Every Eight Years, Whether I Need to or Not

 It's been almost 8 years since I've done a show that was longer than a one act. Now, as of about two weeks ago, I'm finding myself at rehearsals again, wondering about the challenge of learning lines and creating a character. This time around, the director is a friend I made in the last show I did, a show that began with the experience described below. This one isn't a Neil Simon play but rather Steel Magnolias, a show I'm excited to be a part of in a theatre I've never performed in before. 

Let the adventure begin.

pompi via Pixabay

Last night, I went to an audition for the first time in longer than I can remember. It was only the second play I'd auditioned for since college (I usually audition for musicals) and this one, like the last one, is by Neil Simon.

The particular theatre has changed a lot since I started doing shows there, but I suppose that's to be expected since nearly three decades have passed since my first audition at that theatre. The last set of renovations included a new administrator, a face lift and a name change that was widely unpopular among some of the long-time volunteers. Some said they'd never return, but that's a pretty challenging promise for a volunteer actor in a small town.

An audition is an audition is an audition. Same table in the lobby, same clipboards, same cast of characters (or at least a version of the same crew), each waiting his or her turn to impress. In the meantime, some hold court, others size up the competition and a few linger over their clipboards, trying to remember their resumes and wondering why they thought this was a good idea in the first place.

This was perhaps a ridiculous idea, as I don't really have time for a show. I barely have time for the commitments I've signed on for already, and I'm not completely sure I can still memorize lines. But my retirement has been forsaken for another full-time job. While that turn of events that is just fine with me, it's putting me at risk of being all work and no play.

So, it was time for a play.

Or at least to try out for one. I don't know how things will turn out. I didn't hedge my bets -- a first, I think. There is only one role I want because there is only one character I was drawn to enough to turn my schedule upside down for the next two months. The others would be fun to play, but I'm just not willing to put in the time. I have other characters waiting for me -- those of my own creation -- who, like a pet left home alone for too long are at risk of doing unspeakable things if I don't get back to them soon, and so I must chose my time away very carefully.

Still, it was fun to read with other actors again, to find the timing that earns the laughs. When writers do this, we don't know if the laughs (or the tears) come; reading, unlike theatre-going, is a solitary pursuit.

It was fun to immerse myself in the work of a playwright whose works make me laugh, even if now they seem a bit dated and perhaps a bit too on-the-nose given current headlines.

Pixabay

It was gratifying to know that, although I'm no longer the twenty-something who drove an hour to nervously audition at this theatre, now of another name, I can still convince myself to take a chance.

I won't know how this all turns out until the end of the week, but I'm okay with either option. I connected with a character, I took a risk, and I looked at a play from both sides of the page. Now I just need to see which side of the page I land on.

Stay tuned.

Morning Pursuits

 When spring semester ended last May, I couldn’t wait to sit in my sunroom, drink my iced tea and do my New York Times puzzles without a ticking clock. But my summer course, which began a week after spring semester ended, is online, so starting the day on a screen, even for leisure activities, quickly became less satisfying than I’d expected. 

One Sunday morning, I decided to intentionally begin the day differently. Instead of going right to my New York Times games, I would devote 15 minutes to reading, journaling, and other offline pursuits before turning to Wordle and the mini crossword.

Fifteen minutes flew by, quickly blossoming into close to an hour. The book I chose quickly sparked new ideas, leading me to other things — notes jotted in my reading journal, and ideas for this blog and other writing projects.

I was amazed by how such a simple change in routine led to an explosion of new thoughts and ideas. I would credit the book I was reading, but although it was good, it wasn’t particularly remarkable, making it a springboard into the flow that ensued, rather than the distraction that it could have been.

In his workshop at the Pennwriters conference last May, author and psychologist Brent Maguire talked about how we can use our habits to fuel our writing. While reading only sometimes leads me to an explosion of ideas, my New York Times games, enjoyable as they are, never do. That doesn’t mean I’m going to stop playing them (I’m not), but it does mean that first thing in the morning might not be the best time to do so, at least not on a daily basis. Unless my change in routine was an anomaly (and I don’t think it was), it’s possible that I was handing over a potentially fruitful time to the pursuit of an activity that narrowed my focus rather than broadening it. 

The funny thing is that I’m NOT a morning person. I like to start my day slowly, preferably after 9AM. But first thing in the morning, I haven’t yet been hijacked by the day’s to-do list. Consequently, my mind is freer to go wherever it pleases until I rein it in with thoughts of right answers and productivity. Starting with my puzzles narrowed my focus, whereas reading, journaling and other offline pursuits invited the ideas to flow, broadening my creativity.

Some mornings, the New York Times puzzles will beckon and I will heed their call. But, knowing what I know now, I'll do so with intention. 

On other mornings, though, especially those without deadlines, I'll brush aside the temptation and opt for reading and journaling instead, relishing the path on which those pursuits take me.

And, time permitting, I'll continue to follow where they lead.

Iced tea image by Lucent_Designs_dinoson20 from Pixabay

Happy National Day on Writing!

 Today is the National Day on Writing. Outside the Starbucks on campus, members of the Department of Communication and Writing and the staff of our on-campus writing magazine manned a table to capture the opinions of students and staff on a few writing-related questions. My freshmen answered the questions in class, leading me to ponder them myself. 

Here are the questions and my answers.

WHY DO YOU WRITE? I agree with many of my students, who use it as a form of self-expression. I also write to create and to educate. I love making up people and endowing them with characteristics and personalities and seeing what kind of trouble I can get them into. And, as a lifelong educator, I love sharing what I know and/or what I've discovered in the hope it will help someone else. 

WHY DO YOU LOVE TO WRITE? The truth is, I don't always love to write. Depending on the project it can be anxiety-producing or even a chore. But, when it's a project I love and things are going smoothly, I love to write because it's fun.

WHERE DO YOU WRITE? Everywhere. Recently, I started a notebook in which to capture all my musings, but I have notepads and writing implements in my car, in most rooms of my house, and in every purse or tote bag I own. If I find myself with a few minutes to spare, whether it's in the Starbucks drive-through or in the waiting room at the doctor's office, I'm always prepared to scribble a few ideas on the page.

HOW DO YOU WRITE? Any way I can. Most projects are very linear, beginning at the beginning of the story and moving on logically from there. Occasionally, a project is more like a patchwork -- my current novel fits this description -- leaving me writing out of order and worrying if the end result will be a fully realized quilt or a pile of scraps.

WHY DOES WRITING MATTER? With AI taking over everything except the things I want it to do (cook dinner, clean the bathroom, etc.), I think writing and all creative activities are more important than ever. The writing we humans produce is flawed and imperfect, but represents a piece of the person who created it. AI is a helpful tool, but I think it's ill-suited to replace the uniqueness of the product that pours out of an individual human being.

How about you? Do you journal, write poetry, compose letters? Why is writing important in your life? Share your thoughts in the comments. I'd love to read them.

Graphic courtesy of the National Council of Teachers of English

Staycation Revelation

 This past weekend was busy. My daughter was home, and we celebrated my husband's birthday on Saturday with a day trip of sorts, attending the National Apple Harvest Festival. It's about an hour away from our house, but was right in my husband's backyard, so to speak, when he was growing up and was similarly close to the apartment I rented when I took on my first adult job 40 years ago. It was the perfect day trip -- a bit nostalgic, close enough to not be exhausting in terms of travel, yet far enough away to be out of the ordinary.  

Yesterday, the first weekday of my fall break, everyone was either off or working from home and ther house was still full. My daughter and I ran errands and, after she left to go home, my husband and I had a relaxing evening in an almost-too-quiet house. 

Today, my second (and final) day of fall break, everyone except me is back to work and I have declared a staycation day. It's just like a regular day off, except that I get to make all the rules about how I spend it. Well, mostly. One commitment did sneak its way onto my calendar (more on that later).

As staycations go, this is a short one. Last summer, frustrated by a summer in which I couldn't seem to settle into a routine that wasn't interrupted by someone else's plans (i.e., amid an ever-shifting calendar, none of my stuff was getting done), I declared a week-long staycation.

I love my family, so I made sure no one was planning on a day off or anything else I needed to pencil into my schedule before I set the dates. Once that was done, I set the guideline.

Singular. One simple rule: unless there was an emergency, no one was to bother me or ask me to do anything or be anywhere between 8am and 5pm on my staycation days, Monday - Friday. My family knows better than to bother me before 8am (at least if they want a coherent response). At 5pm, everything returned to business as usual -- at least until 8am the next morning.

I think my family thought I'd gone a bit 'round the bend (and maybe I had -- I was certainly heading in that direction), but they humored me. And, in doing so, they gifted me with a wonderful week. I read, I wrote, I did whatever I felt like doing. 

On my own terms. 

I expected that it would be relaxing, and hoped it would be therapeutic. Not only was it both of those, it was also revelatory.

With time to think and no pressure to be productive, I came to some overall realizations about how I spend my time and how I allow everyone's choices and expectations (including my own) contribute to that. Even though it was August, I made some resolutions, most of which I've done a decent job of sticking to.

One of those was the "I don't want to wait until I retire to live my life" resolution. That week off was what I imagined my retirement might look like and, with retirement age not too far away, I was inadvertently behaving as though I had to wait until that significant event had taken place in order to do the things I wanted to do. 

I know I'm not alone. Whether it's retirement or something else, I'm sure you know the drill: "When _____, then I'll _____."

Why are we waiting? A lot can happen between the "when" and the "then." Why put additional --  arguably avoidable -- obstacles in the way?

I had some smaller realizations as well but living my life in the now was the big one. And so, on Sunday night, in between my husband's birthday and my day of errands with my daughter, I auditioned for a show. I miss performing, and I can come up with at least a thousand reasons why it's a terrible idea to do a show during the semester, especially when the show adds a half hour commute each way to an already busy schedule.

But schedules were meant to flex and life was meant to be lived. And so, when I got a call that I'd been cast, I accepted the part. That one item that found its way onto my staycation day calendar? A read-through.

I'd love to say I embraced the whole thing with open arms but, the truth is, I was so stressed out about making the commitment that I couldn't fall asleep last night. By this morning, gratitude had elbowed its way into the picture and, as I write this, I'm excited to get started.

I'm sure there will be moments I'll feel spread too thin, annoyed with myself for being impractical, and just flat out exhausted. But, if past experience is any indication, they'll be the exception, and, when I look back at this experience, I'll be glad I set practicality aside and went for fun.

A staycation is a wonderful thing in so many ways. Who knew it would help me re-route my wayward GPS to find a way to work staycation joy into the other days as well?

Theme Song

InspiredImages via Pixabay

 Okay, my friends who grew up in the 70s, tell me if this rings any bells:

This is it (this is it. This is life, the one you get, so go and have a ball.

Got it? 

It's the opening lyrics to the theme song from the TV show One Day at a Time. Its first iteration ran from 1975-1984 (thank you, Wikipedia -- I had no idea it ran for 9 seasons!) and featured Bonnie Franklin, Valerie Bertinelli and Mackenzie Phillips. The 2016 reboot with a Latina cast (including Justina Machado and Rita Moreno) featured an updated theme song sung by Gloria Estefan.

So, what exactly does this little foray into trivia surrounding a show I liked watching as a teenager have to do with anything?

Last week, I decided to adopt the theme song as my own. It's classic 70s, a fun throwback, and I love the lyrics. "This is life, the one you get, so go and have a ball....so while you're here, enjoy the view...hold on tight, we'll muddle through one day at a time."

Indeed.

So often, we try to cram more than one day into a 24-hour period. Or, we worry about what has already happened, what might happen, and how much we can control.

No fun. Also, a waste of time. 

One day at a time. Great mantra, and even better when there's a catchy tune to go with it. 

Personally, I'm keeping it on my Spotify playlist so I can listen to it the next time I'm trying to cram more than one day into a 24-hour period, or when my brain spirals into all the things I feel as though I need to do.

One day at a time (bah, da, da, da). One day at a time.

Red and Green Energy

 This week, I'm having my freshmen do a "red and green" activity, paying attention to how they spend their time, as well as which activities energize them (green) and which deplete them (red). This information forms part of the foundation of a project in which they create a personalized stress management plan.

Often, when I assign projects like these, I do at least some of the activities, too. I find them both interesting and informative (which is why I assign them in the first place) and having the experience of doing what they're doing helps me to determine how to frame the in-class discussions that follow. This time, though, as someone whose freshman year in college is far, far behind her, I was pretty sure I already knew the answers, so I haven't done the activity. But, as I waded through my burgeoning to-do list, trying to not only balance my obligations against other activities that were greener, so to speak, but also to find the green activities that might already be on the list, I began to wonder if my informal assessments were on track.

I also began to wonder about some other things. Is it a green activity, for example, if I only feel good after it's finished? Or, does that mean I should list "checking things off my to-do list" as a green activity? (Or both?) If something was a green (or red) activity before is that still the case? Can I grow out of -- or into -- green activities?

While I doubt that physics, chemistry, and cleaning the bathroom will ever leap over the barrier, moving from red to green, I suspect that I'd label some of my activities differently now than I would have when I was younger. And, in discussing this activity with my students, I was reminded that these nuances matter because that's where growth lies. 

While I can't cross something I must do off my to-do list because it's a red activity, I can balance the red and the green to create not only a schedule, but a life that makes the most of the time I have. But first, I have to know which is which.

I guess I have a little homework to do.

Photo credit: NoName_13 via Pixabay

Random Thoughts on a Friday

 It's the first week of a new semester so, despite my best efforts, a Tuesday blog did not materialize. On this gorgeous Friday afternoon, with my classes for the week behind me, I thought I'd share a sampling of observations poking their heads out from among my to-do lists and weekend plans to make up for the hole in this week's posts.

• Details give me a headache. I'm a big picture girl who has spent the last week drowning in the minutiae of due dates, assignment details, and figuring out who needs what when. I need a nap. Fortunately, I get a long weekend :-)

• Change is good. After a frustrating experience picking up a prescription at my "usual" pharmacy, one that has become simultaneously overburdened and understaffed, I decided to phone in my next refill elsewhere. Today, I picked it up at the new location. Night and day doesn't begin to describe the difference in customer service.

• OMG - chocolate-covered blueberries! Who knew? My department head included some in a welcome back goodie bag she created for each of us. I now have a new obsession.

• NO CHAI?? When I stopped by my usual Starbucks today for my after-work treat, the barista told me he was sorry to disappoint me (good customer service again! It's NOT dead!), but they were out of chai! Noooo!! Fortunately another local store had some and I got my drink...but they were also in short supply. Apparently it's a key ingredient in one of the pumpkin drinks.

• Old friends are a blessing. I capped off my week with a long, chatty FaceTime with a dear friend from high school. Perfect.

Whatever you're thinking about or observing, I hope the weather where you are is as wonderful as it is here, and that you enjoy this long weekend that seals the deal on summer and launches fall. 

My favorite season.

Photo credit: Image by Stefan Schweihofer from Pixabay