T Minus Two Hours and 40 Minutes to Curtain on the first performance of Naku Tsuru and the Samurai! (thank you two hours 40)

And now the thrilling tale of what happened to me yesterday:

It began in dance - we’re in the middle of presentations in the class (my group goes Wednesday), and yesterday there were four groups going. This meant that they each had to stick to their 20 minute limit in order to fit them all in - but what happened was, they didn’t.

I was supposed to meet my geology TA at 3:50 (when Dance is supposed to be out), but due to the groups going on too long, I was still doing the hula till a few minutes after. As soon as we were let out of class, I scootered faster than I’ve ever scootered before and made it to the meeting spot a little about 3:57 - and had missed the ride to Teddy Bear Cove. But, luckily for me, another TA was out there for the trip to Clayton Beach, and he said that I could go with his group if I could find a ride, and as it turned out there was a girl standing right next to me that had an extra seat in her car, so all was going well.

She, her boyfriend, another guy, and I loaded into the car and we were off. The TA had given directions, but not very good ones, and so we relied on the other guy in the car who said he knew exactly where we were going. So we drove up Chuckanut Drive, taking turns at ludicrous speed, and so when we got to the state park that the guy said the beach was at, we were far ahead of any of the other cars.

After a little while of waiting, a few other cars showed up, so we waited for the TA for a while, until deciding that we’d just hike down to the beach and start making observations so that we could be finished and go back home sooner. We followed the trail down to the beach and noted the size and shape of rocks on the beach, examined the geologic features of the big rocks that were around (with honeycomb erosion and whatnot), but something struck me as a little not-quite-right. The wording on the questions we were supposed to fill out did not seem to match what I was noticing on the beach. And on top of that, the TA still had not shown up. So we left that beach and hiked around on other trails in the national park to try and find out if there was another beach that we were supposed to be at, but nope, that one was the only one in the park. It was not, however, Clayton Beach. Apparently Clayton Beach was a little ways further down the road, so we went back to the cars, and kept driving until we saw the sign that said “Clayton Beach Trailhead.”

We unloaded the cars, and followed the trail down the hill, but the funny thing was that at the bottom of the path there was no beach - just a dead end. So apparently the path right by the Trailhead sign was not actually the trailhead. So we went back and found another path, this one right by where we parked, so we took it. It was a far more treacherous path, and there were a few times we weren’t even sure we were still on a path at all. Eventually we came to a fork in the path with no markers saying what was either way. In classic choose-your-own-adventure fashion, we went right. This led us through the woods, and winded up in another dead end. So we went back and tried the path that went left, and this one looked much more promising - it kept going downhill (with some very steep bits that were a hassle getting up on the way back), it crossed the railroad tracks (as was planned), and this one ended on a large rock directly overlooking the water. It was a georgeous view, and I made note that this would make a terrific picnic spot. But unfortunately, it was still not Clayton Beach, and by this time it was almost a quarter to six, and it was raining. Since it was so late (we were supposed to get back to campus at 6) and we were wet and tired from the ammount of hiking we had been doing, we decided to head home without finding the beach.

We hiked up the hill - rather than take the path we had taken down, we just tried for the most direct route back to where the cars were - and then we saw the sign: “To Clayton Beach,” with an arrow pointing down another trail. And then, we looked down the hill aways and saw a group of geology students walking back up, having just finished making observations at Clayton Beach. Oy. So I never made it to Clayton Beach, I probably won’t get the extra credit (which would be helpful to have) for the lab, but it was really the best adventure I’ve had in quite a while. And it’s a good thing we didn’t have Naku last night, because we didn’t get back to campus till almost 6:20.

After that I went home and had some dinner. By the time I finished it it was almost time for Da Vinci Code to start, and so I decided to stay home from it and enjoy a quiet evening at home. I watched an episode of Quantum Leap on youtube, and started to make a Hotty McPants movie, but unfortunately my quiet apartment was not so quiet, as it was full of people having a few drinks, and since I didn’t want to really belt out Hotty McPants tunes with them out there, and since there was too much background noise on the recording, I scrapped the project until later. So instead I just chilled in my room, listening to some musicals, and enjoying the night off.

In other news, I got a haircut yesterday, so now I have short hair. And today I shaved my arms, because we were told that male tenchi angels had to. For anyone that has never tried to shave hairy arms, it is quite a hassle. And then tonight I found out that they had decided that we really didn’t need to but didn’t bother telling we tenchi about it. Sigh, I say as I look at my arms, smooth like a baby’s buttocks.

T Minus two hours, 12 minutes! I’m off, folks. Wish me broken legs.

We are now two days away from the premier of Naku Tsuru and the Samurai. But before I talk about that, I’ve got a week worth of days to fill you all in on. When Last I Posted, I had valiantly fended off a vicious Garter Snake, and I commented that I was far too busy to fill in all the details of my busy life. Since that time, things have only gotten busier. With what you ask? Well I’ll tell you.

The weekend was the most interesting and insane bit - starting with Naku Tsuru Cue-to-Cue on Saturday, which would have been followed by Becca’s birthday party, but I decided that if I went to that there would be no way I could survive Sunday, and that turned out to be a good call, for I barely survived Sunday as it was.

Sunday started out at 8:30am with quick change rehearsals for Naku, followed by more cue-to-cue until around 5:30. My symbolism group was meeting at 5, so I hurried over there for that as soon as we got out, and then we symbolists worked on taking all our seperate bits and combining them into a cohesive whole. It was very high-stress (as was Naku - there were tears shed at both rehearsals, although not by me), but we powered through until 9, when I had to go to the first readthrough of the play “A Wealth of Memories.”

“Wealth of Memories” is a new play that Dave from 360 is writing - he’s putting on a reading of it in a couple weeks, and he asked me to be in it, and so I am. The story is about this world in which the inhabitants live off of the memories of their savior, The One Who Will Sustain Us, but the problem is that they’re running out of memories to live off of, the savior has amnesia, and all of the memories that they have are being hoarded by an evil dutchess. I’m playing the part of the Shaman, one of the few remaining believers in the tales of He Who Will Sustain Us, who is on a quest to find the savior so that their world can survive. It’s a fun play - when I know for sure where the reading will be I’ll post it so you can all come watch. It’s pretty much an all-star cast of the WWU Theatre Department - Nick Edwards, Ally Evans, Brenda Joiner, Jessica Wu, Nate Harpel, Cail, Random, a couple more people, and me. What could be better?

That reading was probably my favorite part of the day, but it was also the worst part of the day because by the time we left at 12:30 my head was causing such a rebellion that I thought I might explode to death. But I survived enough to make it home and crash into bed, and then wake up at 5:30 the next morning so that I could get up to campus and finish preparing The Symbolism of Being Earnest so we could perform at nine.

The presentation went pretty well - I wasn’t as happy with it as I would have liked, but considering how little time we had to work as a whole group it was fine. I heard that people liked the script, so that’s a plus. After the performance I went back to my apartment and slept for a couple hours until I had to get up to go to geology, and that nap was about the best idea I’ve ever had. But boo to geology for ending it so soon. After geology was dance, and after dance was a little break, so I went to the store to restock my food and have dinner before dress rehearsal for Naku.

We were called at 6, and we were supposed to start at 7, but due to delays we didn’t get started until I think around 7:45. And then, due to technical difficulties and starts and stops, we didn’t finish the show until almost 11. Yeek. This was especially bad because I had to read Ragtime for musical theater class afterwards, so when we finally got out I went home and read/listened to the musical Ragtime, and due to its length, I didn’t get to bed until 2:15. But it’s a great show - I think I’ll have to pick up that recording.

This brings us to today. Today got off to a bad start, as I was grumpy from having stayed up until 2:15, and then when I got in the shower and turned on the water, I discovered that whoever took a shower last neglected to turn off the shower part, and so as soon as I turned the knob I was drenched in cold, cold water. Boooooo. But since then things have all been up and up. Today’s ism group was surrealism, and they had an awesome scene that totally knocked the pants off our symbolism scene. So good! Ah! And after that bit of theatrical goodness, there was an easy geology lab, a learning-to-draw lesson in costuming, a discussion of Ragtime in 428, and then a little snack break before our 5:30 Naku call time for our second dress rehearsal, which as it turned out was also a preview, complete with audience, and a reviewer. The woman who wrote the play brought in a bunch of elementary school students that had originally done the show to watch, and she said they loved it. And Deb (the director) said that it was so good that she decided to give us tomorrow night off to rest up for Thursday’s opening. This announcement was met with murmers of happiness and terror from the cast. She has forbidden us from doing anything Naku Tsuru related tomorrow, and so it looks like the cast’ll be going out to dinner and to see The Da Vinci Code. Dinner and a movie the night before we open a show? I’ve never done anything like this, but I’m trusting that Deb knows what she’s doing. I must trust - that’s what che sensei said.

And now I will sleep, because sleep is amazing, and mandatory.

Today I nearly died at the hands of a Deadly Viper!

Not literally of course. Deadly Vipers do not have hands. But the point is, I had a Thrilling Battle with a Deadly Viper! It was on my way to campus - I was riding along as I am wont to do, when I spotted it lying across the path. I swerved to avoid hitting it, but I swerved too late - the viper used its lightning quick speed to leap out of the way and then spun around to face me. I stopped riding and turned back to face it. It’s gleaming black eyes stared at me, and my gleaming black eyes stared right back. We had a staring contest. I won. I slowly stepped back toward the snake to show it my great Samurai Warrior Moves, but before I had time to deal it a fatal blow, it fled in terror (or because it had a plane to catch). I stood triumphant over my snakey foe, and continued to campus.

When I got back to my apartment later, I did a google image search to find out what kind of Deadly Viper I had encountered - you can imagine my shock when I learned how perilous that battle had actually been, for that snake was actually the most deadly type of deadly viper known to man - the legendary “Garter Snake!” And so the next time you are walking and you aren’t killed by a deadly snake: you can thank me.

A Dramatic Recreation of the Epic Battle

In other news, there’s been a lot going on, and I haven’t had much time to write about it. But you can all rest assured knowing that I’m using my great skills to keep everything under control.

A while back I was talking to people about stage/screen names, because apparently Kenny will have to change his name in order to get into the screen actors guild, because all variations on his name are already taken. I forgot about it until just now, when I was looking at the list of producers for “The 1 Second Film,” and decided to check and see if there is anybody named Nathaniel Jones on there. I was so disappointed when I saw that there was already a Nathaniel Jones, but then I looked at the credits, and the only thing listed is “Fist of Iron Chef” - the movie I worked on freshman year at USC! Which means, not only is there only one Nathaniel Jones on IMDB, but that only one is me! Woot!

Everyone should go write on the bulletin board on my IMDB page: http://imdb.com/name/nm2093416/

Yesterday in dance, a native American dancer/musician/motivational speaker came in to talk about his culture, and to teach us the dances of his tribe. It was quite fascinating - his presentation was a nice mix of dance (I got in touch with my inner animals, and danced as a few of them), song, stories, and motivational speaking. The main point he repeated over and over was “you are a noble and honorable child of this great land.” He spoke about how that idea informs everything in his culture, from dance to song to everything else. I was quite motived by it all, and, as a bonus, the animal dancing helped me with the samurai moves in Naku Tsuru.

I have more to say, but it’ll have to wait, because I’m tired, and have a busy day tomorrow.

This has been a fantastic week, with good bits and bad bits and so many other bits that I can hardly do justice to them all in one journal entry. So here are just a few of those bits:

Tuesday (since Monday was already accounted for in the last post): Oh no! I had a midterm in costuming and didn’t remember it until someone asked if I was ready for it 15 minutes before class started. So I ran to the book store to pick up a blue book, then took it back to the classroom to look over my notes for some last minute studying. It wasn’t as painful as it could have been, but the worst part was that one of the pieces of the midterm was a two-paragraph write up that we were supposed to type up and bring in. Since I didn’t have it, I wrote “a dog in a shrunken wool sweater ate it.”

Tuesday night when I got back from Naku Tsuru rehearsal, I went over to Jessie’s apartment, where she had locked her keys in her car, so that she could use my AAA card to get them out. I hadn’t seen her in a while (she graduated last quarter) so it was nice to be able to catch up with her a bit.

Wednesday: On Tuesday and Wednesday on my way to class, as I approached Red Square, I saw big signs that said “Warning: Genocide Photos Ahead” (that may not be exact wording). I had heard that there was going to be something about the genocide in Darfur, so I assumed that it was about that, but instead there was a massive display of dead baby pictures, put up by an anti-abortion club on campus. The reason this is listed under “Wednesday” and not “Tuesday” is because although there were some counter-protesters on Tuesday, it didn’t really get exciting until Wednesday, when the counter-protests really came out in force, Bible Jim showed up with his big signs telling everyone they’re going to hell, there were counter-protesters to the counter-protesters, there were parodies of protesters (for example Dom, who was my scene partner for one of the 361 scenes, walked around with a big sign that said “Jesus Was Black!”, “Soylent Green is People!” and something about 9/11 that I can’t remember). All in all it was quite a scene.

Thursday: I had another midterm, although luckily I knew about it ahead of time and so studied the night before. I think that one went rather well. The midterm did not last long, and Jim let us out of class once we were finished, so once I was finished with the test, I went down to the theater lounge to lounge, went out for ice cream with Justine and a group of people (Justine has a meal plan, but doesn’t use her meals, and so every now and then she’ll take people to the dining hall to get ice cream cones so that her meals get used up), and from there we went to the courtyard area and watched Nick’s senior project, a Commedia dell’arte play, with full costumes and everything. It was mighty hee-larious.

Thursday night, rather than having a usual Naku Tsuru rehearsal, we all went to Japan Night to get a taste of actual Japanese culture (although it was rather more of an amateur comedy hour than an educational experience on what things are like in Japan) and had some tasty Japanese food. That was a really good time, although I got quite tired around 8:15 and went home instead of staying for the second half of the show.

Friday: Busy, but still the highlight of the week. It started out busy in the morning with class, followed by a meeting with the Symbolism group, followed by reading a play for my African American theatre group (with a little break to go upstairs to the Cinco de Mayo party there were having in the conference room), followed by more class. But once that class was over, it was fun to the miz-ax. I went home to have a nice lunch, relaxed, took a shower, and made myself look Dashing for the Cinco de Mayo party by busting out the retro-style coat I’ve had in my closet for a while but had yet to wear, and that maroon shirt that had also been in my closet un-worn, and as an extra piece of flair, I tied a little black ribbon around my neck, and the overall ensemble was spiffy and keen, and I recieved many compliments on it.

Before the party, I had rehearsal, and since I had some time before rehearsal, I went and watched the Commedia show again for about a half hour, until it was time to go downstairs to the music room to rehearse. Before rehearsal really got under way, Byron made an announcement about how much money he had raised over the past couple days for Relay for Life with his booty grams (I saw a couple, but forgot to mention them until just now), and then some people asked if he would do one more for us, and so he did - he put on “the Ding Dong Song” and delivered a booty gram to the cast and crew of Naku Tsuru (for those of you who did not see it, the Booty Gram was a combination of stripping, lap dancing, and his famous “pants dance” that must be seen, not described), during which he raised another $20 for the Relay for Life.

After rehearsal it was party time. I had decided before I went that I wasn’t going to drink, and I wasn’t going to make out with anyone. I figured, if I wasn’t worried about either of those two things, that I would be able to relax and have more fun, and I did - it was probably one of the most fun parties I’ve been to, and without a doubt the most fun I’ve had sober at a party. I danced, and laughed, and jumped on the giant trampoline, and had a great Cinco de Mayo. I left the party about 3am, got home, went to bed, and woke up today at noon.

Today: After getting up, I made myself a smoothie, wrote about the week in the post you’re reading now, and when I post it, I’m going to take a shower and go to Value Village, because I am in dire need of new pants. After that, and probably some dinner somewhere, I’ll be seeing Heda Gabler, and after that it’s Jessilee’s Birthday Party.

Tomorrow: At noon I’m meeting with my Af. Am. theatre group, and in the evening I’ll be going to the 80s Murder Mystery Prom (a mix of prom and a murder mystery play, which roomie Peter will be performing in).

So, all in all, it’s shaping up to be a pretty legendary weekend, and I’m enjoying every minute of it.

Today’s journal post is brought to you by the cutest picture ever:

(thanks to numerous people who posted a bunch of pictures of cute things on myspace)

Welcome to the first day of May! Now we’ll recieve the flowers that are the fruit of all those April Showers.

So, what’s new with me? Picking up from my last post, at which point I was preparing to eat before going to Naku: I ate, and went to Naku. Following that, I went to the Dead Parrots show, and was nearly turned away just because I didn’t have a ticket. But luckily, thanks to my great looks and charm, the Armed Guard let me in (just as if I were a Bond Girl).

The show was one of the better ones I’ve seen lately, and after the show (and after going home to shower and change) I went down to Kenny’s house (it was my first time there), and ended up staying till 5am (spent the first couple hours chillin’ and talking improv with the Parrots, the next couple hours watching ‘Con Air,’ and the next couple hours lounging on Dan’s bed with Kenny, Amalia and Mays, and listening to the hillarity of Kenny and Dan’s complete lack of gay-ness (I was going to put a quote in here, but decided against it, as there may be children reading this who were drawn to the immense cuteness of that bunny).

Saturday I slept in till almost one. It was pouring down rain most of the day, and so I stuck around the apartment until it was time to go up to campus to see the Montreal Danse performance. The show was interesting - it was devided into three parts; the first one was fun and I enjoyed it very much, the second one was rather odd and the music was of such a variety that it gave me a headache and I was not pleased, and the third one was more dramatic and I enjoyed that one as well.

After that show I went over to the Parrots again to see if there was any of their show left, but there wasn’t, and was feeling a little moody, so I didn’t talk to anyone there, and instead just went home, and watched the original 1960 movie “Little Shop of Horrors” before bed.

Sunday was filled with more Little Shop, as in the morning I watched the movie-musical, and in the evening I read the script of the stage musical while listening to the New Broadway Cast Recording. I also discovered that there was an animated series called “Little Shop,” that ran alongside the “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes” animated series for one year in the early nineties, but unfortunately could find no episodes of it online.

Since I am now an expert on Little Shop of Horrors, I have to write a paper tonight that explores how it went from one manifestation to the next, so that I can turn it in for the musical theater 428 tomorrow.

That’s it for now. B’bye.