Living Under a Rock

You may have noticed my long absence from this blog, but there is a very easy explination -- I've been living under a rock.

I just finished up my last mainstage at Baylor, The Seagull.  This turned out to be one of the most difficult shows I've done, taking away all of my time and energy, and yet it was invaluable and enjoyable.  Happily, family from two different cities were able to come and see it.  During the run of the show I had my birthday, immediately preceded by one of my good friend's birthday.  We ended up at Applebee's two nights in a row, but with great company and free ice cream.  It was a good weekend of celebration with the two birthdays and the show.

The Seagull marked the last of my mainstages at Baylor.  My time has been opened up greatly and I've been recovering and playing as much as possible.  Softball season started the week after the show ended.  Our girls have been doing pretty well, but unfortunately haven't been challenged too much yet.  I've been playing tennis with a friend at least once a week, although we're hoping to make it happen more often.  We're trying out new restaurants and frequenting the dollar theatre (half price tuesdays!), doing our best to fill the time without a mainstage.  So far we've met with pretty good success, possibly because there have been at least eight birthdays to consider, but possibly because we're all so relieved to be out from under the rock.

Transitioning

I'm officially back in Waco!  I had a wonderful summer with the bro and sis-in-law with a very interesting show and a ridiculous job.  My room is half and half -- half prettiful and clean since the first thing I did was dust and half overflowing with suitcases and random items of varying usefulness.  Tomorrow is the big shopping/unpacking/reorganizing/cleaning/recycling day then I dive right into gatherings and the next project, The Drowsy Chaperone. 

So, 'Hello.'  It is my hope to post a few things tomorrow, but if that plan should go awry, here's checking in.  Happy New School Year.  

Irony Never Fails

Here's the first irony which is closer to a catch-22 really. When I have time to blog that usually means that nothing is happening. Literally. Nothing. However, whenever something is happening, particularly if they're exciting somethings, I do not have the time to pop online for a quick and quirky anecdote.

All this to segue into a complaint that I have had virtually nothing to do this summer. Between cooking regularly (and washing a lot of dishes), reading several books, seeing friends, watering the lawn, watching way too much TV, and checking my email entirely too often, I still have many open hours for computer games, sleeping late, going out of town, and redying my hair blue. Beyond that, I have time to stare at the wall, wish I had something to do, and still have very little information worth mentioning to an outside party.

I went to a couple of rehearsals for Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well with my Baylor friend, Victoria, who is playing the lead. I was hoping to help, but the play is part of a festival so the theatre is providing most of the technical support. I did however enjoy meeting and listening to the director, who is very knowledgable and friendly. He was in Miss Congeniality :) Victoria and I watched it one day and were delighted to recognize him for his five minute appearance!

In pursuing this, I was afraid that I had missed the opportunity to volunteer for a production of The Music Man. Randomly, a Baylor guy, Carl, who graduated two years ago contacted me about volunteering as a dresser for the show. I hate anything costume related, but was desperate enough to agree. Rehearsals and the first weekend of performance was last week and the show runs every weekend until August 15; a week before I need to be in Waco. After being there a week, I am glad I ended up on the costume crew since the crews I would have volunteered for seem sketchy. Carl is a professional, so I'm learning a lot about costume crew that I never knew and need to know. I also enjoy the cast--they take a lot in stride. It's outdoor theatre, which is a new experience, but I like being outside and (fortunately) I like the show.

The irony continues in this: the day after I started working for the show that would tie up most of my nights for the rest of the summer I got a call from Express offering me a job. Express was the first store to interview me and even called me back to say they were having trouble getting in touch with one of my references which was the only hang-up. Then I went for almost a month without hearing from them. Apparently, the manager had moved my application into the orientation folder early since she had been planning to hire me, then couldn't find it when she wanted to call me and had no way of contacting me. She finally found it and still wanted to hire me. It's a little annoying that it took so long for the job to come through, but I suspect that will make her more sympathetic to my show schedule. If she had hired me earlier, I don't think I would have been able to do both.

So, I am making the shift from nothing to full days again and as usual it all comes at the same time in ways I didn't expect. It couldn't have come too soon!

And just for the sake of this post, I'll share one more irony. As I was thinking about what to put in this post (early!) this morning, I was opening the door to lug sprinkler hoses around the sticky grass when the breakfast I had been waiting on popped out of the toaster. Go figure, right?

Tidbits

Some more thoughts:

When you go to the store looking for something specific you can find everything except the one thing you're looking for. Sometimes this leads you to try a new product. Sometimes this leads you to walk up and down the same four aisles for twenty minutes.

Blue hair doesn't lose it's charm.

Every mafia family has a member named "Sal;" a statisic that is clearly proven in cop shows. Furthermore, the same guy who played a mafia leader on two seperate shows was also the voice for Hercules' trainer in the Disney movie. No wonder Phil always seemed so commanding. And Italian.

Ice cream trucks are freaky.

Whenever there is feedback in an auditorium most people look to the speakers; I look to the sound guy.

When you go to the library, be sure to pick up all of the books in a series at once. This will prevent you from making numerous trips to the library in a single week.

I have no confidence when operating miniblinds.

Chili's really has the best chips.

Observations

Not a lot has been going on. I spent three days filling out applications and I've been able to schedule a few interviews so I'm mostly just waiting. This means reading and getting caught up on TV shows and working on the next play mostly. Here are some observations I have made recently.

The nephews will play with anything. It's amazing what joy light switches and cat toys can provide. Also, the trebuchet is always a party favorite.

There's nothing better than turning on the radio and hearing the song that's stuck in your head.

I saw a boy today that had a monster truck toy on a leash.

I heard a man on the radio that had recently broken off an engagement because his fiancé wanted him to get a job and help support them financially. He was heartbroken because they already had everything planned -- a ceremony at Mr. Gatti's Pizza Buffet.

Parking lots designed by enviromentalists are difficult to navigate.

In a strange way, I have missed having cat hair on my computer. Cat hair in my mouth, however, not as endearing.

In Austin, there are not seperate radio stations for seperate genres of rock. As a result, the single station consistently plays terrible music. However, I am convinced that there is a sensor that enables them to play Pink Floyd only if I'm about to get out of the car. Tragic really.

There's not much purpose to having a "right lane ends" sign six yards after the merge.

Jason's Deli is an ideal place for five hour lunches. I would also like to report that I only had one bowl of ice cream during that time.

Maybe I've listened to a radio station too long when I can identify the songs by the first chord.

NCIS has progressively worse lighting, progressively worse sound, not much character development, and a strange new way to cap commercial breaks, yet it is the most successful and/or accessible series I like. The others have beyond brilliant designs and characters but are canceled, facing cancellation, or are impossible to find on DVD. Also, it is very difficult to find a good show these days that is not some kind of cop show.

This is my 100th post!

Well, I think that's enough for now. I'll probably have more substance (or pictures) soon. Catch ya later.

Good Times

Mmhm. Summer was made for me. Normally I would be a little bored and restless by this point - a full week with no scheduled activities, but at the end of this year I am soaking it in as much as possible. I was TIRED. This year was a test of endurance like I've never experienced before. I have had a good mix of activities; some reading, a sound project for a friend, a lot of detailed cleaning, a project for my nephew, and lots of outings. There have been several shared meals of the cleaning-out-the-cupboard variety, three distinct and wonderful games of Scattegories, a fierce and passionate competition in Bop-it Extreme - a game I did not even know I owned until the beginning of this week (I currently hold the high score, 56, that's right.) Several movies have been involved, including the midnight premiere of Angels and Demons (I liked it, but it's the first exposure I've had to the series, books or movies) which freaked me out when my sister, Julie, called the next night and asked if I had seen any good midnight premieres lately. There was also one fantastic night when a group got together and didn't play games or watch a movie, but just talked for several hours.

So, after a year of hard labor I am pleased to report that it does pay off and I do have the ability to take it easy now and then. I am also blessed to have sat in the presence of many different groups of people and felt at ease and seen the comradarie abound even as the dynamics shift. My time in Waco is winding down and I will need to get a job soon, but it is time to move on and into a working atmosphere again. However, I will always be grateful for every moment I have lived in the last week.

Honey, I'm Home!

I am back. Finals are all officially over, I have pulled my last working all-nighter until August (who knows if any midnight premeires may come up), and I started reading one of my books for fun. Summer is here! I don't have a lot to say since my thoughts are still scattered all over the place, but I have a few projects like organizing the 500+ Blood Wedding pictures I have into a presentable form for other people and finishing up the Flat Stanley project for the nephew. I am also working on my website for my portfolio...it's slow going though. So, here are some teasers of what should be coming in the next few weeks. By the way, I'm living with the very gracious brother and sister-in-law this summer, so I'll be relocating next week. Thanks for letting me run away! I promise to fill in the gaps soon.