Overwhelmed

The past few days have been a whirlwind.  Here's why.  OK.  Let me do a little prefacing.

As you may know, I'd decided not to go get an MFA in Directing when I finish the Storytelling program.

As you may NOT know, the Storytelling program is set up so that I could take no classes this fall and spring, take classes in the summer, and graduate then.

SO- OK, I'll make a long story short.  On Saturday morning I was told by an old friend that Florida State may have an opening in their MFA Directing program for next year.  The head of the program wasn't sure what he'd do if the last accepted person declined.  Then he told my friend, who had mentioned me, that I should submit a resume.  I just want to point out here that I've never contacted the school, not even for a brochure.

So I sent a resume.  Yesterday morning, I got an email saying that if it turned out there were an opening, they'd be contacting me in the next few days.  I got a phone call this morning... and I'm going to Florida next week to meet with them on Tuesday afternoon.

So- I know I'm starting every paragraph with so: bite me- um, one of the best schools in the country for what I've ALWAYS wanted to do with my life basically contacted me out of the blue, and if all goes well, I'll be moving to Florida in August.  Eric would stay here till next summer to finish his degree, I'd come back to finish my current degree program,  sell or rent the house, then he'd come to FL to join me.

SO- I've got a lot to do.  Gotta get letters of rec, apply to the university, get transcripts sent, take the GRE on FRIDAY (no time to waste), replace a bent wheel on my car, all sorts of things.  There's a lot of kismet going on. Every time I start to freak out about some aspect of this, something IMMEDIATELY happens to negate the freaking out.  For instance, I said, "I'm not completely sure I can afford to go to Florida next week!  Gas is insane!"  God said, "Oh, I didn't tell you, but I just had citibank increase your credit limit.  By enough to finance FOUR trips to Florida. Try not to use it." I'm just shocked and overwhelmed.  And EXTREMELY excited.

Wish me luck. Cross your fingers, and hope for orange juice, hurricanes, and palmetto trees.

Decent food, FINALLY

I'm so excited.

I've finally found a GOOD restaurant in the Tri-Cities. Not a decent one, not a good-enough one. A GOOD one. Before, we made do with Carabba's, the Italian-esque chain. It's not bad- actually pretty tasty, but it's heavy and kind of expensive and the service is AWFUL (I do like to get caesar salads for take out).

The place I found is (I think) called "Volcanoes Bakery." At least that's what the little sign says to make checks out to. The banner out front says something like "The Real McCoy Tamales Tortas Tostadas" Painted on the side of the tiny little cinder-black building are the words "Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo's Gallery." Huh?

Anyway, they have two tables outside. Inside, there's one table, but it's pushed up against a wall so only 2 sides are usable. There's also a long bar-shelf on the long wall with stools. Opposite the bar is a display case full of fresh-made pastries, a cooler filled with ice and Mexican sodas (no Coke here), a table which appears to be used for food prep, and a small case with desserts inside and the cash register on top.

They make the best tamale I have ever had in my life.

I was having my brakes done at the Meineke next door ($353- oof!), and had been meaning to try it out. The reviews are fantastic: check out the Roadfood.com forum discussion on the place.  The chicken tamale I had was the best tamale I've ever eaten.  The tostada de tinga (a tostada covered in chicken and onions in a red chipotle sauce, lettuce sour cream, cheese, and a slice of avocado) is hard to describe.  It's a wonderful mixture of crunchy and soft, hot and cold, oh, it's just wonderful.  So I'm happy happy happy.  And I'm going back tonight.

He's a demon on wheels

Can I just tell you how excited I am about the upcoming Speed Racer movie?

Speed Racer IS my childhood. I don't know it for a fact, but I probably watched reruns of it as a little bit in Japan (I know I watched Kamen Rider. Anyway, after a year and a half of Japanese TV as an infant, when I saw Speed on TV back in Tennessee, there was something familiar and wonderful about it. This show, which began airing in Japan in 1967, has been a major cultural touchstone for me. I absolutely love Speed Racer.

So then they began making a movie, and I was scared. It could be great, but it could also be AWFUL. Seeing the trailers, I'm so excited I could DIE. I watched a 4-minute trailer on the film's website today and almost wet my pants. They even had Speed in the bizarre arm-across-the-chest pose from the TV show's title sequence. I'm a bit worried about the introduction of the Mach 6... but we'll see on May 9.

Everybody's Job

With a title like "Everybody's Job," I bet you think I'm going to talk about saving the planet, or the children, or something. No, not at all. I'm going to ask, "Why do I know how to do everybody's job better than they do?"

So for the past couple weeks there's been a little crack in the topcase of my MacBook. Aspreading crack. Now, I already knew MacBooks are prone to this. It was just a matter of when to get to Knoxville to have it repaired, for free, of course. So, after some of my past experiences is dealing with the Apple Jeenyuses at the Genius Bar, I called AppleCare. I was hoping they'd be able to check inventory at the store (for the needed part), and let me know whether or not the Knoxville store does repairs onsite, since I can't really afford to have my computer missing for days and days. The AppleCare guy was good, but they can't check store inventory. He did take down everything that happened, and assigned me a case number, so the store would know what was going on when I got there. And they'd know that I'd already contacted Apple.

So I called the store- because I wasn't going to drive to Knoxville if the part wasn't in stock. She gave me the canned answer that no one was around to check the stock and that even if it were in stock, the repair would take 3-7 DAYS because I'd be placed in a "Repair Queue."

First instance of me knowing a job better than the person doing it: When someone calls to ask if you have a part in stock, because they live two hours away, and it costs $20 in gas to get there and back, you find someone who CAN check the stock, and then you might even ask if there were a way to get the repair done quickly. And if there's no one around to answer those questions, you get the customer's number and call them back. I don't care HOW you've been trained to brush people off. It makes a difference, and even if your manager doesn't recognize it, I promise that the manager above that recognizes it- especially when they get letters and emails saying what a good job you did.

So I decided to risk it and went to Knoxville. I knew that if they had the part in stock I could get it fixed. The repair itself only takes a few minutes, and I've read numerous forum posts from people saying they got theirs repaired in no time. And if they didn't have it in stock, I'd ask them to order it and call me when it came in. And if they wouldn't do that, I'd resort to the tactic that I've had to use to get good service at that store before- throw a fit and fight with them until they do what they ought to do just to get rid of me.

Here's a little story about that- Eric bought a MacBook there about a year and a half ago. When we got to the car, we opened it up and discovered there were two dead pixels in the screen. So we went back in to exchange it. The manager told us that a couple of dead pixels weren't reason enough for an exchange. I said it was. That went on for a few minutes, during which I told her that I understand pixels go dead sometimes- however it is perfectly reasonable to expect a pixel or two to die over time- but there's no reason to expect dead pixels to begin with. Back and forth. When we got to the point of "If you opened a new monitor to put it out on the floor as a floor model, and found it had two dead pixels, would you leave it on the floor as an example of what a new monitor should be?" When she said that no, she wouldn't, she agreed to exchange the computer. We opened it right there in the store to verify the monitor. The whole exchange took three-quarters of an hour. And I knew she only did it to get rid of us, as my voice carries quite well in a small store, and customers were leaving in droves.

Anyway, so I took it in to the store at my allocated appointment time. The guy pulled up the stock, discovered they had four topcases, then went to the back to ask if they could fix it right then. Guess what!? They COULD! He said it would be an hour, and they'd call me when it was done. So I walked around the mall for an hour. An hour and fifteen minutes. An hour and a half.

So I went back to the store, where I was greeted with Smiling Smug Apple Lady.
"Hi!!!!!! Can I help you?!?!?!"
"Yes, I'm here to see if my repair is done."
"Did they call you?"
"No, but they said it would be about an hour, and it's been over an hour and a half now."
"Well, if they didn't call you, it's surely not done yet. They're very, very good about calling as soon as repairs are done!"
"Well, I was thinking they might have gotten busy and forgotten to call, or it might have gotten lost in the shuffle."
Instance number two of me knowing a job better than the person doing it: When this happens, you get on that handy high tech headset you're wearing, and ASK IF IT'S DONE.
She said, "well, if you really want to be really sure..." she said this as though I'd asked her to vote for Hitler for President... "you can go back and ask one of the people in the blue shirts at the Genius Bar."

So I went to the back, sat down, and looked at the Genius Bar for a few minutes, knowing that eventually someone would come to ME to ask if I needed help, because I didn't want to fight my way through the crowd.

Dude said, "Are you waiting for something?"
"Yes, I wanted to see if my repair is done."
"Did we call you?"
"No.
"Which repair was it?"
"Cracked topcase."
"What was the name on that?"
"Curtis Y."
"Let me go check."

Guess what? It WAS done. They'd put it on the top shelf and the person who makes the phone calls NEVER NOTICED IT.

I made sure to tell Smiling Smug Apple Lady that on the way out. Her smile faded.

New Title

If you know not only the name of the movie it's from, but also the name of the character who says the new title of my blog, put it in comments and maybe I'll, like, send you a Holiday World postcard.

More fun in Theme Park World

Today, I took my friend Marjorie to Dollywood, and we had a blast. Marjorie is 65, a grad student studying Storytelling, known all over Michigan as Mother Goose (complete with costume), and quite enamored with the notion of retiring to East Tennessee.

We got a late start, so we didn't make it to the Apple Store in Knoxville, but went straight to Pigeon Forge. On the way, I discovered that not only had Marjorie not been to Dollywood, but she'd never been to the area at all. So after taking my shortcut from Sevierville all the way around Pigeon Forge, we headed up through Gatlinburg and into the National Park. It was a misty, misty morning, so the views were pretty limited, but the Park itself is glorious no matter what the weather. Turns out Marjorie is a kayaker! We came back around and considered having lunch at Pancake Pantry, but for some reason, Gatlinburg was absolutely packed, so we hit the bypass and headed to the Theme Park, which was really only about half full. After picking up a Q-bot and reserving a show, we started looking for lunch, and, of course, ended up at the Giant Delicious Super Wonderful Hot Dog stand. I wasn't sure if Marjorie was a Ride Person, but after taking one look at the Thunderhead, she said, "Well, I've GOT to ride THAT!" We pretty much walked on, and had a nice chat with a ride attendant who asked me about the Voyage since she noticed my Holiday World t-shirt. She asked if it was really a better coaster than the Thunderhead, and I told her "I hate to say it, but yes." We chatted a bit about Holiday World- the ride operator said she really wants to go check it out. She said she thought the reason Holiday World beats out Dollywood was because of the free sodas. I said, "May be." What I wanted to say was that it's the free sodas, the ticket price that's $20 less, the included water park, and the fact that it's so clean you could lick the sidewalk if you wanted to. I wanted to say, quite honestly, that it's just a better park. As much as I love Dollywood, Holiday World really is just a better park. What I did say was that the two are similar in a lot of respects, and that Dollywood is the only park I would compare with Holiday World.

Anyway, Marjorie had a GREAT time on the Thunderhead, and yelled her head off. She told me she hadn't been on a ride of any sort in about 15 years, and I said that she couldn't have picked a better one to start back up on. So it was drizzly and chilly. The Timber Tower wasn't running in the morning, and Mystery Mine was a bit much for her- I made sure she knew about the 2 93-degree drops before she even considered riding it. We headed up to River Battle- and since it was rainish and chilly, no one was riding- except one lone family: Mom and Dad and a little girl. I made sure to blast them with a water cannon, and they sprayed me right back. Big smiles all around. On around to Blazing Fury, which had a 10 minute or so wait. Behind us in line were two little girls, so excited about the ride that they were talking excitedly to strangers (us) about it. "We've been on it six times in a row! After five, we said only one more but we have to do it again and THEN we won't ride it again and I love Blazing Fury and Mom bought me a necklace and do you like the Thunderhead and I like it when Molly says she's going to jump and Luther says he has a bad back!"

We caught a few minutes of the Zambian Vocal Group show, discovered that the Dollywood Express wasn't running today, and caught a show of Heartsong, one of my favorite things in the park- a multimedia paean to Dolly's love of the Smokies. It's really well done and emotionally manipulative, and gets me a little choked up every damn time. Marjorie loved it, of course. Then the 65-year-old grandma and I hopped on the Dizzy Disk, had dinner at Aunt Grannie's (and the sky opened up and it poured for the rest of the day), then saw the Russian National Theatre show (which is much better this year than last year). At one point four of the women came into the audience, picked out male partners, and had them dance onstage. One poor guy, a big guy in his early twenties, really experienced some Plumber's Crack Showing every time he bent over. The audience giggled, and I thought, "Oh, Lord, his family will be talking about that at Thanksgiving and Christmas for years." "Remember that time at Dollywood when you showed your ass to the whole audience?!?!?!"

After that, we hit the Chasing Rainbows museum, and saw the Coat of Many Colors, which Marjorie hadn't realized was REAL, and she announced she could spend all day in there studying the construction of Dolly's costumes. And then we headed home. It was a really nice time with someone who is pretty darn cool, and she really loved the park. She decided that a trip to a theme park is a NECESSITY when you're in the middle of a really stressful time- like during the crunch at the end of a semester at grad school.

So that was my fun, wonderful, quite low-key day. It might have been better had the weather been a little more cooperative, but it didn't stop us from having fun, and probably helped, since we had no push to make the water rides, which meant a more leisurely stroll around the park and not having to find time to fit them in.

One other thing stands out. We went into a woodcarving shop I'd never been into before, and they have the most wonderful custom-carved mantles for over fireplaces. They're carved and painted with thin paint or stain, just lovely. They start at $800, and if I were in a house I was planning on settling in, I'd absolutely find a way to get one. Most were plain rectangles, with scenes carved in bas-relief. One was a mountain scene with a peaceful little cabin. The carver told us that if you ordered one, you could give him a photo of your house, and he'd replace the cabin with YOUR HOUSE! Isn't that great? And there was one that was not bas-relief, but full 3-D, from the top and the front, of a stream, complete with trout, and pebbles, and a life-sized raccoon on top of the mantle reaching into the stream. It was spectacular. The same shop had a coffee table, and the top was about 4 inches deep- a 3-D stream bed, as though looking down into the stream, with fish, a turtle, and even a discarded fishing reel, all covered by a plate of glass. While it wasn't they style of a place I would probably furnish, it was absolutely lovely. And at $799 (more than I would ever pay for a coffee table), it was much less expensive than I had expected. I'm sure they could sell it for $1200 and still find buyers.

So that was today at Dollywood with a friend. Next weekend, if I have my schoolwork done, I may actually head back, since Dolly herself will be touring the park. Another friend wants to go. While three weekends in a ROW at Dollywood is probably overkill, I do love to get my money's worth for that season pass, and I sure would love to have Dolly wave at me as she passes in the parade. Kinda like the Pope, you know, but very, very different. :)

Ribs, bitch!

I love to barbecue. I love pork.

And I've figured out good ways to do it in my gas grill, using LOTS of soaked hickory chips. I'll usually smoke a pork shoulder for about 12 hours. And it's better than any restaurant- well, better than any restaurant around here, anyway. I'll never best Tops or the now-defunct Three Little Pigs in Memphis. Today, I thought I'd try my hand at ribs. So I put them in about 4:30. I didn't think they'd take too long because they're so, well, THIN. Five hours later, they're still not done. I think another half an hour, maybe a full hour, and then I'll be eating WELL. I also made some homemade barbecue sauce, and it's turned out ALMOST just the way I like it. Good time.

Tomorrow, I'm taking my friend Marjorie to Dollywood. She's a fellow grad student, retired and very cool. It's my chance to FINALLY see the shows, because Eric has no interest in the shows and he's not coming. So tomorrow I get to hang out with a cool friend in one of my favorite places, have another gigantic, delicious Dollywood hot dog, and see some sides of the park I don't often get to see.

Speaking of Memphis, I never thought I'd say this, but GO TIGERS!

Bible Stories

So I'm taking a Group Storytelling Class this semester. I took it last year, too. Last year, we made a little "story theatre" piece out of a bunch of Jack Tales and "youngest daughter tales." This time, we're working on stories from Genesis. We're trying to focus on them as stories, but dogma seems to be getting in the way for a lot of people. When I told my version of Joseph and the coat and the pit, and named his brothers Bobby, Peter, Greg, Cindy, Jan, Marsha, Keith, Laurie, Danny, and Rueben, there were a few looks of consternation. Anyway, my prof wanted me to co-direct this year. And I was up for it. I was expecting to really CO-direct the show. And I had expected my part would be to focus mainly on the visuals, staging, and imagery, since that's what I'm best at (and most interested in).

It hasn't turned out that way. We perform this thing in three weeks. And I'm just now figuring out that when he said "co-direct," my prof apparently meant he'd work in an advisory status. He's a forceful guy. I'd expected to be the advisor, the right hand, the second. Seems he was thinking that was his position.

So I've spent the past few days trying to bang out a script, using what the rest of the class have written. Combining them into something. But there are a number of stories we're working with that the class didn't write down- they extemporized. So I did what I could. And now I'm exhausted. I ended up not just compiling, but actually writing about a third of it, which is really not what the class is about. And the script that I turned in has a few holes in it. Things that no one wrote. I don't think any more of it should be my words. That's not what this class is about. I've had a few ideas beyond the stories I was originally assigned- my favorite of these is Noah's sons as the Three Stooges- but I can't conceptualize new versions of half of Genesis in a week. And though the class lends itself well to my own Pop sensibilities, well, I'm not the whole class.

Anyway, tomorrow morning- in 6 and three-quarter hours, actually- we'll be reading through what I put together from what people provided to me, and what I added. I don't think it illustrates the themes we're work with: scattering and reconciliation. But I think once I hear it read I'll be able to take that and re-write to draw out the themes. And then there will be a scant few hours of class time and a few extra rehearsals to actually stage it. So that's all I'm going to be able to think about for the next few weeks. Of course, I have another, very intensive class on educational research methods that is absolutely KICKING MY ASS. Luckily, most of that work is done now... I hope. We'll see how that professor responds to my rough draft. If it's positive, then I can devote my time to the Bible Show. If not, well, I'm fucked.

In other news, my mortgage goes adjustable in the middle of June. Time to find out how to refinance with mediocre credit and no cash on hand. And Friday (if she's free) or Saturday, I'm taking another Mental Health Day and taking my friend Marjorie to Dollywood, dammit! Eric's not coming- so we'll get to see the shows. I've been trying to see the shows for two years, but Eric won't see them. So we're going without him. HAHAHAH!