William, Wolfgang, August, and Me

Bertolt Brecht was a German playwright born in 1898. His experience of WWI was watching friends go off to die, giving him a strong distaste for war. He even begin to write anti-war essays in school, nearly getting him expelled. Not wishing to join the army, he enrolled in medical school, in order to be exempt from service, however he studied more theatre than medicine. He ended up being drafted anyway, but was placed at a medical post. He began playwrighting in 1918 and saw his writing as a chance to respond to other people's work and what he saw going on in the world around him. In 1922, he received an award for the most promising new playwright and was praised for his use of language and symbolism. What's different about Brecht's work is that he saw theatre more as a sport. He didn't want an audience to come in and be passively entertained for a few hours and go home. He wanted the audience to come in and take sides, to pick who they thought deserved to win and...

I recently was cast as Dogsborough  in Bertold Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui.   Ui is the a very thinly veiled allegory about Hitler's rise to power and his taking of Austria, in which Brecht points out to the audience, "You could have stopped this, and you didn't." While Arturo Ui is the allegorical stand-in for Hitler, Dogsborough stands in for Paul von Hindenburg. Can't you see the resemblance?  So today we're going to have a quick intro of Hindenburg! Paul von Hindenburg was born in 1847 and died in 1934, making him ancient, which is talked about a lot in the play. I am on old, old man, with very white hair. He was in the military, his first stint lasting 46 years, followed by retirement and then joining again in WWI. He was elected as president of Germany in 1925, at the age of 78. At the age of 84, he ran for reelection, even though he was not well, because he was believed to be the only candidate who had a chance at beating Hit...

Today I started filling out my Yale application. Yale. 5% acceptance rate Yale. Everybody who is anybody in theatre comes out of here Yale. Application is due January 15th (2018, not 2017 like my messed up planner says.) If this isn't panicky enough, I went to get my unofficial transcripts and discovered an error on them. So three meetings, a bowl of ice cream, and a glass of wine later, Yale applications only partially done, but you know, I'll get there. I have until January. 

Last night, Indiana Jane and I realized that we had very similar meals planned, so we combined and ended up making a huge feast that not only fed the two of us, but also Hot Lips and Indiana Jane's boyfriend, The Banker, besides leaving leftovers. The meal consisted of chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, broccoli, homemade biscuits, and cantaloupe. And it was delicious. After dinner, Indiana Jane and the The Banker went on a romantic sunset walk and Hot Lips and I cleaned the apartment. Upon their return, Indiana Jane and The Banker made homemade caramel topping and we all enjoyed ice cream sundaes and watched Grey's Anatomy. Why am I telling you all of this? Because I am currently sitting in a quiet, beautifully cleaned apartment, with loads of delicious leftovers waiting for me in the fridge, and roommates swapping stories about their days.  I'm pretty sure this is adulting done right.

Yesterday, I sat at my desk at work, devouring the almonds and fruit snacks my boss keeps in the office for emergencies. I was tired, and hungry, and cranky. I hadn't had breakfast and I didn't have a lunch packed, so other than those almonds, I wasn't going to get to eat until 4:30pm, all because I had overslept and woke up 20 minutes before my class that's a 20 minute walk away. I have seen so many blog posts and article with helpful tips on how to keep your life in order. Every professor has a spiel on what you're doing wrong, why they have no sympathy for you falling asleep in class or not having completed your homework, and what you should be doing to have an easier time as a student and not get in these pickles. The problem is that, on paper, I am a perfect student. My room walls are covered with schedules, and planning is my favorite thing in the world. I do homework before anything else. I am up early and I go to bed at a reasonable time. I do everything...

Flower Child's Birthday: A story in Polaroids Flower Child has morning birthday cuddles with her boyfriend, Sweaters. Sweaters enjoys the mimosas.  Hot Lips is done with shoes by lunch. Ready to party! Hot Lips, Flower Child, Me, and Indiana Jane Sweaters and Flower Child with their margaritas.  Indiana Jane, Me, and Hot Lips with our margaritas. Free birthday dessert from the Mexican restaurant. Hot Lips shows off her dinner. Bar 1.  Hot Lips ready to play pool. Sweaters ready to take her on. Hot Lips beating Sweaters mercilessly. The rest of us being a faithful audience. The new Carrie Underwood album. Sweaters admitting defeat.  Hot Lips and Flower Child signing their lives away at a tattoo parlor. Flower Child getting hers. Flower Child gets her crown back post-tattoo. The final bar.

Coming back from IVLI, I decided that the best way to use my final month before school start was by cleaning and organizing my room. With only one more year in my parents' home, I am feeling the itch to sort though things and make sure everything is in order to pack up and move out, so that's what I decided to devote the month of August to, cleaning out my room. How hard could that be? Well, this was my room at the beginning of August:   And this was my room after two weeks of cleaning: And this was my room the day I moved back to school :   Yep. Still not finished. But!! I did get 3 garbage bags of old papers out of my room and pretty much every box I have sorted through. So I'm moving along. This is now my new room in my apartment:   Proof that I am capable of having a clean room. So now I'm in the apartment, and I've been here for a week, and so far so good. Let's get this year started!