I love Weeds. I have watched every single episode available on demand in the past 2 days. I can't get enough. It's a little scary. I haven't blogged in a while, so here's a list of what I've been up to:
Wrote thank you cards for grad gifts and scholarships.
Went bowling at the new Brunswick in EC. Too long of a wait. Fun.
Joined West Coast Guilty Ones, a fan group for Spring Awakening.
Chewed like, four red straws.
Finished my UCSB schedule planning.
Mailed my final transcript.
Had a 4th of July party and swam. In a pool. It's been a year.
Oh shit, I just remembered I have physical therapy tomorrow. Scratch that, today. In 8 hours. I should sleep. Sorry this blog sucks. Next time I'll tell you the ballerina maxi-pad story.
-Big D
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Scared Shitless
Well, since my last blog, I've left BUHS for good, gone to Vegas, seen a Cirque show, eaten Cajun food, eaten French food, met about 25 relatives for the first time and enjoyed a wine cube.
Graduation was really overrated and I don't much care that I'll never see a lot of those faces again. Bye, y'all. Vegas was awesome and I'll be posting a slide show on Youtube tonight. We saw Mamma Mia and the Beatles LOVE! They were both excellent. Every time we ate was a dining experience. I think my favorite place was the House of Blues though. I had blackened shrimp pasta and it was famazing. I also had a bunch of delicious french food for the first time ever, including creme broulee. Good stuff.
Yesterday was the Peirson Family Reunion, which I thought would be a big drag, but turned out very interesting. I wasn't feeling it at first and there was some relative going around with a video camera taking interviews and I felt really unsocial... until Riisa brought me a wine cube! Wow, then I snapped right into it. I ended up talking to a relative from Texas who is actually a state senator. She shared my passion for the arts and we shared lots of stories. Then, today we went to the beach for a Going-Away party for my old friend Nancy Vargas who will be spending her summer volunteering in Mexico! Go Nancy.
Anyway, you're probably wondering why I titled this "scared shitless". Well, I'm getting very nervous for college and I just looked at the Freshman Summer Start Program website and watched the slide show of past years... Everyone had perfect bodies and was hot and fuxy. It made me feel worse! Imagine that. I hope everything goes well. Anyway, that's about all for now. I'm tired! Oh, and before you read my next entry, make sure you try a wine cube!
-Big D
Graduation was really overrated and I don't much care that I'll never see a lot of those faces again. Bye, y'all. Vegas was awesome and I'll be posting a slide show on Youtube tonight. We saw Mamma Mia and the Beatles LOVE! They were both excellent. Every time we ate was a dining experience. I think my favorite place was the House of Blues though. I had blackened shrimp pasta and it was famazing. I also had a bunch of delicious french food for the first time ever, including creme broulee. Good stuff.
Yesterday was the Peirson Family Reunion, which I thought would be a big drag, but turned out very interesting. I wasn't feeling it at first and there was some relative going around with a video camera taking interviews and I felt really unsocial... until Riisa brought me a wine cube! Wow, then I snapped right into it. I ended up talking to a relative from Texas who is actually a state senator. She shared my passion for the arts and we shared lots of stories. Then, today we went to the beach for a Going-Away party for my old friend Nancy Vargas who will be spending her summer volunteering in Mexico! Go Nancy.
Anyway, you're probably wondering why I titled this "scared shitless". Well, I'm getting very nervous for college and I just looked at the Freshman Summer Start Program website and watched the slide show of past years... Everyone had perfect bodies and was hot and fuxy. It made me feel worse! Imagine that. I hope everything goes well. Anyway, that's about all for now. I'm tired! Oh, and before you read my next entry, make sure you try a wine cube!
-Big D
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
*Evil Stare*
It is now 5:39 AM and I have not slept. I have not slept because I've been trying to BURN my Government video and I kept running into software issues. Now, I'm done and I'm tired as a four letter word. I hate Government. I hate Whitehead. I hate JD, who kept us from filming all of it until last night. I'm going to try to go to bed for an hour now.
I have no idea what's going to happen with the damn One Man Show. I'm py-ussed. Comment and make me feel loved. Tell me how dedicated I am unlike JD who went to San Francisco instead of helping us film. 5:43 AM. God, Jesus, Buddah and Allah help me.
-Big D
I have no idea what's going to happen with the damn One Man Show. I'm py-ussed. Comment and make me feel loved. Tell me how dedicated I am unlike JD who went to San Francisco instead of helping us film. 5:43 AM. God, Jesus, Buddah and Allah help me.
-Big D
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Heark! A Big Black Penis is Floating in the Sky!
It's big, it's puffy, it's poking into places it shouldn't be... it's a BOOM MIC! Yesterday, Alex dragged me to Sex and the City and I got so fed up with Movies Imperial. Dammit, learn how to FRAME. They had the movie either on the wrong aspect ratio or too low in the projector. It was very annoying to see boom mics floating above the actor's heads. Very unprofessional. AND they had to stop the movie at the second reel for some reason. They had to do it at every showing, apparently, since the girl in the booth WHO IS NOT A PROJECTIONIST was waiting for it to happen and because our movie didn't start until 10:20 when it should have started at 9:45 (it got stopped at every showing which pushed back the times). They do not take care of their film. The sound was reeling and loopy and it was completely distracting. Once, the film even slipped to halfway down the screen. The movie was good actually, but I couldn't help but feel disconnected 50% of the time. Mind you, this was only the FOURTH showing and the film was already botched.
This is not the first time I've complained at this theater. They blew out their speakers in one theater and I had to watch Hairspray with horrible sound, they didn't frame Sweeney Todd right and showed half the movie. The first time Alex complained, they just moved it up and showed the OTHER half of the movie. For anther movie I can't remember, they had it set on the wrong size and the movie was squeezed to TV ratio. Another time, their air conditioners were broken so they set up a fan in the theater. It was really hot AND I couldn't hear the movie over the fan. Once, they weren't playing the sound to a movie. Movies Imperial SUCKS. They need to hire a real, licensed projectionist. Their service is going to suck until they do.
On a good note, BROOKYLN, ALISHA, COURTNEY and some other chick WERE THERE! I love them. They are my boos. Well, that's all I wanted to say. Thanks to Brooklyn for blog inspiration. Go see SATC at CINEMARK. :D
-Big D
This is not the first time I've complained at this theater. They blew out their speakers in one theater and I had to watch Hairspray with horrible sound, they didn't frame Sweeney Todd right and showed half the movie. The first time Alex complained, they just moved it up and showed the OTHER half of the movie. For anther movie I can't remember, they had it set on the wrong size and the movie was squeezed to TV ratio. Another time, their air conditioners were broken so they set up a fan in the theater. It was really hot AND I couldn't hear the movie over the fan. Once, they weren't playing the sound to a movie. Movies Imperial SUCKS. They need to hire a real, licensed projectionist. Their service is going to suck until they do.
On a good note, BROOKYLN, ALISHA, COURTNEY and some other chick WERE THERE! I love them. They are my boos. Well, that's all I wanted to say. Thanks to Brooklyn for blog inspiration. Go see SATC at CINEMARK. :D
-Big D
Friday, May 23, 2008
Senior Reflection
This is an essay I just wrote for Mr. Whitehead. I thought it would interest y'all.
Dylan Hale
5/23/08
P.1
Senior Year Reflection
I am not over sixty-five years of age. I do not qualify for extremely reduced movie prices. I am not anyone’s authority but my own. I am not any of these things. But I am a senior. Senior. Just what does that mean? Way too much is what it means. It’s applying to colleges, making ridiculously hard choices, fighting tough battles, sweet benefits, and maybe even risking life. That’s what it was for me. I fought my way through this year and slept less and less as the year progressed. I figured I would sleep more because I’d have a free period. Alas, no. The assignment for this paper was to write first on this class, second on your entire year, and lastly if needed for space, your future plans. Well, for the sake of writing a compelling essay, I’m going to mix up the order a bit. I need to start with the beginning of the year.
It was boring… tiresome, even. The summer felt as if it had lasted a week. I was back at the lovely Brawley Union High School campus already. I was a little excited for work experience, though. I was going to work with the deputy district attorney’s office in the County Administration building. I soon found out that “working” with them meant sitting and watching arraignments with Judge Donnelly. I love Donnelly. He’s the one of the coolest judges on the bench in this county. But I couldn’t get over how he’d start every morning with addressing the criminals like so: “Good morning everyone. On behalf of the Brawley courts, I’d like to welcome you here today. When I call your name, please step forward and I will read what you have been charged with and give you your options…” blah blah blah, he’d go on for fifteen minutes about consulting with the Public Defender, a grotesque greasy man who never failed at being late. Needless to say, work experience was not about to rescue my year. It was all thanks to the clerk in that office who had just had a heart attack the week before school started and died. They had filing issues and staff problems and it was not the best environment. The rest of my classes were ho hum. Yes, including Economics. I’m sorry, but I didn’t expect for Econ to be so… what is the correct euphemism… not liking to my academic tastes. Sure I liked our stock market project, but the money I made was fake in the end. It wasn’t horrible until I found out I was going to get a ‘C’.
Well, life went on until one day, I crashed my car. You knew this was coming. How could I write an essay on my senior year without dragging in my Dippy Duck salvation? Yes, I crashed. I don’t remember the crash. I remember getting onto Austin Road, wearing my UCLA sweatshirt and new nice jeans from Buckle, a horribly overpriced store that I have no business in but my cousin Carson dragged me into. And the next thing I remember is being strapped down on a board, my head pounding, I think on the side of the road. I remember hearing “you’ve been in a car accident” and me saying, “I know”. But then I remember being at UCSD Medical Center in San Diego with an uncomfortable brace around my neck that was making me panic a bit. I remember telling the nurse I applied here when he told me where I was. Jim was his name. I remember that for some ridiculous reason. And then I tried to relax and was finally freed from the brace and was wheeled to a room with some guy from the army. By then it was Friday sometime, though I don’t remember when. Everything in my memory is blurred and dark. I woke up and ate my liquid food which tasted like nectar and ambrosia and began my recovery. Thank God I didn’t have a mirror in my room. I now know that I looked despicable. The next day I had tons of visitors who wore me out and then I went home Sunday. I can’t believe how quickly I was out of there. It took a few days for the morphine in my system to fade and there’s still a bump on my left wrist where my gynormous IV was put in.
All of this gets me to what I learned from this class. Lord knows it wasn’t the material. Econ I forgot about and Government has been one big recap. I missed one week of school. Just one week. I forced myself back for the start of the Mock Trial season. I couldn’t write at all. I was going to trials high on vicodin with my head leaking gooey fluid. And I was winning them, too. But I wasn’t writing in school. I hadn’t talked to any of my teachers because Miss Hardy had told my parents everything would be taken care of and she’d tell all of my teachers about my injuries, and also because it was obvious to me. But that was stupid of me. That is what I learned. I knew already not to trust my real counselor, but I learned from you, Mr. Whitehead that I should always check on my own to make sure something has been done. I’ll never forget my searing rage when I couldn’t turn in my missing assignments, trying hard not to break out into a screaming fit. I was livid. Of course I didn’t tell you how I felt and you probably didn’t know exactly how mad I was because I’m an actor and that’s what we people do. But now, thank you, thank you, thank you. I have a B in your class. I went from the lowest D I could have to a B because I had to challenge myself to get points. I’m beating my last semester grade. If it wasn’t for the accident, who knows what I would have ended up with. I would have completely gotten sick of your class. I would have continued blaming my test scores on your “insane” procedures. I was forced to take responsibility and stab my usual mid-year feeling of, “I cared too much before to give a darn now.” That’s been the story of my life up until I saw what I was capable of; because getting a B from where I was re-established my faith in myself.
Yeah, I’ve had a lot of accomplishments so far. I got into great schools, I chose UC Santa Barbara, I’ll be studying theater on the beach in three months. I’ve talked with Supreme Court Justices, I’ve shaken the Terminator’s hand, I’ve hugged stage stars, I’ve argued cases before Los Angeles Superior Court Judges, I’ve spoken at a Torrey Pines High School board meeting, I’ve sung, danced, acted my face off this year. But most importantly, I rediscovered myself. This is not standard high school BS. I may be poor, I may be black, I may be a woman and I may even be ugly. But I’s here. By God, I’s here. <-- That’s from The Color Purple, in case you didn’t know.
What'd ya think?
-Big D
Dylan Hale
5/23/08
P.1
Senior Year Reflection
I am not over sixty-five years of age. I do not qualify for extremely reduced movie prices. I am not anyone’s authority but my own. I am not any of these things. But I am a senior. Senior. Just what does that mean? Way too much is what it means. It’s applying to colleges, making ridiculously hard choices, fighting tough battles, sweet benefits, and maybe even risking life. That’s what it was for me. I fought my way through this year and slept less and less as the year progressed. I figured I would sleep more because I’d have a free period. Alas, no. The assignment for this paper was to write first on this class, second on your entire year, and lastly if needed for space, your future plans. Well, for the sake of writing a compelling essay, I’m going to mix up the order a bit. I need to start with the beginning of the year.
It was boring… tiresome, even. The summer felt as if it had lasted a week. I was back at the lovely Brawley Union High School campus already. I was a little excited for work experience, though. I was going to work with the deputy district attorney’s office in the County Administration building. I soon found out that “working” with them meant sitting and watching arraignments with Judge Donnelly. I love Donnelly. He’s the one of the coolest judges on the bench in this county. But I couldn’t get over how he’d start every morning with addressing the criminals like so: “Good morning everyone. On behalf of the Brawley courts, I’d like to welcome you here today. When I call your name, please step forward and I will read what you have been charged with and give you your options…” blah blah blah, he’d go on for fifteen minutes about consulting with the Public Defender, a grotesque greasy man who never failed at being late. Needless to say, work experience was not about to rescue my year. It was all thanks to the clerk in that office who had just had a heart attack the week before school started and died. They had filing issues and staff problems and it was not the best environment. The rest of my classes were ho hum. Yes, including Economics. I’m sorry, but I didn’t expect for Econ to be so… what is the correct euphemism… not liking to my academic tastes. Sure I liked our stock market project, but the money I made was fake in the end. It wasn’t horrible until I found out I was going to get a ‘C’.
Well, life went on until one day, I crashed my car. You knew this was coming. How could I write an essay on my senior year without dragging in my Dippy Duck salvation? Yes, I crashed. I don’t remember the crash. I remember getting onto Austin Road, wearing my UCLA sweatshirt and new nice jeans from Buckle, a horribly overpriced store that I have no business in but my cousin Carson dragged me into. And the next thing I remember is being strapped down on a board, my head pounding, I think on the side of the road. I remember hearing “you’ve been in a car accident” and me saying, “I know”. But then I remember being at UCSD Medical Center in San Diego with an uncomfortable brace around my neck that was making me panic a bit. I remember telling the nurse I applied here when he told me where I was. Jim was his name. I remember that for some ridiculous reason. And then I tried to relax and was finally freed from the brace and was wheeled to a room with some guy from the army. By then it was Friday sometime, though I don’t remember when. Everything in my memory is blurred and dark. I woke up and ate my liquid food which tasted like nectar and ambrosia and began my recovery. Thank God I didn’t have a mirror in my room. I now know that I looked despicable. The next day I had tons of visitors who wore me out and then I went home Sunday. I can’t believe how quickly I was out of there. It took a few days for the morphine in my system to fade and there’s still a bump on my left wrist where my gynormous IV was put in.
All of this gets me to what I learned from this class. Lord knows it wasn’t the material. Econ I forgot about and Government has been one big recap. I missed one week of school. Just one week. I forced myself back for the start of the Mock Trial season. I couldn’t write at all. I was going to trials high on vicodin with my head leaking gooey fluid. And I was winning them, too. But I wasn’t writing in school. I hadn’t talked to any of my teachers because Miss Hardy had told my parents everything would be taken care of and she’d tell all of my teachers about my injuries, and also because it was obvious to me. But that was stupid of me. That is what I learned. I knew already not to trust my real counselor, but I learned from you, Mr. Whitehead that I should always check on my own to make sure something has been done. I’ll never forget my searing rage when I couldn’t turn in my missing assignments, trying hard not to break out into a screaming fit. I was livid. Of course I didn’t tell you how I felt and you probably didn’t know exactly how mad I was because I’m an actor and that’s what we people do. But now, thank you, thank you, thank you. I have a B in your class. I went from the lowest D I could have to a B because I had to challenge myself to get points. I’m beating my last semester grade. If it wasn’t for the accident, who knows what I would have ended up with. I would have completely gotten sick of your class. I would have continued blaming my test scores on your “insane” procedures. I was forced to take responsibility and stab my usual mid-year feeling of, “I cared too much before to give a darn now.” That’s been the story of my life up until I saw what I was capable of; because getting a B from where I was re-established my faith in myself.
Yeah, I’ve had a lot of accomplishments so far. I got into great schools, I chose UC Santa Barbara, I’ll be studying theater on the beach in three months. I’ve talked with Supreme Court Justices, I’ve shaken the Terminator’s hand, I’ve hugged stage stars, I’ve argued cases before Los Angeles Superior Court Judges, I’ve spoken at a Torrey Pines High School board meeting, I’ve sung, danced, acted my face off this year. But most importantly, I rediscovered myself. This is not standard high school BS. I may be poor, I may be black, I may be a woman and I may even be ugly. But I’s here. By God, I’s here. <-- That’s from The Color Purple, in case you didn’t know.
What'd ya think?
-Big D
Monday, May 19, 2008
San Diego went KABOOM!
So, we had been sitting in our room at UCSD Medical Center, waiting for Dr. Schwartz to come and quickly tell me about my arm, and we hear over the intercom, "Attention Employees, there is a code triage, we have multiple incoming mass trauma, this is not a drill. There was an explosion downtown." Well, we were like, c'mon, Schwartzy, you can do it! Just get us done. An intern came in and said, "Okay, can I get you guys started before my attending comes in?" "Sure." "Well,-" and then the Drill Sergeant nurse came in and said, "You folks are going to have to reschedule, we're canceling all appointments." "But we came from two hours away." "I'm sorry, we need to evacuate you." It was like, Grey's Anatomy shit, yo! And ortho is right next to the emergency entrance, so it was pretty intense. It turns out a Hilton hotel under construction and unopened had a gas leak and it had blown away four of the floors. It ended up being only 13 injuries, which is fairly substantial I guess, but apparently Schwartz wasn't needed for much in trauma because she called our house to apologize for the inconvenience just an hour later. Only thing is... we were still in SD having a late lunch. Irony. A cosmic joke on humans.
Oh well, I'll call her tomorrow and ask what's up with my humerus. In other news, I'm pretty sure the show is going to be the 4-5 of June, which is a Thursday-Friday. It should be a good one, so come see it if you can! Five bucks. What else??? I got a scholarship from the Brawley Elementary Teacher's Association!!! Yay. The awards ceremony for scholarships is next Wednesday, so hopefully I'll get some more! Seriously not much else is up. I'm filled with shrimp and clam chowder from Anthony's, heaven with scales, and I feel pretty good. I'm gonna go watch some TV now I think. Shoutout to Brooklyn Wagner!!! And, as always, Caitybaby.
-Big D
Oh well, I'll call her tomorrow and ask what's up with my humerus. In other news, I'm pretty sure the show is going to be the 4-5 of June, which is a Thursday-Friday. It should be a good one, so come see it if you can! Five bucks. What else??? I got a scholarship from the Brawley Elementary Teacher's Association!!! Yay. The awards ceremony for scholarships is next Wednesday, so hopefully I'll get some more! Seriously not much else is up. I'm filled with shrimp and clam chowder from Anthony's, heaven with scales, and I feel pretty good. I'm gonna go watch some TV now I think. Shoutout to Brooklyn Wagner!!! And, as always, Caitybaby.
-Big D
Friday, May 9, 2008
Holy Moly and Ah Ah Ah!
Weird title, eh? Well, HOLY MOLY, my show is NEXT WEEK! 6 DAYS! I'm praying that we will be ready. Alex, Alanna, and I are supposed to meet up tomorrow to go over EVERYTHING just to get it right before we start honing in on tech. We SHOULD have been doing tech all this week, but a combination of bad scheduling, no chaperoning, a vicious janitor who takes his job way too seriously, and a plethora of potential stage crew peeps in time consuming night classes made that impossible. So, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we'll be running tech and I'll be hoping that it looks good. My plan: Monday, focus on Act 1. Tuesday, focus on Act 2. Wednesday, run both. Thursday at 11:15 a.m. we go on!!! Holy moly. Please God, let my show be okay. I'm worried because Alex likes to sleep until 4 on Saturdays and with all the tension between the three of us, oy...
Ah, ah, ah! I got into the Freshman Summer Start Program at UCSB and I'm picking out my classes. It's very unnerving. I'm like, yikes over here. It's so HARD to schedule college classes. Especially when there's only limited ones since there'll be only 376 students there. Ah!
Other than those two pieces of news, I have some sad stuff. John Altieri, my Idyllwild Arts Summer Camp theatre teacher/director passed away Sunday due to complications from pneumonia. It's very sad. He was only 38 and a health nut. So many people will miss him.
Not much else to report. I'm so scared for all this stuff that's coming up!!! Especially the show!!! Oh my God!!! Yikes! Please let this show be a good one. And please let Alanna and Alex not be menstrual for this next week. Please God.
-Big D
Ah, ah, ah! I got into the Freshman Summer Start Program at UCSB and I'm picking out my classes. It's very unnerving. I'm like, yikes over here. It's so HARD to schedule college classes. Especially when there's only limited ones since there'll be only 376 students there. Ah!
Other than those two pieces of news, I have some sad stuff. John Altieri, my Idyllwild Arts Summer Camp theatre teacher/director passed away Sunday due to complications from pneumonia. It's very sad. He was only 38 and a health nut. So many people will miss him.
Not much else to report. I'm so scared for all this stuff that's coming up!!! Especially the show!!! Oh my God!!! Yikes! Please let this show be a good one. And please let Alanna and Alex not be menstrual for this next week. Please God.
-Big D
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