swamped

I feel like I've been neglecting my little blog lately. I just feel like I haven't had a good moment to sit down and write something. I feel like I've been really busy lately. Not that anything has been added to my schedule; it's just more like it's all been building up--the constant stream of band practices, speech meets, home football games, family visits, and work. It's not that I'm getting busier, it's just that it's getting harder to maintain life at this speed.

I'm totally stressing about bills. I hate to admit it, but it's true. I always do this time of year. The good thing is, the light is visible at the end of the tunnel since I'll finally get to see some fiscal rewards for driving to Monticello and back all summer and fall when gas was at a record high. I won't see that money till December, but it'll be just in time to do my Christmas shopping and not totally destroy my bank account.

Really, I just have to make it through the beginning of November and all of my heavy financial lifting will be done. Actually, it's just going to get easier from here on out. My earnings from coaching speech and color guard will finally put a nice cushion in my savings, and gas prices are going down (for now, anyway). Meanwhile, I'm almost three-fourths through my car payments; those will be done in the summer. And, I'm supposed to get a raise now that the first year of my contract is nearing completion. Not that it'll be truly significant, but again, it'll just be some extra padding, which would be nice.

And things are already starting to slow down, as far as my various commitments are concerned. Our band didn't make it to State, but the upside is that I won't be spending so much money on gas every week, and my weeknights will now be completely free to get back to the gym (oh, how I've missed yoga classes!!!) and do a better job of keeping up with my housework. Blech, does that sound domestic or what? I do kind of enjoy cleaning, once I get to it, though! And it's easier when you can do a little of it more often, rather than watch it pile up until you finally have time to put some serious elbow-grease into it.

Speech lasts through the middle of November, but that's just one afternoon a week, and we only have two meets left. And now I don't have to worry anymore about splitting my Saturdays between band contests, speech meets, and football games. I actually have managed to make it to every single game, although I missed the first half of one to go to a band contest. But as busy as it's been, I have to say I enjoy it; I really thrive on having things to do rather than to just go to work and come home. I think I took on a little too much this fall, but I made it work.

November will be a sort of a wholistic detox for me; back to the gym, no more need to eat on the run, put more time and energy into work to get the rest of the changes to the show accomplished, start work on plans for the 11:00 service at church. Revamp, renew, refresh, refocus.

All in time for the holidays.

Last year, the holidays stressed me out because it was the first time I didn't get an actual "Thanksgiving break" or "Christmas vacation." And unlike most places of business, I didn't even actually get all of the holidays off at all. On Thanksgiving, I did the morning show, drove down to my grandmother's, drove back, got minimal sleep, and headed into work again. Christmas Day I actually got to spend at home...until the evening, when I drove back in to get to work that night. New Year's Eve passed and the new year arrived as I sat at my desk next to the police scanners, watching the ball drop in Times Square on TV. Talk about depressing. And then that day I navigated a blizzard to make it to my aunt's house for a couple of hours before having to head back once more.

I can't do that this year.

Thanksgiving, I can handle. And Christmas will be the same deal, which is no problem. But I think I have decided that I will be spending New Year's in town. And the nice thing is, I think a lot of my friends from this summer will be home, so I'm sure I'll be able to find something to do.

Geez, Halloween isn't even here yet...I can't believe I'm already thinking about the holidays. But if you don't consider them now, they sneak up on you two-thirds of the way through November, so it's best to think it out now.

Anyway...

I don't plan to go back to my quiet life for long. I am planning to audition for another musical with Civic at the beginning of December, and that will be my new "extra-cirricular" activity through the winter. The show I'm hoping to be a part of is in March. Then in April, I will re-assess and figure out my next move, whether that's beginning the search for a new job or waiting a while longer until I save up some more or a better opportunity presents itself. I'll start planning my vacation time for the lake and get it approved. Then I'll make my last few car payments and begin the hunt for a puppy, and maybe try another Civic show for the summer if it's in the cards.

That's a loooong way in advance. But that's where I'm headed.

Right now, I just need to kind of get my life back together.

Tonight was nice, not having to go over to Monticello for band practice. Not to mention it's saving me gas money! I've been reading all evening, and I'm going to try to finish this book before it's time to get ready for work.

Until later!
Lis

PS - I can't BELIEVE I almost forgot to say this--I saw High School Musical 3 this weekend and LOVED it. The dances and songs were a major step up from the franchise's first and second installments. And yes, I was a little sad when it was all over. I actually had that "let-down" feeling today that I used to get after the Christmas show or after performing a musical for the last time. I would have changed a few things about the plot to make it a bit more intricate, but then again it's HSM, so there's no real need for depth. I can't wait to get the soundtrack, and I will probably go see it again (one of my friends mentioned he might be persuaded to go!) while it's still in theaters. And the icing on the cake was that this morning I read reviews from Yahoo, Rotten Tomatoes, and other film buff sites, and the reviews were actually pretty good! I think the critics have finally learned to see the franchise for what it is--a fun, kid-friendly, postive message about working as a team and being yourself. Not to mention a great way to get a new generation interested in song-and-dance. While critics were sure to point out how unrealistic East High and its student body may be, they also noted Kenny Ortega's use of choreographical references to Bob Fosse and Fred Astaire. Several critics even compared Zac Efron's dancing to Gene Kelly! Holy crap!!! That's pretty huge. I think in the end, HSM has proved to be something that, fluffly and cheesy as it may be, is so fun and infectious that you can't help but enjoy it.

OK, bye for real.

What Makes Me Happy

I am wrapping up what has turned out to be a GREAT weekend.

Let me tell you why.

First, I had an wonderful meeting Friday with my boss. I still don't want to spill the beans on this work stuff, but I can basically tell you that things are going really well at work! Which is really good, because there's still a year on my contract there and with my upcoming anniversary, I've been thinking about where I want to go next and what I want to do. I've always liked producing the morning show, but after a year I was starting to think of all the bigger, brighter, shinier things that must be out there. Because the honest truth is, if I stay where I am now, I've got nowhere to go. I can't go to the evenings unless I wait out the contract of the evening producer, and then what if she doesn't want to leave? And even if she did want to leave, I don't really want to move to the evenings anyway, because I love the people who work in the mornings, and as crazy as it may sound, I actually like working while everyone else is sleeping! In fact, I'm seriously considering looking for a morning producing position for my next job. And sleeping in a coffin and sucking the blood of humans and living forever. Just kidding...I just get the ol' vampire joke quite a bit these days. And wouldn't that be a fun way to freak out people when out for dinner as a new girl in a new town?

"Hey, what do you do?"
"Well...I work at night."
"Oh, the graveyard shift, huh?"
"Yessss, you could say that."
"When do you sleep?"
"During the day."
"Yeah, it must be killing you to be up right now when the sun's out, huh?"
"You have no idea."
"So when do you eat?"
"Whenever the opportunity presents itself."
"Right, I guess this would be more like breakfast time for you. Is Italian OK or would you rather go somewhere they serve breakfast?"
"It's fine. Just...nothing with garlic."
"Hmmm, allergic? Well let's just start with a glass of wine. White or red?"
(Spooky smile)...
"Red."

OK, the fact that I took that long to type that out is proof that I should probably stay on the morning side for the sheer fact that I'm a humongous dork. Annnnyway, back to work...where the great thing is that now I still have something to look forward to and get excited about at my current job, rather than just look ahead to when my time's up and I can leave.

On with the weekend!

After work and a solid 5 hours of sleep, I went to a friend's house for dinner with a bunch of friends I haven't seen in awhile, especially Issa, who's home for the first time since going to IU! I love that girl so much and getting to hug her and talk to her NOT on the phone was so refreshing! After dinner, we met up with some more HSM buddies and their friends for "My Best Friend's Girl," at the movie theater. There I got to see Landon, who was also home for the first time since going to IU. And even though we were at the movie theater, we were able to do a little catching up and mostly hugging, which is the best!



This is why we love each other.


So good to see this guy!


My weekend continued Saturday with the Twin Lakes Marching Band Invitational. We had practice in the morning with the color guard girls, so I spent the 45 minute drove over there thinking about how I was going to spend the time between noon and 6:00 without driving back here. Luckily Ethan, the color guard head coach, already had that figured out. He surprised me with tickets to good ol' Indiana Beach and a visit from a couple of friends we used to go to Purdue with! We rode all the rides and spent time sitting and catching up with each other's lives and people watching (IB is a GREAT place for people watching!) and it was a great day! Then we went back and watched some of the bands perform before eating dinner in the staff lounge and then getting our girls warmed up to perform.

We performed in exhibition since we were hosting, but the girls did the best I've seen them do yet. They finally seem to get the concept of smiling even when someone messes up or drops a toss, and I was so proud of them! We also found out that if we HAD been competing, we would have won our division! Our scores were some of the best we've had so far, which was encouraging for the kids. And boy, did they need it. Friday had been a traumatic day at Twin Lakes because four students had been killed in a bus accident and everyone was naturally pretty somber. We dedicated our show to the memory of those students, and our band director had tears in his eyes as he was talking about it before we went on the field. I think the kids, in a small way, needed something like a great score recap to encourage them Saturday night.

I was so pooped by the end of the day that I took no time at all going to sleep when I got home at 12:30 AM. When I woke up, it was Sunday morning and time to go to church to see the Purduettes! The girls sounded great and it was so good to see some of those girls and hear about what's going on in their lives. It just made me proud to be a part of that organization.

So yeah, overall an awesome weekend! Hopefully that will carry into my week with this new project at work still on the line...

Until later! :)

Football Friday

OK, so tomorrow is our first home football game, which means it's also the first time the band will perform in front of an actual audience...without stopping...no second tries. I'm actually a little nervous!!!

It's so different being a coach and just watching, rather than doing. I can't make the girls do something right or will them to remember all the steps. I just have to hope they get it all down!

Last night we ran what we have of the show all the way through on the field for the first time, and although some parts are still pretty rough, I have to say it's coming together. And the coolest part is seeing stuff that I made up coming to life in front of me! There's a section that I changed like 15 minutes before we ran the show, and when the girls finally got it, it looked sooo cool! It just made me so proud! And it's just that thrill of imagining something in your mind and then seeing it executed in real life by real people...awesome awesome.

Also, I just freaking love high school football games. Even though I'm totally too old now. I just love the atmosphere, because you KNOW everything is going down during the football game. Anything that's happening in high school, is happening in the stands of that stadium!

I will say I'm pretty sad that most of my HSM buddies are headed off to school. It's a good thing I've got color guard to keep me busy. OH! And I'm also helping my friend coach a middle school speech team (again, something I never participated in during junior high or high school, so I'm sure I'll learn a lot), and I'm glad those things will keep my free time structured. So that I don't just sleep all day.

OK, why am I still at work? I'm gonna go. While I still can, lol.

Until later!

Reality, Reviews, and Randomness

I haven't posted anything lately, and I don't really have anything in particular that I wanted to blog about, so this is gonna be pretty random.

Firstly, let's do a little reality recap.

The Bachelorette
I know, right??? That was over so long ago, but I need to dish about it one last time! I had a feeling DeAnna would pick Jesse just because she always seems to do what we wouldn't expect her to. And I think it's funny that she keeps saying how important her family is to her, because I'm pretty sure she picked the guy her family liked least out of the final two. I mean, Papa Pappas didn't exactly look brimming over with joy when they announced their wedding plans on national network television. It will be interesting to see what happens.

And of course the part of the special "Where Are They Now" episode that made my jaw drop was the very, very end of the show, where we see good ol' Brad Womack (who DeAnna seems to have forgiven because now she realizes there is no way you can go on this show and NOT make someone feel they have been led on) sitting in a recliner in what I guess is supposed to be his bach pad, eating a sandwich and watching TV. Cut to an over-the-shoulder shot of what's on the TV (a teeny little flatscreen--we know Brad's REAL bach pad would have one much bigger), and it's DeAnna, self-proclaimed happiest woman in the world, getting engaged and having all her dreams come true. Cut to commercial. WHAAAAAAT. How would they ever get Brad, who they've been bashing all season, to agree to shooting that? Well, I found out that they didn't. This article explains where the sandwich-eating footage came from and how it was originally supposed to be used. Annnnd that's why they make you sign your life away to be one one of these shows. So they can humiliate you later, and you can't do a thing about it.

Legally Blonde: The Search for Elle Woods
I think in our heart of hearts, we all knew from the beginning that Southern belle Bailey would nab the role of Elle by the end of the show. And I really, really feel for Autumn; how much does it suck to be told by the director of a Broadway show that you have the best voice of anyone in the entire competition, and then NOT get cast? I guess that's why that industry is so tough. Just having a kick-ass voice isn't enough to get you a show. But the cool part is how awesome it must have been to perform three Broadway numbers on a Broadway stage for your family. Whether you end up winning or not, that's still awesome. Although it would be much more awesome if you won so Mom and Dad could see you do the whole show.

And Bailey debuted this week! If you visit the show's site, you can see a video of her recording "So Much Better," which is now available on iTunes. And typical of Bailey, the song sounds a little too perfect. But I mean, she's good. I can't hold a note as long as she does at the end of that song, that's for sure! I just think when Bailey talks she has this sort of animated Disney princess quality that's a little less believable than Laura Bell Bundy's quick, quippy raspiness (which I didn't particularly like either...I guess I just wish they could put Reese Witherspoon onstage instead; I'm just a die-hard for the movie version). I'm trying to find a review of Bailey's first performance, but I haven't had any luck.

Speaking of reviews...

We got one for HSM in the Journal and Courier. I guess it was good considering who wrote it--apparently the guy has it in for our director and our Miss Darbus, and both of them knew that--but luckily Cody, Issa, and I were described as "notable" performers, and the rest of the young cast was spared from any of Mr. Jaeger's snarky remarks. I've never been reviewed for doing a show before; it was kinda weird. But I think the important thing is that no one really cares what's in the review; they care more about what friends, family, and respected theatre patrons have to say. And all of THEIR reviews were pretty good. I know the 12-and-under crowd was happy with it anyway!

What else is new? Oh! I am helping a friend of mine who coaches the Twin Lakes color guard. He needed a "movement technition"...basically someone to help teach the girls better dance technique, and asked me if I'd do it. Now, I have never been in color guard, so I know I am going to learn a LOT. So far the girls are doing great; they have been working really hard and picking things up quickly. But I'm sure after a couple of weeks my novelty will wear off and they will stop liking me...lol I just remember that you always liked a new coach or director for like a week and then you stopped thinking they were fun. So I'm just kind of waiting for that to happen! They call me "Miss Stanforth," which is really weird but I guess I'll just have to get used to it. Meanwhile, I'm just worried about whether I'm teaching them the right things in the right way. I've just never really coached anything, and I like it, but I just worry about doing a good job. I am, however, totally excited to get to go watch them at football games and competitions! In high school I had a lot of friends who were in marching band and I was always fascinated about how they got everyone to move into those formations and everything, so I'm stoked to get to see it from the other side.

Lastly, people are leaving!!! :(

My on-stage brother (he played Ryan to my Sharpay) is now gone. He's doing a grad school/dorm director program in Illinois and he left Tuesday. We really bonded and I do actually feel like he's my brother, and I miss him a metric ton. And the weirdest part is, I don't talk to him every day now, and so I feel like it's been ages since we've spoken! I did get to talk to him Wednesday night and I was already going "It's so good to hear your voice!" Geez, I sound like my parents! But I am sure he is super-busy getting ready for the school year to start and for all of the undergrads to get there! Everyone else from the HSM group is still in town, but now we're all leaving on vacations, so we're not doing the "big group" activities so much anymore. In a way, though, it's nice because I'm getting more one-on-one time with people and getting to know them better, which is very awesome. I think we're going to try for one more big group day/night before the rest of the kids head off to IU and Butler and wherever else. And then, I know the Purdue kids will still be in town, but I also know their schedules will fill up, and they'll get back in the swing of things with their college friends and roommates, and I won't see them as much, so I'm trying to treasure moments with them now too. Although, it sounds like we will all see each other at tailgates on game days, which will be SO much fun! So that will be good. Also, one of my friends from the station is leaving for a new job in Oklahoma, and although I know it's going to be great for her, I am bummed that she won't be around anymore. The thing that stinks about TV is that people come and go very quickly. Thank God for Facebook!!!

Well, this is getting longer and longer, so I guess I'll just stop here before I think of something else to talk about!

Until later!
lis