My New Obsession...

For years I've loved to cook. I can trace back my joy of cooking to early in my life, though it wasn't until after I got married that I really started to learn how to cook. That's a story for another day. When I've talked about my love of cooking there has always been an accompanying clarification. "I like cooking...except dough. Me and dough don't get along."

2016 is the year that changes. I am going to conquer my problems with dough through sheer exposure.

The desire to change that probably started with Netflix. Yes, Netflix. Don't judge me. You've been there too. In this case, my family and I had started watching food shows together on Netflix and after going through several classic Food Network Show (and some not so classic shows) we sat down and watched "The Great British Bake Off". It was enthralling. My wife and I have discussed how we wish American competitions would emulate their style more. It wasn't hyped, it wasn't false tension, it wasn't forced drama. It was a bunch of people in a tent doing what they loved--baking. And they did some amazing things.

I don't think I'll ever get to the level that the contestants were at, but it was fun watching what they created and I felt the desire growing within me. My wife and I looked up cook books written by the shows host and I ended up asking for "How To Bake" by Paul Hollywood for Christmas. My wife was gracious enough to get it for me and I started reading through it.

From my earlier research, I knew that this book was not converted for an American audience. Measurements are given by weight instead of cups and in grams instead of ounces. Temperatures are in Celsius. Liquids in milliliters.. This was actually an attraction instead of a deterrent. I already own an electronic scale that can do grams and ounces, a probe thermometer that can measure in Celsius (plus google to do conversions for oven temperature), and any good liquid measure already does milliliters anyway. Measuring in this fashion is often more accurate than our American cups so would lend to a better product. Needless to say, I was excited.
As I flipped through the book on Christmas morning a realization came to me. This was the book. The cookbook I had been seeking. Finally, in my hands I held a cookbook that I would master. Every single recipe. There would not be a single recipe I would skip. I would go through them one by one until I had mastered the art of baking and completed the book. It had recently become a goal of mine to find such a cookbook and now I had it.

Later examination would reveal that some of the recipes were less appealing than the rest, but I had already committed myself. This is going to be that book.

That is what I have been doing for the last 18 days (mostly on the weekends...baking takes time). I have been working my way through the book. Thus far I have really been stuck in the first chapter: Basic breads. This has included basic white bread in a loaf and as a cob, wholewheat bread, focaccia, crumpets, soda bread and today, barm cakes. The barm cakes we used as rolls for sloppy joes and they were delightful. All of it has been delightful. I'm adding sticky notes into the book to help me adjust the recipes as I go along.

For example, every recipe needs a little extra liquid (and he mentions it might). I'm guessing that's because of the dry climate I live in. The soda bread was the only failure (not fully cooked). It's a fun learning experience and I'm enjoying the hand kneading. It really helps gets the stress out and I like the exhausted feeling in my arms by the time I'm done.

So that's 2016...the year of baking. I'm sure I'll blog about it some more before the year is out. But if you're going to be stopping by let me know. I'll make something special for you.

Happy New Year

At Thanksgiving I started learning a new language: French. Simultaneously I started refreshing my Spanish. I used Duolingo to do so. One of the great things about the site is that they reward you for keeping up the daily practice with Lingots--an online currency you can use to buy bonus lessons, tests, or extensions on time to complete your lessons without breaking your streak.
My streak made it up to 36 days. Which was just amazing. I even maintained it over Christmas with limited internet access and having to work from my phone through the mobile site (it was not fun, let me tell you).

Unfortunately, something went wrong communicating with Duolingo on the last day of my vacation. Before going to bed I did my required number of lessons and earned my reward for building my streak. Logging on the next day from home and my streak mysteriously vanished. Some of my work from the day before had not logged properly (apparently).

Needless to say, I was a little broken hearted to see my streak vanish into nothing.

Here's the worst thing--I let it get to me. I walked away from the program and haven't reached my goal since. That's a shame, and it's all on me. It's just a silly little thing on the internet, but I let it rile me and affect my progress.

And I can't help but think about how many times I've let small disruptions in my habits break me apart and set me back to zero. How many times has a single day of missed exercise thrown me off exercising for months at a time? How many times have I stopped writing, because I missed a blog post?

I'm only failing if I let myself fail, and I've been letting myself fail a lot.

So here's the resolution for the New Year: Don't let little misses become major setbacks. Keep getting back up. Do it again. Get better. Keep trying.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go practice my French.

Visions

I have visions. I believe that I have said this before. If you read my blog it should not be a revelation to you.

I have visions. Lots of visions. They are my constant companion.

Previously, I have talked about how these visions are the inspirations for my writing; I turn scenes in my mind into words on a page. If done correctly these words will then recreate an approximation of the vision for the reader, for no matter how perfectly I craft my words you will never be able to perfectly describe the vision. There are too many details that are lost in translation.

Today though, I want to write about theatre. Theatre is an odd experience: Players collaborating to create great works which they will likely never see. I do not get to experience my visions recreated on stage because I am an actor inside of them. I help bring them to life, but am impossibly placed to experience the impact of the creation.

It is possible to record, but it is not the same. It is like trying to look at yourself in a mirror with your eyes closed. If your eyes are truly closed you cannot see yourself in the mirror. A photo or video does not recreate the experience. You will never look into the mirror with closed eyes.

For this reason, I want to move beyond being an actor. I want to direct. I want to create my visions and be able to see the fruit of the creation from the outside, to be separate from the work that was created. Visions. Obsessions. They are in my head. Sets, costumes, sounds, actors. All the aspects of a performance echoing inside my head bidding me to create them. Actors cross the stage, gesture with an arm, tilt their head just so. I have seen it. Sometimes I have seen some of you on the stage of my mind.

I have visions.

Currently, I am thinking of a show (I won't say which), but I can picture the staging. The lighting. The sound. The actors faces are blank, still to be cast, but I know where they are on stage. And I want it. I want it to be real. I want you to see what I see.

Maybe someday you will.

A Week from ...you know.

Technically, the next week is called Tech week, but the name that I hear it called more often is Hell Week. Tech week will be different for each person, and I know that my experience in community theatre is different than the experience in professional theatre.

When I started acting in high school we did not have tech week. Rehearsals were typically during school hours. Then we went home. We did two shows; life was beautiful. I won't say that our production value was poor, but our light and sound systems were minimal. That made tech weeks (almost) nonexistent. What we lacked in fancy staging we made up in enthusiasm (I'd like to think we did).

After high school I gave up the scripted stage for improv comedy. This meant weekly practices that lasted two hours, rarely longer. Tech consisted of knowing how to play music clips between games. Okay, there was a little bit more, but not much. A solid ten minute training for the tech person would prepare them for their roll. We would show up an hour before performance time, set up, and then just roll with it. Two hours later we're done and headed home. Easy peasy.

Community theatre has been much different. It is a major time commitment. For a lark, I thought this post would step through my upcoming week. In doing this, I do not want to give the impression that I am unhappy or complaining about the week. Truth be told, I am quite excited. Eager even. Likewise, I am not trying to indicate that I have a worse week than anyone. I know many people will have had tech weeks much busier than mine will be. Many people will be busy without having a tech week. Please, don't play the comparison game; I am giving you a window into my life. Also, I like to predict the future!

Monday

6:30 a.m.--Wake up. I feel fortunate. I know people getting up much earlier. This will give me enough time to get ready and be at work on time. I'll work 8 hours.

3:00 p.m.--Go to the library. Monday is library day in my family. We're not perfect, but we rarely miss. It's that important.

Approx. 4:00 p.m.--We arrive home from the library. Now I have a chance to get all the daily things that I would like to do, but rarely accomplish. This list includes: help with homework, practice my mandolin, practice French and Spanish, exercise, write, sing, tidy up around the house. Assume that list needs to take place everyday. It doesn't, but let's pretend it does. Monday, it's not going to happen. I'll accomplish a few things before grabbing my costume and mandolin and leaving for rehearsal that night.

5:00 p.m.--I will be dropped off at the Orpheum Theatre after less than an hour at home. This is 75 minutes early for rehearsal, but my children have a school showcase. I am unable to attend rehearsal and the showcase which means I am missing the showcase. It's my son's first. To make sure they arrive on time I am early.

Note: Doing theatre at Christmas typically means that I miss school events for my children. I consider this the biggest downside to doing theatre. Break a leg son!

Fortunately, Monday night the Orpheum will be holding auditions for two shows so I will audition, then eat dinner (hope I packed one at 4:00!). If I have enough free-time I will do the writing I didn't have enough time for earlier, but more likely I will run lines with cast members.

6:15--Rehearsals start. This will involve getting into costume, fitted with a microphone, mike checks, handing out new props and costumes, and going over specific scenes that the director feels need to be tweaked/improved. The "scratch band" will likely be one of the parts we run several times. After this introduction we will begin running the show from top to bottom. There will be minor pauses throughout to fix light and sound issues. When I am not onstage I will be in a darkened backstage area unable to talk. I will go over lines myself, but most of the time I will be watching and listening to what is happening on stage to make sure I am ready to do whatever needs to be done.

10:30--Rehearsals will end. They might end sooner, maybe later, but this is a fairly decent estimate. I will get a ride home and go straight to bed.

Tuesday

Repeat, except the part about the library. I'll likely be kicking myself for not finding a moment to exercise during the day. I will resolve to do better today.

3:15 p.m.--Arrive home. I'll do some push-ups and sit-ups to make up for the lack of exercise on Monday. See the list above for all the other things I will try and do.

5:30 p.m.--At the Orpheum early again so that my oldest daughter can make it to her school festival on time. This is the second event of the week that I will be missing.

6:00--Rehearsals start. They'll run exactly the same: 4 1/2 hours of practice, tweaking, repeating until rehearsal is done for the night. It will be incredibly fun. It will also be amazing to watch the transformation of the show with all the special effects and costumes almost completed. There will be stops and starts as necessary, but fewer than before.

Wednesday

Repeat. Again. The toll of the first two days will start to build on me and I'll hope that maybe today I will be able to have a nap. It won't happen; worse, I'll make myself do some working out and end up more exhausted than before.

6:00--Dress rehearsal. Just like Monday and Tuesday with the exception that we do not stop. The show runs without interruptions like we are going to perform it. This will likely be the first complete performance. It will also be the only time we perform it this way without an audience. After going through the show we will probably be finished a little early, which means we will go over some rough patches. I will be home and in bed close to 11:00 p.m.

Thursday

Opening Night!

But first, another complete day of work. This one starts thirty minutes earlier than any other day. I will be exhausted. I might cry.

The show starts at 7:30, but cast and crew shows up at 6:00. We spend the time getting into our costumes, getting microphones on and checked, making sure props and set pieces are where they are supposed to be. Then we will try and get into character and wait for the show to start. Two and a half hours after the show starts we will be finished. We'll spend some time greeting the audience before heading downstairs to change out of our costumes, reset props and set pieces and leave the theatre.

There will likely be a gathering after the show. Being Thursday, I'll say the cast goes to Buffalo Wild Wings (now I'm just predicting the future). There's a large chance that I'll excuse myself in favor of going home and sleeping, but I'll likely get talked into going along. I'll hit bed around midnight.

Friday

Last day of work for the week! That will lift my spirits and help me muddle through. The day will run fairly identical to Friday after that. There will definitely be a cast gathering after the performance as most people will not have to work on Saturday. This time we will go to Applebee's. I'm not a huge fan of the chain restaurant so I politely excuse myself and go home to get some rest.

Saturday

A chance to sleep in. If the weather is good I'll rake the back yard which is desperately in need of it after snow brought down all the leaves off of the trees.

1:00--Arrive at the Orpheum to prepare for the Saturday matinee. Show starts at 2:30. We'll be done by 5:00. My children will be at this show so I will talk to them afterwards. There will be much excited family times. I will drive them home and immediately turn around to go back to the theatre for the evening show.

This time the cast will opt to go to Depot Grill. It will be a smaller cast party because everyone is getting exhausted.

Sunday

No time to sleep in, because I will need to go to Church with my family. I will present a lesson on Christmas to a small group of 5 year old children. I'll end church in time to go home and grab lunch before heading to the theatre for the final show.

Four hours later I'll be done with performances, but we will still have Strike. Fortunately, there are no built set pieces so we won't have to dissemble anything. Mostly, it will be collecting the prop and costume pieces that belong to each of us. The company putting on the show owns the theatre and this is (I believe) the last show of the year. That means no pressure to get things out so the next group can get in. With all hands on deck I believe that Strike will take less than an hour. That puts me home in time for dinner with a few hours left of the day to put in my weekly blog before going to bed.

Summary

As I look back, most days there isn't much happening. It's just the same two things over and over again. Work and show, work and show. However, it adds up to very little free time. Here's to Tech Week! Sometimes it is nice to have no time.

Note: I've received notice that the weather is turning bad. That likely means no raking on Saturday. It also increases the chance of no work due to poor road conditions. That could be a blessing. All other predictions stand.

Sunday posts

I think that the best time for me to post will be on Sunday. I have a lot of free time and it will be much like writing a letter. An open letter. Just like all the open letters that have been posted on Facebook.

Oh dear...

I guess I'll just have to live with that. <--That sentence used to start and end with the words "I guess". That's why we edit after we write! What it really comes down to is that I'm trying to keep my writing habit alive, but don't want to work on Sunday. That means no working on potentially publishable materials. However, writing for my friends and family would be acceptable. Plus, it allows me a goal of one blog entry every week. I'll draft the post early on Sunday and then I'll edit it before bed. That probably means that if you're following this you shouldn't look for the new posts until Monday morning.

This gives me practice editing and allows me to maintain my writing habit. Win/win!

So, here's the thing: I spent the last week updating my blog pages to account for my three new WIP. I haven't completely abandoned my old WIP, but they are all on the back burner until a later time. Those pages have not been updated, yet.

I think three is a reasonable number of projects to try juggling and they'll break down like this:

One Novel
One Stage Play
One Collaborative Project

I think this will keep me incredibly busy without giving myself too much work. Here's the problem: I've got a lot that I want to write. I mean a lot. Inspiration struck near the end of NaNo and I know have another novel that I want to be writing. I mean, I really, really, really want to be writing this novel. That's how excited I am about the premise (sorry, no spoilers). However, I have this sinking feeling that if I walk away from A Name Among Names before the first draft is finished that it will never get finished. That means I really need to focus on finishing that project even if I am a little less excited about it. I don't want to be in the habit of leaving projects unfinished.

Stage plays? I have Speakeasy well under way, but I also have at least two three other stage plays that spring to mind when I think about potential projects. All three of them get me incredibly excited and I can see actors on stage, sets in my mind, lighting...the visions are dying to get out.

The collaborative project is the one saving grace. I don't have a lot of people beating down my door to collaborate with me. This project can take as much time as it needs and I reasonably expect it to take years. Having an eye on the long-term can be so helpful for pacing.

There we go. That's what my life looks like. These are the projects that I hope will make me truly independent for employment. The projects that will allow me to sell some works, get an agent, and beginning living off of my own creativity, which I've wanted to do for most of my life.

Two Years Already?

I mean, I know it has been a while since I blogged but that really caught me by surprise. I had forgotten most of the renovations I had made on the blog and now most of them are out of date. I'll have to work on fixing that. Just one more goal to throw onto the pile.

Let's start with this: Why am I back at the blog after two years? Well, why do I ever keep coming back. It popped into my head and I decided to roll with it. However, the bigger reason is that I just finished NaNoWriMo successfully for the first time since trying it back in 2009. Granted, I had more time than I usually do, but a success is a success.

Now I want to keep it rolling. I've got a lot of writing projects going and it is time to finish them. Then publish them. Then start some new ones. And I want to talk about these things. And complain a little about the problem of having so many things that I want to write and not knowing where to start.

So that's what I'm going to do. I am going to keep writing. I am going to take control of a life that seems out of control. I am going to update this page and keep it updated. And hopefully soon people would be looking for this page because they read my novel and they want to know a little bit more about me and what's going on. They want to know when the next book will be. So, maybe this time will be the time.

Road Tripping

"Please don't put doughnut in your ears!"

This week I had it in mind to write a blog about love. In fact, I had gone so far as to begin composing it in my head. It was going to be great. And then I went on a road trip this weekend. So, I decided to blog about the road trip instead. For pictures to accompany the narrative go here.

The impetus: The Lego company held a Grand Opening for their Murray, UT store.

Aiding factor: The girls' had no school on Thursday and Friday.

With the stage thus set I found little reason not to cancel classes on Friday and hightail it out of town. I evenly blatantly told my students why I wasn't going to class. They seemed highly amused; some even asked me about it today. Pre-road trip preparations involved a trip to the library for music (nothing worth mentioning...I know disappointing), and Trina doing most of the packing. She's a trooper.

6:20 a.m. Friday morning. I wake up, shower, and pack the rest of the gear needed for the weekend in the car. Miraculously, Anna is already awake and gets dressed. The other children complain little. Amazingly, we are packed up and...

7:00 a.m. ...actually leave on schedule. The drive goes well. We eat breakfast in the car. Two stops and almost four hours later we stop at the Lego Store. Originally our plan was to drive straight to Provo, visit people there, and return to the grand opening festivities on Saturday. However, we have time so we stop.

10:50 a.m. We arrive at the Lego Store at the Fashion Place Mall. The wait to get in the store is an hour and a half, more time than we have at the moment, but there is no line to help build the 8-foot Hulk sculpture so we help create a line.

11:00 a.m. The build officially begins. The children and I each build a block that is a 4:1 scale larger than a traditional 2x4 brick. We throw these in a pile with other finished bricks and get our certificates for helping out. Mine will join my Lego diplomas on my office wall. We look at the store, but don't go inside.

12:00 p.m. Arrive at Grandma's house; lunch at a pizza buffet. Yum!

2:30 p.m. We visit our long-time friends and allow our children to play. They've known each other since birth. Best friends since diapers.

5:00 p.m. Arrive at my brother Mike's apartment. We grab him, my oldest brother (James), plus my only nephews on this side of the family and head to dinner. We also bring along Trina's cousin Jenna. The location: our favorite Chinese restaurant in Provo, The Lotus Garden. Dinner is fantastic. The conversation is great. A good time is had by some.

7:30 p.m. Return to my brother's place and play a game of Fluxx while the children play Uno.

8:30 p.m. Return to Grandma's to put the children to bed. I also catch the end of the BYU football game. A full day, but a fun one.

9:30 p.m. I go to bed early for good reason, but I don't sleep well.

Saturday

5:00 a.m. After a night of tossing and turning I get up, get dressed, and drive back to the Lego Store. They've implemented a ticket system to keep the store from being over-crowded.

6:00 a.m. After briefly waiting in line behind twenty or so other early risers (and their kids!) I got tickets for my family to enter the Lego store with the first group when it opens.

9:30 a.m. The entire family arrives at the Lego Store where we wait for 30 minutes until the store opens. The children are remarkably good natured about the wait.

10:00 a.m. We are let in the store. It's chaos. Even with limiting the number of people in the store it is still crowded. Trina is a champ and controls all the children at the "Build a Mini" station while I do my shopping. It's so crowded I don't feel comfortable browsing. I spot what I want and grab it off the shelves making my shopping short and sweet. The only exception to the "no browsing" was the longing looks that I cast at the Winter Market Village. My early morning adventure means that we are in time to earn a free Exclusive Lego set. It's a mini model of the store. Anna loves it.

11:00 a.m. An IKEA trip. This is the part of the trip that is for Trina. The children get happily dropped off at the playland; Trina and I shop happily by ourselves.

12:00 p.m. Lunch at my sister's.

1:30 p.m. Family trip to the zoo including almost all my siblings (sorry Emma!) and all my parent's grandchildren. It's one of the rare time all the cousins are together. I enjoyed the Polar Bear. He was putting on a show.


5:30 p.m. Return for dinner. Pasta and salad!

7:00 p.m. Put on "Night at the Museum". It's the first time I've actually seen the entire movie. My wife and I enjoy our favorite Ben and Jerry's Flavor that we can't get at home: Peanut Butter World.

9:00 p.m. Bedtime for the children. The end of another non-stop day.

Sunday

7:30 a.m. Trina and I wake up at approximately the same time to find Anna watching us while she rocks in the rocking chair. Creepy.

12:00 p.m. Lunch before loading up the car and the kids to go home. They cry. They really enjoy being with their cousins. Fortunately, no plans on Sunday and they had the entire morning to play with each other. It's a sad departure.

1:00 p.m. Arrive at the Lego Store for the third and final day of the Grand Opening celebration. Mostly, I just want to see the finished giant Hulk sculpture. It's not finished. I make it back into the store for some last minute shopping. I'm still early enough to get a free Limited Edition minifig set. It contains a race car mechanic, a cook, and a computer guy who looks just like me. It's serendipity.

2:00 p.m. We held build the hulk sculpture again before leaving for home. It's still not finished at that point, but we can delay no longer.

4:30 p.m. After our last stop to get gas Sam received a doughnut. In true Sam fashion he ate his fill and then crumbled the rest in his seat. A short while later I see him in the rear view mirror putting doughnut crumbs in his ears leading to the exclamation that started the blog.

6:00 p.m. We arrive home, unpack, make dinner, and crack into our Lego sets. Successful trip.