A few weeks ago I left the Eastern Seaboard to reach the far-off lands of Minnesota.  On the way, I saw Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin with Tory and her mom, who was so lovely and invited me to go with them to Puppet Rampage (this year's national festival from Puppeteers of America).  It was wonderful; I had an amazing time.  I find it really difficult to put puppetry into words since it's such a visual medium, so...would anyone like to teach me how to put youtube videos right into lj entries?  Please?  =)  I promise, this entry would be a lot cooler with puppet videos.

In the meantime...

The drive to St. Paul wasn't bad at all, although there was a lot of traffic in Pennsylvania.  Pennsylvania was really the only state I got bored in...it stretches on forever.  And ever.  Lovely in parts, but redundant.  Ohio was short and sweet, Indiana beautiful and grainy, Illinois...I don't remember much besides Chicago traffic.  Wisconsin was beautiful.  There are farms that look just like the license plate!



Everything (that I could see from the interstate) was red and green and soft hills.  There were signs all over the place for cheese stores, cheese outlets, and a Cheese Chalet.  There were also a lot of parks with big water slides.  And painted water towers!  I'm not kidding.  Is this a Midwest thing?  I don't know anyplace on the East Coast with decorated water towers.  I didn't see much of St. Paul outside of Concordia University, where Rampage was hosted, or Minneapolis aside from In the Heart of the Beast (a puppet and mask theater). 

Hmm...I think that's all for now.  I'll write more tomorrow.

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY TO TARA!!  I hope you had an awesome birthday =)

The cat is leaning against my leg and I'm trying to persuade him to put his head down for sleep.  He does, for small periods of time, and he makes little wheezes.  Everyone else is already dreaming.  I like to be up at night.  I like to be on guard and listen for outside noises coming from the street or the back yard.  I hear the sprinklers from neighbors, and the pool filter going on and off.  Sometimes I can even hear the train going through Oakland.  I keep my window open so Max can sit on the ledge and watch too, and I wait until three or four when my father gets up and pads downstairs for unknown reasons before returning to bed.  At five, the alarm clock goes off: my mother drinks coffee, kisses me goodbye while I feign sleep, and leaves for work.  I rest when the day begins properly.


Until then I wait, and read.  Tonight there are translations by Elizabeth Bishop, a Vassar alum and friend of Marianne Moore.  The cat's paw is twitching while he dreams of birds or squirrels or the other animals that he can't chase through the screened-in porch during the day.

This new phase of my life warrants a new livejournal.  Here it is!  Let's hope I stick to it more than I did the other one.  So...this is me...on the internet.

Actually, one of the things I'd like to change is the amount of time I spend on the internet.  I want to cut out unproductive webtime and engage in the real world.  In this "real world," I'm back at home with my parents, older sister (Laura), and cat (Max).  Hopefully this will change soon, although it probably won't.  Until then, I'm spending my time looking for jobs and using the elliptical machine at a gym for old ladies.

Nothing Earth-shattering for now.  More bits and scrabbles to come.