Quote From McQueen

Quote From McQueen by brimalotke

Wedding Fever

Wedding Fever by brimalotke

Peach Wedding

Peach Wedding by brimalotke 

Success

{A small pastry from when I was in Roanne.}

This post is a little different, it's basically me just contemplating where to go after my contract with the Opera Theatre is over. Am I successful? Will I be successful? Those types of questions and such.

"Être homme, c'est précisément être responsable. C'est connaître la honte en face d'une misère qui ne semblait pas dépendre de soi. C'est être fier d'une victoire que les camarades ont remportée. C'est sentir, en posant sa pierre, que l'on contribue à bâtir le monde." -Antoine de Saint Exupéry, from "Terre des Hommes"

This quote, from the author of "Le Petit Prince," can be translated to:
“To be a man is to be responsible: to be ashamed of miseries you did not cause; to be proud of your comrades' victories; to be aware, when setting one stone, that you are building a world.”

To me, success is really hard to define and put into words. Now you may think this quote has nothing to do with success, but being aware of what's happening around you, how to be a better person, and how to just do something that has an impact on others- that can all be described as successful. Of course, with this then any small achievement can be success. But when you're struggling to see if you've been successful, then it gets tricky because for most, you define your successes based on others around you. For me, I like to think I've been successful so far. I graduated from a big ten college and I landed a great first job after college. The hard part is going from there and trying to feel like you haven't become a one-hit wonder. I'm going to keep pursuing my dreams, and if it takes me a while to become a costume designer then it takes me a while. I'm going to try my best not to define my success against others or against time. We'll see what happens in the future.

What Does A First Hand Do?

The real question is what doesn't a first hand do?
So far with my experience at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis I've learned a tremendous amount and I think I now know what the role of a first hand is in the shop setting. It's a little bit of everything. I do some small patterning (for example cape hoods), a lot of cutting out fabric, I do hand sewing, sew garments together, do alterations, help in fittings, keep everything organized and make sure it's all labeled, and there's a lot more. It's hard to narrow it all down but it really is a little bit of everything- whatever the team needs done.
I'm enjoying my time here with OTSL. It's very fast paced, you're always working, and the people are fun. I'm still leaning towards becoming a costume designer (ideal goal is costume design for movies or TV) but working on operas is pretty wonderful.

Going on Week 3

I'll keep it short this time, but it's been amazing working for the Opera Theatre of St. Louis. I'm insanely grateful to my professors who have allowed me to pursue this wonderful opportunity. I am loving working here and I enjoy seeing all of the progress. I've been very busy between work and the extra classes, finishing up my regular classes at Purdue, and then the regular adult life stuff such as grocery shopping, working out, and making sure the apartment is tidy. I'm hoping to post a lot of progress stuff this coming weekend. It's rough to stay up to date with having only 1 day a week off but I shall do it and write some neat posts.