Quick! Somebody find me one of those "things to do before you're 40" lists!

What is UP, last week of my 30s? 

(That should cover us for another year of posting, right?)

   

Here's this year's post, I guess

My plan for Monday had been to sit outside and read, eat something picnic-y (or at least "not my regular kitchen"-y), but the weather forecast looks like rain, so, now I'm looking for alternatives. Nerd that I am, the first thing that came to mind for "places with a window so I could still read while being *near* outside" was the library. (Yes, I did call myself a nerd - aloud - after having this idea.) 

Meanwhile, thirteen shows in, sixteen still to go, number of dead actors/crew still zero. (Not for lack of trying, but still.) Number of dead globes? One. Number of dead vases? Three, which feels like a miracle (or else that tape really is that good). Number of years removed from my life? Not yet known, but I should still make it to a new one - with or without an outside picnic - on Monday.

BUM BUM-BUM BUM, BUM, BUM!

If you wanna know how my sanity is going today, I've had Oklahoma's "The Farmer and the Cowman" stuck in my head ALL. DAY. Except it's not the full song, but the last two lines of the chorus, over and over and over. 

 Also it's only today, when I tried to purge the song by listening to it in its entirety and thus (more importantly) looked up the lyrics so I could post about this somewhere, that I realized I've learned the lyrics wrong. I have always heard "Cowboys dance with the farmer's daughters / Farmers dance with the ranchers' COWS." (Nope. It's "ranchers' GALS.") 

And sure, that means it's a half-rhyme with the previous section (pals/cows), but I still think it's a far superior lyric choice. They're all fighting! *Of course* one group would tell the other to dance with livestock! I thought that was the joke, and also thought it was funny enough to be sustained through multiple uses. 

 I plan to ignore the fact that I'm wrong about this lyric and stick with "cow." 

 [I love that this is my first post in about two years. All the things I could've posted in the rest of 2020 and then 2021, but nope. Ranchers' cows.]

"Anyway, I love you, darlin'"

I have a new laptop, so it's not a big surprise that I'm trying to reorganize files as I transfer them over. What *WAS* a surprise was finding that there's now readily available software to convert all the saved audio memos that I have from two cellphones back into a playable format again ... and the Sissy Pulley voicemail from 10+ years ago that just left me a sobbing mess.

Record all your loved ones. Sweet heavens, record all your loved ones.

Again doing that "answering emails late at night, but scheduling them to send like I answered them tomorrow" thing

Gal who labeled her file as her "smizing" headshot - let's be friends.

Guy who included "loses keys easily" on his special skills - let's get married. (But not actually. Honesty is good, but so is keeping track of your important belongings.)

Non-Marketable Life Skills

- ability to find a lost set of keys, no matter the size of the rehearsal space

- generally has a lozenge or mint in a pocket somewhere

- can stay upright on bus without holding anything

[And putting off finishing show reports, based on what I'm currently doing...]

Things I Love About Theater:

* Walking around an empty, dark space in the quiet beforehand.

* Listening to the banter between everyone prior to a show start, as they're prepping or waiting for show start.

* Being presented with a problem that requires an on-the-fly answer, and knowing the answer will come, often faster than I think it will.

* Hearing an audience audibly react to whatever just happened onstage.