Daily Duck

I’ve yet to see a deer…

Posted on December 20, 2014 by lifeisjustduckie

In keeping with the West Virginia homesick theme, I have to mention the other night. I was talking on the phone with my friend Tyler, who’s currently in New York, and as we were talking I was enjoying the cool night air. Back home I wouldn’t be outside at night this time of year without a heavy jacket, and probably a scarf and a hat, but only a light sweatshirt is needed so far in Tennessee.

Anyway, as Tyler and I were talking, I walked around the corner of the house and saw an opossum….in Memphis…in Tennessee.

Cute, in a scary stay-over-there kinda way.

Doesn’t seem too shocking, does it? In West Virginia, wild animals are all over the place. Our state is stereotyped for eating roadkill, of all kinds; we even have a roadkill festival.

For me, this sighting marked two things. 1) It was my first live wild animal sighting in Tennessee. (I did see a dead raccoon within a couple of weeks here.) 2) If opossums live here, then maybe there are more wild animals (not counting that one raccoon, he could’ve been a fluke). If there are more wild animals, they have to live somewhere, right? If they have to live somewhere, there must be wild green space, right?

So really, I’m just excited about the prospect of forest, or uncultivated green-ness.

I make it sound like I’ve never been to a city before Memphis. I have been to plenty of other cities. I lived in Morgantown last year and I thought that was a city…I never expected to be this confused living in a city though. I expected to panic about driving, and get lost all the time. I even expected Mom to tell me about all the crimes that happened here in the last year and a half. I just didn’t expect the city to be so grey.

And I’ve yet to see a deer.

Categories: Daily Duck | Tags: daily duck, opossums, possums, west virginia, WV | Leave a comment

Oh the hills…

Posted on December 14, 2014 by lifeisjustduckie

I made this as a present for one of my best friends, Kurtis.

I’m not saying that Memphis is flat…but it’s no Mountain State. I never really thought about how much the land impacts my mood. I should have known that being away from my hills would zap a lot of my energy though. I had a folklore class that talked about the ‘sense of place’ that is so important to Appalachians, it’s one of the reasons that so many people never want to leave home.

I’m one of those people. Living in a city is so oddly disconcerting…I just want to find a hill and roll down it. People would probably think I was crazy, but I’m used to that sort of thing.

And missing home doesn’t mean I think any less of Memphis. This place is great. There’s always something happening or something to do, which is refreshing. Back in Fairmont it seemed like we were always trying to find something to do, and yes it would sometimes mean going to Wal-Mart to walk around. At the same time, all this bustle makes me long for a back porch to sit on…

Having this internship has made me realize quite a lot of things in the short time that I’ve been here, but the point that stands out most is how important West Virginia is in my life. It has shaped my worldview in so many ways, mostly good but some that I’m working on changing.

One thing I know for sure, I’ll live in a lot of places before I settle down, but West Virginia will always be home.

Categories: Daily Duck | Tags: art, homesick, west virginia, WV | Leave a comment

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Posted on November 14, 2014 by lifeisjustduckie

Oh. My. Goodness. As the title implies there’s been quite a few changes in my life recently.

Sorry it seems like I abandoned ship. I didn’t. But guys…I moved. If you remember, I had already moved back to Fairmont earlier this year. I was pretty content. Working at Colasessano’s, a pizza place, and taking two classes at Fairmont State. I was actually doing pretty well, probably better with my classes than I had when I was there before…oops…

ANYWAYS!

I kept getting SETC’s e-mails for new job postings and one came up for a costume internship at Playhouse on the Square. No big, I’d already applied and gotten shot down a few times this year, from internships and one real sweet Americorps gig, but this was my #1 choice theatre at SETC…so I had to panic and rush around to rewrite/piece together a new cover letter and resume. Well it worked!

I GOT HIRED!

Then the fun part came, and I had roughly 2.5 weeks to get my life in order. I somehow, with the help of my parents and my fella, got my apt sorted/packed/and put in storage. It was crazy! Sidenote, I have waaaaaaaay too much stuff, but we’ll talk about that later. My fella, Anthony, and I loaded my car up and I embarked on a 2 day trip to Memphis, Tennessee. I broke the 12 hour drive up by stopping in Lexington, Kentucky. I have a cousin who lives there, as well as a college friend who works for the children’s theatre.

So, I’ve been living in Memphis for about a month…why not post sooner? Well the answer is my computer died…kaput, no green light, nothing. It lasted me almost 6 years before kicking the bucket, so I am very grateful for it. But Kelly, how are you typing this…?

I GOT A NEW COMPUTER, YA’LL!!!

It is so very pretty and shiny, and a pretty early Christmas present from my parents. Yay! Thanks Mom and Dad!

So long story short, I have relocated farther south and I’m enjoying it so far. We got our first dusting of snow this morning, which is apparently quite uncommon, but I found it reassuring. This is a real brief summary of my life the last couple of months, hopefully I’ll settle into a new rhythm soon.

Categories: Daily Duck | Tags: daily duck, new, theatre | Leave a comment

Up, Up, and Away!

Posted on August 22, 2014 by lifeisjustduckie

Wednesday was my first day back to school!

I know, but I’ve graduated! A whole year ago, where’s my big girl job??? Well getting a big girl job has proved to be a bit of a challenge this go round but I am working on it so I’ll be all grown up and employed next year…(and not in food services)

I went to SETC this year and did Job Contact Services, it was a great time and I had a few interviews but didn’t get any internships. So I’ve decided to take this year and work on my portfolio/resume, get a job, save up some money, and good lord try to declutter my apartment! I seem to have so much more stuff when I moved into a single apartment.

I spent my summer working as an ECI (Extension Camping Instructor) at different 4-H camps in West Virginia. It was a blast! I worked at Doddridge County, Marshall County, and Mingo County as well as volunteering down in Mercer County. I had quite a summer and not a lot of computer time as I’m sure you noticed, which I’m planning on remedying this coming month. Speaking of summer, I was at a camp without water for a day and a half, saw a raccoon get shot, and felt like I swam to more places than I walked it rained so much…but I wouldn’t trade any of my weeks at camp!

On to school!

I am taking Costume History and Design, which I am super excited about! I have been waiting for this class to be offered basically all of my undergrad and now I’m actually taking it. So far we’ve done quite a bit of gesture drawing and just started on proportions with the 8 head method. It’s just me and two other ladies, as well as Troy our professor.

My other class is a special topics class The World of The Teaching Artist. It’s all about ways to be a good teaching artist (more on that later). So far we’ve played quite a few theatre games, which are always fun. This class is bigger than my design class and has 8 students and Fran, our professor. Today we talked a little about content standards, those things are simultaneously super easy and super hard to understand. I kinda feel like I have to stand a certain way, tilt my head, and squint to get them. Next week I have to do an activity with the class, I’m not too worried about it though I think it’ll be fun.

Oh and I found this fantastical skirt at the local goodwill sometime last week! I’ve had some great finds lately and this is one of my favourites.

Categories: Daily Duck | Tags: 4-H, camping, daily duck, fun times, WV | Leave a comment

Me Made May 2014 is Winning…

Posted on May 20, 2014 by lifeisjustduckie

So I have discovered that for as crafty as I am I have very few me mades that work for this season/whole/pieces of an outfit. Luckily my pledge hasn’t been the most difficult to keep but sometimes I feel like it is winning.

Last week I traveled to Minnesota with my parents to watch my brother and sister graduate from their band instrument repair tech program. It was exciting! I don’t remember the last time I’ve been in a car for that many miles, even going to Alabama in March only took one day of driving. I was very good and planned ahead by making a trip to the yarn store so I would have a project to work on. I bought this beautiful variegated yarn for a tank top that I hope to finish by the end of the month.

The week before our trip I was able to attend the theatre awards at my alma mater, Fairmont State. These awards are called the Pappy’s after a member of the faculty from some years ago. While I had plenty of dresses that could work, I hadn’t refashioned anything in a while and knew I could fulfill part of my MMM14 pledge while I was at it. Unfortunately I was so excited I only have one before picture, after a cut had been made…

One day I’ll remember the before shot…

As you can see it was a full length spaghetti strap gown which I shortened, but don’t worry I used that bottom portion to add sleeves!

Pose, pose, pose!

As you can see a great time was had by all! And the night got sillier as it went on, ending with an impromptu photo shoot at my friend Tyler’s house. I think this dress makes a wonderful addition to my refashioned wardrobe and I had a fun time making it. I hope to refashion some more outfits soon, I have a stack of clothes waiting for me to get my mojo back.

I’ve been a little hard on myself with the pledge, which is not what it’s about at all and I want to start having more fun with it. This dress definitely helped with the fun part.