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Saturday, August 22nd, 2009
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5:32 pm
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Tired, cranky, probably need to stop babysitting soon. But then, I'm moving a week from Monday, so no matter what I *will* stop babysitting soon!
...until my dad's godson in Oak Park convinces me to be a full-time unpaid babysitter for his year-old twins. If this happens, have no sympathy for me. I'm too far gone to save.
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| Friday, June 26th, 2009
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2:47 pm - Something I can get behind when not much makes sense
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www.givoogle.com/
Like Google, except it donates to the American Cancer Society. Set it as your homepage. Search with it. What do you have to lose?
(I'll get off the soap box now.)
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| Wednesday, May 20th, 2009
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2:29 pm
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Somehow my musical goes up in a week, which is terrifying and so exciting at the same time. I trust, blindly, that we will be ready--I'm not at all sure that we will be, but tonight we'll find out just how far we are.
Term is creeping to a close, and I finally have given myself license to slack...a little bit...in one class...after emailing my professor to explain myself. I have a problem, guys. I'm not good at this. It's a pass-fail course, I got a B on the first draft of a paper, she expects revisions, and it was surprisingly difficult for me to tell her that I'm going to just accept this grade and not revise this time around. I'm sure she didn't even care. Anyway, it's a step.
Life is, on the whole, good. I have some free time, somehow, I'm on top of my work, it's warm outside, I get to spend time with people I care very much about, and sometimes, like today, I am surrounded by chickens.
(A person in a chicken suit delivered cookies to my class today, then in another class we were talking about chickens and played a game in which the professor shot us with a chicken-slinger and awarded my group chicken figurines. We also saw the chicken-suit person again, as s/he was delivering food to a neighboring classroom. Apparently today is a day for chickens.)
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| Friday, April 24th, 2009
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7:21 pm - Good Things in my Life
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So I haven't necessarily been forthcoming about it here, but my term has been kind of strange emotionally. I think it's a combination of being busy and some other things I might not quite understand right now, but I've not always been happy. Which is fine, and which happens. But today was wonderful, and I'm going to write about why.
Things that are great:
-Warm weather!
-My friends threw me a surprisingly successful birthday party given the fact that I have such diverse friend groups
-The owners and waiters of Kurry Kabab officially know me, Annelise, Caitlin, and Haven now, to the point where they bring us milk for our tea as soon as we come in, greet us with huge smiles, and tell us that they get sad and worried when we don't come on time on a given Friday.
-We're figuring out more and more how the process of writing a musical actually has to go
-I've decided to take Political Philosophy Pass/Fail, so I can get out of it what I want and not worry about my GPA
-Canterbury Tales are just fun
-I had a great Physical Theater class, and now it's over so I have more free time, some of which I'll spend making monster costumes
-I did some Shakespeare scenes for a celebration of the Bard's birthday yesterday and got really wonderful compliments for them, plus they were a lot of fun to do.
The big things:
-I didn't want to say before because I wasn't sure if it would actually play out, but I kind of have a boy. NOT the Olaf boy. Nothing official, just lots of hanging out and cuteness and just enough action.
-I'm the runner-up for an arts award, which means I get $200 at the end of the year to do with as I please
-I got "Distinction" on my comps (that is to say, I got "honors" on my final senior project for English, instead of just passing)
So no need to be sad, because things are going pretty darn well. Knock on wood.
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| Wednesday, April 15th, 2009
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5:32 pm - Today is beautiful.
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It's a gorgeous day, the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and I am 22.
And there are so many people I love who are around, and friends with the same birthday, and theatre games and happiness.
It's a good day.
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| Tuesday, April 7th, 2009
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11:25 am - DONE!
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I'm officially going to graduate! SWEET.
LATM's kicking into gear, as is...the rest of my life that I've been neglecting for my exam. It'll be a busy term, but a fun one, I'm hoping.
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| Sunday, April 5th, 2009
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11:25 am - Weekend of Insanity
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Five days of auditions and callbacks for LATM, a night of casting (weird to be in the room when people are casting you, especially when they don't give you the part you'd hoped for), a sleepless night, a Saturday morning of two and a half hours of testing on poetry, then I was handed a sheet with essay questions and sent home. By 10AM on Monday morning I need two polished essays or I don't graduate.
It's 11:30 on Sunday; I have a draft and a little bit less than a half. Both are solid, though. I think I'll be ok. I just need to keep working keep working keep working.
And I'm not too mad about LATM; I did get cast as the president of the college, and we're probably going to end up making that a really fun part. Anyway the show will be great. Writing scenes has been really fun, we've got a majorly talented group of people working on it, and they love what we've already got. Now if I can just get my comprehensive exam out of the way I'm home free to be creative and enjoy myself!
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| Thursday, April 2nd, 2009
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2:10 pm
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| Friday, March 27th, 2009
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6:15 pm - I gave in...
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I've succumbed. I thought I'd hold out longer--I STILL don't have a MySpace, and I never will--but the songbird chirp lured me in.
That's right, folks: I now have a Twitter account, laurastratford (I mean, they had the name free, I had to grab it).
Already I follow something about cheap apartments in Chicago, a bunch of my favorite authors, and of course, our own latara.
So now I guess I just have to figure out how this damn thing works.
Also, I saw "Dirty Dancing" with my Shakespeare teacher in it and he took me backstage and onto the stage itself. I got to see the most realistic plastic cornflakes ever made and hear about how his cast can't go to Broadway because the show is too expensive (2/3 of a million dollars a week) and they'll have to scale it down before hitting B'way in 2011. It was really cool to see him, to go backstage with him, and just to talk with him again. And he's put me into major networking mode.
An appeal: if you know anyone who knows anything about the Chicago theatre scene, can you let me know? I want to get as well-prepared as possible. Also good, cheap places to live in Chicago would be great.
Go go magic friends list! I love you guys.
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| Monday, March 23rd, 2009
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10:45 pm - Ahem.
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Does anyone have any idea why suddenly my default userpic, which I have not touched and which is still labeled "lorelei," is now an anime face with hearts in its eyes?
I am seriously confused. And I can't find my original pic anywhere.
Well. Moving on. I had a fantastic first half of spring break in Chicago. Good thing I love the city, since I'm moving there. We saw museums, free concerts, a comedy show that taught me that Carleton stand-up really ain't too bad, "Jersey Boys" (first row, craning our necks to see over the lip in the stage; I fell for the guy who played Brian but so did every other woman in the audience), Millenium Park, lots of fishes in the aquarium...we ate sushi, deep dish, Thai food, and sandwiches...I got my palm read...I talked with my dad's godson about places to live...it was lovely.
Now I'm home, hanging with Mom and Dad. I've been to see a movie with each of them so far (Watchmen with Dad, which was only slightly awkward even though a few years ago it would have been supremely awkward, and Coraline with Mom), I've shopped, I've gone on walks, updated some technology, written some song lyrics...Mom wants to copyright Liberal Arts: The Musical for us. I think that's so cool.
I just have to make sure I see people while I'm here without getting too overwhelmed from having to constantly, you know...see people.
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| Wednesday, February 11th, 2009
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8:11 pm
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Yesterday I had my first real date with someone who hadn't been my friend before (a boy from Saint Olaf), and it was a success :D
Today we had an intense rehearsal for Cabaret, and I'm glad it happened. Last week, after we blocked the last scene in Act One, I ended up reading Act Two to see if, after I've gotten Sally-in-Act-One, if I could get a better sense of the play as a whole. Well, I could, and I did, and when my friend came to meet me and asked me how I was, I started crying. Which is a big deal for me. I always tend to be too intellectual, too distanced from my characters to get truly emotional, but since this summer it hasn't been that way. So I think this is a good sign, even if it seems like I'm emotionally unstable (I'm not, I promise :D).
Anyway, we blocked that scene today. I think I might need to find a way to cushion myself emotionally from this one, actually. I felt nauseous before we got to it, and had to take a moment to distance myself. Even so, I cried when we ran through it the one time. First time I've ever cried in rehearsal, possibly excepting one time at Proof. So it was cool, and a good sign for my acting, as long as I make sure that I'm ok with this whole thing myself. I'll work on that next.
I like this in-touch-with-your-emotions thing.
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| Monday, February 2nd, 2009
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5:08 pm - Watch out, Sarah Silverman...
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| Friday, January 23rd, 2009
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3:26 pm - !!
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I went
to karaoke
at a local pub
and there were people
from our rival school there
and I danced with a boy named Paul
and gave him my number, which I have never done before.
Also we sang "Oops, I Did It Again," which would have been enough to make the night a success. With choreography, no less.
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| Sunday, January 18th, 2009
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1:57 pm
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This week I lived through temperatures of -50 degrees F with wind chill, as well as working on a musical, hanging out with people I care about, team-building with the cast of Cabaret, and learning to body-surf on a rolling person.
I love this place, even when I hate the weather.
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| Sunday, January 11th, 2009
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6:51 pm - Ahem.
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Meine Damen und Herren, Mesdames et Messieurs, Ladies and Gentlemen...
This journal is proud to present to you the very next incarnation of the Kit Kat Klub (Cabaret)'s Sally Bowles...
MISS LAURA!
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| Wednesday, December 31st, 2008
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4:57 pm - The New Year'e Eve Post
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I've decided not to make resolutions. Well, it was less of a decision and more of a, "What would I resolve that I haven't already been working on?" Which is nice. It means that I take steps to improve my life on more than just one day a year. So that's what I want to continue to do.
What have I done in 2008? Applied for a fellowship; spent a summer realizing how much I love theatre, and also how much I should appreciate having friends who understand me; wrote my first really serious critical paper; started to let go; let myself get emotional; read a lot of good books; appreciated the people around me; feared death; hoped for love; found that the universe listens; made new friends and made better friends of the old; painted a spigot to look like a lizard; costumed my first big show; let the veil fall between me and the character in my acting; learned to drink wine. Not a bad year. Oh, and started to worry about money, and then stopped worrying so much about money. Important skills.
When I look back, I can see how much I've grown up, and I can tell that in a few years I'll be looking back at myself and thinking how young I was. It's nice to be caught in the middle, to have a pleasant past and a hopeful future but to try to live now. That's my goal for this year--to enjoy the moment for as many moments as I can.
I hope you can too.
Happy New Year to you all!
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| Sunday, December 21st, 2008
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9:41 pm - My Weekend with the Fiance
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My friend Alex came to Boston this weekend to see the city for the first time and to visit a bunch of people he knew in the area. He and I have a marriage pact for age 22, and have started planning our lives together, which is information you need to have to make sense of the following bullet points of what I did this weekend:
-Survived a 72-hour snow storm
-Made a fire and played Clue with a strange group of friends from different friend groups
-Sat on the "Make Way For Ducklings" ducks
-Got a drink at the Cheers bar (you get to keep the glass of your overpriced drink!)
-Saw Victorian carolers on Newbury Street
-Got free tea at Teavana
-Sat on Globe Santa's lap with Alex as "the happy couple" (the words of the lady working there, who also encouraged us to hold hands)
-Watched a jazz band in Santa hats
-Stood on the 29th floor of the Sheraton peering at Boston through the windows of the closed bar
-Had an improvised marriage counseling session with Suzie
-Took a 2-hour driving tour of Boston with my father, the tour guide
-Hung out with Jacob, Sara, and Hazel
-Got proposed to in Jacob's basement. At three in the morning. With a huge, shiny plastic engagement ring. Exact wording: "Laura, if neither of us finds somebody else, will you marry me?"
-Told my proud parents that Alex was going to make me an honest woman. Dad's reaction was surprisingly positive.
-Trekked through even more snow to see Hunter in Harvard Square
-Went to dinner at Legal Seafood
-Got pictures of Alex proposing to me again (since we had no pictures) in Legal Seafood, whereupon a nearby table started gasping and nearly applauding. I got up and offered to show them the ring. The woman took one look and said, "Holy MOLY!" (This stone is about a square inch of oval plastic diamond) "...is that real?" Me: "...It's plastic." Woman: "...Is the engagement real?" Me: "(Stares) ...No."
(Yes, it's a real engagement with a plastic ring. Tough economic times, lady. Tough economic times)
-Planned musical numbers for Liberal Arts Major: The Musical
-Created a really creepy mind meld with Alex that led to us speaking in unison most of the time.
Even with a hundred feet of snow on the ground, I managed to get something (namely, a rock visible from space) out of this weekend. Mission accomplished.
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| Friday, December 19th, 2008
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9:11 am - Here We Come A Wassailing...
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Last night I went caroling in Quincy with four Angolan engineers, three part-time Puritans, a Moroccan teacher, a grad-school folklorist, and some family members of the above. I only knew one of these people (Jacob the Puritan) before we went. We went to Quincy, had home-made stew and cookies, taught carols to people learning English who had no idea of what "caroling" was, and made a vodka toast to the health of all involved. I got to talk to actual Africans about the Watson Fellowship and try to explain why I wanted to do it. The folklorist had tried for a Watson, so we bonded over that. Having my Madrigal experience, I got to set the notes for the songs.
Our reception was mixed--some people ran away as we approached (with our lanterns and large group of people who didn't get started til 9 PM we may have looked like an angry mob), some refused to answer the door, some came and listened and listened. One older lady who told us she was ill stood in the doorway in her jacket, tearing up as we sang her requests, wishing us all God's blessings. An old couple in their nightclothes did the same. A young Chinese-American girl said, "I've never been caroled at before!" and gave us red envelopes for good luck. We terrified a Vietnamese family who thought we were trying to get money--apparently many people in the neighborhood were recent immigrants. Last, we sang several songs for a man and his girlfriend or wife, who said she didn't think that people caroled anymore. Except for one person actually running away, by the end of our set most people were appreciative. Then, as our lanterns blew out, we went back to Kathleen's apartment (she's one of the Puritans) and had hot chocolate and talked and talked.
It was wonderful. I made ten friends from all over the world in one night of Christmas spirit, and got to teach several people that there are holiday traditions that aren't materialistic. That's what Christmas (and Yule and Hanukkah and the recent addition Kwanzaa) are about.
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| Sunday, November 30th, 2008
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5:03 pm - Shot through the Head, and You're to Blame
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QUESTION to all readers: Do you know of any good headshot photographers in the Boston or New York area? I'm talkin' good product and nice to work with. I'm in the market and I need to get a move on it if I actually want headshots taken on my break.
Thank you kindly!
I've had a good couple of days off and a few strange nights of anxiety. There's all different flavors of that--the "I'm still too detached from my life" anxiety, the "I have to work retail this season and real life is scary" anxiety, the "college is almost over and scary real life will be 24-7" anxiety, the "What if I actually get the Watson and have to live out of the country alone" anxiety...strangely only happens at night. During the day I know that I can handle whatever life throws at me. Anyway, hopefully I've grown up a bit and working this winter won't be as painful as it was my sophomore year.
Love you all.
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| Wednesday, November 26th, 2008
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7:33 pm - Term in Revue (Cabaret Style)
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Mein herren und damen, mesdames et messieurs, ladiessss and gentlemen, ze fabulous Laura proudly presents: the term in revue.
(And that is almost exactly my current voicemail message)
First Number: Holy Crap I'm a Senior?
(A solo number, where Laura kicks chairs a lot)
Second Number: Wine Night
(Large ensemble. Glittering goblets of legal wine. Everyone falls on the floor.)
Third Number: Please, please, Watson
(In which a huge crowd has a dance-off and Laura gets one of four chorus spots)
Fourth Number: Prove It
(Standing ovation. That's all you have to do.)
Fifth Number: He's a skank?
(Laura dances with that man in the fishnets, realizes he might be playing her, and punishes him...through dance)
Sixth Number: Effing Lizards
(Two lizards slither all over Laura while she tries to finish her homework and won't stop until she pierces them with needles)
INTERMISSION
Seventh Number: Paint that Pole!
(A mischievous romp involving two girls, a boy, a pole, and some paint)
Eighth Number: Presenting....Vera
(A slideshow of a beautiful Russian woman comes to life)
Ninth Number: Sing it!
(Laura shows up in vamp costume, sings a ragtime song, then promptly throws off costume to reveal '70s gear and sings about stalking people)
Tenth Number: Dance to the Drums
(Large ensemble, West African dance numbers in which the drums keep speeding up and laggers keep getting eliminated)
Eleventh Number: Stand Up For Your Right
(Laura sings about how she wishes her life were a musical)
Twelfth Number: F*CK Your Mama!
(Laura plays trivia against her professors, one of whom sings the above quotation)
CURTAIN CALL
(In which Laura has to stay on stage for five hours between planes--I mean bows)
Ok, so other things happened too, like setting off the smoke alarm because I was mulling wine and the election and the insanity that was Macroeconomics and also five days straight spent ONLY writing one paper. Oh and the amazing library silent dance party that went on for an hour and showing Dr. Horrible to everyone I know and freaking out about how to live in a third-world country. It's been a busy term, on the whole, but a good one.
Now I'm home, so home-type people, give me a ring!
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