Burning Man pictures have come back from the lab! Which is great, because I've found it so hard to describe without visuals. Now you get them :D This picspam takes you through the bug-splattered-windshield days of our drive West, right on through to the end.

( 78 PICTURES within. )

50 BOOKS 2007
20)) The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, Douglas Adams
21)) Mostly Harmless, Douglas Adams
22)) Claw Your Way to the Top, Dave Barry
23)) Everything's Eventual, Stephen King
24)) Cold Fire, Dean Koontz

My computer feels foreign to me. I haven't used it in two weeks.

Burning Man was undescribably amazing. There are pictures, but they haven't been developed/turned into a CD yet. Disposable cameras for the win. Hopefully I'll pick 'em up later today.

( Quizzies )

So John and I had a torturous trek out to Target yesterday (say that 5 times fast), but on the way we passed a pawn shop. I hopped in on our way back to see if I could get a guitar on the cheap to take to Burning Man (my two-month old, $200 Yamaha? in that extreme weather? uuuh, no). Lo and behold, I was able to procure a pretty sweet one plus a hard case for 80 bucks. WIN.

Now it just needs a totally kickass name.

I find myself amazed at how Burning Man is actually coming together. To say my plans have a history of not coming together would be a) cynical and b) a lie, but this time it's a horse of a different color. This isn't something directly connected with theatre or school. This isn't something I had to apply or audition for, or anyone had to allow me to go to beyond the folks what sell the tickets. It's something I'm doing for little other reason than I Want to Do It and By Gods I'm Going To. It is also, by all accounts, like nothing else in the world. The pictures, I'm told, don't do it justice. Expect nothing. So I have no idea what's going to happen, and I embrace that.

It's a totally new kind of adventure.

Bring it the Fuck On.

Hello everyone. I would like to take this opportunity to say that I'm having a great day.

My 'rental units and I are up at G'ma's house in MA. Here's what's been goin on:

This morning I ran a mile, thus breaking in both my new running shoes and my new pledge to start running for exercise. Then we spent awhile going over the Burning Man website and preparing shopping lists for when I return to EV IL on Wednesday. Dad then taught me to change strings on a guitar and we spent some time messing around with hand-streching exercises and picking technique. After that, Dad and I went sailing, which we haven't done in many a year. The winds out on the lake were AMAZING, and I kind of got the hang of working the sail (seems this summer is partially about me learning about different kinds of boats- first punting, now this). We ended up going really fast once we caught good gusts.

Once we came in, I figured as long as I had my swimming suit on I may as well get wet, so I swam in the warm lake for... some amount of time, humming Little Mermaid songs to myself (like y'do). Once I'd swum for so long my arms felt tired- and once I'd successfully skipped a couple of rocks- I gathered a towel and went to lie in the hammock. Lying there, I could turn to my right and see trees and a wall of green leaves with the sunlight glinting through them just so. And I took some time to climb the small cliff from the beach to our house, where moss and small white flowers sprout on the outcroppings.

Not only all that, but since I just came out of the water, my hair looks ( totally surfer-chick. )

It's important to remember that days like this do indeed exist.

The Art grants have been announced! My favorites:

Big Rig Jig
Celtic Forest
U:ME, The Unfortunate Monkey Experience
Burninator X (points just for using the word "Burninator")
Steampunk Tree House
KOILOS
Guardian of Eden
Green Shoes
The Cornucopic Contraptions of the Green Man

The video on this site is sweet, too (makes me think of some of the stuff I saw in the Ghibli museum!).

I haven't talked about much else besides fandoms and music lately, have I? ^__^;; Well, that's about to change.

This coming summer's been something of a quandery for me, and earlier today I was getting hit by the "What The Fuck Am I Going to DOOO"-bug. Part of it might be because it's my last summer vacation before senior year and life as a not-student begin looming, but also since I bought a ticket to go to Burning Man with herod_the_nut, which I am very excited about and determined that it work out.

Burning Man goes from August 27 to September 3, and all the summer acting workshops I'd seen so far conflict with that. I mean, I'd be willing to sacrifice a day or two at the festival for the sake of acting, but once you factor in getting back to Chicago and taking the train to Nevada, I'd probably end up missing the festival altogether.

I mentioned this to Roomies Jessie and Emily in passing because I needed to talk to someone about it, and Jessie just pipes up with, "Well, you could do BADA."

BADA as in the British Academy of Dramatic Arts. As in where Jessie went last summer and had a Q&A with Alan-freakin'-Rickman. As in it ends in early August.

So now, at least, I have an option. I would seriously have to rock the audition, but that's not worrying me right now. At least now I know there's something out there that could make this all work.

And how SERIOUSLY ROCKING would it be to be in England on July 21st? ;) It would mean no Race meet-up, but. Mrr. I'm determined to meet you guys in person one way or another; doesn't neccessarily have to be then :)

If anyone else knows about summer acting workshops that end in either early or mid-August, I'd love to have a back-up plan or two. Perhaps I shall ask around the theatre department.

So that's that. On to other things, such as how I was crazy enough to get myself cast in a student film that's shooting outside on the coldest weekend of the season. Yeeaaah, this is that vampire movie, "Curse of the Blood Ruby". And we are shooting all day Sunday. On the lakefill. And my character doesn't get a jacket, since she got captured by the vampire and forcibly taken outside.

Robert, our director, is taking every step to make sure we're as comfortable as possible, urging us to wear extra layers and bring blankets and thick jackets for in between takes, and he's trying to get us a room in Norris for breaks with hot food and drinks. But still. I get cold very easily, so I'm not exactly looking forward to this.

I do have a plan, though, which can be summed up in a couple of points:
A) Go to CVS and get a ton of those hand-and-foot warmer thingies. During filming, I can stash them in my shoes and pockets and bra.
B) Throughout the day, keep picturing Andy Serkis in his Gollum-suit having to jump into that stream of freezing-cold water over and over. If he could do it, so can I.

Oh yeah, and Happy Groundhog Day! :D