Getting to know you...

Things are getting better. It looks like I can't move in until the 9th. Kinda stinks, but I'm more at peace with knowing what the heck is going on.

I caught the opening of Othello last night at Houston Shakes. It seems as though a million UH people are part of it. I met my movement professor and a bunch of MFA alumni (quite a few are in the productions). It was a swift, fierce production. I've never seen Shakespeare outside, and it was fun (aside from the wailing banshee child. Thank goodness for the usher who asked the mother and kids to leave, it was egregiously disruptive). The crowd really bought the show. They booed Iago at the curtain call (played by the head of my program). The stage and park is beautiful (and the tickets are FREE). I'll see Taming of the Shrew tonight, which is promised to have this 80s twist. I've never seen Shrew before, so this should be a lot of fun. And if last night was any indication, it should be another great production.

Afterwards, a classmate and I went to the chair of the UH Theater Department's house for an opening night party. It was a little awkward because we were some of the first people to arrive and the chair's wife was letting in some other people and we bopped in. She was incredulous of who we were (and we weren't necessarily wearing opening night garb), but that was the only supremely awkward moment. More people showed up and it was all good. For whatever reason, we were some of the last people to leave the party.

It was a little weird schmoozing with people. I'm sure I was all bright-eyed and completely bewildered the whole time. It was most fun talking to undergrad students and then the recent graduates. There's this bristling energy about the undergrads, which was fun and then the wizened grads who have this little glimmer in their eye that just says "you're going to have so much fun and want to die at the same time."

Aside from the bits of self-consciousness, I I loved the aura of it all. I can't quite explain it, but there's a great sense of pride and enthusiasm for what's going on down here.

As for the rest of today. I slept in and have been working on sifting through a stack of plays to see if there's ANYTHING I can glean monologues from. I re-read Our Lady of 121st Street. I think I'll make tomorrow a Shakespeare day (snatching up Othello and Taming of the Shrew monologues especially).

Otherwise I just sit in this apartment, staying indoors and not spending any money. It's my calm before the storm.

I've been in Houston for 22 hours...

I'm in Houston.

That was the Sisyphean rock that I have been tossing about for the past two weeks. Now that I've managed to get that rock up the mountain, a giant Zeus-ish figure pointing back at the bottom and says, "now go get the other five and bring them here."

I'm not sure how much stock I can put in how I'm feeling right now. But I'm a bit of a wreck. Here's why:

1. I'm not moved into my apartment yet. I have no idea how the status of getting fully 100% approved is working. I traveled to the complex today and handed off paperwork. I should know more tomorrow (which is the mantra of the year, it seems like). I won't even begin to explain the situation on this blog. It gives me anxiety.

2. I traveled around the UH campus today. It's big. It's a state institution. I juggled parking meters and had to take care of paperwork to three different buildings, only to come back to the place I'm crashing (THANK GOODNESS FOR LAUREL AND SHANNON!) to find more paperwork in my email. I took care of that summarily. I'm quite proud of myself for that.

3. Driving around Houston is going to take getting used to. The streets are in abominable shape. There are bumps, gorges, and cracks that just astound me. I thought Minneapolis roads were bad. They're not. I don't feel like I can quite discuss traffic yet. It hasn't been too crazy. The other thing is that it's pretty claustrophobic. Gone are the large parking lots. So far (and I haven't done MUCH driving around), it's very compact and condensed.

4. I'm driving around the 4th largest city in the country in a Minivan. I'm not totally familiar with either so...there you go.

There's a lot more to do. But I cannot cope with anything or hope to feel comfortable until I can set up my bedroom. And I just hope, hope, hope, hope that can happen this weekend (I'm even hoping for tomorrow, but that's supremely wishful thinking).

So...I'm in a foul mood. I know this is likely to be fleeting. I guess next to getting divorced and having kids moving is probably one of the most stressful things in the world. I knew it would be, but it's kind of hitting me in this soppy humid sludge and I can't do a whole lot about it all right now.

I will say that the theatre building at Houston (the lobby is all I've seen, essentially) is cool. They've got big photos of past productions, and it reminded me of the Guthrie. I love perusing production photos.

But I've done what I can for today. I think I'm just going to use the rest of my time to work on monologues (after a nap) and read. That's about all I can do. I have no money to spend, and I just don't feel like exploring right now. I hope the shock and awe wears away sooner.

Sooner is gooder.

Watch This

Shakespeare with many celebrity voices:

George Bush, Morgan Freeman, Jimmy Stewart, Ricky Gervais, Woody Allen, Arnold Schwarzenegger, George Clooney, Garrison Keillor--the list goes on and on. You just gotta watch it.

Audiobook Shortlist

I'd like to listen to an audiobook on my trip to Houston; it's going to be 20 hours I think.

I'm looking for suggestions for what to listen to and how to acquire said book/mp3 files for a reasonable price (because these things aren't cheap).

Other things to consider:

• I enjoy contemporary literary fiction that's a bit on the zany side (a good example would be something like Gary Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story).
• I'd prefer NOT to get an audiobook in place of a physical copy that I already own.(No, I'm not going to list everything I own but haven't read yet).
• I'd also like to avoid anything extremely cerebral or epic (so let's hold off on the Dostoyevsky, George R.R. Martin, or Pillars of the Earth, which is 40+ hours long!)

Here's a short list (in no particular order):

1. In the Woods by Tana French (confession: I do own this, but I can make exceptions because this is my blog and I make the rules)
2. The Financial Lives of the Poets by Jess Walter
3. The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman
4. An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin
5. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
6. Breakfast of Champions by Vonnegut (narrated by Stanley Tucci--but it's only 5 hours long)
7. The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño (um... at 27 hours, this would lean very close to the epic side, but this author has been on my To Read in the Distant Future list)

And please, if you think any of these titles or others DON'T lend themselves to audiobook, let me know (whether from experience or reading them. I have to believe that there are some books that simply MUST be read--The World According To Garp, for example)

I also want to jump on The Hunger Games bandwagon, but everyone I talk to says I can race through it in a few days. I think I want to read them instead. I can't quite pinpoint why. At the same time, I have severe concerns that reading for pleasure is on an unofficial grad school moratorium. Maybe it can be something I save for Christmas break??

I mean, the audiobook isn't a dealbreaker for me. I've got lots of music and podcasts to rifle through, but it'd be fun to listen to a book, methinks. I mean, there's not much else going on for this drive, which will be a trek across the following states:

• Nebraska
• Kansas
• Oklahoma
• Texas

Oooh. Does anyone know of kind of road-trip-type novels? (akin to On the Road, which I've already read)

Time to Play a Bit o' Catch-Up

In the past 3 days I've finished my job in Lanesboro, packed up my room, cleaned my room, said goodbye to a ton of people, got sunburned, saw some excellent drum corps, saw a fantastic production of Street Scene, and drank some great beer along the way.

I feel like a ball in a giant pinball machine. Some of it's fun and all. Other times it's a bit jarring and I've got figurative whiplash.

But now, I'm home in South Dakota. I'll be here for 10 days or so, consolidating all my junk and reading like there's no tomorrow.

I've been so behind on the Monster Reading List.

I did some breakthrough progress today already though. I've got my "week one" monologues close to all picked out. My audition pieces for the fall semester aren't quite there yet, but I've got some options that will suffice. I think an achievable goal is to have that finalized by Friday at the latest. This gives me a chance to read through some more plays in case anything grabs me. But then, it'll be time to live with what I've chosen and get them up to speed so that I can check more off my list that only seems to be growing exponentially.

There's paper work to sort out for becoming an employee with the U. of Houston (which has been a kind of dramatic process--details I'll spare). I'm going to be a teaching assistant this first year (which also means I can get faculty parking).

I also have to acquire a bunch of rehearsal/costume pieces. I'll no doubt be scouring the thrift stores of good ol' Sioux Falls for those items.

All that said, I'm not panicking, but there's no time to twiddle my fingers any longer (not that I have, but things have been a lit lax on the prep for school).

The Final Countdown

We're in the final countdown.

I've got until Saturday to move out of Lanesboro.

My parents are coming on Thursday. We'll probably see Little Shop together.

I think I have an audition on Tuesday (for next summer...already).

Orientation begins in 5 weeks.

Ack.