New horizons...

Once again, I am guilty of letting my blog go lax while I try to survive the crazy world. Even my website has temporarily vanished as I work on a new version combining the two into one central space for all things me.

Stay tuned, I beg of you!!

This is a test... yes, another one.

This is a test of Flickr functionality for a different website that I'm working on updating. The photos are not related to that site (like I said, it's a test).






I promise, I'll post a catch-up really soon...

Summer's End

Okay, so once again, I've let this go far too long without an update. Guilty as charged!

So what have I done this summer? Gallop around Europe, work a fishing boat in Alaska, move to L.A. and pursue my acting career?

Nah... I drove a cab. That's right, you heard me...

When graduation was nigh, I decided to find a job that offered a chance at gaining some new life experience and a little extra green on the side. What I got was:

• A job where I gained valuable financial and business management experience.
• A low-earning job which made me an average of about $4.00 an hour per 12 hour shift
• Interaction with a lot of very different (i.e. mentally disturbed) customers
• A realization that the taxicab industry in this town exists solely to feed off the misfortunes of others.

Now that's not to say that the people there aren't good people. Like any business, you meet good and bad eggs both. But I can't help but feel a little more heartsick for having participated in this activity while giving up valuable creative time for myself to further my actual career. Shame on me!

Anyway, on to happier stuff...

I was nominated for my first ariZoni Award for my sound design work on Proof at the beginning of this year. While I will admit that part of me wishes it had been for acting, this is an amazing honor for my first-ever sound design. And a little freaky too. I keep telling myself that it may be setting the bar too high. But I think that it also is a good message that it may be something I could be consistently good at. More in a few weeks on this after the awards are announced.

I finally received my diploma from ASU in the mail a couple of weeks ago. So it's final... I did actually finish my college degree first ahead of my siblings! Yay for me!

Oh, and since I didn't cross-post it here back in May, I did release the "Ashcan Edition" of my theatre company's first production. It's over at the Aureality Project blog site. Go check it out if you haven't already.

I may be moving soon too. So I'll do my best to keep you up on that.

Got a Cigarette?

So... true enough... my graduation has come and gone. I have officially completed by B.A. in Theatre at Arizona State University.

How do I feel about this? I'm honestly not sure. I think I'm happy to see it done. Everyone keeps saying it's quite an accomplishment for anyone. I agree, but I think that's largely from a financial standpoint because with skyrocketing tuition every year, fewer people can afford to attend college to get a four-year degree. I myself took a huge risk in the last couple of years by not working -- and racking up a huge student loan debt in the process -- in order to focus on my studies.

Everyone also keeps asking me "what's next?" Again, I am not certain yet. For now, like a number of my fellow graduates, I will have to find work outside my field of study in order to save up some funds for a while. I do know that I want to leave Phoenix. I think I need to live somewhere else for a time in order to get a better sense of the world and really push myself in some way. But I also would like to continue my studies in graduate school at some future point as well. We'll see, I suppose...

April Showers...

Graduation is so freakin' close, I can taste it.

Freedom!!

Poverty!!

Oh, yeah... almost forgot about that. The umpteen thousand dollars of student loans hanging over my head. The need to find a job most likely not in my field of study.

Dang it.

Mourning the State(s) of Politics

I came across an article by David Gergen today. You can read it here, but what he said really struck me as true. The Democratic candidates are spending a lot of time quiblling over personal attacks and alleged racist comments rather than dealing with the pressing issues of this nation. After reading all the various comments, none of which struck me as particularly insightful, I decided to post my own there. And I'm reprinting it here as well:

While it is true that they do need to focus again on the problems actually facing this country and its citizens, I don’t know if that’s been true in any recent election, going back almost as long as I’ve been alive.

It’s become a world of sound bites and photo ops because that is all that both politicians (I include their operatives) and the media think we want to read or see. A world where all we get to see are video clips of candidates preaching to the choir, made up of those who can afford to pay $1000 for a fundraising dinner in the hopes that they have some chance to exert influence in a way that benefits them (the buyers, not the candidate). It is one giant Potemkin village of shiny, happy “voters” and I mourn the loss of a truly inquisitive citizenry.

This is why voter turnout has plummeted in this country… because we know deep down that our votes really don’t matter and that those who run for national office really don’t care one whit for what we have to say or what our concerns are.

I think it's becoming more and more important in this day and age for we the people to challenge the government as much as we can through intellectual discourse. Only by questioning and challenging their actions can we hope to make our government and those who seek to control it do better on our behalf, which is why they are supposed to be there in the first place.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have donated to Barack Obama's campaign and support his candidacy for the presidency. However, I have never had any direct contact with any of the candidates or their campaigners, even though I am a resident of Arizona and thus a constituent of John McCain in his role as our senior Senator. I feel that my comments above express my feelings about the political process in general and my hope that it will get better.

New project in the house!!

I've got a new podcast blog up and running for my new enterprise!

It's the basis for (and hopefully an outgrowth of) my senior capstone project in Theatre at ASU. I am creating an original radio drama to be recorded live in front of a studio audience that will then be offered over the internet. The premiere is anticipated to be late April 2008 (because I have to graduate right after that), so check it out. I will also be podcasting the development process leading up to the first show so that people can get a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes of this art form.

Check it out: The Aureality Project