The Pool of Reflecting Water (with a shout-out to MG, SE, and RK)

Once upon a time there was a princess called Princess Mars. Her parents and brother had abandoned her and she was left alone. One day she planned on gathering her friends to have a tea party at noon. But at 12:30 and then 1:00 and then 1:30, she realized that no one was coming and she was truly alone.

She was determined to set forth on a quest for Self-Worth and True Love.

As she began her quest, she happened upon a dark goddess called Goddess Panica who cursed her with debilitating and painful Self-Doubt. This set Princess Mars back but she was tough and kept going. She eventually came upon a lake and sat to rest for a while. Growing thirsty, she drank from the lake but did not realize it was the lake of the Goddess Unmotiva and the water put Princess Mars to sleep for sixteen weeks. She would come to learn, once she was awoken, that this slumber set her back considerably. Sixteen weeks of no productivity and no self-fulfillment feels like failure.

Eventually, Goddess Panica returned and set upon Princess Mars in the form of a terrible nightmare. The princess awoke, startled and frightened, and began to continue on her path. She suddenly met a knight in shining armor on a white steed and he carried her away to what she thought would be her happily ever after. They stopped by a lovely brook and shared a sweet kiss. but the knight turned into a frog. And Princess Mars noticed that her gown was covered in white powder. The steed was in fact coal black and black-maned.

Princess Mars hurried into a nearby hut, in a town called Britannia, where she met a young man covered in soot. She didn't know what to make of him but she knew he had the kindest soul she had ever met, and she bathed him with the last of her water. Unsooted, he stood before her, stunning.

The water she had bathed him with formed a pool in which Princess Mars was able to see herself for the very first time. She had found her True Love and her young man agreed to join her on her continued quest for Self-Worth.

it ain't over till it's over

I keep getting frustrated and disheartened that I still have all these little tasks to get done: an in-class performance, finalizing a study guide, coming into the office, finalizing a director's notebook. I suppose every semester is like this: you wait for the climactic ending, the great sense of relief to suddenly strike, when it's always just a fizzle.

It'll all be over Friday afternoon. I can make it till then...right?

holy schneikies

He's like a two-wheeled animal.

I am a Pop Culture Genius, Vol. VIII

OK, follow me on this one.

I was killing time on Youtube and happened upon an episode of a Makeover Story (remember that show on TLC? My cousin and I spent about a week watching it every day when I visited them in Brooklyn one summer) featuring Sutton Foster and Jennifer Cody, both Broadway stars. The episode is full of fairly recognizable Broadway stars, including their "friend" Julia Murney.

And I swear, it's her early 2000s outfit in the Makeover Story episode that stuck in my brain because I think I dreamt that I remembered her as the woman who tries to stick it out against Samantha eating at the raw restaurant so they can snag the hot waiter on Sex and the City. Then, I woke up and confirmed it on IMDB.

Why is my brain so full of such useless, useless trivia?

What Loving and loving are all about

Chills.

Starbucks orders that make me mad/giggle

Why would anyone order an iced venti sugar free non-fat caramel macchiatto? Blech.

my life plan, one year at a time

The 2009-2010 schoolyear has come into focus, swiftly, in the last few weeks. It's going to be an insane year, to say the least, starting with a 10-day trip to various points in California right after THIS semester (finally) ends in May, with my good friend, SE. We will be in Los Angeles for a few days, visiting his family and mine, then will head up to the Bay, since he's never been and I must see people there! Memorial Day weekend will be spent in Atlantic City with S, and I'm sure hilarity will ensue, as it usually does when one combines Atlantic City, me, and S. HA!

I'll have about three weeks to frolic in Boston before I head to New Haven for seven weeks. Back early August, when I will have about a month to recoup before the insanity of my second (and final!) year at Emerson begins.

I'm taking two classes fall semester, Playwriting with Youth and Contemporary Issues in Education. On top of that, I will be facilitating a directed study, adapting and deconstructing this (read the whole thing if you can) with a small core of actors, then directing and presenting it in a site-specific series around campus. The best thing about this project, besides the fact that SE and LH will both be heavily involved, is that RM is my advisor, and every time I talk to her about the project (all of two times, so far, but we will eventually have regular meetings, on top of the work I'll do for her already, to discuss my progress), she gives me something incredibly insightful and brilliant to focus on or contemplate. (That was a very complex sentence. I apologize for all the commas.) It's going to be amazing to work with her in this new way.

And, besides that, in anticipation of student-teaching in the spring (a requirement of my program, if we're on the licensure track), I'll be working with RM fifteen hours a week in the fall, instead of my usual ten. This is so I can accrue hours to rollover into the spring, when I'll basically be working fulltime in a school.

I've ALSO applied to associate direct a mainstage show for the spring. I initially anticipated proposing directing Iphigenia 2.0 for the mainstage, but they are not offering any full production directing slots for students next year. Instead, there will be an evening of short plays by contemporary female playwrights and the director is going to work with three associate directors. I'm not sure how that will work or when I'll interview or hear about the next steps for that, but it's something I figured I had to apply for.

So, basically. See you in May 2010 at commencement. K bye.

This is actually NOT an April Fool's joke

It's kind of like watching a train wreck. You want to look away, but you just can't.