Dustin and Katie just sent out a photo of their brand new baby boy! I'm so excited for them. And they're the first of my closest friends to have a baby, and so now I'm Uncle Scott! I can't wait to get to Richmond and visit the new boy.
Alexander (Xander) was born on Aug 22 at 11:09am. He weighed in at 6 lbs, 12 oz, and 20 inches long. Enjoy the photo of the beautiful baby boy!
Okay. So here's my schedule for the next (approximately) 24 - 36 hours.
11:30pm (Sat) - 8:30am (Sun) -- Sleep 9:30am - 11:00am -- Setup for Jungle Book 11:00am -- Run the last Jungle Book 2:00pm -- Run Joseph 4:30pm -- 6:30pm - Dinner 7:30pm -- Run the last Joseph show 9:30pm -- Start Strike for Joseph 3:00am -- (hopefully) finish strike for Joseph
At the beginning of this week, I took a brief trip to Paducah, KY. "What's in Paducah," you might ask.
Normally, nothing of much importance to me is in Paducah. This past week, though, Stephanie and Chris were there.
They were visiting with some of Steph's family, and they invited me to stay with them. I headed out Sunday night after the performance of Joseph, made it to Paducah, reunion full of hugs, and then crashed about 1:00am.
Monday was my day off, which is what enabled me to make this little mini-vacation, and it was SO much fun and very relaxing. Chip and Sonya (Steph's relatives) have a really nice house with an in-ground pool and a home theatre (not just a really nice tv and surround sound... an ACTUAL home theatre). So as soon as we woke up, we had some breakfast, and then headed out to the pool for outdoor recreation. The highlight, for me, was they have a little Sea-Doo Scooter that pulls you along under water. It was a lot of fun to put on a pair of goggles and see if you could make it all the way around the pool on a single breath of air with the thing pulling you.
When we had our fill of the pool, we came inside to watch a movie or two. We finished up the usable daylight in the pool and headed inside for dinner, and some more movies. Over the course of my 36 hour stay, we watched "Bank Job", "21", "Licensed to Wed", and "Fools Gold".
Tuesday, we ate breakfast, watched another movie, and then just relaxed and watched some of the olympics before I had to head back to St. Louis for the show that night.
It was wonderful to see Stephanie and Chris again! I'm so fortunate to have them in my life!
- worked some - played some - dropped my buffalo wings - huge bruise on my left hip - saw Hancock - haircut - opened "Joseph" - dressed like a gangster
I stumbled upon the site a few days ago and contemplated what it would be like. I've needed to do some physical activity, since the majority of my job is just standing around at this point. So I'm going to do it. Starting in the morning, I'm going to make my way toward being able to do 100 consecutive push-ups.
The program boasts that if you stick to it, and don't cheat yourself, in six weeks you should be able to do 100 consecutive good-form push-ups.
I already did the initial test, and I could do about 20 good-form push-ups. So I figure I'll be at a good starting point in the program. Check out the website if you get the chance. I'll be posting my progress as I go.
Friday, I headed back East to visit some friends for the weekend since I had four straight days off.
That night, I hung out with the group of fine folks that I did most of my fun stuff with in Lexington. Ryan (and Ann) were hosting a cookout. Well, it rained, so it really ended up being a cook-out-then-in. We visited and played some games. William and I ventured out when it stopped raining and threw some frisbee in the street for some one-on-one male bonding time.
On Saturday, I got up and did some coffee-shop-hopping. I hit up Starbucks and used their new 2-hour free Wi-fi policy before heading over to the old apartment (cue Barenaked Ladies' song) to hang out with Logan for a bit. We pretty much acted like we normally do around each other. I got to meet his new lady, too. I grabbed a few things that I had left behind when I initially moved, packed up, and headed over to Common Grounds where I spent the rest of my afternoon in free Wi-fi bliss.
That night Ashlee had a few people over to her house and I got to visit a little more with some good friends. We decided it was too nice of an evening to spend it ALL inside, so we grabbed a frisbee and tossed it around in Ashlee's back yard. There were various neighborhoods shooting off their fireworks from the rained out day before. It was fun. Afterwards we played some Scrabble and ate some ice cream.
I got up early and went to St. Awesome's on Sunday morning. I was really lucky and very happy to see so many of my friends.
After church, I had lunch at Johnny Carino's with Dustin & Katie, and we caught up on our lives as well as all the TV Show chit chat and movie "reviews" like we usually do. Dustin and I are just too similar sometimes to have been born from separate parents. ;)
That evening I started the trip back West by stopping in Louisville to see my "Big Brother", his wife, and their 15-month-old baby. We grilled out for dinner and had a real nice time visiting.
Monday morning came, and I left Louisville to finish the trek West back to St. Louis.
Friday I'll be heading to Lexington for a couple days. We have an extended weekend off during the July Fourth weekend, and I'm using it to head back and visit with some friends. The very loose itinerary is as follows:
Friday Morning: Leave for KY Friday Night - 6pm: 4th of July Cookout @ Ryan's house No fixed plans on Saturday Sunday morning - 11:15am: go to church at St. Awesome's (hopefully see some friendly faces) Sunday afternoon - TBA: head back to St. Louis
If anyone's free or would like to catch up, give me a call, email, or send a carrier pigeon.
Well, Thoroughly Modern Millie is over, and we're now in the changeover process going into Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, which opens for preview on July 18.
I had some good times running that show. This post is kind of a list of my favorite moments from the show.
- Pamela (played Miss Dorothy) saying the line, "Trevor", always cracked me up. - Mamie (played Millie) declaring war on me to make me laugh during the show so hard my spotlight shook. - Trying to make Stacy (our Stage Manager) crack up when she's doing the backstage announcements over the mic to the actors. - Ben (played Jimmy) popping out of the laundry basket he and Mamie were hiding in with red lip marks all over his face. - Amy & Allan (played Alice & Bun-Foo) having a "boy-meets-girl" moment on stage every night. - Mamie singing the HELL outta "Gimme Gimme". That song was also my favorite for my spot cues. - Breaking Jana (making her laugh) in the middle of a cue. - Following along with the motions that Graham (played Graydon) and Mamie did during "Speed Test". - Any and all cues when I had to be spotting one person on stage right, go out, and then spot somebody on stage left, and then back again. :)
I've spent my last 7 summers (2001-2007) working at Jenny Wiley Theatre. It was always a lot of hard work, and always a lot of fun. I normally had the opportunity to hang out with everyone I worked with, although there were always one or two people that seemed to slip through the cracks and I may not have gotten to talk to until the last week or two of the summer. This included all the technical production staff as well as the actors.
This summer is weird. I'm just now feeling like I'm mostly acclimated to St. Louis and living here, and finally breaking out of my "new place" survival mode. The trouble with that is with some of the actors, they're only here for a month. I know that there are a lot of amazing people here this summer, and I can't help but feel a little... like I missed out on something by not getting to hang out with some of these fine folks before it was too late.
As many of you many know, most of my time spent here in St. Louis is occupied with work. A typical week has me running up to 9 shows per week (2 on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays) as well as coming in to the shops to work on the upcoming show on the days we don't have two shows.
This weekend was a little different. We only had one show on Sunday.
A bunch of the crew and I had planned on going to City Museum after the afternoon show and go have some fun. Unfortunately, their hours on Sunday end at 5pm. We scrambled to figure out something else to do on our bonus evening off and landed on bowling.
Bowling was fun and beer filled (as it should be on both counts), and we all played some arcade games prior to and after bowling. Later on a few of us went and played some Night Frisbee. One of the props people, Nick, has a Frisbee with LED lights on it, so you can easily see the disc as it's flying through the darkness.
My official day off started with me sleeping in until 10am. That afternoon, I chose to explore a little more of my current locale. I found a giant, three-story mall that had a few dangerous stores for me to enter. It was the first time that I had ever set foot inside an actual Apple Store, and it was amazing! There was also a store called Sony Style (i think) that was entirely Sony products... who knew Sony made so much crap?! One of my downfalls is always a Godiva kiosk, and this mall had a whole STORE! I forced myself not to in, since I usually come away with about $50 in chocolate, usually in the form of various truffles. I grabbed some Chinese food in the food court, and headed out to do some more exploring.
I came across a movie theater, and caught a showing of The Incredible Hulk. It was INCREDIBLE!! (uhm... right) But seriously, it was a great movie. Ed Norton did an amazing job as Bruce Banner, and the CGI was smooth and hardly noticeable. I saw a couple previews while in there that got me REALLY excited. (and of course, I just blanked on all of them.)
After the movie, I stopped in a Barnes & Noble to browse around, ended up not buying anything except a Vanilla Chai latte from the "Starbucks" inside.
That evening people came over to the apartment to watch the Jeff Dunham DVDs I had bought at the mall.
Life has been pretty interesting so far. Mostly I've spent my days / nights working at the theatre getting the first show, Thoroughly Modern Millie up and ready. It went into Previews on Friday, and it officially opens on Wednesday. Even with the show in Previews, my work load has dropped off quite a bit, for now.
My first week was pretty bland. When I wasn't working, I did a little exploring to find the necessities... y'know, Grocery Store, Wal-Mart, Post Office, Best Buy, etc. And past the first week, if I wasn't working I was sleeping (or at least trying to). We had work days that ranged any where from 10 hours to 20 hours. I'm still recovering.
I live near a town called Kirkwood, which is only about 40 minutes away from downtown St. Louis. My drive between the really nice 3 bedroom apartment Stages set me up in, and work is really easy. One of my favorite parts of the drive is passing this one Fire Station... it looks like an old cottage out of a fairy tale or something. One of these days I'll stop and take a picture of it. Oh, and there are 7-11's everywhere!
St. Louis has most of the comforts of home, but I haven't had too much down time that doesn't include sleep to really explore past those things I needed sooner rather than later. On one of my days off, I plan on finding a decent Disc Golf course for some outside fun. There's also apparently this place called City Museum that has what can only be described as an adult-sized equivalent of a McDonald's Playland.
Oh! And I almost forgot... I'm now in the land of Anheuser-Busch! I think I'll have to find the plant and take a tour, too. Maybe they'll hand out some free samples!!
Last but not least - I miss all my friends who are starting to become scattered across the globe at an alarming rate. Send me mail (e or otherwise) and definitely come visit when you get a chance!
Friday, April 4 (That's right two weeks ago) Logan, being the awesome roommate he is, and sensing I needed something to cheer me up, invited me out to hang out with some of his friends (most of whom I had met or hung out with before) at O'Neill's for a birthday celebration. We saw a really awesome 80's cover band by the name of Long Duk Dong. I had a couple of drinks there. Then a bunch of the gang decided to go to The Dame where they were having a Dance Night. I had a couple more drinks there, and I shook my booty until the wee hours of the morning. I had such a blast and it was just what I needed to blow off some steam. Thanks to Logan, Rebecca, and Rachel for helping me have such an awesome time!
Saturday, April 5 Saturday was sleep in and then go to work day. Crashed hard that night.
Sunday, April 6 More work, then went to William's to hang out and roasted some marshmallows and made smores in his fireplace.
Monday thru Saturday Pretty much same old, same old - work, class, sleep, and eat. Except I also went to a couple of rehearsals for The Music Man (which I was light designing).
Sunday, April 13 I woke up, did some work on Music Man design, and then went to work. I got off work around 9:30p, and started back to working on Music Man design at about 10:30pm. I worked straight through the night until ...
Monday, April 14 ... 7:00am when I took a shower, and printed out my plot to take to the Opera House. Got to the Opera House at 9:00am, and didn't leave until 11:00pm or later. Went home and did some homework (class and design), and got a couple hours sleep.
Tuesday, April 15 Back at the Opera House again at 9:00am until 11:00pm. Had a meeting with Stage Manager, Director, and Assist. Director at Denny's afterwards.
Wednesday, April 16 Got some sleep that night, but had class in the morning. Back at the Opera House at 1:00pm to finish up design stuff. Left at ... guess ... that's right, 11:00pm.
Thursday, April 17 Slept most of the day, because I needed to. Went into the Opera House to give the Stage Manager and Master Electrician some final instructions for opening night. Then I headed over to my friend Sam's house to work on a video project he was working on. It was so funny. I can't wait to see the footage he shot!
That's my past two weeks in a slightly larger than normal nutshell. I'll post more details about the Music Man at a later time. That was such a rewarding experience!
Thursday I know, the weekend usually begins on Friday... but since this weekend was a big deal, I'm including Thursday in so that it doesn't feel left out.
I went into church at 9:00am to work on the light setup a little more for the Easter services. I got them all patched and looking good before I had to go to work that evening.
Friday Typical day. Worked that night.
Saturday At church again at 9:00am to put the finishing touches on the lighting setup and then start programming the show. The rest of the production team showed up at about 10:00 and we went to eat lunch at around 11:30. After lunch, I worked furiously to get my cues written on the console. As I mentioned before, we had rented a bunch of gear for this weekend, so the curve was a little steeper than normal. At 5:00, I finally had the show basics written in and we went to the Green Room for a quick meeting and to pray over the weekend.
The services that night went really well. I was able fix a few things that I missed on the fly, and fixed a few other things between services and after the second one.
Went home and crashed hard.
Sunday Rolled into Church before the butt-crack of dawn. Fixed a few things in my cues before the first of three services began that day. You could tell everyone was a little groggy due to the early morning. The last two services of the day were probably the best. All the kinks were pounded straight and all the wrinkles had been ironed out. The energy was high and it was ... AMAZING. God did wonderful things in that room.
After the services were over, I went home and crashed. That evening, I went out to eat at Mr. Kabab's for a Schworma Platter (aka, gut-buster with paint-peeling breath).
So far this week has been pretty decent. As stated earlier, after classes on Monday, I hung out at My Time Coffee (formerly know as LiveWire) and helped out a friend with some web page stuff. After that, I hung out with a good friend from Nashville.
Tuesday was greeted via lunch with Ben (said friend from Nashville) and Matt. After lunch we stopped by a production company to rent a bunch of gear for the Easter services this weekend. Back at the church, we began setting up said gear. I'm VERY excited. Here's a quick list of what we rented:
- (7) LED PAR Light Fixtures - (8) "Truss Warmer" PARCans - (4) 10' sections of Box Truss - (3) 1/4 ton chain-lift motors - (4) Elation Design Spot 250s [intelligent fixtures] - (1) Hazer
That night, I hung out with the gang at William's, where we enjoyed a tasty meal of Fettuccine Alfredo and some fun conversation.
Rolling through Wednesday was a normal day, until after classes when I decided to hit the coffee shop again and enjoy a Vanilla Chai and some Wi-Fi. I was delightfully surprised to see one of the guys from Inlightened Ministries there. We share a table and played a game of Lux Delux. Shortly, I'll head over to FBC in Richmond to watch the guys at Youth Connect. After that, I'll get to visit with my buddy Ben again (probably just briefly).
Sometimes you find yourself in a very familiar situation. Sometimes these situations are unpleasant... then others make you feel great.
Today is one of those days.
I'm in Richmond hanging out with a couple of really good friends. It feels like no time has passed at all, as last year (has it really been that long?) coming to the coffee shop was a very standard occurrence. We just hang out, have good conversation, and surf the web.
Today, I was helping Katie with a project for a graduate class she has. It happens to deal with creating web pages. Dustin did a lot of the grunt work, I'm really just an extra pair of eyes and a fresh mind.
Anyway, the whole point of this is to say that this familiar feeling is nice.
1. Come Around - Rhett Miller 2. Tell Her This - Del Amitri 3. Waiting for My Real Life - Colin Hay 4. Question - Old 97's 5. Hold on Hope - Guided by Voices 6. Camera One - Josh Joplin Group 7. Fighting for My Love - Nil Lara 8. 100 Years - Five for Fighting 9. She Is - The Fray 10. Anything Can Happen - The Finn Brothers
Working in retail gives me an excellent opportunity to people-watch. One of my favorite things is when I see a family either walking into or out of the store. What gives me pure joy is when I see a father carrying his daughter on his shoulders and asking the mother, "how low the bridge is" so he can duck when entering the doorway.
Another fun one is a child walking between the two parents, holding one hand of each, and the parents are counting, "one, two, THREE!" and on three, they swing the child into the air and land him gently back on his feet - all the while the child is smiling and laughing, without a care in the world.
I always see these things and think, "wow, one day, I want to be a great dad like that." I know it's not my time, yet, and I am not mentally actually ready to have a family, but it's nice to think about the future...
Everyone once in a while, something really neat happens in the parking lot at work. Today, I was stopped by (what seemed to be) a family in an SUV. They mentioned that they are driving around asking people if they need anything to be prayed about. They also mention that they're from St. Awesome's! I just thought it was really neat that they were doing that. It gave me a burst of energy and warmth.
Also - today was nice to work outside. Let's keep that rain away for a bit... or at least between midnight and 9:00am, if that's okay?
Okay, so you know that I went to SETC last weekend. I accomplished two goals while there. 1) find a job 2) hang out with some old friends.
I drove back from Chattanooga on Sunday, recuperated Monday, and drove up to mom's on Tuesday. I had three goals while up in Columbus. 1) visit mom 2) see some family 3) visit with a friend. (i only accomplished two of the three on this trip)
I got to visit with mom and with some of my family while up there. This was really nice since I wasn't able to see any of them over Thanksgiving or Christmas due to the Bullseye claiming dominion over my soul.
On Monday, I got my first job offer as a result of SETC. It was a HUGE load off my mind. On Wednesday, I got my second offer. All this was a tremendous relief of stress. I felt I had interviewed well, but you just never really know what the other side of the table is thinking.
Drove home this morning since I had to work tonight. I almost didn't hate going to work tonight. The weather was AMAZING! It's one of the only times I've been grateful for having to work outside (aside from Summerstock jobs).
More info on the job (and life) front as it rolls in. Later!
I got my first job offer as a result of SETC today.
Stages St. Louis (www.stagesstlouis.org)! The contract length is May 12 - October 17. The pay is decent PLUS housing. The housing is a three bedroom apartment in which I'll get my own room. The housing is within a 15 minute drive of the theatre.
As shown earlier, this was one of the more promising potential jobs that I interviewed for at SETC. I actually had two interviews with them at SETC, an initial and a follow-up. The icing on the cake is it was one of the jobs I was hoping for.
More info as it becomes available...
UPDATE: 03/12/08 12:43pm - Colorado Shakespeare Fest. offered me a job.
Thursday I woke up early, and ended up leaving the apartment a little earlier than expected. Arrived at the hotel right at 3:00, checked in, and headed to the convention center to meet up with some folks. Google Maps doesn't have any compassion at all. Apparently I typed in Street instead of Drive (or vice versa) and it put me 5 miles away from where I needed to be. Had a little "i got lost" adventure. Made it back to the hotel to use the wi-fi to check the map again. Finally figured it out, and made it to the Convention Center.
When I arrived, I instantly saw Anthony and Fries (pronounced FREEZE) when I walked in the building. I registered for the conference and checked in with the Job Contact room. The rest of the evening was basically free time for me, as I had decided that I would do all my interviewing the next day. So I hung out with and got to see a bunch of people that I knew. I stayed up later than I should have...
Friday Got up (too) early, took a shower and ironed my shirt to wear with my suit. I looked sexy. Grabbed my interview paraphernalia and headed to the Convention Center. There were about 15 jobs posted that were either in my pay-scale or my job title. I wandered from booth to booth either dropping off resumes or doing interviews. This lasted all day since sometimes there were lines waiting to interview with certain companies. I had 4 really promising interviews, I interviewed with 8 total, and dropped resumes off at 7 others. I was finished around 6:00, but I had developed a headache, so I went back to the hotel to change into street clothes and nurse my headache before hanging out with people later that night.
Saturday I had two follow-up interviews on Saturday morning. The first one, the company called me the night before to schedule (promising?). The second one was scheduled after a first round review of resumes on Friday. Both interviews went well. Job Contact shut down after noon, so I was again basically free. I hung out with some of the Jenny Wiley crew the rest of the afternoon and into the wee hours of the morning.
Sunday Checked out of my hotel and wandered around Chattanooga for a while waiting on a couple of friends that I hadn't gotten to visit with during the conference. We met up and ate at a Mellow Mushroom. We had a good time catching up. After lunch, I headed home.
Remember when I used to be better about updating this thing? Yeah. Me too.
Sorry if you're been a little confused lately about the fact there has been no skipthehero to check up on... when I moved, I also moved banks, forgetting to change the information for my web host. I finally stopped being lazy and fixed it, so I'm back... with a giant-sized update!
Life hasn't treated me too badly since last time I posted. Work and school and a little bit of social life have taken up most of my time since October. I finally got my driver's license back in January. Vehicular freedom is WONDERFUL!
The holidays were really difficult for me this year, I'm used going to visit my mom and spending the time with a HUGE family... this year, due to work and my lack of a driver's license, I wasn't able to have that at all. Luckily, my friend / roommate Logan kidnapped me on Thanksgiving to take me down to his family's house. And mom was able to make it down for Christmas Eve... but it wasn't the same. :( That plus the fact that last year I had an amazing person in my life and this year I didn't, made the holidays a little less vibrant and a little more sepia toned.
Right now, I'm just trying to make it to graduation in May, while keeping myself sane with the free time I have available.
Work is going well. It's been going even better the past week since they made a new policy not to keep Cart Attendants past 9:00.
In my free time, I've done a little bit of rock climbing at EKU, learning how to walk on stilts, and played board games galore with a really fun bunch of people I met via my friend William. One night, we had a "Pride & Prejudice Party" where a couple of people made a bunch of traditional English meal items (Cottage Pie, Bangers and Mash, A Triffle, etc) before watching the (marathon of a) movie, Pride & Prejudice. At intermission, we had tea and scones!
Later this week, I drive down to Chattanooga, TN, for Southeastern Theatre Conference (SETC). While I'm down there, I'll be able to connect with some old friends / colleagues, and do some job searching for after graduation. It's been a few years since I attended SETC since I only really ever needed summer work, and Jenny Wiley was always willing to offer it. This event is to find work for the other 9 months of the year. I'll probably blog at least once from SETC, and let you know how it goes.
It's been a while since I've updated this blog thing. Hope you all will forgive me. As you all know sometimes Life catches us off guard and forces you to concentrate harder on yourself than on the rest of the world. This is where I've been since about mid-to-end summer.
First off, if you haven't already heard the reason why I'm car-less right now, here it is. The gist of it is, I forgot to pay a speeding ticket, was pulled over while on a suspended license due to said unpaid ticket, and license was suspended for 6 months.
This has posed a few challenges. The obvious one is that not being able to drive makes it quite difficult to get around. The less obvious ones are that I live in Lexington and go to school in Richmond. I also needed to find a job close to where I live. Many of these challenges were solved by many unselfish people in my life. I want to thank all of these people that have been gracious and willing to help me out in what has been a very trying time for me.
On the upside - I live really close to a huge shopping area of Lexington, called Hamburg. I can walk there, easily within about 15 minutes... but even better, I can ride my mountain bike there in about 5 minutes. I have even gone out for a few bike rides for fun. Grocery shopping can be a bit challenging, though. :)
I have also landed a job with Target doing, what I like to call, "slinging carts". I'm a cart attendant and cashier backup. This will bring it's own personal challenges, especially around the holidays. More on this some other time, though.
A few quick words of thanks, which cannot even come CLOSE to expressing my appreciation for these people.
Logan - thanks for taking me to class at 7:30am even though you don't have class until 1:30pm. William - thanks for picking me up and taking me home so I can have a social life outside of class. It has been a major blessing. Patrick - thanks for picking me up for church on the weekends. Another huge blessing. Thanks to Kate & Robbie - Kate for bringing me and half my stuff home, Robbie for bringing my car and the rest of my stuff home. Special thanks to Erin - for being wonderful and coming to visit me when she could. Also many thanks to all the people this summer and this fall who drove me around and made sure I didn't feel like "that guy".
Setup: I'm at the theatre while the designer and director write light cues for West Side Story. I'm bored. I have to be here in case I'm needed, but I don't have any real work to do until the end of the night when I strike gear.
Payoff: A couple of the ladies in the cast and I started txt msging back and forth. It got really fun with one of the girls sending me "secret admirer" messages since I didn't have her number. The was all kinds of fun being sent in digital form. It was definitely the most number of txt msgs I've ever sent and/or received in one day. I think the tally came up to over 60 msgs total... sent and received. The awesome thing was, they were doing it to keep me entertained while I was bored at work!
Here's to Meg, Anabel, and Nicole! Some of the coolest gals I know! Thanks ladies!! You made my night!!
First off - Happy 07/07/07!!! Today is the day the seventh Harry Potter book should've been released.
Anyhoo... life's going pretty well here at Jenny Wiley. We've got three of the four shows up and running and the fourth (West Side Story) starts technical rehearsals on Monday.
I've been a bit miserable this past week due to a fairly nasty sunburn I acquired on a day off while out on a pontoon. Luckily, I've had a really great person to apply aloe to my back.
As of this writing, I've finally met all the actors, and had some good conversations with more than a few. There are still a few allusive that I'm trying to open up to me, but the majority of the company is great fun! In fact, all of the residents of Cabin B are pretty much addicted to the Discovery Channel. Dirty Jobs, Deadliest Catch, Mythbusters, and Man vs. Wild is pretty much on the TV anytime we're home.
The shows are going great so far and High School Musical is a lot better than I anticipated. I avoided watching the movie and listening to any music prior to the summer in order to not get burned out on it. This group of actors is probably the most talented (overall) that I've seen at Jenny Wiley. There really aren't any weak-links in the chain. The production crew is amazing as well. They've put in so many long hours in order to get the past couple shows up... and they've done so without complaint. They're here to do their job.
In other news - I was fortunate enough to get to talk with Erin a couple times this past month, which was a real blessing! It was fun talking with her again. Nice and normal.
Anyway - a few final words before I head out.
"Enjoy the journey or the destination will pass you by."
I decided I needed to write a quick update so as not to go a whole month without posting.
The past four weeks have been pretty good. The production crew is all really talented and mostly fun to be around. The acting company has all arrived and started rehearsals for High School Musical. I've only met a few of the gang, but those I've met seem to be pretty cool.
This past week was load-in, setup, and tech week for Forever Plaid. I had a few long nights of work, with most nights getting to bed around 2 or 3am. I ended up having to pull one all-nighter in order to get lightboxes ready to be installed the next day. Luckily the past couple days have been a little less stressful and easy-going in lighting world. We opened up Forever Plaid to a great audience.
This coming week, we tech and open up the kids show, The Princess and the Pea. It might be another high-stress week as there are times when the crew needs to be in two places at once.
A few of the actors from last year have returned, including one of my favorite people from last season, Katie Mitchell. We've had a couple of really awesome conversations since she's gotten here, and it's the first time this summer that JWT has felt like the home it has the past 6 seasons I've worked here.
All in all, everything is going fine. I miss my friends who are strewn about the globe very much, and think about everyone often.
Stephanie & Chris - I'm very excited about seeing you at the end of the summer! Dustin & Katie - I hope you guys are having a blast in France! Erin - I hope you're having a great summer and that things continue to go well for you! JWT is not quite the same without you here.
Well, I've been in Prestonsburg for a little over a week so far. We've gotten a lot accomplished, and start to hang lights tomorrow. That's my favorite part of the season, because that's when I can see physical proof of my accomplishments.
As usual, only the production crew is here right now. It seems like we have a good bunch of folks again, this year. With the exception of one particular year, and a couple of exceptions over the past couple years... most of the people have been really great to work with.
As for myself - well, I'm doing just fine. Sometimes it's tough to go back to someplace that you had such a wonderful time in and think that you might actually have a good time there again. I have good days and bad days... but don't we all? Anyway, that's enough rambling from me. Feel free to keep in touch. I can usually check my email once (possibly twice) in a day, but the posts will come fairly sporadically. So you should all be sort of used to that. ;)
This time of year is always kind of weird for me. It is always a time of transition. Most of the time, I have usually been ready for it. This time... well, I'm not so sure. So much is different this year.
In about an hour or so, I'll make the two hour drive to Prestonsburg, where I'll spend my summer living and working as the Master Electrician at Jenny Wiley Theatre. Most years I look forward to this place. It is like a family, and it gets bigger and changes every summer. This year, I'm not sure how I feel about it. I am definitely ready to be working again, and making money. I guess my worry is that I had such an amazing summer last year, that nothing else could possibly compare, and that I'll be disappointed or depressed. I'm also worried that in this possible funk, I'll miss out on a lot of fun and merriment, and will just kind of dread being there.
I guess this also comes from a slightly uncertain future, as when I return from the summer, I am moving into a new apartment... which I will have to find in the due course of the 15 weeks I'm gone. I will also need to find a job in order to sustain said apartment and the ability to buy food.
So, I guess this is a call for help. What kind of help? I don't really know. If you have my number, feel free to call and chat some this summer. If you have my email address, drop me a line. If you frequent my blog, go ahead and comment. And if you're totally awesome, come on out to Prestonsburg later this summer, hang out, and check out a show.
Here's the stuff I have left to do before I leave on May 12.
UPDATED: Friday, May 11 @ 12:49pm Item 1: "Picasso at the Lapin Agile" Costume Design Item 2: Video project for Web Animation Item 3: Calendar project for Graphic Communications Item 4: Graphic Comm exam Item 5: Astronomy exam Item 6: Web Animation exam/presentation Item 7: Literature exam Item 8: Costume Design presentation Item 9: Pack for JWT Item 10: Move out
The past month or so, I've been evolving a plan in my head about what to do after graduation... especially now that I can finally see an end to my undergrad years. I haven't told too many people this plan, nor is it anything set in stone, but it is definitely something I need and want to do.
Plan A Starting now, I have one year and a week before I graduate. I plan on working this summer and working while taking classes this next school year. Hopefully, I'll be able to save some money, pack up a bunch of crap, and live and work in London (England) for 6 months. I've learned of a program called BUNAC that helps college students or recent graduates find work abroad for up to 6 months. It would be an amazing opportunity. Not only would I be working in another country, but I would get to spend some good quality time with Stephanie and Chris. I would also be able to really enjoy the culture... something I wasn't able to do the last time I visited.
Plan B Should various factors prove inconvenient, I will still save up money, and go visit for a couple weeks. I just won't be making any money during my visit.
Plan C I whore myself out to afford a plane ticket to London and become a street performer.
So, y'know... I should have fun no matter which way the wind blows. :)
Thursday The IM guys came in this weekend for another event at First Baptist, which is always fortunate for me, because that means I get to hang out with some of the coolest bunch of guys I know. Thursday evening, Ben and I hung out at my local haunt, Live Wire, and had some good conversation about life, love, and relationships. It is one of the two most recent conversations I've had that have made me feel a little bit better about things. If Erin W. is reading this, I'm sorry if I've acted like a douche, and thanks for your caring and patience.
Friday I had an eye doctor appointment in Lexington in the afternoon. I finally am wearing contacts again after running out of them over two months ago! It feels good to wake up in the morning and be able to see. I'm pretty excited because my prescription didn't change hardly at all. (whoo hoo) Hung out with Ben and Topher a while that afternoon. That evening hung out at Live Wire some more and caught part of the Jazz Crawl that took place in downtown Richmond. I've never in my life seen so many people crammed into that small coffee shop! Back at the ranch, some friends were in town, and we played a card game called, "Oh Hell". Good times, good friends.
Saturday Slept in. Went to St. Awesome's at 3:00 to volunteer as Video Switcher. For those of you not "in-the-know" the video switcher is the guy that sits in front of a lot of buttons and a wall of TV monitors and "switches" from Camera 1 - to Camera 2 - to a DVD playback - to Camera 3 - back to Camera 1... etc. Of course this is all done via input from the Video Director. It was fun. It was also my last weekend volunteering before my summer gig at Jenny Wiley. Another thing that made it fun was that it was something different, and it was challenging. I love working outside my normal comfort box and learning new things. That evening, my friend William had a housewarming party at his BRAND SPANKIN' NEW HOUSE! Not only is his house awesome, but we all had a lot of fun, and I met some really cool new people, too.
Sunday The morning came way too early, as it usually does when I volunteer on the weekends. At St. Awesome's at 8:15am to continue my Video Switcher role. After the last service, Matt, Casey, Patch, Tim, and I grabbed some quick lunch from Backyard Burger, and headed back to the church. Back at the church I helped lead a Lighting Seminar with Matt for the rest of the guys. It was fun, but I'm so horrible at that kind of thing. I teach much like I learn, by doing rather than being told how. After the seminar, I went back home and crashed hard. Slept for a few hours, then did homework, and went to bed.
Tuesday | April 17 Normal LONG day. Went with some friends to a free stand-up comic that was on campus after my last class of the day. He had high points and low points, but overall, I laughed a lot.
Wednesday | April 18 That night I went to see All The Great Books, Abridged presented by EKU's Theatre Department. The three guys cast in this show had great chemistry and awesome timing. It was a fun night.
Thursday | April 19 I had my first "The Dame" experience. Went with Logan, Lucy, and Chris to see Unknown Hinson. Google him, or check him out on YouTube. He's an interesting character, and a lot of fun to watch.
Friday | April 20 After some quick laundry, I drove to Louisville to hang out with a couple of friends and go to Thunder Over Louisville. Marshall and I played a LOT of Guitar Hero II (on Xbox360) that night.
Saturday | April 21 Headed down to the river at around 10:00am to get a good spot. And get a good spot, we did. At 3:00pm the festivities got going with an air show that was awesome... and loud! When it got dark, the real thunder began... the largest pyrotechnic display in North America! It was amazing! (I'll post photos later) After the festivities were over, we went over to another friends house and played more Guitar Hero II... this time on a HUGE screen TV. We rocked until about 2:30am.
Sunday | April 22 Slept in. Took naps. Had lunch. Drove home. Picked up General Tso's chicken from Tsing Tao on the way home. When I got home, met the girl that's going to be dog- and house-sitting for Dustin and Katie while they're having fun in Paris. That's right, France.
There's no making sense of situations sometimes. Much like the awful scene that took place yesterday at Virginia Tech. I was talking about it with my mom on the phone, and she was talking about how frustrating the reporters were handling the press conferences. They were desperately searching for a "fall guy", and asking the same questions over and over, to which the person had no information about.
In a time when we should be sorrowful and prayerful, I'm thankful. A couple of my cousins graduated from Virginia Tech, and just thinking about the fact that if this happened a couple years ago, they could've been victims in this tragedy makes me feel a little sick to my stomach.
If you do nothing else today, please, take a moment of silence at some point and pray for the families affected by this event at Virginia Tech.
I haven't done one of these in a while, let's see if I'm rusty or not...
Thursday Woke up to some troubling news about a fire in the Paddy Wagon. The Wagon was a cool Irish Pub downtown. By far my favorite watering hole in Richmond. The truly scary part for me was that my favorite place to hang out was only a couple doors down from the pub. Luckily it was only closed for the day (due to that section of Main Street being blocked off), and it reopened on Friday. To console myself, I grabbed General Tso's chicken from Tsing Tao.
Friday I spent most of the day finishing up my costume design project for class. We had to design costumes (and changes) for two of the main female characters in Fallen Angels. When I get all my projects back, I'll scan them in or take a photo of them so you can see what I've been up to in that class.
Went to class and my teacher was very impressed with the progress that I've made since the beginning of class. He was very complimentary. This project had to be painted in watercolor. I'm terrible at painting, but we've been practicing in class, and his comment made me feel much better about my work.
While sitting at home, I got a call from Ben. He and his wife were in town! A pleasant and unexpected surprise. We went to dinner at Casa Fiesta and caught up a little bit. They were in town for a funeral of a friends mother. :( So a good thing under not-so-good circumstances. Later that night I went to another local watering hole with my friends Casey and Michelle. One of Casey's friends was playing at the place that night and so we went and listened for a while.
Saturday I originally had other plans for this weekend, but they were sort of changed, so I was able to enjoy relaxing at home for a little bit, watch TV, and straighten up the room some (not serious cleaning, just a little). Later that night, I met Ben, Rebekah, Chris and his friend at Miyako's for sushi! We actually sat in the sushi bar section since Rebekah finally realized she likes sushi. :) After dinner, Ben, Rebekah, and I hung out at Rebekah's parents house. We chatted, watched some stand-up, watched a little National Treasure, and Ben and I played a little bit of Lux.
Sunday Woke up and went to church at St. Awesome's. They started out the service with a Mute Math video. Pretty sweet. Went home and lounged around for a while. Dustin, Katie and I hit Qdoba for dinner, and then I went into solitude to relax, watch TV, and read my homework for class the next day.
maxx7736: I have some really bad news... skipthehero: what?! maxx7736: The Paddy Wagon was on fire this morning. skipthehero: OH NO! maxx7736: They had a lot of downtown blocked off to fight it. skipthehero: ohmygosh maxx7736: It reached the bar next door to it, but last I heard that was it. So on the brightside livewire should be okay. skipthehero: that's good. maxx7736: It looked pretty bad though, at least from what I could see. skipthehero: that stinks... do you know if anyone was in either of the places? maxx7736: The report said that they believe everyone made it out safe. skipthehero: good
Inspiration abounds after I saw this on Erin's livejournal. One dream for each year of life. That's 28 for me. Here they are in no particular order.
1. Graduate College 2. Have my own place of residence 3. Have a decent paying job that I enjoy 4. Get married 5. Go on a cruise 6. Visit Stephanie and Chris in London 7. Travel to Ireland 8. Make my friends and family proud 9. Watch all the classic movies 10. Act on stage again 11. Be a better man (person) 12. Be a better Christian 13. Learn a second language (French or German) 14. Tour with a show at least once 15. Tour with a concert group at least once 15. Visit my father's grave 16. Be a Big Brother (for Big Brothers and Big Sisters) 17. Learn to play the guitar better 18. Learn to love more 19. Teach my (someday) children about life, love, and laughter 20. That everyone I know will know and understand how much I care for them 21. Have a beer with my son on his 21st birthday 22. Play Mark in RENT 23. Play Seymore in Little Shop of Horrors 24. Spend more time with my family 25. Travel around the world with good friends (and/or significant other) 26. Learn to dance (and lead) 27. Own a boat 28. Make others happy (and laugh)
I setup and ran lights this weekend for the Easter services at St. Awesome's. The energy in a room of over 1000 people singing in praise of their creator is just simply put, incredible.
Normally to setup for a weekend, we meet about 1:00pm on Saturday. Since this weekend was a bigger event, and there were a lot of things that were being added and incorporated, there were about six of us that showed up on Thursday and Friday evening to get jump start on the setup. It was probably one of my favorite stage setup's we've done at church. Here's a couple photos I took this weekend. Click on them to see a larger image.
My Savior loves My Savior lives My Savior's always there for me
My God He was My God He is My God is always gonna be
Yesterday I applied for a job on campus (that would start in the Fall Semester) at ResNet as their Publication Designer.
Today, as I sat down in my last class of the day, I got a phone call from them. I have an interview with them on Monday! I'm very excited. It would be awesome to have a job to come back to after the summer when I return to classes in the fall.
I registered for my classes this morning at 12:30am (as soon as EKU's registration site was ready to go). I'm taking 13 hours next semester (4 classes for you non-college lingo type). After that I'll only have 3 classes to take and will graduate in May of 2008 (cheering all around). For all you stalkers out there, here's my class lineup for Fall 2007.
My last official day of Spring Break was a good one. I spent most of the day hanging out at LiveWire. Started around 12:30 to meet Dustin for lunch. After he left, I worked on my design portfolio site a lot. I also played a few games of Lux. Later that day, Dustin and Katie showed up again, and we listened to Shoshana play some acoustic guitar. She's the one that got the Oasis song stuck in my head. Dustin, Katie, and I played some cards while we listened to the music.
The day was really nice. Relaxing and productive. Too bad it's all over, now.
Day 6 | Tuesday Woke up and right before I left town to visit my friend Ben in Nashville, I got my hari cut. I felt 10 pounds lighter. The trip down was uneventful (which is actually a good thing in a car). Ben and his wife (Rebekah) and I went to this awesome Italian place for dinner called Mafiosos Pizza. They have pizza slices bigger than your head! (or the same size as your head if you're Patch) I had this awesome fried macaroni with lots of cheese and jalapeƱos in it. Amazing. That plus the two ginormous pizza slices left me quite full (and a little uncomfortable).
Day 7 | Wednesday Got to sleep in. Ben and Rebekah had to work. Luckily Ben only had to work until noon, so after a yummy lunch, Ben and I vegged out, and talked a little geek. We got bored and went over the Rebekah's office to keep her company for a bit then walked down to a coffee shop and talked more geek. That night, Rebekah made a scrumptious dinner consisting of chicken, seasoned potatoes, broccoli and cheese, and cheesy garlic biscuits. Rebekah had a party to go to, so Ben and I watched some CSI (original and NY), and of course - talked geek. Ben also introduced me to Lux a RISK-type game for PC. Really fun, and addictive! It's a free download. Check it out.
Day 8 | Thursday Hung out with Ben and Craig at Bixby's coffee shop. Played around on the internet (yay free WiFi!). Had lunch with Ben and then headed back to the land of EDT.
Day 3 | Saturday Worked on laundry a bit more in the morning, then headed to St. Awesome's to volunteer as LD. After church, I decided to stop by LiveWire to just chill out for a while. There was live music that night (since it was a Saturday) and for the sound check the girl play a song that I sort of knew but not fully. That song would end up plaguing me for three days. (gah!) Returned home to continue the marathon laundry session.
Day 4 | Sunday Actually made it to call-time on time despite the three-week-early "spring forward" to Daylight Saving Time and my inopportune bout of insomnia. Sunday after church, I continued to do laundry (seriously). I took my car to a car wash, came home and cleaned the inside out really well. Used the easy Armor-All wipes all over the place. My car looks mostly clean, now. I just need to vacuum the floorboards.
Day 5 | Monday Slept in. Ahhh. Then I met Dustin for lunch at Live Wire. We don't get to meet as much for lunch this semester because Dustin is taking three classes and pretty much uses his lunch break for those. Bummer. After lunch I ran some errands and almost got my haircut. I decided I wasn't in the mood, though, and bought some new jeans. Then went home and finally finished my laundry! (Whoo hoo!) That night Dustin, Katie and I had dinner at Rally's (yumm) and then hung out for a bit at Live Wire (of course). I finally figured out the song that I couldn't come up with. It was Wonderwall by Oasis. That night I found tablature to the song and learned (sorta) how to play it.
What a beautiful day today was! Today started out slow. I slept in (Ahhh) and then worked on cleaning the room up and doing laundry.
Around 2:00, my friend William called. So I took a break from the cleaning (hey, it's my Spring Break, after all) and headed up to Lexington to play around of Frisbee Golf with him and his friend Daniel. I did better than I expected, especially for it being the first time I played this year. Then we grabbed some grub at a new place called Culver's. Really good burgers. They server frozen custard, too. Yummm.
Afterwards, came home and continue to clean and finish the laundry.
My last class before Spring Break was finished at 1:20pm. In celebration I went to LiveWire and hung out. I read some of a book I'm reading, and worked on my computer a little while. Dustin and Katie joined me later, and then we all went and ate at the happiest place on earth. Qdoba finally opened in Richmond! And not only did they open, but I got my Chicken Queso Burrito for FREE, thanks to my Qdoba Card!
When we got home, I helped Dustin and Katie make cakes and desserts that they're taking to her family tomorrow.
Later this evening, Erin called from SETC and reported a long, fun-filled day. :) Everybody wish her luck and send her good thoughts and prayers. She auditions on Saturday morning.
The Good - All my classes for Friday are canceled. - Next week is Spring Break. I'm going to go visit some friends in Nashville. - Today was a beautiful day outside. I didn't have to wear a coat. - Dog Judo. Funny website. Check it out.
The Bad - I'm officially in a funk. Bummer. - I auditioned for a show. I really loved the script. I didn't get a part.
The Ugly - I need a haircut. - I need to finish cleaning my room. - I need to clean out my car. - I need to do laundry.
I've been a bit down and blue this past week. The reasons I won't discuss on here as that would be inappropriate. But I do want to thank those of you who do already know what's been going on for offering your advice, your support, and your friendship. It means a lot to me.
Aside from that, I've been busy in my classes (which are going well). I've done a couple projects for my Costume Design class, and been in the computer lab in the technology department working on different projects for a couple of classes most of my free time. My literature class is going well, and I really love the in-class discussions of the text. On Thursday night, I went out to the observation deck for my astronomy class to look at the moon and planets (Saturn and Venus were the only ones up). It was cold. My fingers stopped working about halfway through.
This weekend I ran lights at church. After church Saturday, I grabbed some Qdoba to cheer myself up. Ran lights again on Sunday. Afterwards, I hit the movies. As a treat to myself, I took in a double feature. First I watched "Bridge to Terabithia". I really enjoyed it. It reminded me a lot of my childhood. It made me cry. The next movie I saw was "Night at the Museum". I enjoyed this one quite a bit as well. It had a lot of heart to it. It made me laugh. After the movies, went home, grabbed a couple of Hot Pockets and some Swiss Cake Rolls and retired to the bedroom.
- Ladies and Gentlemen... it is WAY too cold to be wearing flip flops on campus! - I'm mostly over my pneumonia... I still have a bit of a cough, but it's WAY better than how I was feeling. - I miss my girlfriend. - Started work on redesigning my portfolio site - check it out: www.scottglascock.net - Filed my taxes yesterday. I get a refund. Whoo hoo! C'mon direct deposit! - I miss Stephanie. - I have an actual free weekend this weekend. I'm not sure what to do with myself. - Had a wonderful weekend in Charleston, WV, last weekend with my girlfriend, Erin. We celebrated Valentines Day and our 8 month anniversary.
Traveled down to Berea last night after class with Chris G. One of our friends from my Graphics Comm/Web classes (Logan) is in a band, Delorean Grey (myspace), and invited a couple of us to see his band play.
They were awesome. But I can definitely tell that I'm getting older. The music was way too loud. They did a great job, though. The lead singer's voice reminded me of the lead singer of Incubus. The concert was fun, and on the spur of the moment. Some of the best kind of moments to have.
LiveWire is hosting a Guitar Hero tournament all during February. You come in sometime each week during the first three weeks, play, and get ranked to see if you play in the final week. I think I'm going to sign up, I mean, I'm in there enough. I've only played the actual game once, but I've played a guitar game at an arcade in Ohio several times.
Here's where you guys can help. We're supposed to come up with a rocker name for the tournament. I need a name. The winner will have the honor of me choosing that name as my own. :)
There's a series of messages currently going on at St. Awesome's. It's called God Trusts Us... And this past weekend it was God Trusts Us... with our sexuality. In the middle of the teaching element, No Nick Name Fred asked Patch to jump up and relate to us some of his experiences. First off, I think it takes incredible courage to talk about sex to a large group of people.
But this isn't really about that... what struck me most is when Patch was talking about his girlfriend. What stood out most about his stint speaking was the following words:
"I am madly in love with this girl."
What an awesome statement. To spit it out... without hesitation... to an entire group of people (whom you may or may not know). It really inspired me.
I know I have talked about my girlfriend Erin a little bit before to some of you... but I think it bears repeating here and now.
I am deeply and madly in love with that girl. The best part is that I see her as "the one". With a capital T and a capital O. The days I'm without her are tough, and the days I'm with her are wonderful and amazing. For the people who have not found this yet (if they are searching)... it's wonderful. Don't give up. For the people who have found it...