Black Friday

I have never intentionally participated in a Black Friday and certainly not in the madness waking up at 4am to shove my way through too many people in too small a space.  But midnight--that's a different matter.

This Thanksgiving we heard of a nearby outlet mall that was opening at 12am (actually, some stores opened as early as 10pm).  My sister, Rachel, and sister-in-law, Snow, and I tossed it around for so long that it finally became absolutely necessary for us to check it out.  If it was awful we could leave without putting much of a dent in our schedule and say to each other "remember that time we tried Black Friday and it was a bad idea..." which is of course preferable to that nagging question of "what if?"  We left just before 4am.  

We didn't cover a lot of ground, we didn't buy a whole lot, but we walked out quite pleased with ourselves.  We each left with a few useful purchases and a few indulgances and many laughs over the ridiculous situation and some outrageous merchandise.  One of the best laughs came from our photo booth experience.  Rachel and I had never used one, so we decided that it was high-time we did.  We barely managed to squeeze in -- Snow actually poked her head in from outside the booth -- and took our awkward pictures.  Then we used my camera to take a picture of us outside the booth and it turned out to be more epic than the one inside the booth.  Oh well.  It was still an extremely worthwhile first photo booth experience.

So...remember that time we tried Black Friday and it was legendary?  

A snapshot of our photo booth pictures.

Post-photo booth snapshot.

Leaving.  My camera unfortunately only has a date stamp, not a time stamp, but notice that it is the day after Thanksgiving.  Also, notice that Rachel and I are sporting hats that were not in the previous pictures.

   

Frolicking In the Mud

(The sequel to Singing in the Rain)

Also known as Fall Break Pt. 2.  One of the reasons we wanted to revisit Mary Poppins in Houston instead of Dallas is because we had been planning for a month or two to go to a Pumpkin Patch in West.  The long-awaited adventure came after a full week of deluge and five of us made our way to the Pumpkin Patch.  Most anticipated and worthwhile was the corn maze, we split ways early on (my group finding the first dead end) and came to the place where there were three options and three of us.  We decided to each take a path and play Marco Polo to find each other again.  Forget Marco Polo in the pool, the game should only be played in a corn maze.  It was AWESOME.  There were a few other fall activites that we took advantage of -- hayride, rubber duck races, a corn cannon, and a cow train.  

We left for a Dairy Queen dinner then came back after it was dark for a Haunted House which also turned out to be in a cornfield.  Mostly the scariest part of the Haunted House was the mud that we were getting stuck in (Lauren lost one of her shoes for a while) and could no longer see.  We passed an area with a bunch of fake gravestones, at least one of which read "R.I.P."  Cynthia asked what it meant, so we told her 'rest in peace' to which she said, "Oh, I always thought R.I.P. was a really famous dead guy."  The best part; however, was the chainsaw.  Anna had heard it before we went in and was already unhappy about then so when the chainsawer actually passed us, she screamed and ran backward, slipped in the mud, fell over, and pulled Lisa down on top of her.  I'm not sure that's the friend I want around in a dangerous situation.  For a simple family farm, we had a wonderful adventure in my very first pumpkin patch.

The parting of ways at the first crossroads.

Anna had a sausage dog.  As a pig, I find that absolutely scandalous.

The cow train :)

Practically Perfect in Every Way

...or every once in a while.

Fall Break is a random day off in the fall -- but just one.  We all agree that the label is a bit of a misnomer, but a day off is a day off.  For the first evening of Fall Break this year I went with two friends (one fellow stage manager and one actor) to see Mary Poppins in Dallas.  It was not the best adaptation as Mary became unlikeable and the mother, the only character without depth in the movie, became the only character with depth in the play with the exception of Bert who was just as charming as ever.  The production however is filled to the brim with what we call "flash-and-trash" -- essentially a lot of technical tricks and treats with only a fluffy plot to support it.

After the show, we went to the stage door and asked for one of the stage managers.  We chatted with him for a while and asked if we could see the arrangement backstage.  We mentioned that we could come to Houston and he invited us to meet them there and watch a full show from backstage.  

Two weeks later, Cynthia and I ventured to Houston, stopped by my sister's, went to my nephew's t-ball game, then made our way to the Hobby Center.  Both of us sat on headset the entire time and I spent the first act sitting stage left behind the stage manager who was calling the show.  I looked over his shoulder at the calling book and he showed me the screens he watched from a deck of TV monitors that he used to call his cues.  For the second act, Cynthia sat there while I shadowed the stage manager stage right.  He took me through all the checks he has to perform and he showed me a lot of the mechanics for what happens stage right.  In fact, I stood on stage (behind the nursery) during one of the songs.

It was a priceless experience, following the professionals, asking questions, and seeing what it's really like backstage (not that different than us except much more high-tech).  So while the plot may not have been what I was looking for, my Mary Poppins excursion was practically perfect in every way. 

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday, Alana!  Hope it was colorful!

Kaylee.2

She's back!!  After about three weeks of not seeing Kaylee again, Christina and I assumed that she had moved on and wouldn't be coming back even though we fed her.  Last week I heard a few isolated meows that sounded like her, but never saw the cat that made them.  This Tuesday Christina ran into Kaylee in the parking, gave her a bit of loving, then instead of following, Kaylee actually led Christina to the door of our apartment and invited herself into our apartment.  She is adorable and as precious as ever, and has made the conscious decision to stay with us.  She never bolts for the door like she used to, but lazily watches us come in and spends hardly any time in the windows even though they were her favorite haunts last time.  Unfortunately, Christina and I are met with the same predicament that we cannot keep her past this year.  Know anyone who's looking for an extremely loving and easy to care for cat? 

Kaylee

This is an old story, but certainly one worth sharing.  On the first of the month I was dropping off my rent check and right by the door was a gorgeous cat begging for attention.  She had a collar, so I gave her a bit of loving.  She was very unhappy when I had to leave and followed me to the mailbox.  When she followed me back to my apartment what else was I supposed to do, but feed her and love her?

My roommate was home at the time, so we made the mutual desicion to try to find her owner and therefore take her in for a few days so that we would have custody of her if she was claimed.  We bought the stuff she needed to be temporarily adopted, named her Kaylee after the character in Firefly, and made the posters, but when we went to put them up one of the office ladies said that Kaylee had turned up around Easter and had been practically living on her back porch.  The search then turned to a new owner since Christina and I both didn't have a place for her after this year.

Kaylee's a very vocal cat and will let you know when she is unhappy, for example if you come home but don't pay attention to her right away.  Or if you cook and don't share with her.  Or if you leave.  Fortunately, she's a sucker for loving and you can pet her for a while to make her forgive you.  She's odd for a cat in that anytime you want to pet her she will accept it gladly.  Kaylee certainly ruled the household from the moment she came in, although we did not allow her to scratch the furniture.  

Unfortunately, having spent so much time outdoors, she wasn't fond of being cooped up.  We would let her out on the balcony every now and then so that she could be outside and almost a week after she followed me home, she made the jump and we haven't seen her since.  So for five days, Christina and I were the happy owners of spunky and extremely lovable cat named Kaylee.

Photo Hunter: Anything Goes

The theme is Anything Goes.

Anything Goes is a musical by Cole Porter.

Cole Porter is mentioned adoringly by the Man in Chair in Drowsy Chaperone.

Drowsy Chaperone is a spin off of that era's musicals.

Musicals are bright and fun and I just finished uploading all of my pictures for Drowsy Chaperone which is in the style of Anything Goes.

How's that for a train of thought?

"I don't wanna show off"

An airship!

Photo Hunter