Saturday, October 28, 2006

I heard there was a secret chord

My house is finally clean. I did the whole thing tonight, even though I did the whole thing just before I left for house-sitting, so I wasn't here when pretty much all of this mess was being made. I just can't live in a dirty house. A dirty bathroom, dust bunnies on the floors, a week's worth of dishes in the sink... it's gross, and even though I don't spend a ton of time in my house (and even less in the common areas), I want it to look nice. Clean. Tidy.

Far cry from when I was a teenager, hey? But having it be my house (and having nearly a decade on my high-school self) makes a difference. I want my place to look like adults live here, not college students, not teenagers.

Man, I can't wait to not have roommates. I'm just... so ready. So ready. Even if I end up in grad school, I think it'll be worth it to just suck it up and take out enough extra in loans to have my own apartment. Even just a studio apartment. I don't need anything big; I just need something that's mine. Once I move out of here, I don't want to live with anyone else until I get married. I've had roommates for 6 1/2 years now, and I've lived with more people than anyone should have to, and I'm just done.

Now I'm hungry. I really need to go grocery shopping, since I haven't done that since I got back from house-sitting, either. But I can't do it tonight, and I still need to eat something, so maybe I'll order pizza or something.

Last night, Kat and I went to see Corps Bara's show, Inside Out. It was just amazing. I love dance theatre--I always wish I could do it; that I had that kind of discipline over my body. Even so, though, watching dance always inspires me creatively and, for lack of a better word, is buoyant. That's the best way I can describe what happens to me when I watch dance. So, good night. And then tomorrow night is her birthday dinner with the family, so that'll be fun, too.

Okay, off to scrounge up something to eat.


posted by Alida at 10:47 PM
4 comments

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Work dork lover!

Last night was Tuesday!

(And guys, leave comments! I like knowing what people think!)

I'm running on way too little sleep. I didn't get home from rehearsal(s) until 10:45, and then watched GG and VM before going to bed, and was up at 5:45.

I found this website, which I'm really liking, especially since I'm always at a different computer, and can't have my music with me all the time.

And... that's it. My life is boring. Except that last night we blocked a scene with 30 people onstage, a trust fall off a stack of boxes, and a junior high chase across the stage, and no one died. Which is a plus.


posted by Alida at 10:20 AM
4 comments

Sunday, October 22, 2006

In over my head I wanna be

I'm in my own bed now, for the first time since last Wednesday.

Really, I love housesitting. Anyone else need someone? I'll be sitting for Kat's mom for a week or so in November, but I'm thinking I should advertise my services as a house/cat/dog sitter. That would be an entertaining way to live. Just think--it would be so easy to keep my room clean if I was never sleeping in it!

NBC is rerunning Heroes, and they're on the most recent episode. I really, really want to keep watching, but I should go to bed.

Jakob and I went to the zoo yesterday, and I had every intention of taking fall pictures for CC, along with cute pics of Jakes for everyone else, but my camera battery died and the one gift shop I went to at the zoo was out. But we had a fun weekend. Lots of Auntie and Jakob time, and then tonight, Pat took us (Kat, Aaron, Edwin, the kids, and me) all out for Aaron's birthday.

What else? My alternator died, so Friday night included a sideshow that included four vehicles (Mom and Dad's PT, Esther and Justin's Jetta and Explorer, and the GM truck) and five drivers (Mom, Dad, Esther, Justin, and me) to get me a vehicle for the weekend with Jakes. Yup. Gong show. Hopefully my car will be fixed soon. Dad's working on it, though, so it should only be a few days at most.

I'm back to temping, as of Friday, and I love it. Seriously, it's the best way to work.

My clothes are all clean, and Kat's fabric softener smells good.

And I'm going to sleep. 'Night!


posted by Alida at 11:34 PM
1 comments

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Meat? Goooooood.

Here you go, Tuesday night party people.

I'm still housesitting, and didn't get home after rehearsal to pick up my VHS of tonight's GG and VM, so I'm waiting for VM to finish downloading so that I can actually watch it. Rehearsal didn't start until 7:30, so I was home long enough to watch GG, but I had to leave during the VM credits, so I only watched the teaser.

I'm finished work at the company and don't start temping until Friday, so tomorrow is grad school day. All the schools have online applications, obviously, and while I'm nowhere near ready to actually send in an application, I'm going to get set up with each of the schools and make a list of the recommendations, writing samples, transcripts, etc, that I'll need to have in order to apply.

Hayden Panetierre kind of looks like Hayley L.

Meat? Goooooood.

Wow, I'm random. Points to anyone who identifies that quote. It's not that hard, but somehow, I don't think that half the audience of this particular blog will have any idea what the reference is. The other blog? Everyone would know in a split second. But here? Yeah... not thinking that it'll be quite as funny.

Alright, off to bed. I've finally (after 3 tries) finished watching Heroes, and oh my word. That show gets more freakin' amazing every single week. Every week has a cliffhanger that literally leaves me screaming at the TV. Seriously. They just keep getting better and better. I think I would love that show even if the show itself sucked, just for the cliffhangers. And Veronica Mars finally downloaded, and I've watched it, but I won't put together the cultural reference lists tonight--I'll wait until tomorrow. And, of course, the Gilmore thoughts are up. So that's that.

Like I said, tomorrow? Lots of grad school stuff, and hopefully some writing. And maybe, one of these days, I'll get around to using the hot tub here, because I haven't gotten that far yet.


posted by Alida at 11:51 PM
1 comments

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

7.03 at your fingertips


Gilmore Girls thoughts.

Veronica Mars later.

Exam's over, I'm exhausted. Good night.


posted by Alida at 11:49 PM
0 comments

Monday, October 09, 2006

Badges of discovery

Ah, the last step in my day of productivity: updating the blog. Really, not the "last" thing on the list, but since it's 10:00, it's probably the last thing I'll actually get around to doing tonight (while I'm watching Heroes and Studio 60).

So, where to start?

Big things first. I quit my job, and am going back to temping. Several reasons, but the biggest one is that I don't have the energy to actually have a job that I need to invest in and care about. It was affecting my creativity and that kind of energy too much--it's not about the hours; it's about what I'm actually doing at work. So, I'm going to temp, hopefully just really short-term (2-week or shorter) assignments, which will be a lot less mental energy, and will hopefully (sometimes, at least) give me more time throughout the day to research, write, etc, while I'm at work. Right now, my job requires too much of my time throughout the day, and, quite frankly, I couldn't care less about the oil and gas industry in Alberta.

Another perk of temping is that it's easy to quit if or when I get into grad school and move, and also, if I don't get in, and I keep getting ready to start my company, there's less of the temptation to get sucked in by a "stable" job and lose sight of the bigger goal.

So, that's work. Now, speaking of grad school, I've got my GRE on Wednesday, so I've been writing practice tests all week. And, very bizarrely, my scores have been flipping back and forth between my math and verbal being higher. Somehow, the right and left halves of my brain are flip-flopping. None of the scores are particularly low, but they're not consistent, which is weird. I've got one practice test left, which I'm going to do tomorrow (even though I was hoping not to study at all tomorrow), and then... the moment of truth on Wednesday at 1:00.

As for schools, right now, my top three are looking like Florida State, Brooklyn College, and California Institute of the Arts. There are still a few others that I'm waiting to hear more about the programs from, but right now, these are the main choices. Now I actually have to put the application packages together and get those sent out.

Really, though, could I pick three states that are any further apart? At least if I end up going to all of them for application interviews, I'll be going to interesting places. Of course, I can't imagine a theatre program (especially management) in a city that doesn't have a thriving arts scene, and therefore a good-sized population and an active cultural scene in general. It's just the kind of program that really needs to be somewhere bigger.

Thanksgiving weekend. On Saturday, I went out for coffee with a friend from the GGMM. Lots of fun. Again, as I've said many times, I just have to reiterate that I love meeting online friends in real life.



What else? I'm housesitting, starting on Wednesday. Sometime this coming weekend, I might have some people over for hot-tubbing and movies. So... if you want to come, it'll be grand.

And... oh yeah. Do you remember how I said I wasn't going to get involved in the Veronica Mars fandom? I was just going to watch the show for fun? Yeah, like that was going to happen. (By the way, in case you didn't figure out why I was linking there, I wrote parts of those pages I linked to. And more to come. Because I just can't stay away.)

And... short week. Between today being a holiday, and taking at least half of the day off on Wednesday for the exam (I haven't decided yet whether I'll go into work in the morning or not), it'll be a nice, short week. That makes me happy.



And I think that's it. That's everything of significance, at least. And maybe I'll even respond to a few emails before I fall asleep!


posted by Alida at 8:18 PM
0 comments

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

We Used to be Friends

It's Wednesday morning! You know what that means?

Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars thoughts are up on my livejournal.

Go look. You know you want to.

(And VM is at the bottom, so if you're trying to stay unspoiled, you can close the window when you get to the end of the GG section.)


posted by Alida at 9:04 AM
9 comments

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

And this child is part of you

What, one comment in the last 5 entries? Have I become that boring?

Yeah, probably. Can't blame you.

I talked to the MFA Producing program head at CalArts yesterday. It was a good, 30-minute conversation, which impressed me. And so does the program, so far. She's going to send me more info, as well as some names of current students that I can get in touch with, and really encouraged me to make it a conversation throughout the application process. Which is good. If she knows who I am before my application comes across her desk, that's all the better for me.

Also, quite impressive, as I just sent out the questions on Sunday night, and I had a conversation with her less than 24 hours later.

She made the very valid point that I should consider doing campus visits to my top schools, and I agree with that, but it would get rather expensive if I did campus visits before applying, as well as having admissions interviews with any schools that I made the short list for. Probably my best bet will be to combine admissions interviews (which all have to be done in person anyway) with my campus visits. That way, I'll just be visiting the campuses I've got a shot at getting into (meaning, the ones I've gotten past the first cut for) anyway.

Anyway, even though I've been researching for this for months and have been studying for the GRE for several months, it feels more real, actually talking to someone about the possibility of an actual program.


posted by Alida at 9:44 AM
1 comments

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Do you really want to go on a tour of a video arcade?

I want to really like Brothers & Sisters, and I'm not sure I do yet. But it's Greg Berlanti's new show, even though he doesn't come on as EP until 3 or 4 episodes in, so it might take that long before it starts to get more compelling for me. Or maybe I just need to watch it some other time than when it airs at 11 on Sunday nights.

Can I just say that the fact that a disclaimed side effect of a sleeping pill is drowsiness amuses me greatly. Uh... yeah. What else did you think it would be?

Veronica Mars starts on Tuesday! I've already seen the premiere, so I'm not actually seeing a new episode, but I've only watched it once.

And I sent out my questions to grad schools today. Now, to find out what the schools are actually like. And also, the GRE is booked for Oct 11. That's very soon. 10 days, to be exact. That means I'm going to have to do some studying... as if I haven't already been studying for the past two months. But now, it's very imminent, and since I've paid a lot of money to take the exam, I've gotta get some good grades.


posted by Alida at 11:19 PM
0 comments