Working with gravity instead of defying it

Sometimes I think about what makes me happy. There is quite a many things that makes me happy given my normally sour dispensation. Most of those things are big, large things snowboarding, designing a show for example. Today I had a moment of that quiet happiness that I need to get better at cultivating in myself.

When I woke up the plan for today was to work in the morning and then head up to galena for some cross county skiing. I ended up getting sucked into several things at work which combined with unforecasted clouds caused me to bag of on the skiing. I instead took off for home at 3pm and spent the afternoon listing to an Irish music podcast and reading online fiction. After a few hours of this I looked up and took in the late afternoon spring sunlight and was purely and quietly happy.

I need to remember and make it a priority to take pleasure in the small things that make me happy such as the first sunny day after a long winter. While no one could argue about my love of winter, there is something to be said about the first warm day after a long cold winter. Just as there is something to also be said for first autumn chill.

It's seems to fitting in my first post on this new site to consider how life has changed and yet remains the same. I am going into my 3rd summer in Idaho. My first without John M. involved and my second without most of the original people that I worked with up here. That has all changed but the permanence is in some why's more surprising and revealing. Jay has become a great force in my life and Dan is someone who continually shakes my world; mostly for the best.
I want to say more about all this but it is time for bed. Hopefully more tomorrow.

In January I did one thing that I had never done before and had one thing happen to me that has not happened to me before. I think they are important to note because they show a commitment to opening myself up to new experiences and get back some of the parts of myself that I had lost over the past couple of years. After all I always used to consider one of the cool things of being me was how I end up in weird or cool situations. Over the past two year those had dried up. This lack played a role in me leaving Utah.

The new thing that I did in January was enter a snowboard race: The first annual Baldy Banked Slalom. I took three practice runs on the day before the race. Non of my practice runs were great. On the morning of the race I was planning to get out of bed at 6:30am to get ready. I needed up getting going at 8am and barely making it to the mountain for the registration. I took one practice run that made my runs from the day before look of Olympic quality. I missed gates, crashed and flew out of control over one of the turns(turn 3). A returned to the top of course and attended the riders meeting Now it was time to wait. I watched the youth and woman's divisions go. I had been standing at the top of the course for hours watching and getting ever colder.
Finally the men's division I had two runs to make my mark. No wait its course repairs first. At last it was time to go. My first run I had a little crash but made it down with out missing a gate or breaking any bones. So what if my first run wasn't great and my second was similar. At least I challenged myself. So I ended up coming in last. Next Year if I race I have a time to beat. Here's a video of the event if people want to see the course: http://vimeo.com/35516760

The new thing that happened to me was a little bit of a shock. I have been going to church every Sunday since early December. Being raised Lutheran and wanting to continue in that tradition didn't not leave many choices around Sun Valley I can ether go to a Lutheran Church Missouri Synod(LCMS) Church in Hailey which is 12 miles away or travel about 60 miles to Shoshone to go to an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America(ELCA) Church. I was raised, baptized, and confirmed in the ELCA; another concern is that the LCMS is more closed minded then the Lutheran church I know. After research on the web and some thought I went with the church in Hailey.
One thing that I kept in mind was that I believe in certain things that I would leave a church if pressed on. Those being: Gay Rights, Trans Rights, and Womens Rights.
This turned out to be a non-issue as I found a old but welcoming congregation under the tutelage of Pastor Steve. The first day at the start of the service his daughter came running in the chapel screaming. While I am attending in an age gap with no one within tens younger and 25ish years older then me. I feel welcome and have little trouble getting going on Sunday mornings for the 30 minute drive to Hailey. Which is a miracle if you know me. I am sure my new habit of stopping at the wicked spud on the way home helps.
This brings me to this past Sunday when at the end of the service Pastor Steve got up and announced that he was resigning because he felt that he had been undermined and called into question one to many times. This was a minor shock for me. The more harrowing thing was watching the man in the pew in front of me start shaking with tears. After making his announcement Pastor picked up his young daughter and walked out.

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13

While working to much is one of the reason that I left Park City; I am finding the opposite just as frustrating. I haven't worked since Wednesday fours days off in slack is a little rough. I have been a little busy even on my days off. Ran to Twin Falls on Friday to get my moms trailer ready for the jazz festival in a week and a half. on Saturday I went into town and watched the Utah football game at the closest thing to an Irish pub there is up here. It's a little place called the cellar pub that does an okay job pouring Guinness. Today I went into town for dinner. I tried a new place called China Panda, don't think I am destined to be a regular there. Good egg rolls but everything else was not so tasty.

I posted the follow message to a theatre group here on lj in hopes of getting some help with these issues and thought it wise to cross post it here. The only reason I am even getting this things is for the big freelance gig I have in Las Vegas during June. I am will explain that and more in an upcoming post about what I have been up to for the past few months.

"I have two questions about business cards. The first one is what info to include? I was thinking Name, Design specialties, Phone Number, Email, and Website. Is there anything else? I was thinking Skype but my username is unprofessional or my base city.

My second question is that I am planning to put a photo the back of the card from one of my designs. How to identify it? I was thinking name of show theatre and location. Do I need to contact the actors/other designers to get there permission?

Thanks for your time in reading this post."

Christmas has come and gone here in the mountains. I have finished my work marathon. Working every day in the month of December seriously sucks. When I heard that I was working Christmas evening I thought it would be no big deal. Wrong-O!

From the work marathon I heading off to the commonwealth of Virgina for a visit to my brother and his family. It was great to get out there for the the first time since 2008. We went to a Washington Capitals game. My brother was awesome enough to get us great seats. On Thursday I watched the House of Representatives read the constitution. In order to avoid babbling on, the whole week was an excise in good food and good times.

Other then that not much is going on other then starting some online classes on Monday.

When doing some research for a show I came across a photo that made me stop and look at it for a minute. It wasn't anything close to what I needed, but I stopped and looked at it for a moment. That is slowly dawned on me that the reason the photo jumped out to me was how out of place it was. It showed a woman in front a tree, not that shocking I know. It was shocking in that it was composed very much like a painting romantic area painting, mostly in the way that nature and the woman was so close and intertwined. That style is not something I have seen in a photo. Usually when I see photos of nature and people interacting it is most often featuring a person in some sort of sporting clothes overcoming nature. It was a shock to see some one in semi formal clothing so at ease with nature. Another thought that I had was: why does the way people compose images change over time?

I have to say that this ramble is just more evidence for my growing idea that art is at its best something that surprises and adds wonder to the world.

On the work front I am in a great place with my design of the musical Hair at the Egyptian. I have cues in the board and most of the paperwork up to date and tech doesn't start until Saturday. I also need to work less since I ended up with to many hours this pay period and have to roll some over to the next one. While this is a problem I am extremely happy to be employed in something I love in these times on Economic troubles.

Tonight I had the pleasure of attend my first production meeting with Dark Horse Theatre Company. I am working as the master electrician on their upcoming production of Reefer Madness. The meeting was held at the village inn on 4th south. One thing that caught my attention was how friendly it was. Instead of people sitting around being overly concerned about the show and getting stuff done, the first and foremost thing was that it was friends gathering to create art. I have a feeling the show well go all the better because of it.

This got me thinking about how I want to create theatre going forward. Over the past few weeks in my spare time(mainly driving between PC and SLC) I have been throwing around ideas for my own theatre company. These thoughts have been spurred by several sources: Articles on social justice in High Country News, The failure of the Egpytain's production of Lover Letters, The Olympics, among other things. Plus I have always wanted to do a production of On Our Way to Lisbon.

I want to create theatre that targets audiences that never enter a theatre. I want to create theatre that makes the community better and more inclusive while not being overly concerned about that. I want to create theatre that challenges social norms. Well I get to do this anytime soon? Mostly likely not soon. But it is a nice thought.

Just some things I have been thinking about.

Its been a while since I updated this for various reasons. Mostly that reason has been that I am not sure about how to write about the things I want to comment and/or reflect on. That and most of the times I think I should Livejournal this I am away from my computer. so here is a quick update on the going ons of my life:

School: Last semester was the hardest one of my collage career. I ran out of steam the last week of November. The thing that brothers me is that I don't feel to bad about it. The only thing that really brothers me is that I left a paper on a topic that excited me unfinished and in shambles. I can even almost rationalize it by saying I'll finish later in life.

Theatre: I am once again mostly working at the Egyptian. The new person running the theatre seems really excited to have me in the building and working. The downside is that he wants me there for every event. I am also working at the Grand on a once a month basis. I have been asked to design a second show for Meat and Potato.

Personnal Life: I have been working at being more open and out going. returns have been limited. In other news I have been watching more and more episodic television and today I finished rereading American Gods.

Soccer: RSL won MLS CUP which was cool. I am considering my level of involvement in the RCB next year. I would like to do a ton of cool displays but I wonder how much they well be wanted.