I hadn't *planned* to take any classes over the summer but...

The department advisor sent out an email on Friday announcing summer class offerings.  Nearly all were the same ones we'd been told about as the spring semester was ending, but one was new - Hair & Wigs for the Stage.  It's an intense schedule - 4 hours a day, 4 days a week, for 3 weeks.  Three credit hours crammed into 3 weeks - whew!  I hadn't planned to take any summer classes, and of course they cost tuition, but it gets me 3 credits closer to graduation and I'll be able to apply the knowledge almost immediately in one community theater production or another.

I just ordered the textbook.  Not cheap, but it's a brand-new (2015) hardback, it got rave reviews, and I know I'll use it long after the class is over, so I look on it as an investment.

Getting ready for more music learning...

This afternoon I met with the head of the Voice department at school, who answered all but my admin questions about becoming a Voice major or minor.  She also recommended taking piano, so that's what I'm gonna do.  It's always been on my "things to do once I retire" list, so on the way home, I stopped by a local music school and signed myself up for piano lessons!

I'm taking it slow:  just 6 weeks of 30-minute lessons, but it'll include ear training and theory, so I'll have lots to keep my brain as well as my fingers busy this summer!  I start 2 weeks from yesterday - can't wait!  I'll never get to Mom's level - I'm starting MUCH too late - but if I can learn to play well enough to learn new songs and maybe even accompany myself a little, I'll be delighted.

They asked if I want to participate in the end-of-session recital.  After just 6 weeks of lessons, in my whole life, ever?  No way!  As I told them, I don't want to subject the audience to my baby rendition of Mary Had a Little Lamb or Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

This was NOT on my To Do list when I left the house this morning, so I'm still getting used to the idea that I'm actually, finally gonna be taking piano lessons.  When I told the Chief when I got home, he was happy that I'll finally be learning to play the electronic keyboard I bought several years ago and which has essentially been a very large, very expensive pitchpipe and metronome.  We'll see how happy he is once I start practicing scales and fingerings and my Piano 001 arrangement of Mary Had a Little Lamb or what-have-you. :D

I can't help thinking of Mom.  I'm sure she'd be delighted that I'm doing this.  And she won't have to listen to my halting scales.  The Chief will, poor guy - pray for his sanity! :D

It's the little things

I made some cream cheese, cucumber & dill sandwiches for church function the other day.  Still have some cucumber & cream cheese left over, so I had a nice little sandwich for lunch.  Lotsa dill, cucumber still crunchy - a nice lunch for a sunny summer day (when I finally spotted one of the hummingbirds who've been visiting our feeder).

Grade update, in case you were wondering

I did indeed get straight As for a second semester!  Woohoo!  I checked the transcript for my first BA; the only semester I got straight As was my final one, when I was only taking 11 credit hours.  Learning how to plan things out so I didn't find myself doing everything at the last minute has been a very handy life lesson (even if I still had problems with things taking longer than I'd anticipated).  ;)

This fall will probably be another 14-hour semester:  Voice for the Actor I, History of Theater I, Intro to Stage Management, and Rendering for the Theater I (I'm waitlisted, but will show up the first day of class and hope for the best; it worked this spring) are all 3-credit classes.  My one-credit practicum in the Scene shop (only the 2nd half of the semester, sadly) and Chorale will bring me up to 14.  

I have to audition for Chorale and that won't happen until the beginning of the semester, but I'm optimistic I'll be able to get in.  However, if they don't want to let the upper voices grossly outnumber the men, as happened this spring, I could have a problem.  Unless they ask me to sing tenor; I did have lotsa low Fs in the Monteverdi we sang in the Spring concert.  TBD...

First paid acting gig!

Friday was the taping for my first paid acting gig, and my first film work.  An organization affiliated with the university was taping mock interviews for a FEMA project.  I had two weeks to memorize about a 4-page script, then do the taping.  That was surprisingly quick - they only did 2 takes, so I was outta there in half an hour, including paperwork (signing a release, making sure my contact info was correct - that sorta thing).  I wasn't happy with my memorization - that first off-book rehearsal is never perfect! - but they were pleased and impressed, so I guess that's what matters.

I asked for a copy of "my" interview for reference purposes.  They have to add a disclaimer or something, since it isn't their project, but said I should get something from them in about 6 weeks, more or less.

Not sure I'm looking forward to watching myself talk into a camera for 10 mins., but it's one more bullet for my acting resume.

"Feed the birds"

Feeding the birds can be fun, though it costs considerably more than "tuppence a bag"!  I put out the thistle seed this spring and we've been delighted to get some bright yellow little birdies as frequent guests.  The squirrels still probably get more of the sunflower seeds than any birds do, though I have noticed more cardinals around than before I put out the sunflower seed.  Can't tell whether the hummingbirds are paying attention to their feeder, but I'll give it another week or two before I give up.

All this is to say that I broke down and made a BIG online purchase of bird feed last week - 30 or 40 lbs. each of sunflower seeds and "finch mix", the latter to replace the crappy, dust-filled mix we'd bought at the military exchange.  (It was cheap; we got what we paid for.)  I also bought a dozen suet blocks, "flavored" with hot pepper to discourage squirrels.

I just finished stocking the "bird buffet" and am about to make a fresh batch of sugar water for the hummers.  Here's hoping we'll get a nice variety of birds partaking of the plenty.  The quality bird food ain't cheap, but it's still a better bargain than paying for cable. ;)

All the grades but one are in and...

I've got a 4.0 GPA this semester!  Only the Dramaturgy grade is still pending.  I'm not surprised; the protocol books that were our final project will take our professor quite a while to plow through.  With eleven of us in the class, that's a LOT of reading, even if all she does is skim to check on the nature & breadth of our research, sourcing methodology, and what we chose to include in the actors' resource packet.

If I get an A in Dramaturgy, I'll have two straight-A semesters back to back!  I didn't do badly the last time I got a BA, but I don't think I ever had a straight-A semester.  I know I didn't have two in a row.  I guess I learned some improved study habits while I was working.  It certainly made writing a lot less painful.  Whereas I dreaded it the first time I was an undergrad, now it's mostly a matter of figuring out my audience and thus how to focus and structure my writing.

Easy come, easy go

I finally heard back from the grad student/director about his theater project.  He couldn't find enough men to cast so he's putting the production on hold until at least the fall.  Too bad, because it sounded like fun.  Oh well; easy come, easy go.

Good audition week!

Sunday night I auditioned for a play being written by JW, a PhD candidate in Renaissance Studies; or rather, a play he wrote as an undergrad and is now revising.  It's part commedia del'arte, part English pastoral, with stylized presentation (movements, gestures, etc) in Act I and more realistic presentation in Act II.  JW struck me as very earnest, with an infectious enthusiasm for the project.  A little "Let's put on a show!", but I'm OK with that.  As long as it doesn't turn out like that abysmal original musical I did several years ago (which doesn't appear on my resume), and I don't think it will, this should be fun.

This was only my second-ever private audition (he's accommodating people's end-of-semester schedules).  I went in, he told me a little about the play, I performed my monologue, then read sections from a couple of scenes.  He had me do the second scene twice, using different characterizations.  He then told me he wants to use me and will let me know which role as soon as he has the rest of his cast.

This is the first time I've walked out of an audition knowing I had a role.  I'm sure it didn't hurt that I talked about my experience on the tech side - sewing, costuming connections, set building experience, and just being willing to adapt to the situation.

Today I auditioned for my first training film, for a community anti-terrorist (anti-radicalization?) program.  Again, I went in, we exchanged introductions, I read the first page of their script, a mock interview, and they seemed delighted.  I even get paid for this gig, so they sent me a W-9 and a contract to sign and return.  They'll be sending the script shortly, which they said would be "about 2-1/2 pages".  I hope they don't want to film too soon - that's a lot to memorize if most of it is my character, not the "interviewer".  This makes the second time I've walked out of an audition knowing I'm in.  Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket...

It's not often I get that "we love you" reaction when I audition, and twice in one week?  Gotta love it! :D

That's the first class finished...

Today was the last session of my Fundamentals of Theatrical Design class.  No final exam, thank heaven!  Instead, we had a final project due today - a Cornell box based on our design concept (earlier projects) for Sarah Ruhl's play, Eurydice.  We've been working on these in class over the past couple of weeks, with lots of helpful suggestions from our instructors, two MFA Design candidates (one scenic, one costumes).  I was amazed at how many different takes on the same story our class came up with, each of them with its own unique spark of genius.

I'm not thrilled with how my box turned out, but it isn't horrible.  Given that I've never tried anything remotely like it, I think it's OK, and some of my classmates had very nice things to say about it.  After literally losing sleep over it (I'd wake up during the night and my brain would start working on what to put in it, how to arrange this or that, how to anchor the glasses...), at this point I'm just relieved to have it behind me.  No idea what kind of grade I'll get for it, but I've got an A+ (101.56%, thanks to a bonus paper I turned in for "insurance") for everything else I've done this semester, so unless the instructors really hate it, I think I've got at least a B+ for the class.

This was quite an education in techniques.  I had to decide what kind of paint to use on the box so the wood grain would show through; I settled on well-watered acrylics, and ended up not sealing it with anything.  Anchoring the shelf was another challenge; regular nails were too big, screws ditto, and finishing nails tended to push the shelf supports away from the box.  I ended up relying on wood glue, which was OK because the heaviest thing on the shelf is the clock, which has no battery in it.  I had to use glue to keep the string wrapped around the nails, and museum putty to anchor the clock and the glasses in the bottom.

One of the instructors suggested "distressing" the clock so it wouldn't look so new and the purple paint wouldn't look so bright.  I first sprinkled it with water and dunked it in the ashes in the grill.  That didn't really work - the ashes didn't adhere to the plastic very well - so I set it in some used coffee grounds overnight.  That did the trick; once I shook off the excess, it looked old (which it's not) and dirty (which it definitely is, now).

Some of it was fun, like the painting once I figured out what technique to use.  (Scene Painting tips and techniques came in handy here.)  The glasses were a happy thrift-shop find, as were the glass "pebbles", seashells, and dyed nutshells that went into them.  Lots of idea were raised and discarded along the way - this art thing is quite a complicated, drawn-out process! :D

Hoping he loses this tax client

The Chief has been very busy the past couple of months with tax season, especially since he picked up 4 or 5 new clients shortly before the filing deadline.  One couple, however, I think he'd be happy to see go elsewhere.  They're not only flaky about their record-keeping, but they have yet to be on time for an appointment.  The capper, though, was that the Chief set up an appointment with the wife for this evening.  She agreed they'd be over as soon as the husband got home from work (he works a later schedule).  Two hours later, they still hadn't shown, hadn't called, and didn't answer when the Chief called to leave a voice message.  He had me proofread an email he was about to send, expressing concern that they hadn't shown and wondering if they were unhappy with his work and wanted to take their business elsewhere.  We'll see if he gets a response.

Fer cryin' out loud, how hard is it to CALL when you're running late or need to reschedule?!?  The Chief & I both tend to be punctual, so we have a hard time with people who are chronically late (sometimes by 20 minutes or more), or completely flake out and forget an appointment.  It strikes me as rude and inconsiderate.  The Chief is already planning to increase his rates in 2017 (his current rates are about half what Block charges).  I've told him repeatedly he also needs to include fines for lateness and no-shows, since his time is valuable.  If he's waiting for a no-show, that's an appointment slot that someone else could be using.  Not to mention the assumption that he's got nothing better to do than sit around and wait for someone who can't bother to be even close to on time, or call to say that "I'm stuck behind a 3-car pile-up" or what-have-you.

Awaiting the end of tax season

The Chief is a tax preparer.  He just started his business a few years ago, with about 6 or 8 clients.  This year he picked up several more, with 4 of them calling him just this week.  (Nothing like waiting until the last minute, eh?)  Tonight he took 15 minutes to grab a bite of dinner after the first client left, and before his next 2 appointments.  His clients are stacking up like planes over LaGuardia!  He's glad to have the additional income, of course, but it would certainly help him if people would call him in February or March instead of waiting until April.  Bringing all their paperwork when they meet with him would be useful too.

Allow me to brag a little.  If you want a conscientious tax preparer, the Chief is your man.  He has spent hours and hours poring over each return, making sure he didn't miss any potential deductions or penalty-inducing errors (it's surprising what some people's accountants have missed or mis-entered).  He makes sure he knows the tax code citation or court case to support every deduction, just to be sure.  He pays for a subscription to a tax advisory service and has used it an average of once or twice on every account, clarifying issues open to interpretation or confirming that he was handling something correctly.  He's found cases where an amended return earned the clients several hundred dollars in refunds.  He has literally lost sleep because he was ruminating on a particularly complicated tax issue for a client, or woken at 4 a.m. with an idea that could help them.  You want meticulous, painstaking, thorough, and scrupulously honest?  The Chief is the one to call.  If you incur penalties as a result of an error he made, he'll pay the penalty.  He even throws in free tax planning advice.  I worry that he's wearing himself to a frazzle ("They had to wait until ONE WEEK before the filing deadline to call you?!?") but I'm very proud of how well he does this.

This painting thing is kinda fun!

In today's Fundamentals of Theatrical Design, we finally got to the part I'd been dreading - painting!  They started us off nice and slow, though - basic color mixing, painting on a grid with the combinations labeled for us (e.g., "red + yellow").  Then it got a little harder - "approximate your skin and hair colors on those 2 faces (on the handout, next to the color-mixing grid); you get two tries."  Yike!  To my relief, however, I managed to come reasonably close.

The next step was to pick one of two costumed figures on a second handout and fill in colors matching the colors in one of two sample photos.  I decided against the pretty green bird only because there weren't enough different colors to suit me. ;)  Instead, I went for the autumn leaves against the old blue door.  Sadly, my palette doesn't include turquoise, only darker blues, so  couldn't use blue for my figure.  That still left me a greenish yellow and a variety of oranges, so my 18th-century court lady was all in autumn tones, including her orangey-red hair. :)  The instructor who's a costume design MFA candidate was complimentary when I handed it in, so I'm hoping for a decent grade.  (I was very surprised to get full credit on the design copying exercise we did last week.)

What I've learned this semester in my Scene Painting class came in handy, especially the color mixing exercise (even if it did kick my butt).  Nice when things overlap and reinforce each other like that.  However, it didn't prepare me for the difference between acrylics (Scene Painting) and watercolors.  I quickly learned the hard way that you don't need very much water at all.

I decided that this painting thing is actually kinda fun!  I wouldn't want to try starting from absolutely nothing, but coloring in a design someone else came up with is just playing with colors, which is always fun.  Maybe after the end of the semester, I'll get one of those adult coloring books and use up my watercolors on it (now that I know the dangers of too much water).

In case you were wondering...

... whether I got into those classes I had to audition and interview for.  I'm waitlisted for the Alexander Technique class, but got into Voice for the Actor.

The latter class is at the same time as the costume construction class I wanted to take, but the instructor told me today that "you're probably too advanced for it."  It's for rank beginners - sewing terminology, how to use a sewing machine, a few very basic projects.  Too bad - sounded like it would be fun.  I wonder what the homework would have consisted of?

I came to a fork in the road...

... but I didn't take it.  A few weeks ago, coming back from the choir trip, I was walking from the bus to my car when I saw a cafeteria-issue fork just sitting there on the sidewalk.  I immediately thought of Yogi Berra but didn't take his advice.  About 10 days later, coming back to classes after spring break, the fork was still there.  No one else took that fork in the road, either. :)

It's the little things

The other day I removed Dad from my phone's contacts.  Actually, I could have done it a year ago, or whenever it was that I realized calling him was just frustrating him, so I started writing him little notes instead.  Every so often I still start to head down the greeting card aisle in the store to look for a card for him, then stop myself.

The inurnment ceremony was short but very nice.  The "family priest" (cousin of Mom's) did a lovely job as always.  He shared a memory of Dad.  Father M was at Mom's bedside when she died and told us of Dad holding Mom's hand that last time.  The Army also sent a bugler to play Taps (I think we all started "leaking" at the first note) and two NCOs to do the flag thing.  Dad would have been so pleased and proud.

M&D have two side-by-side slots in a "quadruplex" at the columbarium.  When the cemetery rep asked if we'd like to have the divider between their slots removed, we said "Yes, please!"  It won't make any difference to them, of course, but we love the idea of their "dusty boxes" (as Sister3 christened them) side by side.

I have a PAID church gig!

I got an email yesterday from one of the other singers in the benefit concert I did last summer.  She wondered if I could sub for her at her church job for 2 weeks while she & her husband are out of town for a wedding.  My calendar's clear for the dates, so I said yes.  After singing for free at my own church essentially all my life, I'm actually gonna get PAID to go to 2 choir rehearsals and sing 2 services along with the rest of the choir.    Not my denomination, so I'll have to pay close attention to the order of service, but that's a minor point.  I have no plans to give up singing at my own church, but it's a nice little change of pace, and the cash will be a nice bonus. :)

I guess they liked it...

We had our first performance of the Brahms last night.  The audience must have enjoyed it - they started standing up as soon as the maestro's body language told them it was over, and they kept applauding through three sets of bows!

This conductor is a lot of fun to work with.  His joy in the music is obvious, and his conducting body language is so expressive, it's almost as if he dances through it.  He certainly gets good music out of both chorus and orchestra, and I think we all enjoy the experience.

Never had to audition for a class before

I need to take at least 2 more performance classes in order to graduate.  In this program, that means you audition or interview.  Yesterday was my audition for the Alexander Technique class.  I had no idea what to expect - I'd never heard of interviewing to get into a class!  And getting in isn't a given; the class is limited to 12, and 18 people signed up for interviews.  The instructor expects to notify people by the middle of next week.

Today was my audition for Voice for the Actor.  I trimmed down the Veta Louise monologue I've used before.  It went well enough, and the professor then had me start it again as if Veta were seriously pissed off about this situation.  (I'd been playing her as at her wits' end.)  She warned me that she'd cut me off before I finished, and she did, but she explained that anger seems to play funnier.  The whole thing took maybe 5 minutes, tops.  I told her it was the shortest, most painless audition I think I've ever had.  She expects to post her list by the end of the day tomorrow.  While I don't have class at this building tomorrow, we do meet here for the "Brahms buses", so I can check the list before we have to board the buses for our concert.

I've now been introduced to this concept of having to audition for a class.  The scary part is that they only let you audition (or interview) twice; after that, you're out of luck.    Yike!

The wheels on the bus...

And we're off!  Two busloads of singers, headed to our first rehearsal with the orchestra.  (We had our first run-through with the maestro last night.)  My seatmate, a middle school music teacher, is working on lesson plans.  I've got my music, my water bottle, a coupla pencils, and a little dinner - I'm ready for this. Looking forward to singing with a professional orchestra!