Eirbear09's Xanga

Friday, March 21, 2008

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 03:18:53 GMT

I'm aware that I haven't updated since spring break. So here ya go.

Basically, it's been a pretty uneventful three weeks...for the most part. Unfortunately, there have been spurts of activity, and in these spurts there's a LOT of activity and then I go a little insane. But for the most part it's been okay.

I like all my classes so far. I'm taking Communication Theory (with Chris North), Small Group Comm (with Jenny Walton), Playwriting (with Robbins), and Advanced Creative Writing (with Lietz). Communication Theory is pretty interesting. Group Comm is nothing short of a circus (our class is freaking hilarious...you have NO idea). Playwriting is okay...it's not my favorite right now. Adv. Creative Writing is a lot better than I thought it was going to be...tons better than Poetry Writing last quarter.

Then there's a bunch of group work for one of my classes (Group Comm, actually)...we're coming to the end of the new member period for the spring class of AXD and so that's been taking up a bunch of time lately...and then there's been a bunch of stuff for the other clubs and groups I'm in (mostly NCASC...we're trying to get some more new faces).

On the bright side, I found out today that I got into Sigma Tau Delta--the national English honorary! I'm super excited!

Now I'm home for the long Easter weekend. I have no idea what all my plans are for this weekend, but we'll see. :)

WONDERFUL WICKED WEEKEND!!!

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 00:27:27 GMT

I know Kathleen made a post about this as well...but I really want to tell the story too. So I am. :)

**********

So in case any of you have been living under a rock since October...Morgan, Britt, Kathleen, and I went and saw Wicked in Cleveland this weekend. On Friday, after Brittany finally made it to our apartment (Morgan got there WAY before Britt), we ordered some Padrone's pizza, made some sugar cookies, and watched Wizard of Oz (which was pretty hilarious with this group). Then we put on the Wicked soundtrack and played Scatagories (or however you spell it) and then we did some facial masks. I stayed up until about 3:30am before calling it a night, and Kathleen went to bed not too long after that as well. Morgan and Britt, however, apparently stayed up until 6am before finally going to sleep.

We woke up on Saturday morning and made scrambled eggs and cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Then we watched a bit of Rent, blared some Wicked again, and started getting ready to go to Cleveland. We finally got the car packed, decorated it a bit, and then started to get on the road. We stopped by Brookhart and NOM on our way out of town, and then we were finally on the highway. We sang along to the entire Wicked soundtrack, then we listened to Rent, then Avenue Q, and finally Drew Carey (because it has "Cleveland Rocks" on it). We got to Cleveland without a hitch, found a decently priced parking garage right across the street from our theatre, and we were still two hours early for the show starting (one hour early for when we wanted to be at the doors). We found a Starbucks to use the bathroom and eat the sandwiches we'd packed for dinner, then we went to the Playhouse Square gift shop, and decided to start standing in line to get into the theatre fifteen minutes earlier than we had planned. Once we finally got in, we went to the Ozdust Boutique stand and bought some stuff (Britt got a poster, I got a green "Defy Gravity" tshirt, and Kathleen got the regular black Wicked tshirt). We finally got into the main seating area...our seats were DEAD CENTER in the mezzanine area...and they were AMAZING seats. I didn't have to use the opera glasses once. We had all the main people--Carmen Cusack as Elphaba, Katie Rose Clarke as Galinda, Cliffton Hall as Fiyero, DeeDee Hall as Nessarose (yes, she's married to Cliffton), Alma Cuervo as Morrible, Lee Wilkof as the Wizard, etc. They were all FANTASTIC!

Then the show let out and the four of us headed to the back of the building where the State Theatre stage door is. There was one other group of four there, but that was all. And so the four of us just kind of found a little spot to hang out and wait (we got there pretty fast after the show let out). After a few minutes this SUV-type car pulled up into the parking lot we were next to and this girl (she was probably about 13...we later found out her name was Kirsten) got out and asked us if anyone had come out yet and we said no, not yet and she got back into the car with her dad and they just kind of hung out there. A little bit later, the other group of four came over and started chatting with us and let us know that they had found out from some theatre workers that the cast was at a coktail party for patrons of the theatre or something and it may be a while before anyone came out. Brittany went over and told the girl and her dad what was going on. A bit later, the other group gave up and left and Kirsten got out of her car and said that they had four seats if we wanted to sit in their warm car and wait (and, as a bonus, they were listening to the soundtrack). So we joined her and her dad in their car and talked to them for, like, an hour.

After a while some ensemble members started coming out and we talked to a few of them. But at about 12:30 in the morning (an hour and a half after the show let out), this group of four or five ensemble members came out and Kirsten got out to ask them if Carmen and Katie were coming out any time soon. They said they didn't know, but one of the women took her souvenier program to run in and get them to sign. Britt, Morgan, Kathleen, and I got out of the car and decided we'd see if maybe someone would come out, but then we were going to leave once Kirsten got her program back (we had a 2.5 hour drive back to Ada, please recall). One of the ensemble women started talking on her phone and was asking Kirsten what her name was and then suddenly said, "Oh! They said they're on their way out!"

Less than a minute later, Carmen and Katie came RUNNING out of the stage door...no coats or anything...poor Carmen was in a t-shirt! They started giving us all hugs and saying things like, "We had no idea there were still people out here! You girls are so sweet! You're all so cold!" Kathleen and I had each made fan gifts (Kathleen had made a pink scarf for Katie and I had made a green scarf for Carmen) and they were over the moon about them! They seemed to genuinely appreciate them and were amazed that we had hand-made the scarves ourselves. They kept hugging us and they personalized our programs and talked to us for a while. Then Carmen ran back inside (because she was really cold in just a tshirt), but Katie stood outside talking to us for a while longer and told us a funny story about how her shoes for the show have apparently been breaking a lot lately and falling off. Then DeeDee Hall and Cliffton Hall came out and talked to us for a while. And Deedee took my camera and took a picture of the four of us with Katie and Cliffton.

(picture above...Carmen and me)

After that, we said "bye" to them and walked back to the car. We were all super jazzed and couldn't stop talking about the whole thing for, like, an hour and a half on the way home. Britt and Morgan passed out in the backseat after that and Kathleen and I kept talking until we got back to Ada. Basically, it was the BEST. WEEKEND. EVER!

(picture above...from left to right...Brittany, Me, Katie Clarke (Galinda), Kathleen, Morgan, Cliffton Hall (Fiyero))

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 14:25:03 GMT

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Aaaaaand...because I don't HAVE a Valentine, I'm thoroughly enjoying the treats I'm getting from family and friends. My parents sent me heart-shaped Peeps (because they know I LOVE Peeps of any size or shape...I'm not picky) and a whole bunch of those candy hearts. My aunt and uncle sent me cookies and a card. My Little Sam sent me a little bag of candy. And I got a cute little Valentine and some candy from the wonderful AXD Sweetheart (and, suddenly, why Webber wanted the sister list is clear).

Anywho, Dead Week is winding down, thank GOD and I'm stressing out a little bit less. This weekend will be spent studying for my two finals next week and writing my Lit Crit paper, which I'm so super excited about it's kind of ridiculous. And since the whole concept of the paper is finally formatted in my head, I'm going to let you all know what it is...finally. I apologize if I use Literary Criticism lingo that isn't easy to understand...

Basically, I'm taking Althusser's theories on antihumanism and (mostly) Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs) and applying them to the novel Wicked ('cause I'm a geek). I'm going to look at what causes Elphaba to resist the socially accepted ideologies and what makes Galinda conform to them (even though she has mini rebellions throughout her time at Shiz). I'm going to be focusing a lot on two particular events, in which both girls were present, but came away with very different attitudes--their confrontation with Morrible and their first visit to the Wizard. And then I'm going to look at what all causes Elphaba to act the way she does throughout the rest of the novel (which, in case you're wondering, is a LOT of things all crammed into one), and leading up to her confrontation with Dorothy and what happens there in her final fight against Oz and the Wizard.

Anyway, yeah, that's pretty much what I'm doing...in a nutshell. Last night I talked to Mom on the phone, and when we were saying our farewells, she was like, "Don't think about Wicked until your finals are over." And I said, "Okay...but I have to think about Wicked a little, because that's what my paper's about." It's nice being able to use that as an excuse. :)

In other news...9 days until Wonderful Wicked Weekend. My AIM is freaking out on me, which is why I haven't been online for the past couple days. I think I may have to uninstall it and then install it again, which I really don't want to do because then I'll lose all my profile information and away messages, but I've tried almost everything else. So we'll see.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 14:28:25 GMT

So...here I am in Mac. Again. Thank GOD this 8am crap is almost over.

I hate Dead Week...with a passion. I hate it even more when it's so cold outside that the university has to run the courtesy vans again. And OF COURSE I didn't take one of the vans this morning. Oh, no, that would have made far too much sense. Instead I walked from Klondike's Den to Dukes...and it was very cold. And icy. Because god forbid P-Plant actually put salt down. I almost fell about five times. And, in case you're wondering...it's STILL icy out. That's right...two hours later and P-Plant STILL hasn't put salt down. Tools.

I have so much crap due this week it's not even funny. I have a paper due in Poetry Writing this afternoon (yes, it's only half done right now...no, I'm not concerned...I got to that half-way point in about fifteen minutes), I have a group project presentation in Intro to PR tomorrow (ew. That'll be fun), I have both of my journal entries due by the end of this week for Conflict Management (gotta love procrastination), and on top of all that I have my huge final paper for Lit Crit due next Monday by 5 (oh, yes, we're talking about a good 20 pages here, people). I'm not too terribly concerned about my Conflict Management final next week...but I'm going to be studying my ass off for Intro to PR. I will do well on the final, damn it.

Really the only thing keeping me going right now is the thought that in a little under two weeks, I'll be having a Wonderful Wicked Weekend with Britt, Morgan, and Blonde (12 days now, actually!). Blonde and I keep going over all the stuff we have to do or get before that weekend...we have to clean our apartment, go to Wal-Mart, I'm making scramble. It doesn't sound like much, but we're literally cramming all that in the last couple days of finals week when we have nothing going on. But it's going to be awesome and amazing and I can't wait!

Oh, and I got my finals week care package this morning from my parents. It was very exciting!

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 02:34:34 GMT

It's been a crazy few weeks. As soon as we got back from break, all my professors started piling on the homework and projects and quizzes. I think I'm going insane!

I survived another registration period...and, really, the last time I'll be registering as a "junior" (since, next time, with registering for fall of next year, I'll kind of be considered a senior, in a way). I'll be taking 16 credit hours next quarter, which is tons better than I originally thought I was going to have to take. I'll be taking Group Communication, Communication Theory, Advanced Creative Writing (with Lietz, oh the joy), and Playwriting (which I'm kind of intrigued by). It's hard to believe that we've just been worrying about next quarter's registration. Seriously, this year is going by waaaaaay too fast.

In other news, I've been elected Public Relations VP for AXD. It was really unexpected and I was really surprised to be nominated for the position a couple weeks ago, but I'm excited about it. Monday was officer training and goal setting, so it was our first time in new councils...and I really like my council. I think we'll work together well. I'm kind of nervous, not going to lie, because this is my first time on Exec...but I'm excited too. I think it'll be a good experience for me.

That's really all that's been consuming my life lately. I went home this past weekend for the long weekend and enjoyed that. We have a month left until Wicked Weekend, which is exciting. (Or, rather...Wick-ed Weekend as Blonde and I have started calling it...oh, yes, yet another wonderful Wicked inside joke that came about from watching YouTube videos a couple weeks ago...) I'm also really looking forward to next Tuesday, which is when Idina Menzel's new CD comes out (the music on it is amazing, by the way...or at least, the bits I've heard). Granted, I ordered it offline, so I'll be getting it a couple days later...but it's exciting anyway.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 14:40:55 GMT

Since the last time I posted (wow, again, I fail)...break was pretty good. I had a blast at the bridesmaids' dress fitting (in Bellefontaine) for Big's wedding--the other bridesmaids are freaking awesome and we're going to have a fantabulous summer, I can tell. G-Big is the maid of honor, Twinny is also one of the bridesmaids, and then I got to meet Jess and Emy...both are amazing. Jess and I have matching dresses (as do Twinny and Emy...G-Big has her own style...yeah, three styles of dresses are being represented in the bridal party for Big's wedding). After spending two hours at the bridal store (and spending a majority of those two hours teasing Big about the fact that her lack of breastage could pose a problem for the wearing of her wedding dress...just saying) we went out to lunch at this really good Chinese restaurant. We spent a long time there too, mostly talking about every minute detail of the wedding and the bachelorette party and stuff like that. It was tons of fun and we had a good time getting to know each other (or just being reunited, as the case was with four of us there).

I got to spend New Year's Eve (or, rather the last few hours of New Year's Eve) with my wonderful friends (the Wo-Town Gang as we have called ourselves for a few years now). There were nine of us there that night...Janet, Chelly, Emmy, Nate, Justin, Jess, Melissa, Caitlin, and myself. We spent almost the entire time playing Apples to Apples and, as usual, yelling over each other to talk. We had a secret santa gift exchange...Caitlin gave me this really cute make-up/travel bag (with skulls on it, because she cracks me up) filled with all these travel size toiletries...shampoo, body wash, stuff like that. She says it's because I always seem to be going on trips with the band. She also says it was a lame gift, but I think it's awesome and will probably come in handy for Wicked Weekend (three hours, both ways, in a car? With four girls? Somehow I think we might find need of a travel bag). We're such a crazy group, and not easily distracted from Apples to Apples. We turned on the TV fifteen minutes before midnight, got our sparkling cider (because a few of us don't have the priviledge of being 21 yet), got back to watch the countdown for the last two minutes, yelled "happy New Year" outside, and then promptly returned to our game. This is how we roll.

I got back to campus on Sunday. Kathleen and I exchanged Christmas gifts when we both got back, and the pathetic thing is that both of us gave each other Wicked themed gifts. I gave her a flower mirror that I had painted pink and had glitter and silver gems all over and it says "Sparkles" on it (don't ask...Kathleen and I have bizarre Wicked inside jokes...and if you've ever seen a clip of Kendra Kassebaum performing "Popular", then you'll know where we get that joke from...otherwise, sucks for you). I also gave her a little stuffed penguin, but that doesn't have anything to do with Wicked. She made me Wicked letters (as in...green AXD letters on a black tshirt...it's awesome and I'm wearing it right now) and she bought me this picture frame that's red and sparkly and has the ruby slippers in one corner and it says "It must be the shoes". It now has a rather silly picture of Kathleen and me on Halloween in our costumes in it...so it's funny.

The exciting news is that I got my first Lit Crit quiz back on Monday. And guess who got a freaking 100%! Was I surprised? Hell yes. But thrilled anyway. I register for next quarter in a week...next Wednesday, actually. Which means I have to meet with Cullen...which is not going to be the bright spot in my week next week. Actually, next week will probably suck, because I have tons due then, but I've started to think of an idea for my Lit Crit term paper...but I'm not going to tell you because it's not really developed yet and you'll just laugh. And that's mean.

Kathleen and I spent an hour and a half last night talking (again) about the details for Wicked Weekend (44 days!). Everything from food to what we're wearing. I'm trying to make my outfit look a tiny bit, um, nicer than it currently does, but that requires finding my long sleeved v-neck tshirt that I bought for Halloween and has now mysteriously disappeared into the abyss that is my closet. But I still have a month and a half, so there's hope. We also tried looking up directions to Playhouse Square and, guess what, all the search engines say different things. Of course. God forbid we make this an easy trip. They're relatively the same until you actually get TO Cleveland, then they all go different ways to get to Euclid Ave. So anyone with any advice on how to best get to Euclid Ave, please tell me. Otherwise we're printing off directions from Google, Yahoo, Mapquest, AND Expedia and winging it. THIS is precisely why we're giving ourselves a couple extra hours to get there. But it's going to be an awesome (ah-hem...I mean WONDERFUL) weekend anyway...getting lost would probably just give us another fantastic story to tell our friends and families.

Monday, December 24, 2007

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 14:51:23 GMT

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone!

So break's been great so far. On Friday I went and visited Kilbourne. I got to see Mr. Miller, Sra. O'Roarke, Mr. Buford, and Mr. Cook. It was quite exciting. I also got to hang out a bit with Dana, Stacie, and Ana, which was fun because I haven't seen them in a long time. Saturday we went to Elmore to hang out with the Nevergall half of the family. Mike and Rachel aren't going to be around for our huge family Christmas party on New Year's Eve, so we wanted to see them before they head back to Chicago. Yesterday, we made cookies and then Emily and I went out to Asian Star for dinner and hung out at Border's for a while. It was fun!

Today is one of my favorite days, though. I get to spend almost the whole day at church, doing stuff. Laura and I are going to pick up Amanda a little before 2pm, then we're heading over and getting Subway and going to the church. We then get to spend a couple hours helping the youth group set up luminiaries around the church and then we get to light them. Then we have a couple hours to eat dinner, change clothes, and hang out around the church. Then Laura and I are going to help Mrs. Stanley set up the bells in the sanctuary. Then Mom and I have bell choir practice. Then we have the 7:30pm service...Laura, Amanda, and Dad are going to be in the congregation. Then we get to come home. It's fun.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 14:20:49 GMT

Once again I'm in Mac...wasting time.

It's very cold outside again, but it rained yesterday, so now it's cold AND icy. Our glorious P-Plant decided not to salt the sidewalks before classes began this morning, resulting in many a student laying on their backs on the concrete. There was actually a girl who wiped out in the Klondike's Den courtyard just as I was leaving the complex. She just kind of layed there for a while and when I helped her up she said that since she saw someone else coming she just didn't even want to try to get up, since she knew she'd just fall again in the attempt. Which is understandable. But it sucks that P-Plant has to be such a bunch of lazy asses that they can't get out and salt the sidewalks before the first class hour so we don't have this problem. There were a lot of wipeouts, I know, because our Lit Crit class talked about it before class began...we each saw a few and almost wiped out ourselves. Stupid P-Plant. Waste of tuition money, I swear.

I haven't been sleeping terribly well lately, which sucks. I slept really well Friday night, and I think I may have jinxed myself with that. I didn't even go to bed until 3am on Saturday night/Sunday morning, and then I woke up at about 11am...even though I really wanted to sleep. It was one of those things where I woke myself up for some reason, was still tired, but couldn't go back to sleep no matter how hard I tried. Last night I went to bed about 12:30am, but didn't fall asleep until 2am or 3am (not entirely sure which it was now). And even then I was waking up every half hour or so. I think I've been having really strange, really vivid dreams lately, which isn't helping the whole matter. So now I'm tired. And I still have three more classes (two comm classes and then the class from hell this afternoon...I need to finish my poem for that one during my break this afternoon).

The countdown is at 75 days today. I'm really excited and can't wait until that weekend...because it's going to be AMAZING! (Wicked amazing...if I want to be punny).

Thursday, December 06, 2007

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 14:37:36 GMT

It's very cold outside and I'm sitting in Mac killing time until my 11am (mostly because I refuse to go outside into the cold if I don't have to). Walking to my 8am was just a...joy (note the sarcasm). Apparently, some of the other students in the class checked the weather before they left and said that, while it wasn't "technically" subzero outside, with the windchill the weather sites were reporting the temperature to feel about -7. Which is just ridiculous.

Last weekend was the best weekend I've had in a long time. It all started Friday night when we decided to have a girls' night out. You have to understand, our group hasn't had a huge girls' night in a long time. So we drove to Lima and went to the theatre to see Enchanted. It was a good time and the car ride home was even more amusing (as Kathleen, Amanda, and Riggle can testify). Then on Saturday I decided that I was going to have a PJ day...because I could. That lasted until about 5 or so when Kathleen left to go to Lauralinn's apartment to go out to La Chareda. About five minutes after she left I got a call on the apartment phone...it was Kathleen, with Lauralinn yelling in the background that I should get dressed and get my ass over to her apartment so I could go out with them. In the end the group ended up being Lauralinn, Riggle, Kathleen, Bruce, Justin Stone, and me. It was my first time at La Cha and the food was great! Then Lauralinn decided that she wanted to dye her hair again, so we had to stop by WalMart on our way back to campus. The guys refused to be seen in the hair dye aisle so they wandered off to look at stereo speakers or some such crap. The four girls stayed in the aisle and eventually decided that, why not, we should ALL dye our hair (particularly Riggle, who had never dyed her hair before). We got back to campus...Bruce stole Riggle's ID to get into Stadiumview and then disappeared (too much estrogen, I guess). Justin Stone and Lauralinn joined us at our apartment. We dyed our hair and watched 13 Going on 30, Legally Blonde, and Animal House...and everyone finally left our apartment around 3am. It was tons of fun (and Justin Stone had his first Poptart...EVER...yeah, I know).

It's been a week filled with meetings for me...kinda. I had both Polaris and NCASC on Tuesday. As usual, we didn't do much in Polaris (after Nate told the story of the mouse in his apartment and how P-Plant is a bunch of morons, we only did anything productive for MAYBE half an hour). Most of NCASC is also in SPC and there was some event that night and Chris got the flu or something, so there were only 4 of us at the meeting (3 students and 1 advisor, at least...). After about ten minutes we decided we couldn't really get anything done and we started venting about the new stupid Luminis and other such frustrations. Ellen and I don't have a class together this quarter (quite literally the first quarter in over a year...we've been in at least one class together since fall quarter of last year) and so we decided we needed to hang out. The solution to this was driving to Bluffton after NCASC, spending an hour at this cute little coffee shop and getting a little creeped out by this band that was playing there, then going to see Enchanted for $3 at the Bluffton theatre. Which was really fun...especially since we got there half an hour early and there were only two other people in the whole theatre besides us for the showing. And then we went to leave the theatre and, lo and behold, it had snowed half an inch and it was still coming down. I finally got to break out the snow brush from my trunk and the drive back to Ada was just...interesting.

And, thus, my week in a nutshell. I'm really looking forward to this weekend so I can sleep in again (woot). Other than sleep, I have no plans as of yet, but knowing the crazy kids I hang out with, that could change any second. :)

Oh, and 79 days, by the way. In case anyone was wondering.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 14:10:23 GMT

Okay, so I suck at updating this thing.

Anyway...the beginning of winter quarter. So far, not too bad. It's definately a lot less stressful so far than the first day last quarter (I don't know if it was the classes I took or something, but the professors piled the homework on that first day). I'm taking four classes (16 hours). Literary Criticism sounds like it will be okay...kind of English Studies like, but Pitts wasn't as scary about it as he was about Studies last year, so I have hope. It also sounds like it's going to be less theory than Studies was, and I hated the theory. Communication and Conflict Management I'm taking with Chris North (one of my advisors for NCASC and she's my OrgComm "advisor"). There are 6 people in the class and it sounds like it should be fun...not as much lecture, but more discussion and practical application exercises and whatnot. Intro to PR I'm taking with Professor Agozzino (I took Business and Professional with her last quarter). My Little Jen is in the class too, so it should be a good time. :) And, finally, Poetry Writing with Lietz...let's just say it shouldn't be a hard class, but I'm probably going to want to kill myself by the end of it...I almost fell asleep yesterday and it was just Syllabus Day!

Let's see...outside of classes, I think (but am not sure) that we have our first NCASC meeting of the quarter tonight (I should probably check on that). Tomorrow AXD has its first candlelight of the year (woo-hoo!). Also tomorrow, we get to return our marching band uniforms for those of us that didn't go to China (woo-hoo times 2). And on Friday, Lauralinn, Kathleen, and I are having a movie date in Lima (it's gonna be a good time).

So, yeah, that's the beginning of the quarter for me. Not terribly exciting but it's there and hanging out, so whatever.