exciting and cold

This week has actually been exciting. It started out pretty much horrible but it got a lot better. On Wednesday I had to trade shifts with Solomon which left my morning open which meant I could sing at this workshop for the Elderhostel group. I was happy just to be singing. That evening I found out Alyssa had slipped a disc in her back and might have to have an understudy go on. She still was able to go on as Viola in 12th Night and her roles in Richard but she had to miss Measure and Lear. Alyssa sings a lot in the preshow/interludes of those shows so I of COURSE mentioned to Aaron if they needed someone I would love to do it. They did need someone and I got to sing and I was so happy. I mean, obviously I didn't want Alyssa to be in excruciating pain but I was happy to help out and again, just happy to be singing. Her understudies did great in the roles, too. Lesley got to go on twice as Cordelia. I love it when Lesley is in shows... I just think she is so talented.

Anyway, so ALSO on Friday Johnston and I did our "gig" at the hotel next door. We were in a small ballroom next to the bar and between the bar and the room there were probably 100 people. We were doing this strolling minstrel thing but only people right next to us could hear us because it was just SO LOUD. Rene was in the bar after the show and he didn't even know we were in there singing. Our set was about 25-30 minutes and we did it 3.5 times in 2 hours with really quick water breaks between. I have never sung that much for that long in my entire life. I could have kept singing but MAN was my speaking voice gone! I could only speak to people in my head voice after it was over. I'm a soprano and Chris is a tenor and we both have much, much weaker lower registers so obviously everything we were singing was really high. It was pretty funny. I was exhausted after it was over. My legs hurt, I couldn't speak normally and I was sooo tired, but overall I think it went pretty well. A lot of people complimented us afterwards (and some even started talking to us mid-song) and we made a nice chunk of change so it was worth it. I'd like to do more stuff like that with the hotel so hopefully they will have a need.

My t-shirts for the gift shop came in and they are AMAZING!!! I was so happy. We've already sold a bunch even though they are more expensive than any other clothing items (except hoodies). Every one in the company loves them. They just look super cool. I am very pleased with how this turned out. If I am ever able to order anything new in the gift shop I want to start with the company Immortal Longings. They sent me this AWESOME sample pack (which included a Viola card (that we gave to Alyssa as a get well card) and a Cordelia card (which we gave to Lesley as a thank you card) ) and I totally love them. The drawings are just so pretty.

I've gotten two mean comments from "Anonymous" recently. It's kind of annoying because I'm left wondering: who is this person? I really doubt that anyone I know is secretly that mean. Plus, why on earth would a STRANGER take the time to insult someone they don't know on the internet? Why NOT put your name? It's not like I'd know who it was anyway. And if I DO know the person they clearly don't want to be my friend anymore so why not let me know that so I can erase them from my memory and leave them alone? Plus, if they hate me so much, why are they reading my blog? I mean, come on. Get a life. I don't read Angelina Jolie's blog. I don't like her and therefore I do not care what is going on with her. Anyway, so I've been thinking about, you know, my ENEMIES. I've only had one real enemy and I don't think we're still enemies anymore because those events are like 7 years old. I'm pretty sure the statue of limitations has cleared us of enemy-dom. We also appologised to eachother. That helped the situation. The only person who I have offended deeply enough to want to be this mean to me is Sarah Palin. Sarah, I'm SORRY! I can't help it. I know I'm being a hypocrite, you're just... so.... not presidential material. That's the best way to put it: She's just not presidential material. You don't have the chutzpah. I don't look at her and think, "WOW! I sure respect THAT WOMAN!" I look at her and think, "WOW! You're in way over your head!" So, anyway Sarah, stop leaving me mean "anonymous" comments on my blog. The joke's getting old.

My birthday month begins on WEDNESDAY!!!! I bought some decorations at Target in the dollar section. I am so excited. I can't wait. This is gonna be ONE SSSSPPPPPPPOOOOOOOOOOKKKKYYY MONTH!!

it's finally fall

Chris is in a really bad mood because he doesn't have any money. I told him, "as long as you're an actor you're never going to have any money." I mean, it's TRUE, is it not? Acting sucks. It is so expensive. Any kind of good headshot session costs at least $250 (and that is a BARGAIN), reproductions are at least $100, joining the union costs I think $1100 (plus dues twice a year), you have to buy nice clothes for auditions, if you go to an audition out of town there's travel+hotel+food+registration fee (like UPTAs) and then there's the fact that no one will pay you any money because half the theatres are not for profit and if they're not they have really low wages because there will always be someone who is willing to act for hardly any money and horrible treatment (see: The Barn). This is assuming you take no classes of any kind and do not have a subscription to Backstage. Then there's the staying healthy because you CANNOT just call off work and having no schedule leeway to do anything else. And, if you want to have any kind of real career, you have to live in a big city with rent that is sky-high. Yes, my friends, acting sucks and I would recommend it to no one. It's a lot of fun, though..... you have a LOT of fun.

Chris Johnston and I are singing at this thing on Friday for the government of Virginia at the hotel next door and it is going to be really funny. Funny for ME, hopefully not for the people who are attending this conference. I guess, since we work at a Shakespeare theatre, they assumed we only know Renaissance music, so that's what they originally asked us to play. We, of course, don't know ANY Renaissance music so we had to use this book to find some and let me tell you... Elizabethan music is TERRIBLE! Sometimes people complain that we play modern music during our preshows and interludes but who in their right mind would want to actually listen to Renaissance music? So, anyway, we're playing a couple songs from this book (most of which are featured in at least one Shakespeare play), some original music Johnston wrote for "Midsummer", "Merchant" and "The Maid's Tragedy", one contemporary interlude song we did for "Merchant" and two random contemporary songs that we just want to do. We are going to be doing a "strolling minstrel" thing and I am just happy to be getting to sing in public instead of alone in the lobby of the theatre.

I am looking foward to winter when my face will be less oily. I've been using those oil blotting sheets because I have some serious excess oil. I don't know how I haven't been breaking out like crazy. Anyway, in the winter, a single drop of excess oil will be extremely welcome. My whole face is so dry in the winter that my nose starts bleeding.

I am so excited about my birthday coming!!! Scot told me today that if I wanted to, he and Kate would let me use their half of this house to have a two-story SPOOKY apartment party! Uh.... HECK YES I would want that!! I am totally excited. It is going to be such a SCARY time and everyone is going to have lots and lots of fun! Dollar General and Big Lots better be prepared for me to buy them out of their Halloween decorations.

It finally happened. After months of watching What Not to Wear every day on my lunch break I finally would rather wear a blouse than a t-shirt. They really do look better.

i don't have enough to blog about because nothing happens

I had to work all mornings this week. Most people would LOVE working 9-5 every day but for me it was like.... AHHHHHHH!!!! I started to get anxiety over the fact that I wouldn't be able to sleep past 8am all week which kept me awake at night. Next week is almost exactly the same. The worst part about this is that there is no one at the theatre all day now that the tour left and rehearsals for Richard II are over. Most days it's just me and one other box office person (and sometimes it's just me for hours). Hardly anyone comes in to the theatre to buy tickets in person so I see less than 10 people a day except on my walk to work. It makes me not want to wear anything even remotely nice. It's like, why should I if I'm not even going to see anyone? I could just wear what I'm wearing now (a hilary duff t-shirt, lol) and no one would know. Some days I started to sing in the lobby just because I was the only person in the theatre and no one would know. Now I'm LONELY. I just can't be happy at work, can I?

I got my hair cut on Monday again. I mainly just needed it shorter so that when it grew out really fast (as it will) it wasn't totally weird looking. And, you know, I didn't want it to grow into a mullet. I've fixed that, now.

I really want a ragdoll cat. They're such big, big kitties! Apparently they're the most dog-like of all the cats, so Chris would like it too (he likes cats a lot but he LOVES dogs). First I need to convince our landlord to let us have a cat in the first place, then I need to find a ragdoll cat in a shelter and then I will be a happy girl. Oh, and I have to somehow control the cat allergy Chris has. I just need a kitty.

The woman on What Not to Wear has naturally curly, red hair and hates it. WHAT?? Who would hate that? That's the best kind of hair in the world! I really watch this show too much. I mean, I guess there are worse things to watch (infomercials? anything on MTV?) but our TV is only on 3 channels: TLC, ESPN and Bravo.

i wish i could buy pants in bulk

I hit my head really hard on the refrigerator like an hour ago. It still hurts. You never realize how fast you're moving until you hit something in the middle of moving.

Today Chris and I met Scot and Kate at Costco where I got Fiber One bars in bulk! I had no idea there was a Costco in Harrisonburg and we go there pretty often. Tomorrow I am getting my hair cut again since it grows so fast and if I am going to keep it shirt I need to REALLY keep it short. Right now I'm afraid it will grow out into a mullet. I cannot let this happen.

Today I tried to put on a pair of jeans that used to be my "skinny" jeans. When I bought them they were just the right amount of tight and so when I would wash/dry them they'd be slightly too tight and I wouldn't want to wear them, you know, every week of the month. I haven't worn them in a while and today I put them on and they were so big that I couldn't wear them out. A belt was the only thing to keep them up but the belt made them bunch in the front. I cannot believe those jeans are too big. I had worn a size 8 pants for the last... I don't know... 6 years and now not only am I swimming in a 6 but size 4 is even a little big in some cases. I DON'T UNDERSTAND THIS. My physical activity level has decreased significantly since June, I eat all the time... so, listen up. Seriously, listen to me and Brittany Spears. If you want to lose weight and not, apparently, do anything at all (except 100 sit ups a night), eat as much fiber as you can and stop drinking regular pop. Cut that sugar down. I am going to WISH this worked for me again in 10 years.

It's above 90 degrees again today which equals horrible in our apartment. This is the only day for the next 10 that is anywhere near this hot and we haven't felt like this in about a month. Tomorrow it's supposed to drop like 10 degrees and another 10 the day after that and just hover around 70 for the foreseeable future. That will be nice. Today it's just sweat city.

Ginna's boyfriend Sheffield just got cast in White Christmas on Broadway. I was talking to him on Friday night after the Richard II opening. I told him he needs to change his name to "Broadway Sheffield." Change his resume and everything. I laughed a lot because he said something like, "Yes... I'll be the most presumptuous fuck in the world. 'Hi, my name is Broadway Sheffield and I'm here to audition for your show'." Speaking of Broadway, John is closing Hair at the Public Theatre... but the show announced on Wednesday that it's moving to Broadway in January! They said they'd take everyone, but John doesn't want to count his Broadway chickens before they hatch, so right now I'm just keeping my fingers crossed for him. I talked to him on Thursday for a long time and everytime I do it makes me want to move to NYC. So, then I was talking to Chris about it and he said he didn't think Broadway was an impossible dream for him and I'm thinking, "THAN WHY DO YOU WANT TO MOVE TO DC!?!?!?" Anyway, since most of my friends moved to New York and I have three friends who have worked on (or are about to work on) Broadway and a fiance who thinks it would be easy for him to be on Broadway, I decided in the shower that we are going to move to New York when Chris is done in like.... a year. I'm going to UPTAs in February and I'll either get a job there or be sad in the B.O. but we totally have to save the money to do this somehow.

As I said, Richard II opened and it is a good show! I didn't know if I would like it because it's a history play that's not funny and there's no REAL conflict but I did. When I was bartending two nights this last week other people seemed to be liking it, too. Well, these rude kids on Wednesday did not like it, but I don't care what they think because they were forced to go by their teacher at the community college. The touring troupe left yesterday and Dennis is letting us borrow his car the whole time they're gone which is AWESOME.

Man, my head really hurts and it's making me sleepy. I don't like this.

Tina Fey looked, sounded and acted just like Sarah Palin last night on SNL and it was hilarious. I'm sure she just loathes her. Sarah Palin freaks me out, mainly. I think it's more the Alaska thing than the woman republican thing. I guess I'll never understand killing an animal and then posing with the bloody carcas for a picture. That's just gross. And I know, the meat I'm eating was alive once, but whenever I think about that it's really disturbing. I could never kill animals for a job let alone do it for FUN. I can't even handle raw meat to put it on the George Foreman grill. I just don't know what the "American values" are. I've heard people (Republicans) say that Barack Obama is just too liberal and that most Americans are somewhere in the middle of the political spectrum. But why? Every other big country is WAY more liberal than we are. Is it because American was founded by Pilgrims and Puritans? And why are "European ideas" put in quotation marks? I LOVE European ideas! The Beatles, IKEA, mass transportation, cars with really high MPG, marriage for all... why are we the last ones to get on board? And then, when we finally do, we act like we invented said "ideas" in the first place. How can the country that brought you the ipod be so behind in everything else? America was also founded by EXPLORERS (like my relative, John Ledyard and, you know, Christopher Columbus) who were looking for something new and exciting. Let's take THEIR example! No, not the native killing and gold stealing (which I am sure the Puritans and Pilgrims did, also) but the NEW and EXCITING example! Let's harness the WIND and let it blow us to freedom from oil!*†

*Amerigo Vespucci harnessed the wind and look what happened to him----he's got two continents named after him!!

†Also, after reading this paragraph to him, Chris said, "You should end with, 'So in conclusion, the wind and the republicans can blow me'." I chose not to say it myself but it was too funny to not include at all.

not my dream job. not so much, dennis.

A guy buying tickets just asked Nash and I if either one of us had been involved in shows here in the past. He pointed at me and I told him what season I was in. The man buying tickets said, "So you've given up your life's dream to work in the box office!" I sighed and said no and then died inside.

This week has been really boring. SMALL houses (like under 50 every night) and, of course since I mentioned how well it was doing before, low gift shop sales. Chris and I went to IKEA on Monday and it was fun. He bought the wardrobe (I bought.... measuring spoons) and put it together when we got home that night. It looks good and our room is already so much cleaner after hiding everything we own in the closet. Well, at least all the guitar cases, amps and plastic storage bins.

I was sad to see Stella get voted off Project Runway. She was so funny! I was happy that Leanne won for the second week in a row. She's funny, too, but in a completely different way.

Tropical storm (née Hurricane) Hanna is coming tomorrow! That'll will be.... wet and rainy. I guess I won't be going to the farmer's market again. I'll miss those magic cookies.

I'm so down on myself lately. My confidence is falling... ugh... and it took so long to come back! This is gonna be a long lifetime if I get this depressed every time I'm not performing. Maybe it's like a break up and I'm just not over it, yet. I bet that's what it is, for real. I spent a year with the same 11 people doing one of 3 different things every day and then all of a sudden they're ripped away from me and I'm doing something I'm not interested in. I bet if I were in another show it wouldn't be so bad---just like in a break up. I mean, this would explain how the three people from our troupe that went straight to the next tour cried at the company meeting... it's because they were sad about our troupe breaking up. I have to say, this revelation is actually amazing for me because I was afraid I was JUST SAD. Having found the similarities to a break up gives me hope that I will only be sad for around 6 months (it takes half the time you were with them to get over them) and that maybe after that I won't be sad anymore. God, I hope I won't be sad anymore. It's getting depressing.

Chris wants to cure my sadness by taking me to Ohio for a couple days at some point. I want to do it. I don't know if we can AFFORD to do it but I'd really like to. I always feel better when I see the lake.