A Year Ago - Drawings

Does anyone blog anymore?

A year ago this summer, I was in a design class.  We did blind contour drawings where you're looking at the subject, not your hand as you draw, and you don't lift the pencil.
Our subjects were each other - classmates that were sitting around us.
Mine turned out looking like this:

Patrick 1

 Patrick 2

Lee 1

Lee 2 

You Can't Spell "Theatre" Without "The"

When Matthew & I were first starting out, he'd come over to my apartment & was checking out my dvd collection and pointed at the musicals stash and said, "What's that about? Were you in those or something?"

It's funny how much I've been thinking about that question recently.  Dammit, he's so good at that and he doesn't even MEAN to be.

In, maybe 3rd grade?, we read a play and I loved everything about it, the way it was formatted, that it took multiple people to read it out loud....etc.  So, I wrote my own starring the Christmas tree and my brother.  The tree spoke with flickering lights I'd blink on and off while doing voice over from underneath it while my brother played his part standing next to the tree.  If you ask her, my mother will not remember this happening.

We did some plays and puppet shows in church, but during high school, I missed out on any sort of drama club because it was either unavailable or I was already working and didn't have time for extra-curricular activities.
Luckily, that's the only thing I'd ever really say, "If I had to do it over again..." for.
Apopka High School did two productions while I was there, Our Town (yes, I cried) and Show Boat which had the most impressive stage boat set I'd ever seen.  That fucker was two stories and REVOLVED in 2 separate pieces so the outside of the boat was one set and the inside of it another.

My grandparents owned a music store when we were growing up and were into musicals, so The Music Man and The Sound of Music were annual staples and I was obsessed with one of my grandmother's music boxes that had a couple dancing while a Phantom of The Opera song played.
Maybe it's a genetic thing that I'm a musicals fan.  My favorite is when someone says they "hate muscials" but can then sing along to most songs in the movie versions.
Like my mom says that she hates musicals (...or just most things...) but then knows all the songs from Fiddler On The Roof, or Porgy and Bess, or 7 Brides For 7 Brothers.

Rent and Ragtime are probably my two freakin' favorites and Chicago would be the show I'd almost certainly die to be in.
Perhaps in another life.

Last week, I teased a little about being over at Mad Cow.

About a month ago and after a few weeks of bugging the Production Manager, and email bombing the overhire program alias, I received a reply asking if I'd be interested in being a Stage Manager for some upcoming shows. (there were a lot of strange high pitched happy noises that followed simply due to receiving a reply)  My response to them included the fact that I'd be starting out completely green and that it would be better for me to jump into an Assistant Stage Manager position first so I could eat everyone's brains and gain their knowledge.
After doing some homework, what I liked about this was that it paralleled my old gig as a Sales Associate/Inside Sales Support but instead of a District Manager, I now have a director.  Instead of a sales team, there's a cast of actors.  Instead of the operations team, there are the production teams.  There was a slight sense of familiarity making it not completely feel like I'd be a mermaid out of water.
So, for the past couple of weeks, I've been playing the role of Assistant Stage Manager for Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof".

As soon as I found out which show I'd be working, it was time for more homework.
First, was a viewing of the Liz Taylor/Paul Newman/Burl Ives 1958 movie version.
Then I found out that Tennessee Williams hated that flick, so I went over to YouTube and found a Jessica Lange/Tommy Lee Jones/Rip Torn 1984 PBS version...which was pretty stinkin' great.
The father/son relationships and struggles being a strong and common theme, I told Matthew that his freakin' family was ripe for a Tennessee Williams play. If Mick is reading this, I'm sure he'd agree.
My next round of homework is more research on Tennessee Williams and to read a book one of our actors wrote.

Will keep you guys posted as we go.

The show opens Friday 3/21 and runs until Sunday 4/20.

KAREN:     If you need me...I'll just be...uh....down at The Theatre.
(...cue strange high pitched happy noises.)

CURTAIN

A Return of Sorts

Lots of you guys already know this, and to quote a phrase my old boss used to say about past work experiences, "In a previous life...."
I worked at Walt Disney World.

I was there for about 4 years starting the summer before my senior year of high school.  Hired in to be a cast member for Magic Kingdom attractions/entertainment (which ended up being more of a food service with a show, but I'll get to that later) at The Diamond Horseshoe Saloon Review & Medicine Show.
It's closed now - probably being used as storage or a character meet & greet space (just like the Animation Studio at "Hollywood Studios" is a cold empty husk of the magic it once held).
While it was open, we served cold sammiches and chips and ice cream and sodas while a stage show with magicians, singing cowboys, and can-can girls performed.
It was an entertaining food service attraction.
We dared to blur the line between departments.
Because of this, I was able to cross-train at a few other close by attractions like Haunted Mansion, which was the best because it was the only place you could give your face a rest from all that smiling and being nice to people.
(...hello, Jesse. consider this a virtual hug.)

(awkward pic pose)

2 years later, I moved over to Typhoon Lagoon to be a lifeguard.  But not one of those cool lifeguards like those that got to dive the shark reef for most of the day or like the guys standing above the wave pool.  I was a shallow water guard.  Which meant watching people float down a lazyass river, telling kids not to climb rocks, ster-bac bluing the snorkel gear, and tube stacking.
Before we were even allowed to stand poolside with our whistles, there was, of course, a certification class where were taught CPR and other life-saving techniques in the deep end of a pool at a YMCA.  An older gentlemen in our class ended up having a heart attack in the pool during a session and we had to do a real life emergency rescue....

Anyway, during this lifeguarding phase, I was also taking classes over at Valencia 3 days a week and working 12-14hr days. Sometimes picking up event shifts that had me clocked in from 6a.m. to 3 or 4a.m.
Make no mistake, lifeguards party just as hard as they work and I had some of the best drunken nights of my life that I probably shouldn't remember.
(...Neil?? I think you're the only one from back then who may or may not read this. HI!! ...also, luckily for us, I can't find any pictures at the moment.)

The park would close for two months in the Florida "winter" for renovations & maintenance and would send its cast members to the other parks and resorts on property. I was sent into retail at a gift shop at the then-named Disney Institute (now called Saratoga Springs) which was the most boring gig but gave me an awesome opportunity to do a claymation short film as a part of the resort's "area awareness" training.
The resort used to run 2hr workshops that people could take in gardening, animation & claymation, and a few random other things....photography was in there, I think.  Apparently, people don't want to learn on vacation because it doesn't appear they do that stuff anymore.
That day in the claymation shop, we were broken off into 4 groups of 3 or 4 and my group was inspired by Bambi Meets Godzilla (below) so we did a similar little ditty but instead it was a pink poodle floating down a river on a raft and it gets eaten by a purple tentacled monster from below.
It took us 2hrs to complete a 12 second clip.  Will do some digging to see if it's hidden in a box in a closet somewhere.

When Typhoon reopened, I went back to lifeguarding before itching to get back to the entertainment side of things and auditioned to be in....no...wait....to be A Friend Of the Disney Characters and ended up being great friends with Rafiki, Pluto, & Eeyore over at Camp Minnie Mickey (recently closed) at the Animal Kingdom (...hello, Bambi, Michelle, Jen, & whoever else may be lurking....HUGS!!) just after its Grand Opening.
(Had some pretty fuckin' awesome drunken nights while I was here, too.  *daydreamy sigh*)
(bleh....some not so awesome, too)

And then I tried to swing into being a Puppeteer for the Lion King Show (recently closed) over at Disney's Animal Kingdom but got caught up in a stupid union thing that fucked over my chance. Pissed off (mostly with myself), I picked up odd shifts here and there, becoming friends with Brer Fox, Mr. Smee, and Wendell the Country Bear over at other parks & resorts and then left to become a photographer at Animal Kingdom (3rd party), which was still kinda fun because then I was taking pictures of all my friends who were Friends of Disney Characters, but really kinda sucked because we were doing the same framing, seeing the same character poses...for hours, for days, for months.  And with a shitty manager.
I got burnt out.  Fast.

Completely disenchanted & struggling, I left theme parks/entertainment/hospitality all together to go swimming in the tech pool for about 14 years.

And, so here we are.  15 years later and I've returned to entertainment.
In the form of Mad Cow Theatre.
Which, unbeknownst to most of you, has been a goal of mine for the past year+ and is on my list of things to accomplish for 2014.
I seriously couldn't be happier or more excited at present and will share more details next week!!

ARGH - CLIFFHANGER!!

Themeless Thursday. Blah.

You turds tired of hearing me bitch about not having a/c?
Yeah, me too.
So here's a picture of our bananas from a few years ago. I just found it on an old thumb drive.

Themeless Thursday

The moviestorm thing is fun, right??
Yes.....it is.
The problem is, the macbook I'm running it on doesn't meet the recommended requirements & the more complicated (read: cool) I make the video, the more it starts to act up while I'm working on it.
So it gets frustrating.
That's why "Throwback Thursday"s have kind of taken a dump.
PLUS, the last time I went through some of my old writings, the more I wanted to yack all over it. There was lots of boy crazy stuff....which is fun, but it was making moviestorms more complicated in my head. I wanted school sets with lockers & additional crap that my laptop can't handle, blah blah blah.
So, there.

I've been doing chores around the house and starting to get things ready for this year's Summer Bomb. Its the 6th Annual. On Aug. 6th.

This weekend, we're headed over to this place.

Just to run away from some things.

Like regrouting the bathroom floor & painting walls.

I need to get some reading done. The summer reading list is suffering lately between the dayjob and the house chores.

But look at these little fuckers. The vodka skull is.

I made some guac the other day and kept the seeds to put in our kitchen window.

Since the neighbor's tree is gone, we get a ton more sun through the front windows and I figured we should take advantage of it.

Unfortunately, it takes a million years for avocado trees to produce any fruits, so this is more of an experiment than an endeavor to start growing our own foods.

Maybe someday.

If I don't kill these.

Throwback Thursday - Dirty Limerick

Suckit Saturday - Moviestorm Edition

Throwback Thursday 4

Catching up from last week when I failed to post anything due to having a shitty week & not feeling like putting forth any effort here.

Glad you noticed.

I present to you 2 entries from my old DOS WordPerfect journal.

December 7, 1992:

I was sick at home for most of the day, except for my last hour class: Science. I only went for that class to take a test because otherwise it would've been an essay test. Lord knows I ain't gonna do that.

While I was at home I watched the Joan Rivers show. Marky Mark was on. The whole thing was about sex and sex oriented. Not just a segment, but the whole show. Why are people so intrigued with sex? MaDonna would say, "Why is anyone? Why are you?" I think she has a very good point.

I talked to my dearest friend, Cortney, and we were talking about embarrassing moments. I haven't had any major humiliating episodes, but the people in some of my magazines have. Most of them, I think, just make up stuff and hope that their story gets in the mag. Stuff about farting at a boyfriend's house or getting their periods at a very crucial moment. Its kinda immature to send that sort of stuff in. I'm just glad they don't have the stupidity to send their names along with it and that the editors protect their identities. That's kind of them. Otherwise they would ruin these peoples' reps, such as I imagine they are.

I want to tell you that this is my first attempt to keep a real journal about me and the goings on of this day and age. I've tried to keep up with journals before but they kind of got boring after a while. Some didn't even make any sense. I want this one to be special. I want to have someone else read it in the next generation and the generation after that. I hope its that interesting.

Let me introduce you to my family by telling you a little bit about everyone.

My family is very close knit. We share a lot together. The close knit part of us all live here in FL. The farthest way to go to get to a family member's house is to Daytona.

OK, now here's my family [goes on to name names like a family tree].

There, that's my family. My friends...they're a different story. I can tell you about my closest ones. My first real bestest friend is April. She lives in Ocala now so we're not really that close anymore. I've known her since Kindergarten. Then there's Alicia. She moved to Winter Park and lives with her mom. I really ought to write to her. Thanks for reminding me. We try to keep in touch every now and then, if we're not too busy. Then I would hafta say that the most best friend that I feel really close to and have the most in common with is Cortney. We have the greatest times and the worst outcomes. We are trying to plan a bonfire/xmas party and we hope to have everyone there. I'll keep ya posted!

**********************************************

December 8, 1992

I cried watching the news tonight.

Those people in Somalia are really suffering. And for what? Starving people have done nothing to deserve what treatment they're getting. I don't understand.

Throwback Thursday 3

Going back to typing.

That video from last week took a long time to do and time is what I don't have this week.

We're leaving for Toronto today. I'll be doing some writing during our trip and will return with some yummy wordy goodness for you to chew on.

Not like you turds care too much.....I showed you a damn picture of a box yesterday and got no complaints.

Here's today's throwback.

As written in that same 11th grade English class journal.

Apparently, the word of the day was "abominable" and we had to use it somewhere in the entry.

FEB. 2, '95

Well, yesterday was my first day of work.

A friend of mine told me yesterday that now I'll be workin'* for the rest of my life. I don't know how long this job is gonna* last cuz* the boss lady is very abominable.

I said that exact same thing to another friend of mind and he said that that's who I'm afraid of when I go walking in the snow. I told him not that kind of abominable.

Well, is that what that means - The Abominable Snowman - The Unpleasant Snowman?(1)

Anyway, I worked from 5:30pm - 8:00pm bussin'* tables, doing dishes, and cutting bread and lettuce. My hands still smell like food. Its really gross. But it pays good.

Friday I work from 4:00-? and this weekend's Art Festival will bring in loads of people so both Saturday & Sunday I gotta* work from 8am until closing!!

Boss lady (I don't know her name but she's Egyptian and her husband's name is Eddie - he's Egyptian, too - he's not abominable) says that if I do a good job this weekend she'll put me up to waitressing.

I think I want to go apply for Marco's in Tavares. I love Italian food & that's my favorite place to eat and they're hiring now.

Why is it that when I got my job everyone started hiring?

"Oh, Karen got a job. We're safe now. Let's start hiring."

Oh well.

I wish Egyptia wasn't so witchy, but I can't really gripe. I get 10% of tips plus how much I get paid an hour. I'm bringin'* in some crazy cash. Well, anything's crazy cash compared to none. Although sometimes, once in a while, I get paid to sit in rich people's house, eat their food, play their Sega, watch their TV, & be lazy - pretty much what I do at home, except I don't get paid $3.50/hr at home. It ain't* much but its a lot for doin'* nothin'*.

A friend of mine from MDHS works with me. (2)

He's in the back doin'* food stuff.

He thinks he broke 2 cases of eggs, but he probably just broke the bottom one.

We goof off in the back when I'm doin'* dishes, but only when Egyptia isn't back there. Eddie doesn't seem to mind.

Egyptia asked me if I was pregnant.

I said, "no."

She said, "Oh, you're just fat."

She really has no room to talk - she's not skinny.

I don't think I'm fat. I'm big, but I really don't have that much fat. Its all muscle cuz* I'm Ironwoman.

Karen is just my secret identity.

---------------------------------------------

*No points off for using slang terms & dropping "g"s. Used 12 times. And all are still used to this day. Maybe he took no points off because I wasn't consistent with it? At the very beginning I used "workin'" but shortly after also used "walking". It probably had more to do with the fact that out of the whole class, I wrote more than 2 sentences.

(1) Margin note: I guess so. You (to the teacher) just answered it.

(2) Rick was the first boy to ever break my heart. We worked together after said heart breaking. He was dreamy. He turned into an uberchristian while we worked together and is probably fat now.

Teacher's note: "This gets the record for lengthiest journal entry - EVER! Does this come easy to you?" In the journal, it was 4 full pages.

In the future note: Both restaurants referred to in this entry are long since closed.

!!FELIZ CINCO DE MAYO, MIERDAS!!

Throwback Thursday 2

Shut up...I know its not technically Thursday anymore by the time this finished up, but who the hell cares when I can make the date/time stamp say whatever I want it to??

BOOYAH!!

Click here.

THROWBACK Thursday

You like that?

I changed it.

Cuz this is my blog and I can do that.

Here's a paper I found from my first year over at Valencia Community College in 1997.

What a n00b.

ENC1101.WO33

August 28

Diagnostic Assessment

I don't have a lot of writing experience.

I graduated high school in 1996 with English IV Honors, but even in there we didn't do much writing. I've kept a journal for 4 years, if that counts.

I'm not too sure on what I'm expecting from this course. I'd like to improve my writing ability and be more able to put my thoughts on paper.

I've never been told I had any writing strengths.(1) I try to make my writing look good and I proofread to make sure it sounds good. Everyone does that. So, I honestly don't think I have any "strengths" in my writing. Maybe I could find out if I do contain some by taking this course.(2)

As far as writing weaknesses, I could give a whole list of them. It takes me a long time to think of how to start. I have a hard time with transferring what's in my head and putting it on black and white. I also try hard to make my writing sound intelligent, but when I read over it, it doesn't sound as great as I think it should. (3)

**********************

(1) Teacher's note: "That's sad!"

(2) Teacher's note: "You most certainly will!!"

(3) Teacher's note: "Perhaps you are too hard on yourself."

She also marked all of my contractions, took out the "But" I'd had in there before "Everyone does that.", and changed "in black and white" to "on black and white".....which I still hate.

No one says, "ON black & white"....duh. I get the point, but it hurts my eyes to read.

I got a +10.

(why can you not flip photobooth pics in iphoto?? dammit.)