Ready for a Reboot

I did not mean for my blog to die. I got so busy with directing the musical, and with grad school, and then the end of the school year that I just sort of became overwhelmed. Just about every day I thought about posting something, just to keep the pulse beating here, but it became one of those situations where it became easier to not do anything than to make excuses and try to post something interesting.

But I do not want to have a dead blog. I don't want to be a former blogger.

First, a quick catch-up:

• As you might know, I directed the musical Footloose at my school, and this was my first lead directing gig on a musical. Everything turned out great--the kids were amazing, the crowds were huge, and the reception was wonderful (except for a few people who thought we were too "adult-themed"). I really loved working with the cast. Working with drama students is always interesting, always unpredictable. I cannot wait to do it again next year, even though it does take up so much of my time.

• The last couple months of school sort of flew by. I really liked my students this year (for the most part), and I had nice, tight-knit classes. School years here seem to go by much more quickly than when I taught in Minnesota, and I don't quite know why that is. But every year here seems shorter than the previous one.

• Well, it did not ALL fly by. Right after the play ended, I got walking pneumonia, which really laid me out for a lot of days. I was miserable, missed several days of school, and took quite a while to get my energy back.

• Finally, the last two classes of my grad program have been really solid. The professor was the same one I started my program with, and she really makes the coursework worthwhile, interesting, and fun. So for the last few weeks I've been working with a colleague putting together our "capstone" project, which is a parody of The Office, but set in a school. We've had a lot of fun making it, and I taught myself iMovie, and I'm very proud of the final product.

• . . . and most importantly, I am finished with grad school now. The past two years have not always been good, with some real dud professors, but the program really came around. And now I am officially overeducated, with a Master's in English and now a Master's in Education.

So I wanted to fill in what's been going on for the past few months as my blog has died. But consider this the pre-reboot. I'm going to make some big changes here at I Charge Laughing, one of which involves, you know, blogging.