Houston Day 709 - Hope Stone tech week Day 2!

Almost 3pm.  Lying on the couch, feeling terribly tired, watching The West Wing (was CJ the leak about the military space shuttle? We'll probably find out in an episode or two! God bless Netflix).  6.15am call time this morning, and a long drive to Cuero, TX, which is a beautiful little town.  This afternoon we have Day 2 of Hope Stone tech week.

I've been struggling with motivation for teaching recently.  Bekah very wisely suggested that it's because I've been working a lot this year so I'm pretty tired (Exhibit A, above), not necessarily because I'm doing a bad job or because I don't belong there.
Anyway, this afternoon I'm contemplating what it means to be going this tech rehearsal.  (I do that.  I'm big on symbolism and I can't do most things without having a sense of what it means.)  So...It means I'm telling these kids that I believe in them, that I treasure their stories and their work (not only in this circle, but also in your life, hey?).  It means I'm telling the Hope Stone community that I belong there.  It means I'm telling Jane that I believe in her vision of "art for all".  Scariest of all, it means I'm telling myself that I believe in my own creativity.  So let's get our ass off the couch, Amy, and go help some kids make art.

Houston Day 706 - meals, Macbeth and Magic School Bus

Meals, Macbeth and Magic School Bus

plus Meisner and meditation and more of what's in my life right now...

Thanks to the people who continued the discussion on facebook from my last post.  From what you both said, I am beginning to think that there's something in this "discipline sets you free" idea.  I also had a good chat with the Magic School Bus girls that day.  The more times you load in a show to a new venue, the quicker you get at it; however our shorter load-in time is not reflected in our call times, so we often have either a really leisurely load-in or a lot of spare time to just hang out in costume.  So we had about twenty minutes up our sleeve the other day in which I invited the girls to share their experiences with diets with me, which led to a really great chat.  And what they said reminded me of two things: that what you see usually isn't the whole story, and being nice to yourself can go a long way.

Advertising came out this week -
I'm pretty damn excited about this show!

Most of yesterday was a pretty brilliant day, and I'm trying to figure out why I had so much energy.   Maybe it was the extra twenty minutes of sleep, maybe it was meditation before leaving for work, maybe it was feeling buoyed up by the first of our Meisner sessions a few of us are conducting at my house, working through Larry Silverberg's "The Meisner Approach" workbook.  We had two Magic School Bus shows that I really enjoyed, I went home and went straight to "Macbeth school" (i.e., my desk, where I sit with my laptop and Ashley's Riverside Shakespeare and do some pretty disciplined work on text preparation), I hung out outside and enjoyed the beautiful spring weather, and then had my last class with the Hope Stone teens before we head into tech week.  We also caught up with some friends at a restaurant we hadn't been to before to see a friend's son play guitar in the courtyard.  Today is back to Macbeth school, with a coffee break with the Zeteo pastor around 2pm, and going to see a show tonight to kick off the weekend.  I think I'm going to try what one of the School Bussers suggested, and take a food journal that isn't just a record of what I eat, but how it's connected to what I feel.  I suspect that being more in touch with myself spiritually will help, especially heading in to the next four weeks, which involve Hope Stone tech week, no less than forty-six Magic School Bus shows, and the beginning of Macbeth rehearsals.  Goodbye, world, I'll see you at the other end!

Houston Day 704 - Fun (or not) with Calories

Fun (or not) with Calories, or, Diets Ahoy

I'm not sure whether this is an Australia v America experience, or if it's just the time in my life, but I seem to be surrounded by people on diets.  The paleo diet is a big thing, as is calorie-counting, but also there just seem to be a whole lot of people on an eternal quest to change their bodies, and once that change has been effected, watch over it with an iron rule.
I totally get it, coz I'm on that quest too, and people should (and will) do whatever makes them happy.  But I really long for a sense of freedom that I often don't see in these dieters - actual freedom, which to me means freedom from the habit of overdoing either end of the spectrum, not just the freedom to eat yourself into a diabetic coma.  I have no idea how to achieve that freedom, consistently, for a long period of time.

Houston Day 695 - an artistic expedition

The Woodlands Waterway Art Festival

This weekend just gone was my first weekend (almost) completely work-free since Company started in February.  So Lucas planned a fun and full weekend for the two of us, including going to an art festival in The Woodlands.  The Woodlands is a suburban outpost of Houston, which I've commented on before.

Rick Loudermilk was the featured artist,
and his art was on all the signage

The Art Festival was cool.  The Waterway was lined with hundreds of booths set up by various visual artists, representing so many different media and different styles - it was so much fun to look and see what great creatives can do! We bought a couple of pieces - one from a Texas artist who is entertainingly named Rick Loudermilk, and who was there with his wife (also a painter).  Her style shares some similarities to his, which was interesting to see.  The piece of his that we bought is a big, geometric, colorful picture of some flowers, in a similar style to the picture on the left.
The other painting we bought is called "The Sea Conquest".  Here is its description:

The chubby girl put a fish on her head and a sea anemone on top of the fish. She doesn’t need to, but she is balancing on her tricycle, conquering the sea

The artist, Tanya Doskova, is from Bulgaria, and apparently her children pick on her for her English-language skills, but I think the way she writes is gorgeous and I love it that she doesn't express her potent, complex ideas in everyday Joe words.  You can see the painting here, and it's well worth looking through the rest of her online gallery as well.  Make sure you click on the pictures to read the descriptions!
So we had a lovely day looking at different kinds of art, and brought home two paintings and some sunburn. A good day, all in all.

Houston Day 691 - The Extrovert's Confession

The Extrovert's Confession 

over the weeks we warm up.  the more stories are shared the more we have ties and memories and things that link us to each other.  and I make her smile, and she told you something you didn’t know before, and we giggle.  we all bubble over with these stories, these facts, that we are so proud to own.  we stand on each other’s shoulders to see how we can be funnier, louder, sparklier.  and quicker, and quicker, we laugh too loud, there’s no time to hear.  we cut each other down in this scrabble to the limelight that our souls are so greedy for.  and it shines on our face and we ride that joy all the way home.  but sometimes we get bitter, even when we win, because cutting each other down just hurt a bit too much today.

I wrote this recently while I was figuring out some stuff.  Please note that it's about me trying to identify the ways in which I hurt and offend people; I'm not trying to spew passive aggression all over the internet in an attempt to punish someone else for hurting me.  I participate in situations like this all the time, and go home wondering why it feels so wrong.

Houston Day 687 - little adventures

I love to travel, it's true!
I love a change of venue,
A change of menu,
The feeling when you
Meet with something strange.
I love to travel.
I love a challenge,
I love change.

- "I Love to Travel" from The Frogs (Sondheim)

Little Adventures

I only just realised over the past few days that my attitude to trying new things has changed since we've moved.  Before, it was like I had two invisible lists in my head, one titled Things That Amy Does and the other titled something like Things That Are Not Really Amy's Cup of Tea, and I knew pretty instinctively which list an activity belonged to, even if I'd never tried it before.  Going to theatre shows? Something Amy does comfortably.  Bungee jumping? Definitely on the second list.

But since emigrating, the lists haven't disappeared entirely, but they've faded a bit, or at least are open to reassignment.  I'm pretty sure that's partly due to the unavailability of many activities on the Things That Amy Does list (you try finding a Melbourne-style coffee shop in Texas: it's possible, but you have to know where to look), and partly due to being forced to make things my cup of tea that previously weren't (e.g., driving on the right-hand side of the road).  I've realised how much joy is possible by looking for little adventures, both with Lucas and on my own!

The path into Donald R Collins Park

So the adventure we went on yesterday was mountain-bike riding.  I'm totally rubbish on a bike, and the last time I rode a mountain bike was when I was fourteen on an Outdoor Ed trip through the Grampians, and I was pretty rubbish then too.  But we scored some good bikes from a colleague of Lucas' who was dumping a bunch of stuff before being transferred to Malaysia, so yesterday we went to Collins Park in northwest Houston in the glorious spring sunshine and I (pretty terrified) took to the trails.  I have the bruises to prove it! Going downhill is much more fun than going uphill, but I shall learn! 

Houston Day 683 - Amy & Bekah's fun day trip

This week, due to Easter, I have the wonderful (and much-needed) blessing of four days completely show-free.  Bekah also had yesterday off work, so we had planned a day trip to Galveston, but alas the stormy weather forecast made us decide to stay in Houston.
We had a great day anyway! We started off with breakfast at the Monarch restaurant, visited the Museum of Fine Arts, took a yoga class, had lunch at Whole Foods, and then spent the rest of the day watching The West Wing.  Lovely restful quality time - love that girl!

Anytime Lucas or I mention Galveston to someone who doesn't live in Texas, they sing us a song.  Here it is (sung much better than anyone we talk to sings it).  Bekah and I still haven't made it to Galveston beach - this is the second trip we've cancelled due to rotten weather.  Silly subtropical storms.  But this climate does mean that green things are growing like mad all over each other right now.  We have multiple trees in our garden that are home to other trees climbing all over them like vines.  Better take advantage of this gorgeous (albeit occasionally stormy) spring weather before the brutal summer rolls around!