Countdown to Thirty: Four Days

Four more days until I turn thirty. Grown-up goal for the day: focus on prioritizing, both small things and larger things.

I'm going on vacation next week with Jake and my mom and dad. Mom's birthday is exactly two weeks before mine, and so we're taking the opportunity to celebrate big. In Disney World! I'm super excited.

I'll be happy not to have to think about anything but family and fun for a week, but I'm also a workaholic. I love my job--it's not hard to in my position--but sometimes my efforts spill a little too much into my home life. I check my work email too much from home. I stress out about things at the theatre when I'm not there. But in my department, we all work on the weekends.

I realized yesterday that in order to leave the office for a week and have peace of mind about it, I actually have to finish things. And my checklist seems like a mile long. (In reality, it only takes up a white board.) I also have to realize that I have three days before I leave. That's plenty of time to finish what I need to, in a way that will be satisfactory to me. (I don't like to do things half-assed.)

I'm also thinking about all of the exciting opportunities that have presented themselves to me outside of my office. In the last year, I've started to freelance a little bit, and I'm loving being able to work with adults and develop new works of theatre. I'm still working on understanding scheduling and how to balance projects--a couple of weeks ago, it seemsed like I only saw Jake for five minutes in the whole week! But it's important to make connections with theatre companies, directors, and playwrights, in addition to reading new works and seeing as much theatre as possible. Being a Helen Hayes judge certainly helps with the last part. Getting your name and work known in the community is incredibly important in the beginning of a freelance career, especially when you're a dramaturg...because who the hell knows what that is? :)

This weekend, I spoke with a director about potentially working on a reading series, and I have a training today to be a script reader for The Inkwell. I've loved working with that company in the past, and I'm excited to read submissions for them. At the same time, it's important to spend some quality time with Jake every day, even if it's for a few minutes. We try to work it out so that he's doing homework while I'm doing work, but we're still trying to figure it out. We had a great time watching RuPaul's Drag Race last night, and dinners together are a real pleasure we get to have almost every night. I also like to go out with friends...Go figure! :)

So, today: prioritize things that need to be done at work today, tomorrow, and Friday, and think about future gigs.