Positive feedback

Since her previous obedience school failure, Tasha has started attending an new class using a new approach involving positive reinforcement. That is, she gets a tasty tidbit whenever she exhibits the behaviour she is being trained for.

During training today, she was really good. She got a lot of treats. She got so many treats in fact, that when she came back home she turned into a barf fountain. She made horrible noises and I had to clean up four impressive piles of upchuck thoughtfully deposited onto the two study carpets. -_-

Oh, you want pictures? Trust me, you do NOT want pictures.

Briefing drama

Awaiting an important briefing at Goodman Arts Centre. Arrived an hour early so keeping company with a peach melba and an earl grey tea at Cafe Melba to pass the time. Some nice touches in the dessert: a raspberry topping, blueberries and almond shavings. However, not enough ice-cream and too much grenadine syrup made for a sour-bitter last spoonful.

At the briefing in the GAC Black Box with my esteemed colleagues representing their different institutions.

The highlight of the briefing was the announcement of some format changes to the Festival. Some people do not adapt well to change. Quite a bit of whining and moaning from a loud couple of crybabies (I'm sorry to say), as if preparing their defence in case they achieved an undesirable result this year.

A major objection was that the lighting rig will be in use by other performances throughout the run-up to the Festival. While GAC promises that the rig will be set to a standard default, there are worries that the set-up may not be in exact alignment for both our tech rehearsal and performance dates. Then they went all non sequitur about what kind of values we are teaching our kids if the performance doesn't go according to how they rehearsed it. O_o

First of all, the kids will have the opportunity to exercise their values when things don't go according to plan. Values of resilience, resourcefulness, teamwork and adaptability come into play under less-than-perfect conditions. Second, the kids are performing in an actual professional space with real-world constraints, compared to performing in what is basically a test-tube of a campus venue, luxurious as it may be. Third, get over yourselves and your egos. Set an example for your kids and deal with the problem with the resources available rather than just demand your way based on your moral high ground and shrillness of voice.

But then, we're drama instructors. We're artists. We're temperamental and passionate about our jobs. We're demanding and to a large extent, perfectionist; otherwise we wouldn't be doing what we're doing. Tantrums are par for the course and some of us are more diva than most. Gotta love us all!