The world is full of things, some of them are glorious, some of them are funny, and some of them are awful. Among them are kitties, puppies, close friends, small bits of string, chocolate and the guy on your local news with the bad hair. You may decide for yourselves which which is which. Today reminded me of a few of these things.

Things I hate:
I really never would have thought that I would have a "things I hate" section in my blog. I'm usually more of a things I love sort of guy. However, Today I would like to step out and say that I hate petty squabbles aired in public (alternately, in an inappropriate setting) especially when they are predicated on semantics. If I could live in a would without semantic disjunctions I would move there no matter how bad the food was. Seriously, Siberia is looking for people but I'm pretty sure there would be squabbles of semantics there too (and they'd be in Russian). Today I lost some valuable work time to such a discussion, man did that suck. That is all I'm going to say on that matter.

Today began early (though an hour less early than it should have, whoops). Because today was an official day off for the college I, of course, had to go in to work in the costume shop. I've been working with Julia on props since yesterday and, as such, today I got to spend the bulk of my time making bags and pouches for the show. I'm really pleased though because finally I've legitimised all the time I've spent looking into designs for such articles. I work at a renaissance faire, what?

So that's where six hours of my day went. It meant I got to hang out with Julia on and off all day which is compensation in it of itself. We went to dinner afterward and that was super good too. I only got to go to two symposiums but they were darn good. Yay for Jill and Laura! Rehearsal was... rehearsal-y. Not much more to say there. The raps are becoming less laughable, so that's something.


Today's Gem- Maya Angelou's poem "On The Pulse of Morning".
The next few Gems will be poetic so get used to it. I love this poem more than I can articulate clearly. Especially the last stanza.
Enjoy!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDtw62Ah2zY

-Blood and Rain-

I woke up early today alongside Dan and Drew who were going to go with me to the plasma bank. The morning was nice although I'm not a big fan of the a.m. anymore (not that I ever have been). Unfortunately I forgot that in order to register you must have an official document bearing your SSN. As such they had brought really good forms of ID but not ones bearing the all important numerals. So I got to hang out at the clinic while they went home. I hope they got to go back to sleep. The clinic was as fun as ever I got to have a fresh checkup and they say I'm fine although I've gained weight. Fine by them but I'm annoyed.

When I left it was raining. I stopped by the bank to deposit the money I'd made and talk to the manager before walking back to the house to get my books before work. While in the house I also changed out of my trenchcoat (not actually waterproof) and grabbed an umbrella.

Umbrellas are amazing things when you give them their due thought. Part utilitarian item and part social construction they keep the rain off of our backs but they can also keep the rain off of those we stand near. Such a simple idea, this portable frame supported canopy. In my head I suppose the ideal of an umbrella is one large enough to keep both a gentleman and his lady dry as the perambulate. Today I was alone beneath my umbrella. It gave me pause in a way it never has before. It's new this preoccupation that makes tiny things remind me of my loneliness. Before I had to think of women or other people's relationships to trigger that sense but of late small things have reminded me. It is disconcerting.

Today in rehearsal I got to be really angry as Shu Fu and throw a big box around. little did I know there was a sharp piece of inexplicable metal sticking out of the inside of the box. As a result I currently have bandages on my right index and middle fingers, the things we are subjected to by our art.

Today's Gem: Amazing Gentlemen's Umbrellas, need I say more.
http://www.swaineadeney.co.uk/products/brigg_umbrellas/index.html

Thank you Greg Long for reminding me of this on such a rainy day.

A Tale of Two Sh**ties

So the biggest thing going on in my world at the moment is The Good Woman of Setzuan. I clearly didn't do an effective cost/ benefit analysis of this scenario because it's turned out to be an immense pain in the bum. The performances overlap with both the AST formal which I was to attend and the Phi Psi Formal which I'm really regretting. Obviously there are more important things in the world than attending a fancy party. However, it would have been really nice to attend the last PKP formal of my senior year and my first AST formal.

What compounds the issue though is that this last week a few of the brothers who live out of house have taken umbrage with the conflict and brought it up to the chapter. We all knew it was a problem and those of us in the cast of the show were just going to grin and bear it as something unavoidable. Now there has been a big hullabaloo. We will also be forced to miss the after party, The Prohibition Party, which promises to be an event to be remembered.

The second big issue is that the end is near and I'm stealing time to do things like eat, talk to my friends and update my blog I know I'll come out okay in the end but at the moment it's all looking rather daunting.

I've looked through my files today and begun preparing my portfolio to complete my major I've also been compiling a different portfolio of strictly Medieval papers that I can send with my applications to York and Bristol which I should be able to send out by the end of the week.

As for classes I'm not too worried. I need to write a paper rather urgently for Ellen Joyce and I've got a few short assignments hanging over my head but otherwise nothing is looming near. There is that huge Russian paper to be reckoned with. I don't even know when I'll have time to do preliminary research. Hopefully it'll happen tomorrow night or on Thursday (symposium day).

In other news, the world has turned to spring in typical Midwestern fashion. We've had a few pleasantly warm days interspersed with chilly ones which postpone the complacency of summer. In this uncertain season when even nature cannot decide where it stands and how it feels we of the college set come to the tumultuous end of days. Those of us leaving the hallowed halls of our great institution are stuck between relief and fear, the desire to remain in the safety of Beloit and the desire complete what we came here to do. In all propriety why shouldn't we be in a state of flux? The only question is do we have the strength to bend without breaking. I have so far and that is all I know as I move forward strengthened by precedent.

While I must say I really do enjoy the new format here at Blogger I need to work on the formatting tools a little more before I do another photo heavy post. Last one was a mess. For that I apologise.

Today's Gem: Another one I picked up on from late night trolling of VH1. Luckily the internet is just as varied and beautiful a place.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJOzdLwvTHA

Once again I am moving back from the realm of angsty bloggers to the realm of anonymous bloggers, bloggers as they were meant to be. Bloggers who scream into the ether with their caps lock on hoping against hope that someone out there will NOTICE THEM AND VALIDATE THEIR EXISTENCE. Which is somehow less angsty than LiveJournal. Don't ask me. I'm just on the internet I didn't make the rules.

Life has been treating me pretty well of late but that probably has a lot to do with the fact that I have been neglecting things that really do not bear negligence. I need to get going on my Soviet Film Paper so that it doesn't sneak up on me and hit me in the back of the head. I also really need to start doing more of my reading for Chinese Calendars. Luckily though the really important stuff shouldn't take too long to catch up on.

I've been talking to Adam, the Street Cast Director, about my street character for this year and I'm really excited. We're talking about doing a thick dialect which should be a load of fun and the current favourite is Tyke. That's right, the thick Yorkshire dialect I've been considering for years. It also gives me a good excuse to read all of those books on Yorkshire that I bought in the UK and schlepped across the ocean.
For more information about Yorkshire dialect you can check out this site. http://www.yorkshire-dialect.org/ It's got it's flaws to be sure but it's a pretty good source.


Last weekend was awesome. Sunday and Friday were average but Saturday was an experience to be sure. I got up early in the morning (yeah, really) and went to a sheep shearing festival with Siobhan Greene from Faire and her husband Kevin. She plays Levinia Teerink, paintrix in St. George and I hadn't seen her in a dog's age since she now lives in Oklahoma during the off season. I got to have a nice car ride with Kevin on the way there which gave us a good chance to catch up but once we got there it became an agriculture based experience. We stopped talking about our lives and started talking about sheep, bees, fibres, and solar power.

The day moved on from there after the festival had ended and I got to hang out with the family which was the real reason for Siobhan and Kevin to have come all that way. Siobhan was given a lamb by Kevin's Aunt Chris as a wedding present. It didn't have a name yet last time I checked but it was cute like heck. Chances are good that the little lass is going to bear the golden fleece. Exciting, eh?















After hanging out with the family on the farm we went over to Kevin's parent's house which Kevin and his father built themselves. The house is incredible and full of nifty stuff since his dad is an electrician. There were lights on everything and they turned on automatically and lit places I would never have thought to illumine. It made the house both nifty and really comfortable. We stayed up until the wee hours of the morning talking about this upcoming season at faire and life in general. It was intensely enjoyable and totally worth making me late for rehearsal the next morning.

Speaking of rehearsal, Good Woman is coming right along. It's going to be quite a show. We're all a little unsure about whether the rapping will make it all a giant fiasco. The rest of the show should be more than enough to make up for it. Here are some photos, enjoy them.






















































Today's Gem of the Internet, that's right I'm reviving that old chestnut, come from my late night trolling of VH1 while doing Chinese characters. This is a rare wonderful talent and I hope you all enjoy her work as much as I do.