Move over Elton and Liberace.....

Sequins, sequins, sequins ..... I've been working in the costume shop now for the past several weeks, and pretty much all I've done is put sequins on corsets. The first production this semester is The Rocky Horror Show and we had to make 11 corsets, all having sequins sewed on by hand. Ugh! Not exactly the most exciting job, but at least it's a no-brainer and a group of us can sit and chat while doing it.

October is proving to be a very busy time for me. This Saturday I'm heading to Green Bay for the alumni book signing. Next week (Oct. 10 - 14), Rocky opens and I'm playing the role of Assistant House Manager for some of the key performances - just a little added security. The midnight performance is sold out which should be a lot of fun. The 14th of October is Homecoming and the Advancement Office has a bunch of "schmoozing" planned. And the 28th, the Children's Tour kicks off, so I've been working on finalizing all that stuff - study guides, press releases, group sales letters, vehicle rental and driver authorization, advance travel expense money .... and, oh yeh, we've decided to add a Halloween Party for the kids before the performance on that Saturday which I'm planning. Can I tell you I'm looking forward to November? heehee

Happy Monday!

Yeah! Two of my three classes were cancelled today. I absolutely love unexpected time, especially when I'm feeling a time crunch. woo-hoo

My Monday night Marketing class was one that was cancelled. Tonight was to be a group project presentation --- yep, three of my four classes have group projects .... yee-freakin-haw! I have a feeling this group is going to be a tough one since one guy works a bazillion hours like me, another guy doesn't say much, and the last guy flunked out of Madison because of his partying (his admission). Ugh! On top of the group project this teacher is strict... no leaving once lecture has started and she lectures from 6:30p right up to 9:00p. We can get out early if we, as a class, decide at the beginning of class to forgo the 15 minutes break. Wow! I have never had a night class that met the full time. The computer classes that I took at night had lecture for about an hour ... and the rest of the time was lab ... so I'd just take off and do what I needed to do at home. The good thing is that it only meets once a week. It's also a very large class ... 97 students. She took our photo at the beginning of class so she can learn our faces. LOL

Back to normal.....

The first week of the semester is almost over. It's been a little hectic, but I'm determined not to procrastinate this time -- LOL So far, so good ...

My classes this semester include:

• Theatre History to 1550: I've got the Theatre History routine down -- they are all taught by the same professor and as long as I reasonably keep up, it shouldn't be a problem. We'll be covering the Greek, Roman, and medieval eras.
• Intro to Design: In this class I'll be designing the set, costume, and lighting for a show. My assignment this weekend, besides reading the text, is to decide on a script. The only requirement is that there are at least seven costumes. This class will be a challenge! Definitely very important not to put this off.... (sigh)
• General Marketing: I'm taking this class on Monday night, so I haven't gotten any information on projects or assignments. Next week... I can't image it'll be terribly difficult since it's a general class.
• Arts Marketing: This class will drive me crazy since everything is group project based. Since it is my third "art management" class, I've met a core group of students that have arts management as a minor or are theatre management majors. After my experience with last semester's group, I've decided to "draft" my group ahead of time ... LOL ... Everyone is on board. Now just to keep the slackers out... that might be difficult. The instructor has also added a group member evaluation to the formula. Yeah! It won't determine your grade, but it will affect it. That was something I suggested during the course evaluation after last semester's fiasco.
• Practicums: I am also working 40 hours in the costume shop and am part of the running crew for the last show of the semester. The running crew sounds interesting ... It's just a pain for me to take so much time off from the bar and the bowling alley. Between tech and dress rehearsals and performance, I think I need about 10 days off. Yikes! Better start working on that....

I'm still working at all three places: the college, Hammer's and the bowling alley. At the college, I'm staying on 20 hours a week throughout the academic year ... most of those hours will be during the day unless a project needs to be worked on during the evening or on the weekend. As for the other two places, I've told the bowling alley I can work Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Hammer's - Friday, Saturday, Sunday .... leaving Monday night for class. I'm pretty sure I won't be working very many hours at the bowling alley since they recently hired a manager that will be working 40 hrs. I'm okay with that ... gives me more time for homework and to chill. Hopefully I'll get a weekend or two off from Hammer's now that they have hired another bartender. Working every weekend this summer sure got old.

Work Work Work

I talked with the Dean of the College last week and confirmed that I'll be staying on throughout the school year! Yippee!! I'll work between 20 and 30 hours a week, depending on the projects that I have going on. The core of my job duties will be working with the Director of Advancement on fundraising/marketing/development projects and then coordinating the programs for the music recitals. I wouldn't have thought the latter would be a big deal, but there are 40 in the fall semester alone. The headache will be getting the program information from the faculty and students in a timely fashion. There is a faculty member that is already two and half weeks late getting his information in..... errrrr! I wonder if that means the programs can be two and half weeks late... haha! Since the programs are sent out for printing, it gets to be a big pain.

I guess with each job comes some frustration. Good news though! As part of my job with Advancement, in October I'll be heading to the Packer ProShop to hang out with an UW-Whitewater Alum who has written a book - "Mudbaths & Bloodbaths: The Inside Story of the Bears-Packers Rivalry." He is having a book signing at the ProShop and part of sales will be given back to the College of Arts and Communication. He's a Communications graduate that works for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Both the Dean and the Director are busy, so they are sending me. Should be kind of a fun project -- It would be better if it was a game day, and I had a free ticket to the game.... oh well

Sweet Baby James

I finally treated myself to a concert ... Last Tuesday I headed into Madison to see James Taylor at the Coliseum. It was an excellent concert - very cool! He played all my faves ... "Fire and Rain," "Carolina," "Steamroller," "Shower the People" ... even a few surprises - "Oh What a Beautiful Morning" from the musical "Oklahoma!" and "The River is Wide." It definitely got me fired up to see more live performances and take advantage of living so close to so much.

Here's the review: http://www.madison.com/wsj/mad/entertainment/index.php?ntid=95006&ntpid=3

Dreams...

Last weekend I had my recurring dream that usually surfaces during periods of stress in my life. I hadn't had one since the end of the Spring semester, and didn't think things were too terribly stressful in my life right now, outside of working a bazillion hours. The premise of this dream is that I'm about to go on stage for a performance and I don't know my lines. It's literally minutes before my cue and I'm frantically studying the script and experiencing lots of anxiety. Sometimes I wake up before going on stage, other times I go on stage and just "wing it." This time I wasn't freaked out about not knowing my lines ... I just walked out on stage with script in hand. LOL Don't know if it means anything at all, but when I woke it made me chuckle.

Quick trip to Rhlder!

Last week I made a day/night trip to Rhinelander to join in a Nicolet Players celebration/volunteer appreciation. I had a BLAST!! I saw several people I haven't seen in a while and jogged my memory about past Nicolet productions. Thanks to Jim, Kay, and Kristin for all their work in putting together this shindig. (Note: I'm going to steal this idea when I have my own theatre!) :^D

The past week at the college I've been updating the Theatre/Dance Department website - putting the 2005-06 and summer season into the archives and getting the 06-07 season on the website. Feel free to check out the website:
http://academics.uww.edu/CAC/Theatre/Season.htm (06-07 Season)
http://academics.uww.edu/CAC/Theatre/archivesnew/archives.htm (archives)

Today I met with the stage manager of a production called The Center Line. I'm going to coordinate the publicity and promotion of this ALL student production. Written by a fellow student, this play is completely student driven - all the design, acting, directing, publicity, etc. is done by the students. The only involvement of the college has been .... "yep, you can rehearse and perform here." With it opening Sept. 1st, I had better get moving - less than four weeks. Since it's a student driven production, I have to work on it outside of my hours at the college... rightfully so. This week is going to be tough since I'm working 40 hours at the college and 38 at the bar ... ugh! But I think I can get the script read and a draft of the press release written on Wednesday night. LOL Good thing I work well with deadlines!

I'm still here...

The end of July already ... There hasn't been much to write about - just work. Two weeks ago I started full-time hours again at the college. Now I'm working only in the Director of Public Events office since she's on maternity leave. My focus has been, and will be for the next couple of weeks, publicity of the summer series and publicity for the upcoming academic year - press releases, ads, sponsorships, etc. The Hammer's (the bar) has been keeping me busy - working 3 nights a week, if not more. I have a week coming up that I'm working 5 nights because one of the other bartenders is going to Sturgis. Between the bar and the college, I'll have that proverbial candle lit at both ends that week... Good thing that the bowling alley is closed until late August.

The fall semester starts in five weeks. While I'm looking forward to getting back into the routine, so many of my summer projects aren't finished yet. Oh well... that's life!

Holy Crap! It's June already!

Three more months of summer break left. Time is just flying. Not really much new here, except that I'm working. Next week the person I'm filling-in for at the college returns, which means I'll only be working 4 hours a day - that is until the next person goes on leave. For now I'll be working on projects for the Directors of Development and Public Events - good experience in fund raising development and performance publicity. Just in time I guess, since today I called for my work schedule at the new bar and found out that I'm working the next three weekends. YEAH! I knew about this weekend (still two more days of training - heehee) but was surprised about the next two - Friday/Saturday/Sunday and Saturday/Sunday. Guess that's more than one day a week. LOL One of the other bartenders requested time off so.... I wonder if that is how the whole summer will be. Time will tell.

Last weekend my oldest nephew graduated from Tomahawk High School. He's the first of the nieces and nephews to graduate. Very strange. He has his own apartment and is planning on going to college for criminal justice this fall. Very cool. Funny thing though.... I don't feel old enough for him to be that old. So what if this summer is a big milestone birthday for me? Although, at the graduation party, I started priming the younger nieces and nephews that it's important to buy (or make) their favorite Aunt Deb a present because it's a big birthday! HaHa

Interview Update

Well, I had one of the two interviews scheduled for last week.

The interview with Ticket Services/Box Office didn't happen as the supervisor was AWOL. When I arrived for the interview the lead person told me that the supervisor hadn't been in all day and didn't know when or if she'd be coming in. The appointment was for 1:15 pm and I was the customary 5 minutes early. The lead person told me not to bother sticking around since it she didn't know what was going on, so I left about 1:20 pm. A couple of hours later I had a voice mail that from the supervisor. She apparently had the wrong time written down and that she would get in contact with me next week. Well... the week has come and gone and I haven't heard from her. The more contacts I have with her, or don't have with her, the more I think I don't really want a job there. LOL It's been suggested though that I at least try a semester there as it would "look good on the resume". I guess I'll see how I feel after I actually have an interview.

The interview at Hammer's went well and I start training on Monday after I get done work at the college. They actually have three training days scheduled for me. Jeez ... how much training do they think I need to bartend? LOL They know I've been bartending for over two years now. Oh well, I guess I can't fault them for not giving me enough training. It just a fill-in position, probably one day a week to start out with. Perhaps it will turn into more days a week though by the end of the summer and I can stop working at the bowling alley.

The grades have finally been posted....

All A's -- Woohoo!

My publicity practicum is an incomplete because the Children's Theatre Tour doesn't happen until next fall. It's not a surprise to me though - I'll be working on it through the summer and next semester. At least it doesn't effect my grade point - 4.0!!

One year down....

two more to go....

Highlights from this week so far:

• Received a scholarship for next year "Fero Theatre Management Award for Outstanding Management/Promotions. Pretty cool... It'll help out with the bills.
• Started secretarial replacement job on Monday. I forgot how much I like typing "projects."
• Two job interviews this week. Tomorrow afternoon with the Ticket Services/Box Office Department at the University and Saturday morning I'm meeting with the owner of the Hammer's, the local bar that I visit occasionally.
• Finished all my exams. It looks like I have two A's so far ... two more classes to find out about later next week. I believe they'll be A's also if I didn't blow the final exams in those classes (don't think I did). I'll have an incomplete in my 2 credit publicity production practium, which I expected. I'm coordinating the tour route for the children's play next fall, so I can't finish the job until the show goes on the road the end of October and beginning of November.
• Didn't get much sleep last night (two hours) and PROMISED myself AGAIN that I wouldn't procrastinate with the homework any more. LOL

Well, good night all ... four hours before I have to be up for work (just got home from working at the bowling alley). Boy I sure got used to being a night owl... LOL

Quick Update

• Two more papers to write for this week - a 4-5 page and a 6 page (piece of cake!) Four exams next week - done at 3:00 pm Thursday (woo-hoo!)
• Next Monday I start working as a replacement secretary for the Assistant Dean at the College of Arts and Communications. It'll be a 4-6 weeks job while the current secretary is on medical leave. Part-time for exam week, then full-time after. Early July sometime I'll be a replacement for the Director of Public Events for the same college. She'll be on maternity leave 8-12 weeks. Don't know specifics on that yet, but it will help supplement the bowling alley since they are only open one day a week during the summer.

Tick Tick Tick...

How many theatre students does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

Erm, what's the deadline, cos I may need an extension.

============================

I guess that should sum up my life last week. Unfortunately it's the next two weeks also ... But then I'm home free - just exams after that.

Update on my life...

Last weekend, early Monday morning, I finished THE group project from hell... A group of four really meant two of us working on the project which was a grant proposal. Since it was Spring Break, I knew it was going to be a challenge. But all they had to do was email their portions to me by Thursday. Nope -- didn't happen. After many, many emails, I finally got the last of the information Sunday night around 11:30 pm. I worked on the project until 4:00 Monday morning and emailed it to everyone to review so I could submit by our deadline of 10:30am Monday. I only heard back from ONE of the three people, but submitted it anyway. I almost came uncorked when one of the unresponsive group members asked me later that day... "Whatever happened to our grant 'thingy?' Her response to my statement "Obviously you didn't check your email" was "Oh yeh, I was busy this weekend and haven't checked it since Saturday." ERRRRRRRR I understand that the whole group project process is supposed to foster team work. But in the real world, I wouldn't have to work with these slackers since I'D FIRE THEIR A$$. LOL I'm so thankful that I don't have anymore projects with that group. This was the second project of the semester - the first one didn't go much better.

I hate group projects!

Only five more weeks of the semester with the last week exclusively for exams. I met with my advisor to talk about my classes for fall and found out some information about Disney. Apparently, students don't really have much say in what duties they do at Disney during 'internships' and she has known some students to work as housekeepers or parking attendants. Not really what I had in mind. She said that I don't need an internship because of all the hands-on experience I'll have by graduation, but if I was still interested there are possibilities locally - Milwaukee or Madison. I was bummed about Disney not being what I had hoped, but glad that I won't be wasting a semester on the unknown. I know this though ... after I'm finished with school.... "I'm going to Disney!" It'll be time for a vacation!

WOO-FREAKIN-HOO!!!

SAMMY WILL BE IN GREEN BAY THIS SUMMER!!!

July 18th!!! He's also going to be in Milwaukee and at Rockfest, but with him playing at the Oneida Casino I have a better chance of being front row again. I took this picture in Green Bay from the barricades in front of the stage during the Summer of 2003. Of course, I'll be in line at noon again since it's general admission! Thank God I bought 512MB memory for my digital camera!

A Project for My Niece ...

Hi everybody! Flat Stanley here. I went on the most excellent adventure with Amber’s Aunt Deb. She is going to college in Whitewater and she took me to a dance concert. It was really neat. There were lots of dancers. The concert was almost two hours long and we saw eight different dance pieces. When we got home, Aunt Deb had to write a paper for class on the costumes and lighting. Below you can see me with a group of dancers who were dressed in clothes from the 1980’s. This was our favorite because they banged on the garbage cans and stomped their feet a lot. It was a blast!

It looks like Spring is right around the corner!

Today has been a great day weather-wise! When I left CA (Center for the Arts), the sun was shining and it was plenty warm -- 50 degrees! Woo-Hoo! I came home and opened the windows -- fresh air is great! It supposed to rain later this evening and tomorrow, but who cares -- it's getting warmer!

The other day I noticed that a Northwoods DJ has made the move to Milwaukee area. About a month ago, I started listening to a new radio station that was just getting started - 102.9 The Hog - out of Milwaukee... just good classic rock - 70's, 80's and 90's. It reminded me a lot of "Rock Like a Pig" Thursdays on Z104 out of Merrill. Well, lo and behold, earlier this week I heard Nick Summers, the DJ for Rock Like a Pig, on the air in Milwaukee. It was nice to hear a familiar voice.

This week I've been working in lighting again. The next show is a 'dance concert' - which means lots of overhead lights... Today there was a lot of standing around because of some troubleshooting needed to happen ... it's tough to monitor what 10 people are doing when hanging and plugging in lights. Of course, some things were plugged or marked in the wrong circuits. Oh well, it's part of the learning process.

Sunday Night Update

Not much really happened this week... I saw the college production of "Pirates of Penzance" on Thursday night. It was a big hit, selling out each of the four performances - good money maker. Tomorrow it will be the topic of discussion in one of my classes and could write a review for extra credit -- 'could' is the operative word. I'm thinking I'm doing well enough in class to skip it. :^D This week and next I have to work 10 hours in lighting. We will be hanging and focusing lights for a dance recital that happens in a couple of weeks.

I'm excited that this week I have five days off from the bowling alley ... in a row! Now to make good use of the time...

Is Spring here yet?

Blah! I want warm weather and SUN!!

Not much new has been happening... just finished up a round of exams in three of my classes - 98%, 98.83% and unknown. Hopefully, I'll find out the results of the last one on Friday. My life has been revolving around classes and work -- I guess it's paying off. I'm hoping I'm able to relax and have some fun over Spring Break ... keep your fingers crossed that I don't have to work too much.

Testing

For some reason the ability to leave comments has disappeared.... just a test post to see if it's back.

This one makes me laugh....

A monkey is sitting in a tree smoking a joint, when a lizard walks past, looks up, and says to the monkey "Hey, what're you doing?" The monkey replies, "Smokin' a joint, come up and have some." So the lizard climbs up the tree, sits next to the monkey, and they smoke a few joints. After a while the lizard says his mouth is 'dry' and he's going to the river to get a drink. The lizard climbs down the tree and staggers over to the river to get a drink of water, but he is so stoned, he leans over too far and falls into the river. A crocodile sees this, swims over to the lizard and helps him to the side. Then he asks the lizard, "What's the matter with you?" The lizard explains to the crocodile that he was sitting up in a tree with a monkey smoking pot, got too stoned and then fell into the river while taking a drink. The crocodile says he has to check this out, and wanders off into the jungle. He finds the tree where the monkey is sitting finishing up a joint. The crocodile yells up to the monkey and says "Hey!" The monkey looks down and says, "Dude! How much water did you drink?!" LOL

(p.s. I have to Bob S. credit for this joke as I originally heard it from him first. This evening though it came back to me via the Sammy Hagar Mailing List- otherwise, I wouldn't have remembered the details.)

Update....

1. Zicam works. At least I think it does. I had only two really crappy cold days, and then started feeling pretty good. Hint: Don't get the rapidmelts .... After one day of using them, I went back to Wal-Mart and bought the nasal gel ..... 1000% better!!!

2. The acne treatment was too strong for my face and after two weeks of use, my cheeks were literally burned. I guess bleaching my wash cloth was a bad sign. Now my cheeks have finally healed, and I've started to use a one-step acne treatment that seems to be working just fine.

3. And for all of those people who I asked what 'MDF' stood for in regards to construction ... medium denisty fibreboard. (Sandra ... can you please pass this info on to Mitch? Thanks - :^D )

Feeling like a guinea pig

Yesterday morning when I woke up I didn't feel right. Nothing hurt, just didn't have much energy. I contributed it to the weekend. But when I woke this morning, I could tell that I'm starting to get sick - got that "extra sensitive" nose, my eyes feel funky, and just a little something in my throat - not quite a tickle, but feeling like I have to clear my throat a lot. I'm fortunate to tell a couple of days out that I'm going to be sick. Nice, eh? Anyways, I decided I'd beef up the Vitamin C and trek to Wal-Mart to buy some ZICAM. I've been seeing the ads on TV but haven't known anyone that has used it. I decided to buy the 'rapidmelt' version instead of the nasal spray or the nasal swabs. YUK! Mistake. Cherry flavored- my butt! There is only a hint of cherry flavor and it reminds me of alum .... really puckers (drys out) the mouth. And you can't eat or drink anything for 15 minutes after! I've taken three doses so far today ... every three hours per instructions. Next time - nasal spray! That is if this stuff really works. I'll be the guinea pig and see if it "actually shortens the cold" as their advertising claims ... although who really knows how long a cold lasts????

Good Thing or Bad Thing???

So, tonight the bowling alley finally had their "holiday celebration." Before I left the apartment, I looked in my wallet, grabbed some $$$$, and decided I better bring an ID. HaHa I was the first to arrive at the bar, even though I left 10 minutes late. Anyways ... I ordered my drink and then ... finally everyone else arrived. As they ordered their drinks, they were carded, an exercise that I was able to "avoid." (We all know what a "hassle" it is to be carded.) Anyways, as the night progressed most everyone needed to call it an early night for some reason or another. I ended up traveling to other bars with a co-worker. It wasn't until our third stop farther on down the road that as I was finally carded. LOL I loved the response I heard, as I whooped and hollered, "Congratulations, you have to be the oldest person that I've ever carded." Is this a compliment????? I cajoled the bouncer and told him that since I was the oldest person that he's carded he definitely should buy me a drink. LOL Unfortunately, most of the younger "gentlemen" in this town are 'low in funds.' Oh well.... the night wasn't a total loss... I managed to show some skills on the billiards tables and tried to instruct one of the youngsters on the appropriate way to jump a ball.... what a waste of time.... Anyways.... time to call it a night!

Back to school tomorrow...

Classes for Spring Semester:

• Organizational Behavior - Some management class -- could be interesting
• Contemporary Drama - Theatre 1950 to Present - Yeah!
• Intro to Technical Theatre - Lighting, Costumes, Sound, and Set Design (includes 40 hrs in the shops)
• Non-Profit Arts Management
• Production Practicum - Publicity Assistant (120 hrs - Focus: Children's Theatre Tour for Fall of 2006 & Ticket Services Employee Manual)

I'm actually looking forward to getting back to "normal." Deadlines and stress seem to be such a part of my life that I become real lazy if they are absent. I didn't get many of my projects crossed off my list over semester break, but they will still be there when I have some spare time during the next months. I did manage to finally read Harry Potter #4 - all 700+ pages - and watch a few movies.

Riddle me this....

These two things should not be used by a person at the same time in their life....

reading glasses AND acne medication

I can I understand the reading glasses since I'm getting older, but I've never in my life have ever had acne! The occasional zit, but never acne! WTH... I've been patiently waiting for the outbreak to go away by itself, but after two months now, I'm convinced that it needs some help. I'm not a stranger to the face care section of Wal-Mart, pondering which eye cream will help those beginning crows feet, but there I was yesterday, trying to figure out what miraculous treatment will fix the bumps on my chin. Luckily, I had a flashback to a conversation I had with my niece this past summer and remembered what she told me she bought and actually worked. There must be some wicked stuff in this acne treatment since it's bleaching my washcloth! LOL I guess time will tell...

Nine days left of break....

Time is flying by.....

I just got home from house managing at the box theatre at the college. The show was completely student driven: written by a student, directed by a student, lights, sets, costumes, everything was dome by students. They have been invited to compete at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival this coming weekend. Two shows are being held to raise money for the trip. Luckily our region - Region III - is in northern Illinois so it's not terribly far. I've decided there is one drawback to the House Manager job... not being able to see the show. :^( Since I'm working the show again tomorrow I won't be able to see it. The audience comments were good, so I'm hoping they do well on Saturday.