Yesterday Donald and I met with the minister. He was a very likeable guy, and I'm sure he'll marry us up in a satisfactory way.

Donald and I saw the Narnia movie again yesterday. It was my dad's birthday and that's what he wanted to do. It wasn't playing at the Plaza, so we went to Ward Parkway. I think it's the first movie I've seen there since Donald's car was broken in to. I hope the mall gets enough new blood in it that AMC will renovate the movie theater and put in new seats at least. My mom always sits at the end of the row so she can get out to go stretch her legs, which she did. 2 1/2 hours is pretty long. I wish 3 hour movies had intermissions. I could have used a break half way through all the LOTR movies.

Afterwards we went for some dinner. Towards the end of the meal I was ready to go, and unreasonably annoyed with my family. My dad kept cracking dumb jokes when I'd ask him a simple question, which is always tiring. My mom implored the waiter to make sure my sister's pizza wasn't too cheesy. My sister kept waving her hand in her face and insisting that the (small amount of) cigarette smoke was making her cough. We were talking about wedding planning, which isn't my favorite thing. I want the wedding to plan itself. I'm just not that interested in working out all the little details about everything. I know it has to get done, but it isn't very fun. And by the end of the meal, I was ready to go home to my apartment with Donald and the cat and nooo family.

I wish I had more of that ice cream. I'm gonna go eat breakfast.

I have already started this day in a productive manner, even before I went to bed. Last night at 12:30 or so, I decided to caulk the bathtub. I don't know why I feel the need to do these things in the middle of the night. But it's done. It isn't perfect, but it's better than before which is what I was going for. That was my same thought when I painted the bathroom. It looked so awful before I painted, that anything I did to it would just be better.

When I got up, I put in a load of laundry. Now of course, I'm sitting in front of my computer. I will work on my plot more today, yes I will.

Yesterday was fun. Robyn and Joe and Mike came over and we went out to eat. We considered seeing a movie but didn't. Instead, we got ice cream from coldstone creamery, which I hadn't been to before. Oh it was tasty! I had dark chocolate mint with oreos mixed in. Then we went home to play gamecube. Lovely cube. Everybody enjoyed Mario Party and Mario Kart. Then we got coffee and played phase 10, which takes much much longer with 5 people than it does with 2. We played one game, and it probably took 2 hours. We came back here and more Mario Kart was played.

The highlight of yesterday's Plaza experience was Asshole McHonksalot. This guy was trying to go through the intersection, but there were pedestrians there, so he laid on the horn, and then again when he got to the other side of the street. Seriously jackass, if you're in a hurry, don't go through the Plaza. Way to stomp on everybody's holiday spirit. I flipped him off but he didn't see.

Yesterday I quit procrastinating and worked on my damn plot. I got a lot done. I worked several hours in late morning /early afternoon. Another strike against getting up in the morning: The bright sun makes it hard to see my monitor.

Donald and I went out in the afternoon to do an errand or 2, and get coffee. This was a mixed success, since I wanted to go to the Post Office and they were closed. Holidays, I guess. The barista at Muddy's commented on our presence so early in the day. It is always odd to be there in the daytime. :) We played some cards, I got Donald a card game called Phase 10 for x-mas. I had played it years ago with relatives, and it was pretty fun. It'll be much much better with more than 2 people, though. It's also odd to go the the coffeehouse, hang around for awhile, and come home on a weekday before Donald would have even gotten home.

Random coffeehouse experience: A middle aged couple and 2 small kids were sitting at the table next to us. They all got drinks, I heard the boy (about 7 yrs) order decaf. I thought they had given the little girl (maybe 2-3 yrs) a 16 oz mocha, but I eventually came to realize that it was chocolate milk. The boy proceeded to dump about a cup of sugar into his drink as the dad watched. Into his DECAF. I thought it was odd that a kid that small was drinking coffee at all. And more odd that his father let him pour a cavity and a half in.

After we went home, fully caffeinated, I worked diligently for several more hours on the plot. Then I played Morrowind until 2am. :D Willpower, o yeah.

And there it goes

Thursday I was saved from doing anything useful at all. Mike and I went shopping all day. We didn't actually buy very much, but we did look at 4 pet stores. Oddly, we didn't buy anything from them. Once we made it home, we played some video games and convinced Robyn that cleaning her house wasn't necessary and that she should come up here and join us. She did, we got some dinner, and played some 4 player Mario Party. Then we got tasty tasty coffee, and played more Mario Party. That took rather too long, and when we were finally done everyone went home and Donald went to take a shower. I gave 1 player Mario Party a try, and wasted 2 hours of my life by losing. Bah.

Friday we got up early for the get-Joe-at-the-airport party. Robyn and Mike met us here, then we all piled in the car and went to get donuts. The donuts were all fine, but the coffee was lacking becuase Mike finally threw his out the window. I was driving, so I missed seeing this. I have no doubt that iw was hilarious though. We got the Joe, and did some shopping up in the north area of the city. We made it back home by about 1:30, and were magically tired. Donald slept on the couch, while I played more Mario Party, this time set on Easy so I could win. :D

I wanted to have cherry pie. I was going to make it myself. I called my Grandma and she told me how to make the pie. At about 6, I went to my folk's house to make pie. We made 2 pies, one from store-bought frozen cherries, and one from Grandma's frozen cherries. The experiment was necessary, because Grandma's cherry tree is pretty much dead so I needed to see if store cherries would be acceptable. When the pies were ready, we ate hot pie and enjoyed it. Mmm... pie...

Saturday my grandparents came in to town. We took the pies to my uncle's house where they all were, and everybody had a small slice of each with vanilla ice cream. My pie experiment was a success. The store bought cherries were an acceptable substitute. Later in the day, Donald and I opened presents with my folks, and went back to my uncle's for dinner and some cards.

Sunday we were at Donald's grandparents' in Independence at 10. We did the present thing, and I had a great time playing with the new kitties. They're very playful, and then happy to sit on your lap once tired. We ate tasty food, and went to the other grandparents' for more present stuff. This one took forever because donald has a helluva lot of relatives.

And then it was done! We finished off the evening by sitting on the couch watching TV and happily relaxing.

procrastination continues

I was busy enough yesterday that I felt justified in not working on my plot. I know my logic is flawed, but I don't care. :D

I got up early and drove Jon and Jen to the airport. I made it back in one piece, despite semi's trying to squash me. My mom and I went to a fabric store, and I think I've picked out the one I want for my dress. We will order it soon, I think. When I got home I did some emailing, washed some dishes, and made chocolate covered pretzels to complete my food presents. I made more than twice as much as I usually do, and it was barely enough. But I have something to give to family now. I didn't even turn on the morrowind until 6:00. Then, I pretty much played most of the evening, except for the part when we watched the second-to-last episode of Dead Like Me.

Today is Donald's last day! And he's coming home early. It'll be weird for that routine to be gone. For example, I usually turn on the lamp in the bedroom before he gets home because it's dark then. But now I won't. It'll be nice to have him home for awhile.

We did not leave the house yesterday. At one point, going out for coffee was considered but the idea was abandoned due to inertia. Yesterday we did laundry and sat on the couch. We ate leftovers and played video games. I made tons of chex mix, and we finished up the holiday cards. It was a nice day.

holiday rush

I thought about sending out cards this year. Then I thought it was too late and gave up on the idea. Yesterday I was planning to make about 5 or 6 cards, just for my grandma and such. I ended up making abut 30. I was only stopped there by the amount of paper I had available. :P And the pain in my arm from tedious X-acto work.

Donald and I went to the Plaza to buy a couple more controllers for the gamecube, because they were cheapest there at EB or Gamestop or whatever the hell is is. Hard to believe but true. We got another madcatz mini one for $15, and a regular sized one with a cord extender and a memory card for $13. I don't get it either. We got free stuff though, so yay. That brings the total to 4. We also went to the paper store so I could get envelopes for my cards. All in all, this outing was taken care of in a speedy manner, and we haven't left the house since. Chinese delivery food, you are the best. Will we leave the house today? I dunno... looks awful cold and damp out there...


How evil are you?

Friday went by as usual, with me doing pretty much nothing all day and feeling guilty about it. I did some tidying up, and a few errands. Then- I started a new game of Morrowind. You see, its sequel doesn't come out until MARCH and I want it NOW. Sigh. I'm not going to spend my life on this game though, my plan is just to enjoy myself poking around and joining some factions that neither Donald or I did before.


I also did some ebay research into decoration for my dress. I found these 2 silver appliques. The plan is to deconstruct them and re-form them into a band of embroidery that will run vertically along a split. The v-shaped one is 11" across and there are 2 available, and the other is 10" tall and 21 available. There will probably be a few sparkly beads in the equation as well, naturally. :)


Mike came over and went to the coffeehouse with us, which was nice, since I'd been thinking about coffee all day. When we got back home, I wouldn't let them play with the gamecube, as I already had dibs on the xbox and we only have one TV. Take that! The day ended with donald sleeping on the couch as I "one more thing"-ed my way through about 45 minutes more video game.

tricksy present giving part 2

The conspiracy to trick dad into giving my mom a present she bought is succeeding apace. But the other day, a new layer was added in.

Dad called me from work. He wanted me to look at a website with a vest on it he thought mom would like. I told him which one I thought she would like most, then called the store to see if they had them in the store. Naturally, the store neglected to tell me that they had limited sizes and colors available. (no surprise really) Dad also was going to check out some fleecy pants to lounge around the house in. He said if he liked them he could buy them and give them to me to pretend that I bought them so we could give them to him for x-mas. LOL!! Dad went there after work. When he called me to ask if I was at home, I told him I was at his home so he said to come out to the garage to look. Mom told me that if he'd bought a Roomba to tell him to return it because she doesn't want one. I went to look, and told him that I thought the vest he bought was too big, and not very pretty. He said she could return it if she didn't like it, and at least there would be something under the tree, then went and hid it in the garage.

Yesterday, mom calls me. She says, "What's this receipt I found in the garage for a vest? I don't want a vest, we already bought me a vest that I love! Make him return it!" I replied, "Well go on an errand then so I can bring this other vest over to finally show him, and put the receipt back where you found it." She said "Okay, I'll go to the library." So she went to the library, and I tried to get dad to return the other vest. Well, he won't, and he made me bring it back here to wrap it. This is my life! My parents are truly wacky. Wouldn't the holidays be easier if we just bought ourselves stuff we like?

To finish off yesterday, I did plant myself back on the couch. Donald got home around 7 or so, and around 9:30 I peeled myself off the couch and went to bed. That's pretty damn early, but it seemed to work because today I feel human again.

ungghhhh

Today sucked. I woke up very early with stomach pain. I thought that I must be hungry so I ate a few saltines, drank some water and went back to sleep. An hour later, I woke up again, went to the bathroom, and had the sudden realization that I was going to throw up. So I did, washed out my mouth and went back to bed. I woke up again around 10:30, dragged myself out of bed, and ate a little bit of oatmeal and drank most of a mug of tea. I decided that there was no way I would be able to remain upright the rest of the day, and went back to bed until about 1.

When I got up that time, I took a blessedly hot shower and got dressed, then made some chicken noodle soup. After that I went to the couch with a blanket and book, and lured the cat underneath with promises of pettins. I read for awhile, Anna warming my lap like a purring hot water bottle, then went to sleep again. I got up about 4:30, since I needed to eat again and had a meeting to go to, which turned out to be blessedly short. Now I'm home again. My stomach seems almost normal again, but I have that awful achy tired feeling all over. If feels like a huge effort just to move. I'm probably going to end up back on the couch in moments. unggghh...

We finished Season 1 of Dead Like Me and have started the 2nd. You see, Donald is weak so he went and bought it today. I'm not complaining though, it's a good show.

I'm back in the land of no motivation. I have a production meeting for a show tomorrow that I know nothing about. The Stage Manager will give me a script, and maybe I'll get some set drawings. I just looked at my calendar. I have a plot due for a different show in 3 weeks. Ugh. Faculty is always saying that to succeed in theatre, you have to really want it, have a "fire in your belly." I really really don't. And yet, I'll get by. I just slog through, until the short time where I actually like what I'm doing, and then wait for the whole process to be over. And then it starts again.

Sometimes I wonder if I should be doing something else. But although I can think of a lot of things I'd like to be doing, I can't think of anything else I'd rather do. You know, there are millions of people who don't "do" anything. Any lots and lots of them are perfectly happy. In this sentence I should come to a point, but I don't have one. So, off to bed! Tomorrow is another day.

Take that, ice!!

Donald and I thought the driveway might have melted enough to drive up it. We were almost right. It was fine until the part right next to the house, under the gutter. Yep, there's a huge piece of ice there. And the spinning began. You know that if you can just get about a foot further up, you might make it! So Donald went and got sand, and more sand, and more sand, and then we gave up and were going to try to back down. We switched spots and he made it that vital foot! We went a few more feet, then the tire spun again. I went and got some sand. Then we made it! Needless to say, we have the parking area all to ourselves right now. Stupid Missouri, stupid ice. Tomorrow I think we're gonna go knock the rest of that ice off.

This morning I went down the street to print some show pictures. Then on the way back to the apartment, I helped push my downstairs neighbor's car. The car was dead, and she and her dad had gotten it out into the street. They were trying to push it, and with Donald's and my help we got the front tires onto the little trailer dealie. and all was well.

This afternoon we met Mike and Robyn and Chrissy in Independence to see The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It was pretty good. Then we went to Ihop for breakfast food.

Donald stayed home again Thursday. We attempted to move the bed to a warmer location where our heads wouldn't be up against the cold exterior wall. Well, there really isn't any such viable place in the bedroom so we put the bed back. In the process we vaccuumed where we seem to have never vaccummed before, judging by the amount of dust. :P Around 3 we decided to go borrow shovels and clear the driveway. Nearly a foot of show is no easy thing, but this snow was very light and powdery so it wasn't too hard. We also did a bunch of laundry.

Friday D went to work. The streets were clear enough. I had an appointment to talk with a local costume designer, and she is going to make my dress. It will be mostly blue with silver parts. Now the fabric needs finding. It can be any number of things, but I think the leading fabrics are silk and satin. It will be all one or the other, not some of each.

score!

Donald and I went to 51st St. about 7. We had dinner at Kin Lin, then went to Muddy's. We played Scrabble, and I made "portents" on an existing E. Oh yes, that's right, I used all 7 of my letters. W00t! Then Donald made a word with a Z on a triple word, and then a word with an X on a triple word, effectively destroying my lead. Sigh.

OMG, snow

I walked in to the theater today in the snow. I bundled all up in my hat and scarf and gloves. Hats are brilliant. Why did I ever go out in the cold without a hat? There wasn't much snow on the ground yet, but it's still coming down. It's pretty to walk in, but I wish I didn't have glasses 'cause they get spotty. I guess it would blow directly into my eyes without glasses. Bah.

The first year from Texas thinks it's icy and slippery out. At the time, there was maybe an inch. Ha ha!! This is Missouri. The icy is yet to come. Then he asked if I thought the scene shop would have scrap wood that he could put in his truck for for weight. It would take a lot of scrap wood to add up to the 50 pound sandbag he's going to want.

Donald stayed home because of the weather. Maybe we can get some wedding planning done. We have some caterer's websites to check out.

no subject

http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/x3/Trailer for X3 is out. looks good.

A good time was had by all Saturday. Robyn and Mike come over and we all ate food, and played games, and looked at x-mas lights.

Sunday Robyn and I went shopping. I didn't find much but she found some really good deals and a couple of presents. Then I went to see a play at school. It was long.

Yesterday I rejoined the school world. I'm glad that this is the last week before finals, becuase I'm so not interested in it all. Ugh.

Today I shall tidy up the house and try to stay warm.

they were anticipating finding the part

I checked out at 11, got picked up and went over to the theater. Then I walked around a bit and took a few more pictures. At noon, I was driven to the airport by a nice person who is also creeped out by the aforementioned Person of Some Importance. She's the company manager here, and at one point the Person asked (told?) her to make him some tea. Yeah. Anyhoo, go to the airport, did all the check in stuff, ate some lunch. We took off a few minutes late, got to Salt Lake City and then the waiting fun began. I was so ready to be home, and we were delayed for 2 hours, dammit. I finally got home and all is well!

and

Other than weird ass dreams, my last day was nice. The weather was great. I walked in the theater a bit early,dropped off my bag an walked downtown to get my sister a t-shirt. I did a bit of window shopping, and got an iced latte from a local coffee shop, Ike's. I think I may be in the one place Starbucks hasn't infiltrated... I don't think I saw a single one here!

I went back to the theater and met up with the electrics folks to do a bit of work. I printed some paperwork, updated some stuff, and printed some other paperwork.

The resident LD treated Don and I to dinner at a fancy-ish place. If I'd known we were going somewhere decent, I would have put my fleece on over my star wars t-shirt. yeah, I was a bit our of place. The food was tasty, and we had some wine which I actually liked. I wrote it down so that I may be able to enjoy it again in the future.

The last preview went well. There's just something really special about being in the audience during a curtain call where everyone is on their feet, cheering. They're just so many happy people, it's nice. I had a good experience here, and more than one person told me I did a good job and they appreciated that I was here.

I'm off to check out!

Dream 12? I've lost count

I had weird ass dreams last night. At one point, there was a baby bird that I was raising outside the apartment. It was going to be big, and it was kind of like a pet. If I wanted it to fly over to me, I would call kitty kitty, (because calling birdy birdy would be silly,) and it would fly over. I think there may have been a bunny as well.

Also, my dad was raking the sand in the garage. The concrete floor was only in the middle and about 2 1/2' around the edges of the garage were just sandy and pebbly like the grund around here.

After that my aunt and I were in the next door neighbor's yard and it was dusk, so kind of dark. (This whole thing happens facing east, towards my apartment) A woman came around a house across the street with a big huge gun and tried to get into a house. My aunt and I decided to call the cops, so she went off towards my apartment, and I ran over to this tiny house that was in the middle of the neighbors' yard. I was banging on the door, quietly somehow, to get somebody's attention. It turned out to be my uncle's ex Joe. He didn't open the door, but through the window indicated to me that he didn't have a phone. Meanwhile, gun woman and her accomplice had given up across the street and were heading my way up the driveway. Somehow I could see through the tiny house, and I was sidling around it so I'd stay on the other side from them and they wouldn't see me. I was thinking that I hope my aunt had gotten to a phone, since I didn't. At this point murderous people were heading towards my parents' house, crossing through the gate, and I was thinking that maybe I could get to my apartment. Just when they got to my parent's front door and I woke up.

Weirder that usual!

humor

Yesterday in a shop window I saw a T-shirt that said: "Would somebody please give this guy a blowjob" then there was a picture of Dubya, "so we can impeach him?" Yes yes.

The musical director likes to tell music jokes.

What do you say to a drummer in a 3 piece suit?
Will the defendant please rise?

What's the definition of perfect pitch?
When you chuck a banjo in a dumpster and it lands on an accordian.

Some can be adapted, like so:

What's the differnce between a Packard Bell and an onion?
Nobody cries when you cut up a Packard Bell.

What's the difference between a Colortran and a trampoline?
You usually take off your shoes to jump on a trampoline.