Having your local team in the American league is hard.

I may or may not have just looked up whether the Cardinals were playing a New York team while I would be in New York.

tech week, day two: all my fingernails are chomped

It's after ten p.m., I'm singing along to 'Moulin Rouge' while working on an Excel spreadsheet - is this junior year all over again?

(Um, please join me using this somewhat illegal method.)

My first real injury of tech week* occurred today when I banged my knee sliding down a fireman pole. Fortunately this was not the swinging vine from "The Jungle Book" all over again, as I'm pretty sure my knee will heal and not creak when the weather changes from now on, as compared to my left pinky. [In other news, the set has a fireman pole.]




*strike/load-in doesn't count ... unless it's a wickedly good injury

Last night I dreamed that someone was taking away all my favorite parts of my job so I could purely focus on all the things that turn me into a Tiny Rage Monster. Now I'm at the theater for a two-show day. Should go well.

I'm glad that I'm not in charge today, as I'm basically going to spend all time when I'm not doing something for this show working on my next show, as I'm about to be in tech. This includes, but is not limited to:

- currently working on blocking paperwork while I can spread out in my office
- working on props tracking during the show, as I figured out yesterday how to balance everything on the part of the soundboard that I'm not using
- taking home glow tape to cut while watching TV
- holding an animation marathon in my apartment tomorrow to serve as background to whatever of the above doesn't get completed today


I'm so proud that I still have [most] of my fingernails currently, though I imagine I will not be able to say the same thing this time next week. So much for adulthood.

(sorry, this is an incredibly long single sentence)

Tonight I called the show by running both the light and sound boards (normally, for those not in the know, you only cover one, as it's best to not over-task your brain), and while it was one of the more terrifying things I've ever done (you can run all the cues all you want, but it's completely different to do so with the actors - and even more so when the first time with the actors is also in front of an audience), it was also more reaffirming to my stage management career than anything else I've tackled in the past season.

everybody's life has got static

I'm full of the allergies, there's a sizeable splinter still in my finger from Saturday's strike (which I'm fairly sure is either going to stay there together or cause me to pass out when I pull it), and I start with two separate shows this week. Bring it, spring!

three

This time tomorrow, I'll be on a plane to the north.

This time tonight, I'm eating creamy jalapeno on my couch while watching an episode of "Legends of the Hidden Temple" after having done a bit of city gardening.

This time three years ago, I was gearing up for a second show after having moved into a new apartment in the morning. I was about four hours from coming home to a land of endless piles. (That sentence could repeat on many another day in my life.)

(also because I'm off Monday)

I may* or may not be still awake because I just did my taxes and (now that I have a refund number) am looking at dresses for an event in June that I'm not even officially attending yet.




[*May. Definitely "may."]

magical, mystical three-day weekend

Sleeping in until 8:15 a.m. may not seem like much of an accomplishment, until you remember that it's (A) me and (B) I'd already conked out before eleven last night. However, I'm not sure how great of sleep it was, seeing as my dreams were essentially calling past shows in a battle royale of technical failures, line flubs, and FOH mishaps. So that was fun.


I wish I could remember what caused the cut over my right eye (as you'd think I'd remember such an action), but I'm going to assume it's another casualty of Monday's strike and hope that I perhaps get a cool scar out of it.



In completely unrelated news, it just hit me that I made lunch plans with someone at a mainly Irish pub on St. Patrick's Day. I think I'm going to ride that one out and see what happens.

I have bacon bits AND sour cream right now, so it's BAKED POTATO TIME, Y'ALL!

* I've spent all day bouncing between re-reading a favorite book and watching movies. Hurrah! Best day off work ever!

* Yesterday it was pointed out that I always celebrate whenever I perfectly time out calling the voiceover cues (which have the slightest lag on the front) with when the audience will stop laughing/clapping from the previous scene enough to hear the sound cue, as soon as possible to avoid adding extra time on the show. It's not easy, I don't hit it every single time--but, man!, when I do--yeah, I'm gonna celebrate. On the plus side, this is helpful because I've been a little burnt out on stage management for awhile. (Some of this is very likely from working at a resident house, where I get a constant paycheck but don't always work on productions I care about.) Even if there's just a little spark right now, it'll hopefully glow again.

* Anyway.

* What is it about Sandra Bullock? She's in at least three movies that stop me completely when I see they're on cable somewhere (such as "While You Were Sleeping," which I'm watching right now). Dang--four: "The Lake House" somehow gets me every time, too. [I don't have anything else here. It just hit me a little. I'm a sucker for her movies.]

* Excuse me while I watch the wedding disaster, bake some cookies (because my apartment is freezing), and finish this book.

[I think we've all had this basic incident with our job]

* receives email
* reads cryptic response
* thinks "okay, that sort of answers my question"
* continues reading
* thinks "wait, what does that even mean - that has nothing to do with this"
* thinks "if I ask about that, will I like the answer? Will I suddenly be in charge of it? Will it be worth my brain power to get involved?"
* files email

lumos / nox

I dreamed that my old middle school was now housing all the props and set dressing from the Harry Potter movies, and (of course) they were all actually magically, and (of course) you could tour the stacks ... on broomstick.

I know that I am a responsible adult this morning, as I am not currently still asleep and waiting to see what popped up next.

2131

Why yes, I seem to still be awake at slightly-past-two-a.m. because I'm listening to movie score snippets on itunes, trying to directly identify the single piece of music I adored in a movie I saw one year ago.

I think it's safe to say my life took a weird turn in January. 2014's gonna be a strange one.

(And now I'm trying to do *four* things at the same time...)

Today I wrote my meeting notes on the paper wrapper from a pack of copy paper because my computer was stuck in an endless loop of updates and I don't always pack a notebook when I have the laptop on hand. I know the table probably shared a collective "really, you don't want regular paper" moment, but Y'ALL! It had natural folds so I could keep each department in it's own section and it's was double the size of my normal meeting notebook and I kinda wish I could use it every meeting.

[In other news, I remembered I had a blog again. Perhaps more will appear soon.]

So, the usual:

Things I Should Be Doing:
* wash dishes
* take out trash
* clean the bathroom
* take down and store Christmas decorations

Things I'm Actually Doing:
* being online
* eating cherry tomatoes
* watching TV episodes I've already seen at least 10 times apiece

publishing separately because now I'm chasing 39

Take note, actors of the world! Whenever you...

- ask a question that I've already answered (especially in reply to the email where I answered that question)

- don't send confirmation that you'll attend [whatever] after I've specifically requested it, and then show up anyway

- make a request of me that would only require thirty seconds of your own time (but will take much longer of mine)

- behave in any other rude or unacceptable manner

... I make a note. (Some shows, I've literally had a column where I've kept track of who was difficult to deal with prior to the audition.) And, whenever the director is trying to decide between you and someone else, I just might pipe up with that information.


[Why yes, I might be going through my community audition emails today, why did you ask.....?]

I only posted 38 times in 2012; clearly I'm suddenly determined to do better this year.

Hey, you wanna see the world's saddest mac & cheese? ... Neither did I.

Also on the list of things I didn't want to see: the giant roach in my dishwasher this morning, especially as he was clearly too large to have climbed in through any entrance path I could see. (I did, however, learn that my racks pull out completely, which became helpful as I tried to chase a roach around the inside of the machine.) Steam rinse, you're my current favorite setting.

I feel like I should preface this by saying I'm really, truly okay.

Today it became absolutely, non-sarcastically funny to me how much I've cried this week. (Please refer again to title.)

Some of it was legit - dropping my brother off to go to a family Christmas I didn't get to attend for the first time, talking to those same family members on Christmas, looking into moving, general hormones - but the vast majority has far more flimsy reasoning. For instance:

* Brian D'arcy James singing the instrumental parts of "I Can Do That"
* crushing milk jugs
* the giraffe in the "Southern Comfort Zone" video
* typing audition sides
* running out of soap

And onwards. Really, it's been ridiculous. Even by my normal standards of inward emotional turmoil, this is above and beyond.

However.

* If I had traveled this week, I would've just been upset about having to leave early (and pull the rest of my family away early), while traveling in March gives me a wide span of dates.
* I hate change, even if it'll ultimately save money. (Well, money I'm gonna spend on bookshelves if I have to leave my built-in shelves behind.)
* I trust in the God who knows where all this is headed, even if I can only see a little of the path ahead.
* At the time, it was kinda devastating to run out of soap.

In retrospect, I didn't need to buy the to-go pie from House of Pies.

* I am thankful that I'm not spending the day trying to rush to an airport, then to a theater, then to collapsing into bed. Tried it last year, didn't work out well.

* I am thankful for plans, already afoot, for a time of the year when I won't have to rush, and family members willing to take time out of their schedule to see me then.

* I am thankful for bacon, chocolate-covered cherries, creamy jalapeno dip, pickled ham, and the many other less-than-helpful items I've eaten this holiday. Yum!

* I guess I'm thankful that I love my family enough to be sad about not being with them this year. Some people don't have that, and I'm grateful that I do (even if it hurts at the time).

* I am not thankful for the bug on my kitchen floor this morning, but I guess I should be glad I was here to kill it.

October? There was an October?

Today in "Approaching True Adulthood" News: it didn't even hit my brain until about 4:00 that I could've done a midnight screening of Thor tonight. Hey look, it's me instead choosing sleep and washing dishes instead of screaming crowds ... and also I completely forgot that it opened today because nothing sticks in my brain anymore.

[I might be more on the "Approaching True Senility" side of things, really.]


It's my half-birthday tomorrow, so let's all get prepped for me to start having feelings about turning thirty. Watch out: that's gonna be awesome.

currently 85 degrees

I had seriously considered popping into the pool tonight (what's the point of Texas if you don't get to swim in September?), but I've seen too many movies to get past the Friday the 13th-ness of the day. Nope, can't bring myself to go swim by myself.

Maybe it's just as well - I'm not sure how it can be only 9pm on a Friday and me feel as tired as I do tonight. I think my body is catching up on all the sleep I missed over the past three months ... but all in this week. (Dear self, I don't think this is a good plan...)