Monday
American Stages Lecture ~ 3:35-5:00

Tuesday
Tools of the Trade ~ 3:35-5:30

Wednesday
The American Revolution ~ 1:30-3:25
American Stages Lecture ~ 3:35-5:00
American Stages Group Conference (every other week) ~ 5:00-6:00

Thursday
Alexander Technique ~ 11:05-1:00
Singing Workshop ~ 1:30-3:25

Friday
Lighting Design I ~ 11:05-1:00


Amazing, yeah?  I'm really excited about the classes themselves too. 
American Stages is a lecture, American Stages: The Evolution of Theatre in the United States, where basically we read plays every week and talk about them and listen to theatre lectures.  Awesome. 
I'm a little terrified about my American Revolution class.  It's a history class, in the American Revolution, obviously, and since it only meets once a week we have like a shit ton of reading.  It's also insanely paper heavy, like, even for Sarah Lawrence, but I love American history, so I'm still really pumped.
Tools of the Trade is a tech class that's basically like the nuts and bolts aspect of technical theatre, and my interview for it was the chillest thing ever.  I went in and they asked me who I was and what I did with my life and from that determined I was awesome, and said that because I'm awesome and they're awesome, I should take the class.  SO excited.
Alexander Technique is required for Singing Workshop, though I'm still looking forward to it.  Singing Workshop is actually one of my prouder accomplishments I've had in a while.  I had to audition for it and I was really nervous because there were like 40 people at the audition and I'd heard in the past they'd only accepted seniors and such, but I fucking beasted the audition and I'm one of like 12 in the class. :)  I have an audition for voice lesson placement tomorrow.
Lighting Design is obviously pretty self explanatory, I just thought I should note that there's only three of us in the whole class, and one of the two other people is my friend Alex, who also lives in my house this year, who's way cool and we're planning on hanging out all the time.  He jokingly refers to me as his lesbian girlfriend.  It's great.

So basically I'm super excited about this year.  I have my worries, of course, but my schedule is awesome, I'm already bonding with new people, and I have faith that this year is going to be amazing.

I cannot keep being the bearer of bad news in my family.  The bad news alone is bad enough, I can't keep feeling like I'm the one causing it.

Stolen from Colleeniepants.

( Deb and Colleen did it, and I'm bored so I jumped on the bandwagon. )

ATTENTION PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN AND AROUND NEW YORK

I'm making a trip up there in mid-July and half the reason is because I miss my friends.  I won't be there long, but I would LOVE to see you all.  Perhaps a hot toddies coffee date or something?  I'll be in town the 17th-19th and for a bit on the 23rd, so let me know!!  I miss all of you dearly...

I was planning on doing a bullet post updating the world on my life since I've been pretty absent lately, but I just got some news that made everything else seem a little less important.

My dad got laid off today.

I can't show it on my face because I need to stay strong for my family, but inside I'm secretly freaking out.  My dad had a plan.  My dad has been working for the American Lung Association, doing the same job for the past 15 years, ever since we moved to Virginia.  He left ALA for a little bit when I was in middle school, but returned after less than two years because they needed him so much and offered him a raise and better benefits if he'd just go back to his old job.  And now they've laid him off.

The reason he lost his job is because the new management has literally run the organization into the ground, and they've been routinely making staff cuts for the past couple years.  The problem is, they've let go all the seasoned people in the association that are familiar with how it works, know who their biggest investors are, and who actually did good for the company before the new management let it all go to hell.  My bias towards my dad aside, today's cut backs were one of the worst decisions they could have made.

Now I know people lose their jobs all the time and everything works out just fine, it just scares me.  My dad is 60 years old, and regardless of the fact that he's good at what he does, companies just don't want to hire people that old when they can get someone that's almost as good and 30 years younger.  I'm also currently attended, literally, the most expensive college in the country, and while my dad told me I don't need to worry about it, that no matter what I'll be going back next year, I just feel so guilty.

I know I shouldn't worry, that everything will somehow turn out alright, but I could really use a hug...

Don't drink coffee from vending machines, especially not four cups in one night.
That shit is gross.


ETA: That lemon doesn't look like sick... he just looks like an unhappy lime.

Hey remember that time I remembered I have a draft of my 15-20 page paper that I haven't started due on Wednesday?
Yeah, me too.

I would have tagged all of you on facebook, but I knew I'd post it here as well, so here we are I suppose.

1. I am a shameless flirt, and I like it.

2. I see things that other people don't.

3. There's this girl that works at the Chinese restaurant I frequent back home and in all the time I've been going there, around 6 years, I swear she hasn't aged a day. She's really adorable and insanely sweet and I always try to start little conversations with her, but she can never really communicate what she wants to say because she only speaks very very broken English. I want very badly to be her friend.

4. I have a secret, more than slightly shameful love for the movie The Wedding Date.

5. Commitment scares me more than almost anything in the world, and yet somehow I am willing to face that fear for this crazy girl named Colleen Toole. Love makes you do the wacky. :)

6. I have crushes on almost all of my friends before I get to know them.

7. I still have a Christmas tree in my dorm room.

8. I hate the emphasis society places on labels, especially in terms of sexuality and relationships.

9. Unconventional friendships are my favorite.

10. Everything I eat is based on texture... actually most of the decisions I make in life are based on texture, but it's most evident with food.

11. I've got a thing for collarbones.

12. I want to get a second piercing in both of my ears, but I'm terribly allergic to metal.

13. I absolutely despise orange juice.

14. I am often very tempted to leave the world behind and spend the rest of my days as a hermit in the mountains with nothing but cats and a great deal of books.

15. My desire to one day have a baby greatly overpowers all of my other goals and ambitions combined.

16. I have major trust issues and rather low self esteem, so it is rare that I ever assume anyone wants to get to know me or be my friend.

17. I love parmesan-garlic baguettes more than I love most people.

18. I get attached far too easily.

19. I've accepted the fact that I'm adorable and milk it for all it's worth.

20. There isn't anything that affects me in the same way or to the same degree as musical theatre.

21. I sometimes flail when I get really excited

22. I am one of the most giggly people you will ever meet.

23. I became part of a very special family on September 3, 2006 and to this day they remain one of the best families I could have ever asked for, and I love them will all of my heart.

24. I haven't been to the beach since I was 12.

25. The stupidity of attempting to come between me and my food is about on par with trying to stop a guillotine with one's bare hands.

Being in love is fun, I highly recommend it. :)

If you guys hadn't realized, Colleen is kind of the shit.

Sometimes people make comments on other people's facebook notes about not liking Sarah Lawrence and I start to get really worried that I'm going to lose my college best friend/only real solace. :/

ETA: My girlfriend is in the emergency room...

We're having the whole Hicks clan over for dinner tonight.

The evening has started with my father, already a bit tipsy from a mini bottle of scotch my mother put in his stocking, singing The Locomotion at the top of his lungs.

It's going to be a long night.

I promise there are several epic posts coming up soon once the semester ends, one of which will describe what conference work is so everyone will understand how amazing it is that I'm FUCKING FINISHED!!

Now to write a 6 page paper on the Canterbury Tales that's due at 11:30 am tomorrow.  I have a class at 9:30.  Can I finish in time?  Can I stay awake long enough to finish?  Will I actually make it through class tomorrow morning?  These answers and more coming soon...

(P.S. my icon has never been more appropriate, for reals.)

So, I came out to my parents today...

I left a letter on the couch for them to find when they got back to the house after taking me to the train station, and internally flipped a shit for several hours while waiting for a response.

 

( The letter, in case anyone is interested... )

Finally, after being on the train for about an hour, I get a text message from my mommy saying "So you're finally dating someone!  We're so happy for you.  We love you.  Love, mommy and daddy."  Yeah...  I kinda freaked out and called Colleen and gushed and hyperventilated and all that good stuff, though, because you can't always tell intonation from text messages, there was part of me that was still really worried... that is until my mom called me about 2 hours later saying how much she loved me and how she was actually really relieved when she read the letter because she could tell I'd been hiding something from her and she was so scared it was drugs or something... So basically me liking girls is much better than me being a dope fiend, yay!

I got an email from my dad tonight saying how much he loved me and how proud he was of me and whatnot and that he would send me a letter sometime this week, so it appears that all is well with him too.

Basically, I came out to my parents and no one died...  all is right with the world. :)

It's taken me three weeks, but here it is, the entry of epic updating!!
For the few of you who still don't know, I, Emily Hicks, do indeed have a girlfriend.

!!!

I suppose I should start from the beginning...

( Incredibly true adventures... ) 

With the exception of Thanksgiving Break, I have spent every single evening since with Kelsey and I cannot believe how happy she makes me.  Liking her, and then her liking me, and then me still liking her once I found out she likes me, were all completely unexpected, and a really wonderful surprise.  She's smart and funny and insanely sweet, and it's really evident that she genuinely cares about me and wants to make me happy.  I'm not sure how I managed to catch such a good one, and I can't believe how lucky I am!! :)

So that's it folks, though I'm sure there will be more updates to come...


Oh, ps, I'm coming out to my parents tomorrow.  I'm giving them a letter before I leave to go back to SLC.  I have no idea how they'll react... wish me luck... :/

I promise there is a longer entry to come, but verrry quick update.

I had the most amazing time tonight, and I almost didn't go.  Rocky Horror at my school + dressing skanky with friends= best ever.

Also, I'm seeing two show next week... for free?  What?  Love.

So I probably have a bajillion things I should update people on, but I'm tired and kinda sickly, so that will have to wait until another day.
Real reason for posting?  I just got skype, and everyone should probably add me!!
Skype name: zestymessinadirtydress
Yeah, I'm just that awesome. :)

It's very possible that I am in love with my roommate Emma Duncan, we might be soul mates.
Okay maybe not, but we are retarded gophers, and that's close enough for me.

I LOVE college so far, I was a bit homesick at first, but now I swear there are no words.  My roommate Lauren is an absolute sweetheart.  She's too adorable, and while she's had some struggles (boyfriend/parents/ack!) she's just a joy. 
And Emma. 
Oh Emma. 
Emma and I met the summer before last at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Summer Seminar, and while we were well acquainted with one another, we never really had any classes together or anything, so never had much chance to get to know each other.  How thankful I am for a second chance!  There are actually four semmies from summer '07 at Sarah Lawrence this year, and the fact that Emma and I wound up as roommates was completely unintentional and proof of fate in action.  We have been growing closer by the day, and though Sarah Lawrence's motto is "You are Different.  So are we."... I think we scare people with just how "different" we are.  And by different I mean batshit crazy.
I absolutely adore her.

The rest of college is wonderful too.  I'm meeting the most fabulous people and if needed I have had things to do and people to be with every night.  The freedom of college and the opportunities that are constantly presenting themselves never cease to amaze me.

I start classes tomorrow, which is both insanely exciting and epically terrifying at the same time...  I got all of the classes I wanted, which is crazy awesome, including my super popular/hard to get into literature class Comedy and Romance in the Middle Ages.  I have my first day of that tomorrow afternoon, way cool!!  My very first class at 11 tomorrow is Breathing Coordination for the Performer, so I think that's a lovely way to start things.

More updates and pictures later, but I have to get up early to poke the theatre people until they give me a job being their tech bitch.
COLLEGE IS FUCKING AWESOME.