a better place

I have lost track of the snow days. I may have gone all “Here’s Johnny” by now but instead I chose to slay the Purple Dragon once again by painting my (turns out to be a lot bigger than I thought) walk in closet. It’s just what I do. Pull on the overalls, zone out to my favorite rock and roll and let my mind go as I dance paint. I know it will delight me when I am triumphant. But in order to win, one must play the game. It reminding me of another meditative paint fugue I went into 5 or so years ago in Alaska. https://adventuresofadramateacher.wordpress.com/2011/06/

Painting is therapeutic to me. Color is therapeutic. Once my world is in order I can sit down and focus on my writing. A Theory of a Deadman, Who, Tom Petty. Still want CCR, Eagles, and have notes already on Kix. I love music, I love writing, I can’t make myself stop. I hope I have time for puppet shows this year, they turned out so well last year. But alas, how many days have we lost to Mother Nature’s cold streak now? We’ll be lucky to be ready for regionals much less state etc and our winter and spring shows for that matter!

 

On the bright side Morrison is improving daily, getting skinnier and happier by the day. He’s worked so hard to lose 75 lbs since July! I wish he’d let me take a picture but alas pictures and males in my life have never mixed too well with this social media stuff. But I digress, I was thinking during my paint fugue that Mr. Mojo Rising will be entirely able to move out or take care of himself financially and physically in a few years, then I can do whatever I want to do! I mean I love, love, love my job and want to stay here/there till at least my niece Chelbi graduates and I get to produce more of my bucket list shows and promote my own work. But I have also always dreamed about living in a place in Ketchikan and writing and spending  time at Wolf Creek and writing in the little cabin there. Then there’s acting work in LA and artist work in LA I could work for Johnny Depp in a roundabout way if I wanted to work for Gregg in LA. I could teach in any place in the world, I have and I could (as long as I could take my dog I would) , I could go to LA with Cathy and do extra work and read books and write, write, write. I could go back to Mesa, act in professional Shakespearean  playsa and be warm at night.  I could go back to school and get my PHD? Oh lord the world is an oyster to me!!  Problem is I won’t eat oysters. Unless I had to sell it for an acting job. I know the kinds of jobs I’d get too. Lol.

I got to get up early and put my closet back together. I am making this house everything I want it to be if I choose to stay here for at least 10 years you see. You never know. Stay tuned for the show. Pictures will be included. Happy 2017 my lovelies, what is most important is being kind to every person, place and thing you come into contact with including yourself, leave the world a better place for having YOU in it. Ubuntu

2017 is…

Snow outside my window, again, the last day off before school or will it be? Happy New Year 2017!  2016, what a rush! Not just in the beginning where I was still so new to my job at Sandy High but the world had/has gone crazy too and finished like the meme of the dude going down the slide and wiping out uncontrollably at the end (maybe I can link it).

But as I finished my sit ups listening to one of my favorite Tom Petty songs, well I’d say the Tom Petty song that might describe me the most , “I won’t back down” I think of how to sum up 2016 and go into 2017. I guess I haven’t told you my thespians won the NWOC (North West Oregon Competition?) with Vowels, we swept the student director, and actor awards there too in February. We produced a very 80s version of Shakespeare’s The Tempest in May, brilliant and fun, I loved every minute of it and Gregg designed and came up here from LA and built/rigged our set. Too bad Sandy is not yet cultured to Shakespeare, but they soon will be. This show we used Bunraku puppetry, lots of great light effects and rock and roll icons, I’ll post a pic here

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If was a tough year on Morrison, he lost his best friend and was struggling with the transition moving to Sandy from Mesa. He did though, graduate, still a year early and now has finished his first semester in community college. He has grown tall and good looking. He is who he is though. Summer for me was spent working with Morrison on finishing high school, hiking with the dog, conceptualizing Annie and at school learning my auditorium and the inventory, I got a week in Alaska and the rest was learning, learning, learning electronics and film, just whatever I can teach myself and with the help of my high tech kid and students. I even have an Instagram now. I have snapchat too, just not the time to play around enough to capture a fabulous enough selfie to post. Oh my gosh, the best or one of the best things of 2016 is I/we bought my house in Sandy, and (you must picture Molly Shannon here when I say this) I  love it, love it love it!! Thank you Captain Sam!

I finally just painted my bedroom Purple Dragon same color as my bedroom in Arizona.

The Purple Dragon

And again picture Molly Shannon here, I love it, I love it, I love it! I guess I am easily pleased. My Christmas break didn’t go as planned, we didn’t ski or do a photo shoot because no how matter how good you are, life happens and my BFF Cathlin’s brother died unexpectedly so we again had to stop and take into account how lucky we are to live each day and to be loving to every person you come into any kind of contact with whether it be face to face or in this cyber space of the internet world. We didn’t pencil this into our plans. I did though get to spend time with Gregg and his elderly parents, I met up with fellow Sandy High Thespians for lunch (down town Portland, you go girl, big city) Oh I went to Portland, drove and took my niece Chebi and my BFF cradle baby cousin Tina to see Wizard of Oz and it was great! Loved the multimedia. See I am not such a homebody! I saw several of the plays that Sandy Actor’s Theatre performed this year with Tina, Chebi and Sarah, oh and Tiff, Shakespeare Unabridged. Kind of freaked her out, but theatre people do freak non-theatre people out sometimes. See my year was full, yes it was! As I sit here on my gorgeous Captain’s bed, a birthday present 2010, that makes me feel like a Queen I realize I made it through another birthday, my lovelies all here save Cathlin (still dealing with brother issues) and Sarah didn’t come over because of…snow.

I need to go into school and grade journals, I did not procrastinate, really, we have had several snow days, and I have been in and out of the school for other reasons all break, I still haven’t listened to Godspell and that was on my list, I watched High School Musical last night with Chelbi and decided against it, it just doesn’t do it for me, even though I love, love, love the collector’s book Grama Romey dropped off for me. It’s now maybe Beauty and the Beast (I have done it before and it is a killer, or, Sweet & Innocent, that is what I am proposing) which door will they choose?

So here we are contemplating 2017, Ubantu be kind; here are my classroom rules and this covers everything really 1)Be Kind (don’t be mean unless in a scripted scene) 2) don’t waste time (this you cannot get back) 3) Don’t litter (respect yourself and the world) Remember you cannot help others unless you take care of yourself first. Breathe, meditate on peace. I love you all. GRIFFIN Then David Bowie Let’s Dance comes on the radio reminds me of Whobabe and my student Arianna and how much I love my life.