The Wonders of Power Point

All right, I know I'm technologically disadvanced. No one needs to remind me. However, I actually put together a Power Point presentation (with a lot of help!) and presented it in class Tuesday. That was a first for me. I'm proud of myself for actually learning how to do it and getting a pretty good-looking presentation together in time for class. I do have to extend a BIG thank you to a fellow student who tutored me through the process and fed me Chinese food. I couldn't have done it without her. It wasn't as nerve wracking as I thought it would be either and I didn't hit the wrong button or accidentally skip something during the presentation. That in itself is an accomplishment for me. I'm learning how to design brochures on Publisher too. Oh, the wonders of technology. Will they ever cease? The library on campus has free 3-D animation classes and I'm thinking seriously about taking one and playing. Could be stress relieving, and right now, that would be a good thing!

End of Semester Blues

Well, here I am at almost the end of my first semester as a doctoral student. I have a presentation staring me in the face for Tuesday (Power Point savvy I am not), a 7 page paper for theatre history I've barely started on, a script to revise, and a final packet to put together for theatre management. I think I'm at a critical meltdown point now. I know I need to get this stuff done, but I have absolutely no motivation at all. Nada, not a bit, nothing! This is bad, really bad. I don't want to end my first semester by failing my classes - LOL! However, the upside is that I have to work as house supervisor for the department production of "Death of a Salesman" this evening and Saturday evening, which means I have a lot of time to sit in the theatre lobby and be productive. What else are you going to do during an almost three hour show when someone has to be in the lobby the entire time? You got it, homework! Everyone else is in the same boat though - the end of the semester has a tendency to do that to people. I know I'll get it all done - I have to. Pressure and deadlines can be great motivators! :) Ah well, after May 5 the semester will be over and I can breathe a huge sigh of relief until summer school starts May 27 - woo hoo!

Guilt Should be a 4 Letter Word

Ah, guilt. It's such an ugly thing. I'm feeling especially guilty because a good thing happened. Why, you may ask? I was lucky enough to receive an assistantship for the fall semester and other people who've been in the program longer than I have, did not. I should be able to be happy about this, but I just can't bring myself to feel happy or glad. Instead, I feel guilty, very, very guilty. People who are my friends are now suffering because of this, hence the guilt. I have been avoiding the annex since Wednesday, which is stupid, but I feel so bad for the people who didn't get the assistantships and so guilty because I got one, especially in lieu of the fact that I've only been here one semester. I know this is stupid and childish, but I'd rather not cause any more grief for anyone else. I've been told not to feel guilty and I know if I didn't have the assistantship for the fall it would be extremely difficult for me to continue my education, but I can't help it. My mother instilled a healthy guilt complex in me while I was growing up which was only exacerbated once I became a Catholic. No one does guilt like a Catholic nun let me tell you! "Nun Guilt." What a great play title. I'll write that play one of these days soon.

Number Nightmares, or, Budgets Aren't All They're Cracked Up To Be!

Spring Break really came at a great time, and I got a lot accomplished - most of my playwriting projects were done then, but it's taken me a while to get back into the swing of things. I spent every evening last week (with the exception of two) working as the House Supervisor for the one-acts, so spent more time on campus than I did at home. This has put me behind and I am now facing my biggest hurdle so far this semester. I know, you all thought it would have something to do with playwriting, but aha, it doesn't! The big bad budget project snuck up on me when I wasn't looking. :(

As part of Theatre Management class we have to plan and develop a fictional (for now) theatre company or performing arts center or whatever. Part of that process is budgeting. Well, I started out with some grandiose ideas, but have rudely returned to earth. I'm downsizing my theatre and concentrating on doing more with less, as all arts organizations are these days. But I have a confession to make, I am a math phobe. True, I have worked with budgets and know how to read a budget sheet, but I don't like it. I'd just as soon be in the middle of a bunch of rabid UNC fans wearing a Duke Blue Devils t-shirt. Okay, well maybe not that, but you get the idea. I have been gathering information and trying to figure out how much to downsize my original idea. Now it's crunch time - literally - time to crunch some numbers and get the budget down on paper. This project is due Thursday, so I don't have a lot of time, but I am very reluctant to begin. Anybody out there got any magic motivation pills? You know where to find me!