Life Thus Far

With no one holding me accountable to updating this blog, I have failed. That and life is busy and rather depressing right now.

The Intermediate/Advanced conservatory has begun. This means we're working with 11+ y.o. It's both great and frustrating, all at the same time. Some of the kids are interested, engaged and superbly well behaved. Many are still a little immature. But what gets me is the short timeline to create things. We go into tech for the Advanced shows on Friday and we have yet to erect the set on the main stage. This worries me immensely. But John and I are pretty much our own crew of 2 for 6 shows. And have to teach and visit Core Conservatory sites on a regular basis... just not sure how things are supposed to get done.

I'm just grateful that I came up with a design that does not involve a lot of shifting between shows. There is a rep set of platforms that is not going to move. We're just going to be dealing with things hanging in the air that have to come down and change out. Phew.

In related news, I've been soul-searching a bit about whether design is really my chosen path. I enjoy it, don't get me wrong, but having to do all the grunt labor for it: building/painting/propping is frustrating. I feel like some kind of lazy humbug when I admit this to myself, but I really would like to have a less physically demanding job. And I'd like to wear non paint-clothes on a more regular basis. Is that too much to ask?

Okay, off to work today. I leave you with a photo of the drop design for Los Altos 2 for a show called "Romeo and Winnifred."

These Are a Few of My _______ Things

It's Sunday, a week after my last blog, and I'm updating! Whoa.

This week I will touch on some stuff because I actually have to leave for tech in 1.5 hours as well as call my mom and get ready, so this will be more listy than usual.

1. This week I "designed" a backdrop for the first Summer Conservatory here at CTC. I did this by taking all of the ideas drawn and colored by the kids and mashing them together into something coherent based on the two director's opinions. It was fabulous! All my creative input was layout (which I actually enjoy) and some toy ideas, but the majority of what made it was the kids' drawings. Including an awesomely spiky, lime green dinosaur. (I will get a picture, promise). Then, after drawing out the final design on 18'x24' piece of paper (finally getting some use of of my huge sketch pad from Grinnell) I went to the site and drew it on 4 king-sized sheets sewn together.

Again, it was freeing. I can be so anal about drawing, but when you're outside in 80+ heat, in the noonday sun, on a blacktop w/ no shade, drawing w/ a permanent marker, you just accept the lines you draw. And it turned out great. I cannot wait to see how the kids paint it. :)

2. Tech! Is today, as I mentioned. Tomorrow is my day off. Seem strange? Yes, it is. While I do not mind coming in tomorrow to work if I need to (this is the first time the designer has seen any of the set), I also don't know if I get a day off instead. I really wish I had control over my own schedule. It would make me feel better about the hours I put in and more likely to work more, actually.

3. I applied to some jobs yesterday, and sent out feeler resumes for the 1.5 month that I have off at the end of summer. While I would like to be employed, it isn't life or death since CT will be bringing in money and I am planning to put as much away as I can to cover that open gap of income. So it was nice to send out resumes and not freak out about all the details. If they like me, great. If not, oh well. I do kind of hope that I can wrangle a job somewhere to start getting my name out there in the Bay Area. We'll see.

I think that may be it for this week. Next week starts 2 more Conservatories--so 2 more drops!--and Black Coffee opens on Friday. Followed by my own Intermediate/Advanced Conservatory teaching experience. I am definitely enjoying myself this summer. Perhaps I am more cut out to teach younger kids than college students. :P