Snowpocalypse 2009

Well, it's official: the world is indeed coming to an end. Why? you ask. What is your evidence?

Well, most of Virginia got about two feet of snow in a night and a day. My car is objecting strenuously to being buried, but two attempts at de-snowification later and it's still mostly unrecognizable except as a large snowy blob with shiny burgundy bits sticking out. Also, my arms are killing me - I'm spoiled from living in the previously Snowless land and having boys at home who like to snowplow the driveway.

Being snowed in is nice, but this WOULD happen the day before I drive back to PA - I have no choice but to haul my miserable personage out into the cold to de-snow my car in order to be able to drive on Monday. I have to go to work today, too, but my boss is using the work truck to come and pick us all up, so I don't have to risk my car on the roads quite yet.

Also-also, I miss my snow boots. I've got these lovely waterproof hiking boots, but they don't quite do the job of insulating, so I needed to double-sock. Which is, by the by, one of the least comfortable ways to wear socks apart from wearing a sock on your head. (That I have not yet attempted, but the most basic physics tell me that would be a highly uncomfortable endeavour.)

Mainly I'm just passing the time and procrastinating from attacking the snow around my car again. I'll maybe stop babbling now and do something constructive.... like making lunch, for instance. Lentil soup is sounding really good about now.

Marriage

My sister, Sierra Marie Armstrong (23) and her fiance, Justin Hughes (also aged 23) were married in a civil ceremony at a Fort Collins, Colorado courthouse this morning. As of this moment, I am the first to know.

The Fickle Gods of Weather

So, last week it was too sweltering to contemplate living and so my fans were all going nonstop and I was considering chopping off all my hair just to get rid of the sweat on my head. I jumped at every opportunity to go somewhere air-conditioned - work, the library, shopping ANYWHERE (as long as it had air-conditioning), and I even relented enough to wear shorts (which hasn't happened since I was about ten).

This week has been just plain weird. My feet have freezing every evening when I come home. When E and I had drinks on her porch the night before last, I actually had to wear a sweater and THEN (since I was in flip-flops and my feet were freezing) E had to go get blankets because we were both so cold. (Don't get me wrong, it was divine, but - well, the second day of September? Really now?) I have been nearly dying of cold every evening at the theatre because the air-conditioning is too cold and I'm almost dreading my shopping/lunch out expedition due to the chilliness of the air conditioning that no one has turned off yet because it is the BEGINNING OF SEPTEMBER.

In other news, I'm loving every minute. I prefer to put on layers rather than take them off and I will cuddle in a blanket any day instead of sweltering in front of a fan. Plus, it's not too hot now for my morning coffee and THAT is essential. I'm beginning to feel my need for my autumn gothic novels and I think I'll kick them off with Austen's "Northanger Abbey". I would kick off with "Jane Eyre", but I left my "Complete Works of the Bronte Sisters" in PA and I keep forgetting to grab it when I'm home.

It looks like I'll be getting home for "Heritage Days", which I'm more than a little bit excited about. I haven't been home for that in about four years and I cannot WAIT. Stefan is in charge of Hearth Cooking this year, so I'll be doing that and it's going to be SWEET.

Real World

I have applied for a job as a bank teller. Oh, real world, look at what you've done!

In other news, with every job I apply for, graduate programs in, well, anything are looking more and more inviting.

Vacation

I am currently "vacationing" - that is, I'm in PA for an entire week (Momma and Daddy are over the moon - I haven't been home for a full week since Christmas) to finish a root canal this afternoon. I really don't need to take a full week for the procedure, but I really did want to see the family for a little while.

I've already been roped into riding on the church float in the July Fourth parade, which will also mean that I'll go to the park for some of the festivities on said day. (I count myself lucky - I narrowly escaped walking and holding a banner, on the basis that I'm visiting and the banners are bigger than me.)

It's been pretty peaceful in the short time I've been here thus far. I had a bath last night and neglected to subdue my hair with chemicals while it was wet, so I'm sporting a Hermione Granger look this morning - but it's all good. Later today, I'll be running a few errands in and around Lewisburg, mainly because I miss driving around here. It's so pretty and it's one of my favorite things to do. I'm mainly just looking forward to relaxing and figuring out how to sleep in again - I lost that ability between last summer and my school year, so I'm struggling to get that back.

A couple of jobs in the offing post-graduation. The first, which is looking like a lot of fun, is part-time au pair to a 3-month old little girl. Her family wants to take me on vacation with them so I can watch the baby. I am okay with that. (Hello, paid vacation? Oh yes. And the baby is well behaved, so it's not exactly a hardship.) Also, I'm applying over at Little Keswick School to be a residential counselor - it's a boarding school for boys with learning disabilities, and if I do the right paperwork, they'll pay for me to get my masters' in teaching. Also-also, it's only about half the week spent there so I can keep my other jobs.

Mrr. I may have just written myself out.

Huh

I'm graduated. I have graduated with a BA in theatre, a minor in vocal performance, and with distinction in my major.

And, believe it or not, I am actually thinking about going on for my master's in teaching.

Ah yes. Paul and I are dating. It is all official and stuff. After four years, we have finally settled down and figured out how to date each other.

I don't feel grown-up at all. That's kind of a gyp. But I'm relaxed, for all that I spent the last week with an infected half-done root canal in Disneyworld. I have never taken so much Vicodin in my life. Also, withdrawal blows. But I still like Epcot as much as I did last time. And I discovered that Moroccan cuisine is amazing.

This is a disjointed post. But it's all good.

And then God said....

....that I SHALL GRADUATE ON TIME!!!!! WOO!

In other words, I passed math. With a C-. I haven't had a C- in math since high school. Hot damn, life just started to rock. Because I don't have to commit ritual suicide now rather than tell my parents I won't be graduating.

BECAUSE I WILL BE.

And now I will never have to look at algebra again.

These Times, They Are a'Changin

May Term time once more. My class (Mediation in Theory and Practice) keeps me struggling to stay awake from 9:30 to noon at the very latest (luckily, he likes to let us out early). Sometimes I can get a wise-crack in (my classroom trademark), but it's not often and I believe yesterday I made a list of things to do, a list of things I need from home (already wrote that, actually), and a list of goals for the summertime.

On top of my new job at Barren Ridge, starting next week it looks like I'll have a steady babysitting job, as well. She's quite small (barely one) and her parents want to experiment with having her be somewhere not home with someone not her parents - which is where I come in. And hey - I get to spend time with a baby. I like babies and this way, I have a temporary baby. See also, I can totally call myself a professional nanny now. Like Mary Poppins.

Mrr. I'm really just waiting for all my exam scores at this point. Professors are SLOW with the grading. Why do so many of them wait until the end of exam week to start grading? Ooh! I had coffee with Ali yesterday, which was lovely. We don't often have time to meet up just to talk anymore (even though she really just lives down the street from me now), and we were able to really catch up. (Also, CotC's chai lattes are pretty nice.)

And now I must get to my homework. Ew.

It Is Finished

DONE. DONEDONEDONEDONEDONEDONE. Not counting May Term, this is my last exam week ever. EVER, I tell you! Bwahahahahaha!

The title of the final paper: Women’s Rights:
A Comparison between Women’s Rights in Theatre and Women’s Rights in Daily Life

AND NOW IT'S DONE.

I'll just be over in that corner collapsing now, yes?

Sing We A Song That Takes But a Minute

I hate being the Madrigals director. I really, truly do. Because of Madrigals and a moment of insanity that involves us performing during EXAM WEEK, I don't get to go home. At all. Until October, barring some major family disaster. I kind of want to commit homicide right now. I have never been so angry at the administration of this school for completely cutting out the pre-May Term break that used to be so welcome to us students who have batshit insane teachers who think performances at the end of exam week are a good idea. I am so beyond frustrated. I was going to go home, go to the dentist, grab some essentials that I forgot at the end of spring break, get my mom to hold me and tell me that it isn't my fault that I can't stay in a relationship for longer than five months at a stretch... But no. I'm stuck. Here. And furious at the world.

In other news, I have a new job. I have been hired to help run the wine-tasting room over at Barren Ridge Winery! I'm getting paid eight dollars an hour to talk about wine to people and to not have to wear a uniform while I do it. Score! And if all works out with the babysitting/voice lessons thing, I'll be able to easily pay my bills all through the summer and maybe even save a little bit of money for when my six-month loan deferrment wears out.

I do hate hearing the question, "So, do you have a job lined up for graduation?" It's so rude to ask that, especially with the economy in its current state of collapse. Do you seriously think that, unless you are offering a job, a college graduate this year will want to hear that question? College graduates are all scared shitless right now because THERE ARE NO JOBS. And if there are jobs, then nobody is advertising because they're scared of having to sort through 200+ applications. (Do you know how I heard about the opening at Barren Ridge? Word of mouth. And for the very reason I just mentioned, too.) No college graduate wants to be reminded that, as of May 2009, they will very likely be going home to live in their childhood bedroom and to beg for a waitressing job.

Even in my line of work jobs are hard to find. Theatres are closing all over the US because nobody can afford to keep them open anymore. Companies are folding, no one is starting new companies, and the companies that are barely keeping their heads above water aren't hiring new actors/techies because they can't afford to pay the ones they already have. Whatever happened to Federally Funded Theatre? Oh yeah - George Bush made it so that the government can't even afford to pay their air-traffic controllers. Or had you forgotten about that?

Yeah, I'm bitter. I'm working for slightly above minimum wage at a job that has nothing to do with the skills I have paid 30,000 dollars a year to acrue over the past four years. But that's okay - at least I don't have to say, "Would you like fries with that?"

Your Mom

So, there is something wrong with me. Once more, I have not made it past the five-month mark in a relationship. Am I just jinxing myself? I wonder.

Anyway, laryngitis is a bitch. I had it for the first time ever and managed to lose my voice for over a week, and then wasn't allowed to sing for three weeks. I'm being allowed a short voice lesson today, but I'm still raspy so we'll see how long I'll be allowed to phonate before being banned once more.

I'm exhausted. Emotionally, physically, spiritually. Usually I get sort of a post-Easter high, but since graduation is imminent, I'm feeling the drain acutely. Luckily, there are some lovely May-term plans happening - my friend Jarod is having a Buffy-viewing party (unfortunately focused on Spike rather than a more interesting character, but whatevs), then the next night my friend Liz is having a Not-Yet-Old birthday party. Good times, there.

I'll be in Virginia for the summer. I've gotten into a show at the Grove (very exciting - I get to play a villain for the first time ever. My job is to be gorgeous and a bitch for the entire show - I think I can handle that) and I'm looking for a job that will pay the bills. In the meantime, I'll be teaching voice lessons and taking in the occasional babysitting job. Momma and Daddy want me to move back home, and since Sierra got into Clarion University's MLS program, she wants me to come to Clarion with her in the fall to be her roommate, which is certainly something to consider. I ended up talking to her last night and she said that my communication issues (something that has been complained about by significant others frequently) stem back to being put in "time-out" when I was a kid, rather than being encouraged to argue with my parents. I can see that. When I get angry or upset, I have this tendency to need alone-time in which to think and calm down, and significant others don't tend to like that very much.

Anyway. I'm done sacrificing myself for a significant other. I am drained and tired and now I'm really just in the mood to be not-serious and not-grown up about life.

It Got Worse

My recital has been postponed. KILL ME.

Tomorrow is Another Day

Well then. This week has already kind of kicked me in the face a little bit. I left my laptop in Scotsville at Greg's apartment. Got a hospital bill, because it did not go properly on the insurance. (It's a BIG hospital bill, too. Can't even pretend to pay for it minus insurance.) My paycheck from the school was not quite as large as I had hoped, so when I paid the school my final (final!) balance, that pretty much took half of that. My voice lesson (one week before my recital) sucked ass. I spent forty-five minutes on my three song French set, which was nightmarish. I was at Secret Garden rehearsal until 1:30 am Monday, and when I got home, there was smoke/steam wafting out from under the hood.

Yeah. That's right. I popped the hood and there was more smoke. Had Sam (Terry's brother and our technical director at MBC Theatre) look under the hood on Tuesday and we discovered that the radiator is busted. That's about three-hundred dollars right there. (He looked up how much the part costs, then considered the average cost of labor in this area.) So, I can't drive any further than twenty miles at a stretch. (Which means I can't go to Scotsville to get my laptop, or to take care of Greg's plants while he's gone, which I had planned on doing to surprise him.) I also need to pay my accompanist at the end of the week, so now I have managed to talk to my parents about needing a total sum of $600 this week alone.

Oh. Yeah. The one week where I absolutely need help and Greg is in South Carolina for work. Bah. And now his mom is in the hospital with heart problems.

I keep reminding myself that it could get feasibly get worse. At least my country is not in a massive civil war and my way of life is not completely torn apart. I would like to thank the kind influence of Scarlett O'Hara for showing me that my life could suck a whole lot worse now.

Of Illness

Mrr. I turn into a big baby when I have the flu and there's someone taking care of me. I went to Greg's on Saturday because we had an altercation and it needed resolved. I drove to his place at exactly the time he was driving to my place - we more than likely passed each other on the road, actually. He arrived back after eleven and by that point I was worried sick. I had done the calculations, allowing for travel and questioning Phipps about why I wasn't where I said I would be, and he was LATE. Anyway, I don't have cell reception in Scotsville, so I had no way of calling him to see where he was. (He had been frantically calling me, as had Phipps, because they didn't know where I was.)

He arrived, I was still frantic, he was frantic, and we essentially kissed and made up right there. (I hope every fight happens this way, minus the travel-time.) Anyway, I was well into flu-land by that point, so Greg bundled me up in blankets and hauled out his pharmacy of flu/cough/cold medicine while cooking me a nourishing omelette (it was nearly 1 am by this point). I slept fitfully all night, because I refused Nyquil. (That was a miscalculation.)

I spent all of Sunday in bed, because I was too dizzy to stand up without falling over (I tried) and did not go to church or rehearsal. Greg made me chicken noodle soup (with rice noodles, the way I like) and we spent all day watching "Weeds" and sleeping intermittently. (I slept a lot.) That night, I turned into the biggest whiniest baby in the world while Greg insisted on cough medicine and Nyquil. He persisted. They tasted icky. But I did sleep.

This week, I will be moving out of my apartment and into a different one. Thank God. That is all I shall say about that.

Darlin' Eileen

Life kind of sucks. See, there's this thing where I tried my very best to be not at all involved in the musical. I did. I did my very best. And then they needed dressers for the (multiple!) quick-changes. So I said, "Okay. I'll help. But only if you don't have enough people by tech week." And they didn't. That was cool. I can be a dresser. That's nice and low-maintenance and I don't have to be there every single night because I'm doing it out of the goodness of my heart.

And then everybody started getting sick. The plague began to spread through the theatre and everyone fell to it - everyone IN the show, that is. Techies are fine. One of the girls is so ill that she went to the ER last night with a temperature of 103.0. She has a speaking/named role. One that sings, too. And then I, in a brief moment of insanity, said, "What can I do to help you, Dr. Fran." And she said, "If you could give me a new lease on life, a strong mezzo-soprano, the remedy to the common cold, and more techs than the show currently possesses, you would make my life that much easier."

And then I said, "I have a mezzo for you, ma'am." She said, "Who?" I said, "Me, ma'am."

It was at that very moment that I realized I had finally lost my mind.

Not only that, I get to learn how to swing dance. In three days. With my ex, who is in the show and is not yet over me, because of the simple fact that I am with someone else and no longer at all interested in him.

Yeah. This is going to go GREAT.

I Had No Choice

I really sort of like this whole two-real-classes per day thing, with no classes on Fridays. Long weekends are fairly excellent inventions. I will be able to go home an entire day early for spring break this year! (Leaving Thursday night after Mads, get home around (9:30 or 10 in the evening, for a good night's sleep and a whole extra day of break! Everybody else's break starts at 2pm on Friday.)

In other news, my minor medical concern will be resolved on Friday for good, which I am a bit relieved about. It interferes with my days too much and it's a bit aggravating occasionally. I'll just be glad to get my appetite back. Until that point, it's yoghurt and dry Life cereal for me! (Mainly because that's what I'm eating now.)

My gentleman caller treats me extremely well. We spent this past weekend together and we went to the most excellent pizza joint ever (called "The Mellow Mushroom", it really just doesn't get much better than that), then on to a wine bar on the downtown mall in Charlottesville, which was so worth it. The ambience was nice, the music was nice and quiet, and the wine was excellent. The next day we went iceskating (and stayed for only twenty minutes because the rink was just SO crowded we could barely move - next time, we're going in the evening). Because we were only there twenty minutes, we gave a couple of very surprised people our skating passes and headed out on our way. There's a restaurant nearby there that sounds dreadful (Beer Run), but is really quite excellent. Their selection of beers was extensive and widely varied, which was lovely to behold, and their food quite decent. It's very common around this area for restaurants to use organic and higher quality produce and the quality really makes a difference.

Since neither of us was feeling particularly well and since we'd ended up staying out far later than we had expected to (long and rather unpleasant story that involves me wanting to kick my gentleman caller's landlord in the teeth), we made the unanimous decision to go and take a nap. We did, and that gave me enough energy that evening to make supper, since it was my turn - he had cooked the last couple of times we ate in. I made groundnut stew and he's still raving about it. I felt very accomplished and proud of myself.

Sunday morning, I drove back to Staunton for church. Since we had a guest choir visiting, that meant that I didn't have to do anything that morning, so I just got to sit and enjoy the service. That certainly made for a nice change.

The weekend was very nice. I'm a bit tired now, but soon all will be well!

Oh the Perfection of Gentry

He can't fit me in to one of his class sections. But he's running a directed inquiry course just for me that will be the equivalent of the math course I need. I need to figure out things this guy likes because I OWE him.

In other news, that makes my life about ten TIMES simpler.

Insanity? Thy Name is Education.

Dude. I hate finding out at the beginning of my last semester that I'm still missing a requirement. It is the least fun feeling IN THE WORLD. However, I have managed to find a course that I won't want to kill myself over too badly, so I think I'll be okay. The real struggle is convincing Dr. Gentry to let me into one of his College Algebra sections. I knew my math problems would bite me in the ass someday. Curses on algebra! And I hope Dr. Gentry pays heed to my pleas.

In other news, life is a little crazy elsewhere, too. I'm in "The Secret Garden", a musical based on that very book by Francis Hogden Burnett and I get to play a ghost. Lily the ghost, actually, and a wife and mother. Never played a wife and mother before, so it should be interesting. Our first rehearsal was lovely and nice and the other cast members seem very pleasant. I think I'm going to have a good time with this one. March will be very stressful, though, because my recital is on one of the Saturday performance days. I'll be running straight from my recital to the show, with my parents and probably my Gentleman Caller in tow.

Ah yes. I have a Gentleman Caller. John dear, you might remember him. He went to high school at Warrior Run and was in Sierra's year. In any case, he lives in Scotsville now and by some wild coincidence we became reacquainted while we were both home for Christmas. We have had several lovely dates and his gentlemanly behavior has never once wavered. It's quite refreshing, actually. We get along very well - and also, he loves to cook. That is always a plus.

Otherwise, things are going well. Some of my lovely ladies who needed to be gone last semester have come back to Mary Baldwin this semester, so I am surrounded by friends and as happy as I can be while worrying about graduation requirements. I'm having a slight medical problem at the moment that I won't go into detail over, but it will be resolved by the end of this month and I will be back in the pink of health.