The Night Before Fiberuary

"twas the night before Fiberuary and all through the house,
all the fibers were celebrating, including those in my blouse

The Irish oats were stocked in the cupboard with care,
with the hopes that full bowls and bowels would soon appear

The grains were are nestled snug in their jars,
near the cereals and FiberOne bars.

The beets were anticipating from the fridge,
and the cabbege was wilting, but just a tidge

When at midnight, there arose such a clatter,
from a neighbor who appear to be quite a bit fatter

"It's Groundhog Day!", they exclaimed supreme,
I saw that my iphone displayed February 1st,  2013

It's Fiberuary! I yelled as in correction,
and no one echoed my grand jubliation

But once they discovered the delights in store
I knew they would herald Fiberuary glore

For the month of soluble and insoluble bliss
was upon us once again to provide an intestinal tryst

For 28 days or 29 depending on the year,
active bowels are nothing to fear

On Bran! And Quinoa! Go Chicory and Greens!
Bring forth happy digestion to the elderly, middle aged and teens!

Happy Fiberuary to all and to all a good fiber delight!

July

Ireland is a go.

For two weeks this summer, I will be soaking up all Dublin and Galway has to offer. Plus it's a writing residency, so I'll get to soak up all that creative juice stuff that dribbles off the faculty and participates.

Tally-ho!

(Oh no! Wrong exit greeting!)

A thing I did a long time ago!

Remember 2011 or was it even 2010?

I don't, but I took part in a year-long art project where I filled a sketchbook up, then the Brooklyn Art Library had an exhbition. My book is crazy and nuts and non-linear and about me. Check it!

Some of my favorite pages are Canker Sore Cartography

And my accidental blank page

Yup, you can read and enjoy my scribblings.

The Great Motivator: Some Facts

The great motivator.

Ordering a bridesmaid dress accidentally a size too small.

Fortunately, I have six months before the wedding.

Also, right now is January. The month where we take stock of all the crap and nonsense I've eaten in December.

So I went back to the gym tonight. This wedding better not get cancelled.

Facebook Fast Failure

Well, that didn't work out as planned. Yesterday, after I made that post about how I wasn't going to look at FB even though I really wanted to, I did. Just once. And with a purpose. And I didn't even scroll down.

But that still does not make it better. Then, today I looked at it again. I even scrolled down. And sent a FB message to someone, clicked some shared links and 'liked' some things.

Then I left.

I am so ashamed.

This is like that time I tried to do the Master Cleanse and ended up at the Thai restaurant in two days.

Facebook Fast Day #2

I am having a hard time staying off Facebook today. I want, no, I need, NEED to want to know what is happening with peeps. Mainly, because I sent a text and since I didn't get a right away response I am going crazy.


But no matter. I distracted myself by venting about it here. You are welcome. Also then I won't forget to post later.

Facebook Fast Day #1 and Haircut Ladies!

Facebook Fast Day #1 Update:
I really wanted to look at Facebook today, but I didn't. Not looking at it was easier than I thought. I kept thinking I had all these important things to say on the FB, this coming from someone who status updates maybe 20 times a year (not including my blatant show promotion posts).

One could argue because I have the email notifications for the messages on FB that that is looking at FB. But I can read those in my email and not have to go to the site. I don't know how I survived not knowing about who ate what or which one of my friends needs attention about something.

Maybe I even gained some time today but not looking at FB. I think so.

Second thing about today:
I spent some time this evening in a room with women with well kept hair. And I mean at the salon every six weeks hair. Using deep conditioner and knowing how to use a round brush hair.

And you know who these women were?

Elementary school teachers. All with amazing hair. At the end of the day on a Friday. As they drank wine.

Damn.

Facebook Fast

I decided to go on a week long Facebook fast. I hit the Facebook app on my phone.

I read an article this week about how Facebook makes people unhappy. Tonight, I got annoyed by Facebook and decided I didn't need to let Facebook affect my mood, so I am going on a Facebook Fast, until next Friday. I am looking forward to focusing on other things on the internet when I want to waste time and a generally more self-centeredness since I won't be reading other people's garbage posts. I am still allowed Instagram and Twitter.

So I'll see how this goes.

Confession time: Games

I do not like the game Apples to Apples.

No matter how much you tell me it is awesome, I will not want to play it.

Catchphrase is my favorite game.

It should be yours too.

More things for you to come to1

Even more announcements!

So put February 13th on the calendar for your pre-valentine-ness. The I've been workshoping in grad school will be read at Theatre Pro Rata's playreading series, so be there or be square. See an adolescent play at work and help shape it for the future!

January 21st, 2013

I also forgot to post yesterday.

I was too busy celebrating meeting my MFA deadline and drinking wine to do it.

Then I fell asleep on my face.

So that's that.

January 20th, 2013

I forgot to blog this day. I also forgot it was my brother's birthday.

I did remember that January 20th is usually Inaugration Day.

The blog I planned to write on Sunday was about how I wasn't into complaining about the cold and how I'll look back and say "hey, that was fun those sub zero temperatures."

But it was too cold to type. Yesterday the high was -4, that cracks me up. I also decided to film a movie outdoors yesterday with actors from Texas.

I. am. a. genius.

Word

For real!

Super official anouncement!

My new show, Women's History Month: The Historical Comedybration (with fabulous prizes), will be performed on March 14th and 15th at the Bryant Lake Bowl Theater!

Now just to finish writing the thing and produce it!

Go team comedy!

Sleds

I want to go sledding. But there is maybe not enough snow. Or it is will be too cold.

I still want to go sledding. And Also ice skate.

In a rink and a pond.

It was just flowers.

Did you know Piet Mondrain painted other stuff than just geometry boxes?

Yeah, I didn't either. Until I stood in a gallery for 90 minutes and heard people exclaim that over and over.

Now I feel like I know a lot about art.

Hmm...

I may or may not be dressed up as Martha Washington right now.

and by that sentence I mean, I am.

We'll talk about it later. Let's just say keep March 14th and 15th open on your calendars.

Thoughts.

Obviously, loyal blog readers, You've noticed that I have continued to blog every day so far in January. I am going to try to keep it up. I've noticed (and so have you obviously, you-vbiously) that January's post have been a bit biographical diary like. Diarrhea-al if you wish.

I am not proud of this fact.

However, I am not denying this fact.

I think I've said this before on this blog, I look at this blog like sit-ups. Or push-ups. Or some type of simple daily fitness routine that doesn't make sense at the time, but some day when I am called upon to take part in a life or death sit-up contest, I will be ready. (This is only metaphor, I do not do sit-ups everyday.) These daily ramblings make me write something everyday. Let me be more clear, these blog post make me finish a writing everyday. It's muscle building. Someday it will be called upon.

In the meantime, I should also think about going back to the gym.

Today I realized Facebook is a waste of time.

But that doesn't mean I stopped looking at it.

I had a moment today where I was all "I wonder what Facebook is up to?" Then I clicked over there are admit the day after updates about Jodie Foster and random Instagrams of crap I discovered it. Facebook is a 100% waste of time. Now, that statistic could be modified, I know there is need in everyone's life to stalk someone through the magic of friends of friends (this is serious, I am not joking), and it's been the biggest boon for birthdays since whoever invented the idea that you get presents on them.

But for the sake of argument, Facebook is a waste of time. The miniscule moments I spend glancing at my 'feed' to learn that someone I don't really know 'likes' something I don't care about, and reading status updates that make my life feel inferior, these moments are not helping.

So today, in my groundbreaking moment, I clicked away as soon as I arrive to Wastebook. And then just sent an email. And did another thing. Both of these things were just as 'unproductive' as Facebook, but at least they were things on my to-do list. (Yes, there is an argument there about why I am putting things on my to-do list that are not productive. This is not the time for that.)

All day I stayed away from Wastebook. And I felt superior for it. I didn't feel like I was missing out. Or that I needed to know what was happening. You know why? BECAUSE NOTHING HAPPENS ON FACEBOOK (aside from hilarious facebook fights and someone changing their relationship status) Facebook is a static boring place. I am thankful that at least my Facebook feed is filled with creative types promoting their shows and stuff, BECAUSE THAT IS STUFF THAT HAPPENS. Shows and stuff are things to do. Updates are just unsolicited slice of people's lives. Reading status updates are a life proxy, actually doing something is actual life. It's cheating when you stay home and just absorb other people's awesomeness. And it's cheating yourself, because no matter how many status updates you post about your food, or the wine you are drinking or how sick you are, its never going to be as cool as actually seeing that show your friend made.

However, as my procrastination set in this evening I found myself bathing in the tedium of the Facebook. Repeatedly. So much so that I was reading the same status update as the first item each time I visited the page.

So that's that. 

My sappy thank you. You've been warned.

As I sit here YouTubing 2013 Golden Globe clips because my TV reception is only giving me pixelated squares of glitter and skin, I want to have an emotional thank you to the world. And just by reflecting on my weekend, here it goes.

Friday I watched a show I directed have it's first preview.
Then at noon I met with a costume designer to borrow a Martha Washington dress.
Later, I attended a professional ballroom dancing competition in which a friend performed.
Then at 9pm that night I met with a local theatre to write a play in one night.

Saturday I held the first (cross country) meeting for a new show I am writing/producing for March. Also, photo shoot at this time.
Then I met with pals to pick up and split our CSA vegetable share.
Then, I had dinner with a friend and attended the performance of the play I wrote the night before.

Sunday (today)
At 10am I met with No Rest Sunday to begin writing tonight's show.
Then I directed a different show in the afternoon.
Then I returned to watch and take part in No Rest Sunday
Now I am watching the Golden Globes as I work on my MFA homework and blog. And sometimes a cat sits on me.

But what is even more amazing, is that with all of these events and creations is that they are filled with people I enjoy, love and admire. Honestly, I am so thankful that I get to make the things I love with so many truly amazing people. Any one of these events is enough to make a great day. To have had all of them in one weekend has blown my gratitude meter off the charts.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

2:30am

We finished up out 24 hour play this morning at 2:30am. Pretty good time, considering we had until 5am this morning to complete.

I also must say, the play we wrote is amazing.

Or at least, I really thought it was at 2:30am. Through out the night, I kept exclaiming "I love our little play." But also at 12:30 the motivation juices had drained out of me.

Tonight, we will see how awesome we indeed were.

Also last night, before writing all night long, I attended a ballroom dance competition. Talk about glamour. And also I want to wear rhinestones and dance.

The appeal of the last minute.

This weekend I am a writer part of two 'last minute' type of shows.

What is a 'last minute' type of show?

Just hold on now, I am getting there.

The show I am writing for that happens tomorrow is Theatre Unbound's 24:00:00 Extreme Theatre Smackdown. In this event, I show up tonight at 9:00 and am given a list of secret ingredients and the whole night to write a ten minute play. Oh yeah, and assigned a writer partner, usually someone I don't know, which adds to the fun of figuring each other out. Then in the morning, the play is given to a director and actors and then is perform at 8pm to much fanfare.

On Sunday, I am a writer on No Rest Sunday, which is a similar concept except with tighter deadline. At 10am we all meet and write comedy sketches and then at 2pm a director and actors take over and they are performed at 7pm that same day.

Get it? Good.

I know there are lot of other incarnations of this idea; the 48 hour film festival, the 12 hour film thing, 24hr play projects. Even one grad school interview had me write a play in four hours. Thinking on that now, I am really glad I made it that far in that process to get to do that. That was awesome and the piece that came out of it isn't too bad.

There is something magical about the last minute. Everyone is firing on all cylinders, the actors 'mostly' know their lines. The writers don't remember what they wrote in the frenzy. And then it is over, it's a lot like improv in that way, dismissing the need to have a long laborious process leading up to the final piece and just embracing the moment. I am not saying everything that comes out of these types of projects are gold, but that is part of the fun, seeing if something works or totally doesn't.

This will be my fifth and sixth 'last minute' theatre/sketch project. No Rest Sunday will run three times totally in January and probably again after that.

Go last minute.

More blasts from the past

Yesterday I phone talked with someone I went to high school with and today I had dinner with someone I hadn't seen since college.

And someone else invited me to my former work place's holiday party.

What will tomorrow bring? A blast from yesterday? Or the future.

Probably the future. You know those time travelers.

Huh

Had the longest conversation with someone I probably had a fleeting crush on in high school today. We talked for 3 minutes on the phone. He works at my bank. We became friends. Friends we could have been in high school. But the person I am now did not exist in high school.

Hilarious.

Secret announcment

So. I am writing and producing a show at the Bryant Lake Bowl on March 14th and 15th. This is exciting.

More details to come......

Glass half full

If I was a melancholy individual I would see a glass of water as pre-tears. Tears waiting to be. Or tears that have been already been done. Seeing myself as crying tears that have been cried before, by sadder individuals. The tears then are borrowed. Traded. Traffific by those who rate reasons for tears as more sad than others. More desperate. More hurt, therefore more worthy of the limited supply of tears.

But I am not a melancholy individual. That was pretend.

6 word memoir of the day

The six word memoir is a thing I was introduced to by a classmate in Paris this summer. She writes one every day.

I will write one for today.

My mittens aren't lost any more.

Improv comedy haiku

Improv show the night of the game
Chips and salsa. Ha-has.
Cheese heads, Vikings
Fajitas were the winners

1/3/13

First Friday night of 2013! Woo!

That's all I got.

Crowdsourced Muse

What musings would you all like to hear today?

.....

Anyone?

Seriously, I'm asking. I've noticed on Facebook that people do a lot of crowdsourcing. You know, the whole " I am thinking of getting a vaccum, which one is best?" or "Does anyone remember the name of the film in the late 1980's that starred Dolly Parton as a radio host?" (That movie is Straight Talk and don't you forget it.)

But then there is the lazy type of crowdsourcing like "Hmm..theology, what do you guys think about it, please include a bibliography." for those that are cleary justifiying thier time on Facebook as research for their midterm.

There's also "Wow, two workouts in 8 hours for the third day in a row, I just can't keep myself away! Who am I? How often do you guys work out?" This poster really does not want a list of how often their FB friends workout. (And if they did, that would be super creepy.) The motives behind this poster are about showing off and knowing that they are working out more than other people. 

I've tried the Facebook "ask the world post" twice. The first time, no one responded, leading me to comment on my own post "Don't all speak at once." (That's not really want I wrote, I wrote something along the lines of "well that worked" but the subtext is the same.)

The second time, I did some recommendation gathering on plays to read with specific elements. It was fun to get responses from folks I don't normally interact with (Then why are we Facebook friends?) but I felt like I was cheating by not doing the research gathering myself.

I guess my feeling is sometimes with these posts is, as they get more frequent it seems like if you ask the internet you are supposed to just get it. Whatever it is: a good restaurant, a job, a date, a title for a book. Like as long as you ask the responsiblity to do it yourself has been lifted and now the responsibility is on the seven Sarahs and fifteen Jeffs you know on Facebook.

So I am going to to try crowdsourcing right now! What do you, reader of Culture of Doing Things, want to hear more about on the blog?

6:30 Club

I heading out at an earlier time than normal.

It's dark out and also cold. I was excited to wear all of my layers of warm clothes until I remembered my job's new building is super warm.

So it's just me with what I call the 6:30Club.

The 6:30 club is the selection of folks in my neighborhood who leave at 6:30am to go to work. In my previous job, I left work work every day at 6:30 am. Usually, it's pretty routine and alone, though you can see a few others walking their dogs or heading out to work as well, this is not the 6:30 Club. The 6:30 Club only meets in the winter months. You can see when the meeting convenes by the sound of multiple people starting their cars, then getting out and scraping the ice of off their windshields. We don't talk to each other, we don't know each other but we all know that the ice must come off the windows. If you observe closely, you can see each individual rationalize at what point is 'enough' ice removed from the car, knowing that the defroster will eventually be able to melt the ice.

I am not quite early enough to see the 6:30 Club, but I will be joining the 7:05 Club. Usually, I get to be a part of the 8:44 Club, which is a great club because the sun is up so even if I have to scrape my windows, it's not in the dark and the odds of the sun helping melt the ice have increased. So the 8:44 Club isn't even a club, we don't need each other. Not in the way that the 6:30 Club needs each other because knowing that you are not alone in the dark, negative single digits of the morning helps you get up to exist in the dark negative single digits of the morning.

January 1, 2013

January 1, 2013.

I wrote a check today, which is only remarkable because of the rarity in which checks are written. (Did you notice that sentence had the word 'which' in it twice? Is that ok?).

I write rent checks so that's 12 checks a year. It seems that this time of year, we always start saying things like "better start practicing [new year number] or "just a few more days to write [current year.]"

There's something to that. Is like an addtional small talk item that we only can use in a very small window of the year. We get to talk about the weather all the time but we can only talk about the year the first and last days of the year and maybe if you stretch if a day or two before and after.

But why should this wonderful conversation starter be limited so? Why can't I use it all the time? I think I will, modified of course like in April I can say 'Fifteenth time I've written 2013 on a check' (obviously that is assuming I have secured 15 items or services that I paid with checks for, if not I will substitute the correct number for 15. I am just using 15 as an example here. I clarify this because earlier in this post I stated that I write 12 checks a year at least for rent and by April I would have written 3 rent checks, because I wrote my January one in 2012.)

So that's a whole thing.

Happy 2013!