Perspectus

It always feels appropriate to pause a moment and sum up the year behind or in some otherwise to reflect on what has been. (Watching POTC:DMC is optional, mais naturallement!) So, I thought for my own edification, memory not being what it might be, I'd jot down those things that I learned in 2007, in no particular order.

Playing piano in front of others (Seven Ages, Guys and Dolls, Much Ado About Nothing, Bye Bye Birdie)

Boal's Image Theatre and English Process Drama from Emerson College classes. Yay for movement theatre! Huzzah!

How to crochet and make up my own patterns.

How to use the train and T system into and in Boston.

How to use an iPod. (Because I own one! Yay!) And that they're worn a LOT in Boston.

What a mocha tastes like and why my constitution can't take one.

That when I'm burnt out, I can rely on the good folk of our Gaudete community to make all well: to rally the troops, to direct, choreograph, construct, and pray.

That people in positions of power are not to be trusted. That good will and common sense do not always prevail. That years of proof are not always enough. That when money is concerned, it's best to keep an even more diligent paper trail and to be constantly signing and counter signing.

That I can survive injustice.

How to make a powerpoint presentation...that really rocks.

That I really am a good student. And that anyone can survive anything if taken one semester at a time. Even if there is a lot of middle to get through some days.

That if a class is really good, one can wake up at the unreasonable hour of 6 a.m. to catch the early train.

That I don't really have a play in my head until I have its music in my head.

That I can control my singing technique better in the evening than the morning. But that most people don't mind it when I have to fake my way via technique in the morning. And that flat hard palates are my friend.

How the U.S. court system works. And that it seems to be made up mostly of hard seats and looooooong mornings.

That a room can be cleaned if not taken as a whole but in small parts. Tiny goals accomplished are more effective than big goals too daunting to begin.

That giving up your old life can be painful, but that giving up symbols of your old life stop hurting after a week or so.

That grad school is really not like undergrad. And that living out in Marlborough makes it more difficult to bring the differences together.

That it's really nice to have a car with a CD player and great gas mileage. However, it therefore takes a concentrated effort of the will to turn off the pre-recorded music and pray or write new music. But mostly it's really nice to have a car that I know will make it long distances and back.

Sweeney Todd is not as frightening as I had thought. But it's a hard sell outside of theatre crazed folks.

Thirty is not too terribly old.

Sometimes floods in basements can be Godsends. Magnificat and Catholic Answers on-line are also Godsends.

Shakespeare really ought to be played with a very close audience-to-actors distance. Procenium is not the way to go for good old Will.

It's worth it to buy tickets to the So You Think You Can Dance tour. But remember to drink tea with honey beforehand!

I am capable of writing songs that use more than four chords. In fact, I can get downright complicated in my music yet still sound melodic. And that is nice.

It is possible to have a job in theatre that gets left in theatre and doesn't consume one's life.

I'm sure there's more, but that's all I'll write for now. Spent a bit of today with Jules watching season 3 of Buffy while knitting and crocheting (oh, how domestic of us!), sang at Vigil mass, napped, and watched The Princess and the Pirate (great old Bob Hope movie) with the family as we waited in the New Year. Yesterday, I spent some time in the Borders' Cafe figuring out how each of the other princes of the other Twelve Kingdoms were taken by Emourtha (I forget how I spelled it) and how I think I'll be able to weave them into the book form of Tamerin and Isllel. Anywho, praise God! Happy New Year! And close to Happy Epiphany!

Mood: Bon, merci
Music: POTC:DMC, natch
Thought: So let's see what this year brings....