Happiness is....too much information!!!

So tonight was our final dress rehearsal for Charlie Brown...tomorrow is opening night...hooray! But back to tonight...rehearsal was ridiculous. We had a pretty big audience considering the fact that it wasn't actually a performance. Most of them were theatre students, so they really appreciated the show I think. "Suppertime," which is my favorite song in this show, was the best I've seen it yet, as were several other songs. However, this is not why I am blogging about rehearsal. The best part of tonight had nothing to do with what was going on onstage. The best part by far was what I was hearing all night over the clearcom (the headset that the stage manager speaks to us over to give us light and sound cues). Well...4 out of the 6 people with headsets are allowed to talk during the show. I am one of the unfortunate 2 (along with the other spot op) who cannot talk or laugh or do anything to draw the audience's attention to us. This is a very difficult task when the show is funny...it is even worse, however, when the comments being made over the clearcom are HYSTERICAL! I never thought that You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown could become an R-rated show...but with the commentary of the technical theatre students on the clearcom tonight, it very much became just that. It was ridiculous...and it was so unfair that I couldn't laugh....but it is now a lovely series of inside jokes for the six of us. I heart theatre people...particularly NAU theatre student people. Happiness is....hahahaha....you have no idea! :)

It's almost 10 o'clock, and I'm finally getting around to eating dinner...thank you Tech Week! I woke up at 8:30 this morning to a voicemail on my cellphone saying "hey Chelsea, we're all at a mandatory staff meeting at work, and you're not here!" I didn't get home from rehearsal til about 11 last night, and it took me a while to wind down after that....so I was sleeping later than I had planned...and I thought the meeting was next week. I got there about half an hour late...but at least I got there. By the time I got home and showered and had my usual Saturday conversation with my grandmother, I had enough time to eat lunch, change my clothes, and get to rehearsal. I was there for something between four and five hours....but at least it was fun! I'm running spotlight, so I get to watch the whole show instead of sitting backstage :)
After rehearsal, I made a trip to Bookman's, a used book store and coffee shop about a block away from my apartment, to pick up a magazine and some coffee and do 1/3 of a lighting assignment that's due Wednesday. I'm trying to get ahead on all my homework for the week so I'm not going extra crazy this week during performances. For my lighting class, I have to bring in 15 images without faces or words on Monday, and I had fun ripping them out of a Vogue magazine when I got home. at least 2/3 of my pictures are of shoes or purses or some other kind of accessories. I've been jamming out to showtunes all night, trying to keep Charlie Brown out of my head :) Around 9something I started making dinner...a unique recipe I've decided to call fajitas pasta. It's basically avocados, ground turkey, salsa, jalopenos, garlic, and some spices as a sauce for spaghetti...pretty tasty! I need to finish eating it now so I can go change my laundry and maybe go to bed sometime tonight :)
Happiness is.....fajitas pasta at 10pm!

life after spring break

It's been a relatively eventful week since my last post. My weekend in Phoenix was pretty nice....definitely a nice break from Flagstaff. My cousin's baby is basically the cutest thing in the world, and I also had lots of fun with Adora, my other cousin's daughter. We died Easter eggs and played with Bratz dolls and gave each other makeovers. The purple toenail polish she painted me with left blue stains even after I scrubbed it with nail polish remover....the joy of little girls! :)
I had a major fiasco with the shuttle trying to get back here on Monday. It was an hour late picking me up (which gave me an opportunity to get a lovely tan/sunburn while sitting in the parking lot!) and even more late getting to campus. And it was packed full of people, some of whom had some unpleasant body odor...all in all, not the best experience of my week.
The rest of the week has been classes and homework and more classes. I wasn't scheduled for work this week because of crew stuff, but crew stuff got moved back a couple days. Choir last night was super fun....I got to sing lots of high Gs and had a very tired voice after 2.5 hours of them :) I am so excited for our next concert. Our songs are so good! YAAAAY Uni!
Tonight crew started for You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. We had "Crew View," something I've never experienced before, and it was AWESOME! Since I'm so familiar with the show, I think it was extra fun for me. I really wanted to get up and sing and dance with them. The guy playing Snoopy is HILARIOUS!!! During "Suppertime," his big song, we were all laughing SOOO hard. It was insane. I hate to say it, but this performance very much tops the one we did with drama club....and theirs didn't take nearly as long as ours did :) I'm really glad I'm crewing this one and not one of the others. The people in this show are FUN, and the show is FUNNY, and I love it! The next week and a half are going to be insane, but it will be worth it! I probably won't have time to post til after the show is over (when I'm sure I'll have lots of fun stories to tell), so until then, happiness and love to you all!

This week has been terribly uneventful and unexciting so far. I've done very little besides working and wandering around some nearby shops. But I only have to survive one more day here before I go to Phoenix for the weekend! YAY! I'm so excited to get to see my aunts and cousins and their kids...including Davitta's new baby boy!!!!
I saw a movie today that was probably one of the most all-around well done films I've seen in such a long time. The acting was wonderful. The music was perfect. The cinematography was gorgeous. The costumes and sets were extravagant. Now you're all asking "What was the movie?!" It was The Other Boleyn Girl. I would recommend it to anyone who can handle a couple of sex scenes and some mild violence. The women are particularly phenomenal, even those that play minor roles, and the story (while remaining historically accurate as far as I can tell) is brilliantly told. Seriously, go see this movie...especially if you're a woman.
Adele posted more news from Ilula today after she spent much of the day visiting with the kids.

Ilula

Hi Friends!
Adele posted something today that gave a lot of insight into what's been going on with the kids in Ilula during the past couple months. She posted some of their own words and a picture that one of them drew. Check it out if you have time.
As for me, my spring break has officially started...no more classes for over a week! Yay! I'll still be here most of the week working, but I'm headed to Phoenix next weekend to spend Easter with my aunts and cousins.

The theatre department announced our 2008-2009 season yesterday, and I am VERY excited! I don't know when each show will be yet, but they announced that we will be doing The Fantasticks, Equus, The Importance of Being Earnest, and two shorter plays by Eugene Ionesco. I would really like to be in The Fantasticks and/or Earnest...so I'm going to really work hard on monologues and stuff this summer.
Today wasn't particularly exciting. I slept late because I was feeling crappy, and then I went to Ross to buy a muffin pan. I went to my one Thursday class when I got home, and it was more enjoyable than usual today. After class, I came home and made banana and zucchini muffins for Pi Day tomorrow. Then I made a really yummy dinner...I'm starting to master the art of cooking for one without wasting lots of food or eating the same thing over and over again. I even bought two single-serve casserole dishes today at Ross! Exciting stuff, I tell you. :)

Ilula News

I received news from Adele today, who made her first trip to Ilula since her return from South Africa. Here is what she said:

Ilula's neighborhood looks terrible, Chelsea. The kids have been getting group trauma therapy, things were that bad... Did you see the photo of the Chepsats on my Flickr page? Mary was gone for more than 2 months so she could be in a safe place with Joshua. They were twice considering fleeing on foot with the kids, so running with a baby wouldn't've been good. It was that bad, yes.

While this news makes me somewhat sad, the pictures Adele has posted show everyone smiling and recovering from the terrors of the past few months. For those of you who don't know, the Chepsats were one of my two sets of Kenyan parents. Joshua is their 4 month old son, who was born on my 20th birthday :) Please continue to keep all of them in your prayers as they continue to deal with everything that they have been through. Blessings!

Today was crazy. I went to breakfast with two friends at our pastor's house. His wife made us breakfast, and we had a lovely morning of girl time. Their granddaughter has Downs Syndrome, and I really adore her. It was just a really enjoyable time...and the breakfast was yummy!
When I got back there was lots of rushing around and madness as I was trying to get my portfolio printed before my audition. It didn't happen. I went to my audition with my laptop and showed them my portfolio as it was on my computer. I talked a bit about all my tech experience, performed (fairly, but not exceptionally) my two monologues, and answered a bunch of questions. Since the RA job is up in the air, I am praying that one of these scholarships will come my way somehow.
After my audition I came back to my room and hung out for a while. I made macaroni and cheese for dinner. I really desperately didn't want to be in my room anymore, so I went to the union with a book and sat down to read. The ticket office had a sign posted saying that all the tickets for tonight's performance of R&G were sold out....and I panicked. Tonight was the final performance, and I had to see it for my Lighting and Sound class.
I went to sign up for the wait list at 7pm and stood in the lobby of the theatre for almost an hour until they finally came out and read the names off the list to say who they had room for and who they did not. Praise God, I was one of the chosen!
The show was AMAZING!!! I didn't know much about it, outside of its origins in Hamlet, but I absolutely loved it. It was so funny and brilliant...the actors were incredible...the design was gorgeous...I can't say enough good things about it! My friends, if there is ever a respectable theatre company near you performing Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, you must go see it! You will not be sorry. I know that I'm not :)

RA News!

I picked up my letter about the RA position today, and I'm an alternate :) This is good news, because according to several people I've talked to, all of the alternates have ended up becoming RAs for the past several years. (Apparently RAs get fired often!)
In other news, I have a scholarship audition tomorrow which I've been preparing for most of this week. I have to do 2 monologues and present my tech portfolio...should be interesting.
Tonight I'm going ice skating with people from Vintage. Tomorrow I'm going to see Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, because it's required for my Lighting and Sound class.
One more week til Spring Break!!!! I'm not going anywhere besides Phoenix for Easter weekend, but the simple fact that I don't have to go to class is terribly exciting :)

Unexciting Saturday

I spent my entire day cleaning, grocery shopping, and doing laundry...and then I went to work and continued building up my hardcore ice cream muscles. My right arm is going to be so much bigger than my left arm by the end of this semester...any suggestions for fixing this problem?
After two months of cooking for myself and living on a pretty strict budget, I feel like I'm really starting to get in shape. The fact that I don't have much time to sit around and be bored (which tends to lead to unnecessary eating) probably has something to do with it also. It seems nice to put on pants and discover that they are loose :) This may become a problem soon, as I really would rather not buy myself a whole new wardrobe...but I's sure that will be a while...and that's what second-hand stores are for! I miss Salvo...I haven't found any comparable stores out here yet...but maybe I just haven't ventured out far enough.
Nothing else too exciting happening in my world. I saw "No Country for Old Men" last night, and in spite of the sometimes graphic violence, I thought it was good. The acting was really good, and the cinematography was well done too. I understand now why it got so many awards show nominations.
That's all I have to say for now, so until next time, be blessed my friends!