Life is (mostly) good.

So, my one Thursday class was cancelled this morning, and I have alllll day to do whatever I please. Yeah, there are some things that really need to get done today, but knowing me, I'll leave them till like, late tonight. Because if there is one thing in this world I'm really good at, it's procrastination.

School's been alright, though every single one of my professors seem to be physically incapable of posting grades, so I'm not 100% sure how I'm doing in my classes. English is the one I'm most anxious about, next to History. It's hard to focus on core classes when your major is so demanding. I'm pretty sure I'll pass, but I'd really like to come through with at least a B. An A in either of those classes is nearly impossible at this point.

I'm excited to start on Fight Boy Theatre's new show, What Actually Happened (An Unbiased and Entirely Accurate History of Denton, TX). Auditions are April 17 and 18, and I'm just gonna be an actor this time around. I've also taken over the Facebook page and the Twitter account, and I'm especially proud of my work on Twitter account, as I went in and made the profile look pretty.

Finally started writing some of my novel. I have a feeling this little project is going to take me years.

I am looking to put in an application to The Lasso, TWU's newspaper. They have a Staff Writer position open, and I think I am perfect for the job. I'm just waiting for them to get back to me about how to apply. Cross your fingers for me, I really want this.

I'm just still astounded at how much I really love my school. I actually have some school spirit. Having hated school all my life, I'm pleasantly shocked at this new feeling. I love the campus, the professors, and the students. It's actually sort of fun, if you can call school fun. However... I am ready for this semester to be over. I'm a little worn out.

I'm also looking forward to Arts & Jazz Fest this year. I haven't been in two years, and I'll be working part of it, helping my dad stage manage the Senior Center Stage.

Just wishing I wasn't so broke. But I guess you can't have everything in life.

And of course, I miss Travis. He's really so ridiculously wonderful. Not sure how I landed such a good guy. I can't wait to see him again! (He said something earlier this week about visiting this weekend... I hope that's still a go.) I also can't wait till he moves back... he's getting closer and closer to that point every day. Yay. :-)

Well, I'm excited to go skating again tonight with Deni and Joey. We've made it so that every Thursday we get together and go skating at Eureka Park. It's a good work-out, plus we get to have girl talk. It's super fun.

I could ramble some more about other things, but I think I'll just leave it at this: My life is so much better than it was a year ago. ^.^

Be Your Own Star

Yes, it's been far too long since my last post. I give up on trying to blog regularly.

School's been going fairly well. I could probably be doing a little better and trying a little harder, but it's not bad. I'll be fine, I think. Just take it one day at a time. I love the theatre department at TWU, and the people there are pretty awesome. I'm still not fully integrated, but I have a feeling that once I do a show or two (next semester), I will be.

Feast of Plays was a total success. Had a pretty good audience every night, and our opening night had the most people ever at a Fight Boy opening night, as well as our last show having the second largest audience Fight Boy has ever seen. My show, Shades of Grey, went particularly well, and my cast was awesome. We closed last weekend, and I'm missing the show pretty badly. I can't wait to do the next show, which will be What Really Happened (A Completely Accurate and Unbiased History of Denton, TX). I plan to audition. I miss being onstage.

Oh yeah, I dyed my hair purple.

Right now, I'm just trying to get through the rest of the semester, keep my social life afloat, and start on a new writing project. I wanted to start on my novel next, and have been thinking a lot about it this past week, but this morning I woke up with the urgent notion that my next project has got to be a full-length play. Considering I don't have any idea as to what that should be about, we'll see if that's really what's next or not. I have no clue. I just know that I gotta get to writing soon.

And of course, I miss Travis a lot. He's doing really well out in Shreveport, and getting closer every day to moving back. This is exciting. I need him back in my zip code. Thank goodness he has a cell phone now - we've been texting a great deal. It helps.

There's a lot more I wish I could say, but it's not for the public. Just a bunch of emotional crap that only I can deal with and figure out. Oh the joys of "finding yourself." :-/

"Go on, be your own star...you're always a star in my eyes." -Blue October

School! ...and stuff...

Well, it's 5:30 AM and I am somehow totally unable to sleep. So I guess it's blog time.

Today is my first day at Texas Woman's University! I am a Theatre Education major. I'm really excited about the theatre department there and what they have to offer. I feel so silly though - I can't believe it took me this long to figure out that I want to be a theatre teacher and that I want to go to TWU. These are two things that I pretty much flat out resisted in high school. I have no idea what was wrong with me at the time, but now I feel like it's totally the right thing. And I mean, I really feel it. I am absolutely pumped for this semester!

Auditions for Feast of Plays: Sloppy Seconds (the Fight Boy Theatre play festival that will feature my own one-act, Shades of Grey) are next week, and I'm a bit nervous. Gotta get my sides picked out. Gotta get sides and scripts printed for all of us. Gotta talk up the auditions so a bunch of people show up. Gotta be a director and stuff.

And I've still got that idea for that novel kicking around in my head. I usually have a long "percolation period" before I actually start writing, and that's just for the short stuff I've written. I imagine this percolation period could last anywhere between another few weeks to another year, considering the magnitude of this project. This novel is not going to go away though. It's a story that's gotta get told.

Oh yeah, and I miss Travis a ton. He visited last weekend, and it was absolutely amazing and all, but y'know, it's just never enough. He needs to move back pronto, because I thoroughly miss seeing him every day.

I am still boggled at how I'm up this early... O.o

A "Real" Writer

Hahaha, I'm never going to update regularly, am I? We should all just accept this (including myself) and move on.

I visited Travis recently for more than a week! This was due to the fact that I got a cold while I was in Shreveport, and wasn't going to travel unless I was feeling at least 90% better, so we didn't actually get to do much, BUT... cuddling with him all week was AWESOME. I am seriously in love with that fool. :-)

And then... I got sick again. But I went to the doctor yesterday, and the antibiotics he gave me are handy-dandy: I feel so much better already. Hopefully, my immune system will be tamed back into submission after this, instead of being a lazy slacker.

Speaking of lazy slackers... I don't have a job. Truth be told, I haven't even been looking. I don't want a job. My mother is starting to get massively pissed about this, especially since she had to pay for the expensive doctor visit.... but I seriously just want TWU and/or Chase Bank (via student loan) to give me lots of money to go to school instead. I mean, going to school full time and doing a bunch of shows, I'm not going to have time for a job. I mean, yes, it's technically possible, but working and doing Drood nearly killed me. Working, shows, and school!? No, thank you. In the meantime though... don't expect any Christmas presents from yours truly. My bank account is a wasteland.

BUT, cool news: I'm nearly finished polishing a new script for Fight Boy Theatre's Feast Of Plays II, and I'm directing as well! Yayness! It needs a title ASAP for marketing purposes, and I'm working on it. I think I've decided on one, but it kind of needs to roll around in my head for just a bit.

Also, Half Empty got Honorable Mention by associate critic Laura Watson in The Column (a regional publication of theatre reviews) for Best New Play of 2010. That's pretty nifty around these here parts, so I'm quite proud of it.

The best thing about all of this... is that I feel like a real writer now. And I have so many more plans, writing-wise. It's all very exciting.

running out of steam

As my last post indicated, I was starting to get ridiculously busy. Well, it's dwindling down now, and as of Monday, I will suddenly find myself with absolutely nothing to do. Which is good, really, for a little bit, since my bedroom is a disaster area, and I haven't had time to write or draw at all. But then the lack of paychecks will become noticeable...

My anniversary weekend with Travis was altogether much too short - I was far too busy half the time to pay him adequate attention, and when I could do so, I was far too tired for it to be entirely exciting. He was, as always, the sweetest and most patient boyfriend one could ask for, and it's not hard to see why we made it so easily through two years together, and I fully expect plenty more to come. :-D

Tomorrow is my last day at Rose Costumes, and I'm not too thrilled. I'm extremely disappointed I was not selected to stay on, and I have to wonder what I did wrong. It's my dream job (as far as entry-level goes), and I don't know how I'll find that kind of workplace satisfaction anywhere else, anytime soon. I am at least happy that they didn't hate me, and therefore didn't fire me, unlike a certain other costume shop did last Halloween season.

Sunday marks the end of Drood as well, and I'll be sad to strike that set. It's been a good cast and crew to work with, and an enjoyable enough piece to perform. I'm looking forward to the cast party tonight.

I auditioned for Proof on Tuesday, and I did not even get called back. Another disappointment. Since I felt I gave a solid enough reading, I can only imagine that the director, whom I have known since childhood, either A) has completely written me off as a talented and/or dedicated actress, a feeling I got from her all through high school, or B) never intended to cast the role with someone so young. Or perhaps it was both reasons. Either way, it's been a bit of a struggle to soothe my bitter feelings.

And so, come Monday, with no Travis, no job, and neither show to rehearse or perform, I fear I may find myself quite down in the dumps. Just writing about it has made me a little blue.

However, I did finally put in my TWU application today, so hopefully I'll get accepted, and then will have school to look forward to. I need something.

Procrastinating getting ready for work

Arg! It's been nearly a month... again...

So, while I put off getting ready for work until the last possible minute, I'll just ramble about what's going on in life.

Yes, I did indeed say "getting ready for work." I have possibly the coolest job in the universe, even if it is temporary. For this Halloween season, I'm working at Rose Costumes here in town. I'm convinced it's the most magical costume shop in the world, with the heavily decorated themed rooms and dressing rooms, over 5,000 costumes, and you follow the trail of chickens on the ceiling that eventually turn into rats to get to the Sherlock Holmes bathroom. And I mean, when "The Secret Room" and "The Secret Secret Room" are part of your workplace vocabulary, you know you have fun on the job. The only downside is that I'm working full time at a costume shop during its busiest season while working on Drood at the same time, which is getting closer and closer to opening night. Exhaustion is quickly becoming my middle name.

But, I'm really liking the fact that having a job means getting paid.

So, let's start a countdown to the 29th, which is the opening night of Drood, the Friday of Rose Costume's busiest weekend, and last but certainly not least, the day Travis is going to come visit me!!! I miss him like fire, and it's been over two months now since I last saw him.

Today is thirteen days until the 29th. Just under two weeks!!!

To-Do List

+ Clean my room.

+ Get a job.

+ Visit my grandmother.

+ Go to Rose Costumes to try on my costume for Drood.

+ Schedule a session with the diction coach for Drood.

+ Take my box o' books to Recycled Books to sell.

+ Work on drawing Two Weeks Past Forever, the comic Travis is writing.

+ Work on characters and outline for my still-untitled novel.

+ Work on blog idea with Deni.

+ Write a freakin' poem every now and then.

+ Write a short story.

+ Go to Drood rehearsal most week days.

+ Maintain some sort of social life.

+ Read my library books before they're due.

YES, I can be an actress, artist, and writer all at the same time.

Read my poetry!!!

Okay, sorry for the shameless self-promotion, BUT...

I've got a site where you can view my poetry. Which you totally should. And bookmark it, while you're at it.

http://hellopoetry.com/poet/melanie-welch/

I don't have a lot up yet, but I think if I have a place where people actually expect me to post my poems, I might actually write more. I also am feeling encouraged to go hunting through all the random scraps of paper and notebooks I own to amass together all of my previously existing poetry (the ones that don't completely suck, anyway) into one place.

Wow, I'm actually starting to feel like a real poet now.

YAY POETRY!!!

Drood and stuff

Well, even after a terrible, terrible audition I managed to score a chorus role in DCT's production of "Drood." I'm sure I'll have lots of fun, and I'll rinse the rust off of my chops while dancing off a few pounds.

I *think* I'm going to get the job at Integrated Alliance. I hope so...

...Because any money I can get will be a wonderful thing.

And I miss Travis with everything I've got.

In the meantime, I've got to keep writing and drawing. I'm really terrible about just sitting on the computer all day long doing absolutely nothing. I managed a small poem today, but that's so not enough. I need to freakin' WRITE. (Or draw.)

Also, I am of the opinion that Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman are THE COOLEST couple in the universe. Just sayin'.

Whoa. Busy week much?

Of course, I move back to Denton, and it's like "HOLYSHITLOTSASTUFFTODO."

I'm still not even remotely done setting up my room. My poor mother is DYING for me to clean out the closet, but I'm afraid to touch it without first donning a complete and functional Hazmat suit.

I have so not applied for enough jobs.

Suddenly, I have found myself applying for Texas Woman's University here in town at the last minute.

Annnnd, I have only seen a handful of the wonderful people I love and have missed.

I've seen two movies in the theater in the past week, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and Vampires Suck. Absolutely adored Scott Pilgrim! Vampires Suck was okay, I did laugh a little, and it was ultimately redeemed by the fact that I'M IN IT (for a split second, but hey, still cool). This is amazing for me, since I don't think before this week I'd even seen two movies in the theater in the past year.

I've also been watching the news, since Dad always leaves it on during the day. I could totally rant about a few issues... but I don't want to make this post ridiculously huge like the last one.

I'm going to see Denton Community Theatre's production of The Producers this evening. Should be lots of fun, it's gotten plenty of rave reviews. I'm still trying give away my extra ticket, but it appears that I'm nowhere near as popular as I thought.... *facepalm*

Oh yeah, it's also my 20th birthday on Sunday. I still haven't made plans. It'll probably just involve a lot of shuffling around the house in my PJs, refusing to do anything productive because it's my birthday. Then evening will roll around, and I'll try to find someone to hang out with, only to find that they're all busy. Am I getting all mopey about it? Not really. I'm just in this really weirdly blunt, deadpan mood.

Mmkay, well, off to the theatre.