In the spirit of being eco-friendly, I didn't want to use too much paper for my Christmas greetings this year. Welcome to Christmas on the internet!
I've had a very busy year. In January I went to Chicago for a weekend to attend a stage combat workshop. I had so much fun and got to see many of the people I fought with in North Carolina last summer. I'm definitely in love with fighting and I plan to get my master's in performance so I can pursue this craft. If you ever need someone to cleave you in twain with a broadsword, I'm your girl!
(I'm on the left. This actually isn't from January, but you get the idea. This is what I look like with a sword.)I got a terrible case of mono in the spring and had to take incompletes in all my classes until I was better. I slept for two weeks straight and was back to normal after that...or so I thought. I went to Ashland in June to fight for a couple of weeks, and on the fourth day, I passed out with a quarterstaff in my hands. I couldn't bounce back, so I had to leave early.
Also in June, I moved in with Tim (but Grandma and Grandpa don't know because we don't want to upset them) and he sat down with my dad to get permission to marry me. We're not engaged yet, but the way Dad tells it, we're getting married next week. He's so silly. Tim and I are very happy together and are in no rush to plan the rest of our lives out. Plus, we're a little poor...student loans are a pain!
The rest of the summer passed without incident. I took in a couple plays, worked a lot, and in August, Tim and I went on a cruise to Mexico. I'd managed to get my hands on a little extra money and surprised him for his birthday. We went to Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo. We didn't actually see PV because we spent the whole day snorkeling, but it was totally worth it. The water was crystal clear and warm and we saw all kinds of fish and animals. The highlight of the day was seeing wild dolphins AND an octopus scuttling along the ocean floor! There were also puffer fish and fiddler crabs and sardines and every color of fish imaginable. It was fantastic. We weren't really impressed with Mazatlan, but we took a whirlwind cab ride through the city (and it took me an hour to get all the knots out of my hair) and saw the cliff divers. Cabo was HOT and humid and was the only place I got a little sunburned. All we did was walk around the city and have lunch. The whole trip was just what we needed. Tim works so hard, and I was happy to be able to give him a real vacation--no cell phone, no internet, no carrier pigeons--just sand, surf, sun, and good food. We didn't even take any pictures. Mostly, we ate and slept and read. It was awesome.
I went back to work two days after we got back, and started my last semester of college a week later. Three days after that, my thesis show started. My director had written an original show for us and I choreographed all the fights, as well as acted in it. It was a lot of late nights (including the first time I've ever been at a rehearsal past midnight), a lot of sweat, a little blood, and a fair amount of tears, but the final product was great. Dad and Brad came out on the second night, sat in the front row, and started a standing ovation for us. It was one of the better moments of my life.
Me, as Romeo, killing Tybalt. I'm so pretty with my sword!
The quarterstaff fight from Julius Caesar.
In late November, my history professor arranged for a Holocaust survivor to come and talk to the class. It was fantastic. He's the cutest little old man who looks just like Grandpa, but about a foot shorter and with more hair. He made such an impression on us that Tim's arranged for him to come back at the end of the year and talk to his swim team. I'm especially looking forward to seeing him again, and maybe taking him out to dinner. There's so much to be learned from people like him.That about wraps it up for me. Literally. My last final was on December 7th, and grades are already up. I'm taking one class and writing one paper during our three-week term in January, and I'll have my degree January 31st. Scary, and very exciting. After that, I'm going to work full-time at the bookstore until we leave Forest Grove or something better comes along. There's a HUGE open audition for a bunch of companies coming up in the spring, and I'll see if I can get any work out of that (one of my friends got an apprenticeship at the Actor's Theatre of Louisville when he auditioned last year), but other than that, I'm content to work locally and continue my combat training while also paying the bills. I may be an artist, but I refuse to starve!
Merry Christmas, everyone.
All my love,
Jess (and Tim!)
Ahem. At this point ("this point" being less than a week before Christmas, after all my cards have been mailed, and after I've gotten home to Astoria) I feel that I've been a little unfair to Tim and should write some more things about him, and not just how he fits into my life. (Some of the information will be inaccurate, if not downright fabricated, because he's not here to make sure it's right. So there.)
While not fighting crime (or the big spiders that like to live in our apartment), Tim works for the Multnomah County ESD, helping autistic and other mentally disabled kids succeed in school. He's very good at his job and really loves it. In the spring, he had one kid graduate, which doesn't happen very often, so Tim is very proud of that accomplishment. Many of you may have gotten the article written on him earlier this year. (My dad passed it along to everyone he'd ever met in his entire life.) And when he's not doing that, Tim coaches the fierce and mighty Forest Grove Swim Club Dragons. Although his kids there give him a little more razzing, he still loves it. Tim's oldest kid, Steve, went off to the University of Hawaii in the fall on a swimming scholarship. Steve's swimming super-fast there and drops time every week (now we're entering possibly-made-up-information-area) and will probably go to the Olympic trials soon.
In September, Tim went to the ASCA (American Swim Coaches' Association) World Clinic in San Diego. He learned lots, surfed lots, and saw dolphins lots. He also (ahem, ahem) went to Tijuana without his cell phone and kept his girlfriend up worrying half the night. He came back tan and energized, and was re-excited about coaching his kids in the new season.
In November, Tim's teacher's union started making noises about going on strike because management was stiffing them on insurance and so forth, and on the 30th, they officially began a strike. Tim was out walking the picket lines for two weeks before the union reached an agreement. Tim gets this week off--paid--and will head back to work after the new year begins.
I think that really covers it all now. Love love love to all of you!
(To read about the swim club, click here.)
(To read about the strike, click here, here, and here.)
