Fun New Facts

Last night was a rough night at the artist's community. I might write about it tomorrow or I might just move on and be thankful that no one is dead. I am exhausted right now, but I can report the following facts:

I gave my notice today. I am moving out on January 11th.

I don't know exactly where I'm going on January 11th. I just know that I can't stay here.

The fundraiser I mentioned in my last post was miraculously successful and we raised enough money as a community to save our two friends from being evicted. I am in awe of the final score...
Human Kindness: 2
Eviction: 0

I also learned tonight that sometimes, when things seem overwhelming and complicated, being a gay man's date to a Christmas party at a bowling alley is the best thing you can do for your mental health.

More coherent thoughts later. It's bed time for Lauren.

Peace and love.

Merry Christmas Forever

I'm feverishly working on Goat Man again today, but I feel the need to take a short break and write this post.

I don't think I've ever written about the guy that lives across the hall from me. I don't see him very often - he's quite elusive and stays in his room a lot. He keeps weird hours and isn't always very social. He's thirty-something, has big black glasses, and spends his time writing Hollywood crime novels and drawing wonderfully twisted comics. He greets me enthusiastically whenever he sees me (elaborate hand gestures are usually involved). Sometimes when I'm have band practice in my room, he'll yell ridiculous praises down the hall (usually something along the lines of "YEAH! ROCK AND ROLLLLL!!!" or "YOU GUYS ARE F#$%ING OUTRAGEOUS!!!").

Anyway, for the past week and a half, he's been wishing everyone a Merry Christmas repeatedly. Sometimes, it will be in a weird, Tiny Tim-esque voice. Sometimes, it will be in a jolly, Santa-style fashion. Sometimes it will just be a "I can't get enough of Christmas! Merry Christmas! MERRY CHRISTMAS FOREVER!"

I think "Merry Christmas Forever" is my new favorite catch phrase.

In other news, I recorded some demo tracks for Goat Man today. It's been a weird day. I've been going back and forth between being totally excited and confident about the project to feeling overwhelmed and unsure about the darn thing. Also, the feeling that I'm just plain crazy has not subsided. I think it's gotten more intense.

Apparently, this insanity is noticeable. I was editing some audio tracks in the kitchen and The Poet handed me a folded up piece of paper. "Here, refer to this from time to time when you need to," he says, then leaves to go smoke. I unfold the paper. It looks like this:

Good to know, I guess.

Anyway, I should get back to work. Or sleep.

You know, I think I would feel less crazy if I had hot water and could take a hot shower whenever I wanted to. Argh. I'm so greasy right now! Ewwwww.

But I digress. Over and out, amigos. Or should I say - Merry Christmas Forever.

It's Official: Lauren Really Is Insane This Time

Lauren The Snowflake

So Christmas was wonderful.

It was a different sort of Christmas but a lovely one.  I was once again reminded of how lucky I am to have so many great, supportive people in my life (i.e: family, friends, hippy neighbors, blogger friends that live in my computer, etc.).

I've also committed myself to doing something insane.

Remember awhile ago when I was babbling on about the rock musical I've had rolling around in my brain for ages?  You know, the one entitled "Goat Man Is All Alone Tonight (And So Am I)"?  Well, I'm going to finish it.  I'm going write the whole darn thing, record demo tracks, compile a character list and synopsis, and ship it all to the east coast by the 10th of January.  There's a residency program of sorts that I'm going to go out on a limb and apply for.  Honestly, I doubt I'll get in since I feel like I barely know what I'm doing, but I'm putting my nose to the grindstone and trying anyway.  If I get it, I'll get to have my play produced this summer potentially.  And if I don't get it, I'll still have a mostly finished musical on my hands.  I think I'm a girl that needs a deadline for things, so it's a win-win scenario.

That being said, you may not see me in the blogosphere a lot for the next few days.  I'm descending into hermit mode.

Oh, and my hot water is gone and I've spent most of the day in my sweatpants.  This seems to be the cliche starving artist part of my life.

Sometimes I feel like I'm a completely different program than the rest of the world.  I felt like that today especially.  Though most people have reacted positively to my Goat Man idea, I am yet to find someone who really understands my vision for it.  I feel like I'm a little bit insane.

But I also feel like The Universe itself is yelling at me and telling me to hurry up and write this crazy Goat Man thing.  In the past three days, there have been so many little random moments and conversations that seem to be screaming "LAUREN, WRITE THAT GOAT MAN THING!"  


So here it goes.

The Pipe Monster

Strange noises are coming from the attic tonight. It's been this way for the past few days. There will be a rattling, then a thump, then a strange knocking. They say it's the pipes. They say they'll fix it later ("they" being the management). The first night it happened, no one in the building could sleep and we were all in the kitchen freaking out. We didn't know what was going on. Were we going to explode? Was the place haunted after all? Was it another weird practical joke from a hipster guy downstairs? The answer to all of those questions is "no" - or so they say. It's a lot of noises for just being "trouble with the pipes." It's a little unsettling if you ask me.

Thump thump thump. There it goes again. Sounds like some drunken animal with hoofs is sporadically parading around up there. People have been calling it "The Pipe Monster."

In other news, I went to a Christmas party at a stranger's house tonight. TMBG Girl dragged me along so I could meet a guy I might play music with. I generally hate parties, but it wasn't bad. Well, we were awkwardly early and sat around drinking wine for an hour before anyone even showed up. Once people started showing up, naturally they were all people I didn't know. But it was a "Gingerbread House Party," so I occupied myself with gluing graham crackers together with frosting and piling gumdrops on top (just like third grade!). That made things less awkward.

About half of the people at the party got really stoned before they sat down to make gingerbread houses. So you can imagine that there were some good ones (please note intended sarcasm). TMBG Girl and I actually had two of the better ones.

Mine is the dumpy one on the left. TMBG Girl's is next door - she titled it "Martha Stewart's Crack House."

We won silly prizes and brought them back to share with people in the kitchen. We also brought back my gingerbread house (Martha Stewart's Crack House wasn't really in a state to be easily transported anywhere) and left it in front of The Poet's door. He was pretty stoked when he found it.

Thump thump. There goes that Pipe Monster again.

I should sleep.

I have a lot to report though. I actually have a rather long post in the works entitled "Sausage Fest 2010 and My New Hipster 'Boyfriend.'" I was hoping to get that up today, but it's taking me a long time to write it for some reason (I've been in a little bit of a slump lately I guess). So you're stuck reading this mundane little blurb for now. But that post will be up soon, so there's something to look forward to (or to dread...).

Anyway, that's all for now. Peace out, amigos.

And if The Pipe Monster eats me in my sleep...I love you all!