Did I promise to blog more often? Oh yes, I did! I hereby promise at least TEN posts in August. You know the last time I had ten posts in a month? NEVER. The most I've ever done in a month was seven, and that was waaay back in February, when I started the damn thing. So, I promise you--TEN POSTS IN AUGUST. (Although technically this one is a July post. So don't count this one. But. AUGUST = TEN POSTS. I promise.)
Honestly? I had another "I fail epically" day today. I got up at noon (this actually could be blamed on the fact that I spent almost twelve hours on the road yesterday and didn't get to sleep until two A.M., but I won't even go there), and planned to spend the day cleaning up the million and two messes around my house that I personally made, and then come up with my thesis ideas for senior year.
So how did I do in those two goals? A big fat zero for two. Here's what I actually did today:
1. Ate a stale peanut butter sandwich and some undersalted trail mix for breakfast.
2. Watched Twilight. Go ahead and laugh; you know you want to.
3. Took a loooong shower, most of which was spent wrestling with/washing my bird's-nest hair, and spent what felt like hours getting every single knot out of said bird's-nest hair. To all short-haired people, namely my father: I AM JEALOUS OF YOU, IT TAKES YOU FIFTEEN FREAKING MINUTES TO SHOWER AND BRUSH YOUR HAIR.
4. Went to dinner with my parents.
5. Read books that I'd read before. (FAIL, BEATNIK BELLE. FAIL.)
6. Worked out for the first time in a week, which felt AMAZING.
7. Facebooked.
8. Complained about missing Interlochen.
9. Argued with my parents.
10. Had good, non-argumental discussions with my parents.
Was there ANY thesis-planning or cleaning on that list? Of course not. GRR.
The thing is, I HAVE ideas. It's just that I'm worried that they suck. That's normal, right? No? Okay then, I fail once again.
My problem is that I can't seem to write anything other than teenage girl stories. Now, before you smack your forehead and go, "No, DUH!" let me explain myself. Last year at the film festival, a good chunk of the theses involved teenagers. BUT. Most of them also involved ADULTS. There was at least one adult part in most of the productions. Not mine. I didn't even feature adults as EXTRAS in mine. Why? Because I repeat: I cannot write about anything besides teenagers. And, to throw salt in that wound, most of my stories take place at a boarding school in the middle of nowhere. And most of my protagonists are artists.
Sound familiar?
To be fair, I'm getting better about this. I'm actually consciously TRYING to come up with stories that are centered around, or at least include, adults or young children. But in all honesty, I'm failing at this. I don't even know why. It's not like I can't relate to adults at all. I'm actually quite good at it. I know how to talk to adults; I like hanging out with adults. Hell, I'm almost legally an adult myself. But for whatever reason, there is something in my brain right now that forces me to write teenage dramas.
Problem #2: Every protagonist I come up with, male or female, turns into me. And being the self-centered idiot that I unfortunately can be at times, I rarely realize this until I'm halfway through a treatment. I tried writing a treatment about a sewage-plant worker and realized six paragraphs in that I was essentially writing about me, in ten years, working at a sewage plant. It was a thirty-year-old man. And yet the character was ME. Why?!?!?!
I had this problem last year, with characters who weren't ME at all. I did not intend to represent myself as an eighteen-year-old gay dude in love with his closeted roommate. Nor did I intend to represent myself as an out-and-proud visual artist who liked to read up on mythology and group-call his friends. So why did people automatically assume, "Oh, she's totally Gavin," or, "She thinks she's like Jackson." Um, no. I don't. They are my characters and my babies, but they are not me.
I think the problem here is not that I can't write, arrogant as that may sound. It's that I have a limited spectrum of things I actually want to write about. Can anyone relate to that, or am I once again on my own here?
Think about it: Do you just wake up and go, "Oh, I want to make a film about a windup doll who eats people?" Chances are, not really. It comes from a combination of circumstances, luck, and in general, just the way your mind works. Some people can look at an object and BOOM, instant story. Others have to twist things and think things over and look at things ten different ways before they've got an idea hashed out.
Guess which group I'm in?
The idea for Possession came out three things: 1) I have dozens of gay friends and observed their relationships more than straight teenage relationships, 2) I've lived situations like Gavin's, where you are unfortunately "just the friend," and 3) I saw the film Mysterious Skin, where an abused kid thinks that in the past he'd been abducted by aliens. The film contains plenty of homosexual references and (I'm about to be indelicate, skip to the next paragraph if you are easily shocked) gay sex scenes, so combining aliens and homosexuality just seemed like a strange--but very, VERY interesting and cool--concept to me.
The thing that evolved from Alien Water Torture to Possession is, for all the feedback and suggestions I had to put up with, my story. My ideas. My concepts. And it has its faults, but I love it anyway. So why, for the love of all things good and decent, can I not just write a damn treatment and have done with it? I KNOW I can write. I KNOW that I have ideas. I just can't seem to make myself do anything, and I think I know why: I don't want to screw up.
What else is new?
But here comes the cheesy self-pep talk: I'm not going to give up. (Is anyone surprised?) I didn't give up on Possession, and I'm not going to give up on my senior thesis, especially not before I've even started to write the damn thing. I'm an MPA; this is what I do, it's what I love. It'd be pretty stupid of me to throw in the towel and make a crappy, mediocre film just because I'm scared that people won't like it. Hell, I had people telling me every step of the way that they didn't like Possession, that it would never work, that I should do something different. But in the end, I got the film made--and people DID like it.
The point of all my rambling tonight: I'm terrified of failing on my senior thesis. But I can't let that stop me. To use the cliche Nike slogan: I have to...JUST DO IT.
STOLEN DIALOGUE:
[This stolen dialogue was all taken from businessmen whom I overheard, EVERY MORNING, when I was trying to SLEEP, while in North Carolina with my mother. They would stand outside my hotel room door and yak, added to that I would overhear them when I went to get ice. Believe me, I've got a LOT of material from these guys...]
"At least you're not traveling with someone who considers protein bars and Gatorade God's perfect meal."
"My boss couldn't find his ass if he sat right on it."
"How can any sane person get up at five in the morning to go for a jog in one-hundred-and-ten-degree heat? I ask you. That cannot be normal."
"The TV in this place is like pulling teeth. It's like they chose the networks with the most advertising and put them all on one television. And then they added in the stations with the worst reality stations to add insult to injury."
"I could insult you right now...but I won't, because I'm a mature adult."
"Between the southern accent and the constant references to my 'communication skills,' I'm starting to feel like I work for Dr. Phil."
"They charge you ten bucks for a cup of coffee and some damn cereal. It's enough to make a person long for the Hampton Inn."
"I don't want to be fired on account of stupidity."
"What am I supposed to do, have an affair because she doesn't like the vacuum cleaner I bought her? Divorce the woman so she'll clean the house? That doesn't make any sense."
"I'm beginning to miss having Bush as the President. At least a man didn't feel bad making fun of him."
Person one: I don't understand teenagers. My daughter loves Twilight. She says she's going to marry a werewolf. When I was a kid, the girls just wanted to get with the TV stars.
Person two: At least your kid's, what, twelve? My sister is thirty and I swear to God, she thinks that vampires exist...and that they sparkle.
"My wife made me get a FaceBook page, and now she all she does is complain that I don't update it often enough. I can't win."
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
The Quote Machine
Wow...wow, wow, wow. So I have epically failed...AGAIN.
Have I really only blogged once this month? Unfortunately, yes.
Have I skipped out on updating...AGAIN? Yes.
BUT. Is there anything to blog about around here? Not really, unless you all would like a thrilling episode of Beatnik Belle's Dad Does Laundry While Her Mother Curses at a Motorcyclist.
Still, is that an excuse? No. Should I stop bitching and just write about SOMETHING? Well, of course. When people stop bugging you for a blog post because they know it's useless to even try, you KNOW you've failed.
So no more fails, okay? Seriously, guys. It's okay to pester me. Hell, it's PREFERABLE for you to pester me--at least that way I don't have the option of saying, "Well, no one really misses it that much anyway." No one likes a kick in the pants and the lovely "BLOG OR ELSE" message...but, and I will only say this once, if I do one of my go-for-fifteen-days-without-so-much-as-a-stolen-dialogue-post things, NAG ME.
So what have I been doing the last...gulp...two weeks? Well, I wish I could say I was busy, but sadly, that's not the truth. The truth is I spent 50% of that time sick, 20% minus computer privileges, and 10% arguing with my parents over college and careers.
BUT. I have to blog about SOMETHING. And with nothing interesting of my own to say at the current time (don't blame me, I'm tired and I just drove 700 miles with my mother), I figured tonight's blog would be one big damn "Stolen Dialogue: The Extreme Edition." These might not necessarily be the funniest quotes in the world. On the flipside, they might not be the most inspirational. But they mean something to me, so I figured I'd share a few with you...if you aren't rolling your eyes and thinking, "What the heck is she doing?" by now.
So here it is (if you're interested): The Beatnik Belle Quote List--Stolen Dialogue, Quotes, Song Lyrics, and Whatever the Hell Else I Can Think Of.
THE QUOTES
"Why would you want to drive alone...When you can have the woman next to you in the car, cranking out non-stop updated traffic information? It's like having a brand-new radio station! You're listening to All Driving Complaints Radio...Busting YOUR balls from the driveway to the highway! You get all the great hits! 'Your exit's coming up'...'Your exit's coming up'...'Your exit's coming up'...'Your exit's coming up'...'Your exit's coming up'...And here's the sick, mean, twisted, unfair part: She drives like she's Ted Kennedy and the liquor store's closing in five minutes."--Richard Jeni
"If you enter this world knowing you are loved and you leave this world knowing the same, then everything that happens in between can be dealt with."--Michael Jackson (Yes, I HAD to put a quote of his in this blog.)
"A guy goes into a barber shop, all those pictures on the wall, says 'I'd like to look like HIM,' the barber can never go, 'Listen, you fat pig, he is a male model, YOU are a human sloth, you listening to me? You want to look like him, how about I start by trimming some of your fat face you porkadelic, you centerfold for Meat Magazine, you heaving humping hog of life...I don't mean that in a bad way."--Dom Irrera
"There's a very fine line between a groove and a rut; a fine line between eccentrics and people who are just plain nuts."--Christine Lavin
"You know, I didn’t get signed until I was 22 years old. And honestly I was working 60 hours a week just trying to make ends meet. Same with everyone else in the band. Trying to make rent, trying to stay alive. Still trying to tour in Duke’s mom’s mini-van on the weekends when we could. We understand how it is and we understand how hard it is if you don’t have help and you don’t have certain things that some people have."--Ronnie Winter
"Eighty percent of all Americans believe that angels are around us all the time. And who's to say they're wrong?"--Richard Jeni
Ed Wood: Mr. Weiss, I have never told anyone what I'm about to tell you, but I really want this job...I like to dress in women's clothing.
Weiss: Are you a fruit?
Ed Wood: No, not at all, I love women. Wearing their clothes makes me feel closer to them.
Weiss: You're not a fruit.
Ed Wood: No, I'm all man, I even fought in WWII...course, I was wearing women's undergarments under my uniform.
--From the movie Ed Wood
"There is an innocence in admiration; it is found in those to whom it has never yet occurred that they, too, might be admired some day."--Friedrich Nietzsche
"If people make fun of you, it probably means you're doing something right."--Amy Lee
"I love sports. I love animals. I love kids. I want to save the world. So how do I combine all those things? I don't know."--Joan Jett
"I dream for a living."--Steven Spielberg
“They’re [the audience] saying to me, ‘Show us.’ And I know what’s coming next, and I say ‘doom.’ And therefore, that’s the avoidance of the cliché. They’re expecting the cliché, and I have to say, ‘We cannot have a cliché here.’”--Alfred Hitchcock
"I don't need a happy ending. I feel much happier coming out of a movie like Sid and Nancy than I do...Ghost or something. I feel like yes, I understand, and I love it and I get it, and because it acknowledges a certain way that I feel about life, I actually feel better. I see something like that, and it makes me happy."--Tim Burton
"Thanksgiving, it's like we didn't even TRY to come up with a tradition there! The tradition is, we overeat! 'Hey, how about at Thanksgiving we just, uh, eat a lot? But we do that every day! All right...how about we eat a lot with people who annoy the hell out of us?'"--Jim Gaffigan
SONG LYRICS
Well she never was the best
At following the trends
Stayed one step above the rest
Even though it seemed like the world was crashing on her
Didn't let it hold her down
Didn't hold her back oh no, no
Don't worry, you'll show them...
--Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, "Seventeen ain't so sweet"
Walking around looking down, for something better
There's nothing better
Same old weird and familiar sound
Just you leaving town
My God, August came around--
Summer comes and leaves you with a fever
That you caught when you were young
Summer goes, makes you feel like life is real
And hanging on for more...
--The Almost, "Summer Summer"
I scream into the night for you
Don't make it true, don't jump
The lights will not guide you through
They're deceiving you, don't jump
Don't let memories go of me and you
The world is down there out of view
Please don't jump
--Tokio Hotel, "Don't Jump"
If someone said three years from now
You'd be long gone
I'd stand up and punch them out
'Cause they're all wrong
And that last kiss I'll cherish
Until we meet again
And time makes it harder
I wish I could remember
But I keep your memory
You visit me in my sleep
My darling, who knew?
--Pink, "Who Knew"
Comparisons are easily done
Once you've had a taste of perfection
Like an apple hanging from a tree
I picked the ripest one, I still got the seed
You said "Move on," where do I go?
I guess second best is all I will know
--Katy Perry, "Thinking of You"
We all bleed the same way as you do
And we all have the same things to go through
Hold on if you feel like letting go
Hold on it gets better than you know
Don't stop waiting you're one step closer
Don't stop searching it's not over, hold on
--Good Charlotte, "Hold On"
We're passing the time by breaking apart
We're damned at the end
And we're damned at the start
Blame it on the roses, blame it on the red
We're running out of time
And we're running out of breath
Saying, hey now we're bleeding for nothing
It's hard to breathe when you're standing on your own
We'll kill ourselves to find freedom
You'd kill yourself to find anything at all
--Augustana, "Hey Now"
I don't ever wanna see you again
Why oh why you wear sunglasses in the home
When the sun went down about an hour ago?
Why oh why you wear sunglasses in the home
When the sun went down about an hour ago?
Life should not be that way
Always up or down, never down and out
Dream of demons while you sleep
That make you stutter when you speak
Speak now or forever hold your peace, in pieces
--The Academy Is..., "Down and Out"
STOLEN DIALOGUE:
Person one: Mom, this pancake is brilliant!
Person two: Brilliant?
Person three: It's a very smart pancake.
"I cower in the safety of my own underpants."
Person one: Order now and get a third Snuggie!
Person two: What the heck would you do with three Snuggies?
Person one: Hey, I have two Snuggies at home!
Person three: Who thought up Snuggies, anyway? Some guy at home going, "My blanket is so complicated, how do I pick stuff up? Oh, I know--I'll REACH OUT!
Person one: They're not as stupid as they look! Okay, the pockets might be a bit much--
Person three: POCKETS?!
Person one: Hey, that's just like my camera...only mine doesn't have a GPS. Wow. When the hell would you need to put a GPS on a camera?
Person two: So you can find it, when you lose the damn thing.
Person one: What do you think of that car?
Person two (points to car): That one?
Person one: No, the other one.
Person two: The old ugly brown pickup truck?
Person two: Well, I guess I have my answer...
"I find that black ankle socks give me that extra VOOM in the morning, you know what I mean?"
"The bananas were exceptionally ripe today."
"That GPS is probably wondering why we bought it...because so far all you've done is ignore its instructions."
"How do you say that to someone? 'Hello, yes, I was just wondering if you turned my would-be boyfriend against me. Oh, by the way, how's the college prep coming?'"
"Today is a bad day. My ex-wife called me and I'm out of toilet paper."
Have I really only blogged once this month? Unfortunately, yes.
Have I skipped out on updating...AGAIN? Yes.
BUT. Is there anything to blog about around here? Not really, unless you all would like a thrilling episode of Beatnik Belle's Dad Does Laundry While Her Mother Curses at a Motorcyclist.
Still, is that an excuse? No. Should I stop bitching and just write about SOMETHING? Well, of course. When people stop bugging you for a blog post because they know it's useless to even try, you KNOW you've failed.
So no more fails, okay? Seriously, guys. It's okay to pester me. Hell, it's PREFERABLE for you to pester me--at least that way I don't have the option of saying, "Well, no one really misses it that much anyway." No one likes a kick in the pants and the lovely "BLOG OR ELSE" message...but, and I will only say this once, if I do one of my go-for-fifteen-days-without-so-much-as-a-stolen-dialogue-post things, NAG ME.
So what have I been doing the last...gulp...two weeks? Well, I wish I could say I was busy, but sadly, that's not the truth. The truth is I spent 50% of that time sick, 20% minus computer privileges, and 10% arguing with my parents over college and careers.
BUT. I have to blog about SOMETHING. And with nothing interesting of my own to say at the current time (don't blame me, I'm tired and I just drove 700 miles with my mother), I figured tonight's blog would be one big damn "Stolen Dialogue: The Extreme Edition." These might not necessarily be the funniest quotes in the world. On the flipside, they might not be the most inspirational. But they mean something to me, so I figured I'd share a few with you...if you aren't rolling your eyes and thinking, "What the heck is she doing?" by now.
So here it is (if you're interested): The Beatnik Belle Quote List--Stolen Dialogue, Quotes, Song Lyrics, and Whatever the Hell Else I Can Think Of.
THE QUOTES
"Why would you want to drive alone...When you can have the woman next to you in the car, cranking out non-stop updated traffic information? It's like having a brand-new radio station! You're listening to All Driving Complaints Radio...Busting YOUR balls from the driveway to the highway! You get all the great hits! 'Your exit's coming up'...'Your exit's coming up'...'Your exit's coming up'...'Your exit's coming up'...'Your exit's coming up'...And here's the sick, mean, twisted, unfair part: She drives like she's Ted Kennedy and the liquor store's closing in five minutes."--Richard Jeni
"If you enter this world knowing you are loved and you leave this world knowing the same, then everything that happens in between can be dealt with."--Michael Jackson (Yes, I HAD to put a quote of his in this blog.)
"A guy goes into a barber shop, all those pictures on the wall, says 'I'd like to look like HIM,' the barber can never go, 'Listen, you fat pig, he is a male model, YOU are a human sloth, you listening to me? You want to look like him, how about I start by trimming some of your fat face you porkadelic, you centerfold for Meat Magazine, you heaving humping hog of life...I don't mean that in a bad way."--Dom Irrera
"There's a very fine line between a groove and a rut; a fine line between eccentrics and people who are just plain nuts."--Christine Lavin
"You know, I didn’t get signed until I was 22 years old. And honestly I was working 60 hours a week just trying to make ends meet. Same with everyone else in the band. Trying to make rent, trying to stay alive. Still trying to tour in Duke’s mom’s mini-van on the weekends when we could. We understand how it is and we understand how hard it is if you don’t have help and you don’t have certain things that some people have."--Ronnie Winter
"Eighty percent of all Americans believe that angels are around us all the time. And who's to say they're wrong?"--Richard Jeni
Ed Wood: Mr. Weiss, I have never told anyone what I'm about to tell you, but I really want this job...I like to dress in women's clothing.
Weiss: Are you a fruit?
Ed Wood: No, not at all, I love women. Wearing their clothes makes me feel closer to them.
Weiss: You're not a fruit.
Ed Wood: No, I'm all man, I even fought in WWII...course, I was wearing women's undergarments under my uniform.
--From the movie Ed Wood
"There is an innocence in admiration; it is found in those to whom it has never yet occurred that they, too, might be admired some day."--Friedrich Nietzsche
"If people make fun of you, it probably means you're doing something right."--Amy Lee
"I love sports. I love animals. I love kids. I want to save the world. So how do I combine all those things? I don't know."--Joan Jett
"I dream for a living."--Steven Spielberg
“They’re [the audience] saying to me, ‘Show us.’ And I know what’s coming next, and I say ‘doom.’ And therefore, that’s the avoidance of the cliché. They’re expecting the cliché, and I have to say, ‘We cannot have a cliché here.’”--Alfred Hitchcock
"I don't need a happy ending. I feel much happier coming out of a movie like Sid and Nancy than I do...Ghost or something. I feel like yes, I understand, and I love it and I get it, and because it acknowledges a certain way that I feel about life, I actually feel better. I see something like that, and it makes me happy."--Tim Burton
"Thanksgiving, it's like we didn't even TRY to come up with a tradition there! The tradition is, we overeat! 'Hey, how about at Thanksgiving we just, uh, eat a lot? But we do that every day! All right...how about we eat a lot with people who annoy the hell out of us?'"--Jim Gaffigan
SONG LYRICS
Well she never was the best
At following the trends
Stayed one step above the rest
Even though it seemed like the world was crashing on her
Didn't let it hold her down
Didn't hold her back oh no, no
Don't worry, you'll show them...
--Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, "Seventeen ain't so sweet"
Walking around looking down, for something better
There's nothing better
Same old weird and familiar sound
Just you leaving town
My God, August came around--
Summer comes and leaves you with a fever
That you caught when you were young
Summer goes, makes you feel like life is real
And hanging on for more...
--The Almost, "Summer Summer"
I scream into the night for you
Don't make it true, don't jump
The lights will not guide you through
They're deceiving you, don't jump
Don't let memories go of me and you
The world is down there out of view
Please don't jump
--Tokio Hotel, "Don't Jump"
If someone said three years from now
You'd be long gone
I'd stand up and punch them out
'Cause they're all wrong
And that last kiss I'll cherish
Until we meet again
And time makes it harder
I wish I could remember
But I keep your memory
You visit me in my sleep
My darling, who knew?
--Pink, "Who Knew"
Comparisons are easily done
Once you've had a taste of perfection
Like an apple hanging from a tree
I picked the ripest one, I still got the seed
You said "Move on," where do I go?
I guess second best is all I will know
--Katy Perry, "Thinking of You"
We all bleed the same way as you do
And we all have the same things to go through
Hold on if you feel like letting go
Hold on it gets better than you know
Don't stop waiting you're one step closer
Don't stop searching it's not over, hold on
--Good Charlotte, "Hold On"
We're passing the time by breaking apart
We're damned at the end
And we're damned at the start
Blame it on the roses, blame it on the red
We're running out of time
And we're running out of breath
Saying, hey now we're bleeding for nothing
It's hard to breathe when you're standing on your own
We'll kill ourselves to find freedom
You'd kill yourself to find anything at all
--Augustana, "Hey Now"
I don't ever wanna see you again
Why oh why you wear sunglasses in the home
When the sun went down about an hour ago?
Why oh why you wear sunglasses in the home
When the sun went down about an hour ago?
Life should not be that way
Always up or down, never down and out
Dream of demons while you sleep
That make you stutter when you speak
Speak now or forever hold your peace, in pieces
--The Academy Is..., "Down and Out"
STOLEN DIALOGUE:
Person one: Mom, this pancake is brilliant!
Person two: Brilliant?
Person three: It's a very smart pancake.
"I cower in the safety of my own underpants."
Person one: Order now and get a third Snuggie!
Person two: What the heck would you do with three Snuggies?
Person one: Hey, I have two Snuggies at home!
Person three: Who thought up Snuggies, anyway? Some guy at home going, "My blanket is so complicated, how do I pick stuff up? Oh, I know--I'll REACH OUT!
Person one: They're not as stupid as they look! Okay, the pockets might be a bit much--
Person three: POCKETS?!
Person one: Hey, that's just like my camera...only mine doesn't have a GPS. Wow. When the hell would you need to put a GPS on a camera?
Person two: So you can find it, when you lose the damn thing.
Person one: What do you think of that car?
Person two (points to car): That one?
Person one: No, the other one.
Person two: The old ugly brown pickup truck?
Person two: Well, I guess I have my answer...
"I find that black ankle socks give me that extra VOOM in the morning, you know what I mean?"
"The bananas were exceptionally ripe today."
"That GPS is probably wondering why we bought it...because so far all you've done is ignore its instructions."
"How do you say that to someone? 'Hello, yes, I was just wondering if you turned my would-be boyfriend against me. Oh, by the way, how's the college prep coming?'"
"Today is a bad day. My ex-wife called me and I'm out of toilet paper."
Monday, July 12, 2010
Five things I never thought I'd miss about Interlochen...
...And ten things I knew I would.
THE FIVE:
1. Community Service
Laugh if you want, but it's true. I'm an ex-theatre geek, so it was incredible to go back into the auditorium and work as a stagehand, even if my co-stagehands did think I had more than a few screws loose. And food service was...well, what the heck, you already think I'm nuts...fun. At times, anyway. It was like actually having a real job...only I got paid in good grades. ;)
2. Stone Cafeteria
Yes, the food sucked. Yes, it was noisy. Yes, it was a pain in the butt most days. But I have damn good memories in that cafeteria, and I'm not going to lie, I really miss that place. (However, I do NOT miss the food. I'd just like to make that perfectly clear. Mom, forget coming to Interlochen as a nurse--we need you for HEAD CHEF.)
3. My dorm room
Was it small? Was it crowded? Did my suitemates and I have trouble coexisting at times? Did my hall counselor give me a hard time? Yes, yes, yes, and yes. BUT. It made me feel...go on and roll your eyes...grown-up, like I was at college or something. There's something very freeing about being in a dorm, even if it's at a strict arts boarding school in the middle of freaking nowhere.
In addition to the room itself, there were the noises. What kind of insane person mows the lawn at six A.M.? The caretakers of IAA! What kind of insane person watches a horror movie at one in the morning? The occupants of DeRoy House! What kind of insane person takes a shower at midnight? My suitemates!Yeah! Now, you'd think this would be annoying...and, trust me, it is. But I'll tell you, knowing inside and out every little noise and exactly what's causing it is very helpful if you are like me and can't sleep if you "hear noises."
4. The weather
In the words of my good friend Andrew Way, northern Michigan is uninhabitable during February. Understandable, thanks to the piles of lake snow, the frozen roads which render off-campus trips damn near impossible, and of course walking to class in zero-degree weather. BUT. In December, the snow is actually quite nice. And in fall and spring there IS no snow--just RAIN, which I LOVE. So, I will admit that I said "Thank God!" when snow season was over--but I actually miss the unpredictable Interlochen weather.
5. The dances
There were only three dances at Interlochen that I actually enjoyed: The Halloween dance, the Hipster dance, and of course MORP. The rest of the time, I felt out-of-place and completely awkward. And don't get me started on the epic DJ fail--when I tried to DJ the GSA dance and ended up surrendering my position to the usual IAA DJ and running out of the building in tears. That's one experience I hope to never repeat. But you know what? The few times I had a good time at an IAA dance, I had a BLAST. And I plan to do it again next year...and hopefully, someone will let me DJ again so I can prove that I DO know how to DJ as long as I'm well-prepared.
So there we go. That's five things I didn't think I'd miss about Interlochen. And now...
THE TEN...THINGS I KNEW I'D MISS ABOUT INTERLOCHEN
1. My friends
This one should be self-explanatory. I never shut up about my friends, as anyone who reads this blog or, heck, anyone who has ever spent five minutes with me, will know by now. I love my friends and I miss them. End of story.
2. The concerts/plays/musicals/screenings
It was a WYSO concert at the summer camp that convinced me to go to IAA. This past year, few concerts took place that I did not at least attempt to see. Between the performances of the theatre department and the IAA orchestra, it's a wonder I ever got any homework done.
3. The incredibly strange Saturday Night activities
Here's a few things you will never, ever see normal high schoolers do on Saturday night:
--Make up a new dance to "Thriller" out of sheer boredom
--Run around singing and screaming in an outdoor concert hall (and get in trouble for that)
--Create a mountain-like dessert out of things bought in the local grocery store...and then feed it to the boys downstairs because it's ickily sweet
--Make props for a film using things found in your garbage can and bottom desk drawer
--Analyze the hell out of Jim Henson's Labyrinth, for no reason other than "because we feel like it"
--Sneak into each other's rooms to critique thesis scripts
--Translate UnderOath songs into Spanish
--Go to talent shows WITHOUT being forced to do so by your parents
--Perform in a talent show, but NOT because it'll look good on your college application if you win something
--Willingly go and see a Shakespeare play...without being assigned to do so by a teacher
--Do homework--and enjoy it
...Yes, these are all things that I have actually done.
4. The Coffeehouses
All three times that I sucked up the guts to perform in a Coffeehouse, I made a total fool of myself. The first time, I impulsively decided to read a poem I'd written for the boy I liked, and ended up embarrassing myself so bad that--you guessed it--I started crying the minute I got outside. Then there was the Christmas poem incident, when everyone mistakenly thought I was addressing a lesbian lover (long story, but they were wrong). And finally, the end-of-year Senior Coffeehouse, where everything that could go wrong did. First I missed my rehearsal with my accompanist. Then, the very first act to go on performed the song I was hoping to play. And then because we had to choose a new song, we were totally out of synch and I didn't even finish before getting the HELL out of there.
So why do I miss the Coffeehouses, if I screwed up so much? Easy: Coffeehouse is fun to watch, and it's got this incredible stripped-down vibe that you can't even get in the Agora Ballroom. I heard Jesse McCartney's "Beautiful Soul" performed in a way that made it sound like a good song. I heard a song that a senior actress wrote about pornography...and believe it or not, it was actually quite tasteful. I saw cross-dressing, stripping, and sexy-dancing that was too funny to actually be sensual. Improv jam sessions. Acoustic covers. Singer-songwriters. Original skits. It's something that no Interlochen student wants to miss (literally...Fine Arts is PACKED on most Coffeehouse nights).
5. Motion Picture Arts
It's the reason I'm there. 'Nuff said.
6. Blaming any and all eccentricities on the fact that I'm an art student/filmmaker
You really do have to be an Interlochen alum to get this one. But trust me--we use this excuse a LOT. Why do I stay up til four A.M. on weekends? Because I'm an art student. Why do I draw on my Converse and on my white tank tops? Because I'm an art student. Why do I have a picture of the Joker taped up beside my bed? Because I'm an art student.
There are the major-specific ones, too. Why do I carry a film journal with me everywhere? Because I'm an MPA. Why do I wear that Stingray Sam t-shirt? Because I'm an MPA. Why do I find the concept of loading heavy equipment into a massive truck named after an animal exciting? Because I'm an MPA.
And there's one more...the one that I'm sure we've all said to our parents or our friends at home: "You wouldn't understand...you don't go to Interlochen." Wow. How stuck-up are we about our school to say THAT? I can't even rant against this one--I've used it.
7. Lisa Melnyk's THIS WEEKEND!
This is one of those things I took for granted...until I realized that, what do you know, at home there IS no "This weekend!" because, uh, there's nothing to DO on the weekends. Oxford is Boringtown, USA--yet another reason why I NEED to go back to Interlochen NOW.
8. The Writing House
The Writing Hosue is pretty much my second-favorite place at Interlochen, my #1 favorite being the waterfront (which we'll cover later). In winter, there is nothing like going to the Writing House with a few friends and just chilling out in the huuuge Great Room, which is not only the size of a cathedral but contains a huge fireplace AND a piano--what else do you need? It's cozy and it's PERFECT for hanging out with your friends on a freezing-cold night. ALSO. The Writing House just happens to be where GSA meetings take place...and that just so happens to be where I met The Seal. (See my FaceBook page for more information. (;)
9. The Waterfront
This is more of a spring/summer type thing, the Waterfront. Literally. Because in winter, you can't GET to the Waterfront, thanks to this little thing called SNOW. But when it's semi-warm outside, you can wak to the waterfront and if you're lucky it'll RAIN. And rain is GOOD, especially when you can watch it hitting the lake and...okay, I can tell I'm getting a lot of "are-you-insane" looks. Moving on.
10. The senior MPAs
I will be honest here: The senior/returning MPAs intimidated the hell out of me. At the beginning of the year, my thoughts were along the lines of either "Oh my God, I'm not good enough to be here, how can I possibly EVER measure up to THEM?" or "Thank God for next year when I'LL be a senior returner and won't have to worry about impressing these guys."
Well, guess what? Somewhere in the year it went from "They're better than me" to just plain "They're good, but if I work hard I can be that good too...can you teach me to do that?" I won't pretend that I became best friends with the seniors/returners. But I like to think that I did make friends with some of them, and I am VERY glad to know that there will be a couple of postgrads next year. At the very least, I learned a lot from the seniors in my major. I am proud to have gone to school with such talented people, and I am grateful for the time I spent with them.
...And now I'm getting ridiculously sappy so it's really time to move on.
STOLEN DIALOGUE
"So basically, we can either hang out with the bible-thumpers in Cincinnati, or we can go to Muskegon and hang out with the bible-thumpers there. So I think the general theme here is, if we go to see the Almost, we will have to contend with bible-thumpers."
"I have nothing against the Jonas Brothers...except for the fact that they're idiots."
"He thinks people are after him on the road because he's driving a Toyota. I think that it's just that people don't know how to drive."
Person one [American]: You'd better not mess with me, my daddy teaches at this school.
Person two [International student]: Who's your daddy? (surprised when person one starts laughing) What? What'd I say?
Person one: In America, that phrase has three different meanings, two of which I'm absolutely certain you didn't mean.
"I find it more than a little strange that the only page in the "interests" section of my mom's FaceBook is the page for my musically inclined ex-boyfriend."
"In the words of Dave Barry, Dad, you needed to promptly and professionally get the hell out of there."
"Everybody in this gas station is probably wondering, 'What the hell is she doing?'"
Person one: Right now, I’m going to act weird, so just go along with it.
Person two: Will it kill me?
Person one: I hope not.
Person one: You're crazy.
Person two: That's code for, "You're right, but I really don't want to believe you."
THE FIVE:
1. Community Service
Laugh if you want, but it's true. I'm an ex-theatre geek, so it was incredible to go back into the auditorium and work as a stagehand, even if my co-stagehands did think I had more than a few screws loose. And food service was...well, what the heck, you already think I'm nuts...fun. At times, anyway. It was like actually having a real job...only I got paid in good grades. ;)
2. Stone Cafeteria
Yes, the food sucked. Yes, it was noisy. Yes, it was a pain in the butt most days. But I have damn good memories in that cafeteria, and I'm not going to lie, I really miss that place. (However, I do NOT miss the food. I'd just like to make that perfectly clear. Mom, forget coming to Interlochen as a nurse--we need you for HEAD CHEF.)
3. My dorm room
Was it small? Was it crowded? Did my suitemates and I have trouble coexisting at times? Did my hall counselor give me a hard time? Yes, yes, yes, and yes. BUT. It made me feel...go on and roll your eyes...grown-up, like I was at college or something. There's something very freeing about being in a dorm, even if it's at a strict arts boarding school in the middle of freaking nowhere.
In addition to the room itself, there were the noises. What kind of insane person mows the lawn at six A.M.? The caretakers of IAA! What kind of insane person watches a horror movie at one in the morning? The occupants of DeRoy House! What kind of insane person takes a shower at midnight? My suitemates!Yeah! Now, you'd think this would be annoying...and, trust me, it is. But I'll tell you, knowing inside and out every little noise and exactly what's causing it is very helpful if you are like me and can't sleep if you "hear noises."
4. The weather
In the words of my good friend Andrew Way, northern Michigan is uninhabitable during February. Understandable, thanks to the piles of lake snow, the frozen roads which render off-campus trips damn near impossible, and of course walking to class in zero-degree weather. BUT. In December, the snow is actually quite nice. And in fall and spring there IS no snow--just RAIN, which I LOVE. So, I will admit that I said "Thank God!" when snow season was over--but I actually miss the unpredictable Interlochen weather.
5. The dances
There were only three dances at Interlochen that I actually enjoyed: The Halloween dance, the Hipster dance, and of course MORP. The rest of the time, I felt out-of-place and completely awkward. And don't get me started on the epic DJ fail--when I tried to DJ the GSA dance and ended up surrendering my position to the usual IAA DJ and running out of the building in tears. That's one experience I hope to never repeat. But you know what? The few times I had a good time at an IAA dance, I had a BLAST. And I plan to do it again next year...and hopefully, someone will let me DJ again so I can prove that I DO know how to DJ as long as I'm well-prepared.
So there we go. That's five things I didn't think I'd miss about Interlochen. And now...
THE TEN...THINGS I KNEW I'D MISS ABOUT INTERLOCHEN
1. My friends
This one should be self-explanatory. I never shut up about my friends, as anyone who reads this blog or, heck, anyone who has ever spent five minutes with me, will know by now. I love my friends and I miss them. End of story.
2. The concerts/plays/musicals/screenings
It was a WYSO concert at the summer camp that convinced me to go to IAA. This past year, few concerts took place that I did not at least attempt to see. Between the performances of the theatre department and the IAA orchestra, it's a wonder I ever got any homework done.
3. The incredibly strange Saturday Night activities
Here's a few things you will never, ever see normal high schoolers do on Saturday night:
--Make up a new dance to "Thriller" out of sheer boredom
--Run around singing and screaming in an outdoor concert hall (and get in trouble for that)
--Create a mountain-like dessert out of things bought in the local grocery store...and then feed it to the boys downstairs because it's ickily sweet
--Make props for a film using things found in your garbage can and bottom desk drawer
--Analyze the hell out of Jim Henson's Labyrinth, for no reason other than "because we feel like it"
--Sneak into each other's rooms to critique thesis scripts
--Translate UnderOath songs into Spanish
--Go to talent shows WITHOUT being forced to do so by your parents
--Perform in a talent show, but NOT because it'll look good on your college application if you win something
--Willingly go and see a Shakespeare play...without being assigned to do so by a teacher
--Do homework--and enjoy it
...Yes, these are all things that I have actually done.
4. The Coffeehouses
All three times that I sucked up the guts to perform in a Coffeehouse, I made a total fool of myself. The first time, I impulsively decided to read a poem I'd written for the boy I liked, and ended up embarrassing myself so bad that--you guessed it--I started crying the minute I got outside. Then there was the Christmas poem incident, when everyone mistakenly thought I was addressing a lesbian lover (long story, but they were wrong). And finally, the end-of-year Senior Coffeehouse, where everything that could go wrong did. First I missed my rehearsal with my accompanist. Then, the very first act to go on performed the song I was hoping to play. And then because we had to choose a new song, we were totally out of synch and I didn't even finish before getting the HELL out of there.
So why do I miss the Coffeehouses, if I screwed up so much? Easy: Coffeehouse is fun to watch, and it's got this incredible stripped-down vibe that you can't even get in the Agora Ballroom. I heard Jesse McCartney's "Beautiful Soul" performed in a way that made it sound like a good song. I heard a song that a senior actress wrote about pornography...and believe it or not, it was actually quite tasteful. I saw cross-dressing, stripping, and sexy-dancing that was too funny to actually be sensual. Improv jam sessions. Acoustic covers. Singer-songwriters. Original skits. It's something that no Interlochen student wants to miss (literally...Fine Arts is PACKED on most Coffeehouse nights).
5. Motion Picture Arts
It's the reason I'm there. 'Nuff said.
6. Blaming any and all eccentricities on the fact that I'm an art student/filmmaker
You really do have to be an Interlochen alum to get this one. But trust me--we use this excuse a LOT. Why do I stay up til four A.M. on weekends? Because I'm an art student. Why do I draw on my Converse and on my white tank tops? Because I'm an art student. Why do I have a picture of the Joker taped up beside my bed? Because I'm an art student.
There are the major-specific ones, too. Why do I carry a film journal with me everywhere? Because I'm an MPA. Why do I wear that Stingray Sam t-shirt? Because I'm an MPA. Why do I find the concept of loading heavy equipment into a massive truck named after an animal exciting? Because I'm an MPA.
And there's one more...the one that I'm sure we've all said to our parents or our friends at home: "You wouldn't understand...you don't go to Interlochen." Wow. How stuck-up are we about our school to say THAT? I can't even rant against this one--I've used it.
7. Lisa Melnyk's THIS WEEKEND!
This is one of those things I took for granted...until I realized that, what do you know, at home there IS no "This weekend!" because, uh, there's nothing to DO on the weekends. Oxford is Boringtown, USA--yet another reason why I NEED to go back to Interlochen NOW.
8. The Writing House
The Writing Hosue is pretty much my second-favorite place at Interlochen, my #1 favorite being the waterfront (which we'll cover later). In winter, there is nothing like going to the Writing House with a few friends and just chilling out in the huuuge Great Room, which is not only the size of a cathedral but contains a huge fireplace AND a piano--what else do you need? It's cozy and it's PERFECT for hanging out with your friends on a freezing-cold night. ALSO. The Writing House just happens to be where GSA meetings take place...and that just so happens to be where I met The Seal. (See my FaceBook page for more information. (;)
9. The Waterfront
This is more of a spring/summer type thing, the Waterfront. Literally. Because in winter, you can't GET to the Waterfront, thanks to this little thing called SNOW. But when it's semi-warm outside, you can wak to the waterfront and if you're lucky it'll RAIN. And rain is GOOD, especially when you can watch it hitting the lake and...okay, I can tell I'm getting a lot of "are-you-insane" looks. Moving on.
10. The senior MPAs
I will be honest here: The senior/returning MPAs intimidated the hell out of me. At the beginning of the year, my thoughts were along the lines of either "Oh my God, I'm not good enough to be here, how can I possibly EVER measure up to THEM?" or "Thank God for next year when I'LL be a senior returner and won't have to worry about impressing these guys."
Well, guess what? Somewhere in the year it went from "They're better than me" to just plain "They're good, but if I work hard I can be that good too...can you teach me to do that?" I won't pretend that I became best friends with the seniors/returners. But I like to think that I did make friends with some of them, and I am VERY glad to know that there will be a couple of postgrads next year. At the very least, I learned a lot from the seniors in my major. I am proud to have gone to school with such talented people, and I am grateful for the time I spent with them.
...And now I'm getting ridiculously sappy so it's really time to move on.
STOLEN DIALOGUE
"So basically, we can either hang out with the bible-thumpers in Cincinnati, or we can go to Muskegon and hang out with the bible-thumpers there. So I think the general theme here is, if we go to see the Almost, we will have to contend with bible-thumpers."
"I have nothing against the Jonas Brothers...except for the fact that they're idiots."
"He thinks people are after him on the road because he's driving a Toyota. I think that it's just that people don't know how to drive."
Person one [American]: You'd better not mess with me, my daddy teaches at this school.
Person two [International student]: Who's your daddy? (surprised when person one starts laughing) What? What'd I say?
Person one: In America, that phrase has three different meanings, two of which I'm absolutely certain you didn't mean.
"I find it more than a little strange that the only page in the "interests" section of my mom's FaceBook is the page for my musically inclined ex-boyfriend."
"In the words of Dave Barry, Dad, you needed to promptly and professionally get the hell out of there."
"Everybody in this gas station is probably wondering, 'What the hell is she doing?'"
Person one: Right now, I’m going to act weird, so just go along with it.
Person two: Will it kill me?
Person one: I hope not.
Person one: You're crazy.
Person two: That's code for, "You're right, but I really don't want to believe you."
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