Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. As it was our "first" Thanksgiving as a married couple, we got to make lots of jokes about what we are thankful for, like, "I am so thankful you just dropped that on the ground as my new husband." In all seriousness, I am very thankful for my husband, my family, my friends, and the wonderful Thanksgiving weekend we had.

Speaking of being of thankful, my family discovered the we are thankful for the game, Catch-Phrase. Thank you, Hasbro, for creating the first game that my family can play together and enjoy. Over two days, we played nearly eight-hours. Now we have a whole new game to play and a whole new set of inside jokes.

I am also thankful that I still live near and work on a campus. Today, by chance, I saw that Mayim Bialik was being sponsored to come to campus and talk. Most of you know her as Blossom, but she also holds a PhD in neuroscience and plays a wonderfully quirky Amy Farrah Fowler (who is neurobiologist) on The Big Bang Theory. I stayed late and after work and listened to the lecture. It was a delightful talk and Bialik threw in enough references to The Big Bang Theory but also enumerated on her Jewish values and customs, which also encouraged me further in thankfulness and reflection.

One more day of November, and I have failed dismally at writing more. Let's move on and look forward to Christmas!

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Lombardi

Last night Stephen and I went to a performance of the broadway play, Lombardi, at the Milwaukee Reperatory Theater. High school musicals aside, it was our first live performance since we saw Jersey Boys in Chicago three years ago. We had a lot of fun, and the company did an excellent job.

The play is based on a biography of Vince Lombardi by David Marnassis. It was recently adapted into a play for Broadway and this fall it made it's way to the Rep in Milwaukee.

Living in Wisconsin and being former residents of the greater Green Bay area, we both felt a special connection to the jokes made about area, its location, and its obsession with the football team. I am not as well-versed in the life of Vince Lombardi and the history of the Green Bay Packers as Stephen is, but I truly enjoyed the character development. The play was as much about the man Lombardi was - which was not always nice - as it was about his legacy.

In addition to character development (or aiding in character development), the make-up and costume crew did a tremendous job. Lombardi truly looked like Lombardi. Hornung really looked like Hornung.

Check out a commercial for the Broadway version to peak your interest:

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

I am NOT writing a novel...

Well, I am not writing a novel, yet.

You may or may not know that November is National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo, as it is colloquially typed, is an internet-based creative writing project. The project challenges participants to writer 50,000 words throughout the month of November. By registering on the official website, you get a support group, of sorts, that assists you in your writing project. Wikipedia also gives a nice history of the event.

During the past couple of years, I occasionally heard something about the event. This year, many of the accounts I follow on Twitter have been talking about the event. I decided to research it, especially after my undergrad creative writing professor signed up to participate. I thought that this project might get me into a writing groove.

For half a second, I considered signing up. Realistically, I have no idea what I want to write about or what kind of novel I want to write, or if I even want to write a novel. Even if I did know what I want to write about, I am enjoying being out of graduate school, living without deadlines. I don't think I want to begin to writing again with a massive deadline looming over me. Maybe I will try this next year (oh dear, what will next November look like for me?).

Instead, I will make my own little November writing project. Blog readers, if you are out there, hold me to this:

1. I will write a blog post a week (I should have 4-5 by the time December rolls around).
2. I will try to free write once a week
3. I will people-watch like crazy and start figuring out who/what I want to write about

Happy Writing and Happy NaNoWriMo!