August?

It is 12:41 AM on August 1st, two-thousand-and-ten A.D.

WoahwaitWHAT??

Someone please tell me where June and July went, how I still have summer reading to do, how I still have college essays to write, how I only have 4 more days of the theatre festival left, and how I only have 29 days till my senior year of high school begins?!?!

...My life has been crazy busy lately. I promise I'll get a decent post up soon.

Ohhh the enigmatic nature of the word "soon"!

peace,

-eleanor

Some musings on friendship

I don't have much to say, but what I do have I'll scribble down right here. The topic on the forefront of my mind is friendship, namely because of the beautifully quirky bunch of friends who have recently been given to me through the wonderful world of working at a theatre.

Three and a half weeks ago, I found myself sitting in a theatre with a group of people who I did not know. The adults all knew each other, so I was out of that group, and there were three people around my age who didn't seem like they wanted to talk, so I did not talk to them either.

Three and a half weeks ago, the theatre would be silent until work began since no one talked.

Today, though, I can walk into the theatre already laughing from a conversation with one of them. I can be the crazy person I am around them without feeling self-conscious. I even consider one of the guys one of my good friends.

The fact that so much can change in less than a month baffles me. Take, for example, my new friend Walt*. When I first met him three or so weeks ago, I took him as arrogant; now, though, he's one of my favorite people, and we're so similar it's strange. We used to not talk at all; at some point, though, Walt and I did start talking, and now we tease each other like siblings and can hold really good conversations. I don't know what the turning point was, but I'm glad it happened. I've found an invaluable friendship.

Even the adults seem to like having us around ("us" being myself, Walt, the 20-year-old Sarah*, and the 22-year-old Richard*), and treat us like their younger siblings/cousins/nieces/nephews. The other day, I asked Daniel*, the guy I technically work under, if I am a bother. He laughed and said, "No, not in the least bit. You could do anything and still leave a warm fuzzy feeling in me. If anyone else did what you did, it would probably be annoying. But you are completely fine."

Honestly, that answer both worried me and made me really happy. I guess that's what makes someone your friend, though, right? People you care about and love being around can do things that would be so bothersome if other people did them, but since it's that certain friend you're alright with it. (This explanation excludes the fact that everyone says I remind them of a 5 year old because I'm so easily amused. Also, apparently I'm just the most adorable person ever. Whoopdiedoo.)

Looking at these quickly formed friendships makes me think about all the people I've known for months and years, yet still I do not have friendships with them nor do I know them. It's funny the way you can be drawn to some but not others.

What are your opinions on friendship?

peace

-eleanor

*Names have been changed.

Family. Etc.

It's days like these when I'm reminded that I consider my friends to be my family, and my mother, father, and brother to be my mandatory housing mates.
...when I'd rather go to Church by myself than have to ride in a car with my mother and sit all suffocated by my family in a pew. I can't concentrate on Church when my family is around.
...when my family's presence stresses me out to the point of tears. But I have to push the tears away- hide them- or else I'll be bombarded and attacked with stupid questions about whether I'm okay. Yes, I'm fine, just leave me alone. I'll be fine if you leave me alone.
...when I arrive at my internship, not wanting to be around people, yet find myself being melted quickly by the warmth of my co-workers.
...when all negative thoughts exit my mind, and are replaced with the laughter, jokes, and grinning which only my co-workers can instigate. And I mean "instigate" in the best sense of the word.
...when I stop considering my co-workers as "co-workers". When I begin to refer to them as my family.

I must step out of my mind and into my heart. Thank you, God, for blessing me with such amazing people to spend hours upon hours with. I could not have asked for a better group to consider a family.

Though, I must jump back to my mind and my secular aspects of life. Here are some of today's highlights:
1. A 5 year old was sitting on my lap, and I told her she should introduce herself to my friend, Alec, who was sitting next to me. She promptly turned her head away from him and said, "NO!"
2. My "boss" and I bonded over both having obnoxious laughs (and both having been in situations where people identified that we were in an audience because of our laughs).
3. I started laughing for no good reason in the middle of silence during dinner (everyone was starving, thus constant eating, thus minimal talking at first). Alaine* said, "Well, that's a good example of someone laughing when they feel awkward." John* asked me, "Did you feel awkward?" I said, "No! I didn't feel awkward. I just thought the silence was hilarious." John then followed with, "Do you want me to make you feel awkward?" Alaine said, "That would be illegal, John."
4. John told us about how he found this "Organic Batter Blaster" funny as shit:

... which, inevitably, lead to a whole slew of extremely inappropriate and sexual jokes. Yes, 30-something year-old men are just as prone to dirty jokes as 18-year-old guys. (If you're a boy reading this, can you guess what the jokes were about??)
5. I laughed so freaking hard during dinner that I ended up bruising my ribs against the belt I was wearing around my dress. ("Bruising" meaning my ribs were sore for 3 hours after our massive fit of laughter. Awesome.)

*names changed


Well, it's all in a day's work, right?
Toodles, loves :)
-eleanor

Just like a library book...

...this post is overdue. (Oh, how witty of me.)
Sorry for the delay in posting a new post. Hm.. that sounded redundant. Poo.

Because it's past 1 in the morning and I'm in a weird state between alert and sleepy, I made a split-second, spur-of-the-moment decision to create a list of amusing things I've heard over the past few days. Hanging out with theatre folk definitely has its perks.

A List of Quotes Which Were Extremely Funny In Context:

• "Is that what they're calling it these days? 'Going to camp'? While all the other kids were playing Capture the Flag, you two were playing 'Capture the... Hmmmm...' "
  
  
• "Oh, it's on! Bring it! You're not wearing heels anymore!"
  
  
• "I went on Wikipedia, and I searched that. Okay, well, I didn't search it on purpose..."
  
  
• "Are y'all drinking cokes because you're underage?"
  "Why yes, that's exactly why, actually."
  
  
• "How old are you?"
  "17."
  "Ohmygod..."
  
  
• "I looked down and thought 'Woah. I've never before seen her feet during this play. Ever.'"
  
  
• "Okay, fine. You know what? Yeah. I'll call my mom and tell her that a boy in a bar is telling me to stay late."

...You're not laughing? Hm. Well, at least I am.

Until next time,
-eleanor

P.S. Come to the Festival of Independent Theatres!! Go here for more info :)

Je suis intelligente, peut-etre? Ou... Les autres gens sont stupids?

So... I signed up for a two-week "Adult Intensive" French class. In a class of 8 people, with all but one other person over the age of 30, I know the most French.

Let me re-phrase:
I'm the only one who can actually carry on a basically coherent conversation.

I knew it would be easy at the beginning, but after two days we've only talked about basic pronouns, the alphabet, numbers, and the days of the week, plus the present of etre and avoir. People all around me stumble through simple, simple things with thick American accents. Some don't seem to even understand how to follow a worksheet nor how to understand the teacher when he explains stuff in English. HELLO! Worksheets have the same layout in English and French and Spanish and every other freaking language! Just because the questions and answers are in French, does not mean the layout of the assignment is drastically different from a multiple-choice worksheet in, say, US History or Biology! PLEASE, PEOPLE! Use yo' noggins!

I'm torn. I really like being in a French class, since it's keeping me in touch with the language over the summer. I just worry it's not doing me any good. I was hoping for a French class to strengthen my skills and boost my speaking confidence, yet I feel like I'm going to forget all the complicated stuff I learned since this is such a basic, basic class.

At least mon prof is funny. He keeps me engaged in this massive review session.

My question for you who are reading this: Should I keep in the class, or should I drop it? (The guy in charge said they'd refund the money if I found the class too simple.)

Dear Diary...

Dear Diary,
Yesterday I almost ran away from my house... I shy away from using the word "home" sometimes. The yelling and screaming among my family members, ricocheting off the walls and tunneling deep into my head, made me shake, squeezing all the salt water from my body out through my tear ducts. I was scrubbing spots on the kitchen floor at the time of the eruption, merely an innocent and unassuming bystander at the scene of a war, a war of the spontaneous combustion variety, the result of an omnipresent volatile substance carried within an interestingly high number of human beings.
"Just grab the keys and drive away. The door is only a few strides away. You have keys. Just get in the car and drive."
I felt my body try to lunge from my crouched position on the floor, but all I could do was just grip my cloth tighter, scrub the already-gone spots harder. All I could do was go over and over the same spot on the floor... scrubbing in circles, circles, circles... while tears steadily and heavily flowed from my eyes.
Inhaling cleaning vapors never felt so good yet so unrewarding. Staying crouched on my knees on the floor never felt so safe yet so completely vulnerable.
Diary, why could I not rise from the floor and run out the door?
Why would my body not move? Why did it just wait out the waves of the argument crashing down all around me?
When all I'm left with is a dirty washrag and a tear-stained face, I wish I did not have a family.
At least, not this family.
Until next time Diary,
eleanor

My Ears, My Poor and Confused Ears

DISCLAIMER: With the exception of the last bullet point, the phrases/ideas below do not reflect the opinions or beliefs of the author. Rather, this is a blog-interpretation of the day's events, inspired by surrounding people.

Things one hears/learns when hanging around theatre folk for extended periods of time:

- There is always a place for strong language, and strong language will always have a place.
- Smoking can be considered a hobby.
- Interns inadvertently become afterthoughts.
- Some people are silly and annoying and petty. ...But said people are still really awesome. We love said people.
- If your first cigarette is a Marlboro, you'll never want to smoke again. But if you then smoke a Camel, you'll completely understand why people smoke.
- Naked people on stage is cool. Girls popping out of their shirts is cool, too.
- "Welcome to theatre!" means the same thing as "I hope you like sex jokes, cussing, and cigarette smoke, because you're going to be around all of the above quite a bit."
- When an intern reads a book and a co-worker announces that there is a Literate among us, someone will undoubtedly mishear and think that the person said the intern is illiterate. Consequently, a whole slew of jokes ensues, all in good fun.
- There are two kinds of people: cool people and annoying people.
- Theatre people can be multifaceted, can be recipients of more than just a theatre major, and can give really good college advice.

And that was basically 4 hours of my day.

Ciao,
-eleanor