Nearly the End of Another Semester

     For most of last week, it seems like not much has gone quite right. Much too exhausted to be productive, but far too stressed to relax and rest. Frequently waking up during the night, turning sleep into a loose collection of half-hour episodes(typically featuring strange intense and instantly-forgotten dreams).

     American Idol is no more. That really hasn't set it just yet. Trent won, beating La'Porsha, Dalton finished third, Mackenzie fourth and Sonika fifth.

    Tales From Tent City turned out pretty well; the first night of the first weekend was a little rough, Friday night went spectacularly well, and Saturday night was a bit of a mixed bag. I completely forgot a line during the end of a key scene, but thankfully "Fine," if huffed in frustration, works well when ad-libbing at moving the scene along. Kessiah just ran with it and we finished the scene without trouble. What audience there has been have really liked it a lot; but there wasn't been that many IN the audience.14 people on Thursday, 23 on Friday and 13 on Saturday. We think the entire audience opening night was composed of friends-and-relations.
    I wrote a promo piece to generate some interest, which I think worked pretty well. It's gotten 188 pageviews, at least, which for such a small local production isn't too bad. Maybe that played some role in the second weekend's audiences, which were (by Keirstine's count) 40-plus on Thursday, 35-plus on Friday, and 40-plus on Saturday. That second Thursday something was a little off chemistry-wise we couldn't figure out, but things improved the next night, and though I felt I did terribly on Saturday, overall it went well. In eight weeks, we went from reading the script to putting on the world premiere of that show, which is pretty amazing.
     Crick was a very interesting character to play, but he was also an exhausting one. But I think the play overall really stuck with people, so that's what we were hoping for. The cast was easy to work with; I heard somebody report that the makeup artist said she'd never seen a cast working that well together the week before showtime. Everyone went over to Zach and Charli's apartment after the show on Saturday, Autumn and I being assigned a Reasor's stop for Coke and Dr. Pepper on the way over. Then we all played with their dogs Piper and Gruber/"Ranger" and watched the Tobey Maguire movie Cats and Dogs, which I had always wanted to see ever since it came out when I was eight. (I liked it as much as I thought I would.)

     Friday morning I got this email from a girl named Kelsey I'd had a couple classes with before, asking if I'd help with filming a student profile that was part of the final project for Mr. Williams' documentary class. So we did that interview Monday afternoon, and it went pretty well, though it was strange to be on the lens-end of the camera.
     Also got tired of people asking when I was gonna get a haircut, so I walked down to Supercuts and got a haircut Monday morning, which I'm not too thrilled with, but then again I dislike haircuts in general.

     The weather has been extremely rainy, which has been kind of nice. Good weather to walk through. There was a Claremore-Pryor girls' high school soccer game at the field last night, so I watched the first half and listened to the parents talk amongst themselves. (Claremore was leading 4-0 by halftime, and it was a pretty dirty game.) Then I went to the Chi Alpha meeting, which was fine.
     Last night's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was another great (and very big) episode, as all three season's 17th episode have been, come to think of it. Things are coming full circle that started at the very beginning of the series, which makes me wonder what storylines will be explored in season 4. It's roughly two weeks until Captain America: Civil War, so that's pretty exciting.

Infinity Dreams Award

     Just gonna be honest: I have no idea what "Infinity Dreams" are. (But it sounds like it would be the title of an Owl City song, which is a good thing.) Anyway, Susan tagged me in this, which is kind of a blog-based version of those Facebook-chain-notes that were so popular in high school. Because, as always, there is a handful of rules which must be adhered to in things like these, they are:
A - That banner photo must be used. (It is a nice picture.)
B - Thank the blogger who tagged you. (Makes sense. Just out of common courtesy. Thanks Susan!)
C - Tell 11 facts about yourself. (Unless your name is Ron Swanson. My name is not, so I shall find facts to tell about myself.)
D - Answer the 11 questions asked of you.
E - Tag 11 other bloggers. (If possible. I can't think of anyone.)

FUN FACTS ABOUT WESLEY
I can quote the entire script of The Princess Bride from memory.

After NSU BCM friends talked me into watching Parks and Recreation occasionally, I watched season 7 as it was airing, and then turned around and blazed through all seven seasons in six weeks last spring. (And then I began again, tracking the best quotes and quips. Currently at the beginning of season 4 with this massive project.)

I cannot drive due to bad eyesight, as I am blind in my right eye, very nearsighted, and have basically no depth perception or night vision. That can make life interesting.

I've never seen The Lion King all the way through.

Two of my screen crushes as a kid were Belle (from Beauty and the Beast) and Space Jam's Lola Bunny.
Speaking of Space Jam, I will still dance like a maniac if I hear the soundtrack playing.

Dogs and cats are usually much easier to talk with than people are. Also, I have a completely irrational fear of cows. They're almost as scary as dinosaurs.

I once gave an end-of-semester PowerPoint presentation on "The Art of Making Peanut Butter Sandwiches" for my basic computers gen ed, which received a perfect score.

If milk is even close to its expiration date, I'm not drinking it.

I have nine toenails.

I love cleaning. (Just call me Danny Tanner.)

Hunting has never had any appeal for me. I understand that it's sometimes necessary, but it's just not for me. It sounds unpleasant, tromping around in the cold darkness for hours while waiting for a target to show up. I think this comes in large part from loving The Fox and the Hound so much. (Highly-underrated Disney classic.)

NOW FOR THE QUESTIONS
What is your favorite time of the day?
     I can be highly productive between 10 p.m.- 2 a.m., and also late mornings. So I guess those would be my favorite times of day....I can't remember ever actually thinking about this question, so I'm not sure how to answer it.

What is your favorite book genre?
     I really enjoy cozy mysteries. I also like regionalist writers, I've discovered, and I've always pretty much loved work set in small towns, in addition to plots that are very character-driven. I'm not sure any of those is exactly a genre(since I'm terrible at identifying them) but I'll try just about anything. 

What song gets you super motivated to accomplish anything?
     There are a lot of motivating songs. But one of the best is the theme song from Hoosiers. Also the theme song from the Air Bud series, that's good, too.

If money was not an issue, what is the first thing you would do?
     That's a good question. I'm not sure. Maybe go exploring all over the country if I could find some people who wanted to take a cross-country trip for no reason. It seems like it would generate good material for a novel; in addition to being useful from a travelogue-writing perspective and interesting from an adventuring and prowling-through-history standpoint. 

Do you know any scary stories?
     I suppose so...let's see. 
     "Once upon a time - it may have been a dark and stormy night - there was a four-year-old little boy who watched Jurassic Park for some unfathomable reason. He was haunted by nightmares of being ripped apart by raptors for a year afterwards, and  he lived in mortal fear of dinosaurs in general ever since. Eventually, he forced himself to watch it again one day his sophomore year of college, and found just as alarming, though he did applaud the way the story was told, and the mechanics of the movie."

Do you know any puns/jokes?
     Of course. But since there isn't anything to build puns off of from the phrasing of this question, I'm at a loss what to use. 

Should you be doing something else right now instead of writing a blog post?
     Of course I should. I ought to be working on an essay, rewriting another, and revising a handful of short stories and a play-script. Instead I'm thinking of taking a nap on this stormy Sunday afternoon.

What is your favorite color and why?
     Blue, green and orange have always been my favorite colors. I'm not really sure why. Orange is likely because I grew up in an OSU household. And there's a lot of good shades of blue and green, from darker shades like the navy blue of RSU to the dark green of NSU. On a much happier note, there are also lighter shades like sky blue or lime green. 

Have you ever been on stage? If so, what was it like? If not, would you like to be?
     Let's see....first define what's meant by "on stage." Okay, assuming it doesn't mean the musicals and short plays from middle school/early high school, or youth group semi-scripted murder mysteries. And readings of Shakespeare are just readings, though a really fun way to pass the time. 
     There was the NSU BCM drama ministry of SWAT, of course. Those times hanging out/rehearsing with everybody down in the basement or the living room are easily my favorite part of college. Coffee runs late at night with Elizabeth, Susan and Jacob. Even those times like when we nearly died looking for nonexistent churches in sketchy Sallisaw neighborhoods. And First Baptist-Tahlequah did have an actual stage, because we teased Elizabeth about how excited she was gushing about it once we got there. Park Hill was pretty nice, too. (As the archivist of the team, I made sure to upload videos to YouTube when we remembered to shoot them. They can be found here.) 
     Used in the sense of an actual full-length theater production? Yes, actually. The RSU Theater Program just wrapped up their spring '16 show Tales From Tent City, which was a complicated, emotional, ensemble piece about homeless teenagers, where I played the role of Crick, who was a dog-loving scrounger/thief with anxiety issues. It was a bit like if The Breakfast Club took place on the streets, with the group dynamics of the crew from Firefly. I wrote a promo piece to generate interest in the show for my other blog, You Keep Using That Word. 
     The role of Crick was very challenging to play in some ways, because this play had never been produced anywhere before us, so we were originating the roles simply from the script. But it was a good experience, though very tiring, it was worth it. The cast was enjoyable to work with, and we all got along pretty well. Part of my costume was a denim jacket, which was really cool, as I've always loved those. One of the things that was difficult once we actually got to production was not washing my hair for two weeks, since we were homeless. Another semi-entertaining fact, just because it's so strange: One of the major selling points that was used for advertising around the English and Comm departments was "Come see Wes drop F-bombs all over the place!" 

If you had magical powers, what would they be?
     Hmm. I've always thought invisibility would be cool, but teleportation would be the most useful. 

Are you an artist?
     Hahahahaha.....NOPE. Though Courtney and Trevor can both draw really well, so maybe if I had a chance to really practice I could. This is actually the second time in 24 hours that I've been asked this. I definitely admire those who can, like I admire those who can play piano or fiddle really well.