We're discussing Marx in class tomorrow

and so I'm very tempted to wear this hat.

I'm moving

So it's official that I will be attending Brenau next fall. I visited when I was down there for my dad's wedding and I fell in love with it and the potential that it and I have. Some facts about Brenau:

1. Women's college - 2200 students. There's a small 2 year vocational school a few miles away, and that's where the co-ed college is.
2. Class size 1:13 a lecture is 25 students.
   
3. No grad students or T.A. classes- all taught by professors
4. NO PARKING METERS ANYWHERE
5. A parking pass is $25 per year, at Iowa it $288 for 9 months and it's a 30 min bus ride away
6. Two theatre buildings and a theatre house where all classes are taught
7. No two buildings are farther than a 10 minute walk, and that's very unlikely
8. It's beautiful and no snow either- except of freak occasions
9. The down town part of Gainesville is comparable to that of Iowa City or Ames in terms of distance from campus
   
10. No shitty landlords that rip you off and no obnoxious bar scene like U of I has
    
11. With my scholarships it's cheaper than instate for U of I by almost $9,000

~Until Then

"When confronted with orgasm, m'lady farts."

The title has nothing to do with the post; I just really wanted to work that in somehow. (For the uninitiated: check out the Stella: Live in Boston DVD if you get a chance.)

It's been a while since I've updated my blog blog and it's been even longer since I've updated this one. That's because I've been very busy lately. I have been doing a lot of things.

Doing a lot of things isn't necessarily a bad thing; in fact, I think it's one of the reasons that I'm doing a lot better now than I was this time last year. Sure, there's something to be said about the joys of taking a nice break every now and then, but all rest and no work makes Thomas feel particularly useless. If I'm still not making sense, consider this quote by Picasso: "I am exhausted if I don't work."

Here are some things that I have been doing.

• School - Obvious. The typical Shimer courseload is three classes, which doesn't seem like a lot, but when you factor in readings every night as well as the occasional paper or rewrite, things get a little more intense. The hardest part about the readings isn't the density or comprehensibility of the text itself; like a lot of things the most difficult thing is just getting started. Also worth noting are the classes themselves. I don't at all intend this comment to be self-disparaging, but I find that listening to and thinking about other people's interpretations of ideas is far more valuable than my ideas alone. (Not that that's any news to those of you who did AP Lang or Lit. By the by - totally off topic - which one of the two classes did you all prefer? My sister wants to take one or the other and she hasn't quite made up her mind. I was under the impression that it was a you-have-to-take-one-in-order-to-take-the-next-one sort of thing, but I digress.)
• Endgame - Our school is doing a production of Samuel Beckett's Endgame. There are about four people in the cast. I am one of those people. I am playing a character named Nagg, an old legless man who lives in a trashbin. It's one of the more difficult plays I've ever done, but on the plus side the blocking is easy-peasy.
• Neo-Futurists - I'm taking a class with them. The focus is on writing and performing the two-minute play, specifically within the Neo-Futurist aesthetic, which heavily emphasizes honesty and (for lack of a better term) real-lifeness. My classmates are all super-talented and my teachers are very knowledgeable. Two particularly moments of the last class include repeatedly rubbing my ass against a total stranger's (it involved a really challenging theater exercise that I think would make a great improv warm-up/game - email/Facebook me if you'd like details) and my pitch of a monologue that I wrote, which went way better than I'd expected it to. One of my teachers complimented my pitching ability (i.e. my ability to share the monologue to the group rather than my ability to throw a ball) and again I realized how blessed all of us were to have the opportunities that we did in high school; Baker's Dozen, IHSSA, improv with Joe, go [VERB] yourself, etc. Honestly I can't imagine what my work in said class and Endgame would look like without those experiences. ANYway, the class culminates in a 20 plays in 40 minutes performance of our own material; I'll see if I can get it videotaped if any of you are interested.
• General Socialization - Kind of an obvious college thing. It's hard to pin down specifics but I think you can surmise.
• Visits Home - This is my second weekend home in a row. It's not because I'm homesick or anything; it's purely circumstance. Last week was Dean's Break and a bunch of you all were in town (lovely to see you, by the by) and this weekend my cousin Dacia is getting married. I'm still recovering from a Greyhound bus ride that went from 9 PM to 5 AM.

Anyway, lately I've been kind of tired. But it's a good kind of tired. The kind that follows after a productive day. The kind that lets you sleep deeply at night.

Foundations and Funyuns

Today I met with Nick, one of the founders of my improv group, Mama's Pot Roast. He's a graduate student working on getting his PhD in comparative literature, and I had so much fun talking to him and learning more about the history of the group.

Mama's Pot Roast was founded in 1993, and I realized that when I'm a senior, we might take a new member who is as old as the group itself (I mentioned this to Nick along with my own birth year and he proceeded to stop talking to me for the next minute and a half). Age comments aside, realizing this made me appreciate being part of something that started from nothing and has endured for a substantial period of time. Sure, I've been involved in stuff that's been around for awhile (I mean, Thespis was alive in sixth-century BC, right?), but I'd never had a personal connection with the group's history.

Let me see if I can explain this better: none of my other groups were "special." People have played in orchestras forever, and they're everywhere; school plays and theatre productions are the same. IHSSA had a little more meaning because it was native to Iowa and because I could see the history behind it through the photos on Ms. Hansen's wall, but it was a well-established organization to which I had few ties.

Nick told me how he wanted to start an improv group when he came to WashU and how the group formed. He told me how important it was to everyone - so important that the group thought he had been hit by a car when before he showed up ten minutes late to rehearsal. He explained some of the traditions that we keep today and talked about how other improv groups sprouted in imitation of Pot Roast.

Nick served as a link to the history of Pot Roast, a link with whom I could identify. When he talked about their first show, I could visualize the venue in which they performed, and I could feel the pre-show jitters. I could identify with how important the group was to him and how much he invested in it. What's different between Pot Roast and other activities is that with other activities, individuals sign up to do them and do them individually. With Pot Roast, individuals sign up to be part of a family and join something that was established with hopes of creating something great.

Pot Roast has a great alumni network, with people in Second City and LA, and I love being part of something (at the risk of using a cliché) "bigger than myself" To Gail, it's just an improv group, and to other people it's just some crazy theatre thing, but to me, it's home. After speaking with Nick, I appreciate the group's evolution, and I value my membership even more. I love every one of the members like a sibling, and I can't wait to see them at rehearsal tomorrow.

(Side notes only semi-affiliated with the previous post: I'm involved in our school's production of Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind on 10/30 and 10/31, and I'm going to Chicago with Pot Roast this weekend. Also, Funyuns are irrelevant.)

Happy Birthday, Middy Soc

To you I give a chocolate Ganesh bar! Every time Sukriti has gone to India, she has asked me what souvenir I wanted her to bring back. Every time I have asked for a chocolate Ganesh, but alas, she has failed me thus far. I just want you to have the kinds of things I never got to have as a kid. Enjoy.

Also, this song is freakin catchy. Been stuck in my noggin all week.

See most of you next weekend!

Happy Birthday Blog!!!!!

I got you something in terms of the celebration! Also they should keep long, due to this crappy weather. Have some ice shot glasses...on the house!!! Hooooraaaay!!!!!!!!! Also you it's your 100th post!!! MORE SHOTS FOR ALL!!! I'M BUYING!!!

~Until Then

I came across some new information today. As I was sitting at the OP enjoying my specialty pizza. The topic of buffalo wings came up and my friend Leah chimed in "Did you know that Hooters uses the same sauce as Joe's(skank bar) we all were like, "that's wierd how did Joe get hooked up with that recipe??"
"It's actually the other way around," Leah corrected "the guys's actually stole it from Joe."
(confused looks and lots of why's.)
Leah- Didn't you know? the two guys who started Hooters are graduates of Wartburg College and they worked for Joe.

NEWS TO ME!!

It fills me with pride to know that my school is affiliated with such a classy American eatery.

I heart the weekend

I love college.  I love college because sometimes I find myself doing really odd things with people I barely know.  This weekend seemed to be full these little gems.

On Friday the theatre kids threw a pajama party at a house called Arcadia to celebrate the first week of the play "The Pajama Game".  At one point I was standing in a corner with 4 guys dressed in just their boxers and one girl wearing a full bunny costume reminiscent of "A Christmas Story", all of us rocking out to "I Believe in a Thing Called Love".  

The next morning I found myself at the 43rd annual Pumpkin Festival in a little town called Morton with two girls from Sigma Delta Tau (ex-sisters? weird term) and this crazy Asian guy named Kwan from the 5th floor. We saw the parade (which was Christmas themed, by the way), drank world-famous apple cider slush, and wound up at a friend of a friend of a friend's house eating homemade pumpkin pie while some dude told us about a time when he had to use tin foil instead of a pipe after his piece broke.

Today started with an omelette and will end with swing dancing but who knows what will happen in between.

Hope you all had a great weekend!