Animal Crossing has Taken Over my Life

Since I'm in quarantine and I've already written about the major things in my life (gauntlet, graduation), there's only one more major life event to talk about. I hope it's the only time I do this but honestly I put way too many hours into this game.

Yes, it's Animal Crossing.

No, I'm not sorry.

Every day, I wake up and I open this game. I play it off and on throughout the day and at night I search for my favorite character who only comes once a week. She's an owl who loves stars and mythology and she's adorable. Her name is Celeste and she has a very large pink bow and her eyes become stars when she looks up at the sky.

I also love Sable, the seamstress who works in the clothing shop and gives me free patterns to customize my furniture with. She's a hedgehog. I love her.

Actually, everyone is adorable and I think that's why I can't stop playing.

I even wrote a paper about the game for one of my classes.

I love my island and I love being able to make it anything I want so today I'm literally just going to share photos. Enjoy.

I'm Applying for Grad School and it's Not for Theatre

This is a decision that has been a long time in the making but has only recently been finalized. Which is pretty lucky because the deadline is June 5th and that is soon.

I originally started this blog to share my journey as I transition from student actor to professional actor. Then the world turned upside down and every day I am seeing articles about theatres closing. The most recent one I read was about the Globe Theatre in London, a building that has stood since the year of my birth. Which is really weird.

Anyway, the Globe Theatre relies solely on donations and profits from shows and it's at risk for closure because there's no shows and no donations.

Unfortunately, it's not the only one facing permanent closure. My industry is not recovering from this, not for a long time.

So I had to make a very difficult decision. Originally, I was going to go to Detroit and try to make it big while my boyfriend studied lighting design. He's still going to be studying lighting design but I don't think there's going to be any stages to make it big on.

So I'm throwing out one last Hail Mary. The SALT Graduate Certificate in Audio Documentary Studies in Portland, Maine. When I first got into sound design, I looked at this college and had wanted to apply but decided it would be worth it to go to Detroit and see how things went.

It's no longer worth it to see how things go.

So hopefully, I'll be in Maine. It's only a three month program and it's basically supposed to toss me into the deep end of audio production, pitching stories to new organizations like NPR, and a lot of editing. Thankfully, I really love editing audio. It's how my storytelling is guided and it's a lot of fun.

I'm sad I won't be moving to Detroit with the person I love but I am hopeful that this is the right decision. Besides, it's only three months. Detroit will still be there in January.

Probably.

I (kind of) Graduated

Almost. I am very close.

This year is weird. We all know that. There's no final classes together or a walk across the stage. I didn't expect to be all that emotional about it but I was.

Augustana decided to do a drive-thru gauntlet and I received my cap and diploma cover in a box. Also a cupcake.

I had to go through that gauntlet alone. I did bring my dog. Harley was very happy to see people she didn't live with and very quickly jumped to my lap to say hello to my professors.

As I passed favorite professors, I kept it pretty cool. I smiled and laughed and paused for pictures. It wasn't until I was no longer surrounded by people that the tears started. Not for very long, I had to drive and keep a dog from jumping onto President Herseth Sandlin. Everyone's favorite part was Harley, I can't blame any of them.

I didn't really expect to cry though. Maybe it was because I was alone or just the entire situation but there was definitely a moment where I had to press on the breaks and cry for a bit.

It wasn't supposed to be like. Not for any of us. But I guess, technically, I still did it. I drove through the gauntlet and saw some of my favorite people. But I did it without my absolute favorite people. The family that was supposed to be here are quarantined, the friends aren't allowed to see each other, and my boyfriend is an entire state away.

Maybe I cried because I wasn't supposed to be alone for this. We weren't supposed to be wearing masks that hid our smiles and we definitely weren't supposed to be handed diploma covers in a box. It was a valiant attempt at closure, and I'm sure a lot of people got that. I'm not so sure about me, though.

Even if Harley did make every single person in the gauntlet melt. She's a pretty good dog.

photo by Jayna Fitzsimmons