Holmes for the Holidays

Dear everyone,

I'm back in Ohio! The airport trips were long and tiring but I pulled through and arrived to my spot. School ended on a charming note, having been through a few end-of-the-year parties with food and whatnot. I finally finished my second detective story, which really was my third. I had to start over because the project that I was working with was too much to finish. Now I have to figure out what I want to do with tutorials.

Tutorials are the second semester writing things. We have to write a proposal before beginning, statingwhy we want to write what we're going to be writing and reading. We need to propose a weekly goal for ourselves, such as "one short story a week" or "2,000 words" or "15 pages." I still need to figure out what I'm going to do, then write the proposal. I've been told it's a really fun project and I can hardly wait to begin! Just another month until that begins.

I've been collecting hats and now have seven or eight, including Pikachu and a new Santa one. Hopefully trips to Big Fun will provide me with a larger array of fancy headwear. It's always fun to do stuff like that, to be crazy sometimes.

So far, being home, I've only seen one of my friends and talked with two of them. I'm sure once school ends for them, I'll be able to say my hellos and hang out with them. For now I just have to stick with my parents... haha. It's great to be home but I'm so cold.

For Hanukkah, my mom took my sisters and I to a play. It was a pretty awesome show, but halfway through it, the fire alarm went off, and we have to evacuate the building. Yeah, it only took about five minutes outside and they started right up again, but it was a fun thing to do. I loved the play and hope to see more in the future.

Tune in next week for more!

Love,

Callie

P.S. Happy holidays!

P.S. Please visit http:lovecallie.com and tell others - THANK YOU!

Theater Labs

Dear everyone,

If I could have it my way, I'd write this blog in two days' time to relay everything's that's happened with the Theater Labs accurately, all at once. I mean, I could just do that and refuse to post for a couple of days, but I've kept you waiting quite long.

My afternoon classes for this week and last week were cancelled. That means I've been having about two to five more hours every day to work. Not knowing what to do with myself, I began to write... and write... and write. Last Saturday I was awake until five in the morning, because thankfully there are no classes on Sunday and I don't have to be awake until eleven or twelve for brunch sign-in. It's rather lovely to think about... Saturday I can sleep till about ten thirty, but on Sunday, I can really sleep in. Even better, the only day of the week when the Internet DOESN'T shut off at midnight is Saturday. There is no curfew and I don't have to do homework until Sunday (when I have about seven hours to do so). Okay, enough about the weekend! On to the insanity!

Every year between Fall and Winter Break, there are these things called "Theater Labs" or "Writing Labs." Writers call them by the former name, and vice versa (by the way, do you say "vice versa" or "visa versa"?). So what is this thing? It's basically a time for collaboration with the writers and actors of the school, as I implied earlier. The writers are broken up into two groups: the first-year writers, and the ones who have been in this major for at least a year (or in Isaac's case, a semester, because he's a genius). Anyway, the younger, or inexperienced writers in this case (one freshman*1, one sophomore, three juniors), are magically transformed into stage managers, meaning we sit around and do absolutely nothing!! Woot! Okay well, the older writers actually write plays for the theater majors to perform.

Theater Major msg. to roommate.

I was paired with Rebecca, I think she's a junior. Her play had to be rewritten a bit before we began. And then a little more, once we'd started. There were almost twenty "F" words in the whole script. Four characters-- two guys, two girls. There was a kiss scene too. Kind of awkward to watch two people kiss about ten times in a row to try to get it right.

The second day of rehearsal, we were presented with a new script that had a few less swear words. A few actors stumbled over lines. Keep in mind we only had one and a half weeks to make this happen. Then the third day, new scripts. Fourth day, new scripts. Fifth day, one actor didn't show up, AND we had new scripts. We ended up having to fire the actor who didn't show, because he was being a jerk about it. Long story short, another script was written for the next rehearsal. This time, everything changed-- Rebecca had to write nine new pages with a vaguely similar plot. Even the names were different. Then we went to tech it today, Tuesday. I sat in that room for three hours, just watching all the plays for the two nights (Wed + Thurs). During this time I was wearing two hoodies and sharing a blanket with Ruth, because the mountain is becoming colder every day. Meaning I carried around a blanket today. Brrr!

Well, that's the abridged version of how my week and a half have been going. I'll be sure to write out the performance*2 details in my next entry. When I posted this (12/7/2011 at 7am) the songwriting performances were posted but the Theater Labwork should be up soon.

I was thinking about maybe starting to vlog. It would save time, and I would be able to explain more. Honestly I've been doing too much writing lately that my fingers are frying! Also, I'll be honest, it makes me extremely uncomfortable to write about myself. Key word: fiction*3! Haha.

This weekend was fun! Really, I can't remember Saturday much at all... But! On Sunday, my friend Ashley and I went on a "double date" with Daria and Rebecca (different Rebecca... there are like four of them here*4!) to a restaurant in town. This was the second time in my life that I've been to a restaurant without an adult, and ordered for myself. The first time was two weeks ago, again with Ashley. It made me feel like an adult... but then we went to the candy shop and I bought a Gameboy Advance-shaped little box of gummies. That made me feel like a child. Ahh, I'm so weird.

You guys! You're keeping me here, writing, when I should be doing my Algebra II homework! Tsk tsk. I'll have to say goodnight, to those of you on Mars, and good day, to those of you in some country or another. Hearts to everyone, Martian or Earth - - I mean, human!

Love,

Callie

one freshman *1: Me! :)

performance*2: You can watch the theater lab and other performances at http://www.idyllwildarts.org/arts-q10523-c10022-Live_Performances.aspx When I posted this (12/7/2011 at 7am the songwriting performances were posted but the Theater Labwork should be up soon)

fiction*3: "Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author." -Wiki

Four of them here*4: In my school of 295 students... to my knowledge, there are three (or four) girls with my name. Callie, Caleigh, and Kali. Plus Kaori, a Japanese girl. There are three Delaneys, two Ashleys, three or four Rebeccas, two Ariels, two Zoes, three Alexs (female and male), and two Emilys. Holy crap guys.




P.S. Please visit http:lovecallie.com and tell others - THANK YOU!