I haven't had much to say recently, the show's been dark and I've been incredibly busy. That about sums it up. I do, however have something to say about my dad.
My dad is a pretty cool guy. He once got in trouble in high school for dancing on the tables in the library.
And then he grew up, married my mom, and had kids.
My dad worked on oil rigs when we were kids, 7 on - 7 off. It was a pretty traumatic experience for a worrier like me. When these are the facts of your life, you pick things up in the paper: explosion on oil rig, helicopter accident, boat accident, etc. I worried all the time as a kid. Constantly. I mean, I still do, but about different things.
He got sick once, after a rig inspection, on a helicopter ride. Worst nightmares sometimes do come true. I was away from home, living in Kentucky. I was terrified and scared and for 3 or 4 days waited by my phone for someone to figure out what was wrong with him because no one seemed to be able to pinpoint what exactly was wrong. It was the worst week of my life and I didn't feel better until he'd had surgery and I was able to finally go home to help bring him home from the hospital. I learned then and there just how much my family means to me and how lost I would be without them.
My dad is an awesome dad. He taught me so much about life and living. He taught me to fish, to peel crawfish, to love my Cajun heritage, to embrace the South, to work hard, to want more for myself, that all that hard work makes the spoils of victory taste so much better. He taught me the unadulterated joy of watching your team win a football game in person, to understand the rules of the game so I would know what I was talking about. The value of money is something my father drilled into me from a very early age. Responsibility for yourself and your own actions. That tough love is unpleasant, but it is always love and sometimes it is the only way to get your point across.
He's not perfect: I have his work ethic and sometimes it was hard to watch him leave our family vacations because he didn't feel like he could be away from work that long. But he did teach me that it's ok to be away from work and work will continue without you. It will also be there for you when you get back.
I learned from him the importance of food. True Southern comfort food. And there is nothing like a pot of seafood gumbo to cure all your ills or your hurts.
He would let me fall on my face to teach me a lesson, but if I ever need a plane ticket home, I know he would give me one in a heartbeat.
My dad is the best dad I have and I could never ask for a better one!
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
What I Do. Not So Normal.
I complain. A lot. Full stop.
I would like to take this moment not to complain, but to explain why I love what I do.
I fell for theater when I was little and started a long-term serious love affair with the art when I was 14. I never looked back. I turned to the technical side when I was 17 and have done it ever since.
My first "big girl" job took me halfway around the world to China. Some people would hate that. Trust me, at times, I hated it too. It's actually pretty cool and I've gotten to experience an entire world that most of my peers will never know.
My life is NEVER boring. There is always some sort of drama going on. Someone's always got a problem, someone always has it worse than me, et al. There is always someone doing something or having a party or a get-together or a field trip. How can you not love that?
We "play" for a living. It is serious and you have to know when to be serious and when to let loose, but once those important distinctions have been made, the world is your oyster. We work so very hard, but when it comes down to it, we really make up for how serious we have to be with jokes and games and alcohol. Fun is just as much of an art-form as the acrobatic theater we do every night. And boy do we take our fun seriously.
I don't have to wear a suit to work. In fact, I can wear whatever I want to work, as long as I can work in it. I have a homeless day once a week where I wear my ripped to shreds jeans, patched tennis shoes, a tank top, and my ripped sweatshirt. And no one looks two ways at me because they don't care. On that note, I don't have to pretend to be someone I am not because if you're not different, you don't belong in the business. We have such a mesh of personalities and ideals and goals and lifestyles and we work because we love our differences instead of fighting over them. Who cares what someone else believes or thinks as long as they embrace your version of the story instead of hating you for it. To continue this vein: I don't have to sit in an office or cubicle all day. If that doesn't constitute a win, then I'm not sure what does.
Our business is not to fool people. Or take them for a ride. Our only aim in what we do is to entertain people, to make them laugh, to make them forget about their lives for an hour or two. Nothing permanent, nothing fleeting. But how could you dislike making people feel good? It's hard to remember, but what we do is universal and because there is no dialogue, we rely on what people feel to make a connection. That is something you will never get from a regular 9-5 job.
I would like to take this moment not to complain, but to explain why I love what I do.
I fell for theater when I was little and started a long-term serious love affair with the art when I was 14. I never looked back. I turned to the technical side when I was 17 and have done it ever since.
My first "big girl" job took me halfway around the world to China. Some people would hate that. Trust me, at times, I hated it too. It's actually pretty cool and I've gotten to experience an entire world that most of my peers will never know.
My life is NEVER boring. There is always some sort of drama going on. Someone's always got a problem, someone always has it worse than me, et al. There is always someone doing something or having a party or a get-together or a field trip. How can you not love that?
We "play" for a living. It is serious and you have to know when to be serious and when to let loose, but once those important distinctions have been made, the world is your oyster. We work so very hard, but when it comes down to it, we really make up for how serious we have to be with jokes and games and alcohol. Fun is just as much of an art-form as the acrobatic theater we do every night. And boy do we take our fun seriously.
I don't have to wear a suit to work. In fact, I can wear whatever I want to work, as long as I can work in it. I have a homeless day once a week where I wear my ripped to shreds jeans, patched tennis shoes, a tank top, and my ripped sweatshirt. And no one looks two ways at me because they don't care. On that note, I don't have to pretend to be someone I am not because if you're not different, you don't belong in the business. We have such a mesh of personalities and ideals and goals and lifestyles and we work because we love our differences instead of fighting over them. Who cares what someone else believes or thinks as long as they embrace your version of the story instead of hating you for it. To continue this vein: I don't have to sit in an office or cubicle all day. If that doesn't constitute a win, then I'm not sure what does.
Our business is not to fool people. Or take them for a ride. Our only aim in what we do is to entertain people, to make them laugh, to make them forget about their lives for an hour or two. Nothing permanent, nothing fleeting. But how could you dislike making people feel good? It's hard to remember, but what we do is universal and because there is no dialogue, we rely on what people feel to make a connection. That is something you will never get from a regular 9-5 job.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Macau. Macoma. Part 2.
Some Things I've Learned Whilst Living in China Part 2:
1. I am a shameless glutton for American TV. No matter what the program, I can probably sit and watch it for hours. So far, I have seen every episode of Criminal Minds, Law and Order: SVU, CSI, How I Met Your Mother, Entourage, Weeds... Even more than movies, I am a TV loser. With all the time I have on my hands in my evenings, it's good to be busy.
2. When you have a big night out, the only chance you have at being functional the next day is to have McDonald's before you sleep. It's been proven time and again. No ramen, no noodles, no pizza, McDonald's. Trust me. We have done scientific research. Even if you have to go way out of your way to get it, do it. You can thank me later.
3. If you live near the equator, it is important to have a solid collection of tank tops. You can never have too many, no matter what anyone says. For example: I have around 65/70. I'll count again when we move. I have my work tanks, my layering tanks, my dressy tanks, etc.
4. Moving is never fun. No matter where you live. Thankfully, it can be alleviated by drinking heavily and putting everything off to the last minute, which is possible in China! It doesn't behoove you to start the search more than 2 weeks before you have to move because of the high turnover rate of apartments, which is brilliant. Win!
5. Americans are not well liked outside of the States. I cannot tell you how many times I have been in or around a conversation that ends in bashing the US or some derogatory generalized statement about Americans as a population. In my friends' defense, they always qualify their statements with a "No offense" or "You're an exception". Doesn't really make it any easier to sit through, though, does it?
6. People suck and they always let you down. No matter what country they are from or where you are in the world, people are fallible. If you can get past that, you'll be fine. But if you can't, you're in serious trouble. You think you know someone, think again. You can never really know someone. Especially if they don't want you to.
7. Life goes on without you. Move 7500 miles away, and life back home keeps going. Scary, right? I always wanted to believe that I was the center of my family's world. Turns out, they miss me, but they do just fine without me. I suppose that goes both ways, though.
8. When I moved out here at 24, I thought I knew who I was. Two years later at 26, I can admit freely that I have NO idea who I am or where I'm going or where I want to be going. Do we ever really know?
9. Traveling internationally is stressful. Take a chill pill or it can ruin your vacation. Fact. On that note:
10. The world is enormous. Embrace it, see it. We have so much to learn from other cultures.
1. I am a shameless glutton for American TV. No matter what the program, I can probably sit and watch it for hours. So far, I have seen every episode of Criminal Minds, Law and Order: SVU, CSI, How I Met Your Mother, Entourage, Weeds... Even more than movies, I am a TV loser. With all the time I have on my hands in my evenings, it's good to be busy.
2. When you have a big night out, the only chance you have at being functional the next day is to have McDonald's before you sleep. It's been proven time and again. No ramen, no noodles, no pizza, McDonald's. Trust me. We have done scientific research. Even if you have to go way out of your way to get it, do it. You can thank me later.
3. If you live near the equator, it is important to have a solid collection of tank tops. You can never have too many, no matter what anyone says. For example: I have around 65/70. I'll count again when we move. I have my work tanks, my layering tanks, my dressy tanks, etc.
4. Moving is never fun. No matter where you live. Thankfully, it can be alleviated by drinking heavily and putting everything off to the last minute, which is possible in China! It doesn't behoove you to start the search more than 2 weeks before you have to move because of the high turnover rate of apartments, which is brilliant. Win!
5. Americans are not well liked outside of the States. I cannot tell you how many times I have been in or around a conversation that ends in bashing the US or some derogatory generalized statement about Americans as a population. In my friends' defense, they always qualify their statements with a "No offense" or "You're an exception". Doesn't really make it any easier to sit through, though, does it?
6. People suck and they always let you down. No matter what country they are from or where you are in the world, people are fallible. If you can get past that, you'll be fine. But if you can't, you're in serious trouble. You think you know someone, think again. You can never really know someone. Especially if they don't want you to.
7. Life goes on without you. Move 7500 miles away, and life back home keeps going. Scary, right? I always wanted to believe that I was the center of my family's world. Turns out, they miss me, but they do just fine without me. I suppose that goes both ways, though.
8. When I moved out here at 24, I thought I knew who I was. Two years later at 26, I can admit freely that I have NO idea who I am or where I'm going or where I want to be going. Do we ever really know?
9. Traveling internationally is stressful. Take a chill pill or it can ruin your vacation. Fact. On that note:
10. The world is enormous. Embrace it, see it. We have so much to learn from other cultures.
Monday, June 4, 2012
Some Things in Life, You Just Know.
For example: I know that even though I wasn't born there, I am as Southern as a girl can get. I know things like sweet tea, "ya'll," flip-flops, pearls, big hair, Southern drawls, seafood, small towns, porches and porch swings and rockin' chairs. I know how to drink out of Mason jars and will continue my quest for the perfect handled Mason jar mug and then buy a hundred of them so that I never run out.
I know that my absence from the South is temporary.
I also have always known that my brother would get married before I did.
My brother is that type of person. Trusting, nurturing, loving. Patient, even-tempered. Calm. He is everything I am not. About as nurturing and loving as I get is with my pets. I am certainly not "even-tempered" or calm. I have my father's fiery Cajun temperment and I believe the first adjective most people give when describing me is "sassy." Ya'll, I got a MOUTH on me.
But I love my brother because he is everything I always wanted to be. And everything I know I never will be. Because let's face it: I'm pretty settled in my ways.
I am writing this after having spoken to him this morning (for him, this evening for me - 12 hour time difference). I won't post until I wake up and the news has hit facebook. He's proposing tonight and I want to remember how I felt at this particular moment knowing his new journey will take him away from us but bring him so much joy and that he will never truly be that far away because he's our boy.
I would not trade us for any other person in the world though, because we grew up together and now I will have the honor and the priviledge of watching him marry the girl he dreamed of and the girl we could only have hoped he would one day find.
We could not be prouder of or happier for the two of them.
I am a selfish person. I am also rubbish with words in person. Or on Skype, or whatever. Believe it, don't believe it. It doesn't matter. It's a truth. What I want to say never seems to come out the way I want it to. Ever.
So here's another go for my little brother:
Dear Quentin,
You've been my brother for almost 25 years. We took baths together when we were little and I slapped you in the face with a wet washcloth. I dressed you in my dresses and my patent leather shoes. We played in moving boxes and you bit me so hard I screamed (I probably deserved it.) You played ball with our great-grandmother's heirloom tree topper (hopefully not the same year I stepped on the German hand blown glass ornament). I'll never forget you singing in your underwear with your little red guitar in your room at the house on Rosedown, "Rainin' on my Sunshine Train." I watched you play soccer and you watched me dance. We got told "secrets." We shot guns together, we fished together, we churched together. We went to school together. The scariest moment of my life (aside from my car wreck) was the day you were so so so sick at LSU and I had no idea how to make you feel better. Waking up when I was 11 and you were 9 to a brand new baby sister. Countless beach vacations, Disney vacations, proms, movie nights at the house on Sherry.
I've rarely been the best big sister and for that I apologize. My intentions weren't always bad... ; ) I'm proud of you and all that you have accomplished. Our paths in this maze of life could not be more different, but you will always be my only little brother.
One day I will get to tell your children all the awesome stories I know about you. I cannot wait for that moment and I know that one day we'll be like Mom and Wick and Keeney. Laughing for hours over the same stories because they're our's and they never get old.
Until then, remember, "You're the only one I've ever believed in..."
Love,
Alex
I know that my absence from the South is temporary.
I also have always known that my brother would get married before I did.
My brother is that type of person. Trusting, nurturing, loving. Patient, even-tempered. Calm. He is everything I am not. About as nurturing and loving as I get is with my pets. I am certainly not "even-tempered" or calm. I have my father's fiery Cajun temperment and I believe the first adjective most people give when describing me is "sassy." Ya'll, I got a MOUTH on me.
But I love my brother because he is everything I always wanted to be. And everything I know I never will be. Because let's face it: I'm pretty settled in my ways.
I am writing this after having spoken to him this morning (for him, this evening for me - 12 hour time difference). I won't post until I wake up and the news has hit facebook. He's proposing tonight and I want to remember how I felt at this particular moment knowing his new journey will take him away from us but bring him so much joy and that he will never truly be that far away because he's our boy.
I would not trade us for any other person in the world though, because we grew up together and now I will have the honor and the priviledge of watching him marry the girl he dreamed of and the girl we could only have hoped he would one day find.
We could not be prouder of or happier for the two of them.
I am a selfish person. I am also rubbish with words in person. Or on Skype, or whatever. Believe it, don't believe it. It doesn't matter. It's a truth. What I want to say never seems to come out the way I want it to. Ever.
So here's another go for my little brother:
Dear Quentin,
You've been my brother for almost 25 years. We took baths together when we were little and I slapped you in the face with a wet washcloth. I dressed you in my dresses and my patent leather shoes. We played in moving boxes and you bit me so hard I screamed (I probably deserved it.) You played ball with our great-grandmother's heirloom tree topper (hopefully not the same year I stepped on the German hand blown glass ornament). I'll never forget you singing in your underwear with your little red guitar in your room at the house on Rosedown, "Rainin' on my Sunshine Train." I watched you play soccer and you watched me dance. We got told "secrets." We shot guns together, we fished together, we churched together. We went to school together. The scariest moment of my life (aside from my car wreck) was the day you were so so so sick at LSU and I had no idea how to make you feel better. Waking up when I was 11 and you were 9 to a brand new baby sister. Countless beach vacations, Disney vacations, proms, movie nights at the house on Sherry.
I've rarely been the best big sister and for that I apologize. My intentions weren't always bad... ; ) I'm proud of you and all that you have accomplished. Our paths in this maze of life could not be more different, but you will always be my only little brother.
One day I will get to tell your children all the awesome stories I know about you. I cannot wait for that moment and I know that one day we'll be like Mom and Wick and Keeney. Laughing for hours over the same stories because they're our's and they never get old.
Until then, remember, "You're the only one I've ever believed in..."
Love,
Alex
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)