End of the Quarter, Skis, and Emergency Kits

First, Happy 30th Birthday Denise! It's still technically your birthday here, even though it's not where you are...

It's the end of the winter quarter at UCI, traditionally the busiest term of the year. This year was no exception. In addition to producing three shows (one of which was a thesis show for the sound designer, teaching 1 brand new class and 1 halfway-new class, starting to work on my tenure file, recruiting grad students for next year (we got two great ones!), recruiting a sound supervisor (we had two amazing finalists!), and planning next year's season, I also had a show open at SCR. After three years at UCI, this quarter isn't getting any easier. All of the bureaucratic mumbo jumbo is definitely taking its toll: these days, I'm feeling creatively stagnant. Meh.

Still, the end of the quarter feels good. My grading is done, and I'll turn in final grades in the next few days. I've been enjoying my week off of classes. On Monday, I went up to The Geffen to check out the preview of a new play called Through the Night, which was pretty terrific. On Tuesday, I had a bite with an old friend. On Wednesday, I was in meetings with students, and today, I ran errands and had dinner with some friends in LBC. Tomorrow, I think I'll head up to LA in search of the elusive Taco Truck for some authentic lunch chow.

I've also been using my extra time this week to get some more exercise in. The people who see me everyday have almost all noticed the change, and I facebook about it a little bit, but I've been working out a lot and really watching what I eat. And, there are dramatic results! Here's me in late July:



And here's me a few weeks ago:

I hope you can see the change as well as I can!

On Sunday, I'll fly out to Park City for some skiing with my folks and some cousins. I just bought a new pair of skis and am eager to try them out!

Finally, after the strange earthquake we had in LA this week, compounded with terrifying quakes in Haiti and Chile, S and I have decided that it's time to get serious about putting together emergency kits. I've been shopping around for various items to go in there, including water, food, whistles, cash, first-aid kits, crowbars, etc. It's weird preparing something you hope you never have to use, but if we ever need to use it, I'll be glad we did.

That's all for now - I'll try to be better about posting - it's just been a hell of a long winter!

In a Garden

It's been a long winter, but now, with the beginning of spring (and the impending advance of clocks per daylight savings time), I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel...

Last night, I opened In a Garden at South Coast Rep. I wrote the music and designed the sound, and when we went into the studio to record the music, the PR department from South Coast came along to shoot a short promotional video. Here it is:

to make your day brighter

boy, I'm lame

It's been a long long time since I've updated - there hasn't really been much of note happening, so I've been sparing you reading boring stories. However, since it's been over a month since my last post, I guess it's time for an update.

January has come and gone. We're halfway done with the academic term at UCI, and it's going pretty well. Classes are moving right along, and the search for a new Audio Supervisor is going well (slow, but well). My program head and I went to Chicago last weekend to interview prospective students. We saw nine students, only a few of which were really worth considering. I think that in general, this was an off-year. Not sure why - usually when the economy tanks, people head back to school...

I'm working on a new show at South Coast Repertory called In A Garden. I was hired to be the designer and composer, but after talking with the director, it became clear that the music I've been asked to write is to be Middle Eastern in nature. Being neither a scholar nor practioner of that kind of music, I got real nervous real quick. I'm currently seeking out an ensemble to play the music, and I've connected with another professor at UCI who has much more experience with this style of music. She's going to help me make sure that the music is neither embarrassing to me nor a mockery of Middle Eastern music in general.

Today, I'm headed into the U to watch a dance concert and attend a crit for the lighting designer, one of our graduate students. This is his thesis production, the capstone event of his time at UCI. I've heard his work is great - I'm looking forward to it!

a safe return after a long trip

It's been an exhausting vacation. The kind of vacation that you need a vacation from, you know? In the past two plus weeks, I've traveled to three cities, seen family from both sides of our marriage, slept in four different beds, spent time with friends from childhood, high school, college, grad school, and work around the country. Carriage ride in central park, running on the VB boardwalk, skiing in the mountains of Colorado.

It was a great trip, and we're awful thankful that we have family and friends all over the country that we can visit and spend time with, but we're also very glad to be home, to have some time with each other again, and to catch up on rest a bit before we both go back to work!