Goodness gracious great balls of fire!

...is playing on my iTunes right now! I just created a Shiney Happy Mix, even though I didn't really have the time to be playing with iTunes mixes.

I also don't have time to be writing in this or to be talking to Lisa on Google Chat, but dammit, I'm doing it for five minutes.

So in the interest of brevity.

I like...

• Working on my pretty new website
• Feeling grown-up and productive
  
• Sleepovers with Lisa that start with wine and end with making homemade soup. Soup sisters!
• Helping Katie Parker study, helping Katie Parker prepare for auditions, helping Katie Parker find plays. Being with Katie Parker.
• Phone calls from Garth.
• My family
  
• Crossing things off my To-Do Lists!!!
• Tonight's Portfolio Party with Peter. And alliteration.
  
• My boyfriend, Bob Dylan.
• New friends.
• Going to a cycling class and sweating my life away this morning
  
• Working with Denise!!! It's so fun and amazing.
• Great Men of Science Nos. 21 & 22
  
• Having a possible part-time job next week in Hampton!
• TRR auditions this weekend.
• Barack Obama
  

I don't like...

• Friends who hurt.
• Portfolio stress.
• Being broke
  
• Doubt.
• Fear.

I'm trying to kick those last things in the ass right now. Not the friends. Just the hurt.

Back to the cover-letter fray. Gulp!

Scary Real Theatre World Stuff

So the last several days, I've been getting myself into gear in terms of...what am I going to do at the end of the TRR season in August? I need to move out of Newport News, I need a theatre job with someone who's not Denise or Steven (as much as it deeply pains me to say that because I LOVE working with them), and I need to start seriously being a grown-up.

I need a theatre that's going to pay their interns AND provide housing. Because even paid interns don't get enough to pay rent, especially depending on where you are. Based on that, my current places I'm going to apply to are:

The Shakespeare Theatre of DC (they offer a directing fellowship! eee!)
CENTERSTAGE in Baltimore
Portland Stage Company in Maine...that would be a hell of an environment change!
The Studio Theatre in DC
Long Wharf Theatre in Connecticut...also a hell of a change.
Florida Stage in - you guessed it - Florida!

There are a couple more on my list that I'm going to call to see if they provide housing and such, but that's the initial one.

So the point of this job rambling that no one cares about but me is that it's really crunch time to get my portfolio finished. I had a first draft finished at the end of last year and got great feedback from Peter and Denise. Unfortunately, I didn't write it down and then the holidays happened so I don't remember what the hell I'm supposed to do with this thing. GAH. I mean, I have some things that I need to add and take out and switch up and such...I don't know, I guess I'm just a little paranoid and panicked. And I'll also have to make copies of it that I can mail out to the companies - and how am I supposed to create high-quality copies? It's just madness.

I'm not there, I'm gone

First Brad Renfro, now, Heath Ledger?

What the hell, universe?

This is so, so, so sad. He was so talented. He was incredible in Brokeback and I'm Not There, and even silliness like 10 Things I Hate About You...it was on TV the other day and I had to stop and watch because he was just so damn charming and watchable.

Now my mom wants to watch The Patriot again. I don't think I could handle watching that beautiful man die onscreen.

It's so, so sad.

Ack!

I just wrote a letter to Jesse Berger, the director of Garth's show that I saw in NYC (the insanely good Edward II) I should've written it sooner, when my memory of the show was a bit more fresh and specific, but eh. Better late than never. Now it's just a general showering of praise. I hope it's not too embarrassing.

Katie's coming over soon and I'm helping her study for the exit exam! Which means we're going to put on all of the plays in my living room and act like idiots. Still, as long as she's learning.

I played with my mommy all day today. It was wonderful. It's great to know where I get my sick sense of humor from.

I can't stop listening to Blood on the Tracks. I must know all of the words to all of those beautiful songs ASAP.

Will in the World is amazing and compelling so far. I feel like such a grown-up theatre person reading it.

During the day, the snow was disgusting and wet and gross, but kind of pretty. At night, it's completely magical.

I got my reading glasses fixed today. THANK YOU, LORD.

That is all.

Kloosterman Sum!

Today is a day for cleaning my messy apartment, listening to the Juno soundtrack courtesy of Kendra, and listening to absolutely obscene and decadent amounts of Bob Dylan. Good times. Oh, and I started reading Will in the World (meaning I read the Preface just now in the bath). I'm really excited about that book...I was going to make myself wait until I read R&G and Wife, but I'm impatient and those damn plays have been on my "to read" list for like two years. Le sigh.

I'm also going by Ferg to check in with Steven and Miss Elizabeth to see what else I can do for TRR at the moment. It seems like the work for me to do might not really start piling up until it's time to do contracts and really secure our actors. I'm so excited to learn about all that insanity.

Also, Denise Gillman is my freaking savior. Not only did I get to stay in her gorgeous home for the past week, but - she's going to pay me 10 dollars an hour to help her get her school stuff together tomorrow! Typing up syllabi, working with schedules, etc etc. I'm so excited. She's amazing. AND she and Shawn apparently got me presents in London.

I'm excited about all the kids coming back to NN this weekend, but this is also Carol's last weekend before she moves to DC. And um...I can't talk about that or I will get sad.

So here is some silliness from Val!

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The article title is the name of your band.

2. http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four words of the very last quotation is the title of your album.

3. http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/
The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

My band title? Get ready for it...is KLOOSTERMAN SUM. That's awesome. Our title is "respect that he exacts." Interesting.

And for some reason my cover's not showing up, but it's very artsy.

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune

Outrageous Fortune: Brad Renfro dead at 25.

Are you serious?

He was my *heartthrob* for years growing up. Screw JTT, I was all about Brad. The Client, Sleepers, Tom & Huck, Skipped Parts, The Cure, Apt Pupil...if there was a movie with Brad Renfro, you knew I was going to leave work at Mike's 1st Video with it. (oh, the days of free rentals) It's so sad.

In more happy and/or shallow news...

Slings and Arrows.

I can't stop watching this amazing show. I'm house-sitting at Denise's (my last day - tear) and she put out all of the tv shows she and Shawn thought I'd want to watch, including the brilliant Slings and Arrows. I'm finally catching up on the fun I missed when I left VA Shakes after R&J this summer. Very good times.

It was a great, never-ending weekend this past several days. Katie Parker came into town for a couple days, Carol's back from her winter break adventures, Lisa's back from her cross-country winter break adventures and her freaking spontaneous NYC audition that I am so pissed I couldn't accompany her to. It's just been rotating and combining girlfriends. And occasionally Jordan, back from his Staunton audition (which went well, yay!) We've been cooking and drinking and bonding and freaking out about growing up and all that great early twenties stuff. It's a great comfort. And great fun.


Finally, a piece of random and completely awesome news - my freaking yoga instructor burned me SIX CD's on Monday! He just randomly put them on my mat before class! Five (FIVE!) of Bob Dylan and one of this very cool peaceful, instrumental, yoga-esque, if you will, of eight-ish Beatles songs that he sometimes plays during class. There is no possibility of romance here, so I don't think this was that kind of gesture, but that kind of makes it even nicer. And and and...Blood on the Tracks was one of the CD's he included! So I'm still belting my little heart out to Avenue Q in the car, but Bob will soon be returning from his brief hiatus from my car's CD player.

All right. Off to clean Denise's house up a bit more and earn my monies!

The world is a big, scary place

Seriously, I cannot stop listening to Avenue Q. It is my post-college life! Except...without Gary Coleman and puppets and extreme poverty. And a Princeton. But other than that! I love Kate Monster.

I am in love with Denise's house. It is a beautiful, beautiful sanctuary. They're off to see Sir Ian in Lear in London, so I'm burning with jealousy, but being here by the river in her quiet house with her sweet kitty cats is just what I need this week.

I got my first assignment from Steven! Gulp!

I'm almost finished with The Kite Runner. It's amazing.

Katie Parker is coming to play today! YES. We talked on the phone for like an hour last night...I love her so so much. Hopefully Carol will join us. Denise told me to pop a bottle of champagne that they have leftover from New Year's and to bring my friends over and, "have a celebration!" Oh, Denise. How I love you.

And in final news...Denise and Shawn own Slings and Arrows. YES.

It's only for now

I've been listening to Avenue Q all day. It's both very good and very bad for me...it's a brilliant musical and it's kind of just about saying that life can be really hard and shitty, but you'll get through it. Cause...you have to. That's a depressing description of it - it's actually completely hilarious and very sweet too. But life on Avenue Q ain't easy, kids!

I'm back from New York. Sigh. Coming back to real life sucks after playing in the beautiful, beautiful city for a week with Garth.

I saw...
Cyrano de Bergerac on Sunday with Garth. It was good - it wasn't extraordinary, but we enjoyed ourselves. We probably would've enjoyed it more if we hadn't been drinking beforehand ;)

Edward II - Garth's show! I absolutely completely loved it. I'm totally writing the director a letter because I'm pretty sure he's brilliant. I didn't meet the lovely Randy Harrison, because he was talking with a friend after the show and I didn't want to be That Girl - but I did meet Kenajuan Bentley, who was absolutely brilliant as Gaveston, and he was very nice. Even if Garth did introduce us and mention how he was totally naked on stage at the same time. Jerk. Also, I made two friends in the audience - a guy named Zack who was about my age and also had a friend in the ensemble, and this sweet, sweet, precious old man who was sitting next to me and was loving every second of the show. We gushed over it together at intermission. I love New Yorkers.

Avenue Q on Thursday with Mike!!! I love my gay boyfriend. We had delicious peach vodka cocktails at Vladda, where they infuse their own vodka. Yum. We were going to see Les Mis, but it was sold out - then we decided Avenue Q and Spelling Bee were our second choices. I can't believe Spelling Bee is closing in a couple weeks! That's totally devastating to me. Broadway bastards. Anyway...Avenue Q was the perfect date show for Mike & I. Loved it.

August: Osage County with myself...and it was the most amazing play ever. Seriously. It was just stunning. Billy Harley saw it in Chicago and called me to say it was brilliant, and Garth saw it when it was in previews in NYC and called me to say it was brilliant. And now...I am telling all 3 people who read this that IT IS BRILLIANT. The acting was phenomenal. The writing was so, so, so good. My heart *literally* did not return to a normal pace for like 45 minutes after curtain.

I also did shopping! I bought a zillion books and plays. Garth and I went to The Strand on New Year's Eve, which is just the most heavenly bookstore in the world, and then beautiful little Jamie Monahan and I went to a theatre bookstore and bought tons of plays. (Wednesday was Random Date with Jamie in the City Day. Good times.)

I am now the proud owner of...

• Will in the World by Stephen Greenblatt
• Choke by Chuck Palahniuk
• Flesh and Blood by Peter Gaitens (adapted from a freaking Michael Cunningham novel)
• Fifth Planet and Other Plays by David Auburn (TheaterCNU kids are raised on Proof and I love it, but I've never read any of his other stuff)
• Long Day's Journey into Night by Eugene O'Neill
• The 5th of July by Langford Wilson (which I read the day I bought it)
• Burn This by Langford Wilson
  
• Dirty Story by John Patrick Shanley (I worship Shanley)
• Defiance by John Patrick Shanley (read it the day after)
• Skylight by David Hare (Denise has been after me to read this forever, and I do love me some David Hare)

Also, I finished Noises Off, which was awesome and also, coincidentally, the first play Garth had ever done! Oh, universe. And I'm reading The Kite Runner, which is as brilliant as the hype suggests. I hope the movie plays in NN.

I could write a zillion pages on the trip, but I'll save that for the journal that no one reads ;) I'll just say that it was amazing, and I love staying with Garth. He's absolutely without a doubt the most fascinating person I've ever met. He's been freaking everywhere in the world, he's lead a million different lives, he's *so* smart it's kind of disgusting...and he made me delicious food. He somehow inspires me to be more grown-up and a more awesome person (as if that's possible). It's a weird phenomenon.

Unfortunately, he sucks at Guitar Hero. Especially when drunk on New Year's Eve.



But at least he tried it, which makes him braver than me ;) That's his cute temporary roommate Charlie trying to teach him the ways.

I have no idea why I only took one picture that whole trip. I'm slipping in my old age! Not even one of baby Jamie or Mike! We'll just have to use our imaginations.