October 24, 2006
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Sunny, With a Chance of Puss
Despite the craggy face, this week’s been great.The First Good: Itchy.
After getting a positive response to a solicitation letter that I sent to Itchy City Guides, I emailed the editor two very funny restaurant reviews that I wrote. Even if the editor decides that my writing is not his cup of tea, the reviews were fun to do, good practice, and I think they kick ass. And I will post them if it is determined they are not good enough for *real* publishing (meaning compensation, of course).Second Bit ‘o’ Good: The Opera.
Shaun stumbled upon a Opera Writing course here in the UK that I am applying to get into. I emailed a few of my screenwriting teachers from college and my fiction-writing instructor from Story Studio for references and was met with so much encouragement. Plus, picking out sample work is always fun. Like revisiting old friends.For those of you who might think that opera is a sort of left field thing for chicagoartgirl23 to be fascinated with, I’ll let you in on a little secret. During high school I was quite the theater kid. I even took voice lessons for a while and sang Italian arias in competitions around Michigan. I never won anything—I was never that good–but I’ve always found the music and story of opera to be so seductive and beautiful. I still find myself belting snippets of Se Tu M’ami, Danza Danza, and Caro Mio Bien in the shower, to babies, and while doing chores.
Goody Goody Gumdrops: The University Gym.
Since students just swipe their ID’s to enter, I’ve been joy riding on Shaun’s card all week without a hitch. Monday I took a crazy-hard circuit class. Today I took an aerobics class. Tomorrow, after serving up some baked goods at the International Spouses lunch, I’m off to a kickboxing class. Yes I am sore. Somehow, running up hills for an hour daily did not prepare my body for the rigors of grape vine-ing. Go figure.The Last Morsel
I’ve been going to a lot of the nighttime film/theater series at the Centre for Contemporary Art by my lonesome lately, while Shaun is off at class. (I was going to go to something tonight, but I’m just too whipped.) And it’s really nice. We don’t have a TV here, which has been incredible. Aside from getting out and enjoying different arts things going on around town, I’m reading heaps more. And actually revising things that I say I’m going to revise. Plus, to own a TV here you have to pay a hefty TV license (some 130-odd pounds), and while I’m all in favor of supporting BBC, I can think of too many other things to spend my money during my year abroad.
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What’s been good in your week so far?
Comments (3)
One good thing is that this hasn’t been the hectic craziness of last week.
I did catch an excellent speaker last night … a man who, several years ago on spring break, drove drunk and killed three of his best friends. He told his tale of woe to a room of 300 people (mostly students) and you could hear a pin (and occasional tear) drop. Quite the cautionary tale, well communicated.
And today I started buying things to piece together my Halloween costume. I consider that progress.
Happy to hear your days have been very good!
Congratulations on getting a good response from the Itchy City folks! I hope you get your reviews published. I’m in the throes of sending out my first unsolicited work, which is really exciting! I’ve never queried anything (due mostly to some ridiculous fear of rejection), so I’m throwing all caution into the wind and going for it. If I’m actually going to be successful at this freelance writing thing, I’ve got to do it.
Re: your acne post. I’m allergic to the active ingredient in ProActive (benzoyl peroxide), which happens to be the most common acne ingredient on the face of the planet. It’s behind Oxy pads, Clearisil, Clean & Clear and a number of face washes, all of which cause my face to turn redder than a tomato and create this bizarre itchy-while-simultaneously-painful feeling that is HEINOUS. And way worse than acne. I’ve never had a *severe* acne problem, but I *never* have clear skin. There’s always something going on, pimples, blackheads, whatever. I tried Retin-A for awhile and it did wonders, although it dried out my skin at first and then, oddly, reversed into this weird super-oily stage before everything went normal. Then the prescription ran out and I’ve been too lazy to refill, so I guess I’ve just accepted life without a nice complexion. Anyway, I don’t know why I’ve just unloaded all these details about my zits. Sorry. If you need any oil-free makeup shipped from the states, let me know.
Sounds like your week had had an upswing. Righteous! (Okay, I am overusing that word this week.) Cool on the Itchy I had not heard of them before. Sending good wishes with that. The opera writing does sound like a great exercise too. Aloing with all the physicla ones you’ve been doing. That sounds terrific and so do the movies. Life without television. It’s bound to make a body more intellectually and physically fit. Not that you weren’t to begin with, I’m just thinking how neat that would be for some of my kids.
The week has been okay. Without being online I have been productive in other ways. Spaz even.
Now up to the most recent post!