Moving On, Forgetting, and Starting at Square One

Here's the thing about starting over: sometimes you forget to tell people that you are.  And when you do remember to check in again it's too late.  Or at the least awkward to go back and say anything along the lines of, "Oh hey, yeah, I forgot to mention that I abandoned this project to start a new one."

Okay, so that's not entirely true.  I didn't abandon my blog.  In fact, in some ways I've upgraded.  The thing is though, that I forgot to tell people that I did.  And this is me coming back and saying, "Yeah, hi, I moved my blog and I forgot to tell you about it."

It's not that I didn't want to it's just that... well, I kind of moved in a hurry.  I was trying something and the next thing I knew I was over on Wordpress already, filling out the form and transferring everything, and well, there it was.

http://rachelannpierce.wordpress.com/

http://rachelannpierce.wordpress.com/

http://rachelannpierce.wordpress.com/


And I'll admit that it's still a little wobbley on it's toddler feet, but overall I'm quite happy there.  Some of the links need to be fixed and it doesn't have a proper name yet, but here is the link anyway.  Work in Progress I suppose.  It probably always will be.  I just thought you should know.  Since I somehow started getting a more significant amount of hits since I switched over to Wordpress.  Funny how that works.

The List

To add to the collection of awesome moments of pausing the TV, I submit this photo.

I've come to learn that I organize my life best in lists.  There's the list of things that aren't allowed (dying being the top priority), the list of movies I need to see, songs to buy, the ever-changing to do list, and my TV watch list.

It's the TV list I've been working on today.  The TV Watch list is huge.  It includes the things I watch now, the shows I love that got cancelled, mini series, and the massive amount of shows I still need to watch (and they all keep growing!).  Today I put together a virtual version of the TV Watch list.  Granted, I haven't finished it yet, some things are still in the works, but if anyone is interested in seeing what I watch now (or rather in this past season as most shows are ending this week if they haven't already), then check it out here.  The list can also be found as a tab along the header of my blog anytime.

Sometimes I Don't Know What I'm Doing with My Life

I seem to be in a blogging rut.  I spent most of the past four days lollygagging around on the internet, and this list is pretty much what I have to show for it.  Not bad though, check it out:

I've recently discovered the blog The Write Practice which is giving me all sorts of great ideas about my writing.

While I'm not really a hiker, these hiking exercises are still pretty awesome.

27 Ways to Live Intuitively.  Awesome.

This could be useful --> How to Support Friends Who Are Trying to Lose Weight.

Stop Apologizing.  Seriously.

On keeping in touch with far flung friends.

Ideas for how to be productive.

This week: Tomorrow I have jury duty.  I was actually quite excited for jury duty until a friend of mine asked if I could help out on a production he's working on in LA.  Now I'm just hoping that this is a one day event so I can high tail it down to Los Angeles.  Either way I am working on developing a pilot script for this contest and hanging out with friends.

Write What You Know

The oft' given writing advice is to write what you know.  I always feel like I've been cheated out of actual advice when I hear that.  I don't know what I know.  At least not what I know that would be worth writing about.  Rock climbing, Nancy Drew, list making.  I can write about these for a little while, but then I'm not sure where to go with them, and they're certainly not quite fiction material.

People I'm around talk a lot about stories.  How we live our life, tell our life, and learn new things through stories.  I wholeheartedly agree.  Half the reason I remember so much about architecture is because it was told to me as a story.  But when I'm in charge of the story?

It's probably terribly bad form to put what I'm about to say on the internet where future employers can find it, but I feel like part of learning and growing in my writing is admitting what I'm not good at and then trying to find a solution.  I'm terrible at creating my own plots.  I think up wonderful concepts to tell a story in, but when I sit down to write I get stuck because the characters aren't doing anything.

I can find my way out of a plot line any day of the week.  Especially in SciFi or fantasy.  Bring on the twists and I will think of a way to maneuver around them.  I love shows like Once Upon A Time and Fringe because they give me the plot and then they leave me hanging to try and figure out what I want to happen.  And I figure out a way I think the story is going to go.  The next week they show me what their solution is (Sometimes I like my solution better).

Finding plots is something I'm trying to work on.  I want to be better at this, but for now I have trouble with plot.

Finals Week

Picture only related in that the wonky angle is how I feel about my life right now.

This week is finals week.  I wound up in three writing intensive classes classes this year, and three of my classes have actual final exams.  Two of those are comprehensive.  I would say that my likelihood of leaving the apartment today is very slim.  I have a  paper yet to go and edits to be done on the second.  On top of that I am prepping for Manifest.  Which will be awesome... but more awesome once it's over.  This is my only Manifest, this is my only Manifest, this is my only Manifest.

Needless to say I wont be around much this week, and I think after Friday I will want to sleep for a week.  Good times.  Catch you on the flip side.

Falling Into Place

This week was a good week.  And a bad week.  I handed in a script that was ten pages shorter than it was supposed to be, and I went to a few classes without the homework, but this week is still a really good week.  Because everything seems to be falling into place in a way that makes me really happy.

I had a long chat with my boss/advisory about a huge range of things (including the most recent episodes of Fringe and Once Upon A Time) and I realized that I have a lot more figured out than I realized, which is really exciting.  Last weekend I signed up for another class which fills up my course load to the maximum sixteen.  I realized that I have a few options for where to live next year and none of them suck.  Then, near the end of the "meeting" she pulled my other boss in and we had my what-are-you-going-to-do-next-semester conversation.

Granted, I'm still not sure the class I registered for is the right one, and I haven't actually picked where I'm going to live next semester, but I certainly feel a lot better about my life right now.  And even though what I handed in today wasn't quite what I would have wanted, it's actually really nice to not have to worry about it anymore.  Meanwhile, I still have ten pages to write over two different papers, but I'm actually starting to look forward to next semester.

Especially with work next semester.  I was stressing out over the uncertainty of what I was going to be doing for work next semester.  Not that I was in huge fear of my job, just that I know there are a lot of new people coming in who would be great for the show I've been working on and I had a sense that I wouldn't be do it come next September.  I found out this week that I'll be working with a show that is basically how I became interested in Frequency to begin with.

Meanwhile, I'm taking guesses as to who the new hires are going to be and getting super excited for the summer.  Nearly four solid months worth of not having a direct responsibility.  The summer idea list keeps growing, but there are very few "chores" that have gotten on it.  Besides applying for study abroad and trying to figure out a pitch for the fall, I'll mostly be catching up on TV, reading and hanging out with friends... in Berlin.  No big deal.  (by which I mean, really-big-i'm-so-excited-i-could-die deal)

Finally everything is falling into place.  Now if I could only finish these papers...

Around Town: Easter Weekend (2/2)

Donuts.  Look yummy.  Taste less.  Oh well.

Part 1

Where did I leave off?  Right.  Sunday.  So, while the farmer's market may not be a tradition, Easter Sunday Resurrection Rolls most certainly are.  Basically they are sugar dough wrapped in marshmallows and when they bake the marshmallow melts leaving the dough hollow on the inside.  Yummy, but almost too sweet if such a thing exists.  Tradition I will carry on to infinity?  I think yes.  Just as soon as I lean how to make them...

Anyway, church this year was a combined service at Davies Symphony Hall. <dork> It was amazing! I always hate that they don't let you sing in concerts, but since this was church I could sing all I wanted.  Sweet.  We sat in orchestra which was indescribably cool other than that I was taking a picture before we started and then a man sat directly in front of me.  </dork>

I am purposely not talking about the camera debacle, but there was one, and these will be the last pictures from this camera for a while.  </idontwanttotalkaboutit>

After church we went home to change clothes and then went to go see/participate in Bring Your Own Big Wheel.  Basically, it's a "race" down one of the steeper hill in the city that includes around seven hairpin turns.  I went down on a tiny plastic motorcycle which was awesome, but did not have a way to steer.  Let's just say I didn't win in the traditional sense.  Or in any sense really.  There's a reason there are no pictures of me in the race.

Home.  Dinner of yummy food that I appreciate more and more the longer I have to feed myself.  The rest of the day was uneventful which was actually probably not good considering that I had (have) so much work to do.  It's beginning to be time for mantras and all-nighters.  I cannot even describe how much I'm not looking forward to that part.

In unrelated news I am still somewhat stunned that I had to break this up in to two posts.  I probably didn't HAVE to, but on some level I'm kind of impressed with myself for being able to eek this out for content... I mean.  I could have...  It was...  I talk too much.

By the way: church was at Davies Symphony Hall.

No big deal.

Sister Emma's pic: Mom at BYOBW.

Sister Emma pic: Me and my not very big wheel.

Sister Emma pic: Trying to get through the BYOBW crowd.

Around Town: Easter Weekend (1/2)

San Francisco airport.

So, in all the craziness that was the past few weeks I completely forgot to share pictures of going home for Easter.  It was absolutely lovely.  I got to see some of my favorite people and do some of my favorite things.  Just enough to tide me over until summer... granted, now "summer" is in two weeks, but still.

I flew in on Thursday night after a crazy day full of Freq Out rehearsals and worrying about getting to the airport.  Thank goodness I got there early because I then found out that my gold status expired last month, so I'm back to being a regular old passenger.  Poo.  I did get to use my backpack for this trip though.  Even if it was probably a bit of overkill.  It's good to use to practice with.

Friday I went to yoga class with my mom.  It was... well, it wasn't the first time I'd done yoga, but I think the last one was a fluke, so this one was better.  Granted I was not at all prepared for it clothing-wise.  Which doesn't explain how I was completely prepared gear-wise for an impromptu climbing session with some youth group friends after the Good Friday Tenebrae service (which was inexplicably held at noon).  Just go with it.

To say that the Saturday morning farmers market is a family tradition might be a bit of a stretch, but it is by far my favorite Saturday breakfast and everyone in my family knows it.  So usually, when I'm there for breakfast they indulge me and we go for a farmer's market breakfast.  Not that they hate it, but I get the sense that when I'm not around they typically go to sit down restaurants with waiters instead of pigeons to take away the leftover food.  Yeah.

In the afternoon I went out to lunch with Trevor & Co. in the sunset.  Just the beginning of the long list of people I miss terribly when I'm away.  We then trekked out to Stonestown for browsing and wandering, waiting far too long for a bus.  Ahh Muni, predictably unpredictable.

Of course then there was Sunday... but this post is getting quite long, so I'll stop here and make this part one of two.  Who knew I was going to have so much to say about a weekend.

Waiting to be picked up.

Pretty lights

Dad at the Farmer's Market.

Emma, before her wanting to kill me stage.

Trevor with the bright red hair.

Taking a picture of myself in the mirror -- lent is over so I can use mirrors again.

Many Way to Get Stuff Done... Or Not

Oh this week.  How do I even describe it?  Quite calmer than last week, but still chaotic in it's own way.  I think that perhaps all the things I was worried about last week were saved up during Freq Out, and then came up this week.  Specifically, I really stressing over next semester's classes and living situation.  Solutions to both have come up, but I can't figure out if they're the right solution.  Anyway... I figured it was time for some links.

On accountability.

I love it when bloggers are willing to talk about the not so fun parts of life.  Not glad that there are not-so-fun parts of life, but... oh you know what I mean.

Loving this quote from Timothy Leary.  And a Proverb about the person I want to be.

Reasons not to give up blogging.

The post I've been waiting for all my life: How to Watch TV and Still Get Stuff Done.  Now to put it into practice...

The argument for Pintrest.  I haven't made the leap yet, but maybe it's on my way.

Yesterday was Paint the Night day for the Kony 2012 campaign.  I'm still not sure how I feel about it, but this letter is thought provoking.

How to Get Unstuck.  Fittingly, I'm writing this post from a Barnes & Noble cafe.

And completely from left field, this post pleases my inner Nancy Drew fan (it's kind of a big part of me).

Lately: I'm on a bit of a Freq Out high in which I love all my co-workers.  I've been really excited for my 21st birthday... in September (in the meantime there will always be Berlin).  I gave a killer presentation in one of my TV classes.  Very excited.  My personal summer reading list is growing -- and taking suggestions!  Booked tickets home for the summer.  Re-applying for my job and hoping for the best.  Anticipating Manifest, the end of the year festival.  If you're in Chicago, come and check it out.

Plan Z

A long time ago on a blog I don't remember (this was before I was bookmarking blogs and keeping track), I read a post about imagining the worst and trying to see how it wouldn't be that bad.  The sermon I heard on Easter Sunday this year talked about how even what we are sure is God's last plan for us, is still a part of His plan and can be used for His glory.  He even used the same phrase, Plan Z.

Plan Z is what happens when nothing you have in mind for your future comes to fruit.  For me that would include not being able to use my degree, moving back in with my parents... but I'm getting ahead of myself.  The reason that you think of Plan Z is so that you can think about what you would do in the meantime.  What would make this worst possible outcome better and somehow not awful.  So here it is, Plan Z.

In my Plan Z I am living in my parents basement in some alternate or possibly future universe where they live in the suburbs.  I hate the suburbs.  I am working in some office job where I do mindless data entry or copying for the majority of an 8 hour day.  Somehow, in getting to Plan Z I was injured in a way that I can't climb anymore.  This means that I spend the work day sitting and sedentary, then go home and am sitting and sedentary because I can't go on adventures like I want to.

Like I said before though, the second part of coming up with Plan Z is figuring out how it doesn't suck.  In Plan Z I cook a lot.  Since I'm living with my parents my Dad and I cook together a lot.  Maybe I take yoga with my Mom.  In Plan Z (in any plan really) I am highly involved with whatever church I am attending.  Possibly more in Plan Z because I want to be doing stuff that's not being at work or sitting at home.  I teach Sunday School, I am a part of a Community Group, I am a mentor, basically I am doing a lot of other fun stuff besides going on adventures.

What is your Plan Z?  And how does it not suck that much?

Somehow I'm An Insider Now

This week has been a bit stressful.  I was working all week pretty much non-stop.  When I signed up for it I thought I would be fine, but it wound up driving me a little bit crazy.  Like taking a nap on one of the prop couches crazy.  Needing to take a walk to Trader Joe's to buy candy crazy.

I love my work.  I love that I get paid for something that I enjoy doing, but I'm not going to pretend that this semester has been easy.  I've dropped the ball on more than a few things, and somewhere in my head I have this idea that I have to have everything done perfectly every time.  While of course that would be nice, I'm starting to realize more and more the difference between what I'm expecting of myself and what others are expecting of me.

My work's big production is called Freq Out.  I have been busy up to my eyeballs getting ready for it nearly every day this week.  I'm solidly a drama girl, but when you spend ten hours on set everyday you learn to find a sense of humor.  Or you try to at least.

All told, we go live tomorrow evening.  Rehearsals are done.  There's nothing left to do, but still miles to go before we hit the ground.  As much as it's been fun, I'm looking forward to it being over.  I've not done any work outside of Freq Out in nearly a week, and I just know it's going to catch up to me very, very soon.  I'm tired of being tired from the ten hour minimum days.  Looking forward to doing homework.

If anyone is interested in watching it live-streaming, the feed will start from HERE at 6pm central time.  There are opening remarks before the actual show gets going, but it's pretty much going to be awesome.

At The End of The Day

I have been struggling with what to say all day.  How to say it.  Because I cannot go through Easter without at least saying, even to the internet, "He is Risen," and waiting for "He is Risen, Indeed."  But how to broach the subject.  I'm teetering on the edge of talking too much about my faith on my blog.  An edge that some would argue doesn't exist.  Because it's my blog and I can talk about what I want to talk about and if they don't like it they can leave.

But I don't want people to leave.  I know that I have very few followers and I'm accepting of that.  I know that blogging for me is more of a personal pursuit than a professional one right now, but I want to be able to cross that bridge someday and I don't want a reputation of forcing religion on people when that transition happens.  I don't force anyone to listen to me, but at the same time I cannot ignore a huge part of who I am because it's inconvenient for my online persona.

Today I went to church.  This is nothing new for me.  I go to church every week.  But today was special.  Because today was a celebration of what God has done for us in sending His Son.  It's a question of life or death that we get to choose to be either all-encompassing or non-existent.  There is no in-between however much society wants there to be one.

The passage that the sermon I heard this morning was based on (Mark 16:1-8) ends with Mary, Mary and Salome -- a group of women who were followers of Jesus -- fleeing the empty tomb in fear and not telling anyone about what happened because they were afraid.  The man they saw who told them Jesus had risen gave them direct orders to tell everyone, but they were so afraid they said nothing.  I don't want to be that.  I am confident in my God and my faith, but at the end of the day I am still afraid to speak out.

Boys Club

I've posted some before on how much I like to rock climb, but a book I've been reading has made me think about it in a bit of a different way.  The book, a collection of essays (I've been reading quite a few of those lately) is awesome in that it has a huge variety of writing.  Everything, adventure to more run of the mill from all over the world.  The thing that's bothering me is that out of 30 some essays in the book, only two are written by women.

Now, I understand that climbing is a male-dominated sport.  I'm not delusional.  But I do know that there are a lot of women climbers out there, and I'm wondering why more writings from them weren't included.  Of course there could be a myriad of reasons for this in this particular book, but it got me thinking.

Where are the women climbers!?  Pretty much all women climbers I've run into are pretty awesome people, but the representations of them to the rest of the world are practically non-existent.  The whole thing makes me want to spend every spare minute climbing the walls to catch up with the boys.  I want to scream very, very loudly, "I'm a chick and a climber!!  Come hang out with me!!"  The only problem with that is that I'm not a professional climber if-you-know-what-I-mean.  Which brings me back to the wanting to climb all the time to catch up.  It's a vicious cycle.

In Which I Go On About Travel Plans

Now that my plans are a bit more official, I don't feel awkward sharing them.  As of this past week, I am officially going to Berlin, have a place to stay for a month, and am flying out of Rome.  How my friend Allason and I are getting from Berlin to Rome has yet to be established, but that's not the point.  The point is that I'm spending a month rehearsing for a performance, then galavanting around Europe.  I can't even describe my excitement.

I'm flying out on the 4th of July, continuing the not-yet-tradition of flying out of the country on Independence Day, spending a few days on my own before checking in to What Moves You? a Eurythmy conference (eurythmy is quite difficult to explain, simply put it's a dance form with specific movements for music or spoken word, but that definition seems constraining to me).  

The conference is a month worth of rehearsals cumulating in a performance in early August.  The conference is being held at a school in Berlin.  After the performance Allason and I have ten days to make our way down to Rome before heading back to good old San Francisco.

So far I've bought myself a travel book for Berlin and started making marks in it of what I want to do.  Allason and I have brainstormed ideas of what we might do too, but we haven't made any hard and fast decisions yet.  Have I mentioned that I'm excited?  I am.  Quite.  I'm going to be spending a month with some of my favorite people in the world seeing new things and (hopefully) speaking in a language I don't quite understand (My teacher said my pronunciation is getting better though).

Anyone have any ideas?

Just Breathe

This week is difficult to describe succinctly.  I've been watching a lot of TV.  Which is good.  In a way.  And bad because I get to be a bit overly emotional over television sometimes.  I didn't get done as much homework as I wanted to, but that happens.  I still have this weekend, and I seem to be in the middle of quite the homework party.  And blogging.  We're working on it.

I feel that in some time in the future this post on taking a sabbatical will be helpful in my life.

Travel Guides?  Yes please.  Isreal and London are both on my list, lucky me.

And traveling on the cheep.  Also yes.

I kind of really want to make one of these rope bracelets.

I know I should have shared all Downton Abbey related links weeks ago, but I'm currently working on a paper which requires me to rewatch the entire series (that's right, I spent my spring break watching TV.  For homework.).  Anyway.  Pictures, name generator, and from the NY Times and The Huffington Post.

Also, this makes me mad.  In a good way.

This week I like: situations where it is acceptable to collapse on the ground in exhaustion, booking flights (more on that next week), dinners with friends, and how adult I feel when I finish paying the bills.

"Don't Underestimate Pluto. Pluto doesn't quit."

In an effort to begin what will be a theme of Television posts and reviews, I've just finished watching Sports Night and want to tell you about it.

Sports Night was an Aaron Sorkin show from 1998 to 2000, and if you don't know yet you'll soon learn that I sort of have a thing for Aaron Sorkin's television.  A thing that was nearly broken with Sports Night, but seems to be back on given how calm I was when it ended.  Anyway, Sports Night is a show about a show.  The show within the show is also called Sports Night.  It's a lot less confusing than it sounds.  The show revolves around the producers and host of a late night sports news show called -- wait for it -- Sports Night.

Casey McCall and Dan Rydell are the on-camera talent who work with producers Dana Witacher, Natalie Hurley, and Jeremy Goodwin, as well as their fearless leader Issac Jaffe.  They get together and don't get together and sometimes they make some television in there somewhere too.

And now I'm going to dive into spoilers, so if you want to watch the show and are bothered by them, stop here.

Getting Ready For A Bumpy Ride

I am slowly trying to get myself back into the swing of things, blogging wise.  I'm devising a plan, and as much as it sometimes frustrates me to be working with the "old system" while devising a new plan, I think it's something that I'm going to have to get used to, as it is something that is done consistently in Television.

So.  Coming up.  A redesign of sorts which may also include a switch in blogging platforms.  A whole section of Travel that will include advice I've gotten, my favorite trips so far, and local travel.  I've got a category of Television in the works.  I can talk about television in an intelligent way, I just need to figure out how that works with blogging.  I'm a TV student for goodness sakes, I should be able to at least give some good suggestions.  Maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to show off some of my work on this platform as well.  We'll have to see about that one.

Sunshine, Springtime, and School

I know, it's been a while.  I am unapoligetically sorry for the crazy few weeks that have become my life.  Since I last updated there have been parties, late nights, and lots to do.  While I haven't been updating, I have been thinking a lot about how I want to organize my blog and be more consistantly blogging.  Yesterday I sat down with my roommate and we had a chat about it.  She's in a web development class, so she's going to be helping me out with a bloggy revamp.  I'm excited, but a bit nervous as well.  I also don't know what I'm going to do with myself next year without this girl and our late night discussions.  I guess we'll have to conduct them over Skype.  Yup.

Anyway, in the meantime, here is a picture of the sun seting in the South Loop.  Daylight savings time has finally let me see sunsets again, which in turn makes me nostolgic.  This time two years ago I was spending a week in the wilderness, trying to figure out my life.  Springtime is a time for planning.  Planning, reorganizing, and revamping blogs.

Fat Tuesday

I've never been quite sure how I feel about lent.  I didn't grow up celebrating it, and even when I did participate I never really got much from it.  I find that there's something terrifying about finding something you would be willing to give up for a month.  To be honest, I still only loosely grasp the idea behind it, but I'm going to take a whack at it nonetheless.  Besides, this will also fulfill my 21 Before 21 goal of going a month without mirrors.  And then I'll do my learning makeup to do on, or immediately following, Easter.  I do like that I have a plan for it.

In any case, this is the last self-portrait in a mirror for a while, and then a picture of the mirror all covered up.  I want to make that vast expanse of white prettier, but we'll see if I get around to it.

In other news, my sister is on her way to my apartment from the airport.  Yay!

Of Stir-fry and Making Things

Guten Tag Freund!  I'm happy to report that I'm finally getting into the routine of the semester... 5 weeks in.  Also, this weekend I'm spending some time at and InterVarsity retreat called Winterfest.  I'm pretty excited for this.  There's a pool there.  Anyway, links of the week.

How to deal with burn out.

Now I want to make stir-fry.

Two Yes and Yes things this week: On making things with your hands and magnetic Polaroid frames.

Speaking of working with your hands, this Guardian article is long, but awesome.

On not letting the adult world take over.

The Freedom Experiment talks about freedom in truth and I couldn't agree more.

This week I like: thinking about summer plans in the theoretical (when I start having to deal with them in the actual they give me headaches), the series finalie of Chuck, Trader Joe's (though the final verdict is still out), and busy days.