Beginning of the End

I suppose technically, the beginning of the end was the beginning of this semester, but for the sake of having a fun title of the blog post, we'll keep it. Anyway, this has been an amazing week. I graduate in 10 days (!!!) so my goal is to fit in as much fun and friends before I leave Los Angeles for the foreseeable future. So here's a mini-break down of the last few days.

Thursday:
Last day of real classes. They went well, weren't anything special--mostly just finishing up the material before it's too late. The evening was going to be laid-back and boring, but I ended up hanging up with a bunch of KP members for a few hours which was a blast. I don't see them enough anymore!!

Friday:
Last actual day of class! My Theatre for Youth class went into a 7th grade classroom and practiced teaching theatre games to them. It was seriously challenging to get them to engage, and it was fascinating to see a LAUSD classroom, notoriously low-performing, in person. I think I did alright with my activity--it seemed to wake them up a bit. After the classroom visit I came back home and took a long nap: three or four hours!! I was super tired, so I needed it! Then I went to Culver City and met with a friend that I met at CAP21. We went out for dinner at Rush Street. I got steak, which I never order, and it was delicious! Then we went to a wine bar and I finally found a wine I like! I've been 21 for almost a year (woah... that's weird) and finally found one I'm happy to drink. It doesn't taste like wine--tastes like soda. That's why I like it! ;) It was great to catch up with her and I had a blast.

Saturday:
The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books was at USC this year, so I walked over to the gigantic book fair and wandered for few hours. I got a t-shirt that says "Write On" with the USC Fight On hand, and a "translation" of Romeo and Juliet geared to middle-school students. That evening was the TSA Awards (TSA=Theatre Students Association), an awards ceremony for all the shows done this year. I wore a pretty dress =) After I got dessert with a friend and we hung out a few hours, which was great. So good to catch up with my favorite friends!

Sunday:
DISNEYLAND DASH!! Basically, it was a massive scavenger hunt (Amazing Race-style), put on by a couple of USC students. My team didn't do very well but it was so much fun!! Definitely was experiencing Disneyland in a whole new way. And it was great to meet a couple of new people. SO much fun! I'd explain it in further detail, but it deserves its own post. So ask me about it if you're curious! After the dash itself, a few of us grabbed dinner at the House of Blues in Downtown Disney, which was quite yummy. Got back around 11pm. I'd originally planned on going to Drom (Drama-Prom), the biggest theatre party of the semester, but I was beyond exhausted so I just went to bed.

Monday:
Errands day. Not quite as fun, but productive at least. Got a bunch of errands done. Then I went to see a bunch of USC students in a Diversity Showcase. A showcase is a presentation of scenes and monologues performed for agents, managers, casting directors, and other industry professionals to showcase the actors' talent. I went to see their dress rehearsal, a Friends and Family performance. It was interesting to see what my friends could do outside of class or individual shows. Their actual showcase performance was tonight and I'm hoping things pan out for them! After the showcase I came home and watched TV. I watched The Voice on NBC, and I really liked it!! I love the coaches and appreciated the fact that they're showcasing singers, not just individual drama. I'm hoping it'll continue to be good.

Tuesday:
Got up and saw the Dalai Lama speak at USC! It was hard to hear because of terrible acoustics, which was frustrating, but it was really cool to see him in person and watch him talk. Plus, he was wearing a USC baseball cap (which matched his robes perfectly), which made it just that much better. There were a few things I could hear him say that I remember, which I really appreciated:

Kindness is my religion.
When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad.

After hearing him speak, I went to another of my friend's apartment and had yummy lunch with him and a few of his friends. Watched a lot of TV and vegged out. It's been insanely warm these last few days, and I just didn't have the energy to do much more. In fact, when I got back home I ended up taking a two hour nap. After that I got up, ate some dinner and went to visit a couple of my Spider Baby ladies. I wanted to make sure I saw them before moving out, and it was really nice to just hang out and chat. I got back an hour ago. Now it's midnight. I could either go to bed, like a normal human being would, watch tonight's episode of The Voice or Glee, or read a while. I'm pretty tired, but I'm also really bad at just forcing myself to go to bed, so it's equally likely for any of those three to happen.

Tomorrow I have to actually start studying. I keep forgetting that I'm not actually done with school--I still need to pass my finals!! I have one on Thursday that I'm feeling pretty decent about, but I still need to review before I take that final. I also should start packing, see if I need more boxes or space. And I still want to fit in more meeting-up with friends and fun stuff like that. I need to fit in a good number of good-byes. I hate saying good-bye... So I say "bye for now."

And now I say it to you: bye for now, bloggiereader!

Amazing Weekend

This'll be a short post, because I still have things to do tonight before sleeping, but I just wanted to write about the awesome-ness that has been my weekend.

Yesterday: slept in, yummy home-made meals, delightful reading in the perfect weather at Griffith Park. You know that already. But then last night, I spent from 7pm until midnight working on a digital album from a trip I took to Europe in 2006. Yes, it took me 5 years to finish it, but it's DONE! It feels so good to have everything typed up (I typed up my journal from the trip, and sometimes I get really wordy!) and all the pictures in place. LOL I forgot where some of those pictures were taken, or I didn't have copies of the places anymore, so for some of the pictures I found images from the internet and just put them in. They're sights I remember seeing, so it's only cheating a little! But it feels SO GOOD to be done with it! Then some chatting with the roomies and a little more reading before sleep.

Today, I slept in again =) and then had lunch/finished watching Avatar: The Last Airbender with a few of my friends. We started watching it a week before spring break but didn't get through to the finale until just today. But it was satisfying and an excellent way to see the whole series. Lots of fun! Then I came home, ordered myself a copy of my beautiful Europe photo album, and then went over for a Passover sedar with the Los Angeles contingent of my family. It was also a lot of fun to see them all again--I don't give myself enough time to spend with my family. Lots of good laughs and happy times. And yummy food, much of which came home with me! =)

So the weekend was the perfect combination of alone time and social time, family and friends, fun and productivity. Technically speaking this weekend was nothing special... but that's why I liked it.

Simple Things

It's so easy to get caught up in the insanity that is life. In my case, it's the craziness that is classes, trying to figure out opportunities post-graduation (less than a month away!!!), various class activities and rehearsals, making time to hang with friends... It's a lot, and I don't mind it, but it's just too easy to get caught up in it all.

So today I didn't let myself. I didn't set an alarm clock and woke up at noon feeling seriously refreshed. Read for a couple hours, then made some lunch. I went grocery shopping yesterday so I actually have food to eat! Hooray!! Watched a little TV, then drove to Griffith Park with juice/Pringles in one hand and a big stack of books in the other. And it was just beautiful.

The sun was shining and it was late enough in the day that it wasn't incredibly hot, but just warm enough, especially when coupled with a gentle breeze in the shady tree. I found a hill to sit on and used my book bag as a pillow, with just the right angle for reading. I finished one book that my roommate lent me (wasn't crazy about it, but I was determined to finish it!), read a little bit of the library book I borrowed yesterday (it's all in emails, which I love. The epistolary novels are always favorites of mine), and continued reading on a Kindle book. Unfortunately with that one, somehow the e-reader had gotten to the end of the book. So it looked like I was almost done with it, while in fact I wasn't even half-way through it. It took me a couple of chapters of reading to notice what had happened. Oops! But I went back and found my old spot. Sometimes technology likes to mess with me. =)

And now I'm home again. Going to continue my relaxing day with some dinner, maybe a Netflix movie or more TV, and probably continue to read. A nice, quiet break from the craziness that life has been lately.