A list

1. I am now a card carrying member of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology, Inc. Even though I always spell it theatRE I don't understand why the UNITED STATES Insitute etc. doesn't spell it theatER.
2. I've been missing my German class lately. This is interesting because it drove me nuts and made me feel inadequate and unable to communicate. This might be because I have two friends in the Spanish grad program that are really good at Spanish and this reminds me that Spanish is not as great as German.
3. We had our still photo shoot of Peter Pan today. The costumes and make up look amazing! The actor playing Hook is one of those rare men that look so gorgeous with eye liner.
4. If I could I'd watch every episode of Bones over the Holiday. As it is, I'll probably watch every episode of 30 Rock.
5. It's been observed by myself and others that this is the time of year when women spontaneously burst into tears. I kid you not, the more women I mention this to the more women confess to this being the case. A guy friend of mine even said he ran into this problem today.
6. Hallmark movies that only have one kiss at the end are bunk.
7. Anderson Cooper's hair has gone beautifully white. Remember how much I love Anderson Cooper? I do. Grey and white hair is super attractive. Cases in point: Richard Gere, Anderson Cooper, Greg Wise, Mark Harmon.
8. I'm watching something that looks like a Hindi soap opera but it's dubbed in Spanish. If it was in Hindi I might have a better chance of understanding it. As it is, I'm really confused because the sound and their mouths don't match, but they don't look Indian.
9. We have a Christmas decoration on our mantel that looks like Santa terrorizing a forest when you turn it backwards. Genevieve and I agree that this is cooler than the right side which is Santa, a snowman and a penguin in front of some evergreens.
10. Students protesting Parliament's vote to raise tuition fees attacked Prince Charles' car today. Seriously guys, get over it. Spoiled socialists.
11. Half Windsor knots for neck ties almost inevitably end up crooked. Please men, learn to tie it right, or tie a full Windsor.
12. I want to see The King's Speech way bad. I think I'll have Marth screen it for me.
13. I've had three meals a day for a week now. Congratulate me!

Showmance

For those in the know a showmance is pretty self explanatory. For those not in the know, a "showmance" is a relationship started and carried out during the run of a theatrical presentation between cast or crew members of said show. Now, showmances I'm sure are beneficial to many an actor or techie that never interacts with anyone outside the theatre, and many a showmance has lead to marriage, but in my opinion showmances are perhaps the worst idea ever. Just look at Branjelina. Now I know the appeal of being with someone that understands your Brecht jokes and makes their own is almost too much to resist, but here are 5 good reasons why showmances are awful-->

1)Showmances are perpetrated in the dark backstage, or while in really pretty costumes, so how can you really tell what your showmance partner looks like?
2)Showmances are between actors and actors, or actors and techies or techies and techies. I have no problem with these groups being friends, but by the nature of these roles someone is always doing the dirty laundry and that's just awkward.
3)When everybody's stripping to their skivvies in the dark you'd better believe your showmance will have no privacy.
4)Shows, like band camps, eventually come to an end, and with the end comes all the glitter and dazzle of the showmance. Suddenly you don't have 5 scheduled hours a night to be together and you actually have to work at the relationship, fun over.
AND...
5)You're BOTH in showbiz! Worst idea ever.

So, you ask, what's a girl to do that spends 8 hours a day in a basement sewing, dressing strangers and working with all women to do? Stalk the Tanner and marry an MBA student.

"I loved you from the first moment I saw you"

I'm getting sick of 'love at first sight' crap where the girl is so devastatingly beautiful that the man is absolutely lost. Now in some cases the guy plays it cool and builds a foundation with the girl, like Brooke Burgess or Mr. Rochester, but for others like Romeo or Marius the man is just absolutely lost and is proposing marriage based solely on the fact that the girl has a rather fine visage. Call me a pessimist or a realist, but all that is crap. Anyway, in case you don't believe me, here's a smattering of famous "I loved you from the first moment I saw you" situations.

Sleeping Beauty
Snow White
Aladin
Cinderella
The Little Mermaid
Brooke Burgess with Dolly (from He Knew He Was Right)
Mr. Stanbury with Nora (from He Knew He Was Right)
Every Bollywood movie ever (specifically Om Shanti Om, Swades, Saawariya)
Colonel Brandon with Marianne (from Sense and Sensibility)
Romeo and Juliet
Cosette and Marius (from Les Mis)
Tamino and Pamina (from The Magic Flute)
Rhett Butler with Scarlett O'Hara (from Gone with the Wind)
Mr. Rochester with Jane Eyre (from Jane Eyre)
Tristan with Isolde
Henry VIII with Anne Boleyn (from Henry VIII)
Henry Tilney with Catherine (from Northanger Abbey--debatable, but come on, she's a moron, it had to be love at first sight or else he would have been completely turned off once she opened her mouth)


And then there's the whole, "Even though I tried to marry someone else, I'm sure I've loved you my whole life" line that men also feed women in literature, probably most notably from the examples below:

Little Dorrit (Oh I'm so glad my being a complete airhead didn't in any way deter you from loving me)
Mansfield Park (That Miss Crawford was just a fling, I REALLY loved you Fanny, my WHOLE life)
Emma (I realized I loved you since you were 12 when Frank Churchill almost stole you away!)

I'm not saying that I don't enjoy some of the above pairings, I just almost roll my eyes out of my head when I get to the "She's so beautiful, it must be love!" parts of these stories, but what are you going to do?

More realistic stories:
You've Got Mail
Pride and Prejudice
Persuasion
While You Were Sleeping

The Man Plan and The Realistic Plan

I've been thinking lately about how girls have two plans in general, not necessarily Plan A or Plan B, but two plans for the future, one including marriage and one that doesn't. When discussing the doesn't plan w/ my friend the the other night a guy friend pointed out how the plan's lack of a man seemed rather pessimistic. I of course had to correct him and say that it is not in fact pessimistic, rather it is realistic. Women who don't come up with a realistic after the undergrad plan are on the market for a world of hurt if the Man Plan doesn't pan out in time. Then there's the opposite, the position I most find myself in, where the Realistic Plan becomes so real and certain (the Man Plan being more of a gamble) that the idea of giving it up for the Man Plan should that option arise, seems a little heart wrenching and stomach turning. When a girl doesn't date the Man Plan seems rather far away and the Realistic Plan starts to look so nice. However, if we had to assign an A and a B I suppose Plan A should be the Man Plan, which is really just figuring out what the heck you're going to do about your future once you've figured out with whom you're spending it.

I don't know if men have these same categories of future plans. I would assume that their Realistic and Woman Plans are somewhat similar, one has a wife and the other doesn't. I for one see no problem with that, although it does seem oh so much easier for them than for us. Oh well. Dem's the breaks

In case you were wondering:
Man Plan: get married and figure it out from there, my MFA not being an option but the timing of achieving said MFA is incredibly flexible. Have oodles of babies.

Realistic Plan: Work the next Utah Shakespeare Festival season, move home to make money then apply to grad school for Fall '12 at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and Boston University, and possibly London Unis. After attaining my MFA move to London for good within 3 years and work my way up to designer for The Globe and/or The National. Also, open a Mormon bridal boutique in London to serve our lovely European sisters.

Reasons why being a wardrobe supervisor is soooo glamourous

1. Last week Romeo got punched in the face and sprayed blood all over Juliet's wedding dress. LUCKILY I was there after the show for a London reunion and got to clean the blood off right away!
2. Ironing is like my FAVORITE thing ever, sometimes. R&J has a couple shirts that don't need to be ironed and about a million that do. On Saturday I didn't turn on the industrial iron so I just touched up the sleeves of the shirts I knew would be worn w/o their jackets.
3. There's nothing more fascinating than the print of an actor's face on another actor's white shirt.
4. For Houseboat Honeymoon 2 years ago I got to hand wash a shirt every day b/c it got spat on every night.
5. For Houseboat Honeymoon I spent an hour cleaning watered down mascara off of a dupioni silk wedding dress.
6. Crotch stink.
7. For Dial M. for Murder I spent 3 hours repairing a fur coat.
8. For Dial M. for Murder I had to learn how to properly set off a pair of murderous back shears.

(Why I really love supervising)
9. I still find blood all over the building from Macbeth.
10. Actors are so fun! (mostly)
11. I have authority and can get people in trouble.
12. One time I was put on headset.
13. Wearing black gets you anywhere.
14. I've learned oh so many laundry and repair tricks.
15. My dressers and actors are visibly nervous when I pop into the green room after opening night.
16. My dressers and actors are visibly relieved when I pop into the green room after opening night.
17. I don't have to go to the shows after the first dress.
18. Warm laundry.

Snowflakes on the ceiling

I just made and hung five snowflakes in white and blues from my ceiling. During an amazing FHE lesson I was seized upon by the desire to decorate for Christmas like crazy. My goal is to have twinkly lights up by Sunday.

I spent the weekend watching BBC shows and pining for London. I was just rereading some FashionEphemera entries from London and I'm so SO piny for it! This weekend I watched Doctor Who, Law & Order: UK and Sherlock (on PBS's Masterpiece Theatre website to watch online, I think you'd LOVE it mom!). The latter two are filmed in London and I recognized the places and got so homesick for it! I don't know how to change my toolbar on my browser from London weather to Provo weather so I could see earlier tonight that it was snowing in London. Oh snow in London!!!

Um...I had a ripping migraine this morning, that wasn't fun. Besides that though I haven't been sick at all this season, knock on wood. I got my tickets to fly home for December 17-January 2. I'll make it just in time for Erica Bischoff's wedding! I wish I could be more clever, but I don't have much else to say. I have some ideas for Ephemera entries though, so if you want to hear more from me check out the other blog.

Listening to Nat King Cole's Oh Tannenbaum and his accent is worse than the Swiss!!!

Halloween Weekend

I've been away for awhile, but I'm not catching you up!! I was so excited for Halloween b/c after a certain point people aren't allowed to ask me for help w/ their costumes anymore. Also, Halloween is the end of October which is the worst month of the year.

On Friday I had every intent to be Katherine Hepburn for our stake dance, but I had a late night the night before so my hair didn't get set and blah blah blah I threw together a 1920s tennis player costume at the last minute. I wish I had a wooden racket, but I don't. I think the picture's gross, but the costume and make up were so adorable! My favorite costume I've put together for myself.

The dance was a riot!!! I love a good dance! I've been lucky enough to always be in the most fun ward of the stake. If the stake dresses like cowboys I'm in the ward that dresses like Indians. If everyone's in normal costumes I'm in the ward w/ the two man 8' elephant costume. All these trends center around my friend Dusty though...so really I just like being in his ward!! But the dance was a blast! I LOVE DANCING!!!

On Saturday I helped w/ my friend Ben's Monster Mile and 5K that he put together in the morning then went to a Peter Pan run through in the afternoon. After such a late night and early morning I slept over the dinner hour and then went to a scary movie!!!

Last year my friend John and I went to the Japanese original of Dark Water so this year we went to the Korean movie A Tale of Two Sisters and screamed our brains out!! It was so scary!! Genevieve, her boo and Rachel came too so I was between Rachel and John and we were all screaming like babies!

Sunday was an excellent day at church, then I went to my friend Kimothy's and ate yummy food and watched Hocus Pocus and boy howdy do I love that movie!!!

And that was my Halloween.