A Very Bad Dream

I dreamt last night that there was a serial killer (something akin to the guy in "Silence of the Lambs") that marked people walking into bookstores for slaughter later. In this dream I was unfortunate enough to walk into said bookstore. I don't remember how exactly it happened, but somehow I ended up going to this guy's house (it had something to do with one of my students saying something like, "Come on, Miss, he's really not that scary"). I found myself lying on the floor behind a bed with the serial killers feet clearly visible on the other side. Just as his knee touched the ground, Bard ran across my legs and woke me up. My heart was pounding as I jolted out of bed, and I was disoriented until I remembered where I was, and that there wasn't actually a serial killer after me. That was the worst nightmare I can remember since I was six and I dreamt that the entire house was covered in snakes.

Point being: I haven't been sleeping well lately. The bad dreams are just kind of adding to it. I blame it on the stress. Kind of reminds me of the Nightmare Island in the Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

Musical Anxiety

I was examining my calendar this evening in a feeble attempt to get some kind of rehearsal schedule down on paper when I realized that the first day of rehearsal for Guys and Dolls is less than a month away! Gah! How did it sneak up on me that fast? Anyway, I have a lot of work to do between then and now. So I'm starting to freak out. That's just what I do. Freak out. It can't be particularly healthy, but it's my natural reaction to basically everything. That, and procrastination, which only compounds the effect.

I sat down with the script today and was trying to figure out exactly how many people I need in this thing. Here's the problem: I HAVE NO IDEA! Having never directed a musical before, I don't know what my style is, and therefore don't know if I should over cast this thing and have wings stuffed full of people that aren't absolutely necessary, or do I go with the bare minimum and have people playing three or four or five roles (walk ons, but roles nonetheless).

So, I have all of this preparation to do to get ready for the musical, as well as a whole bunch of things to do to get ready for Districts in two weeks and State in April. State is in April, but I have to start the paperwork now because it's out of county. Ugh, why can't they all suddenly be 18 and responsible for themselves?

In Which I Wonder Whether Netflix Is Worth It During the School Year

I got Netflix last summer, and boy did I use it. I watch a new movie almost every single day and loved nearly every minute of it (there were a few duds). But recently, I've been wondering if it's worth getting the three movies at a time package. On evenings such as this when I am busy working on grading papers convincing myself that I will work on grading papers very soon, the movies, in conjunction with whatever is on TV that evening, only provide another excuse to not do what I'm supposed to. I have contemplated doing my work in front of the TV, but I find that I just get annoyed after a while and end up watching TV and not grading things; how dare work infringe on mindless entertainment.

Anyway, I do like having numerous options on the weekends (especially since college football will be over in 24 hours), so maybe I'll hold on to it. Besides, I'm a drama teacher, watching movies is part of my job. Right? Right?

I Might, Just Might, Be Completely Screwed

I had this feeling today, the feeling I get when we're very very close to an extended break (Christmas, Spring, Summer, etc.). The feeling that there's only a little while longer until all of my pain and student-inflicted suffering will be put on hold and I can do what I really want to do (sleep). Then I realized: it's the first Tuesday after Christmas break. Thus, no long breaks for two months. Thus, I'm royally screwed.

Excuse me, I think I'll go cry now.

I'm Kind of Lazy

At the beginning of each and every long extended break, I have this image of myself on the first day of the break sitting at my desk being incredibly productive, finishing all of the work I need to do in two days and then spending the rest of the vacation in blissful idleness. This image of an extremely productive Laura has been in my brain since my first experience with summer reading before my freshman year of high school. Unfortunately, this has never actually happened to date. More often my work during the break looks something like this:

I decide to work on my project after I do something I should have done a long time ago--usually something cleaning related (car, room, bathroom, cat). After I've half finished my cleaning project, I decided that I've been working on it for long enough and deserve a short break. The short break turns into several hours of Nintendo, by which time the sun has gone down and I couldn't possibly continue cleaning. There's something indecent about cleaning after the sun goes down. I wake up very late the next day because I'd been playing Nintendo until the wee hours of the morning and decided that I'll play just a little bit to wake up and then go get some work done. The play just a little bit turns into all afternoon, and once again the sun has gone down and the no cleaning after the sun goes down thing kicks into effect. This process repeats until the last three or four days of break, at which point I start hating myself and wonder what happened to my blissful vacation.

This break is no exception. So, I have one sketch and a mostly cleaned room to show for two weeks of vacation. Crap. This week is going to suck.

Hello 2009

Well, the new year has arrived, and with it the promise of January 5th--the first day back to school--looming in the near future. I have decided that I'm not a fan of the Spring semester. It brings with it more stress than I'm paid for. In an attempt to stave off the imminent anxiety for just a while longer, I have begun working on the set design for "Guys and Dolls," our spring production.

So, for the first time ever on this blog, I'm showing you something that I've drawn. Pardon the darkness of the photo, I tried it with flash, but it just got really washed out. This is the view of the main location, Broadway of the 1950s. The things with the darker edges are meant to be flats built with a little bit of forced perspective (hurray for the Italian Renaissance and forced perspective!). The lighter stuff is a rough idea of what I want for the backdrop (and yes, I know the Empire State Building is a little weird looking).

Anyway, I'd love to hear what people think.

P.S. The cat is asleep next to/half on my pillow. I don't want to move him because he's so darn cute, but he's kind of in the way.