three cheers for the red, white, and blue

Happy Fourth of July, everybody!

So on my way back from grabbing some groceries, I saw a tree.  But not just any tree.  No, this tree was standing tall over a bench on which a sapling was laid.  Like some kind of bizarre arbor wake.  It was kind of unsettling.

Anyway, the coming week is my last week doing work study in WPI's Technical Theatre Office.  Been a good run (nowhere NEAR done digitizing photos, gotta figure out what to do about that), but the week after that I'm co-running the Frontiers Drama program!  For those not in the know, Frontiers is a program at WPI where high school juniors and seniors come to the school for two weeks to learn about various stuff that WPI does.  Myself and Steven Vessella are running the Drama program this year (we produced and directed, respectively, last winter's production of The Crucible).  25 kids, which is pretty cool.  Plus we have someone from the UK, one from Tokyo, one from Greece, an albino Jamaican, and twins.  THAT IS SO AWESOME.

Writing's been coming very slowly.  I've got nine stories under the Crusaders banner cooking, probably with a few more to fill out the middle.  What's tricky is that because I'm working it into (and simultaneously writing) a larger body of work, it's complicating itself, but in a helping sort of way.  Example: there's a very minor crossover in the second story as a character leaves (and then shows up in the first story of the connected series).  This one's pretty easy to manage, and even assists both stories pretty well.  A more difficult example comes in near the end of the first volume of both, as there is a crossover that pretty much consumes an issue of each (think CSI: Trilogy).  Anyway, ideas are still flowing, albeit slowly.

Not entirely sure what I'm doing for the 4th yet.  There was supposed to be some tech demo filming going on today with Brandon, Steve, and Scott, but I think it might have fallen through.  My dad's down in Connecticut with his relatives, not sure what my mom's side's up to, and while Holly was talking Martha's Vineyard (her dad has a boat), seeing as it's 4pm and Bebel's only just gotten up, not sure what's gonna happen with that.

The 30 Day Challenge is stalling out hardcore.  About a week in my weight jumped about 3 pounds, and I'm struggling to get back to where I started.  Wonderful.  Meanwhile, Bebel dropped about 3 pounds and then hit a brick wall and hasn't changed in a week.  So that's... yeah.

Well, I guess that's about it.  Happy 4th!
  rickie-d