sleepy update

So, I wanted to give a quick update before I go (back) to bed. I spoke with Jim at OnLocation today, who spoke very positively of my wanting to apply for the Shop Manager position. He said he won't know anything definite about interview setups until after they all get back from the Re/Max tour, but he was very glad that I can start working spring quarter, rather than after graduation. Also, still no word on when I'm supposed to fly to New Jersey. I'm starting to think that they're (rather unprofessionally) giving me the cold shoulder. That could just be my paranoia of other people kicking in, though. Hmmm. Oh well. Nothing else to say, I guess... so... I think this will be the end of this update. Yup.. nothing else really going on in my life right now besides school and work.

Oh, almost forgot. I love you, rachel. :-)

myspace

I have, rather grudgingly, updated the myspace account I use to look at other people's myspace stuff. If you really must, you can visit it here. But, be warned, it sucks, it's boring, and will NEVER be as updated as my facebook site.

Facebook rulz. Myspace drulz. Fuckin n00b.

stuck at work

So, it's friday night, and I'm stuck at work, as usual. I'm here until midnight, and it's looking like it's gonna be one hell of a boring night. Which is good cause nothing bad happens, but sucks because it makes me wish I was home. You know... taking a nap. On the couch. As usual.

Anyway... some interesting news came up today. Turns out that the Shop Manager gig that will be opening up soon at OnLocation actually pays quite comparably to the Circuit Lighting gig, and since I'd be in Cincinnati, the cost of living is a bit lower, and makes up for the wage difference. Plus, I don't have to move as far, Tommy and I could get the place together we were talking about, and I'd be working with a company that already knows me. We'll see... it doesn't hurt to interview and see what happens from it.

I can't wait until I'm done at work tonight... this has been such a long-ass week.

feelin like a douche

So, Rachel is sick. I was taking care of her a bit the last couple nights. I even went and got her soup from Panera. All of this caring for her and being sweet and knowing that she wasn't feeling well still didn't stop me from acting like a complete and total asshole last night. I was harping on her about being a vegetarian again, and then some other stupid shit. I said I was sorry when I realized I was upsetting her, and she said it's ok, but I know I'm a dumbass. I just don't know how to change that about me... sometimes I just say and do things that I wish I never had.

*sigh*

This quarter is half-over. I'm ready to go to Phoenix. I'm also hoping that we can plan some kind of trip for spring break, cause I really wanna go somewhere for nothing at all, just fun. I also gotta get out to New Jersey and meet Bill at Circuit Lighting sometime between now and, you know, whenever I start working there. Oh, and lets not forget finding a place to live, and a way to move all my shit. AND I have to make sure that all of my graduation shit gets taken care of, and Jim doesn't fuck me over the way he did Tommy.

Work sucks today. I don't want to go to makeup class at all. I hate smearing that shit on my face and pretending that it's art, and that I give two shits about it. I gain NOTHING from that class, it has even less bearing on my work than any of the OTHER design classes I've taken, because unlike costume and set design, lighting doesn't work with or around makeup designers, makeup is last in line, and has to just follow whatever the fuck the lighting, costume, and set designers decide. It's bullshit. I'm tired of it, and I want my beard back.

FUCK I'm in a bad mood today. I should just go home and go back to bed until saturday.

great weekend

So, the weekend was fantastic. Got into Cleveland friday night, checked into the hotel, and spent all day saturday asleep, in bed with Rachel. It was fantastic, and I felt so relaxed. We had an AMAZING dinner with Ilana in the hotel restaurant. Rachel and I had fish, Ilana had lamb, and it was all amazing. The dessert was the best part, it was the best chocolate mousse I've ever had in my entire life. We then got bad directions to the theater, but still made it to the playhouse in time to see "Of Mice and Men" and it was a pretty good production. Nothing stunning, but the cast worked well together, and the men who played Lenny and George were particularly moving in their roles.

So, then it was back to the hotel, and Rachel and I made sure we actually woke up in time to check out of the hotel sunday afternoon, and we spent the afternoon at the rock n roll hall of fame. It was pretty awesome, I saw some new stuff there I hadn't seen before. Of course, all the awesome costumes and stuff were still there, and there was a new exhibit on the Clash, and a big section on the beatles that was pretty impressive. I got myself a very cool dickies workshirt from the HOF, which I am currently wearing, and thinking about Rachel. :) I got ryan a present (he reads this blog, so I'm not gonna say what until after he gets it from me) because he took my shift friday night, thus enabling me to go on this little trip in the first place.

We came back to cincinnati sunday night, in really horrible nighttime/freezing rain driving weather, but the weekend was amazing, and I hope it's the first of many trips to all kinds of interesting places with Rachel. (Love you.....)

Ok, so... back to work for another few minutes, then over to CCM to take care of some board training stuff. Apparently for my independent study this quarter, I am responsible for doing all console training for the department. Who knew?

packing for the weekend

So, I slept through shakespeare today. I think it was worth it. I'll be driving tonight, and it's better to be awake behind the wheel than behind a desk staring at my shakespeare prof. So, now all I have to do is get stuff together for the weekend, pack, and then wait for Rachel to get done packing, and go! We should be in Cleveland by about 9 or 10 tonight, plenty of time to check in and sleep, and then tomorrow is Rock n Roll hall of fame! w00t!

apartment search

So, I have to start apartment searching as the job in New Jersey continues to become more of a reality. Bill was telling me that although the shop is in Green Book, NJ, he lives in Pennsylvania, because it's so close to the border and taxes/insurance are lower in PA. I'm thinking of looking in Allentown, PA, since it's so close to I-78, which runs right past Green Brook. There are some nice apartments listed on websites, but that doesn't mean anything since some of the places I looked at here in Cincinnati looked great in pictures and were actually shitholes in person.

So... any thoughts? Does anybody know of any nice places to live in Eastern, PA? I don't wanna live too far away from Green Brook, but I'm not opposed to an hour drive (ish) if it means lower rent and/or a nicer place to live.

quick news update

National Hillel has been generating some press lately because of their Darmstaedter grant program for Holocaust Education programs. This grant partially funded the "Cabaret in the Warsaw Ghetto" I worked on last year, which turned out to be a really spectacular little program that I was very, very proud of. The coverage of it looks fantastic in the video, too. Check it out...

http://www.hillel.org/about/news/2007/jan/darmstaedter_11jan2007.htm

super secret plans for the weekend

So, I can't say a whole lot here, because Rachel reads my blog on a regular basis. Shhhh! Don't tell her anything, but this weekend is gonna be amazing. A-MA-ZING. I'm really excited since we're actually gonna have our trip away together.

turned out ok

So, the 3-day weekend from hell turned out to be ok by me. Rachel came over late Sunday night and we sat around and bs-ed with Feig and Rob for a while, and I proceeded to drink more fluids and eat more soup. Eventually, it was sleepy time, and Rachel and I went upstairs for cuddling and alone time and watched the beginning of Scary Movie before we both passed out. We spent, essentially, all of monday in bed together, just sleeping, holding each other close. I don't think I've ever felt so happy or relaxed in my entire life, and I couldn't think of a better way to spend a day off than in bed with the one I love.

So, it wasn't a romantic weekend in a hotel somewhere, but it was certainly a weekend, and parts of it were definitely romantic, so overall, I give this weekend a 4 out of 5 pandas.

sunday, I think...

I feel so out of it. I've been sleeping for the large majority of the past two days. Basically since I got home Saturday morning I've been asleep non-stop. I woke up a bit late saturday night, but that's about it. I'm also starving, as I haven't eaten anything since friday evening. (almost 48 hours ago...)

dead

So, friday night at work, I started to feel really sick, and I threw up a lot. Then when I got home, I couldn't even keep fluids down, and got so dehydrated I passed out in the bathroom, and Rachel called 911 and I spent the night in the ER getting IV saline and anti-nausea meds. Feig picked me up Saturday morning around 10am or so and I stayed in bed all day drinking pedialyte and trying not to die. I'm really glad they were both around to help me out. I'm not sure what I would have done otherwise.

I miss Rachel a lot, and I feel bad that I didn't feel up to hanging out with her tonight, because I know she wanted to see me. I just feel too crappy all around to be near people. I feel very depressed now, and wish that I had just told her to come over for a bit.

So... looks like this won't be much of a three-day weekend after all. Sucks.

...on the other hand...

There is a downside to this job offer, though, and it's been weighing really heavily on my heart all day today since my phone interview at 11. New Jersey is very far away from Cincinnati, where my heart is. Rachel still has three more years of school to go after this one. I know I'll be making good money, and I'll come visit her from work whenever I can, but I feel like I'll be so far away, all the way in NJ, and it makes me really not want to take this job, thinking about being away from my love. I'm extremely conflicted, because this is a great job opportunity, but I don't wanna let it take me away from Rachel after only a year of being together. I need to think on this some more. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

OH EM GEE!!!

So... biggest news I've gotten in a long time... Bill at Circuit Lighting has offered me a job as Head Lighting Technician starting this May. Holy freaking crap, ya'll... this is fucking HUGE. I have a job offer! I'm going to New Jersey to check the place out in the next couple weeks, and sign paperwork on a final salary offer. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! I'm really frickin excited about this, because it looks like a great company to work for, and they do all kindsa cool shit. Stay tuned... more details to follow...

blah

Today started out seeming like a really crappy day. Work sucked. Class sucked. I hate putting on makeup in class. I feel like a moron because everybody else sketches perfectly and mixes colors and applies makeup like it's their job, and I looked like I smeared poo on my face. And then makeup lab sucked too, I washed wigs for an hour. Yuch.

But... after all that crappyness, I still got to have lunch with rachel, and then she came over after dinner and cuddled with me and made me feel a lot better. I was sinking to a pretty dark place for a couple hours there, but quality snuggle time with rachel makes lots of things better, and I feel really good now. So... not such a bad day after all.

beardless

I shaved. I had to. It's for fucking Intro to Makeup class. Goddamnit. I was really getting used to having a beard, too, and now I miss it. Plus, my face looks weird without facial hair, and my chin feels cold.

Fuck. I'm now counting the days left until I can grow my beard in again.

sillypanda.net - working!

It's up and working. I'm a big big dork, and it annoyed me that I had to chose between tld and www.tld so I created a secondary blog and dropped a wee little javascript refresh into the sidebar of it. Now, if you go to sillypanda.net, it will take you to my blog, and if you go to www.sillypanda.net it will momentarily refresh and then bring you back to my blog. Thus... I defeated the ridiculous Google Hosted Services policies without actually breaking the rules. I still don't have email access completely configured and working, so just continue using my gmail address as you have been. But do please bookmark sillypanda.net as the address for this blog.

K, that's all I got for now... sleep time for a bit, then back to class. Ick.

post from work again

I am sick again, maybe. I feel really crappy, and little things keep getting to me. I'm also worried about Rachel, because she seems to pickup on my sadness and negative vibes really easily, and she's been feeling blue lately, too. We're supposed to have lunch today when I get off work, before I head off to intro to makeup, but she sent me a txt this morning that she's not even sure she'll get out of bed today and might miss her tech prod class.

....humm. This is starting to feel like a very weird winter quarter. It's not feeling busy at all... just sucky.

sillypanda.net

Also... coming soon: you'll be able to reach my blog at sillypanda.net and email me at dave@sillypanda.net. It might take a couple days for your DNS servers to update, depending on where you are and who your ISP is, so until it propagates, you can continue using dyergin.blogspot.com.

weekend

Well hi there! So, the weekend is over, and week 2 of my last winter quarter has started. Here's what you've missed: (or maybe you didn't.... shutup.)

Thursday Night:
Go shopping at walmart with Feig and Rachel. Purchase new dresser. The trip was lots of fun. A large man almost choked or stabbed me. I escaped narrowly with my life. Have dinner with Rachel and Feig. Hang out for a while. Begin to feel crappy as I help Feig take out the trash. Decide to take shower. Feel worse. Go to sleep.

Friday Morning, approx 5am:
Wake up in a cold sweat. Fever. Chills. Throw up. Cramping muscles. I am dying. Call off work. Sleep through classes.

Friday evening, approx 8pm:
Wake up again, load up on Dayquil and Sprite. Rachel brings me soup from panera. I love Rachel. Rachel spends the night and takes care of me and makes me feel better.

Saturday:
Sleep away most of the day. Accomplish nothing. Feel a little better. I get dinner with Tom, watch new Cops in HD. Play Halo for several hours. Rachel and her friend Jenny come over. I think we scarred Jenny for life. She's not used to people being loud, and rude... and... loud. (Sorry, Jenny...)

Sunday:
Feel worse when I wake up. Take more medicine. Fell much better by the time evening rolls around. I take Rachel out for a real, actual date. We saw "The Good Shepherd" and it was amazing. Also had dinner at Deweys and ate very good pizza. Get back very late. Do homework. Go to sleep.

Monday:
Wake up, not enough sleep. Go to Shakespeare. Do well on the quiz. Go to work. Work sucks. Still too busy for 2nd week of winter quarter... wtf is wrong with these people? Decide to go home and sleep through history as I've gotten quite dizzy at this point in the day... hmmm. Wakeup for Sign Language class, feel VERY tired and dizzy. Stumble to class. Enjoyed class thoroughly. We don't talk... at all. Only writing, typing, and signing. Awesome! Go home. Call Rachel. Write this journal entry.

And I plan to follow-up this amazing weekend sequence with..... A HERRING! (erm, I mean... a nap. sorry, I've been quoting MP non-stop today for some reason...)

Yup. That's it. See ya...

test post

this is a test post to test the new text-wrapping thingamajig. it's been quite annoying how I've had to go back in and re-wrap posts sent by email, so I'm hoping that this will fix the issue. and now for some unrelated text:

Drive: Sound Design Challenges

Since my main goal in designing sound for this production is to provide an emotional context for the onstage dialogue through vehicle noise, I would imagine that my primary challenge would be finding the right ambient car noise. Firstly, it would have to be a series of very long cues, because looping noise would be too distracting to the audience, and wouldn't sound as random as a real car driving down the road does. Another challenge would be adding in the engine revs, idles, bumps, honks, and so on without overpowering the onstage dialogue.

Truly, the sound of the car getting more broken and driving slower over the duration of the play is a symbol of the relationship breaking down as well. To this end, I will have to make sure that the noise of the car varies subtly enough that the audience does not actively detect a change during each scene, and rather only notice a difference hopefully at the top of each scene. It's also important to have the noises of other passing traffic every now and then, and to key in the city noise heard at the top of the show at various points throughout the "Car noise" cues as well, all, once again, without overpowering the onstage dialogue.

07W begins

So... 07W has started. I have to admit that waking up with Rachel next to me is a very pleasant way to start the day, even if I do have to follow that up by going to a shakespeare class. It looks like this quarter will be mostly ok. I have people in all of my classes (except for sign language) to prompt me to keep going, and since ASL only meets once a week, and should be a fun class, I think I'll be alright. I have a plan set in motion to finish all of my SM homework from last quarter this week, and get that grade fixed. Jim submitted change-of-grade forms for me for the lighting classes from last quarter. It looks like in the next week or so I'll be ready to start finalizing paperwork for my capstone project (Pajama Game) and for graduation after spring quarter.

So fucking weird.

I'm graduating... as in, school will FINALLY be over for me. No more homework. Wow. I feel like, at this point, not even considering the amount of work that went into it, only looking at it in terms of time commitment, I'm badly in need of a break from school. Feig and I have talked about what will happen after we graduate. The Pittsburgh Vincent shop is looking for a number of people on their FT staff right now. I think it would be cool if he and I moved to Pittsburgh, got a place somewhere in the burbs, and both worked FT at vincent. Then I'm close to home (mom is happy) have good work/good money (dave is happy) and I'm still close to Cincinnati (rachel and dave are happy).

We shall see. The Circuit Lighting gig would certainly pay a metric ass-ton more, I think, but you never know. I have a phone interview with them sometime this week, and then flying out to New Jersey to check the place out after that assuming all goes well on the phone. I'm also gonna start looking into Vincent work with Feig, because I wanna try to get him & me tied down to something at Vincent if I can, I think that's really the best option over-all.

Also, New Years was AMAZING. Ilana was in town for it, which made me really really happy, and I think she had a good time, too. We had a small group of people who showed up, and I think everybody enjoyed themselves (with the exception of a certain room-mate who imbibed just a bit too much booze-a-hol for her own good...) and it was definitely a nice way to ring in the new year, a house full of people I care about.

So, that's all the thoughts on 07W I got for now. See ya.