Rollercoasters

When studying fiction, characters are revealed by a number of factors:
+Symbols
+actions
+What the character says about himself
+What other characters say about him

I am not alone in the quest of "finding myself." I believe it is something that we all have to do at one point or another. Me being a literary person, I often soul search by using these literary tools.

I believe my symbol is the rollercoaster. When I was young, I loved going to amusement parks (btw: I still love going to amusement parks.) I enjoy the most thrilling rides. The ones with the loop-de-loops, the towers that drop from hundreds of feet, the ones that flip you upside down and run backwards. The ones where you are on such a steep drop, you can't see what's waiting for you when they pull the lever. In other words: Anything scary and thrilling. The ones where you must face the "unknown." Tellingly, the "safe" rides make me sick. Don't put me on the swings, or the teacups....I will likely throw up.

In decoding the puzzle that is "self" I can't help but parallel this need for thrilling rides with need for a thrilling life. I need to know that I will be inched up at a slow and steady pace, before getting a bird's eye view of what's below me, and then dropped with sudden speed, without notice. I need to be sent through loop-de-loops, places where I don't know what is up from down. I need to be at the top of a U shaped drop, sitting on a mat, not knowing what I'm in for because I can't see what's ahead for me.

Of course eventually, I will get off the ride complete with exhilaration. Did I mention that I go to amusement parks with my best friends? Because when I get off, we laugh until our stomachs hurt. Because we know we just had the time of our lives.
I'm going to California at the end of January. I can't wait.

Bucket List

Travel is wonderful. I wish I could spend all my time travelling. It isn't even necessarily the destination that concerns me, it is simply the act. I love going to new places and trying to figure out how things/people work in strange and foreign environments. There are so many new things to learn when you travel. So many things to see, hear, witness. I love going from place to place, never having a home. Simply acting as a loan wanderer on the next adventure to who knows what.

I suppose travel satisfies some need in me to feel new. New places, people, things. Change. It is my greatest friend, but unfortunately, a friend that I don't see often enough...



Things on the bucket list that I have done
+Go skydiving
+Run a 5K
+Act in a play as someone truly inspirational (For me, this was Millie in Picnic)
+Work at a theatre (I will count both Vintage and Arvada Center in this list)
+Write something wonderful

Things yet to do
+Write a full-length something (play, book, ect...)
+Travel to distant lands and take loads of pictures and meet lots of people
+Help places and people in need with hands-on work
+Find a place to call home
+Marry a man who loves God
+Become financially stable and independent
+Have a good job


That's all I can think of for now...

Reasons why I am crazy PART UNO

 A writer writes what he knows. This is what I know: I am absolutely crazy, which is probably the reason my life parallels some sort of absurdist play. Thus I bring to you Reasons why I am crazy PART UNO:

 1. About two weeks ago, I came home from a long day of work and utterly convinced myself that I was going to die from skin cancer in the immediate future. I googled stage four melanoma. I sat examining my body for oddly shaped moles. I lay in bed tossing and turning over the list of all the times I had ever been sunburned. WHY did I let myself get so tan in Mexico, I demanded of myself. Why did I not bathe in SPF 50 daily? Why had I let myself become so susceptible to such a grotesque and ugly disease? Whether my worry was unfounded or not has no matter. I do have rather fair skin and melanoma is one of the most common cancers among adults. What is crazy is that I woke up the next morning completely unconcerned about the matter and went about my day.


2. I am completely unsatisfied with everything that I do. If I am working, I wish I had a day off. When I have a day off, I think my time would better be spent working. If I'm with friends, I wish I were alone. When I'm alone, I wonder why I don't go out more. You can see what a dangerous and difficult cycle this is. Thus, the absurdity.

3. When I am particularly annoyed with the way my life is going, I always imagine that I am going to move to some exotic and exciting place within the year. Or that I'll invent something. Or that I'll finally finish that novel. Or that I'll fall in love one day, and none of this will even matter then.

4. Speaking of over active imaginations, here's another story. My freshman year of college, I had to perform a monologue as a final assignment that determined whether I would be allowed back to the acting program for another semester. I rehearsed the crap out of that thing, wondering if my inflictions were right, making sure I wouldn't trip in my heels as I walked into the room, mulling over the monologue selection itself. Then I thought, what if, while I'm performing my monologue, someone shoots a gun at the window? Should I just go on with my monologue? Should I duck?  Or run from the room? What if I hit the floor and land on a piece of glass? Would they make me do my monologue again? "Calm down, Anna," I had to assure myself. Nobody is going to shoot a gun through the window. And if they do, just act like how a normal person would act if a gun were being shot at them....

Thus concludes Reasons why I am crazy Part UNO. Look out for Part II. 

Fast Food Nation

It is true that our country has an obesity problem and everybody seems to have a quick solution. Diet pills, tummy wrapping, liposuction. But perhaps our problems go alot deeper than food. How can they not, when our lives have become like fast food.

Never talk to someone longer than it takes than to figure out what they want. Give the customer what they want, whatever they want. Give them a product that looks great on the outside, but contains no real substance when you really get inside of it. Get in. Get out.

Is this not how we sometimes treat our relationships? Our money? Our religions? Our selves? Life is not a burger joint. If you really want to get to the heart of the problem, you have to be willing to cut out the fat.

The near-life experience

Congratulations "You just had yourself a near-life experience, fellas."--Tyler Durden, Fight Club.

Idina Menzel

Shows I have seen since last update: A Chorus Line (Union Colony Dinner Theatre), Hairspray (Arvada Center), Grey Gardens (Vintage Theatre), Moonlight and Magnolias (Vintage Theatre).

Update: Last night, I was lucky enough to have procured two FREE tickets to Izina Menzel. I have a friend who works at the symphony and graciously offered two great seats for my enjoyment. My friend Sara had already purchased tickets in the general admission seating, but we pulled some strings and WALA! She got upgraded tickets sitting next to me and my friend.

For those of you who need a musical theatre lesson: Idina Menzel is hugely popular in the Broadway world. She originated the role of Elphaba in Wicked and also played the original Maureen in Rent. Most recently, she began appearing on Glee.

Anyhow, it was my first time being at Red Rocks, and now I feel completely over-due because the space is beautiful. The Colorado Symphony opened with numbers from A Chorus Line and moved onto My Fair Lady.

Idina didn't come onstage until Act II, which wasn't a disappointment at all because the first act only lasted about 20 minutes. She ended up singing quite a few numbers by John Denver, then moved on to Broadway numbers (Don't Rain on my Parade, No Day but Today, and of course, Defying Gravity)

The biggest surprise of the evening for me, was that I laughed about as much as I would have watching a good comedy routine. Idina told funny stories, from being slightly ignored by Barbara Streisand, to making up rap songs for her newborn. I particularly liked the one about her recent appearance on Glee (which I actually know nothing about). She mocked the ridiculousness of singing Poker Face as an entrance for her mother character. Apparently, it made no sense within the story. She then went on to sing Poker Face.



Idina came on for two encores. For the first one she sang, The Way we Were. The second, Tomorrow.

All in all, an uplifting show. Made me want to do the same thing the next day. Watching the sun come out tomorrow would have been a beautiful backdrop against the carved boulders and the terrific music.

NOTE TO SELF

Note to self: I never want to make anybody feel as if TIME is not on their side.

Theatre Reviewer: Paper Bird

As Megan and I sat in anticipation on the lawn of the Arvada Center's amphitheatre for Paper Bird and Ballet Nouveau, we had no idea what to expect. Neither of us had heard of the band, nor had we ever seen the ballet performers. What we did know was that we were holding two very cheap tickets (thanks to the employee discount, they cost next to nothing) and that we were prepared to enjoy ourselves (Megan having bought herself a beer and for myself, a vodka lemonade).

The eclectic group of audience members seemed a bit more clued in as to what we were about to witness, though who knows, maybe they were just excited for the first concert of the summer. Either way, the band was greeted with uproarious cheers and applause and there seemed to be a hushed suspense as the first dancer walked gracefully onstage.



Me in front of the Ballet Nouveau tent.

The band (consisting of, among other things, a banjo player, a trumpet player, and three female singers) has a real indie feel to it. Think The Decemberists with a little bit of Regina Spektor. Their harmonies blended beautifully and I found myself enamored by the sing-song lyrics and intricate compositions.

Complimenting that folk genre, the ballet dancers were dressed accordingly. The men in fall colored argyle, the woman in flowy, tea length dresses.

What really made the evening "genre defying" (as the advertisement so eloquently put it)was the pure imagination in composing such a show. Folk music and ballet aren't two things that you are likely to see combined, so to see such a professional group of dancers paired with the folky/alternative band was truly unique.

Recognition should be given to the choreographer of the numbers, who mixed classic ballet with a little bit of country flair. The formations were unique and eye-pleasing, blending an even balance of quick movement and more flowing,vulnerable numbers. I especially liked when the dancers synchronized their clapping with the band's intermittently between powerful dance poses.

All in all, the evening's entertainment was refreshing and feel-good. Listening to the final encore performance "Carry On," pleasantly reminded me that summer had surely arrived.


Megan holding her ticket

An Awesome day

Yesterday began promptly at 9:00 a.m. with the techno tune of my cell phone alarm clock (I need a new phone). I was reminded by Megan that I had to meet at her house at 10 a.m. as we were carpooling to Littleton, meaning I was running late ( I still had to pick up orange juice from King Soopers).

I quickly straightened my hair and headed out the door, stopping to get orange juice on the way. From there, Megan and I headed to Littleton. I-70 was extremely backed up due to construction, so we ended up taking Kipling.

Upon arriving at Lauren's house for book club, we deposited our orange juice and champagne and hungrily eyed the table's delicious offerings. Fruit and yogurt parfaits topped with whip cream, fruit salad, bagels with cream cheese and muffins. I lathered some cream cheese on a plain bagel, made myself a mimosa, and then sat down to discuss this month's book, Water for Elephants.Admittedly, I had only read about half of the book. However, I found that some of my most interesting feedback came from reading the interview with the author from the back of the book. This probably spawned from my most recent trend toward reading, nonfiction. The journalist in me screams with joy for anything biographical, factual, timelined (The book Columbine by Dave Cullen being a great example of this kind of journalistic piece.)

After some good laughs and non-related book talk with the girls, Megan and I were off for our next gathering: Jordan's bridal party. Tom-Tom ended up leading us to a gated community that we obviously couldn't get through, so we drove in circles for a little while before finding our way. Again, greeted by a big group of ladies, we were at once prompted to load up our plate with finger foods: veggies with artichoke dip, strawberries, Hershey kiss cookies, and chips. Food in hand, we sat down to enjoy the protocol bridal games. Megan and I did not know what color the groom's eyes were, and guessed wrong as to what the word bride meant in old English (cook), so did not get to take home any of the prizes. We got over our losses quickly and watched as Jordan began pulling the multi-colored tissue paper from boxes and bags gathered at her feet.

Her mom then passed out mini angel food cakes covered in Strawberry whip cream frosting. Belly full at this point, most of the ladies began saying their goodbyes. Megan and I hung back so as to catch up with Jessica and Jordan, the latter having spent the last 6 months in Nicaragua. We had a good time meeting Jordan's four chickens and talking about the anticipated wedding.

Again, Megan and I had places to be so we said goodbye to our friends and were on our way again. Finding ourselves laden with hunger was surprising considering the bombardment of food we had experienced at the day's social gatherings. Still, we decided to stop at Ruby Tuesdays where I enjoyed a trip to the salad bar and a mini turkey burger.

Then it was time for Paper Bird. For Theatre Review see above.

The Theatre Reviewer

I am proud to bring to you a portion of the Intelligent Nut that I am very excited about: The Theatre Reviewer

I go see a ton of theatre. It is probably the most interesting part of my life. I decided to blog about it. So without further ado...

This past weekend I went to Heritage Square Music Hall. My friend Sara runs the ticket booth at the little dinner theatre located in Golden and gave me the "friends and family discount," making my experience all the more enjoyable.

Me (left), and the actors of the show

It had been awhile since I had been to that theatre, so stepping through the door felt like I was walking backward in time. The ambience was just how I remembered it; cute, homey and greeted with a feeling that you had just walked into a saloon from the 1800's.

This evening's show was a review. I am not usually a fan of reviews, but was excited for this one as I thought it the perfect space to accommodate a fun, laid back night of popular songs.

They started out the evening with "'Ol Man River" from Showboat. The rendition wasn't the most moving I had ever seen, which was somewhat disappointing considering that the piece lends itself well to a powerhouse performance. Luckily, the actors move quickly from one song to the next, so we were able to forgive and forget as the actors segwayed into a more fun, company appropriate number. The players hit the Mommas and the Papas right on the dot and also did justice to several of the past 50 years' television show themes (my favorite number of the evening).

Overall, the night was a pendulum balance of hit and miss. The company would be much better off by cutting out the "bring down the house numbers" such as "Seasons of Love" from Rent and sticking with the more humorous numbers such as "Atheists have no songs." When the company starts cha chaing through the audience, pulling an unsuspecting "piano teacher Magillicutty" up onto the stage, you begin to remember why you walked through the curtain-drawn door: To sit back, have a good old shirley temple, and sing along. Not because it's the cool thing to do, but because it's fun.

And Some more...

I don't know if anyone ever even reads this stuff, but if you do:

Here is another blurb from a story I've been working on. Notice how much I borrow from other things that I have written:

“One day, I was lying in my father’s haystack blowing bubbles with my gum and thinking about how terribly bored I was. My father, a hard working man, yelled at me. “Quit lying around and dig some dirt!” he said and I lashed out against him. “You dig and dig and nothing comes of it!” I yelled at my father. “Why you could just as easily sit around and blow bubbles in haystacks and the sun would rise just the same!” Well then my father did something that shook me to the core. You see, he was a tough man who barely wore expression. You can imagine my shock when the man began to cry. He was sobbing and sobbing and tears were running down his face. It terrified me. Probably more than if he had thrown the shovel at me. And then he said something that I had never heard him say to anyone. He said, “you’re right.” After that, I knew that I couldn’t stay. We both knew the lie we were living and if I were to stay, we would both be in on it. I packed my bags and headed out the door the next morning."

“The next two years were a mixture of deception, cunning and cheat. I could lie and manipulate myself into any situation. It was my one talent. The foundation of my magic act. In the towns I wandered into, I could be sure to meet a girl deceived by appearance. I would lure her into the box, assure her of my honesty, and when she least expected, WALA! I would pull the magic curtain and her legs would be sawed in two. Not literally of course. A hundred dollars here, a train ticket there. Luxuries that I was able to conjure out of nothing. You must see how a magician was beginning to form? The power consumed and fascinated me all the same. Even now I’m not sure that I understand it.”