Archive for November, 2006
Opening Night!
I am exhausted.
I am excited.
I am full of energy that comes from God-knows-where.
I am pumped!
Sabrina Fair opens up tonight and I’m so ready. The rest of the cast is so ready. The board ops are so ready. The stage manager is so ready. Holy crap! It’s a good thing, because we are so going up tonight!
Consider this my pitch. If you’re in the Boston area, you should consider coming to see the show. If you want to see the show, you should email me, and I’ll get you the details. You only have 5 chances to see it, and those chances start today!
Excitement!
Can I take a nap now?
Thank You, God
A couple weeks ago, I thought I was going to be in a lot of trouble. I mentioned to my sister that I had a wedding to attend in Connecticut in May, and asked her to not schedule her graduation party for that day. She immediately had a shocked look on her face and told me that she was pretty sure that day was her graduation day itself.
My sister came to my graduation. I am going to hers.
But I started to get really riled up and sad about it. My friend that is getting married, in that same state from who’s self-named university my sister will be graduating from this year, is a great gal. I really wanted to be there for her wedding. I was looking forward to it.
And I really was not looking forward to telling her I couldn’t go.
I thought maybe, just maybe, if the graduation was early enough and the wedding was late enough, or maybe the other way around… but seriously. They may be in the same state, but they aren’t going to be in the same town. In fact, it is likely the events will be on opposite ends of I-84.
So, I freaked out.
I was supposed to ask my girly-friend what time of day she thought the wedding would be, but I just couldn’t approach the subject. I put it off.
Thankfully, I have been given a reprieve. My sister called last night to tell me that her graduation date and time had been announced, and they are in fact the next day. So, not only do I have the relief of knowing I can do both things, but I also get the bonus of only having to drive down to Connecticut once.
So, I am relieved. Entirely relieved.
Thank God.
The Wrath
Sometimes, my mind tweaks a little bit about my job. I mean, I have been here for seven months, but still some things feel new to me. For example, I know the name of the networks guy. Screw that. I eat lunch with the networks guy. I’ve had beers with the networks guy. I’ve met the networks guy’s wife. At my last job, there was a whole networks department, and they were the devil. Here, we got the one guy, and he’s just another one of the pretty cool guys I work with.
Of course, that means when something goes wrong with the network, everyone looks straight at him. No paperwork or department head for him to hide behind!
The network has been screwy today. The first time it went down it was because a contractor kicked the power cable out for the switch. Silliness. It was just out again, if only for a minute, and what did I do? Not mutter under my breath. Not bad mouth the crappy people in the “other” building. Not have a whine-fest with my cube-neighbors.
I just pulled out my best Kirk impression, and yelled his name out. Okay, yelled might be a strong word. I wasn’t really that loud – I muted the tone. But at any rate, me and my really rather awful James T. impression (does anyone have a good one, really… even Shatner’s is pretty weak… heh…) quietly “yelled” his name. And a couple of nearby cube-neighbors snickered.
It helps that his name rhymes with Khan.
P.S.
VOTE!
Behave!
Never has it been so hard for me to attend a rehearsal. I mean, seriously. This was a technical. Or was it a dress? Who knows! At least we have another dress today. And tomorrow. And Thursday (though I think it’s some kind of weird invitee/open – dress, so that ought to be special).
Anyway, this was the kind of rehearsal that everyone wants to go to. Is excited about. You know, looks forward to?
Not me.
It was really difficult to leave the house at 6:50 last night. Why? Because there, on the floor by the stairs, sat a box. And it sat conveniently next to the box that the first one came in, making comparing the sizes easy.
When I came in the house, Mike was already home. And that’s why I didn’t have to carry in the box myself.
“YAY! Yay, yay, yay, yay, yay!”
“Too bad you won’t ever be able to play it.”
That was mean, sure, but it may as well be true. The arrival of a pre-ordered video game should be an exciting time. One with the unwrapping of tape. With the fighting with the case. With the putting stickers on the guitar!
But no. I had to leave the box there, and let Mike have the excitement. He was nice enough to play with his guitar from the first game, giving me the opportunity to play the virgin red mini-Gibson. He told me all about it when I came home after 10:30. I lived vicariously through him.
Saturday morning, my precious. That’s when I’ll see you. Saturday morning.
New and Improved
We got new cubes at work. They are no longer cubiclettes. They are actual cubes. Of course, everything is less than perfect. The network admin is running around like a chicken without a head. Except that he has a head. And he’s been able to fix everything. People are whining about the directionality of the file drawers. People are begging for keyboard trays. None of these things affect me. I’m actually pretty content.
I have been called a freak several times, due to the fact that my legs are too long for a keyboard try, and my arms really aren’t having difficulty typing from the level the desk is at. Actually, I’m probably sitting more ergonomically correct at this desk because it forces me to sit up straight. I love being tall sometimes.
In completely unrelated news, this week marks production week for Sabrina Fair. I’m supremely excited. We had our first tech last night, and it didn’t suck. The timing in the third act was a bit wonky, but I think it’ll be awesome by Friday. It may even be awesome by Wednesday.
I really love working on theatre again.
I turned myself into the master paintress I know I am over the last two weekends. I’m responsible for large amounts of faux-granite. I think it looks pretty good, actually, if I do say so myself. And the wallpapered-brickwork goes with it extremely well. It’s almost as if we picked the colors on purpose, rather than randomly opening vats of paint that were living under the stage in a manner that would make most technical directors very nervous.
So, that’s what’s going on. I’m going to be a busy bee this week, both at work and at play, so I have no idea how often I’ll update. It could be anywhere from never to daily. It’ll be a surprise for all of us!
EEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Shortly after posting that previous post, I checked my email. This was there waiting for me!
Breakfast 2.0
I got to the train station with time to spare. Of course, I got there without my umbrella… But the guy on the news said the rain would be over by the commute! He’s a liar.
I didn’t get too wet on that end, though, because I could stay in my car until the last possible second. I sat next to a distinguished-looking man in the first car of the train, and listened to my Gnarls Barkley. I also finally beat one of the puzzle levels in Tetris that had been giving me trouble.
The train eased into North Station, and I had soon detrained (yes, that’s the word they use, it’s like deplane, but slightly less cool, and not recognized by standard spell checking). The walk over to the subway was as it always is – short but annoying. I’m not a huge fan of being part of a herd. I’d moo or something, but that would distract me from my air-drums.
A green line trolley came and allowed me to get on. Which I did. I settled into a seat, pulled my DS back out, and went into my T-rider’s coma. When I can listen to music and play video games, the T ride goes by quickly. I sometimes am surprised when I realize we’re approaching Arlington.
Today, I was surprised when I realized we were leaving Arlington. And I was still in my T-rider’s coma, in my seat, playing Tetris, and listening to Gnarls. I quickly stuffed my things in my bag, and got off at Copley (the next stop). I reasoned that it was fate, so I may as well stop at Finagle a Bagel.
At first I thought about getting a cinnamon bagel with some light cream cheese. But then, I spotted the cream cheese of the month. Pumpkin! So many things taste good as pumpkin flavored. It’s amazing. So, obviously I wanted to get that. And I decided to be safe and have it on a nice plain bagel.
My walk continued, and I continued to get wet. So did my bagel bag. But when I got to the office and into the elevator, I checked, and the bagel itself was as dry as it ought to be. Good job, bagel bag!
Morning greetings all around, and I soon settled into my desk chair. I opened up the wrapping, and scraped some of the excess cream cheese off. I don’t need three pounds of cream cheese per bite, thank you very much. With a smile on my face, I took a bite.
The smile immediately turned to a frown. “Well, this is horrible,” I muttered.
One of my coworkers looked up over the cube wall. “What’s wrong?”
I told him about my botched morning thus far, and he laughed. “I was so excited by pumpkin cream cheese. But this is awful.”
Another coworker chimed in, “Usually pumpkin flavored things are good. They must have screwed it up.”
“Somewhere, in a Finagle a Bagel factory, sits a giant vat of rotting pumpkin cream cheese,” observed the first coworker.
I offered them a chance to try it, as I wasn’t going to eat it. This spawned the necessary conversation about how people often take anything offered to them and wonder why at a later moment. The first coworker offered me some spoilt milk. Neither one of us bought what the other was selling.
“I’m still hungry. But I can’t even take a second bite of this thing.”
That first coworker asked me if I wanted anything from Au Bon Pain, as he was about to head over there for some oatmeal. I grimaced, and made a quick decision. “I’ll come with you. I just feel bad about wasting food.”
“It’s not waste. It’s proper disposal.”
Now, having returned from ABP with a nice bowl of oatmeal, I feel as though my first breakfast should have been detonated by the bomb squad, to make sure no one has to even look at it again. Of course, I simply wrapped it back up and threw it away. But I can have dreams of controlled explosions, can’t I?
I couldn’t decide what to name this entry. My other option was “Toxic Waste.” I’m still not sure which is better. Oh well. Hitting “Publish” will make it semi-permanent.