Summer Slowdown

So the true dog days of summer are here and I'm trying to milk the most of out them before I go back to the death camp... I MEAN grad school. I promise a true update soon, but for now just enjoy my geekiness by knowing I just took the Which Cirque du Soleil Vegas Production Are You? quiz and apparently I'm KA.

What's Important

Today Jon Lester pitches for the Boston Red Sox against the Cleveland Indians, his second season pitching in the major leagues. What's not important is that a 20-something year old is making millions and has the job of a lifetime. What is important is that little over a year ago, after a minor car accident Lester went to the hospital complaining of what he thought was related chest pain. Days later the tests came back... cancer. Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma to be exact. On top of the world, in the middle of his rookie season for one of the greatest baseball teams in the country he was cut down by the fragility of our mortality. One year later he has battled through the chemo, the tiredness, the pain and has gone back to doing what he loves to do, the only thing he knows. And for that bravery and perseverance I salute him. Sometimes sports, with all the bullshit about Balco, and Barry Bonds, and steroids, and scandal can still inspire us all. We should all use this occasion to stop, enjoy everything, and appreciate everything we have, instead of worrying about what we don't.


I love you dad.

... Is What You Get

Today I began reading the 400+ page manual for Cast Lighting's WYSIWYG software (What You See Is What You Get) to have a chance at a job I probably have a .7% chance of getting. Sigh. For those of you not in the lighting world, it's a very large program that allows you to create an entire lighting design in a computer. It creates accurate renderings based on any light board that you attach to your computer. In a related note, one of my the professors at CMU may be working on the next Cirque show.

Camp is going well. Living in Newport is cool, its a little like being on vacation all the time. THe only bad part is that I'm spending a fortune on food. Josh is off for the weekend for his girlfriend's birthday.

Movies and Plays

I don't have time to write a full review but Transformers is a perfect summer movie. If you're in the mood for something fun and loud you should definitely check it out. I'm hoping to catch Harry Potter (shut up) sometime this week, and after that the only movie I'm looking forward to it The Simpsons. I'm pretty ready for the fall movie season to start, bringing with it the inevitable Oscar-buzz-generating artistic films.

The first theater camp production, The Taming of the Shrew, opened last night. There were a few minor technical glitches, but those are par for the course given that we're letting campers run audio and atmospherics and our timetable allows for only two run-throughs before open. Overall it went extremely well and seemed to be well recieved. Afterwards some of us headed out for a few drinks and finally got to catch up.

If anyway wants to come chill in sunny Newport (and its actually nice here, not like what I usually mean when I say that) give me a hollar.

Theatre Camp

The dog days of summer and the increased business of working at camp have resulted in the blog entry slowdown. First show opens tomorrow, Teen Shakespeare camp is performing The Taming of the Shrew. Lighting is relatively simple but it's set in Italy so there's some fun Italian sunset templatey goodness. There are practicals on the two rotating scenic pieces, which I'm also excited about.

Extremely exciting, however, is the musical camp. They started on Monday and have already picked the theme of their show-- pirates. This of course led to "Counselor Dress Like A Pirate Day" yesterday, pictures were taken, if I get my hands on them I'll add them to the post.

Finally, anyone want to take a cruise in January? I found a $250 4-day Carnival Cruise to the Bahamas and I'm looking for a friends. Anyhoo, that's all for now.

Intentionally Vague

For those of you keeping score at home, the phone call finally happend last night. The only apprenticeship available for "that show" is in the automations department. So I'm obviously extremely disappointed. Bummer.

Happy 4th of July

Happy (belated) 4th of July! In the true spirit of the holiday, here is a powerful, moving political commentary on the state of the American government, that I implore you all to watch.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Okay, in the "you've got to be fricken kidding me" department...

Livescience.com: "Do you have a really bad memory, or past heartache, that you would prefer to forget? Researchers at Harvard and McGill University (in Montreal) are working on an amnesia drug that blocks or deletes bad memories. The technique seems to allow psychiatrists to disrupt the biochemical pathways that allow a memory to be recalled. In a new study, published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, the drug propranolol is used along with therapy to "dampen" memories of trauma victims. "

http://news.yahoo.com

The memory I'd most like to forget is from last night when I celebrated out independence just a little too much.

Goodnight, and good luck (?)

Ten Little Indians opens tomorrow. It looks fantastic, its the happiest I've been with a piece since A Little Night Music opened at SU a little over a year ago. There are fireworks here in Cortland tonight and I'm looking forward to those, especally since it may be my last night here. If all goes well with "preview" this afternoon I'll be looking to drive off into that big yellow sunrise tomorrow morning. Of course, this is all tentative since my master electrician unfortunately fell off a ladder and sprained her ankle pretty badly yesterday. She'll be okay, but hang and focus for the next show will be tough.

But either tomorrow morning or late evening I'm off to summer job #2, at theater camp in Newport, Rhode Island. I'm living right on the beach with my best friend 1/2 mile from work and 1 1/2 miles from downtown Newport. So, obviously, I'm thrilled. I will actually miss Cortland a bit, I've had a good time with the folks here.

It may be a few days until the next entry, Ive got a busy couple of days ahead, and I'm not sure what my internet situation will be in Newport. Speaking of the blog, this morning, my counter had 148 unique visitors and 420 "hits"... tee-hee. Yes, I'm actually twelve years old.