DeMizio's Journal

Masque

I scored a 85% on the "How Masque Are You?" Quizie! What about you?

Thursday

Cronin's class went surprisingly well today, considering we had to run it without any "adult" supervision. We were out in an hour, which was longer than I expected us to be in there considering we could have just left. Of course, its kinda funny realizing that we got the same amount of work done as when Cronin is there, however, when he's there, he talks for something like 1 3/4 hours.

Good grades: Got a B+ on my film paper. Got a 90 on my Gothic Lit midterm. I thought I had done a lot worse on both... they were done extremely late at night under extreme duress.

Tech week for me starts tomorrow with the arrivial of the strip lights. I just got word tonight that Tom now wants a practical on stage, and I don't think we have the channel available for it. It has to be wired to the board because an actor wouldn't be able to turn it off and on...that would solve my problem completely, of course, as most of the stage channels are being used for the cyc and the strips...sigh, pat and I will figure it out.

So for the next week I'll probably be very unavailable...a prospect I'm not looking forward to. I know I'll get into it all tomorrow, but I just don't know this show, and feel burned out. But thats in general too: I'm tired too much, I hate writing papers, I want a BB gun to shoot the loud assholes who parade themselves outside my room at night, I'm tired of La Salle beating up on good people who don't deserve it, I'm nervous about the summer, and internships and the future, I want to take a class (playwriting) that would be a complete elective at this point and I can do it but would require me to be in classes for like 9 hours on Wednesadys...I want to know what townhouse I'm living in next year...

I feel trapped here. I still like it, but I miss the change. I want to get out, want to go home and see my family for a few days, want to do a vacation...

I'm exhausted now, so thats reflected in all of my ranting here...

Life is good though - I have to say that.

Finally, an answer.

I found out today that Scott will be able to live with us next year. I'm ecstatic - moreso that I finally got a FINAL answer from someone and that no further campaigning had to be done. It wasn't difficult, just potentially annoying having to jump through more administrative hoops.

My work ethic hasn't improved much. I'm still behind on papers and stuff; I need to get work done today. I hope the finality of deadlines approaching will finally kick me in the ass to get it done. I'll have the time tonight...it won't be too bad. A quick Gothic play to write and a Shakespeare paper to finish. Maybe a book to read.

Theres something like 4 weeks to go now...I can't wait to be free of papers again.

finally, some song lyrics...if you haven't already, go download this old favorite from Nickelodeon:

Hello boys and girls, this is your old pal, Stinky Wizzleteats
This is a song about a whale, NO this is a song about being happy
Thats right!
Its the happy happy, joy joy song!
...
I dont think your happy enough, thats right!
I'll teach you to be happy!
I'll teach your grandmother to suck eggs!
Now boys and girls, lets try it again...
...
If-in you ain`t the grandaddy of all liars!
The little critters of nature...they dont know that they're ugly.
Thats very funny! A fly marrying a bumble bee!
I told you I'd shoot, but you didn't believe me!
WHY didn't you believe me?
...

Down Went Katharine's

Team CAJH just beat Team Katharine's by 2 in basketball!

CAJH!

I did little to assist, but had a good time anyway. Fala had some damn good shots, Matt M. had a really cool one, Francois showed skill we didn't know he had, Christine pulled back to her HS 'ballin' days....everyone kicked butt. Doing the marathon kinda reignited a spark in me as well; I had been feeling down on my RA stuff lately...nothing serious, just little stuff. My enthusiasm for the job had been going down; my enthusiasm with my staff was wavering. Its the little stuff that just combines to produce burn-out. Its all looking up.

Congratulations are due to the newest class of inducted Masque members. I can't reveal a whole lot of what happened, but Frank Klose won, nobody lost, and a good time was had by all. We only got lost twice trying to find the place. My kid, Pat, couldn't make it because of work obligations, but he'll be inducted anyhow, somewhere down the line.

Finally got carded at the Liquor store today, both of them (the beer distributor, and the liquor store. Silly PA!) The stare they give you is priceless, especially when I give over my LEGITIMATE Maryland license. It's like their eyes are saying "I know you're lying, but I'm selling this to you anyway." AARGH!!! I just want to laugh when it happens, because it seems like every clerk in every store has it down pat.

Saturday will be dedicated to getting work done, running errands, and going to dinner for people's b-days. Its a truly awesome weekend.

Heaven

Are you damned?
Brought to you by Rum and Monkey

Pure as the driven snow, you are waiting until the afterlife for your reward. Maybe you have had to repress some urges, screw down some feelings, squash some temptations and sometimes stop yourself from having fun. Don't worry. It's probably been worth it.

Portal

(The title will only make sense if you were at dinner tonight...Consider yourselves lucky.)

Wanted to drop a quick entry before I work on this damn Shakespeare paper due tomorrow. (5-8 pages, meaning, 5 pages.)

The reunion for Honors 489 - The Catholic University: An Oxymoron? was held tonight at Brother Mike's house. It was a great pizza dinner, along with some wonderful company. I expected to be back by 9pm (started at 7) but we didn't leave until closer until 11. Highlights were guys beating the girls in Taboo, Chris almost getting Brother Mike into his NCAA pool, the random Taboo moments, Mike dropping stuff on the table...it was a great evening.

Masque Induction meeting today. I can't say anything about them, but it looks like its gonna be a fun year.

Come on Friday!!!

Which Homestar Runner gang are you?

Which member of the Homestar Runner gang are you?

Mr. & Mrs. La Salle

Mr. & Mrs. La Salle was held tonight. My thoughts:

• All of the contestants rocked. People went through with their stuff, no problems this year. The crowd was very supportive, encouraging everyone...A little disappointing though, that they kept cheering for people who weren't up there at the time


• Veitz was fantastic. Better than I expected from the rehearsal. He wore the shirt, "IMPERATO ROCKS," which got some laughs, and the audience seemed to know him well. 2nd Runner Up - well deserved. The song, "Cry me a River" by Justin Timberlake, was well chosen and well sung.


• Alice was incredible. Her song was wonderful, perhaps a bit too truthful. She won 2nd Runner Up, although why she wasn't crowned "Mrs. La Salle" is a mystery. She was the best female candidate in my opinion, and had great crowd support.


• Manor staff did an incredible job hosting/organizing.


• Graham was hilarious, singing an acoustic "No Scrubs" on guitar, and actually rapping the middle section...the crowd was UNITED IN SONG by the end, with him. Incredible


• Joe was decent, breaking into Footloose for his intro, and "Lean on Me" for his talent - a nice a capella version, well performed.


• The La Salle Step Team kicked total ass! They were fantastic, probably my favorite highlight outside of the competition


• OLAS was great with their dance routine too! So talented.

Other than that today was spent in the theater working on "And Then There Were None." We were able to strip all the Footloose crap off the pipes and rehang first electric, and set up some systems for the catwalks too. It was a damn good 4 hours spent in the theater - we're ahead of the game, further than I've ever felt by this point in the past. There are still INCREDIBLE hurdles ahead, but some of it is at least taken care of.

After the pageant, we did a Wawa run - we being Ali, Katie - Ali's friend, Jess, Graham, and Britany. It was fun fitting all of us into my car - Britnay on Graham's lap in the front seat, almost hanging out the window! We made it there and back safely, though, and watched Aladdin in Ali's townhouse. I still can remember every lyric to the entire movie, and wound up singing along with everyone...a really nice ending to the night!

So tomorrow brings duty, and homework, and maybe some shopping. Its been a fantastic weekend!

UPDATE!

Just found this: Charlotte's Web 2

IS NOTHING SACRED?

From the site -

"We are returned to the pastoral Arable farm where Wilbur the pig, Charlotte the spider and all of their barnyard friends enjoyed adventures together in E.B. White’s classic children’s tale. This time we are introduced to ‘Cardigan’ the lamb and Charlotte’s three daughters as our pals learn more about the value of friendship. Since this is the first sequel to the classic original, there may be some extra demand for the curious, and those wanting to get more of Wilber & Co. Parents will likely be pleased as punch as well to find a title they can trust to be a wholesome babysitter. "

How can Charlotte come back? It was a major fricking plot point in the original, one of those learning experiences you're supposed to have about death through books and movies and stuff...lilke "Old Yeller" and Bambi.

E.B. White is probably rolling over in his grave.

Administrivia

This week just needs to end. I hate having to deal with midterms, housing, and course registration all at the same time...

Midterms are finally done; I have one paper left to write tonight for Critical Approaches to Film, 6-8 pages, but it shouldn't be so bad. I think I may just be saying that to psych myself up for it...I was up until 5am this morning trying to get the work done for today. I just couldn't find any motivation to get the work started - it wound up being started around 12am. I need to find some sort of motivation for this academic stuff...I've been saying that for too long, methinks.

Housing is progressing...Trying to get Scott into housing is a challenge, and I'm not sure if its something to be optimistic about - I hear different things from different people. This new rule about not letting commuters into the lottery stinks; I can see the necessity, but it just stinks that its happening. I never meant to cause all the hubbub that it seems to be generating - Scott's a friend, and thought I could help is all... The resolution will come next week.

Course registration is a bright spot, at least. After finding out by accident last night from Shannon that my honors registration was this morning, I quickly mapped out a schedule. This was the first honors registration morning I didn't wake up at 5am to go down - I went down at 9, figuring, correctly, that the courses would still be open. I got the two I wanted - "The 60's: A Critique" and a "Drawing as Problem Solving" course. The second worries me, as I can't draw...its a skill I want to learn though, and the reviews of the class are fantastic. I can't wait.

Things keep looking up...93 on my film midterm...Just gotta keep perspective.

I'm going to take a nap now. If this was incoherent...eh; its written on 3 hours of sleep.

At least housing is taken care of.

I haven't been able to sit down yet to get the major work done for the week - my film paper, my rewrite for fiction writing, and my gothic lit exam. I just can't get the stuff opened up: they're relatively easy assignments, but I haven't been able to start them.

I'm still trying to get back into the swing of things here. I've been overly tired the last couple of days, and its been contributing to my work ethic. Theres so much happening right now: midterms being finished up, housing, and they dumped registration information on me this week. I have no idea what I want to take next semester - I wanted to take another semester of Advanced Fiction Writing, but I don't see it being offered. My honors project is coming due and I have no clue what to do it on, so I'm postponing it until 2nd semester, senior year.

Housing worked out well at least; I'll be living with Graham, Scott, Matt, and Joe Weigel. Steve dropped out at the last minute with alternate plans...I'm disappointed, but the house is looking up anyhow. Hopefully all of my friends will be able to get their houses/apartments as well

The problem seems to be getting from this semester into the next. Tomorrow is gonna be rough; its the long, long, long day of class, although I'm skipping my night class to get work done.

God help me get this all done!

On Broadway...

It's really great what happens when actors and musicians are taken from the stage and put on picket lines...such creativity could never come from steelworkers, or teachers, or other unions.

Seriously though, its a decent cause to fight for - live music on Broadway. More power to them.

More pictures: here
Sign their petition: http://www.savelivebroadway.com/

Jersey

I scored a 80% on the "How Jersey Are You?" Quizie! What about you?

W's speech...

After watching George W. Bush address the nation this evening, the only thing I took away was that, "Saddam Hussein and his Weapons of Mass Destruction" would be a really great name for a rock band.

Iowa

Why did La Salle choose to put their spring break in the first week of March? Why does this spring break correspond with the beginning of Lent? Why did my plans fall through?

Questions like these are kinda depressing and confusing.

It was two years ago tonight that the riots on South Street happened. The Inquirer says there were 40,000 2 years ago. I was crammed in there, in front of Johnny Rockets and Fat Tuesdays around 4th Street, trying to find/meet up with the rest of my friends that had gone down...man, that was a fun night. Except for the part about not being able to move at all while in the crowd: pressed between metal barricades, and police on horses. We got out before the bad stuff began to happen, thank God...it was funny afterwards that a friend's parents had seen coverage of the riots - on CNN, in Trinidad.

The break has been somewhat useful thusfar in that I was able to finally get a haircut and my new license with me facing forward, proving to bouncers and bartenders everywhere that I am 21. I was able to sit down with the parents too and go over possible plans for grad school - my father seems to be into the idea of me going to the University of Iowa to pursue a MFA in Creative Writing. I'm excited about it too - its a possibility, a plan, something to shoot for and give the upcoming months some directions.

If I really want to write, that's what I think I should do - it'd be 3 years of workshops and special seminars dedicated to the enterprise of writing. My hope is just that I have something to say.

Oh yeah, today was productive as well in that I got tickets to "tick...tick...boom!" on Friday night - good seats as well. Cross one more thing off my todo list.

Been a good week.

So, its been a really long week. Midterms and papers suck. But recent events overshadow all that to make it into one of the best weeks in recent memory.

After three years of losing elections, I was finally elected to the Masque Executive Board for next year as the VP Business Affairs...I've won very few elections in my life, always losing to people more popular than myself.

My story was workshopped this week in Cronin's class. I had thrown it together after having writers block for a month - it was based on a one paragraph story in USA Today. For some reason, Cronin loved the style and how well it meshed with the plot. He tore a lot of it apart, but he said some really great things about it - things that I didn't realize.

I then found out today that I had been rehired for next year as a CA in the townhouses, the exact placement that I had wanted. Its an incredible opportunity, with a great staff, and the end I wanted to put to this whole RA thing. I'd get into all of my thoughts on placement, but its a whole can of worms that I don't quite want to get to tonight...as I keep telling people, La Salle likes throwing curve balls.

I don't understand a lot of times why good stuff keeps happening to me...I don't want to seem guilty, or that I don't deserve what I've earned, but with a lot of this stuff, it just seems too good to be true. I'm not searching here for some deeper meaning; I just feel like I need to take praise better as it comes.

I'm heading home tomorrow for Spring Break. I have no plans, only hopes - one to go see tick...tick...boom! at the Mechanic, one to go into DC for the day, a hope to get caught up on my sleep.

More later from home.