Cookin'

Today I broke in my shiny new (got it in May for the wedding but hadn't used it yet) Crock Pot. Here's what I made:

Wild Rice Hot Dish

2 cups wild rice, uncooked
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup chopped celery (that's about 1 stalk)
8-12 oz can mushrooms, drained
1 pounds cut up chicken tenders (they were on a great sale)
6 cups chicken broth
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp parsley

1. Wash and drain rice.
2. Combine all ingredients in slow cooker, mix well.
3. Cover. Cook on Low 4-6 hours, or until rice is finished.

It turned out pretty decent, if rather bland. I cooked it on high for the last 45 min. or so because we were hungry and the rice wasn't quite done yet. The celery, almonds, onions and mushrooms don't seem to have added a lot of flavor. Next time I'll probably use more onions. I'll also probably add some cayenne pepper; not enough to really taste but enough to feel more warm. We had garlic bread with it. A salad would have been a nice complement.

Any suggestions on making this yummier? It was fine, and plenty edible, but not something that I'm going to crave. All told, it wasn't hard to prepare, is full of healthy whole grains, and is quite filling.

Merry X-mas and whatnot

This weekend had been brought to you by the letter C. For cooking.

I'm giving food presents to family, so I already made 8 batches of Chex mix, and put it in seasonally-colored containers. I also made some of my marbled pretzels. Saturday I made pumpkin bread to finish it off. Mike helped. Then we started on the food for X-mas eve. We made the rice mixture for the ronginis and refrigerated it. By this time I neded dinner, so we took a break. Then we made the canolli filling and refrigerated that. Then my mom formed all the ronginis and put them back in the fridge.

Sunday I made that crunchy cabbage salad that everyone likes, and put the ham and sweet potatoes in the oven while they were at church. Once they got back it got hectic. But it all came down to cooking ronginis in not one but TWO cast iron skillets. I was probably cooking 18 little tasty rice balls all at the same time at one point. It was a bit harder than just doing one, but faster. I think we ate about 6:30, and all was well. A while after dinner, I filled the canollis for dessert.

Now we're up because we're going to Donald's grandma's house at 10. (But when we get bac, I'm eating more ronginis, yes yes.)

Ha ha!

Zach Braff and Jason Bateman... looks pretty funny to me!

http://movies.aol.com/movie/fast-track/28104/trailer

Use your noodle

Update #2

Okay, we figured out the trick to hitting the ball. It's timing. I was hitting it too soon, most of the time. I played for a little while yesterday, and my shoulder is now full of aches. Sadly, I have a light plot to work on and that means a lot of mousing. Sigh.

Update:

Wii Sports is both fun, and a major pain in the ass. It's friggin' impossible to hit the tennis ball with any kind of accuracy or consistency. Donald and I both tried for about half an hour before quitting in annoyance. Yarghhh!!

The tale of waiting in line

12:20- Donald and I arrived at the Target. There were 5 guys there already who had set up their chairs, and were staying warm inside a car. We added our names to the sign-up list, (#s 6 and 7) set up our chairs, got our blankets and stuff and settled in. Donald played some Mario Kart on his DS. Soon more people joined the line. The girl right after us didn't have a blanket or chair or anything, but was only holding the spot in line until her aunt got there to take over. People would drive by every now and then to see how many people were in line, and ask how many Wiis were supposed to be available. Donald read online that Targets were supposed to have between 10 and 50, so we figured we were safe. We passed the time chatting with folks. After awhile Donald and I moved our chairs back behind around a corner to stay out of the wind. At this point, it was probably aroung 45º.

1:30AM- I had to pee, so I went off to find a nice all night gas station. I figured I'd go home if I didn't find one, but I found one that wasn't far, and warmed up a bit while driving around. When I got back I played some Meteos. The line slowly grew. There were folding camp chairs, many blankets, hats, coats, coveralls, etc. One of the guys in the front pulled a shopping cart up and curled up with his blankets inside that. Two of the other guys in front pulled their camp chairs close together to overlap their legs and save heat. They had a pretty cozy looking nest. Several people had several blankets, and covered themselves entirely. Donald and I were pretty snug in our corner. We parked our camp chairs right next to each other and wore our warm coats. Then we covered our legs with our light jackets, and shared a blanket across both of us. The hardest part to keep warm was our legs, since the air circulated freely under the chairs. The whole line hibernated quietly for a couple hours.

3AM- Donald left to go to the gas station. I decided to get up and stretch, and hop around to warm up some. There was a general rousing of energy around this time, and several people got up to move around and talk more. Then it died down again.

4:30- I went back to the gas station, and brought Donald back a coffee. It was warm, at least. After I got back, Donald went up to the front to chat, so I tried to find a way to get comfortable on 2 camp chairs. I put my backpack on the other chair to lean on, and tried to form a pillow out of my second scarf. Mostly, I think I was leaning on a box of Cheez-its, which do not make a good pillow. I did manage to fall asleep for awhile, and was relatively warm. (hooray new boots!) More people arrived.

6- 6:30- More people showed up. The list eventually had more than 50 people on it. I couldn't really sleep anymore, since a loud parking lot sweeping truck had arrived along with a guy using a leaf blower to blow trash out from between the cars. At this point I was starting to get actually cold, so I got up to move around more. People were starting to mill around near the door, so Donald and I put our stuff in the car and headed to the door area. About 6:50 the first guy in the line got everyone to line up in order of the list, to make sure that the manager wasn't mobbed by people when he finally came out. This got all the people who had just showed up out of the damn way.

6:55- Manager gave out 15 vouchers. Person number 15 had been there with us since 2:30AM, so everybody after that was disappointed. Donald and I drove home for a bit, to eat and such.

7:45- We grouped up with our fellow stubborn people.
8AM- They let us in to go buy our Wiis, and go home to bed. I was pretty incoherent by this point, so it was good that Donald drove. It was a looong night, but worth it.

Wii is big fun! It comes with a sports game, which is way more fun than I thought it would be. I especially like bowling and tennis, but I suck at baseball. The controllers make the whole game playing experience totally different that before. It's easiest to do most of the motions while standing up, to begin with. My arm hurts. :(

Wii are so very tired

Quick summary of today(Sunday, really):

12:30AM- 7AM: Waited in line for Wii at Ward Parkway Target
7- 7:30: Got vouchers, went home to eat a bit
7:30-8:30: Back to Target, purchased Wiis, back home
8:30-12:30PM: Slept
12:30-3: Ate, showered, unpacked Wii, etc.
3-9: Played Wii with Mike, Rocco picked up his Wii, short break in there somewhere to go get a sammich. I made 4 more batches of chex mix
9PM- 2AM: Mike left, Donald and I fell asleep on the couch
2AM: Got up, put away the chex mix, turned off all the lights, got ready for bed
3AM (ish) Blessed sleep again!

My feet WERE warm

We got a Wii! We waited outside Target for 6 1/2 hours, but we did it. :)
More later.

Now my feet will be warm

Saturday morning I won an auction on ebay for a pair of boots. I was thinking they'd be here by next week sometime, but the Fedex guy ditched the box on my doorstep today. I got them for $102 shipped, which made me pretty happy since they retail for $125. I got a size 7 even though my other Merrell's are 6 1/2 because I want to be able to wear thicker sox. They are all fuzzy inside to keep my toes toasty. I'm very happy now to have a pair of shoes that encloses my whole foot to keep me dry and warm... now that it's 64º out. You should all thank me for the warm weather I've ensured by getting a warm pair of boots.

Wiki- wiki, where'd the time go?

The other night Donald and I were watching a thing about the Blue Man Group on PBS. (Let it be said that you should attend a performance if you have the chance, because it was very entertaining.) They do all kinds of percussion with weird instruments like these big plastic tubes, and the creator guys were talking about sonic influences and they mentioned the Moog synthesizer, which Donald hadn't heard of. I read an article about Moog and his weird noises a couple of years ago, so I went to Wikipedia to recap. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moog_synthesizer. Then I read (not necessarily in this order) about Robert Moog, and Abbey Road, and the "Paul is Dead" phenomenon- which was particularly interesting, and I was able to listen to a clip of Revolution 9 backwards, which is creepy. Then I read about Pink Floyd, and listened to a bunch of clips, then The Dark Side of The Moon, where I read about the way they recorded and cut together a lot of non-music sounds to create this fantastic album; and Super Audio CDs and Wish You Were Here. Also, David Bowie, and Baba O'Riley, which is performed in the Blue Man rock show. Then it was about 2 hours later. The moral of the story is Wikipedia will suck up your life, in an entertaining manner filled with odd trivia.

Edit: Moral # 2 is that awesome music has been made using a Moog Synthesizer. I didn't want to forget that.

Take that, ice

In an effort to increase the numbers of days we can get up the driveway in winter, we added a drainpipe down the driveway to the street on the gutter next to the steps. The gutter drained directly onto the driveway, right at the point where it freezes and makes it impossible to get over. It's a real pain in the ass to clear the whole driveway then not be able to get up it again a day later because the melting snow refroze.

The landlord said he'd let us take the cost of supplies off next month's rent. Great! My dad and I went to the hardware store and bought the goodies. When we got back I called my neighbor Jon to see if he wanted to come out and help, which he certainly did, because he loves that kind of stuff. So we drilled and cut to the right length and got finished just as it was getting too dark to see. I hope it helps! Now if only they'd clean all the crap out of our gutters, that would help too.

Donald and I are enjoying the hell out of Lego Star Wars on Gamecube. Jim, you and Amy should get this game. I'ts nice to have something we can play together. You can play by yourself with a computer partner, or 2-player with a human partner. The game basically plays through the story of Episodes 1-3, an you collect Lego kit pieces to get bonuses. The little Lego characters are so cute. :)

Avenue Jew

Avenue Q + Fiddler on the roof = funny.

Futile

Mike and I went out in search of a Wii this morning. We failed, naturally. We left my place at 6:30. Wal-Mart #1 let us in their doors at 7, only to have the World's Most Unhelpful Clerk look somehow mystified and annoyed when we asked about Wiis. She said they only had 4, and they were going to the people who'd waited since last night. Fine. Wal-Mart #2 had 8, all claimed by the line of people sitting comfortably near the electronics counter in folding chairs. Wal-Mart #3 looked like the Wal-Mart the Time Forgot, but also had only 8, already gone. The clerk (who was sympathetic and quite helpful) thought more might arrive in the morning truck, between 7:30 and 10:30. We gave up and headed home. I went back to bed about 9. Nothing surprising in this trip, but I did feel just a little hopeful at times. Bah!

Crafty

I started making our holiday cards yesterday. See, I say "holiday" beacuse the holiday season isn't all about christmas, at the very least there's New Year's too, not to mention all the other religious and non-religious celebrations. And people who say "happy holidays" aren't trying to kill christmas, they're just coving all the bases. [/tangent]

So the cards- they're kind of a collage this year. I started by out cutting the paper. I make the cards from watercolor paper that comes in great big sheets so I use my x-acto and my cutting mat to make card sized pieces of paper. (Next year I must remember that I used up all the paper and buy more.) I also tore the red paper into smaller pieces, and cut the gold paper into smaller pieces. I printed pictures on photo paper, and cut them up too. So far I'm on my 3rd x-acto blade. I went to the paper store to buy envelopes, and the post office for stamps, and the library to pick up a CD. Then I started putting them together. When I quit for the night, I had about 15 cards all ready to go. I can probably have them out by the end of the week. This is fun, but after several hours I need one big stretch.

New games

Yesterday was Mike's birthday. Happy 28! Robyn stayed on the couch the night before, so when we got up I decided to make waffles. Mike came over to show us Lego Star Wars for gamecube, which looks pretty fun. You can even chop JarJar up with your lightsaber sometimes. Yay! Then we played one of the slowest scrabble games ever, while we did our best to leave ourselves nowhere to play and no decent letters to start from. Stupid scrabble.

After some early dinner/ late lunch, we went to Target in search of new games to play. Just outside the Target in the Ward Parkway mall, there was a game shop set up for the holidays. We decided to go with the board game Settlers of Catan and a card game, 5 Kings. The Settlers one seemed insanely complicated while were were trying to get started, but once we got into it was pretty fun. You try to build towns and roads, and get control of resources in order to win. We took 5 Kings to the coffeehouse to play, where the only table left was next to creepy guy. :( That was also fun. It's basically a rummy game, but the deck has a 5th suit, and each hand has a different number of cards and a different wild card. So the first hand, you each get 3 cards and the 3 is wild. The 5th hand, you get 5 cards and the 5 is wild, etc. I think it's going to be a good game to play with just about any number of people, and quick to teach to new ones.

First snow

Don't you hate when you go to bed with a headache, excpecting it to go away- but then it's still there when you wake up? Gnneeehhh..... I'm gonna take an advil and a hot shower.

I finished Paper Mario last night. The end boss wasn't too hard to beat, but that was because Donald and I looked online for tips. The worst part was sitting through all the cut scene bits.

Yesterday morning I covered 3 more windows with plastic. Then I went to make banana bread at my folk's house, only to find out halfway through that we needed more flour. Mom and I went to the store, and it started snowing just as we were heading back. By the time the banana bread came out of the oven around 4, there was 2" on the ground. By the time Donald got sent home early at 5 again, there was probably about 4. As much of a pain as it is to deal with snow, it sure is pretty to watch. My parents have a birdfeeder outside the window, and that's nice to watch too.

Right this moment, my next door neighbor is trying to clear the driveway. I just looked out the window and saw him borrow the snowblower from my dad. It's not all bad sharing a driveway. I know I'm not compelled to try to clear it, but if Jon wants to, great. If my head didn't feel so shitty I would probably go help him.

Anna gets cuddlier as the temperature drops

I'm so glad I don't have to drive anywhere today. Donald just successfully made it down the driveway without sliding anywhere, but I have serious doubts that he'll be able to get back up. For any of you that haven't seen it, our driveway is both steep and narrow. It's best avoided altogether when icy.

In time-wasting news, I'm almost done with Paper Mario. The other night I played it until almost 3, which is waaay too late. Almost... there...

I got a myspace friend request from a guy that I don't know. We went to the same high school, and graduated at the same time, but I don't remember him at all. So I don't want to click "accept," but "reject" seems so mean. There should be a nicer button. Perhaps "no thanks" or "I don't know you! That's my purse!"

Today I covered 2 windows in plastic. In order to do one of them, I spent about 20 minutes with a razor scraper trying to get some of the paint build up off. Since some genius several coats ago put the world's thickest coat of paint on, it's practically impossible to get some of the windows all the way shut and latched. Stupid windows, but at least they have storms.

I had to go out for a production meeting around 3. I almost didn't go, but it wasn't far, and it wasn't very icy yet. When I got home Donald was there, having been sent home early due to weather. I just spent much of the evening dozing on the couch, and all was well.

I wonder if I can find a way to just stay indoors until the ice goes away.

mission complete

I finished the worlds's longest RCT2 scenario yesterday. It goes by the name of Extreme Heights, and your goal is to get 4500 guests (without letting your rating go below 700!) You have unlimited money, but no control over research or marketing, and the land is all mountain-y. I did a LOT of terrain flattening. Keeping the guests happy was no problem. They wanted many bathrooms, and roller coasters with excitement ratings of 9. The problem is that after 10+ in game years, the rides break down all the damn time. Even though I would simply demolish and rebuild- Even though I would assign a mechanic a path only big enough to cover one ride- it was a pain. The other problem was keeping up with traffic. By the end, I literally had 4 of the same ride, they still loved it, and I had to draw paths like a fiend to stave off cries of "it's too crowded here!" The worst part is that I kinda want to do it again to see if I could do it better. :(

Donald helped me put up x-mas lights yesterday evening. The LED lights are fantastic. The colors are much more intense than regular lights. Now I'm compelled to get more of them, and have colorful glowing stuff all over. :D They look kind of like these <----- but they have purple!

I made a pie

I made a cherry pie for thanksgiving. It was verra tasty.

Happy november holiday

Hope you're all having tasty foodz today. Have a laff:
(click to read)

Today I love

Bron-Y-Aur Stomp by Led Zeppelin. It's been stuck in my head for a couple of days. I opened up iTunes to play it, and discovered that I didn't have it. So I dug out my CD wallet, and ripped it. Listen to a clip here: scroll down to disc 2, track 5. What a great thing, that every couple of years I can discover a song I love on an album I've had for 10 years.

I discovered another great thing in iTunes. You can put a volume setting on each song. Why would you do that? Well, if your CD is 10 years old and you have to turn up the volume every time it comes on, you can set it to 130% volume to balance with your other tracks. Just right click on the song, Get Info, Options. So handy.

I just cracked myself the hell up

I don't know the origin of the internet phrase "I'm in ur base, killin ur dudes," but it still makes me laugh. Naturally, the internet took the joke, added pictures, and ran with it. On this page I found many variants, some great, some crap. http://www.knitemare.org/cats/

I decided to make my own:
(Click for big)

It cracks me up. :D :D Photoshop, I lurve you.

(Note: Donald thinks the phrase is from Quake)

Something in the air this year seems to be causing Early Onset Holiday Feelings. For over a week now, I've been in the mood to put up x-mas lights. It's still way too early. I'll decorate after Thanksgiving. Not that I decorate, really. I'll put up lights, and the little fiber optic tree. I'll have a string across an arch with snowflakes hanging on it, and a stocking on the front door. That's about it. But it just feels like the right time to curl up with a blanket and put on a sweater and eat baked things. Like cookies, and bread.

2 reasons Mike sucks

1. He must have sneezed on me yesterday, because I woke up sick today.

2. He put disc 3 of Battlestar Galactica season 2.5 in the box for disc 2, but Donald and I didn't notice it until we got to the end of the disc and watched the season finale. Man were we confused. Now we understand why we hadn't seen the scenes mentioned in the "previously on Battlestar Galactica" part. Argh! It's okay though, that evil Admiral chick got what she deserved, and the show is good; even out of order.

For Mike

I've had a busy and profitable week. I managed to work on 3 shows this week. Monday- Thursday was hanging and focusing Christmas Carol, Monday and Tuesday were hanging at the Unicorn, and Friday was focus for a UMKC show. I'm helping on the UMKC show because they're very short handed, and they're paying me. I'm glad to see the weekend.

Anna is the best greeter when I come home. She runs over to me and follows me around as I take off my coat and put my stuff down. Then she purrs mightly when I pick her up, and she tries to climb onto my shoulders. When I stretch out on the floor she sits behind my head, and tries to groom my hair. It's awful cute.

Today is the last performance and strike of Hamlet: the Opera. I anticipate sorting and putting away gel. And rounding up rental stuff. I think that's about it, but I'm sure they'll spring some random crap on me that I've never heard of.

I got a new toy. It's so nifty! It's a very portable speaker system for my iPod. Now I can take the music with me. I plan to use it in the kitchen, and out of the house at light hangs and whatnot. It's the Altec Lansing inMotion IM9. I'm very fond of it already, and I got it yesterday. It's got good sound for the size, which is about a foot long and 3" thick. It also has its own carrying bag, which is nifty.

An "Oh snap" moment

I dreamed last night that Jon and Jen wanted to have a LAN party at their house. So we were going to have to bring all our stuff over- server , computers, etc. In the dream I kept thinking, wouldn't it be easier to do it at OUR house, where all the stuff already is??

I also dreamed that we went to Witchita to help out for my cousin's wedding (which happened last month.) We went around to the back door because the front door was locked, and I distinctly remember that I was in a play during that part. My aunt was there, and we eventually went inside. My cousin had five or more big dogs running around who wanted to be petted. One of them kept trying to hump my leg, so I decided I was done with dogs. There were two big roly poly gray kittens running around. I picked up a kitten to cuddle, and felt that he had burrs in his fur. I thought that I should brush him before the tangles get too bad- and that's all I remember.

In terms of politics, I have this picture:

Hee hee!

Domo = no go

We will not be trying out the new Japanese place in Brookside, for the prices are ridiculous. Unfortunately, this means we won't get to try the Yoshi Bowl (10.50) for it has the lowest price on the dinner menu. Other prices include: $17.50 for tonkatsu, $25 for Domo BBQ, $28 for Prime Rib, and $32 for Seafood Domo Style Shabu Shabu.

Should have stayed a bagel shop dammit.

It is good, in the sun

A study of drunken Mario Kart, with Bagel Bites

Another opera opened: check

I was ever so busy last week, and it was all my own fault. I had to drive back and forth from the Lyric to tech a dance piece at UMKC. I managed it, and I didn't spend a fortune on parking. That's a major consideration in downtown parking. I'm glad I did it though. I really liked the dance piece, and it was nice to be able to see the others.

Hamlet the opera opened Saturday. I did my dimmer check thing, then watched American Beauty on my laptop.

We went to the zoo yesterday. It was just warm enough, and we had a nice time. There weren't a lot of other people there, so we got to spend some nice time walking quietly. Then we went to the new Discovery Barn, where there were many screaming children, and I understood completely why the animals in those displays were mostly behind nice quiet glass. I hate screaming kids, but at least they were nicely contained in there, and not screaming outside. At this time of year, it takes more work to find animals to look at, because they aren't all out. So we walked and walked, and didn't get to ride the train. :( But we saw some neat animals, and there were TWO meerkat displays, so that's twice the cute. By the time we got to the Africa section, it was close to 4. Four is closing time, so a lot of the animals were patiently waiting next to the gates that lead to wherever they get to go indoors for the night. It's kind of funny to see a bunch of zebras and antelope waiting patiently next to a gate.

This week I plan to make something to eat. This may or may not involve the 72oz bag of chocolate chips I bought at Costco.

Halloween: offloading food you don't want

We missed a golden opportunity last night. Donald said trick- or-treaters kept ringing the doorbell, even though the lights were off and he put tape over the doorbell. I suggested he give them the banana nut granola bars we don't like. He didn't seem to like the idea. I thought it would be good punishment. :D

226-BR

I just saw a car with a license plate 0226BR. I immediately thought, what does that template look like? 226 is a GAM number, and the "B" means it's "B" sized, and the "R" means it's round.

So I looked it up, and this is what it looks like. Cloud 3. The more you know, eh? (If you were a lighting person this post would be 86% more interesting/funny.)

NY Times Metropolitan Diary amuses me weekly

My partner and I live in an apartment building on one of the West Village’s prettiest blocks. Next door is a very old single-family house.

One Sunday afternoon not so long ago, the lady of the house was standing on her stoop, looking perplexed. Her family had just returned from a weekend in the country.

“Did you notice that our front door was open all weekend?” she asked.

Steve replied that he hadn’t, and expressed his concern. “Was anything taken?”

“No, but it’s the strangest thing,” she said. There’s a Chinese takeout menu on every bed in the house.”

Wow, kitties

funny kitten

I can't even believe the cute contained herein.

Yesterday we went to see The Prestige, starring Batman and Wolverine as rival magicians. I enjoyed it, but Christian Bale's accent wasn't very good. I won't spoil the ending in case somebody else plans to see it, but I will say that the ending isn't what you'd think from what you see in the commercials. You'll probably also figure out at least some of it before you get to the end.

After the movie we had dinner, then went home to do some drinkin' and video game playin'. After a couple hours, the 3 boys tried very hard to convince me to take them to Chubby's. While they were very amusing, there was no possible way I was going to drive 3 drunken nerds anywhere at midnight. I compromised by making them some Bagel Bites, and they were satisfied.

it begins again

Yesterday I was going to be productive and get work done for the Lyric. The first stupid thing was that I had to go pick up the gel. I can't really explain very well how ridiculous that is, but trust me, it shouldn't be my damn problem. I also wanted to buy brads, specifically 3/4" brads. Therefore, Office Depot had 1" and 1 1/2"; and Office Max had 1/2" and was out of 3/4". I shouldn't be surprised, but it's kind of an indicator of how the day went.

Once I finally got the gel and got to the theater, it was probably around noon. Then I needed to print out lists of what gel to cut, how many, and what size. Very important information. Without that information, I literally couldn't do anything. Being an idiot, I didn't bring the Lightwright file with me, so I was going to save it on the Lyric computer from my email. Naturally, I can't download the Lightwright file from my email without it being corrupted. Oh boy, that's annoying. I called three different people to try to track down another copy before I called Donald and managed to catch him at the exact moment he was going into the house for lunch. Donald re-emailed me the file from my computer and saved the day. This also resulted in "me" sending the following email response to Robyn:

"Our mens is great. Our mens is wonderful. We could not do without our mens. We should thank our mens with food and sexual favors. (The ones we’re married too anyway.)"

I laughed. It was a good moment. I finally got the paperwork printed out, and finally went downstairs to get to work. The stage is currently occupied by a hundred or so chairs and music stands, set up for the Symphony. I wound my way across the stage, around the corner and to the back area where the gel box is stored. (Additionally, that room is only vaguely heated and was pretty chilly.) Then I tried to find a table to work on. I needed a table to put the 24" paper cutter on, if nothing else. I can't get gel ready with no workspace. I wandered around looking for a table, and finally found one. Try to picture me, carrying an 8' table across a stage filled with chairs and shit, THEN around 2 sharp corners and up and down some small steps. Right, no way that was going to happen. I eventually found a metal card table. THEN I got to work. I think it was maybe 1:30 by then. Frickin' ridiculous. I was too annoyed to be hungry until about 3, and then I ate the lunch I brought with me, making it so I wouldn't be hungry when my friends came up for dinner.

I bit a big chunk out of my lip earlier this week while attempting to eat a jelly belly. It hurts most of the time. Then I had balsamic vinegarette on my salad last night, which made it hurt like fiery burning hell. Great choice!!

So my Friday was filled with futile work attempts, and firey vinegarette torture. :(

sigh!

now that's a random dream.

Last night I dreamed that sometime after I graduated CMSU there was a schism (lol) within TAP and there was some kind of coup where the other side took it over. This was all being discussed at some kind of conference that included many former members of the theatre department. I saw Dan I. there but forgot to ask him how he liked substitute teaching in St. Louis. Apparently Players wasn't really a "player" in the non-violent undergraduate theatrical takeover.

I know who the other one is

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 2 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

home again

We're back from my cousin's wedding in Wichita. Now that we've experienced driving through Kansas on I-35, I can tell you that it is much like I-70. Boring. We didn't see much of Wichita, but I doubt we missed anything wonderful. The wedding was fine, everyone looked very nice. With any luck we won't go to another wedding until next June.

climbing isn't just for kids

We had good times in St Louis this weekend. Cirque was very entertaining, and our seats were great. It was very much worth the ticket price. It was good to see Ken and Mandy when there wasn't a wedding on. Then the real fun was the City Museum. (Even though I lost my green leaf necklace. :( ) Joe said that having fun hurts, and Robyn can confirm. Her poor knees are all bruised up, and probably have gone from purple to yellow by now.

Here are some pictures from climbing indoors. Look, rust!

Growing up in Missouri

Oh look, local color. I'm going to delete a few that aren't funny, (or even less funny) so that's why the numbers don't line up.

-----------------------------------------

1. You've never met any celebrities.

(Well, met is a relative term. Several of us saw John Malkovich in a hotel)

2. Everyone you know has been on a "Float Trip,"

(Everyone but Robyn, who is allergic to the outdoors)

3. "Vacation" means driving to Silver Dollar City, Worlds of Fun or Six
Flags.

5. You measure distance in minutes rather than miles. For example,
"Well, Hannibal is only 40 minutes away."

6. Down south to you means Springfield or Branson .

7. The phrase "I'm going to the Lake this weekend" only means one thing.

8. You know several people who have hit a deer.

10. Your school classes were canceled because of cold.

11. You know what "Party Cove" is.

12. Your school classes were canceled because of heat.

13. You instinctively ask someone you've just met, "What High School did
you go to?"

14. You've had to switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day.

16. You know what's knee-high by the Fourth of July.

17. You see people wear bib overalls at funerals.

(My grandpa was buried in bib overalls. Hey, comfort first)

20. You end your sentences with an unnecessary preposition.

Example: "Where's my coat at?"

21. All the festivals across the state are named after a fruit,
vegetable, season or grain.

22. You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both
unlocked.

23. You think of the major four food groups as beef, pork, beer, and
Jell-O salad with marshmallows.

24. You carry jumper cables in your car and know that everyone else
should.

25. You went to skating parties as a kid.

27. You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.

29. The local paper covers national and international headlines on
one page, but requires six pages for sports.

30. You think I-44 is spelled and pronounced "farty-far." (St. Louis
only.)

31. You'll pay for your kids to go to college unless they want to go to
KU.

33. You know that Concordia is halfway between Kansas City and
Columbia, and Columbia is halfway between St. Louis and Kansas
City, and the Warrenton Outlet Mall is halfway between Columbia and St.
Louis.

34. You can't think of anything better than sitting on the porch in the
middle of the summer during a thunderstorm.

35. You know which leaves make good toilet paper.

36. You've said, "it's not the heat, it's the humidity."

37. You know all four seasons: Almost Summer, Summer, Still Summer
and COLD.

38. You know if another Missourian is from the Boot-heel, Ozarks,
Eastern, Middle or Western Missouri soon as they open their mouth.

39. You know that Harry S Truman, Walt Disney and Mark Twain are all from
Missouri.

41. You think a traffic jam is ten cars waiting to pass a tractor.

42. You know what "HOME OF THE THROWED ROLL" means.

$#%*@!& cell phone

Wow, am I sick of Cingular. Lately, people who've tried to leave me a message have been told by the pleasant phone voice that my number wasn't receiving calls. So I call Cingular AGAIN. The helpful lady tells me that my voicemail had been turned off September 1st. What the hell. She turned it back on for me, and I had to re- setup my voicemail. Why?? What did I do to anger the cell phone gods?? How did I provoke your wrath, O digital deities??

Who even has china these days?

I have to renew my ranting about people registering for stupid stuff. My cousin, whose wedding is next weekend, registered at BBB (like everyone does.) She registered for this bone china ---->

She registered for EIGHTEEN place settings. They cost $69.99 EACH SETTING. I wouldn't even want to have china in my house that cost that much, much less eat off it!

She also registered for 18 soup bowls, ($23 each) 18 each of 3 different glasses, ($9, $10 and $10 each) 18 place settings of silverware, ($55 each) two 14" oval platters ($98 each) and $430 of other matching dishes and silverware.

All I can say is wow. I don't even want to add that up.

I don't get it.

I watched Donnie Darko last night on my laptop during the opera. (Director's cut) Can anyone tell me what the big deal about this movie is? Is it the whole teenager alienation thing? I enjoyed watching it, and I wanted to see how it would end, but then I just thought what's the point? Am I too old for this phenomenon?

aw, dammit

About 12:30 last night I realized something stupid. Donald and I went to Kin Lin then got coffee, and then when we went home, we forgot the leftovers on the back of the bench. Dammit! I had 2 meals in those leftovers! I was going to eat that tonight! Argh! Now what am I gonna eat?? Gawd, I might have to cook something.

October already?

Tech is done at the Lyric. It was pretty hectic at times but it all seems to have come out fine in the end. One thing that's very different about opera land vs. theatre land is that the opera tech guys start at the ridiculous hour of 8am. They are of course, out the door by 4:30. Then it's all different for the tech reherasals. The lighting designer writes many of the light cues during a rehearsal with the director stitting at the tech table, and the cast isn't there at all. Then the tech schedules aren't even the same every day, and get done a lot earlier than I'm used to. They also have realy long dinner breaks. I'm still not really sure about this whole opera business. They pay well, but it seems like (here, at least) they're so poorly organized that you have to put up with a lot of stupid stuff. And I don't really like opera. I don't hate (all of) it, but I'm just not into it. The stories tend to be just stupid, with the characters doing ridiculous things that real people would never do. And yet, there's an audience for it. There were a lot of people in the audience for opening night Saturday, and I'm sure there will be plenty of people to see tonight's show too.

The Renfest trip Sunday wasn't a disaster, but it wasn't great either. It got unreasonably hot yesterday. Way too hot to be walking around in the sun breathing in huge amounts of dust. Everyone was getting more and more tired as the day went on. I was willing to stick around longer, but also very willing to leave when everybody else wanted to. I think we left by 3. The whole thing was a lot more fun ten years ago. Not sure why really, but I did enjoy it more back then. When we got home I greatly appreciated my running water and electricity.

Pop Pop get Grisham?

Donald and I bought all 3 seasons of Arrested Development for a grand total of about $30 this weekend. (How's that for a good deal??) If you have not seen this show, you must, for it is both smart and funny. You know it's true, because Fox cancelled it.

Also funny: this morning I saw a red car downtown with a 32 oz drink sitting on the trunk. The car was traveling north on Broadway, and the drink seemed to be staying put. The car turned onto 10th, drink in place. That drink must have been on there awhile, since there's no Quiktrip anywhere near downtown. Of course, it could have been a fake drink glued to the car, but that's even more unlikely than an actual 32 oz drink staying on a moving car.

much driving

I've been doing a lot of driving down Broadway this week back and forth between 2 theaters. Everyman closed last night, so I now there's just one show to contend with. This morning is my first time to slow down in a few days. It was a nice surprise, since the schedule said we'd be in early again. I was happy to sleep until 9, very very happy.

Wed. I got to go to the Lyric and spend all day discovering exactly what a mess it is down there, then I rushed to get some food at 5 and get to the other show. Thursday started with an Everyman matinee, then downtown to light focus at Lyric, then all the way home for dinner, then back to another Everyman. Friday was all day starting at 8AM at the Lyric, then just enough time to rush home for dinner, then back to Everyman. Yesterday, same thing, only without enough time to go home for dinner. Wendy's side salad sucks, no big surprise there. It's really hard to find something quick to eat that isn't crap. I LOVE fries and hamburgers, but sometimes I just want real food.

The disorganization at the Lyric was sadly NOT exaggerated. The smallest things take them forever, and may still not be done right. It's pretty damn ridiculous, for people who do this for a living to be so incompetent. The lighting designer is pretty annoyed at it. Luckily, it is clearly not me fucking things up.

suddenly employed

I got called out of the blue to ALD at the Lyric today. I'm not sure yet if this is a good thing, but it should at least be a profitable thing. The assisting part should be fine. The rest of it, where I have to do stuff that the ME should do, is the part I'm not so sure about. I'm told that I have to watch the guys to make sure they do what they're supposed to. So, I guess I'm babysitting IATSE guys? I sure hope that was exaggerated. They seem to be generally disorganized. That won't be fun.

dream

I dreamed last night that I was a girl who ate cars. There wasn't any chewing involved, I'd just look at a car, then it would be gone. I was just walking around the neighborhood, devouring cars. Then the people whose cars I'd eaten were coming after me, so I went to hide in my house. I locked the deadbolt on the front door, and the back door, then 2 more doors inside with deadbolts. Then I went to the basement, which had a garage exit, and my brother was there. I was worried that he would be angry too, but he said he'd help me escape.

I've had a busy couple of days. Friday I hung lights for a show 9 - 4, then got sushi for dinner with Robyn, Mike and Donald. Then I ran a performance of Everyman. Today, I went to light focus for a Rep show from 9 - 5:30, then grabbed dinner and ran a performance of Everyman.

It was the first Rep focus of the year. The designer has been there several times before, so she knows most of us well enough to chat, which led to the inevitable question of "What are you up to?" I hate that question. Every time I get it I feel like a huge fucking loser. What am I up to? Not damn much. I went through 3 extra years of school to "enter the field at the highest level of experience" and now I'm... running the light board for the most amateur production I've been involved in in a long time. It seems that people expect me to make something of myself. I hate telling people I'm not doing anything. I also hate not doing anything, because I KNOW I'm going to forget the small amount of AutoCAD that I know without using it, not to mention the even smaller amount of Vectorworks. I also feel insanely jealous whenever somebody talks about a job, even if I don't want it. Argh! I'm in a weird lull. I'll be plenty busy in January, but until then I have very little to do other than feel like a giant loser with no friggin work.

dull

It seems like a whole lot of nothing is going on everywhere this week.

Monday I hung lights at the Rep until 5:30, then I was tired when I got home so I took a nap. I was still tired, but also hungry so I got up and made dinner. Then Donald and I got coffee. When we got home we watched the Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip pilot on DVD, and enjoyed it very much. That's one I'm going to have to tape if I won't be home. It was fast paced and had actors we like. I think Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford will be good. I'm not sure about Amanda Peet, and the blond chick annoys me for no reason. The guy that played Danny on the West Wing looks like crap. Somehow he looks about 15 years older than the last time I saw him on TV. I hope the show will be as good as the pilot was.

Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty uneventful. Today will be probably be uneventful too.

carrying my house on my back

It's agreed that I look like a turtle in my new backpack. It's a combination of shape, size, and color that does it I think.

We got our damn fool Japanese food last night. The president didn't come back to stop us. We tried and very much enjoyed 2 non-fish maki (roll) sushi treats. One had sweet potato tempura in the middle and the other had mango and avocado. For all the details on what's what in sushi check wikipedia, of course. We enjoyed our dinner very much, and estimate that by next weekend we'll be craving more. This looks much like what we ate:

I had an interesting dream last night, but I can't remember what it was now...

As Robyn mentioned we had an abrupt change of dinner plans last night. The most annoying thng about it was how unhelpful the traffic-stopping cops were. They just said, "turn around, or wait." Wait for what? How long? What all are you blocking? Since I had zero information from the po-po, I ended up making 3 U-turns in 3 blocks before we gave up and literally ate at the closest restaurant. Not a well planned thing. Also, Donald's car isn't the easiest car for U-turns.

Thursday I got a haircut. It's just above my shoulders now. I think it's a little funny shaped somehow, but it feels great to be rid of the length. Friday I took Anna to the vet for her shots. They told me she has tartar buildup, and should have her teeth cleaned. That would take anesthesia, and a lot more money than I'm gonna spend. They also said I should brush her teeth daily. Who the hell brushes their cat's teeth?

My new backpack arrived Friday too. I'm not quite sure what I think of it. I've had the old backpack since sometime at CMSU, so getting used to a new one will be tough no matter what backpack it is. My goal was to have a laptop backpack that isn't gigantic and bulky. The problem is that my laptop isn't a mac, and is too big to fit in the smaller laptop backpacks. The laptop is 12.25" x 10.25" x 1.25." All the smaller backbacks will only fit laptops 10" deep and 1.25" thick. The other problem is that I carried a whole hell of a lot of stuff in my old backpack. I'm going to have to try to eliminate some of the stuff. The new backpack is taller, but less deep.

mind over pretzel

I got smart tonight. I wanted chocolate covered pretzels. But instead of melting the chocolate, dipping pretzels in it, putting them in tidy rows on a sheet of waxed paper and letting them cool in the fridge- I cut to the chase. I melted the chocolate, dipped the pretzels in it, then put them directly in my mouth. This, besides cutting lots of time out of the process, has the added benefit of delicious melty chocolate. Ahh, chocolate.

P.S. Arrested Development is HI-LARIOUS. Chalk up another cancelled Fox show.

We helped Mike move yesterday. The "helping" was pretty minimal though. Donald and I got to his new place about 10:45, and he'd already moved almost everything. He doesn't have that much stuff to begin with, and he'd gotten up at 5:30 AM (!!) so they had a real head start. I helped put legs on a table, carried about 2 boxes, and other minimally difficult tasks. Anyway, Mike's new place is neat. It's a nice size for one person, and couldn't be in a more convenient location for him. He can easily walk to work. And we can easily walk to many delicious restaurants when we go to his place.

cell phones can be a real pain

It's almost funny, that after waiting on hold for 5+ minutes for Cingular customer service, that once I finally got through to a person- it dropped my call. I'm pretty tired of being on the phone with Cingular, since this is the 3rd issue I've had within a month. Now I'm not receiving messages, or some calls. Other Cingular customers have told me that a lot of people are having the same problem. Yesterday, I talked (in person) to someone who called me earlier in the day, 3 different times and left messages. I didn't even get the calls, much less the messages.

I just got through to a different guy, who says the problem is in both Kansas and Missouri. He said that it should be fixed soon, and offered to credit our account $5. Well okay. It doens't make up for the lack of service, but I do feel less cranky about it.

I just bought an accessory to something I don't own

Why I Bought an iPod Dock Adaptor When I Don't Own A Dock
by Margaret

Many months ago I sent in a claim form for a $50 settlement because my original iPod battery crapped out. It arrived in the mail in April. Naturally, this doesn't come in the form of a check, it comes in the form of a store credit that you can only use online. (I found that out after I tried to use it at the Apple Store.) Today I went online to use it to buy the iPod radio remote, so I can listen to the radio with my Nano. This little accessory costs $49. Guess what! You have to spend over $50 to use the credit. But once you spend over $50 the shipping is free. So in order to get over $50, I also ordered the Universal Dock Adapter 3-Pack for iPod Nano, which cost $9. It was the cheapest thing I could find. Now I'll be all prepared if I ever get a Dock, which I won't, because I'm perfectly happy to plug the Nano in using the included usb cable. Therefore, I just spent $8 to get a radio remote, with a useless free prize included. Really, I still won. But it's just silly how difficult they make it to spend your rebate bux.

new shoes

I just bought a pair of shoes on eBay. I have done this before with success. You just have to buy the exact thing you already know you like. I got these. I have a pair already, and as I was taking my morning constitutional yesterday (wearing them) it occured to me that it might not be a bad idea to get another pair. I got a good deal too, I paid $70 (+ tax) for my pair in the store, and on eBay I paid $38 shipped. I highly recommend the Ecco Receptor if you're looking for a shoe with good arch support. Also, they have stretchy shoelaces that lock in place so you just pull them on.

In other news, there is no other news. I did pretty much nothing on Monday. On Tuesday I walked 2+ miles, did 4 loads of laundry, played Oblivion, made a simple and unexciting dinner, washed dishes, and read a book.

brought to you by the word "zone"

I'm fairly certain that the reason people used to watch The Twilight Zone was that it had tricky plot twists, good stories and interesting characters played by talented actors. Now however, Jessica Simpson is on it and I knew how the story would end about 2 minutes in. You see, she played the babysitter, and the little girl had a collection of dolls. But they aren't just dolls- they USED to BE babysitters!!1!one!!11! I wish I had that half hour of my life back. Unsurprisingly, the little girl (while eye-rollingly crummy) was a better actor than J. Simpson.

Tonight at the coffeehouse, Donald and I were all set to get our coffee to go, since the tables were all full. Luckily, one opened up just as we were ordering. Unluckily, it was the tall table next to creepy guy's napping zone. Furthermore, I was sitting so that he was directly in my line of sight, right past my book. The guy at the table on our other side left a bit later, so we scooted over, to put as much distance as possible between us and the Creepy Zone. A couple minutes later, creepy napping dude started snoring. Loudly. So loudly, that Justin the barista had to wake him up. So creepy dude resumed his nap, but quietly. I don't understand why they don't just tell him to leave. It's a coffee shop, not a god damned nap-restaurant. People who actually pay for a drink, then hang out a bit and leave when they're done should get to sit at tables. Not creepy jerks who friggin sleep there for hours. Gawd.

I taped the Emmy awards this evening, so I could fast forward all the boring bits. Conan O'Brien was a very entertaining host. I watched the whole tape in about an hour and a half, halving the broadcast time! Take that TIVO, I can still use my primative videocassette recorder and I didn't even pay 200 bucks for it. (I'll take suggestions on how to incorporate "zone" into this paragraph, cause I got nuthin.')

visit

I'm back in civilization, after 2 days visiting my grandma's farm. I could never live in a small town. It seems like everyone is waiting for something to happen, but it never does. Or maybe that's because I spent most of the visit with old people who have nothing much to do. It was a good visit though. My grandma and I spent a lot of time looking at old pictures of the family which was fun. She has pictures of her grandparents, which are very old. I'll post some pictures OF the pictures sometime. :)

Dad and I went with grandma to the Senior Center 2 days, where she plays cards or dominoes with the other old people. On Wednesdays they have lunch there, so there are a lot of them. After lunch there were 14 people playing pitch at 3 tables. The way they do it, they play 4 hands then 2 people from each table rotate to the next table. That way, you get to play with different people, but nobody ever wins, because you can't get to 50 points in four hands! It was kind of odd, but who am I to question? They have their process down to a science. They were generally pretty sharp players too.

Has anybody else had trouble logging in to blogger? It's been driving me nuts for several days. But I'm in for the moment so I should make the most of it. Except... I don't really have anything to say.

Donald put our new computers together this weekend, so I have to reinstall all my programs, and restore settings to the way I like them and all that. I have to try to remember passwords to old email accounts now. Robyn and I made it to the craft store and back without spending all our dollars. There was a nice sale so we got good deals. Mike came over and some games were played. We had a nice time.

Who's still alive?

Are you guys dead? Donald just necromancy-ed himself out of the blog tomb. Heather returned from the dead (vacation) and Robyn and Chrissy were alive all along. So what about the rest of you? I want to hear about all the boring and/or interesting stuff in your life. C'mon. It won't hurt.

Alert! Cutest hamster ever on cute overload.



Yesterday I walked again. This time I went past 59th St, so I got to look at some new (to me) houses, which was cool. There are a lot of really neat houses to look at in the area, with cool yard landscaping. The yards are all pretty small, so it's neat to see the different things people do with them. I like walking in the residential area because it's pleasantly shady, and looking at houses is entertaining. One thing I've learned on my walks is that a lot of people are getting their roofs redone. I've seen lots of yard signs and several crews hard at work. Surprisingly, I haven't been barked at by a lot of dogs.

I made chocolate chip cookies yesterday. I did my baking across the street because my mom likes the company and her kitchen is set up nicely to cook. I also lack several ingredients you need for cooking, like eggs and margarine. My dad decided he wanted a chocolate chip cookie with raspberries in it. I scoffed at him, but let him do it. Well, I had a bite of that raspberry chip cookie while it was still warm, and it was damn good. If that one hadn't been in the last batch I'd have made more. I'm still surprised at how tasty it was. I took Anna along, and she spent about half an hour in an intense stalking pose, watching a chipmunk in the bushes just outside the window. It must have been very tiring, since she spent the rest of the day sleeping.

When I got home I opened the new computer parts that ups delivered and touched them to take off Donald's curse. More computer parts are due to arrive today and tomorrow. The invitation to my cousin's wedding in October arrived, so I opened that too. It's on handmade paper, which is nice. There is one weird thing. Their reception is on the Air Force base, so we're supposed to provide SSNs and driver's license info for all people attending. I'm a little irked at this. I know they are concerned about security, but come on. Why do I have to give out my SSN at every turn?

Children's books

The other day we were talking about books we read when we were kids. Here are a couple of my favorites:

Beany, by Jane Feder. The story is just about a boy and how his cat is his friend. The illustrations are great. There was a copy of this book at my grandparent's house, and I must have made my grandpa read it to me a hundred times.



Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Everything goes wrong for this kid. I got a little paperback copy of this from a box of Cheerios a couple years ago!



Each Peach Pear Plum. First book I learned to read, because I pretty much memorized the whole thing.
"Each Peach Pear Plum. I spy Tom Thumb!" In this engaging, interactive book for the very young, familiar nursery-rhyme characters such as Mother Hubbard and Baby Bunting sneak their way into the gentle drawings. Even young children who might not know all the fairy-tale stars can find them lurking in the cupboard, on the stairs, or deep in the woods."



Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.
"If food dropped like rain from the sky, wouldn't it be marvelous! Or would it? It could, after all, be messy. And you'd have no choice. What if you didn't like what fell? Or what if too much came? Have you ever thought of what it might be like to be squashed flat by a pancake?
Life is delicious in the town of Chewandswallow where it rains soup and juice, snows mashed potatoes, and blows storms of hamburgers--until the weather takes a turn for the worse. "



Harold and the Purple Crayon: "One evening Harold decided to go for a walk in the moonlight. But there was no moon, and Harold needed a moon for a walk in the moonlight. Fortunately, Harold had his purple crayon. So he drew a moon. He also needed something to walk on. So he drew a path . . . And thus begins one of the most imaginative and enchanting adventures in children's books."



Who doesn't love Where the Wild Things Are?



and The Very Hungry Caterpillar




You people do realize that when you have kids, Donald and I will be giving them books.

Wonderfalls- it's like looking for an Irish Johnny Cash in a haystack

Donald and I have watched 5 episodes of Wonderfalls, and like many good TV shows, we're almost half done. Because it was cancelled. The premise is that inanimate objects start talking to the girl, and wackiness ensues. The girl is kind of like George from Dead Like Me, but not quite as good. Tim Minear is one of the producers, so there's your Firefly connection. :) I've been told Jewel Staite's in an episode, but I haven't gotten to it yet. The dialogue is very amusing. You should watch it.

The rest of the week

Wednesday Donald and I went for coffee, and managed to get a table that wasn't stolen by a creepy bastard. He already had one you see, and was taking up way too much space already. But enough about assholes. Donald brought his laptop, and I felt like drawing. The only problem with that is that we were at a round table near the register, so there aren't a lot of people easy to draw. I got a few nice sketches of people waiting in line though. Then I felt like watercoloring, since I'd brought my travel watercolor box so I did that too. We had a nice evening.

Thursday I figured that since it wasn't 100 degrees it would be a good time to do errands. I went to Office Depot to get a 2007 planner. I know I won't need it for four more months, but school supplies are plentiful now. I carefully examined all the different planners, and decided on the same one I've had for the last 2 years. Then I wandered around the store looking at stuff I don't need, thinking that I needed something else but I'd forgotten what. I never did remember, but I did manage not to buy anything that I didn't really need. I also went to the bank and Osco. Then I collected the cat, and went to my folk's to decorate a cake. That went quite well. The cake was blue with a yellow and Red Superman "S" symbol. Rock candy "kryptonite" finished it off. The "s" is a little wonky, but it's pretty decent for freehanding it.



Friday morning I got up early enough to take a walk before it got too hot. In the afternoon Robyn and I did some shopping. I tried on a pair of shoes that felt really good, but were inexplicable ugly. They looked normal until I put them on, then transformed into ugly. The shape was just weird. It's so rare that I find really comfortable shoes that I'm considering getting them anyway.

Saturday Donald and I went out for a little shopping. We went by the bookstore first so I could buy a backpack. The one I wanted was no longer there, of course. Then we went to the Apple store, where they told us the $50 refund coupon (which I got for my original iPod battery crapping out) was only good online. Of course. They do everything they can to prevent you from actually USING the money they gave back to you. Then we went to EB, and Donald bought me Wario Land 4 (GBA) to play on his DS. That's a fun game. I played it a lot yesterday. Donald, Robyn and Mike came to see the equity showcase, and then we got coffee. After that I was feeling guilty for not going to the party for Europe, so Donald and I went there even though it was late. We were there from about midnight to 1, and had a pretty nice time. Now I don't feel like a jerk for saying I'd do something and not doing it.

Here's Blackout in a shoebox:


and Blackout feigning nonchalance at Anna's intrusion into his world.

Table Stolen- Small One Annoyed

Donald and I just went to Muddy's. At first, it looked like there weren't any open tables. One just turned out to have newspapers on it that someone left behind. Donald went to stand in line, and I moved the papers to the pile on the end of the counter. I walked back over to tell Donald what I wanted, and when I turned around, Creepy Mc Handsypants swooped in and STOLE my fucking table. That creepy shit watched me move the newspapers, then sniped my goddamn table. What the fuck. Now instead of sitting at home, bored- I'm sitting at home bored and pissed.

I guess "preview" gave me overly optimistic ideas about who would show up for our show yesterday night. It was a good step up from Saturday. We had five people. Have hope, I say, there are at least 20 reservations for tonight. We were a little rocky, but that's why you have previews, to iron out the wrinkles.

Donald and I were going to go try out Egstc. for breakfast yesterday. It was very busy, so we went to Chubby's. I ordered slightly too much food and ended up with way too much food. They gave me an extra piece of toast, an extra biscuit and a large chocolate milk instead of a small. Donald was supposed to stop me from ordering so much food but he didn't try hard enough. :)

The rest of the day was spent feeling hot, occasionlly napping and mainly doing nothing. Around 11 it occured to me that we should have done the laundry. I was so damn bored. I was just waiting all day for the day to be over.

"You ruin the fourth of EVERYTHING"

I guess "invited dress" for Europe was an overly optimistic term for the rehearsal yesterday. There was exactly one person there who wasn't involved in the show. After the rehearsal I spent some time taping the bejesus out of the windows. They let in hella light, you see, and I can't have that. The set designer didn't do a very through job of it, and yet used up a LOT of my ill gotten gaff tape. So I used even more of it, and I think I've taken care of the worst of the light leaks. Tonight is our preview, and I sure hope there will be some people there! If people don't show up, I won't get paid. We still have to do a little more work cleaning up the room, but we're almost ready to go.

In the afternoon Donald and I did some errands, then got food. I was planning to eat something different from usual. By the time we were done with the errands (which honestly was not a long time) I was so damn hot, and tired from the hot, and hungry, that we just went to Kin Lin. I can't be mad about that. The waitress there knows what I want to order. Any longer and she'll just bring my Kin Lin chicken before I order it. Where else can I get 2 full meals from a $6.50 entree?

Robyn and Mike helped me sample the goodies last night.

The yellow box on the left turned out to be bite sized mushrooms that consisted of a cookie stem and chocolate top. The packet to its right was chocolate covered sunflower seeds. I was kind of surprised at that, since I was only guessing on size and general color. Pretty tasty. The chocolate rocks are confrimed.

The thing above those in four flavors was actually 4 flavors of chocolate square with different fillings. The chocolate in general seems less sweet and waxier. After we'd tried one of each and guessed at flavors, I saw that the package had English descriptions- only they were on the inside, so you couldn't see until you opened them. Seems to me that you should print that on the outside. Those chocolates also had stickers of tiny cartoon scenes, where the characters are doing weird stuff. One seemed to be getting crushed by a giant bean, while another is making a huge omelette, another is brushing its teeth, and the weirdest one shows one character clearly vomiting on another. These are all shown on 1" square stickers. I have no idea. There was a website listed, and luckily an English option.

"Easy to take-out, one bite-size, lovely small chocolate
We have 4 flavors (Yogurut, Strawberry, Mocca , Amond)
Choose one what you want to have"

There's nothing about the crazy-ass stickers. Further googling reveals them to be licensed cartoon characters. http://www.doolynara.co.kr/e_html/dooly.htm


Whole Almond Candy tasted kinda like plastic until I decided to chew it, then it was like peanut brittle, but with almond. The grape and strawberry sour things are very tasty, and similar to Laffy Taffy. The blueberry favored stuff is yummy chewing gum.

Yesterday we finally teched Europe, with sound and lights. That all went fine. The evening was opening night for the Equity showcase, and that also went well. Once I'm into the booth and running the show, I switch into board operator mode and pay attention to the show only enough to run it properly. Which is to say I read a book most of the time. I will resolve myself to stick around after each show long enough to schmooze people who could potentially hire me. Intermission is also a good time for that.

Today we have our invited dress for Europe, and performance number 2 for the showcase. Tomorrow I leave the showcase in somebody else's hands, and we will have our first actual audience for Europe. I'm looking forward to that.

cookie

Update! The nibbles in the pink box at the bottom are bite sized cookies with chocolate inside. Pretty tasty.

goodies from afar

I went to a tech rehearsal from noon to 4:30 today, then came home to find that my Korean goodies arrived today!



The yellow box on the left looks like a chocolatey shroom shaped treat. The packet to its right could be chocolate covered sunflower seeds. Above those 2 I think we have some chocolate rocks with a dinosaur egg. Above that is something that comes in four flavors, and I'm guessing fruity. They feel like a starburst. Whole almond candy I understand, and they even put a picture of the candy. The top right corner of the packages boasts "Supreme Grade."

In the top right corner is something in grape and strawberry flavors, and probably sour judging from the very startled looking children. It has 100% of something. Beolow that is something blueberry flavored, with a refillable dispenser. Below those, something with a chocolate filling. Only English word there is "new."

Bottom left corner, we have a small American cat. She is more interested in the camera than the odd looking packets.

Cool stuff! Now I'm off to get dinner and go to the other tech rehearsal, from 5:30 until probably midnight. They repainted the floor black last night, so I'm eager to see how sticky it will be. I'm sure it'll be dry, but that new paint stickiness can be very annoying.

Mike is the best

Mike rules, for handing me down his old cell phone. And Donald rules, for spending a couple hours last night getting all my information switched over, and setting up the ringtone I've been bugging him about for months. Thank you thank you. It's so great to have a working screen again.

I've been in tech. Tuesday was the load in day in 116, so I was there from 9am until 11pm, except for about 45 minutes for lunch. It was a very tiring day. Yesterday I was there for 13 hours, but I got a very short lunch and nice long dinner break, making for less tired. Today I have the new experience of teching one show from noon to 4, then another show from 5:30 to 11ish. I think I'll be able to switch my brain over well enough.

Several more days of busy are to come. Robyn described it pretty well : "talk to ya later when you surface from rehearsals."

Come see things!

Equity Showcase in 116. There are 6 short plays, for the "suggested donation" price of $10.
Performances are 7:30 August 4-7 and August 10-13. Plays range from comedy to drama.

Europe in Grant Hall 306. One night only performance/live music/drinks/live auction/party. Did I mention the drinks are included in the ticket price? Tickets are $20, 7:30 August 7. There is one preview, of the play only, Sunday August 6, 7:30, tickets $10.

Friday was the load-in day for Europe in Grant Hall. We started by taking the dimmers and stuff I had here to Grant, then going on a raiding party at the PAC. We gathered up all sorts of equipment and dragged it all to GH by 1. We took an hour for lunch, the went back to it. Right away, we found that the way we were going to hang the lights wasn't going to work very well, so we went back to the PAC for more stuff, and a taller ladder. Then we actually got something done. Of the 3 dimmer packs (possessing a potential 12 dimmers) 8 dimmers work. I also have a 6 channel Dove board, so there are 6 dimmers controlled manually. I'm using the Express to control 8 dimmers. It's pretty silly when you think about it! The day took a lot longer than it would have if we hadn't been making it up as we went.

Friday night Robyn and I went to see Dr. J's Fringe Fesitval show. It was good. A little disturbing at times, but honesty usually is. I'm glad we went.

The wedding yesterday was nice. I knew a total of 5 people there, including Donald and the bride and groom. I owe Mike big time by the way. He and I had a good time snickering at the Man Sandals, aka "mandals" that one guy was sporting. The wedding party all looked very nice, and the decorations were neat. They had lots of cheesecakes, in many flavors. We got home about 10:30 and were very tired.

Today I finished up in Grant Hall, and Donald returned his tux and bought a DS lite. Now it's time for the usual grocery shopping, laundry doing and dish washing.

Anna is on Cute Overload! I sent in a picture and they posted it.
www.cuteoverload.com
Scroll down until you see a black kitty with her tongue sticking out. That's her. :)

Balance

To balance out the sad karma (haw haw, carma) of Robyn's sad squashed car, I will post pictures of kitty cuteness.

Hiding under Target's santa bag


looking rather drunk


She thinks she's a projector.


I'm not quite sure why she thinks that's a good spot.


DO YOU WANT TO COUNT MY WHEESKERS?

I've been rushing around doing various theatre stuff. I'm chasing equipment for Europe, and think I may have caught some. I'm currently on "plan D" for the damn fool equipment, and I really hope I don't have to go to any "plan E" 'cause I don't know what that is. I gotta call a guy this morning to find out when to get the goods. We had a meeting and a run through Sunday night, and now I'm trying to figure out how to light the show with possibly only 8 dimmers.

For the showcase in 116, I've seen 4 out of the 6 plays now. The other 2 directors didn't respond to my emails, so I may just not see a run through. I don't have time to chase directors AND equipment. In between rehearsals Monday, I searched the PAC for useful stuff and pulled some color and templates. I found some useful stuff, but not as much as I would have liked. I saw 2 more rehearsals Tuesday, and tried to get into locked places with no luck. The bitch there is that I have permission to use equipment, I just can't physically get it because SOMEBODY locks everything up. If only Sean D. hadn't turned in his keys, I'd have those dimmers.

Monday morning I helped my dad get a new washing machine into the basement, and take the old one out. My mom finally decided that she needed a new one, since her 30+ yr. old washer wasn't always draining. They got a Whirlpool from Costco for $200. It's so fun to be the one on the downstairs end of the dolly. Once we figured out what we were doing it was fine, but I still have a bruise on my shoulder and A couple red marks where it pinched me. Every time we do something like this my dad gets all wheezy and I worry about him.

the weekend

Saturday Donald had to work, so Robyn and Mike and I went shopping. Mike had an art project in mind, so he got the supplies he wanted. I got a wedding present for Scott and Tracy. Robyn and I both got more pretty paper for scrapbooks.

We went to dinner at Blue Koi on 39th St. and we were all satisfied. They seem a little pricey, but when you figure in that we all had leftovers and shared 2 appetizers, $20 each is pretty decent. Robyn got roasted duck with noodles, and Mike ordered a chicken curry dish. After tasting, they decided to trade, which confused the waiter to no end. Mike's friend Vicky had the ginger chicken, and I had pot roast. It could not have been more tender and flavorful. Mmmm... Next time I'm getting that curry thing.

After dinner we happily settled into arts and crafts night. Mike wanted to paint something, so I volunteered the use of all my paints. I got nominated to be the art teacher and offer advice about stuff. We spent several hours painting or cutting and pasting, and a good time was had by all. Mike's paintings turned out really well. Robyn and I both would have put them up on our walls. :)

Yesterday Robyn and I went to Costco to pick up our photo prints. When we got back we spent some more time cutting, pasting and/or taping, while Donald played Paper Mario. I haven't played it yet, but Donald and Robyn both really like it.

NOW

Want more Battlestar Galactica, want it now.

dammit.

Friday

I'm glad the work got cancelled. Yesterday morning I took advantage of the fabulous 70's temperature and went for a walk. I walked 2 miles, and it took about 45 minutes. It was quite satisfactory. Then I pretty much did nothing the rest of the day.

Mike got here a little after 4, Robyn got here around 5, and when Donald got home we went for dinner. It sucks that the only weekday Donald gets home early is Friday, because we all know restaurants are crowded on Friday evenings. Our dinner service was slow, and the food was okay, but not really great. Mike was tired so he went home, so the rest of us got coffee and played Munchkin. It was very nice, since we hadn't done that for a couple weeks. I don't know how they managed to get something addictive into the very coffeehouse itself- but if I don't go there very few days, I really want to. How do they do that?

Pick up the damn phone people

I wish people would TELL ME when I'm supposed to work for them and the plan changes. Specifically, PAYING work, that I now don't have. I wonder how much money I didn't make this summer because of this.

In May, I was told that I was needed to assist at the Unicorn for several days. So I show up at 10 on the day I was told to, and he's surprised to see me. Well, this is when you told me to be here! I didn't hear otherwise, so I showed up to work, and you were going to pay me to do so! I even turned down other work because I'd be in your tech. So now I look stupid, having shown up at a tech where I'm not needed, at a place where I somehow always feel like they all look at me like I don't belong anyway, then turn around and leave. Thanks. No paycheck this time.

On Monday, I worked at the dinosaur restaurant, then we planned when to go back the next day, so I left my tools there. Tuesday morning, Alex tells me that the guy says he only needs one person. Thanks asshat, you could have told us that last night. Now Alex has my tools and I need to call him to get them back. Money evaporates.

Today, I call the guy who I was supposed to work for tonight and tomorrow, since I hadn't heard from him all week. He says the thing has been pushed back a week, and can I still work then? No, I can't. I have a show to load in and a wedding to go to. But thanks for telling me before today! I'm happy to have my weekend back, but there goes another paying job.

I would just like it if the people I'm working for would keep the people working for them up to date, dammit. It seems like common courtesy.

quiz

1. Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, find line 4. Write down what it says:

There aren't any books near me, I'm in the computer room. I'll give you the 4th item on page 18 of the Victoria's Secret catalog: "Low-rise boyshort. Sizes S-L. $7.50."

2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can...What do you touch first?

The directory of Phsyicians and Health Care Professionals

3. What is the last thing you watched on TV?

Battlestar Galactica on DVD

4. WITHOUT LOOKING, what time is it?

9 something

5. Now look at the clock, what is the actual time?

9:52

6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear:

Donald's computer, NPR on the radio

7. When did you last step outside? What were you doing?

Yesterday, I was returning from the grocery store

8. What are you wearing?

boxers & a tank top

9. When did you last laugh?

Last night, making some smart ass comment about BSG

10. Seen anything weird lately?

Monday there were dinosaurs

11. What did you dream last night?

Now that you mention it, Victor was trying to convince me that I should teach a drawing class, and Kevin and Denise were here to visit.

12. What's on the walls of the room you're in?

Diplomas, posters of comic book characters including Death, Kabuki, and Strangers in Paradise

13. What do you think of this survey?

entertaining enough to do. :)

14. What's the last film you saw?

Pirates of the Caribbean 2

15. If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy first?

a car

16. Tell me something about you that I don't know.

Uhh...

17. If you could change one thing about the world, what would you change?

People would stop being stupid

18. Do you like to dance?

Yes, but my friends all suck :P

19. Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?
20. Boy?

No

21. Would you ever consider living abroad?

Hard to say

Only one angry thermometer today

There is a LOT more scenery at the dino restaurant now. The 4 huge fish tanks are packed with large brightly colored fish. One has some of those little sharks, who have been spotted taking bites out of the mantas. I feel really bad for the mantas. Lots of booths are starting to go in, as well as retail stuff which is less interesting. I'm taking my camera back today.

Yesterday was spent mostly putting more dichroics in lights for dino displays. Oh, and refocusing all the ones I did before. The scenery people came and put fake plants in and screwed up all the lights. There will be many melted fake plants, you can count on it. The owner was there doing a walk through of the whole place, loudly telling everybody everything that was wrong for an hour and a half. Made me very very glad to not be in charge of anything. After that, I had to go back to the fern and sequoia rooms to work on them. They had dark spots that needed fixing, so I got to get intimate with that goddamn greenery- covered cargo net again. There are also tree branches now, adding to the fun. So I pushed, pulled, got covered in itchy dust, added a few track lights, and managed to get the walls and corner trees lit. Every day there are more and more people doing a wide variety of things. Today they have staff training, so I think we're waiting to go in until late.