30 Day Blogging Challenge: Day 15

Day 15: Where will you be in 5 years

Hopefully in 5 years I will be working full time in the arts with stage management, production management, costuming, lighting design, make-up, etc...  Really this is what I spent the past few years of school working for and what I have been trying to do with all the different theater jobs that I have been getting.

Maybe married? Maybe a kid? Maybe have a puppy?  Who knows!  It's all possible, a lot can happen in 5 years.  5 years ago I was working as an executive assistant at a law firm with no idea that I would go back to school and get a degree in technical theater.  Never say never!

30 Day Blogging Challenge: Day 8

Day 8: 5 Current Goals

Is it weird that goals are way easier for me to deal with then picking my 5 favorite songs?  I guess I really am way more goal oriented than anything else.

Goal 1: Any day now I'm going to be getting notification that I can go pick up my fancy piece of paper that says I have a degree in Technical Theatre.  I WANT TO USE IT! I want to actually keep working in the field I went to school for by stage managing, doing lighting design, special effects make-up, costuming, etc... hell, I'd even sell tickets at the box office if it means I can spend all my time in a theater and not have to go back to an office job.

Goal 2: I want to train!  Like seriously, I'm taking more and more dance classes and I want to get back into my yoga and get all the flexibility and dance skills.  As a performer I want to be better, I want to step up my game and in order to do that I have to train for it.  It's just like any other sport or physical challenge, you gotta be prepared and that's my goal!

Goal 3: I want to have a life again.  Having been in school, on top of the 57 jobs I've been keeping down, means I have not had much of a life for the past few years.  If we haven't worked on a show together recently the extent of our contact has probably been random Facebook posts or sad text messages.  My goal is to hang out with friends at least one day a week in a non work capacity.  Not too unreasonable and means that I can actual rekindle and nurture my friendships that have been neglected due to being responsible.  Being responsible is lame.

Goal 4: Say yes to more things.  I have a bad habit of not doing things I really want to because I either don't want to go by myself (which is stupid) or because I am afraid of being judged (also stupid).  I need to care less about what other people think and not be afraid of having adventures on my own and go do things.  I have never regretted anything I have done, I have regretted the things I haven't done.

Goal 5: Organize my existence.  I am fairly organized but I want my space to be organized.  With having spent the past 2+ years dealing with my grandparents estate the apartment has gotten cluttered and full with all the stuff that we've been having to go through on top of all my costumes, crap for shows, storage issues, etc...  I need my costumes, my crafts, even just my clothes gone through, paired down and organized in a way that I can actually use and get to them.  Seriously, this is a thing and it needs to happen.

So yeah, 5 goals, way easier.  I like goals, I like focus, and I like to check things off my list!

Resolutions, do they accomplish anything?

While most people are looking forward to their resolutions for 2014, I have to wonder what did I actually get accomplished in 2013?  Did I keep any of my 2013 New Years resolutions?  I looked, I couldn't find that I made any resolutions last year.  Was my 2012 resolution to not have any?  I'm super goal oriented so not making any resolutions doesn't mean I didn't accomplish things and move forward, I just didn't treat them as resolutions of "this will be different in 2013" because my goals didn't really change that much from the year before.

The biggest thing I accomplished in 2013 was I finished my last semester to get a degree in Technical Theater from Georgia Perimeter College.  This was a goal, but not a specific 2013 goal, I started going back to school while I was working at the law firm back in Spring of 2008 before I was laid off and then I started again once I was eligible for a Pell Grant in Fall of 2011.  Much more of a long term goal then one of a resolution for 2013, but since it happened in 2013 does it count?  I worked for a long time to keep up the straight As I got from Fall of 2011 through my final semester.

I did get to do my first professional (paid) lighting design for Lady Lay at 7 Stages Theater.  This is why I've been going to school.  So I would have enough skills to keep myself employed regardless of what the job openings were.  Stage Manager, Costumer, and now Lighting Designer.  I was also thrilled to add Production Manager to this list this year as well.  The only way to stay employed in theater is to be able to do ANYTHING so they can use you regardless of what they have available.  Make yourself invaluable and they can't help but want to keep you!

Syrens of the South lost a venue and then found a new monthly home at The Shelter and 7 Stages.  We had two super successful show at 7 Stages with Syrens celebrating its 6th birthday (we're now in our 7th season) and a SOLD OUT 7th Annual Tits for Toys for Tots show.  We ran a wonderful monthly show at The Shelter from May through Dec that brought together the community a great deal with helping fund Southern Fried Burlesque Fest as well as an outlet for performers new and old to test out new acts and get videos of performances.  Sadly, as of tonight the Shelter is closing but it has been very good to us over the past 4 years as we've performed there MANY times since they opened as guests, features and sometimes just because we were getting rowdy as customers.  But notice that it's a 4 year relationship with The Shelter and our 7th Anniversary.  We moved to 7 Stages because I started working there in 2012 and that relationship is what led to our shows being there, again not a 2013 only decision.

Southern Fried Burlesque Fest, I launched a Kickstarter to pay off the 2013 festivals bills and raise the money for the down payment for the 2014 festival and it was successful.  I was shocked, we even went a little over so we were able to pay off the SFBF credit card as well which was amazing.  We've actually already been able to pay $4000 of the $8500 we have to pay for the hotel space (not including air fare, hotels rooms, performance fees, etc...) which is a huge leap from where we normally are.  The Kickstarter may be the only thing that was thought of and executed in 2013, but Southern Fried has been my baby since 2010 when I began working on the 1st one that took place in 2011.

In January I began working at Studio Burlesque which later became The Atlanta School of Burlesque under Ursula Undress' leadership.  Not my first time teaching (obviously since Ursula was once a student of the Syrens of the South ABCs and 123s of Burlesque back in the day) but my first time having it be a main source of income and a steady job with a schedule.  A nice evolution of things I have been working towards since I started teaching in 2007.  (WOW, has it been that long already?)

So these were my big life changing things in 2013 which all happened due to YEARS of hard work rather than a major change in 365 days.  Maybe that's the point of this post, these things don't happen over night, they don't happen in the span of a year, everything we do leads us to our future and those are years in the making.  I think it is good to have goals, I like lists to check off to have a feeling of accomplishment when I am working on things.  Everyday we make choices, those choices pile up into our futures.  Instead of trying to change over night make one choice each day that makes you better than the day before and eventually you'll be the person your resolutions say you are.

And on that note, I guess I should have some resolutions that are doable.

1. Exercise for at least one hour three days a week.  I actually am usually pretty good about this and seeing as a teach two 45 minute classes per week this is a pretty easy goal.  I would like to get my yoga DVD back on my schedule and I think not having an 8:30am class will definitely help with that.  Also, I like short, easily accomplished goals so me and the 30 day challenges are going to probably become friends again.

2. Eat more vegetables.  I actually really like vegetables, my problem has been I have been super busy and my eating habits have been kinda crap.  I just generally need to pay more attention to what I put in my body.  I am not giving up anything or denying myself anything, I just need to add some healthy things in there as well.

3. See my friends more.  I have been so busy with work and school many of my personal relationships have suffered.  Even if I just go hang out once a week with someone I'll be doing infinitely better than I have been able to do.

4. Do more things...I need more adventures.  I need to say yes to more things instead of being weird about wandering out by myself or feeling silly.  Silly feels awesome and should be embraced more.

5. Organize my existence more.  I need structure to get things done, that's what being in school has taught me.  I work best with a schedule.  All of my other goals will be more easily accomplished if I do this one thing.

5 resolutions seems like a nice number so I'll stop there.  Am curious as to what other people's resolutions are/will be and how many other people accomplished from the year before.