End of Internship :(

So it has ended. And I cried a little, because I'm going to miss it. Yesterday was my final day and it was only a half day. We ran Tommy and I took some photos. Some of them turned out really nice, which makes me happy. We did some clean-up afterwards and then it opened last night. I said goodbye to everyone and thanked them for the awesome time and how great they've been. I'm going to write thank-you cards after I finish this blog and get them mailed out by tomorrow. There is a possibility that they'll hire me in January to work as the ALD for Babe (http://www.childrenstheatre.org/2011/babe.html). Again, it's just a possibility that I'll be hired, but it makes me really happy that they want me back. I'd love to work there again! And this time I'd get to work in their other space, which would be a great experience for me.

But I'm pretty sad to be leaving. I met a lot of great people and have no other plans for the summer. I'll probably camp with my family and hopefully make it back up here for Trevor's birthday party next weekend.

In other news, I hung out with my bff from high school, Jackie. She is a CA at the U of M and just moved in on Wednesday. I helped her unpack and we went to Mesa Pizza, where I had a slice of chicken cordon bleu pizza. It was delicious, like every other slice of pizza I've ever had there. Then we visited with one of her friends whom I've met before. She left yesterday to study abroad for the semester, so I guess I won't see her again for a while, which is too bad but I'm sure she'll have a phenomenal time. I left my friend to make her door decs and headed back to the apartment before my final day, which didn't start until 11:30. I had to park on the top of the parking ramp yesterday, which totally sucks because then your car is REALLY hot instead of just pretty hot from being in the covered ramp. Thus is life.

Last night I tried to drive to Trevor's to celebrate his birthday with him, but it was raining really hard and I had to turn around because my wipers don't work right. However, I do have an appointment for my car on Tuesday, so hopefully it will be fixed then. The rain did let up after about an hour or so and I made it safely to Trevor's where I spent the night. One of his friends came over as well and we talked until we were all too lame and tired to talk anymore. Trevor and I slept in, ate some eggs and toast, and then bummed until he had to get ready for work. It's been a pretty uneventful day, but definitely relaxing. I've looked up what I might get my friends for their wedding and am going to put together a resume to apply for some extra work this fall. I'm trying to decide which jobs to apply for right now. One has a higher level of commitment, but thus a higher wage. I need to really sit down and figure out how many hours a week I can work on top of my work study before I apply to anything.

I guess that's all the excitement in my life. I'm going to pick up my aunt from the airport today. She's been gone since Sunday, so I've had the place to myself. It's been quiet and kind of boring. I'll be glad to have her back.

You guys should definitely let me know what's been going on in your lives. The thing about blogging is that not only do I now know who is reading it, but I never get to hear from anyone else who doesn't blog or call me. So keep in touch, because I miss that! And don't with the words suck too!

Love,

Kiki

Yay Trevor!

I'm sitting here with Trevor waiting for Fox to tell us about the deal with the flight attendant. We've been waiting for about an hour. It's pretty lame. He's waiting out the rain by chillin' with me. :D He came to visit me so we could hang out. We watched the finale of Hell's Kitchen and then watched Masterchef. That was okay, but not great. Hell's Kitchen is a better show.

Today at work was great. We did a combo between dry tech and Q-2-Q, which went quite smoothly. The kids were really patient, which was great. I felt pretty on top of things, despite the large number of cues that involved moving lights which I needed to track in both the Q list and the Moving Light Palette list. Switching around between these lists and the lightwright file makes it a bit crazy, but the LD told me that I was incredibly helpful today and that I was very on top of things. That made me super happy and quite proud of myself. So yay! I'm a bit stiff from sitting all day, but I've been trying to stretch and move a little. I should probably try harder, but I'm tired so I'm mostly just bumming. Otherwise, I had an uneventful day. Hanging with Trevor is awesome (of course!) and I'm glad I have awesome friends. I should call Matt back and see how Cali is doing at some point tonight, but I'm going to wait and see if Fox tells me about the airline attendant instead of the primaries. Not that they don't matter, but they can take 2 minutes out to talk about it instead of talking to politicians at their parties and asking them if they think they're going to win and what they're going to do. Tom Emmer has been especially intriguing. He's going to introduce himself. That's all I got out of the 5 minute conversation he had with Fox on their Fox Box Live Stream with the incredible lag.

Anyway, I'm glad that you still read my blog and know that even if you with the words suck too, you can always talk to a politician. They with the words suck more.

I leave you with this: "We're the kind of guy..." -Tom Emmer

Because they're just that kind of guy. I don't even remember the point of that sentence. I'm sure it was inspiring.

Changeover

Today was changeover from Suessical to The Who's Tommy. We focused a few more lights today and changed a few gobos. We also pulled some colors and set footlights and striplights. It went pretty smoothly and I felt in control of the paperwork, which was a good feeling. I didn't feel panicky about how much I had to do and I understood what was going on, so that made me happy.

On a less than great note, I didn't feel very good when I was leaving work today. I still feel a bit off (I had some pretty strong stomach pains that are much less now) but I know that I will be going to work tomorrow morning unless they are as bad as they were this afternoon. I definitely don't want to miss tomorrow because I have so much to do and I don't want that to fall on anyone else. Tomorrow is when I do most of the work that needs to be done by an assistant. Actually, I'd probably still go to work anyway unless I thought I was going to throw up on the drive there. I was a bit worried that I might either throw up or pass out this afternoon. I felt a little dizzy for a while, but just made sure to drink some water and move slowly. I took a 2-hour nap and some ibprofen. That seemed to help enough. I made cheesy chicken for dinner, which still sounded good enough to eat. After eating that, I felt quite a bit better. I'm planning on drinking a lot of water and just making sure to take things slow. Luckily, I'll be stuck sitting all day tomorrow and won't have an issue with feeling light-headed. They're all very nice at work, so I know that if I am feeling really off, I can step out for a minute and breathe. Not that I'd want to go outside because it is far warmer out there than it is inside the theatre. In fact, it's usually freezing inside and I plan on bringing a sweatshirt to work tomorrow despite the predicted 87% humidity and high of 90 degrees. It's really cold in there!

The last exciting thing I did today was watch Hell's Kitchen. Tomorrow night is the finale. I'm very happy with the 2 finalists. I don't want to put their names in here because my lazy boyfriend hasn't watched it in awhile and may want to watch the last few episodes instead of reading what I wrote here. Also, most of you don't give a shit and would probably watch it yourselves if you did.

That's all I got. I'm in a little bit of a sour mood having spent most of my afternoon laying down (I hate sitting still when I have other things to be doing), so I apologize for that. But I hope you will still read my lovely blog and that you with the words won't suck as much as I do.

Love,

Kiki

Warning: Spider photos below!

Friday

Friday was the last day of tech for Suessical the Musical. I enjoyed watching the kids one last time at the invite-a-dress that started at 2pm. Several of the kids had friends and family there because the show had sold out over a week ago and many parents did not get tickets. They didn't have the ability to add a show because the lobby space was being used for a wedding reception Saturday evening, which is when the added show would have taken place. I really like the soundtrack for the show and the kids did an amazing job with it too. The lights were splendid, of course! In all seriousness, I think Becky did a great job with the lights, especially considering how little time we had to get everything done. I was impressed. My only jobs were to keep track of the cue lists, moving lights palettes, and update the lightwright file. It was a lot of work, but after having done my own design in entirety, it didn't really seem that bad. All in all, I really enjoyed the experience and am looking forward to working on Tommy next week with the teenage group. They are alloted more tech time, so it could be more complicated and thus a more meaningful experience for my future lighting career. :D Again, really excited.

Friday night I came home and my aunt and I went shopping. She is leaving for a seminar this week, so we went and picked up a few things she needed for her trip. Then she decided that we should go shopping for me, so she bought me a few back-to-school tops and an adorable jacket. I wore one of them yesterday when I went to MOA with Matt and his family and even wore the jacket when we were inside the mall (it's cold in there!). So my aunt again spent too much money on me, but I really appreciate it and had a great time shopping with her. A good time was had by all!

Saturday morning my aunt had to leave for work at 6:30. I know she was talking to me while I was asleep, but I definitely did not remember most of what she said. She did tell me that I could park in her garage stall if there was hail, but when I woke up at 10, it was sunny. If there was hail, I missed it and my car was outside. I didn't see any damage though, so it all turned out okay. Anyway, I woke up and saw a spider in the bathtub! I've hidden the picture off the screen so people who hate spiders don't have to look at it. I'm nice like that.

So I was about to take a shower and there was a spider in the tub! I immediately ran to get my camera because he (or she) looked cool.

It's probably the largest spider I've seen indoors. I think it crawled up out of the drain, which is a little creepy, but he's dead now. I tried to wash him down the drain (which is why he is sitting on the wet drain in the second picture) after I photographed him, but he just clung onto it and wouldn't go down. I took a few more photos and then killed him with a paper towel and threw him away. I have a policy that spiders can live until they are in my way. He was definitely in my way.

Anyway, I managed to shower without any further incidences and met up with Matt and his family at the Mall of America. It took me a little while to park, but I ended up with a rockin' spot. I then helped Matt find some shorts for himself and his brother and then waited while they took a while to try things on. Matt's mother and I talked about his butt while he was changing and then both had to approve of it before he could buy the shorts. I think we were looking for slightly different things, but we both approved. :D Anyway, his brother took a long time because he was trying on shirts and shorts and we approved 2/3 shirts and a few pairs of shorts for him too. Pretty exciting!

Then we went to pick up Matt's cello, which had been repaired after the neck broke off. He was incredibly happy to get his cello back, which I definitely understand. So then we went back to the mall to meet up with his family. They decided to head home after a while and we went out to dinner at a restaurant in Woodbury that I don't remember the name of. Something with the word Sun in it. Anyway, I had a fantastic calzone and Matt had the city burger, both of which I highly recommend. I probably liked the city burger a little bit better, but I definitely couldn't complain about the calzone. We enjoyed dinner and drove back to MOA where my car was parked. We wandered around the mall a bit more until everything was starting to close. Then we sat in my overly hot car and talked for a bit more before we both headed home. I probably won't see him again until either Trevor's birthday celebration in 2 weeks or maybe the state fair. He'll be away for a while :( so I definitely won't see him until Trevor's party.

In the meantime, I'm working on my honors project today and will be hanging out with both Trevor and Jackie this week. :D It should be a great time. I only have 4 days left of my internship :( but it should really be awesome. I can't believe it's almost over and that I'll be going back home to get ready for school! One last semester. That will probably fly by too. I'll be blogging and no one will be reading unless they're procrastinating like me. Okay, so a lot of you will still be reading. Anyway, I should get going because I have a lot of things I want to accomplish today. Have a fantastic day and don't with the words suck too much.

Love,

Kiki

I'm a bad blogger

Sorry guys, I haven't been on all week! I'm back to work this week, but it's been a much shorter week. Having not worked Monday, I can't believe that tomorrow is Friday. I went in on Tuesday and recorded lights on the focus charts. It was a little crazy because I usually don't have that many people asking me to write down so much. I've got most of it entered into the computer, but somehow I accidentally deleted 2 lights. Oops. I'm going to fix it tomorrow morning. Wednesday I spent the entire day entering that information into the Lightwright file. I did go pick up my little brother, who came to visit me and my aunt. They went fishing on Tuesday, but he watched a run of the show with me yesterday. He went back home this morning while I was at work. Today we did dry tech with the director, Q2Q, and 1st run. It was crazy because in a "higher" level show (technically speaking) that takes 3 days. I know that they move this fast in summer stock theatre too, but it's sort of crazy to think that we did dry tech less than 12 hours ago and 24 hours from now it will have already opened. I've never done summer stock theatre. That's my goal for next summer. In the meantime, I'm trying to make sure that I know what my goals are for this project coming up in the fall. I also need to create some goals for our student chapter of USITT and write my thank you cards for this internship. I'm hoping to get some of that done this weekend. I also hope to see Matt this weekend before he goes on a family vacation for 11 days. By the time he gets back, I'll be back in k-town. I may see him on the 21st for Trevor's birthday, but if I can't make it up for that I won't see him until school starts the day after labor day. In the meantime, I'm going to play a few games of sudoku online before settling in with my script. I can stay up late tonight because tech doesn't start until 11:30am. I might go see the run through of Tommy, which opens next week. That's at 10:30. Before that though, I need to make those 2 lights magically reappear in the paperwork. Hopefully it won't take more than a half hour because then I can just get there at 10 and get all my shit done before the run. I still get to sleep in until 8! Hooray!

The highlight of my week was celebrating my roommate's 21st birthday with her and all of our friends who could make it. We had a fantastic time and I was way too tired at work today. But she was worth it, because she's awesome. Love you, Homes!

That's all of the excitement in my life for now. There are some changes going on with the honors project, but I'll keep you posted on that as things get finalized. We're in a state of flux at the moment, but I have absolute faith this will still all work out for the best. I love the people I'm working with and can't wait to really get started in the rehearsal process!

In the meantime, I've not sucked with words too much, but have no fear: I with the words, suck too.

In Fargo

So much has happened since I last posted! I'm currently in Fargo on my aunt's super comfortable love seat (dubbed the Love Seat of Doom for it's sneaky way of making you fall asleep on it. There is also a Couch of Death which takes far less time to create the same effect). I have a lot to catch up on, so I'll divide it nicely into days for those of you who don't care what I do on weekends and only want to read about my internship.

Friday

Friday morning I learned how to solder! It was pretty cool because it is something I've wanted to learn how to do for a while now but haven't really had the chance. After I learned all there was to learn about soldering, I completed the strings of Christmas lights that we were putting on the shopping cart. I of course got to finish decorating afterwards. We then went out to lunch as a group to Green Mill. That was a lot of fun. It was the entire lighting crew plus the fantastic woman from props. She's a lot of fun to talk to and is very good at what she does.

After Lunch, I talked to my supervisor about my responsibilities for next week (this week, I guess. Yikes!) and I organized the binder full of focus charts that we will be using on Tuesday. By "we" I mean that everyone will be shouting information at me from the ceiling while I write down the focus notes as efficiently and clearly as possible. It should be interesting. Luckily, there is a lot of "circle A or B" type things so that I can keep moving quickly. I learned their standard abbreviations, which is definitely helpful. I'm excited for Tuesday and am trying to figure out what parts of this tech process that I want to integrate into my own this fall. I'll definitely keep you up to date on any further decisions with that. I'm leaning towards a full cue list, but the focus charts may be difficult without an assistant and are generally used for rep plots and remounting shows. It could be a good thing for my portfolio though.

After work, I drove to my grandmother's house and spent the night (in a real bed!) before heading off to Fargo!

Saturday

The reason that we decided to drive to Fargo was to see play and to visit my aunt whom I stayed with last summer. We left at 7am and arrived around noon. The construction wasn't bad, but we did run into some fog for nearly the first two hours. Other than that, I slept quite a bit and then helped direct my grandmother through the construction near the end.

After arriving, we hauled our overly large amount of stuff up to the 3rd floor and got settled in. We just hung out for a while and then decided to head out and look at the area. My grandmother hasn't been here in 4 years. She hadn't seen much of the recent development so my aunt drove us through it all. I saw most of it last year, but there has been a great deal of construction even since last year. The biggest changes here have been the addition of the entrance to the interstate they were working on last summer and the new Wal-Mart. The funniest things about the new Wal-Mart was that my aunt referred to it as the "rich people's Wal-Mart." I thought this seemed like quite the oxymoron. It is a brick building and it is laid out similar to every other Wal-Mart I've ever been in except that the aisles are wider. She says that they don't have as good of a selection as other Wal-Marts, but it's nicer because it is quieter. We went in there for some stuff to put on our freakin' bug bites and at 11:30 pm on Saturday I saw a teenage girl wearing a red tube top that showed her mid-driff. I didn't know what anyone still did that. I thought that was a stupid 90's thing that Brittany Spears carried over into the 2000s before it's deserved death. She looked like a skanky 13-year-old. I guess I just don't see even that grade of white-trash at our Wal-Mart, so I was fairly appalled.

Anyway, I skipped a bit ahead. We drove by the "rich people's Wal-Mart" and then drove around the construction towards the gated community. There are $500k+ houses in that area and they are ridiculously tall. It's crazy. We talked about how the Fargo-Moorhead area is developing only large, expensive houses so that only the elite can own property. Over half of Fargo rents because of this. It's interesting, but certainly not encouraging as we watched the national salary gap widen.

Anyway, we picked up our tickets at the Hornbachers next to the gated community and headed home. Luckily we had an early dinner when we got there or we would have had to figure something else out for dinner because we lost power for 2 hours. We got it back in time to get ready to go, but we got fairly warm without A/C. However, we managed to pass the time by looking at my aunt's drafting of her dream home. It's out of her budget, but very beautiful and large. Lots of closet space and bedrooms. And large TVs for my uncle. It's for a 100 ft. lot and has a 1st floor and a basement. It also has a beautiful porch and a formal dining room. Anyway, we critiqued it and tried to find ways to make it better. She has an optional addition that allows room for a sitting room at the front of the house and would offer a great space to put the Christmas tree so that you could see it from the road. It also has a 3 stall garage, which also appeals to my uncle.

Anyway, the power came back on and we got ready to go. We decided to only put buy spray on our ankles because we didn't have any problems with bugs last year. Unfortunately, the bugs were super horrible and the 1st act of the show was miserable for us. It must have been bad for everyone because they made an announcement at intermission that there was bug spray available for anyone who needed it. We took full advantage of that and the 2nd act was better, though not perfect. (That's why we had to go to Wal-Mart at 11:30 last night.)

As far as the play itself went, I think I enjoyed last year's show better. The show was Anything Goes. They did a fairly nice job with it and there were some very talented students. It was certainly impressive once you realize that it is all high school students, but I expected a bit more after last year. The thing that probably bugged me the most was that the follow-spot operators (who were quite young) did not have steady hands. One for sure was very shaky and there were times when the actors' faces were dark for a second or two. I'm sure it didn't bother others as much as it bothered me, but I found it very distracting.

Also, during intermission I saw 3 people that I couldn't tell if they were men or women. I know it's an odd human fascination to know which gender people are, but I did wonder about it nonetheless. I also know that I don't get out to large crowds like that very often, but I certainly haven't seen that many people of questionable gender in one place ever. Silly Moorhead.

After getting home from the play around midnight, we pumped up the aerobed and my grandmother and I settled in for the night. I had a dream that one of my co-workers was my brother and I was glad that we had a good relationship. It was like with my actual brother, whom I don't talk to very often, but when we do we talk for quite a while and always get along well. I enjoy spending time with him. So I guess it's cool that I get along with my co-worker well enough that I feel like we're pretty close. That's my odd comment of the day. Tuesday will be my last day working with him, which will make me really sad. I'll certainly miss working with him. :(

Sunday

So after I woke up from that dream, I rolled out of bed at 9:00. It was pretty sweet. Then I ate a few mini-muffins and took a shower before we went to church. I like my aunt's church. It's very pretty and kid-friendly. The adorable little Asian boy in front of us took most of my attention so I didn't pay much attention, but I enjoyed the service today. They do a lot of singing, which is better than just listening to lectures, so it's fun.

We came home and relaxed for a while, ate a small lunch and headed out to the mall. It's not a huge mall, but we had fun. I tried on one pair of pants, but I hated them. I did buy a much-needed belt and my grandmother bought 2 shirts and a new piece for her mixer that scrapes the sides of the bowl so that it mixes everything without having to stop and mix the crap that gets stuck to the sides. I think it's pretty neat. Also, I had a Snickers Blizzard from DQ, which was tasty.

We came home and made a steak dinner and checked the twins score (we won!). We then watched Big Brother (more lame drama), Ice Road Truckers, and I'm currently settling in for Design Star.

I'm sure you're glad I finally reached the end of my weekend, so I'll stop writing now. Enjoy your evening and look for an update Tuesday (tomorrow is just driving) unless I feel super motivated tomorrow. Tomorrow is Monday, so let's just say that you'll with the words suck too!