Awkward and Awesome Thursday: PUSHing Through

Still image from a summer shoot with PUSH

Okay, so I've been fairly vocal on here about the fact that I'm pretty overwhelmed what with all of my classes, my internship, work, Muse, being married, being a sane person, being an at least somewhat nice person, and the like.

Basically I've hopped over to Nine to Phive long enough to complain about everything that's going wrong, all the while being a bit hazy on everything that's going right.

One of these such things is my simply fabulous internship at the local film studio Envision Productions. Paul, my supervisor, has taken me on all sorts of adventures with him, one of which involves filming a documentary about PUSH Physical Theatre. More on them later, but for now, suffice it to say that I am loving my job. Any day that I get to spend watching them work makes my own work seem worthwhile--and not nearly as exhausting as it could be. These guys work up sweat!

However awesome this crew may be, whenever there's a lot of sweat, there's a chance for a lot of awkward . . .

Awkward:

• I get to work with these people . . . GAAAAAHHH . . . NOT . . . WORTHY . . .
• I don't vaccuum. Ever.
• My hair keeps falling out.
• The previous two items added together means little red dust bunnies strewn around the living room carpet.
• Professor No. 1: Read the next four chapters of the book by Thursday. Professor No. 2: Read the last three chapters of the book by Thursday. Oh, and also these two chapters of this other book I forgot to tell you to buy. Me: AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!
• Making bacon-raisin empanadas this weekend. Don't knock it 'til you try it. 
• That stupid Roll-Up-the-Rim-to-Win business on Tim Horton's coffee cups. I have to use my teeth every time.

Awesome:

• Even though I "made up my mind" to pursue a degree in communication and an internship in film, I still get to spend time in the theatre. You don't know how good that feels :-)
• Being in the bathroom and overhearing my supervisor talking about me: "She's great. She knows what she's doing. She knows how to shoot, how to edit, how to light . . . It's great." *Blush*
• Hosting our first Couchsurfer!
• The rim-rolling paid off! We won two free drinks. The cup says free coffee or latte, but they actually let you get any drink any size.
• Theatre dates with my love <3 Can't wait to see The Whipping Man in a few weeks.

Drowning

I feel like I'm drowning.

I know I'm a drama queen, but I don't see any point in lying about how I feel on Nine to Phive. Especially when hardly anyone reads this blog since I've gotten so lax about updating it. No one will be fooled, if you know what I mean.

A Muse performance at ELEV8 conference this year. I thought it was sufficiently depressing.

Maybe it's because I now have an IC flareup for two weeks out of the month. Every month.

Maybe it's because I'm scared to death that I won't be able to keep a full-time job, let alone a job in the highly impractical field that I love.

Maybe it's because I've had to take a 19-credit load this semester just to graduate on time (barely). Oh, and those extra credits? They cost me $800 of over-enrollment fees.

Maybe it's because two of Muse's biggest performances of the semester are over and I don't feel relieved. No less busy. No less stressed. No less out of breath.

Maybe it's because, after two and a half years of marriage, I feel like I should have worked out so many of the selfish struggles that my newlywed friends seem to have no problem with after just a few months.

Maybe it's because I feel guilty turning to my family for support when they're struggling just as much as me right now.

Maybe it's because I love God, love my church, and love my brothers and sisters in Christ, but can't find the time or energy to invest in my personal spiritual life.

Maybe it's because I want more than anything to write freely--stories, poetry, journals, grocery lists, bucket lists, this blog--and I can't even find time to do my required writing for class.

Maybe this is my life now.

Struggling.
Fighting.
Keeping my head above water. 

 Drowning.

I thought graduating this spring would feel like a weight being lifted, but as I approach commencement with all of this and more baggage (some of which won't disappear the moment I walk across that stage), I feel as though it's just a doorway into different and heavier weights pressing down on me.

Pressing down on my lungs . . .  
On my heart . . . 
On my spirit . . .  
I'm broken . . .

Drowning . . .

Oh, and a drama queen. There's that, too.

Back from the Abyss

I know what you're thinking. How dare I come back after such a long absence and post another Awkward & Awesome and think that everything will just go back to normal? I understand your hurt. Unlike more successful blogistas such as Sydney over at the renowned Daybook, I did not have the courtesy to let you know that I would be taking a break from blogging for half of forever.

Well, that's because I never meant to. I had no intention of staying away from Nine to Phive for so long, or at all . . . Every night when I came home from work after being in classes all day, looked at the clock and thanked God that Josh and I were used to eating dinner on a European schedule, looked into the fridge and asked for our "loaves and fishes" to be multiplied, and looked at my lonely laptop with the broken keyboard, I said to myself "When was the last time you posted? Don't you have time to whip something up tonight?"

The answer was never "yes."

All that to say, I got kind of tired of being a victim to my crazy schedule, and I made up my mind (just today, actually) to take back my life and my blog.

So here I am! Hope that all is forgiven and that we can look forward to a lot more posts together in the future. Since we last spoke, and I mean before I started babbling about Yom Kippur and TobyMac and Spanish art museums and actually talked about what was going on in my life, I have been up to quite a lot.

• I have begun my final year of college. If (and it's a big 'if') I get into a course offered at a sister campus next semester, I should graduate right on time! Can't believe it's happening already.
• I have started two new jobs as a writing lab tutor and ESL (English as a Foreign Language) teacher. Love both of them! I feel more like a therapist than a tutor at times, but that's what makes it interesting.
• Josh and I have been really focused on keeping our marriage strong. Like saying 'no' to work and school commitments to spend more time together and all that mushy gushy stuff <3
• I have enrolled in a digital video production class. Changing. My. Life. I don't know why I didn't take this course ages ago. I was meant to do this, and I'm loving every minute. I love the professor. I love my camera. I love HD. I love have card-swipe access to the Mac lab. I love everything except the stupid program we have ot edit in . . .
• I have been in the process of directing a student-written theatrical performance set to debut in November. Muse Creative Arts Ministry is a campus organization (of which I am now the president) that groups creatively-inclined students together on projects to impact the campus and community. Our pioneer performance, "The Chains," is an exploration of the many ways that slavery and bondage manifest themselves in the human experience. It is going to be absolutely beautiful, but it is a lot of work.
• I have written a feature-length screenplay that will get produced in the summer of 2014. Did you read that correctly? I am going to be a produced screenwriter and director. I am so utterly excited, I can't even think of anything else to say on this topic . . .
• I'm looking for an internship. As if I don't have enough to do.

So there's a run-down of the stuff you can expect to hear about on Nine to Phive from now on, because every single one of these things is trying to dominate my attention. Stick around for the ride, and you might see something cool!

Awkward and Awesome Thursday: School Days

Awkward:

• Registering for my Spring semester classes of my senior year. Where on earth has the time gone?
• Performing "Some Nights" in ASL at Homecoming. (picture above)
• Being an instant away from sending an "I love you :-*" text meant for hubby to Stryker.
• Presidential debates. Enough said.
• I was so excited to take my required Persuasion course at RIT and, you know, graduate on time. They told me in July that it was too early to register and to come back the first day of classes. They told me the first day of classes that the class was full and I couldn't get in. Fail.
• My dear friends from Messiah Theatre had their senior showcases recently, and I couldn't get out of work commitments. Saddest of days :-
• A garbage bag left in the trunk of our hot car. Blech.
• Working on my abstractions project for Video class. Turns out I'm not an abstract enough thinker. Well, there's a problem I've never had before . . .
• Avocado pits. Slippery balls of evil standing between me and my healthy-fats-filled goodness.

Awesome:

• Fall is here :-)
• Going for a drive with all of the windows down to air out the garbage stench.
• Having my family right around the corner. Well, 15 minutes away. Close enough.
• Free Dinosaur Barbecue. Our class council is awesome.
• Muse Creative Arts Ministry is busy as can be preparing for our fall performance, "The Chains." Rehearsals just started last night!
• Volunteering as a photographer for campus-related and personal events and getting "paid" with concert tickets and free wine tours.
• Kristen's boyfriend (and Josh's buddy) Neme moved to the US last month! It's been so great having him here.
• Progressive dinner at professor's homes. I love these faculty couples :-)
• Josh and I got an incredible deal on our class's senior cruise . . . and we decided to go! Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas to us! What a fun and relaxing and not-at-all-like-our-experience-in-Europe this will be.

Happy Anniversary to My Long-Distance Love

I'm not sure if you guys have picked it up from the past few Awkward & Awesomes (I know I missed one!), but Josh and I are actually not living together this summer. Most people who hear this and don't know us very well seem to automatically assume that this means we are separated, probably waiting on a divorce.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

My husband loves me so much that he is working around 60 hours a week (often twelve hours at a time overnight shifts) to provide for me and our future family. A job opportunity opened up in our former hometown back in Pennsylvania that paid more than double what Josh was making here in Rochester. To recuperate the savings we spent while in Europe, we agreed it would be worth the time apart to make that much-needed cash.

Well, after three months of only seeing each other on weekends (sometimes!), we're not so sure it was worth it anymore. But the end is finally in sight! August 19th is Josh's last day, and hopefully some time shortly after that we'll be able to celebrate our anniversary properly--

You know, together.

33 Ways to Stay Creative

This poster absolutely made my day after a night of dealing with a stomach bug and still needing to come into work this evening. I came across it on tumblr and have had no luck locating the original author, which breaks my heart a little bit. He or she deserves credit for something so inspirational!

It's all so simple, yet so ingenious.

I couldn't have stated so many of these tips better myself, and the list is perfectly inclusive. When I think of my favorite ways to "spring clean" my creative mind and exercise those imagination muscles, I come up with almost this list exactly! It seems to me that the author left nothing out!

Well, you know what I think of this list (I highly recommend making lists to foster creativity, by the way), but what do you think?

What do you do to stay creative?

Awkward and Awesome Thursday: Get My Model On!

Derp

Haha! So I realized that I didn't have a modeling-related picture of me to include with this week's A&AT that has a lot to do with modeling, so I thought I would just awkwardify an old picture of me. Brilliant, right?

Awkward:

• Dude, nude models get paid like a bajillion dollars per session! (Not considering this, guys. Just jealous)
• Pineapple basil gelato. It was actually pretty good. Very refreshing. Very odd.
• Waiting for important emails. I must check each account once every five minutes! 
• Having to work all day while it's sunny and gorgeous and my sis has the day off.
• Ray Bradbury is not with us anymore. Sad days.
• Craigslist. Just be careful out there, ya'll. It can get supersketch.
• Not having a car.

Awesome:

• Getting back on the modeling circuit. I'm on the web! JessicaThurston.webs.com. I'm all professional and stuff.
• An absolutely lovely day spent with my mom, sisters, and grandma at the breathtaking Sonnenberg Gardens. It was a photography hayday.
• Remembering to Tweet and/or update my Facebook status. I'm so proud :-)
• Brandon watching Arrested Development next to me at the ILL desk all day.
• Getting to work on both sides of the camera this summer! Lot of exciting shoots coming up.
• Neon. I've finally jumped on the trend bandwagon.

Awkward and Awesome Thursday: No One Here Beside Me

Awkward:

• The three-month separation from my hubby has officially started :'-(
• He took the book I was reading with him. He better enjoy that sucker!
• Rochester rush hour . . .
• Having the full intent to nicely ask the toll worker how she was doing today and having the niceness scared right out of me when she literally growled at me.
• The Bachelorette. Good God, why do people watch this poop?
• I never wanted to be a coffee snob, but American coffee makes me really sad. I miss my Spanish brew.
• Training on interlibrary loan and then being left to my own devices to practice. Yipes!
• Donkey from Shrek is singing the "I'm all alone . . ." song in my head.

Awesome:

• Well, the only reason I'm without my Joshy is because he got a great job back in PA making twice the dough he was up here!
• Riding in Rachie's car with the top down on a 98-degree day. Best ever.
• Rachie letting me drive her baby to work! I know this is a huge sacrifice for you, honeybun. 
• A completely different and not chronically depressed toll worker telling me how beautiful I look today.
• Soft ice cream. I think I got addicted in Italy.
• Getting to work a day shift. I love going home to my family while the sun is still up!
• Small but healthy and yummy lunches. Not missing the side-splitting midday meals Spain is known for.
• Getting a lot of errands done this morning--including making a down-payment on our new apartment!
• Talking Marvel comics with Stryker.
• Working out early in the morning.

An Old Friend Sings "The Prayer"

Okay, so he is neither old nor a particularly old friend of mine, but in blog years, he is a pretty old friend of Nine to Phive.

Stryker, whom you may remember from what is literally the only fashion post I have ever featured that talked about the personal style of one of my friends, is the employee who has spent the past week and who will spend the rest of the summer sitting next to me at the library circulation desk. Due to the amount of time we are forced to spend together these days, we have learned a lot of new things about each other since we met about two years ago. Still, I was completely floored by a certain fact that slipped my attention since I was in Spain when the following performance took place here in Rochester:

He sings!

I was personally unaware that Stryker sung AT ALL let alone like freakin' Josh Groban! Seriously, how great was that? I am very impressed (along with most of our campus).

Finding out that Stryker also dabbles in the arts has given the two of us a lot to talk about. It's nice working with like-minded people. If you're going to be with them for nine hours a day, it helps if you can carry on a meaningful conversation with them. Our current half-serious joke is that we're going to land the starring roles in our college's upcoming production of Singing in the Rain--which happens to also be one of the favorite musicals of guess who? Well, me, for one . . . and Stryker, too! Haha, hurray!

I wonder what other surprising connections I'll make by being confined to an empty library with other students?

Awkward and Awesome Thursday: Still Truckin'

Awkward:

• Living an hour from campus for the summer. Talk about a commute!
• Vacuuming the books in the library. All of them. Who even knew books needed vacuuming?
• Josh working from 8 to 5, me working from 12 to 9, and only owning one car. Guess who gets to come to work four hours early and then ride home with her husband who has stayed there four hours late?
• Packing lunches (and sometimes dinners, too). Haven't missed it. 
• Gas prices. So much driving. So much money!
• A freakin' 12-hour shift at the library today. Yay weekend!

Awesome:

• Josh's interview with the gas company tomorrow.
• We're back in the Valley this weekend!
• Banana pecan whole wheat pancakes with caramel sauce. We haven't had real breakfast food in months :-)
• How nice and cool it always is in our temporary basement bedroom.
• Chilling with my amazing coworkers.
• Homemade loaded burritos that tasted just like Chipotle. 
• My parents shaved one of their Pomeranians. She's so freaking cute! She looks like a fat burrito with legs and a squirrel tail!
• Wendy's sells macaroni and cheese and baked sweet potatoes with brown sugar butter now!
• Wow, there's a lot about food in this post . . .

Hear Ye, Hear Ye!

Hello, everyone!

Took a little bit of a social media hiatus for a week, but I guess I failed to mention that to all of you! Haha, sorry for the unexplained disappearance, but between actually traveling back to the States and then getting semi-settled over here, there wasn't much time or energy left for blogging. Okay, so I probably could have managed a tweet or two, but just trust me that the break will make a much more sane and well-adjusted blogger in the long run.

In my absence, a lot has happened both in regards to Nine to Phive and in Josh's and my life in general. Let's get right to it! News and life changes for all!

1. May 17th was the one-year anniversary of the birth of Nine to Phive!

Sorry about the anti-climactic lack of celebration, but for us the immense gift of returning home after our five months abroad was celebration enough. Here's hoping that Nine to Phive features a lot of new content to interest both artists and art-lovers worldwide in the years to come.

Coincidentally, the 17th is also the anniversary of Josh's and my first date back when we were babies in 11th grade :-)

2. The winner of our Spring Giveway and a 25$ gift card to Hobby Lobby is Julianne Elizabeth Singh!

Congrats, Julianne! Hope your new materials from Hobby Lobby will enable you to enjoy a bunch of creative projects this summer.

Keep an eye out for Nine to Phive's Summer Giveaway!

3. The winner of the Who Did It Better? poll for "Somebody That I Used to Know" is Gotye and Kimbra!

I guess sometimes you just can't compete with the original. What's interesting is how popular this song turned out to be back here in the US when our class had discovered it and bonded over it all the way over in Spain. 

Another thing to be on the lookout for is our next Who Did It Better? poll.

4. Josh and I are back in Rochester!

Sort of. At the moment, we are both working at Roberts--he in maintenance and I at the library--but we are actually living in not-so-nearby Canandaigua with my grandparents until our apartment becomes available in July. We each have an hour-long commute to and from work! To make things more confusing and stressful, Josh now has a job offer with the gas companies back in PA for double what he's making now. Hmm, pay off our debts or live in the same city this summer? *Sigh* a choice I am definitely not thrilled about making.

5. My parents' house back in PA is on the market!

It's only a matter of time before they sell that puppy and move into some new digs in Rochester while my Dad works on his doctorate. It's so exciting to think that after months of living thousands of miles away from them, Josh and I will be a stone's throw away from family this next semester.

6. This is the 300th post written for Nine to Phive!

All 300 posts haven't quite been published just yet, but that means you have a lot to look forward to this summer!

7. Also, we just hit 30,000 views!

Wahoo!

Artist Profile: Greg Coles

I would like to begin this post by saying that I have a bajillion-and-one-half lovely interviews completed for artist profile posts. That being said, I am also a bit too busy/lazy to write the accompanying posts in a timely fashion. When I realized that the particular artist featured in this post (our first male specimen, yay!) would be graduating from Roberts Wesleyan College in a few short weeks, I knew that I needed to pay this little homage to him before the odds of our paths ever crossing again severely diminished.

Some of you might remember the mention of Greg here and here. His most recent role in Josh's and my life has been as director of Roberts Wesleyan College's 2011 One-Act Festival.

If only this was the greatest of his achievements, this post would be a whole lot shorter ;-). On the other hand, Greg is one of the most successful artists that I have ever personally met. He is talented in so many different disciplines that I might as well let you know now that his accomplishments as related in this post are about to to begin piling up, starting now.

All About Greg of Potsdam, New York

Greg grew up on the tropical island of Java, Indonesia. This cultural background so far removed from the conventions of American society seems to have given him quite an edge when it comes to his creative life. Greg says of the creative environment in which he grew up, "Indonesians are quite a bit less logical than Americans." He believes that this perspective has helped free him to be more unorthodox in the practice of his art. It also influenced the spirituality of his work, the supernatural being a very important element of life to the Indonesian people.

The Coles family found themselves in Java because Greg's father worked there as an English teacher. The similarly multi-talented Mr. Coles senior also happened to be a talented musician, having majored in music in college.This contributed a great deal to one of Greg's greatest passions--music. He says, "I grew up taking informal piano lessons with [my dad] and singing four-part harmony with my siblings." Greg's vocal ability is impressive to say the least. He loves to sing, especially in the context of leading worship services. He is also a very apt piano and violin player, able to play many popular melodies by ear often without ever having heard the original song.

For a recording of one of my favorite songs by Greg, head over to YouTube: "Hide and Seek"

(C) 2008 Red Seawolfe Images

Greg has been writing and performing his own songs for years, but he also enjoys writing words not accompanied by music. He isn't particular about whether it is fiction, nonfiction, or poetry, and all three types of literature flow easily from his pen.  Greg recalls when he first fell in love with literature and how this experience has shaped his own writing:

"One of my earliest 'big kid' books was The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, and I think the idea of Narnia and the idea of literature got cataloged together in my mind. Ever since, I've measured the quality of literature by its ability to invoke that sense of Narnian wonder in me."

In his opinion, writing poetry and prose is easier than composing a song because the words do not need to be so carefully written that they can coexist perfectly with a specific piece of music. On the other hand, he adds, non-musical writing is also intimidating. There is no music to cover up or compensate for what the lyrics lack. In Greg's words, "You can't depend on a beautiful melody or voice to gloss over your mediocre ideas."

Nowdays, Greg is working actively as both a musician and author even though many of his projects have been put on hold in light of the responsibilities leading to his impending graduation from Roberts Wesleyan College. He has spent the past four years studying Communication (a man after my own heart), providing a wonderful statement concerning why this course of study is so important to an artist. As a Communication major, Greg has mastered the art of audience analysis by "reading, discussing, and writing down [his] thoughts about human beings and how we work."

More about Greg including the notorious grilling provided by the Third Degree after the jump!

This is Art: When You Think You Might Make a Good Photographer

Sometimes I tell myself that one day I will take a bunch of photography courses, buy a professional DSLR camera, and begin a long and glorious career as a photographer. Then I watch videos like the one above and realize that I will never be as awesome as this guy.

Talk about an artist in the office!

This photographer made the entire Rube Goldberg device out of items found in his photography studio! It was perfectly themed--all of the photography equipment, the occasional pictures taken by the machine throughout its course, the seamless videography--I am simply in awe!

Well, maybe this video is a sign that the photography business isn't doing so hot these days. After all, what kind of busy and hard-working portrait photographer would have time to craft such genius?

He must have no life. Yeah. That's what I'll tell myself . . . ;-)

Get Discovered on Nine to Phive!

Would you like to see an ad for your blog, product, or service featured on Nine to Phive.net?

So would I! The blogging and art communities are very important to me. If your blog or small business is related to art, fashion, faith, travel, etc., here are two ways that you can sponsor Nine to Phive:

Design an ad with one of the following sets of dimensions and send it to ninetophive@yahoo.com:

(250x150) or 2''x3.5''

(145x145) or 2''x2''

OR

Just send me a photo in the correct dimensions, and I will gladly create an ad for you.

We can discuss pricing options, or we can just arrange a swap! You feature my ad on your blog and I will feature yours as long as you do.

Email me if you are interested!