KEVIN: It's Mormon tech support!

How have I made two trips to London without buying a St. Paul's Cathedral snowglobe, a la Mary Poppins? (Besides the likely fact of them being at least 30 pounds, or $60?)

Related: I'm glad RJ took a few full pictures of the Mary Poppins costume from last night, because I haven't liked my Halloween costume so much since I was the Titanic victim. And, okay, that was only a few years ago, also, but there's a pretty thin patch after that in backward chronology.

I'm starting to get lovely silver hairs in the same spot on top of my head, which is okay in a Rogue from X-Men sort of way and frightening in an only twenty-six way.

If anyone has any papier mache projects you'd like to suggest, I have a jar of leftover paste sitting in my fridge.

"You'd think you'd learn" moments from sliding under the parking lot fence to save time: (1) scraping and bruising my knee (2) ripping a giant hole in the back of my jeans, causing a return to the apartment. I bet I still do it again sometime this week, though.

Jumbled enough yet? Probably. Besides, I have a zoo to get to today.

Speaking of '80s films...

Five year old me is all a-flutter tonight, as she realized that someday, twenty-six year old her not only got to see her Family Ties crush*, Michael J. Fox, on the big screen, but also come home with a full-size Back to the Future poster.

If only she knew twenty-six Hannah would be so in love with London that she'd have no wall space left, though. That part's kinda a bummer to kindergarten Hannah.


(*People of the world: have you heard my mother tell the story about my childhood crush on Michael J. Fox? It involves laminated pictures under pillows. Ask her sometime if you require amusement.)

In the '80s movie that was my dream last night, the college campus queen of parties had died and everyone was scrambling to become the new queen (or king) of parties ... only to have her reemerge (from a bright white coffin, no less) ten days later and declare her successor (previously her best friend and second in charge of parties) unable to throw a party with pizazz.

John Cusack was there as the male lead (of course he was, it's an '80s movie as dream), but I don't remember exactly what he was up to. I *do* recall that his best friend, Mitchell, was totally chasing after Cusack's sister, Hannah (hi!). In some sort of '80s movie turned Broadway musical twist, he kept calling me up, declaring his feelings in song...and always when I was unable to answer him back more than a "yes" or "uh-huh." Hijinks!

Why did this stick in my mind, you ask? Now that I'm awake, I'm trying to remember the '80s actor who played Mitchell because I recognized him mid-dream as *someone.* For now I'm sticking with Anthony Edwards a la "The Sure Thing," but be prepared for me to suddenly exclaim aloud at a future point when I realize who it actually was.

seven things to do today

Since this has turned into a list-mclistersen sort of blog (back to the roots, eh?), a breakdown of how I spent my day off (versus how I'd planned to use it):

* cleaned my bedroom - because it turns into a kingdom of piles when I'm busy at work in the evenings (somehow I can't justify messiness when I'm just busy at the Rotunda), and I no longer had room for new piles. Now everything that belongs in the closet is in the closet, everything that belongs on the bookshelf is on a shelf of some kind, and all the bits and pieces that needed to end up fixed are actually in the mending basket. (How did I turn into the sort of person who has a mending basket?)

* fix things in mending basket - isn't it enough that I know they're there?

* catch up on Netflix, DVR, and other loaned items - I probably lost half the dramatic tension Mr. DiCaprio built up by falling alseep in the middle of Shutter Island last night, but that's what I get for trying to watch a 2+ hour movie after my non-stop weekend. After some playful sassing in the booth yesterday, I also got around to Sunday in the Park with George (so it can finally go back to D-B). It's not my favorite Sondheim, but the end does make me cry. (Also, hello Brent Spiner, wh0 caused me to pause the movie until I could IBDB confirm it was in fact him.)

* go grocery shopping - because I need milk, yo. (Also, bread. And grapes while they're on sale.)

* reorganize kitchen cabinets - this ended up being not so much reorganizing as "moving boxes so everything fit in again, regardless of whether it was supposed to be in that particular place or not." This will prove poor planning when I need to bake something for the holidays.

* pick an outfit for the company Christmas photo - I should maybe do that next

* clean the bathroom - we're about to have company in for the Hatchback-Weatherbee wedding, which is a good reason to stop ignoring the fact that our bathroom is getting a little out of hand. Unfortunately, I chose long, involving movies to watch over scrubbing the ring off the tub. Sorry, Tink. I promise to take care of it before Friday.

Did I actually hit seven items? Hot-cha! I was just referencing my second favorite group of Canadian men (first favorite). ... and now I'm just watching other Kids in the Hall videos. Guess tomorrow's picture outfit will be a frantic morning decision instead.

some even from before I started sneaking in candy

Some movie related memories (in no particular order):

* It's my third viewing of Mulan in theaters, and I still jump when Shan-Yu pops out of the snow after the mountain pass battle. This is with reminding myself that he's about to pop out, you know where, don't jump when it happens, the falcon is swooping--ack! (Side note: I was convinced that Mulan would be nominated for Best Picture since it was totally better than Beauty and the Beast and yet had earned a nomination.)

* Last showing of Pirates of the Caribbean 2 of the night (which is a fairly awful movie, being a sequel and prequel of sorts all in one film), and end up sitting next to the Cute Boy I wanted to sit next to...but sharing an armrest with the poison ivy-covered arm, which led to the obvious awkward. He does let me eat all the popcorn.

* Though not a big fan of the Lord of the Rings movies, I find myself waiting in line for several hours for the final film while dressed as some sort of elvish person (sans pointy ears, as I have none). The rest of the friends I'm with are HUGE fans and are cleaning up at the pre-movie trivia contest. Later I'll be mad at the movie for having approximately fifteen false endings, but for now I want to use my wool cape as a blanket.

* In what will be the start of many late night movies to come, I find a last minute ride to the 10 p.m. (before the midnight showing!) Snakes on a Plane and meet with future Houstonite friends Will, B., and Dave. They let me make a matching sharpie t-shirt. People are dressed as planes and/or snakes, everyone is talking back to the screen, and no lines can be heard after Samuel L. Jackson's big catchphrase because the cheering is too loud. It's the most fun anyone ever had at any movie.

* We go to see 101 Dalmations (live action) because my cousin is OBSESSED with dalmations, but arrive too late to sit anywhere but the very front row. Afterward I joke that the puppies were as big as my head. This is incorrect; they were bigger.

here's your key

Last night's dream was some bizarro-world combination of Louis Sacher books, Doctor Who's "Blink," arson, architecture, and math class. Yes, math class. Let's just say that I'm more freaked out about angel statues than ever.

brought to you by the letters A, S, and M

Some lessons learned this week:
* One of the few superstitions I don't hold with is whistling in the theater. Sorry, stage hands of old.

* I think I really wouldn't be long-term happy doing a job not in theater. See for example: Hannah sitting at a scheduling desk and only working one show/Hannah working two shows at once and not working a scheduling desk. (The extra variables of scheduling, children's theater tech, and the current Mainstage certainly have their own affects, but still.)

* I had a third one earlier, but then Blogger ate my post. We'll go with instead "Translating cue calls into French is both educational and awesome. Also, fraught with mispronunciation."

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

This day started out kinda questionable, but has [mostly] only been up from stepping out the door. Thanks for being way more awesome than yesterday, October Sixth. I appreciate you, water bill guy, Rotunda rehearsals, two p.m. mail pick-up, Moxy Fruvous's "Live Noise" album, inexplicably free cable movie channels, voicemails once I realize that had been my phone ringing, and the cherry print dress from college that still fits.

HEAR YE!

This is to serve as record that today, 10/5/10, I sat down, composed a full letter*, and had it stamped to go out the next day. So much better than, well, the entire summer.


*Okay, so it's just a postcard, but I write really small.

This is me clearly not cleaning my cupboards, baking pumpkin bread, or doing anything else that I said I was going to do today.

(I am about to fold a load of laundry, if that counts.)

It doesn't matter if you're in the rural Midwest or downtown Houston, line-dried sheets just smell better.

My brain is formulating (based on my keyring, of all things) a post about how Houston has brought me closer to a lot of my childhood nerdiness, such as the Pompeii exhibit a few years back and the proximity to NASA. It in turn fuels a larger thing about how I kinda do love Houston, which was a scary epiphany for awhile. I really should feel nothing but grateful to a town which gave me another reason to love cheese, but you know how it goes. Much like a multi-series of how I fell in love with London, these posts will likely never make it to the actual blog. They're fun for me, though, in a class writing assignment way.

DVD Special Features, I love you.

On the docket for tomorrow: co-baby-sitting Little Monkey, special matinee show, popping in to birthday party (happily down the street from the theater), back in for evening show, catching up on whatever I can on the DVR before it explodes

On the docket for today: eventually getting out of bed and heading off for work, editing the ETC guide for the Rotunda show, evening show tonight, forcing self into bed early to prepare for Little Monkey

There was something [less boring] I wanted to post about, but I don't remember what anymore. For as often as I scribble things down on my hand, there's at least one I don't. Probably more. Sorry, universe.