The In Between

I didn't even notice I missed last Tuesday. And yesterday! I'm in the in between right now. I'll probably miss at least one more in the coming week or two. All because I'm in the in between right now.

I function best when incredibly busy. I get things done incredibly fast. I do anything and everything. I am superman.

I can be laid back too. I can relax and just let things happen. This was my late summer/early autumn. I had things to do, and I got them done when necessary, but I spent a lot of time just relaxing, laughing, not doing anything too incredibly important or time sensitive.

I am in the between right now. Half of me is laying on a beach somewhere, just listening to the sound of the rebellious waves crashing upon the sand and then receding right back into the ocean. It's so beautiful and peaceful the way the ocean always lets the rebellious waves back, always welcomes them with open arms no matter what. But half of me has no time for the beach, no time to contemplate metaphors about waves and sand and vast oceans which have little to do with what is happening right now. That half has more important things to do, and it's doing everything at lighting speed.

I think you can see where this is going. My head is chaos right now. The conflicting halves are undergoing a power struggle, a change of leadership. The busy half needs to get the relaxed half in gear and moving. Add in the effects to my cognitive function of what shall henceforth be called That Friday, and my head is just everywhere now. A complete mess. A missed blog post is completely unsurprising and not the only thing I've spaced out on or missed. I'm not even really sure what I've missed.

And my body is fatigued. I'm physically not used to functioning at this speed. I'm out of shape. I'm questioning whether I have put too much on my plate. Clearly, my mind can't handle this, my psyche can't handle this, and my body definitely can't handle this.

But soccer taught me a lot growing up. The first week or few of a season would be hell. I'd feel like giving up all the time. My body wanted to quit. "Hell week" seemed to burn worse every year. But then my muscles would learn, and I was stronger, faster, tougher. Hell week paid off, and each year I was a better player.

The in between is real life hell week. I have to push myself beyond my current limits so I might grow and learn. I have to put more on my plate than I can carry so I can learn to carry all I have on my plate. More than full time student, director of a high school theatre program (that's only in its second year), novel editor (I'll tell you guys about this later), member of two separate families, lead singer of a band, church goer, and a member of society. It's a lot to handle, but I'll push through this transition and learn to handle the new pressures and requirements of me.

Surprise!

Want to know what the two surprises I mentioned on my Facebook page Saturday are? If you read yesterday's post, you'll understand when I explain this first one:

Sundays are back! But not like you remember them: I'm going to be scanning old notebook pages, drawings, writings, and all sorts of things, and posting them up here. It'll range from really old (like elementary school days) stuff to current projects, but it'll all be original, hand-made work. Messy, chaotic, full of mistakes, and most importantly: human. I want to go back to crossed out mistakes, eraser smudges, illegible writing, doodles in the margins, and all the evidence of the imperfect path taken to make something. I want to make something more than just a serious of zeros and ones displayed as pixels on a computer screen. I want to create.

Surprise number two is the announcement of the free art giveaway contest winners: everyone! Insert maniacal laughter here. I tricked you all! That was the plan all along! It's my gift to you for supporting me. I am constantly amazed at all the support I have; you guys are absolutely incredible. So I hope you enjoy the art. It's going to take me awhile to do it all, since I am pretty busy, but just be patient and I'll get the art to you as soon as I can.

Anyway, if you haven't noticed yet, there is a poll on the top of my sidebar. I would love if you voted in it. And I'd especially love blog comments (or Facebook ones). I love hearing from you guys. Honest! I'd rather this blog be a community and a conversation than just a lonely or tyrannical monologue.

Have a wonderful week!

P. S. I have a meeting with the PHS principal a week from tomorrow. Updates about PHS's theatre program will henceforth be posted on the Ironic Sea Serpent blog and Facebook page.

Monday and a Half

Third week of school already! Wow. Also, have a good first day of school tomorrow, PHS kiddos! I am wonderfully NOT sick this week. Hurrah!

Another PHS play update: Yep, I went on Wednesday, talked with Mr. VL, and confirmed what I already knew: the only person who will make sure this program happens the way I want it to is me. I returned on Friday with new resolve: to talk with the new principal and make this happen myself. He wasn't there, but his secretary had me email him, to which I got a positive, "Yes, let's meet and talk more!" sort of response.

Band stuff is band-y. We did record, and my bandmates have been emailing with quite frequency with song ideas while I quietly don't respond much because I'm very focused on this play right now. I will have to pay attention to them again soon. Not that I don't want to, of course. But the play is quite the time-sensitive matter, whilst band things have not yet reached any sort of "OH MY GOD TICKING CLOCK" sort of phase.

I've been reading Hyperbole and a Half, so I feel like my writing for this post has taken on a very sarcastic and ridiculous tone in comparison. Is this good? Do we like the sarcasm and ridiculousness? I'm sure I'll be embarassed by my lack of maturity when I re-read this later.

Godspell was amazing, by the way. I think I shall post about it this week. Maybe. I'll be seeing my friend Daniel perform once again this Tuesday, so it's probable that I'll blog about him again. Then again, I may not have anything new to say. We'll see.

Have a very splendid Monday and a super splendid week!

P.S. If you haven't seen yet, I'm giving away stuff for free. Yes. Do it. Enter. There's going to be a wonderful surprise for everyone who enters. I'm quite sure you'll like it. :)

Late Monday

As mentioned yesterday, I'm sick. I've been a groggy mess, but I plan to be back to normal, including regular 5AM PST blog posts, by tomorrow. Anyway, onto our regularly scheduled Monday stuff:

First, last week's riddle hasn't been solved yet, so go here to read it and see if you can solve it. The prize is still the same: "an unreleased (even to my closest friends and family) free-verse poem called "Step," hand-written, decorated, and signed on plain 8.5" by 11" paper."

So as far as updates go, I'm going over to PHS on Wednesday to start setting dates and reserving the theatre for auditions, rehearsals, and eventually performance of Where the Wild Berries Grow and work out some some fiscal concerns. Assuming all goes well, I'll be ordering cast scripts quite soon.

In other news, my band is recording music (nothing too terribly fancy; just Garage Band) this week, and we're getting close to deciding on a name, which means photos, Myspace page, website, etc. And which all means we're that much closer to trying to get some shows booked.

Speaking of shows, I highly suggest that if you're in or anywhere near L.A. County, you go to see Centre Stage's production of Godspell. I've only seen one of the numbers in the show, but Centre Stage has never disappointed me before. Despite being "children's" theatre, Centre Stage never fails to put on professional shows. In fact, Centre Stage's productions even go beyond what other "professional" theatres do. Godspell is only around this weekend, and then it's gone, so don't miss out!

And that concludes my update. (First week of college was great, by the way!) Have a wonderful week and see you at our regular time tomorrow morning!

Weekly Riddle Contest and Other News

Happy Monday! Coming this week:

Today, the brand new Weekly Riddle Contest "rules" (they're more like guidelines) are laid out below, and the new riddle is, of course, down there too. I'll be pointing out an artist or two during the week along with some other yet-to-be-determined posting, and Friday will be dedicated to the art of crashing classes, learnt either through success or failure. (I sure hope it's success!) Finally, it's the weekend, and I'll post up a freewrite along the lines of the Notes I used to post up on Facebook nearly daily awhile back on Saturday, and then I'll take all your votes into consideration and write up the next installment of the "Write with Me" series.

Onto updates:

1. I've taken up ukulele and guitar. I'm rocking at uke already, but my fingers are way too weak for much guitar playing right now. Soon!
2. I'm selling art now! Email me at ethraen [at] gmail [dot] com for more info.
3. I start college today. Crazy.

Weekly Riddle Contest Rules

1. Each Monday, a new riddle will be posted. If not, you are free to send many angry emoticons my way.
2. Riddle answers are now to be submitted via email to ethraen [at] gmail [dot] com, in order to allow everyone a chance to solve the riddle. 
3. The winner is the first to submit the correct answer. 
4. Wrong answers will receive a "wrong answer" reply as my time allows.
5. Each week, the prizes will vary, and not everything will be equal each week.
6. Not all prizes will be virtual, silly, or otherwise the sort of prize a starving artist would give, nor will the "big" prizes necessarily be for the hardest riddles. Just check back each week and give each riddle a shot.
7. All participants will be entered for a monthly prize drawing. Consistent participants, both in the Weekly Riddle Contest and the "Write with Me" storyline, will have higher chances of winning. 
8. All rules subject to change without your consent. My blog, my contest, my rules.
9. Best of luck!

And now, without further ado, this week's riddle!:

Stronger than steel, yet brushed away in the flick of the wrist.
Though you throw me out, I still hold onto your clenched fist.
At the sight of me, some might squirm or twist,
But I'm harder to see than haze in mist.
Who am I?

This week's prize is an unreleased (even to my closest friends and family) free-verse poem called "Step," hand-written, decorated, and signed on plain 8.5" by 11" paper. Remember you have to EMAIL your answer to me (ethraen [at] gmail [dot] com) to win. Good luck!

Mondays Are Nice

Monday. The beginning of a new week. Clean slate. Fresh start. A time both to reflect and to look forward. Mondays are nice.

This week is my last week of summer. A week from today, I will be frantically trying to deal with classes, running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Drop this class, add that one. Park here, pay for that. Write this down, file that. Memorise this, that, and these. Et cetera, et cetera. So I plan to enjoy my last week of summer.

This week, however, shall be just as frantic, if not more so, than next week. There's so much to do before summer ends, and only one last week to do it!

First, I have a script to finish. Last summer, no one expected anything but what you'd usually expect from a seventeen=year-old high school student trying to write a play. This year, the expectations are so much higher though. Everyone knows I'm capable of writing something great, even me!, but the pressure is making me panic. I'm horribly behind, and I have to send the script to press in one week. Activate NaNoWriMo mindset!

I'm going to Universal Studios today with my brother and my best friend. This is the sort of regular summer day that I haven't had much of all summer. Wake up early, run off to somewhere with people you love, have a blast, come home exhausted, and do it all over again!

And then Daniel Zlotorowicz has a show this week. (If you're anywhere near Pasadena, you should come! Contact me for details: ethraen [at] gmail [dot] com) It's totally different now though, because I'm in the music business too now. Once, a loyal fan. Now, a fellow musician. It feels so very different.

But most exciting for this week is getting to perform myself! I have a flash mob event (but it's a secret, shh!) on Saturday and rehearsals this week, and then I have my now-usual gig as an occasional street performer. It's pretty cool to just perform on the streets for total strangers. Being backstage is fun, and I really do enjoy it, but being the performer has a certain charm nothing can ever compare to.

Yeah, it's going to be an awesome week. Mondays are so great.