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11.08.2007
holy feces, an update
Wow. What a scab I've been. UF's on a storyline right now about bloggers going on strike, and well, i see that I've been in that spirt for about a month now.
My profuse apologies to anyone that actually reads my blog for substance. I hope for your sake you either use an RSS reader or catch the LJ feed.
That said, life so far has been going better than the pessimist in me would ever have admitted. E and I have been living together for over a month now, and we've yet to kill each other ;) We've had a couple of "getting to know you" moments, but we're both pretty level headed adults and we seem to be working things out quite nicely. (She says thinking she might have just jinxed it. Ah well.) I'm still getting used to the fact that I've truly become an adult in the eyes of the world; telemarketers are calling for me now. I've taken a step to the side of the safety net that's been under me my whole life. It's thrilling and frighting all at once.
I've been working like crazy trying to keep my hours up and thus my income up so that I can continue to pay my newfound bills. Been doing surprisingly well, actually. This summer's been the busiest ever, I think. Welcome to the adult world, as it goes.
I've been slowly making in-roads into the world of lighting design in the suburbs. I've designed a show at Circle Theatre, am currently working on designing a show there, and I have just signed up to design a show there that will open in January. In addition, I've signed up to design my first musical ever, with a company I've never worked with before, in a space that's apparently not well suited to doing modern theatre. Lots of renting will be involved. Exciting!
So far this summer I have seen one of my friends get married off, and next weekend E's sister is going to tie the knot. Friends of friends are having babies and it seems everywhere I look people I know are pairing off, trying to pair off, or spawning. Crazy. Makes me feel... adult.
I still haven't made much progress on my new website. I really should get into that so that I can start putting together a portfolio. If i want to continue to work myself into the lighting design realm, I need a place to champion myself.
That does beg the question - do I want to do lighting design? I seem to be good at it. At least, people tell me that I'm good at it and they keep calling me back. I enjoy it. It seems, though, that path would eventually lead to graduate school, if I ever want to break into it full-time. I'm still not so sure that I want to go to graduate school. Although, E and I have talked about, in that sort of "what if" type way, of relocating someplace new and different, going to grad school might just be a good impetus to do that. Either way, I should spend a few more years building up a name for myself before I look closer at where the next fork in the road will take me.
In the meantime, though, I'm looking hard for a way to replace one of my places of employment. It's become increasingly clear that the environment there is one of which I do not want to be a part. It's certainly not the place that it was when I started working there, as is often the case when you work somewhere for a while, but the changes that have been made, the attitudes I've been seeing in people and the very structure of the organization itself have been weighing on me heavily.
I used to love going to work there, and now I dread it. I feel like I'm selling out going in to work there. I just can't lose the income right now. I recognize that most people don't love their jobs, but in an industry like this, with pay like ours, your love of the job is what keeps you there; it's what drives you to be part of the best crew many tours have ever seen. It's just absolutely amazing that they seem to think that they can fire their crew, ignore the legacy of their time and experience, and expect it to be business as usual.
It's kinda funny, I was talking to a friend recently about the very beginnings of this organization, and they mentioned that at the outset, they had imagined that the TD would be the only paid crew person and that the rest of the crew would be volunteers from the community. At the time, the thought was laughable; you just can't do the schedule and the level of work that they're used to with a volunteer crew. If they keep treating the crew like they do, however, they're going to find that's all they'll have left. It saddens me, really, I love that institution and I don't wish it harm, I never would. I just don't see how it can continue thriving on the path they've put it on.
I recognize that this has been a bit long-winded, but it's a pretty good summary of the events of the last couple of months. I don't have copious time to hang out lately, but I always welcome emails and calls. I really want to keep in touch with you wonderful people.
Posted by drlynn at 18:39 in "Personal Updates".