What color is the sky in your world?

New Things

2012-01-29T21:33:00.000-06:00

I lack discipline. Let me clarify. I lack discipline when it comes to doing things for my own benefit. I can focus on a project and be so organized and driven you'd think I was powered by Duracell when that project involves other people. But I can always find an excuse to put off doing something for myself. Soooo I'm challenging myself to learn, learn about, or do at least one new thing each week and write about it here.

To start off I've selected a new theme for my blog. The raspberry colored theme I used previously was evidently the same theme chosen by a friend for her blog. Oops. Great minds, right? :) But that' s not the real reason. Now I have one of my paintings as the background and that makes me smile. Now on to things I've learned.

This past month there has been an image going around Facebook regarding the Girl Scouts. The image looked like a news bulletin with a broken Trefoil cookie as the logo. It listed several reasons why Girl Scouts should not be supported. Each of which made me want to support them all the more. However I don't take things at Facebook value without digging a little deeper. At the same time I saw a friend from high school posting about her daughter joining American Heritage Girls. So then I start wondering about this other group? I looked up the websites for both organizations and did a little research. Now I know more about both.

Girl Scouts

American Heritage Girls

In researching I found a link to another (non-scouting) organization called The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media.

Lastly I went looking for something math and/or science related to learn. What I found presented me with so many choices I think my brain shut down from over stimulation. Apparently M.I.T. (yes THE M.I.T.) has a program called OpenCourseWare that compiles lecture notes, class assignments, videos and exams for almost every course offered at the real live 3D version of the institute. While you can't take courses for credits, the information is available for free, to everyone with internet access. You don't need to register or join or pay any fees of any kind. Just click on the website and pick something to learn. I have decided to learn a little 'Principles of Inorganic Chemistry II' and brush up on 'Single Variable Calculus.' Sadly I remember very little from the last Calc. and Chem classes I took over 15 years ago.

http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm

I'll report back next week to see what I've learned. :)

Refreshing Perspectives Work

2011-06-30T11:22:00.001-05:00

Today's workday started with a group discussion about how good we have it here in the U.S. compared to workplace standards 100 years ago & communist countries now. One person in the group having left family in communist Vietnam. Interesting, refreshing and highly unusual start to the morning. :) Normally the say starts with people whining about have to actually DO work. Paperwork/computer work, in an air conditioned office, with established break times and paid vacation, and Wii consoles in the breakroom, and ergonomic specialists to make sure you've got the right equipment. It was nice to be reminded that some people here are truly thankful, grateful and appreciative of the jobs that we have.

'A Broad Way'

2010-11-08T15:35:00.004-06:00

Soooooo I stumbled upon this documentary. They sent people out to film each block of Broadway simultaneously for one hour on June 6, 2006. It's called "A Broad Way" Their goal was to document the spirit and diversity of New York City. I think they accomplished that goal perfectly.

This is my New York City.

This is what I'm referring to when I tell people that Manhattan is where my heart is.

Trailer on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ABroadwayMovie

Watch the full length film on Hulu:

http://tinyurl.com/BwayHulu

Watch the full length film on Zimbio:

http://tinyurl.com/BwayZim

IMDB:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0902958/combined

I don't know how long the full length features will be available online.

Posty Note: Theatre #1

2010-08-25T11:43:00.002-05:00

We (Ghostlight Theatre Club) got a new semi-permanent space or mostly our own last May. That new location and permanency also opened up new opportunities and created new responsibilities. I love all of it, even if it does mean that I rarely get a day off anymore. :)

Scary Dream...

2010-08-24T10:14:00.003-05:00

Okay, first of all, let me say that I don't normally have nightmares. I can't actually recall ever having a nightmare or even a really bad dream where I wasn't sure I'd eventually be safe within the dream. Until last night.

It was still an odd dream, but there were of course some major points that were similar to things in my waking life.

I was at my work building, but there were classes there too and the structure was the same, but there were more open spaces and the cubicles weren't the same in placement or design. Sooooooo, at work, and we get information that someone is coming to the building to kill everyone, you know with the guns and everything like at the post office on the news when I was a kid and so many other places and and times since then. The difference of course that there was warning in this dream case. Soooo in the dream we were all finding hiding places and we knew his truck and saw it pull up. I didn't find a place that made me feel secure, but moved around keeping an eye on him as he was approaching the building. He, by the way, looked like another well known domestic terrorist who hit close to home. I found several problems with each hiding place option never finding the perfect one. This one actually scared me enough that I woke up at 3:30 in the morning. I was shaken enough that I seriously contemplated calling in sick to work. I played on the computer and got my mind on other things and got back to sleep. I did go into work today, and so far so good. :) The funny thing is that when I got back to sleep in my next dream there was someone trying to get in the door of a hotel room where I was staying, and the door wouldn't lock, but the werewolf like monster was not nearly as scary as the monster in my first dream. Hehe. I don't think it was the subject matter of the filming from the night before, but maybe it was the bologna sandwich with BBQ chips that caused the weird dreams. :D

Spelling musings...

2010-04-04T18:11:00.000-05:00

Just a random thought.

Shouldn't the word conceited actually be spelled concieted? I mean, think about it. It's conceited so the 'i' should come first, and being conceited why should rules apply to it? It seems odd that it should be one of the few words that actually conforms to 'the rules.' I mean 'weird' gets it, it does it's own thing. It knows that it's weird and doesn't hide from it.

Nostalgia

2009-09-08T12:58:00.002-05:00

They bought us pizza and salad for lunch today, and a birthday cake for the August and September birthdays. The birthday cake had those pastel plastic balloons on it. It reminded me of my third and my brother's first birthday. Our cake had those little balloons on it too. It made me smile. :)

Being There

2009-09-05T14:48:00.003-05:00

Last night I went to the opening night performance of a show. I made time and went to see the show because a friend of mine had a large role. I haven't been there for her as much as I should have been and haven't been able to see any of her shows in over a year. I'm beyond happy that I went. We had a chance to talk, and I got to catch up on her life and her kids, and she told me about the problems they had during tech week. It still amazes me that people actually miss me. Miss me just being there, not miss me because of something that I do for them, but sincerely just having me around. I could see that last night, in the moment and made a mental note of it. I didn't realize how much I had missed her until last night. Seeing how well she's doing and how happy she is was soothing, and I hadn't realized that I need that too. So if nothing else had happened last night, that alone was worth so very much.

In addition to seeing that particular friend, I also ran into several people I haven't seen in a while. Several people were friends and former castmates from the theatre, a few were friends or classmates from highschool and college that I've seen around the theatre scene. One friend in particular I had classes with my freshman and sophmore years of highschool and hadn't seen since a chance meeting at a touring performance of "Evita" that we both happened to attend a couple of years later. He was crewing the show last night and we got to talk and catch up at the Opening Night Party. It's a little bit fun and a little bit odd when we realized that it had been over 15 years since we'd seen each other.

The show itself was good and I got to see actors I hadn't seen before which is always good, and new performances from actors I have which is even better. I always learn something from every show, whether it's an observation made in the script, or a choice made in acting, or a set, costume, lighting or sound design choice. Whether it's a lesson of what to do or not to do, I always learn something. I learned several things from the show last night, but the most important lesson I learned was at the party.

A Bed of Your Own Making

2009-08-28T11:42:00.007-05:00

Yep, I'm back again. Talking about the same subject. Labels, stereotypes, expectations placed out of a false sense of 'representation'.
So many people are upset because Otalia may or may not kiss by the time Guiding Light goes off the air. I can understand the upset for anyone who hoped for a fairy tale ending. Firstly there is not concrete confirmation one way or the other that a kiss did or did not happen. We're going to have to wait until the final frame of the final episode airs to know for sure.
What I don't understand is the massive move to condemn the writers, the network and the owners of Guiding Light and the characters of Olivia and Natalia over what might not occur. The reason I don't understand is that the battle cry seems to be that they are "doing this to us" or "we're not being represented" or "we're being represented in a bad light again." All of these statements of course are referring to homosexuals or lesbians as a group. As a collective mind with a collective will and collective interests. My problem with this, other than that humans are individuals and I still don't feel these labels are in any way accurate and are in fact detrimental, is that these labels are put upon the characters by the audience. The show worked hard to not label the story, the romance, the love that Olivia and Natalia were realizing. So many people scoffed and ridiculed those of us who made an effort to keep the labels away. Those of us who refused to allow this pure story of two souls finding and loving and needing each other had to fight hard and be constantly vigilant in out efforts to keep the labels off of the story and characters. But then people started referring to it as a 'same-sex' love story, and placing all of the expectations on it from every 'gay' or 'lesbian' story that had come before. Setting it up to fail by constantly looking for the same missteps that had damaged 'stories that represent us' in the past. Of course you're going to be disappointed if you're looking for mistakes or comparing to things past.
Maybe this analogy can describe it better. It's like a new lover. They may be the most attentive, kind, thoughtful, supportive, understanding person in the world, but if every time they scratch their nose with that same middle finger and not the index finger, or tap their spoon on the coffee mug 6 times but always in 3 sets of 2, or just can't seem to remember to call when they're going to be a little bit late you're reminded of an ex, then that's your problem and not theirs. If you continue to blame them evenutally the relationship will fall apart. The issue is with you, your perceptions and your expectations, not them. If you don't see that, and work on it from your side then when it does end you've only got yourself to blame.
The audience members who are the most upset about things now, are the members who put those labels and expectations on the show and characters themselves. P&G, CBS, Guiding Light, not even the actresses ever said, "Hey come and watch our amazing gay storyline with lesbian characters that will be the best 'representation' you've ever seen on screen." They simply presented a love story with a classically soapy sense of tumult a Jane Austen sense of societal standards and a Bronte-esque sense of devotion between two passionate, intelligent people. They haven't failed in that.
If you're upset it's because of your expectations not their actions.

The Power in Words

2009-08-18T23:55:00.009-05:00

It's been a while since I've posted here. Life has been busy, but I should have made time.

A lot of discussion has been made of the Otalia storyline on Guiding Light. There has been lengthy back and forth debate over personal perceptions regarding how the couple is being written. Without negating any one's personal feelings, I'd like to post my own thoughts on some of those criticisms.

It seems to me that once a term is applied to a person or situation or idea, even if it's just in our own minds, that flexibility and open mindedness is immediately limited. That's not to say that it's a bad thing maybe, but it's something to consider. When just the idea of a pregnancy for Natalia came into speculation I saw so many people immediately claim that yet another lesbian character, story, couple was being destroyed, desexualized, hetro'd etc. and that their love for the storyline was now forever changed. Here is the thing though. The Otalia storyline has always been one about two people who unwittingly came together, forming a friendship, a family and a home before finally admitting to themselves and each other that they were in love. Yes Olivia and Natalia are both women, but that's not the point of the story. If Olivia were in fact a man then Natalia being pregnant wouldn't have elicited comparison to previous heterosexual storylines. People wouldn't have cited how every straight couple on television has some obstacle thrown in their way. It was only because those individuals chose to assign a category to the couple that expectations were set and perceived to have been unfulfilled. This leads me to my next point, words, and more specifically adjectives.

By constantly pointing out that you are not like this person or that person, aren't you in fact re-enforcing a barrier that you claim to want broken down? I understand that there is a certain freedom that some people feel in the 'reclaiming of hurtful language' but there is a point where it's no longer about other people not being able to hurt you with those words and becomes more about you separating yourself with them. Keeping with the Otalia example, to keep referring to them as a lesbian couple, or a gay couple is to imply that they are different from non-gay couples. There is a quote from one of my other favorite television shows, that was also prematurely canceled, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip that to me illustrated this concept. Aaron Sorkin has written the characters of Harriet and Matt and they are discussing gay marriage. Harriet asks, "What is wrong with civil unions?..." Matt cuts her off with, "Because there is no way to get to the end of that sentence without saying that gay love is something less than straight love..." I feel like by putting vague and inadequate qualifiers on who we are when we're describing ourselves and others, that we are passively saying that it's an important difference between me and you and it might change how you see me so I need to let you know that we're not the same. If someone is talking about a 'black' woman, a 'mixed race' child, or 'gay' couple, do any of those qualifiers tell you anything about who those people are? If you switch them around, a 'gay' woman, a 'black' child or a 'mixed race' couple, does that change who they are? What if all of these qualifiers applied to the same person? A 'gay' woman who was a 'black' child and is part of a 'mixed race' couple. Are all 'gay' people the same, all 'black' people, 'Jewish' people, 'blonde' people, 'New Yorkers', 'Germans', 'women'? It may look ridiculous printed out like this, but that's because to me it is. These words don't say anything at all about who these people are. Do any of those labels tell us that the way the people will relate to their parents, treat their partner or raise their children is different from the way you would? The only purpose of these 'labels' is to say that there is something about them that is different from you. It's not even a difference that affects relatability. I'm not saying that everyone should stop using labels, but maybe not over use them.

Whether you agree, disagree or have no opinion what-so-ever about these statements, I ask one thing of you. The next time you find yourself using a word that 'defines' you or someone else, take a moment to think about it. Words are weighty how much can you carry around before you get tired, resentful and angry?

Crying is not a sign of weakness

2009-07-16T10:38:00.003-05:00

Being a strong person isn't about not having or showing emotions. It's about dealing with them. Being aware they are a part of you, but that they don't control you.

Work (annoyances pt 1)

2009-07-14T10:36:00.002-05:00

It seems to me that people who spend 2-3 hours of their day complaining about how much work they have and how little time they have to do it, are really just unhappy people looking for something outside of themsleves to blame for it.

These people actually have about 60% of the work that I do.

I find their complaing to be not only annoying, but distracting to my own work. Even with my headphones, and a video playing they are still invading my work-zen-zone.

Going there now. :)

First post!

2009-07-12T21:20:00.000-05:00

I've got my blog all set up. Hopefully I'll post frequently.