. is sunny for you too.

Also, happy graduation, SEAN!!!

MONTREUX!

2005-06-15T10:15:00.000-07:00

We are here! Our hotel is amazing. We get washing machines, free internet, free breakfast and a deck with a view of the Swiss Alps!!! It is so amazing. Everything here in Switzerland is so green, I love it! I am so tired, so I will sign off, but I miss you all!

Last Leg

2005-06-14T08:02:00.000-07:00

Today is our last day in Prague and then we only have Geneva left. To celebrate, we are going on a boat cruise for dinner. It makes me VERY sad to think that this trip is nearly over.

Today we visited Burson Marsteller, a PR firm, and Ceska Television. Prague venues are especially difficult because of language differences and sometimes we have to have an interpreter. I am super excited for tonight....I get excited every night!! We got another homework assignment today though and I really really really don't want to do it. Oh well. Miss you all!

Black Light Theatre

2005-06-13T08:42:00.000-07:00

Dobre Den!

I went to a black light theatre last night and had such an awesome time!!!!! It is basically theatre without spoken words performed in black light. All of the acts corresponded with Beatles songs coincidentally, so it was super fun to sing along and hear some familiar tunes. It is wierd how much you end up missing the music back home. Afterwards, Christiana, Zach and I had an amazing dinner. I got a goat cheese salad with cranberries, lettuce and toast.....SO GOOD.

We are about to visit the Prague Post, which is an English newspaper here that was established by some students from UCSB....should be interesting. Tonight we are seeing another black light show...this time it is Alice in Wonderland. Talk to ya'll soon!

Finally got a picture on here!

2005-06-12T03:26:00.000-07:00

Sorry, your browser does not have the correct version of Flash installed.

This is a picture of some of us eating hotdogs in the freezing London air. I am not sure why I am having so much trouble with these pictures....but this one is pretty good!

Jazz Club...

2005-06-11T07:28:00.000-07:00

We listened to some live jazz last night that would make you want to lounge around and listen to music for the rest of your life. The trombone player was drunk though and ended up falling flat on his face and hitting his teeth. It was a bit scary, but the night continued on.

Today we wandered over to the Prague Castle and then walked through a beautiful park that looks over the whole city. We all get along so well! It is great to have 11 new friends. We chatted about funny things we did when we were little and I had a couple of stories to throw in there.

Music is a huge deal here in Prague so we are all trying to take advantage of that and see as many concerts as we can. I think I am going to go to the black light theatre too because that is apparently a Prague-ish thing to do....haha.....should be interesting.

I am feeling kind of sick today so I think I am going to go lie down for a bit. Hope all is well in L.A. and everywhere else (depending on who is reading this). Toods!

The most beautiful city in the world!!!!

2005-06-10T08:26:00.000-07:00

Another city, another completely different keyboard. If for some reason you see a z where there should be a y, it is because this keyboard is sooooooo wierd. Anyway, I am in Prague! After a long travel day (always frustrating because we have to keep 11 girls together for extended periods of time) we arrived at our hotel. The hotel is actually kind of scary because everything in it is so sterile and uniform. I am used to it now though. My new roomies are cool.....I am rooming with Christiana, Mom!

Today we went to Radio Free Europe and the U.S. Embassy. The Charles Bridge is so amazing. I took a million pictures from every angle...wish you had been there Ann! Tonight we are going to a jazz club. AHHHHHH I have to go!!! Talk to you later!!!!!

Nooooooo!

2005-06-08T02:56:00.000-07:00

Ah! Everything is so hectic!!! We are leaving for Prague in a few minutes and I have been rushing around like a crazy person! Paris went by WAY too fast! I didn't even get a chance to shop at all. Yesterday I caught a pigeon though...very exciting. My bag is literally exploding with stuff and I haven't even bought anything. In each city I get progressively messier about how I pack.

I spent my last day here in venues and then went to Notre Dame and a boat ride on the River Seine (now I know how to spell it) with some wine and good friends. I am so sad to be leaving. Ah! I really have to go!!! I want to write more, but nooooooooooo! Love you all!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKE!!!!!!!

2005-06-05T01:18:00.000-07:00

I haven't been able to get online to say happy birthday to my 20-year-old brother!!!! Hope things in Washington D.C. are going well Mike!

Paris is a blast. This leg of the trip is passing by so fast! It felt like we were in London for so long and now our time in Paris is flying by. Yesterday I went to the Louvre to see the Venus de Milo and Mona Lisa (and LOTS of other things!) with my friends Zach, Michele and Lizzy. After that we wandered over to Napoleon's grave and stopped at a cafe on the way. I ordered THE most disgusting sandwich ever and pouted about losing 10 Euros for it, especially since the food here is generally so good. After Napoleon's grave we lay down in a nearby garden and soaked in the sun until it suddenly started raining. We started to walk back to our hotel and proceeded to get extremely lost. I don't know what we did so wrong, but it took us a good 2 hours to find our way back home...we even ran into Christen again!

Anyway, by the time we got back we were hungry again so we got some gelatos. Oh my sweet God they were so delicious. Mom you would die for the gelatos here! There was a guy in the gelato shop though who was from Los Angeles and he was hitting on Michele. He was wearing rollerblades and made everyone uncomfortable. He gave Michele his card and he is apparently a lawyer.....kinda like DAD...hehehehe!!!!! Michele is half Japanese and for some reason the French are very perplexed about her ethnicity. People always come up and hit on her and ask her where she is from and call her "China Lady." It is pretty awkward for all of us.

Well, I am off to Versailles for the day!!!! OH, I haven't been able to figure out how to put pictures on here, but I am working on it....no worries though because I am taking tons and tons of pictures!!!!! BYE!

Bonjour!!!!!

2005-06-02T15:22:00.000-07:00

I am going to weigh a million pounds at the end of this trip!! The crepes and baguettes are so delicious!!!! We eat about a thousand times a day too. Today we went to BusinessWeek and then we chatted with a man who works at a communications firm in Belgium. Afterwards we had dinner and I met up with Christen Faltermeier!!!! It was so fun to see her!!!! We wandered around and I marveled at her fluent French. Tomorrow we are having a picnic under the Eiffel Tower and then we are going on a boat ride down the Sienne. I can't believe that I am even typing these places!!! I gotta run to bed! J'taime!

The Eiffel Tower

2005-06-01T14:19:00.000-07:00

Please excuse any typos that may occur in this blog, the keyboards here in France have the letters in different places and I am finding it very hard to type. After a fun ride in the train today, the group arrived in Paris. Our hotel is adorable and very French. I only have one roommate while all of the other girls have two. This is especially good here because the rooms are incredibly small.

In the afternoon a bunch of us went to the very top of the Eiffel Tower. France is amazing!!!! I know I say that everything I have seen is "amazing," but it really truly is!!! All the buildings here are so old and intricate. Afterwards we all got ice cream and wandered around the town. The weather is absolutely perfect. It is just the right amount of hot and cold. Tomorrow I hope I can shop around because there are such great shops around here. Anyway, I gotta run and unpack some stuff for tomorrow. Toodles!

Leaving London with a sigh....

2005-05-31T06:12:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we take the train to Paris. I am very sad to be leaving London. I love it so much here! Today we visited the French newspaper "Le Monde" so we are already in gear for French media. I am glad that I will be back in London in July though.

Over the weekend I went to Bath, which is west (I think) of London and explored the ancient Roman baths in the center of the city with my friends Zach and Justin. Everything in the city was so old and beautiful. I got to touch the hot spring water and light a candle in an incredibly old abbey next to the baths. The churches in England are breath-taking. After the baths I ordered an extremely interesting lunch that was basically sausage, eggs and bacon piled onto a hotdog bun. It is kind of funny because practically every meal here has bread, cheese and sausage. After Bath, we drove out to Stonehendge! It is really hard to describe how awesome it is. I thought that the mass amounts of tourists would ruin the experience, but everyone somehow knew to be quiet when they approached the stones. The best part was the rolling hills. After looking at the stones, we lay down in the grass and watched the clouds. It was so peaceful. I can't believe that I am able to say I have been there!

Tonight we are having a group dinner and then we are going to a taping of a British television comedy. Later we will probably go to a pub. I miss London already! Anyway, the internet cafe man is giving me the eye, so I better sign off. I miss you all and I wish I could take you to all of these amazing places! Love you!

Notting Hill...

2005-05-28T08:41:00.000-07:00

Well the pea coat Mom sent me got here on Friday just in time for a beautiful 80-degree Saturday (haha), but I imagine I will need the coat some time during this trip so all is well. Today we wandered around Notting Hill looking at shops and eating fresh fruit and pastries. It was an amazing day. The sun was shining, the wind was blowing and the antique stores were so fun....plus I got some presents! Last night we celebrated our first finished week abroad at a party at the London School of Economics. The kids there had just finished their finals so everyone was in a social mood. I had a long conversation with an Austrian guy about how to imitate an American accent. He was not very good at it, but his attempts were hilarious. He said that my British accent was a hick version so we had some fun making fun of each other. I also met people from Ireland, Texas and Scotland. The mix of cultures was great. It is interesting to hear about how Americans are perceived in different parts of the world.

Today is Sean's 18th birthday!!!!! Happy birthday Sean! I love you and miss you so much! I hope you have fun celebrating! I'm thinking of you!

The London Eye!

2005-05-25T04:43:00.000-07:00

Yay for internet cafes!!! I just got out of a meeting at Channel 4, one of the more artsy television stations in London and I am sitting outside of Victoria Station waiting for our next meeting with a London PR firm. Last night I got to see "Guys and Dolls" starring Ewan McGregor at the Picadilly Theatre!!!! We had to wait for a long time for back row tickets, but it was definitely worth it. I was a bit dirty though because I had spent literally the entire day getting lost in a random part of London and trying to get back to my flat. I was so proud of myself because I figured out the tube connections to get back to Crawford House (where I live), but when I got out of the station I accidentally got on the wrong coach and was taken all the way into the theatre district. At that point I had spent an hour trying to get home so I decided to catch a cab, but since my friend had been scammed by a cab guy earlier in the trip, I caught another coach and spent another hour doodling around on coaches. In the end I made it home though, so all was well. Tonight we are going on the London Eye, which is this huge ferris wheel in the middle of London.
Friday is high tea at Harrod's (bet you're jealous mom!) and hopefully I will get to see Regent's park like Dad suggested.

All the girls are pretty much getting along, though there is some clique stuff happening. We just don't even have enough time to get annoyed with each other, so that is good.

Anyway, I really hope you feel better soon Sean, it worries me that you are still sick. Sleep and rest and read blogs alllllll day to get better ok? Love you all! Cheerio!

Cheerio!

2005-05-22T09:27:00.000-07:00

I made it to London! When I got to the terminal in Los Angeles, I could hardly sit still from excitement. The plane was HUGE....it had a staircase up to first class (they call it "upper class"), beds in the front and TV's for every seat. As I was walking onto the plane with one of the other girls from the program (Adrienne), I saw a police officer walking with a passenger and assumed he was some British rockstar. NOPE, he was a criminal. The cop handed an attendant information about how to manage a parolee or something.....it was quite amusing and a bit scary. The "rockstar" incident didn't stop me from being excited though and I ended up staying awake for the entire 10 hour flight despite numerous attempts to sleep...I experienced some serious jetlag the next day for that.

Anyway, London is amazing and I couldn't be happier. The weather here is a lot like it is in Seattle, so basically I am freezing. With all the walking that we have to do though, I have managed to keep pretty warm. Yesterday we visited Westminster Abbey and had lunch at a local pub where everyone was watching an intense football game (yes, yes, I mean soccer). The waiters seemed a bit annoyed that we were distracting them from the TV to get some food. I guess there are a ton of big football games going on right now.....? I am kind of clueless in that area. At night we walked to The Globe Theatre and saw an amazing production of Pericles.

Today has been pretty tame because I am still getting over being so sleepy. We went to Saint John's Cathedral this morning to watch the choir boys sing. The church is amazing, especially when the sun comes out for a moment and shines through the stained glass. After that we walked to Hyde Park to watch some people rant at Speaker's Corner where anyone can discuss issues and basically scream at each other in public. Lunch was a sausage-ish thing as usual and then we wandered around London looking for a coat for me.

Well, it seems my half hour at this internet cafe is up. I miss you Mom, Dad, Sean and Mike and I hope everything is going well! Kisses and hugs!

Today is the big day!

2005-05-19T08:02:00.000-07:00

It is official. I am finally leaving! Yes, yes it is true. I toured around Whittier yesterday and said goodbye to my family. Sean played some guitar for me last night as I fell asleep. I love my brothers so much. I'll miss you too Mom and Dad!!! My flight is at 5:30pm today through Virgin Atlantic. We should be arriving in London at 11:45am so I better sleep on the plane (though I highly doubt I'll be able to). I have to memorize a Shakespeare sonnet on the flight because I am worried I won't have any other time to work on it before BADA starts on July 1st. I also have to make sure I know my monologue. On the first day of BADA we audition for the instructors again and they place us in either the advanced acting group or the beginning group. Man, I do NOT want to be in the beginning group.

We don't really have a meeting place at the airport today. I assume I am supposed to just go to the gate and find them. I'm sure it'll be fine. There are 11 girls, one guy and three professors going on the trip. Hopefully we'll all get along!!!

Alrighty, it is time for me to wrap up some odds and ends and annoy my mom...hehehe. I will miss all of you so much! Hope your summers go well! OH, also, if you would like to contact me while I am gone, my email address is dcahill@usc.edu. I won't have my laptop but there are plenty of internet cafes. You can also comment on this blog without a password now. Ok, I'm off!

A new blog!!!

2005-05-10T11:15:00.000-07:00

Hi Mom, Dad, Sean, Mike and everyone else!

I made this blog so that when I am in Europe I can post pictures and blurbs and you guys can see what I am up to. I hope to take millions of pictures, so get ready! I'm going to miss you all so much!

This is me!

2005-05-10T05:18:00.000-07:00

This is me!
Posted by: darbycahill.