Crazy for Shakespeare

I had a huge "To Do" list today, but I spent it working on my Shakespeare High Cafeteria instead. I wonder about myself sometimes! To top it off, I added a Shakespeare High Twitter, because I obviously need to spend more time on the Internet!

As per the world of scrapbooking, my copy of Photo Freedom arrived today...woo hoo!

I need to get ready for a card workshop tonight, but I should be back to scrapbooking tomorrow night. Neal and I took a hike up Multnomah Falls yesterday and I can't wait to scrapbook the experience! I won't look at the photos until I finish prepping for the workshop or I'll be up all night. I have issues!

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LOAD #28

I can't believe that I've finally finished this mini-album! I still want to do a page to sum up the entire month and experience, but that will be primarily text. As tragic of a month as this was in my life, I'm so glad I'm ending on this high note. This was they day that I hung out with some of the crew members of Star Trek: Of Gods and Men at Universal Studios. We were a bunch of goof balls; it was so fun. That evening was amazing, though! I met Lana Lane and Erik Norlander at a restaraunt in LA. They are progressive rock artists and I love their music. When I found out that I was going to be in LA, I took a chance and contacted them through MySpace. They agreed to meet me to discuss the posibility of using their song "Romeo and Juliet" when I directed the play. As much of a Shakespeare fanatic as I am, I didn't like R&J until I heard that song. It was what made me want to direct the play and inspired my entire concept for the production. The song was essential! I couldn't afford to pay royalties, so I was overjoyed when they granted me the rights to use the song and film it for a DVD release! They were so friendly, gracious and generous. I could definitely see being friends with them if we lived closer.

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LOAD #10

I'm off to a Shakespeare workshop in Seattle so don't have time to write much. Good news is that I'm back on track with exercising! The prompt for this LO perfectly fit my needs for today! It's amazing how something that should have been done three years ago spoke to me so clearly today...wow!

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Gamer Girl to the Rescue!

All I can say is thank goodness for books! This was the perfect escape I needed after a rough afternoon. I came home and finished Gamer Girl by Mari Mancusi.

Here’s the back-story. Nerdy as I am, I wanted nothing more than to go to Barnes & Noble for my birthday on Friday. As usual, I stalked the Shakespeare shelves, because one can never have enough Shakespeare books! This time around, I picked up a couple by Barry Edelstein: Thinking Shakespeare and Bardisms. I then trudged over to the YA section, but I really wasn’t feeling it. I told my husband that I was a little shocked that I wasn’t in a YA mood; I’ve been teaching teenagers for 19 years and can’t remember a time when I haven’t been excited about some new YA book or author. I decided to move on to the Sci-Fi section when the cover of Gamer Girl grabbed me by the eye and shouted READ ME! Can’t say no to that. I got to the “Squee!” on the back cover and knew I had to read this book. On a side note, I wonder if the author is a Pottercast fan, too. Anyway, my final purchase of the evening was my real birthday gift—Star Trek Scene-It! I can’t wait to play that game. I wish my friends were as geeky as I am; I guess I’ll simply have to take it to school and play with my Sci-Fi class.

Okay, I guess that’s enough exposition, now on to my review. Gamer Girl tells the story of Maddy, a sophomore who recently moved to NH after her parents’ divorce. We all know how bad it can be to be the new kid in school, but imagine being forced to change from a “gothy, but approachable,” outfit to old lady jeans and a unicorn sweatshirt! I’m old and that would mortify me! Maddy’s situation goes from embarrassing to humiliating when her grandma walks into school with her and inadvertently insults the most popular kid in school. Turns out he is also the biggest bully and now Maddy is his prime target. It really is no surprise that she immerses herself in the online game Fields of Fantasy, which is a birthday gift from her dad. Virtual life is much more appealing than real life when you are known as Freak Girl at school. As an avid YA reader, I found the book to be very predictable, but I didn’t care! I loved watching Maddy discover what I already knew. Plus, the description of the game play felt like a cross between WOW (World of Warcraft) and LOTRO (Lord of the Rings Online). As a gamer girl, I must admit to laughing out loud at some of the jokes that only the geeky can truly appreciate. Overall, this is a very fun book and is a quick read. I look forward to giving book talks about it tomorrow and adding it to my classroom library.

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To Blog or Not to Blog?

In December of 2006, Neal and I made a pact to write for 1/2 an hour each day. We both started blogs with the goal of posting daily. I failed miserably! My last post dated May 28, 2007, described how excited I was to be a Close To My Heart Consultant. I would like to say that a booming business left no time for blogging, but that isn't the case. I simply overextend myself and something has to give. For the past two years, it has been my websites. I stopped blogging, podcasting, and updating Shakespeare High. My word for 2006-2007 was "Create," and I definitely added more creativity to my life in the form of scrapbooking. My word for 2008 was "Cleanse." I broke my sugar addiction, added exercise to my routine, and lost 45 pounds! I feel better than I have my entire life, and now I know what is important to me. Therefore, my word for 2009 is "Balance." Exercise and creativity are non-negotiable for me now, therefore, I must find balance in other areas of my life. I'm working on giving up some responsibility at school so that I can come back to the passions that give me joy. The goal of this blog is to document my journey and to provide me with an outlet to share my creativity. I'm glad you found me, and I hope you will share in this journey by playing along with my weekly creativity challenges!

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